A Penny for your thoughts...

LifeHouse & Daughtry- Here we come!

2010-05-20T20:43:00.000-07:00

So, Todd and I are Chris Daughtry fans. When we saw that he was coming to the area in May, we decided that we would go as our combined birthday presents. We really wanted to go to Seattle for his concert, but it was on a Sunday. So, we ended up going to the beautiful town (ha!) of Yakima.

We left on a Monday morning and had fun talking along the way. When you have 4 kids, it’s hard to have long conversations without being interrupted. It was about a 3 1/2 hour drive.

We checked into out hotel, got ready, and went to dinner at Outback…

And then headed over to the Yakima Sun Dome. It was a sight- let me tell you. But we didn’t care, we were just excited to see Daughtry and LifeHouse.

Cavo was the 1st opening band.

They were pretty good. They had everyone with any type of light (ipod, cell phone etc.) turn it on, it looked really neat…like stars.

Then it was time for LifeHouse. They were awesome. Jason Wade even walked into stands, all the way up to the top. They were really good in concert.

Then it was time for Daughtry… They were fantastic!

It was really neat- with our new camera, I was able to video A LOT of the concert. I finally ran out of room, but it was worth it. We were able to come home and show the kids half the concert. We also called them during the concert so that they could hear. At the end, when Daughtry was singing Coming Home, he brought Jason Wade out and they sang it together. It was really cool.

We had a nice hotel room with a view of the river. We got up Tuesday morning, had breakfast, sat in the spa, and got ready to drive back home.

We had a really fun time together. It sure went fast- but it was nice to have a whole 24 hours alone. We love our kids tons, but really treasure the time we get to spend alone together. It just doesn’t happen often enough. Thanks to Pam for watching the kids while we were gone- we really appreciate it!

Nathan

2010-04-27T17:33:00.000-07:00

Nathan is such a character. The other day we were sitting in the car watching Tyler’s baseball game (it was freezing outside). Nathan was sitting in the front seat with his arm out the window. This is the conversation…

Nathan: Mom, when I am a parent and I am living with you, I’m gonna need to borrow this baby. (Said as he taps the side of the car)

Me: Um, when you are a parent, you won’t be living with us.

Nathan: Yes I will. And I’m gonna need to borrow this baby.

I just looked at him and laughed.

Nathan: What? You can use the green van. (The green van is 12 years old by the way)

Me: When you are married and have your own kids, you are not going to want to live with us.

Nathan: Yes I will. Plus, I really like money. And I don’t want to spend my own money on a house.

He is convinced that he will want to live with us forever. He is so sweet. Every time one of us leave the house, he stands on the steps of the garage and waves at us. He even crouches down and waves all the way to the ground. If one of us leaves without him waving, he gets really upset. We are enjoying the attention and celebrity status with Nathan. Because I know it won’t last much longer. And as Todd says, soon he won’t even care when we leave- just like the rest of them.

A little milestone has happened to Nathan. He has lost both of his front teeth.

What a smile!

My “baby” turns 16!

2010-03-22T20:15:00.000-07:00

It just seems weird. I don’t feel old enough to have a son old enough to be driving and dating. My 6 foot tall “baby” is now 16 years old. Wow…Time sure flies. It seems like just yesterday he was a colicy little baby that cried every time we set him down. Now he’s starting Driver’s Ed and going on first dates. It feels like when you are going through the crying baby stages, that it will never end. And then “POOF” before you know it, they are growing, literally, before your very eyes!

First, we had our family get-together. Trevor asked for money from all of his family because he has to pay for half of Driver’s Ed- which costs $385, just so we remember years from now. (I need to have that documented so that ALL brothers know that they will also pay for half!)

This is a re-enactment picture of Trevor opening his card. The original was blurry. Isn’t he funny…

Grandma decided that she wanted to get Trevor a “Cars” themed cake.

That is the only “Car” he will be receiving for his 16th birthday. Sorry Trev.

His friend Megan made him this cute Birthday card.

We wanted to come up with a fun theme for his party. We finally decided to do a Hawaiian Tiki Party for Trevor’s 16th Party. Trevor helped make the “beach” cupcakes, which were too cute if I do say so myself.

Here’s Trevor making the Tiki’s for the cupcakes. Noni and I decorated the cupcakes- they were WAY cuter in person.

We spent the whole day decorating for the party. Thanks to Annette Carter, we had plenty of Hawaiian decorations…

Brandon was in charge of anything to do with tools and fire starting-

My Hawaiian friend Leann and her daughters came over to teach the kids to Hula. It was really fun, they did a great job.

There were war chants… And Hula-ing

And Lilo & Stitch Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride And Limbo

And a fire And cool cupcakes for dessert

And gifts, food, and…………… fun with friends!

Happy 16th Birthday Trevor!

We love you and are grateful for the wonderful young man you are becoming. We are very proud of you and the good example you are to your brothers. We are so blessed that you came into our family 16 years ago. Happy Birthday Trev, We love you!

Family Sledding trip

2010-02-17T15:59:00.000-08:00

We decided to go up to Mount Spokane on President’s day to go sledding. We have not had much snow here in Spokane (just a few inches) so we thought it would be fun. Apparently there had not been much snow up there either. The hill was wet and sloshy but they all still had fun. After watching them ring their gloves out, I decided to just be the photographer.

Brandon looking cool

Nathan & Todd at the top of the hill

Trevor flying down the hill

Tyler on his way down

Everyone had fun and got really wet and cold. Well, everyone was wet but me…

But I did get some fun pictures.

Tyler’s 10th Birthday

2010-02-01T17:07:00.000-08:00

Tyler decided that he wanted to have a sleep over with some friends for his birthday. Since we already have a house full of boys, we decided that we could only take so many. So, we just invited a few boys. Here’s the clan…

Gabe Romney, Austin Tomlinson, Tyler, and Ryan Hunter

A birthday just wouldn’t be complete without the Hunter’s and duct tape. This was nothin’ compared to last year. Ryan decided to wrap a box, with in a box, with in a box. Then Tyler opened to find a zip lock bag filled with Brownie mix. The gift was inside the brownie mix…

It was a night full of pizza, games, ice cream sundaes, smiles, noise, and tired parents. All in all a fun night.

Then came the family get-together. His brothers made him birthday cards. Nathan drew a picture of him and Tyler together with a heart. And wrote a note that said, “Dear Tyler, I love you and you are awesome. Love, Nathan”

Tyler got a DS with money he saved, and from all his birthday money. We snuck his money out of his wallet and surprised him. He was very excited.

Oliver sat around and enjoyed the festivities.

Happy Birthday Tyler!

Trip to California for Braden’s Graduation

2009-06-01T22:09:00.000-07:00

The end of May, I flew into Oakland and Connie and I went to San Francisco. We went to our favorite 3 story Ross, went to the Cheesecake factory for lunch, went to Pier 39, and got crab sandwiches for dinner. Then stopped back at the Oakland airport to pick up Brittany. It was a super fun day. I have the best sister ever!

My parents arrived and we all went to visit Braden at his job at Cold Stone. We even got to hear one of his original songs.

Brittany, Braden, and I went to the “Taco Truck” where Braden got and devoured the biggest burrito I’ve ever seen. It was so much fun to get to spend time with them.

We had a fun girl’s lunch at Red Robin.

It was a blast. Braden surprised the crowd by performing a graduation rap (we all knew). I can’t even imagine missing it. He was awesome! Congratulations Braden! I was really happy that I was able to be there.

I was able to see one of my “oldest and dearest friend’s”, Karen while I was there. We had fun shopping at DD’s and having lunch- just like old times. I sure miss her!

A quick family photo before we left.

And a few games of Rock band to finish off a super fun trip…

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful sister, and I miss her and her family like crazy! I am so grateful for my family, and to my sweet husband for staying home with the kids so that I could be there for that special “moment in time”.

It just another day in Paradise...

2009-02-22T18:38:00.000-08:00

This post has been done for such a long time, I just couldn't get my video to upload- so, here it finally is... bear with me- it's a long one...

Wednesday, we woke up early for our snorkel cruise to the island of Lanai. We were very excited because we did this same cruise the last time we came to Maui and loved it. We saw lots of dolphins on our last trip and that was what I was excited about the most.

Being out in the water in a boat is unreal.

You stop out in the middle of the ocean and look down- this is what you see...

We stopped at the first snorkel sight and were able to swim with about 6 sea turtles.

It was awesome! I couldn't believe how close they came to us. I was using my underwater camera (the pictures didn't turn out very well) and just floating around. I was watching this one turtle, (through the tiny little lense of the disposable camera) waiting for him to turn in my direction, to get a great picture for the kids- of course. Well, remember how it says that "Objects in the rear view mirror are closer than they appear" , well the same applies for sea turtles through a disposable camera lense. He finally turned in my direction and I got a picture of him, but as I took the camera away from my face, he was seriously no more than 6 inches from my face. It freaked me out a little and I just might have sucked in quite a bit of sea water.

Note to self: Don't gasp under water. But it was really cool that they were ok with us swimming around them. Oh, and we saw lots of cool fish too.

I remembered from our last trip that usually you see dolphins early in the morning, so I was starting to stress out that we had not seen any yet. The boat left for the next snorkel sight, it was really pretty. Here's a picture of Todd waiting for me to get in. I guess I won't post the picture of him with all the gear on since you look pretty ridiculous.

We ate lunch there in the boat in the middle of paradise. By now I was REALLY stressing because STILL NO DOLPHINS!! I was really sad and (I know this is silly but) I even said a little prayer that we would PLEASE see dolphins. That is such a neat thing for me, I just love them. The captain said he had radioed to other boats, and no one had seen any. And that by this time of day, they were in their "sleeping mode." He decided to "drive around" and show us some of the scenery of this private island called Lanai. It is beautiful!

As the captain was telling a story about the island, someone on our boat thought they saw something WAY off in the distance...

Yep, my dolphins came to see me...
Not only did we see tons of them all over the place swimming, we also got to see them do this...

The dolphins just swim along the boat and jump out of the water- It was AWESOME!! I was so happy!! I could now return to land, a happy girl!

This is the banyon tree in Lahina. You cannot see how huge it is, but it is a whole block big. It keeps going and going...

We went back to our condo and took a nap. Then later that afternoon, we went to Kannapali.

We ate dinner at the Hula Grill, it is a restaurant right on the sand. We had fish and chips and it was yummy! We even brought home some of the Hula Grill Chili Sauce! We ate with the sand on our feet and a fantastic view of the ocean!

We took a romantic sunset walk on the beach...

And watched the ceremony that they do every night at "Black Rock". A guy walks all the way up the rock, lighting torches all along the way. He throws the torch in the ocean, then takes off his lei and throws it in the ocean, and jumps in the water. It's cool and I think the picture turned out really neat...

It was a fabulous day!

Thursday, was our last full day in Maui so we went to our favorite breakfast

restaurant, the Gazebo.

This is a picture from the Gazebo, of Napili Beach.

And then went over to Napili for Todd to boogie board and for me to swim.

Then we went back to Honaloa Bay to snorkel.

This is the path to Honola Bay, it looks like you are in the rain forest!

We went out even farther and saw more fish, an eel and beautiful coral. It really was amazing.

We went home and cleaned up and went out for the last time. We ate at Leilani's downstairs

and had Hula Pie.

Another wonderful sunset...

and a little more shopping in Lahina.

Here are some pictures of our condo...

And the car we rented, an HHR...

On Friday morning, we got up and drove back to Honoloa Bay to take a couple of pictures before we left.

And then stopped at another beach to take a picture of our feet in the sand.

"Maui is a special place for us as a couple. We really connect with the pace and activities and beauty of the island. It is also one endless, magnificant date that allows us to reconnect as a couple. We love our kids, but being alone is very special. We connect with nature and stand in awe of our Heavenly Father's creations. We will miss it, but we'll be back someday...."

(An excerpt from Todd's journal entry)

Maui Adventures

2008-09-08T20:31:00.000-07:00

Monday morning, we got up, ate breakfast on our Lanai and got ready for our Zipline. We hung out at the beach and read our books until it was time to go. (Todd read a baseball book called "Playing With The Enemy" and I read "Breaking Dawn" of course. See it down there in the left corner? )

We were a little nervous but excited to do something new. We arrived at the Zipline place and were ready to go. We all climbed into this 4 wheel drive, 15 passenger van and headed off for the ride of our lives, up in the mountains above the ocean. The drive up was unreal- just to give you an idea, we had to wear our helmets IN THE VAN!

It is the craziest drive I have ever been on! We were bumping and bouncing all over the place. We got our harnesses on and got a little instruction and off we went! We were a little nervous the very first zip, but it was Awesome!

Todd

Penny

We had a view of the ocean the entire time we were up there.

Our guides were super funny...See him there in the backround?

We hiked in between each of the 8 ziplines, and then ate lunch on a 1,000 foot cliff. It was really cool!

We got back to our condo and decided we would go snorkeling at Kapalua Bay. We came home and watched the beautiful sunset off of our Lanai.....

We finished our evening eating at Maui Tacos after I blew a fuse blow drying my hair, and took out the power of half of our unit and the one next to us...

Tuesday was a great day as we went snorkeling at our favorite place, Honaloa Bay.

This is a protected Bay, and there are so many fish, that there are chartered cruises that take people there to snorkel. We can drive there, as it is just a few minutes down the road. You walk through this beautiful jungle,

and then it opens up to this huge bay. The color of the water is just unreal. We saw tons of fish: schools of literally thousands of fish, eels, huge puffer fish, every variety you could imagine. It is really neat to just swim around together and look at all the beautiful things that are under water. It is so relaxing too, as it is so quiet and beautiful. We went back to our condo and rested for a little while and then went back to Napili Beach for a little boogie boarding for Todd, and floating around in the ocean for me. We went home and got ready- no power outages this time- for a beautiful sunset, dinner at Bubba Gumps, and a little shopping, all in Lahina.

Paradise!

Check out our Dolphin Adventure next...

Aloha!!

2008-08-24T21:28:00.000-07:00

I guess I should start off by saying, "Aloha!" as Todd and I just returned from a fabulous

trip to Maui.

Thanks a TON to "Grammy" who flew up from Oregon to watch the kids for the week. I could do a whole separate post on the "Rowell Olympics", games they played, croquet tournaments, each kid getting to pick meals for the day, etc. etc. The kids had a blast and

so did we! Thanks Grammy, you Rock!!

Picture of Grammy with Nathan & Tyler at Christmas

The night before we left, Nathan kept waking up during the middle of the night crying that he didn't want us to leave. We tried to comfort him and put him back to bed, but a little while later, he would be back up crying. He even told us that he was going to say a prayer that we wouldn't go to "Who-why". (That is how he says Hawaii) Since our plane was leaving at 6am, we had to get up at 3:30 am. We could NOT go to sleep, we were just too excited. We kept saying, "I can't believe that we are going to be in Hawaii tomorrow! " We FINALLY fell asleep at 1:30am, and that is when Nathan's visits began. So after getting about 2 hours of sleep, I put on my

"Beach or Bust" shirt and off we went to the airport...

Re-enactment photo

We flew into Seattle and then on to Maui. Because of the 3 hour time difference, we arrived in Maui at 11:15 am. We drove straight to our condo right on the ocean in Kahana, marveling that we were really in Maui. We opened the door to our condo and were thrilled as the Hawaiian music was playing as the ocean waves were crashing below us. It was awesome. We looked around a bit and decided that we would go straight to the beach. We went to one of our favorite beaches to swim at... Napili Beach. We played in the water and enjoyed being together ALONE. We stopped for sandwiches on the way home and took them back to eat on our lanai (that is what the Hawaiians call a balcony). We decided to lay down for "just a few minutes" and then were going to clean up and watch the sunset. We woke up 2 hours later and it had already set. We were exhausted from no sleep, and the time difference...

Saturday we woke up and went to our favorite breakfast restaurant, The Gazebo. It is right on Napili Bay and worth the wait. And you really do have to wait awhile. One of their specialties is Banana Macadamia Nut pancakes...

After breakfast, we headed over to the Maui Flea Market (Todd's favorite part- ya, right) and stopped at the store on the way home. Then we headed over to a beautiful beach called Kapalua, that is known for it's awesome snorkeling. We saw lots of cool fish, including the biggest puffer fish I had ever seen!! We went home and got cleaned up and went to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner, Leilani's...

It is right on the ocean in Kaanapali, and we were able to watch the sunset there.
Very romantic!

On Sunday, Todd made us breakfast and we ate on our lanai.

We decided that we would drive part way to Hana. Those of you who have ever driven the whole way to Hana, know just how long it takes. They even sell shirts that say, "I survived the road to Hana!" There are a lot of one lane bridges, beautiful view, twists and turns, and waterfalls, beaches, etc etc. We had driven the whole way about 10 years ago and so we just went part of the way this time...

We stopped along the way and hiked up to Twin Falls, it was a really pretty hike. But I probably should have picked better shoes than flip flops to hike in.

The waterfalls were really neat.....

And those much braver than us, jumped off the top... NO thank you!

This is a peninsula on the way to Hana. It is one of my favorite places. There is all this black lava rock, and the water is the most beautiful color. The waves just crash against the rocks, it is absolutely amazing!

We ate our sandwiches there, in the car, because it was just SO windy. You wanna know just how windy it was? Check this out...

LOVE the hair!! My kids think this picture is pretty funny!

The views were fantastic...

The flowers were beautiful...

But, the company was the best!

See? Windy!!

We drove home and decided that we would watch the sunset on the beach right outside

our condo...

I LOVE this picture!

What a fun day!

"Zip" on by later in the week to see what what we did on the rest of our trip...

The Treasure of Motherhood

2008-05-13T18:54:00.000-07:00

My Mother's Day started off with a bang. First, I was able to sleep in, and then got a back rub when I woke up (thanks Todd). The kids made me waffles (toaster waffles) and wrote "We love you" in peanut butter. Trevor serenaded me with "Twinkle, Twinkle little star" and "When the Saints Go Marching In", (the only songs he knows since he has been teaching himself to play the guitar) while Brandon and Tyler made my bed.

Next, I we had a treasure hunt to find my presents (thanks Brandon). The clues were up and down and up and down the stairs...

(For some reason this picture wouldn't turn the right way)

Everyone helped with the clues that lead to the treasure...

The last clue lead us to the basement. And here is what I found...

Tyler had made me some things at school and scouts. One was a coupon book. It included coupons for: a 2 minute back massage, doing dishes, a car wash, and breakfast in bed. He also made me a cute card...

Tyler also made me this cool bag to carry my stuff in

Nathan drew me a picture. It is of me and him. Apparently I have a HUGE Ice cream cone and he is trying to eat it! And he also had a big kiss for me.

(His card said, "Dear Mommy, I lub you. I lub you because it's going to be Mother's Day. I like gibing you presents on Mother's day because I lub you so much. I really lub you so I'll hug you. Happy Mother's Day. It's a special day! Lub, Nathan"

Trevor, Brandon, and Todd also made me really nice cards.

And because my family know me so well, and knows that I am obsessed with taking pictures, they bought me a digital key chain that holds 120 pictures. So that I can carry them around with me where ever I go. Great idea, huh?! And, it's PINK!

After church, Todd and the kids made dinner. They made yummy nachos. Todd wanted to be sure that it would be something that everyone would be able to help out with. Pam and Loyd came for dinner and brought cheesecake for dessert. It was a really nice day.

I am so grateful for the wonderful family that I have been blessed with. I have an awesome husband who loves me and our children more than anything. I love all my boys and know the Lord knew what he was doing giving them to me. I used to be sad that I never had a girl, but now I truly appreciate my boys and what they teach me, and know that my family is just how it was intended. As crazy and hectic as our life sometimes is (especially during Baseball season) I wouldn't change it for the world. Being a Mother is a challenge, no matter how many kids you have. Sometimes you feel like you are doing a great job and sometimes you fell like you are failing miserably. But then you hear your 4 year old say a prayer, or tell a scripture story in detail, or you see your older kids cheering for their younger brother for hitting a grand slam, giving him high fives, and telling him how awesome it was, seeing them help each other out, and having fun together, and you realize that maybe, just maybe, you are doing a better job than you sometimes give yourself credit for. I am so lucky to be able to stay home with my kids. It may not always be easy, but it is always worth it. The real treasure is being a mother to my 4 precious boys. Seeing the great young men they are turning into makes me proud beyond words. Thanks for making my Mother's Day and my life wonderful! I love you!

The Most Important Job In The World

2008-05-11T11:07:00.000-07:00

The most important job in the world doesn't offer an hourly wage or days off

or paid vacations.

But it does offer real feelings,

shining faces,

bedtime stories,

small victories,

priceless memories,

and many wonderful moments of joy....

I am so very blessed to have such a wonderful Mother. I am so thankful for all she does for me, for all she has taught me, for all the good advice she's given, for being my cheerleader when I really needed one, for loving and accepting me for who I am, for always being there when I have had every baby, and for helping me after, for loving my husband and kids the way the she does, for being fun to be around, for sharing my addiction to Ross, for always remembering us in her prayers, for actually wanting to live across the street from us, for always coming to visit us just to spend time with us, for working so hard, for being so faithful in the gospel, and for having a strong testimony and raising us with the gospel, so that we could have the kind of family that we were raised in.

"Motherhood is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind. It places her who honors its holy calling and service next to the angels."

-The First Presidency, 1935

I am so grateful for my angel mother...

I love you Mom, Happy Mother's Day!

Nathan recants

2008-04-21T20:11:00.000-07:00

This is Nathan. Nathan is 4 years old and has many funny idiosyncrasies. (You can read about Nathan's other OCD tendencies in an earlier post) One is that he does NOT like Santa. When asked why, he says, "Because I don't like his beard and boots." So, not only does Nathan not like Santa, he really doesn't like anyone with a beard. So, last year when our friends The Pate's came to visit, he cried and wouldn't come out of his room. He wanted NOTHING to do with Everette, who has quite a long beard. He pleaded with us to just let him stay in his bed. This was at 3:00 in the afternoon. It was so very embarrassing- Finally after the whole day of them being here, he was ok being in the same room with Everette. And even ended up liking him as they left. The funny thing was that after being so scared of him, he talked about him and asked his wife how he was doing. Well, fast forward about 8 months... The Pate's came and stayed the night with us on their way to Montana. Nathan was excited to see them, and especially "Ebrett" (Everette). When they arrived, he told "Ebrett", "You're the only bearded guy I like." It was priceless!!

We tried to tell Nathan that is was just hair and to touch it- and, of course I had the camera ready!

The kids played pool and watched a movie while the adults went out to dinner

(I forgot to take a picture- dang it!)...

Thanks again guys!!

(My) Brandon and (Her) Todd are very much alike. They both enjoy helping with cars, building things, fixing things, and any kind of work.

We finished off their short visit with a trip to Cabella's. I know, it looks like the zoo. But it is the biggest sports store ever.

We are so grateful for their friendship!!

Trip to Mount Spokane

2008-03-30T19:31:00.000-07:00

In February we decided to take a drive up to Mt. Spokane for the first time since we have lived here. The drive was really pretty. The sky was clear and vibrant blue. It was a beautiful day....

The trees were packed with snow, and so was the roof of the bathroom...

Here are two of my little "angels". The other two were off on a hike with their dad...

Look at the size of this tree in comparison to my kids. I was worried the whole time that a huge hunk of snow was going to fall out of that tree and knock my family unconscience. The entire time we were up there, you continuously heard snow falling out of the trees. I guess because the sun was up and melting all the snow. It really sounded neat.

Todd pretending to throw Nathan head first into the snow...

Here's all my handsome boys

And here's my sexy husband.

See how blue the sky was and how cute the smiles were?

How could you not have a good time?!

Isn't this unreal? We saw this on the way home. And the windows were even open. Yep, there was quite a bit of snow up there!

We had a really fun time together! The kids had a blast just playing in the snow...

And needless to say, we were all exhausted on the way home...

Easter fun

2008-03-29T13:05:00.000-07:00

Easter sure came fast this year. On Saturday we had an Easter egg hunt at the Wagstaff's house. They live up in the hills and have beautiful property with hills and trees and rocks. All the things that make for a great egg hunt. Kids actually have to hunt for them instead of 600 eggs being laid flat out on the grass. It was fun and the view was amazing!

We actually colored Easter eggs this year. Everyone is in their pajamas, but at

least we got it done.

The Easter Bunny came and left Easter baskets for the kids...

Funny thing happened on Easter morning...The Easter bunny brought the kids an Easter basket with a HUGE can of pringles,(this is not the regular size but a much, much bigger can) a chocolate bunny, another big box of candy, etc. Well, Tyler had eaten his ENTIRE can of Pringles and his whole chocolate bunny before Todd and I were even out of bed! The pig! Well, I always take a picture of the kids and then one of our family right before we leave for Church....

Notice that Tyler and Todd are missing from the picture. Why, do you ask? Tyler was soooo sick from eating all those Pringles & candy(and he had oatmeal for breakfast) that he was crying in the bathroom, thinking he was going to throw up. And after our Christmas program barfing by Brandon (yes right during Sacrament meeting), we didn't want a repeat for the Easter program. So they stayed home and the rest of us went to church. Tyler was perfectly fine by the time I got home, and ready to eat again. Boys...

I may not be able to dress my kids in cute little pink dresses with bows and flowers in their hair, but it just doesn't get much cuter than this...

Happy Easter!

(Nathan was very concerned about the Easter bunny coming to visit. He does NOT like Santa or the bunny. He definately did NOT want him to leave the basket anywhere near his room. So, the Easter bunny left the baskets on the stairs this year.)

"Basketball Season Ends on High Note for Hornets"

2008-03-18T12:43:00.000-07:00

Tyler has just finished up his basketball season with Upwards. It was a great "season" (like 8 weeks) and we were even a little sad that it was over. Upwards does some really neat things with the kids. Before the start of every game they have the parents line up and then then have the kids run out one at a time. They run out through the tunnel, there is a smoke machine, and an announcer that announces each kids name. That was my favorite part! The kids would then run through all the people that had formed the lines and slap every one's hands as they ran through. It was a very positive experience!

The Team

Tyler in "action". Notice the pictures are blurry because he is just so fast!

They would say a prayer as teams before the start of the game...

The Ref's were great. (I swear this guy is like 7 feet tall. In fact most of the pictures with him and Tyler in it cut off the top half of his body because he is just so tall!) They did a really good job and would even tell the kids what they did wrong, so they knew for next time.

Look at that form!

On the last practice, the coaches had the parents play against the kids. Well, Todd wasn't there, so that left me, wearing slip on clog like shoes. It was like 5 adults against 10, full of energy,

wild kids. It was fun. It was hot. I sucked.

After each game the kids were given stars. Each one was a different color and meant something different: Best defense, best offense, most Christ-like, etc. I was "supposed to" iron on each of the stars on his shirt. Some of them made it on, some didn't...so sue me.

The coaches did a great job and it was a wonderful experience.

See ya next year. Now on to baseball...

True Friendship, None of That Sissy Crap

2008-02-26T15:20:00.000-08:00

I got this as an email from a friend. I thought it was so cute, I had to blog about it!!

(I added the pictures for extra enjoyment!)

Are you tired of those sissy 'friendship' poems that always sound good,
But never actually come close to reality?

Well, here is a series of promises that actually speak of true friendship.
You will see no cutesy little smiley faces on this card-
Just the stone cold truth of our great friendship.

1. When you are sad -- I will jump on the person who made you sad
like a spider monkey.

2. When you are blue -- I will try to dislodge whatever is choking you.

3. When you smile -- I will know you are plotting something that I must be involved in.

4. When you are scared -- I will rag on you about it every chance I get.

5. When you are worried -- I will tell you horrible stories about how much Worse it could be until you quit whining.

6. When you are confused -- I will use little words.

7. When you are sick -- Stay away from me until you are well again. I don't want

whatever you have.

8. When you fall -- I will point and laugh at your clumsiness.

9. This is my oath.... I pledge it to the end. 'Why?' you may ask;

'because you are my friend'.

Friendship is like peeing your pants,
everyone can see it,
But only you can feel the true warmth.

Oh, the things kids say....

2008-02-17T18:10:00.000-08:00

Lately, Nathan has said some really funny things. I have been writing them down on random slips of paper. Well, what a better thing to do for posterity sake, then to post about it!!

1. "There's a great party going on in my tummy right now."

2. "Dad, you have a gold tooth, just like Brother Chambers. When I'm a Dad, I'm going to have a gold tooth too."

3. While saying a prayer, Nathan said, "And please bless me and Tyler to do good at Guitar Hero and beat Lou and Slash."

4. "Ouch, I just hurt my uncle!"

5. Nathan told me that sometimes him and his church friends say this: "I am the teacher and I am going to learn you about something."

Some things you may or may not know about living in the SNOW!!

2008-02-16T23:35:00.000-08:00

This post has been a long time coming. As the winter has gone on, (and on and on) I have been accumulating pictures and decided to do a post about living in the snow. Some of these things I am sure you have thought about (or know about) and some things might not have dawned on you before.

The snow is very beautiful, but makes driving a little more complicated.

Driving in the snow makes you unable to look directly at the camera to pose for pictures, while driving, so that your wife can post them in her blog.

You need to drive especially slow, as seen below. Which after a month or two makes you a little nuts. I once heard someone say, "I just want to drive 35 again, that's all I ask."

There are CRAZY people out there who will actually go for a walk during a freaking BLIZZARD! I might add, these were not the only people out walking during this storm. There were even a few others out RUNNING- who runs in a blizzard? People walking dogs etc.,

I just don't get it.

Snow is great!! Kids will spend HOURS with the entire neighborhood building a snow fort. Everyone get along, wears themselves out, has a fun time together, get some exercise

(yes, building a snow fort actually burns calories), and is out of the house giving me time to blog. See? Win-Win for everyone.

Living in the snow prompts neighborhood snow fights. Which would not be complete without the biggest kid of all: John Hunter. (He is one of the Dad's in our court) He is previously famous for his awesome pumpkin carving skills in a earlier post.

Shoveling, shoveling, and more shoveling...

Bubble baths are the best on snowy, chilly days...

(Amelia Rawe)

Your husband and boys can play tackle football in the snow

Is this the cutest picture ever?

Sometimes, you get some awesome shots, like these...

Your kids seem to actually enjoy being with eachother when you take them sledding.

There is something called "Snow Days" You might even end up with 3 of them in one week! Which has not happened here in 12 years! Kids are home from school, but all the neighborhood kids play outside, and since your husband is a teacher, he's home too...BONUS!

You can take a day and go sledding with some friends. Who just happen to be your youngest son's famous Primary teachers...The Chambers.

And you can sled on the 18th hole of a golf course and have a view like this.

That is the Lake off in the distance, it was amazing!

Hello, making snowmen...

You can spend time as a family, have fun playing in the snow....

And sometimes, you are even a little sad when it's over........... Sometimes.

It's GREAT to be eight!!

2008-02-05T13:41:00.000-08:00

This was a very exciting weekend for Tyler. He was baptized on February 2, 2008. Tyler's dad, Todd was the one to baptize him. I am so grateful for a wonderful husband who is a worthy Priesthood holder, so that he is able to do these special things for our children.

It was a very special day for all of us. My parents flew down from California and were even a part of the program. It was really neat having them here.

What baptism would be complete without a little "Thumb-War" with Brother Yost?! He is a member of the Bishopric and our hometeacher. He's awesome and we all love him!

After the baptism we came home and had pizza in our jammies and watched "Game Plan".

Tyler got a special baptism gift from us and Noni & Papa... New Scriptures and a tote.

Very exciting!! He even got to sing "Scripture Power" at church the next day. I love that song!

Tyler is a very special boy. And we are so proud of him and the wonderful

decision he made to be baptized!

Congratulations Tyler!!

This is not just a Sunday summary, this is a Holiday Summary!

2008-01-07T14:20:00.000-08:00

We had a really nice Christmas Season this year. We went over to the Yost's for dinner (the Sunday before Christmas) and to re-enact the Nativity with all of our our kids. After they all finally figured out who would play who, the adults sat down to watch this event unfold. It was very cute and quite funny, but not exactly how I imagined it might have been on that night long ago. I think the funniest part was when "Mary" "gave birth". Or in other words dropped the basketball out of her shirt, kicked it across the room, and dropped the baby Jesus

into the manger.

Next, we had a pre-Christmas Eve with Todd's mom, Pam. We ate manicotti and opened presents as it snowed outside.

Then, we had Christmas Eve with Jerry and Barbara (Todd's dad and his wife) and family...

They kids got a Wii, and were thrilled, as you can imagine.

We spent Christmas morning at home, seeing what Santa had brought and making a mess.

We got the kids Guitar Hero and then "Rocked Out" all morning. All except for Todd, he got

boo-ed off the stage! And just in case you are curious...Yes, I do Rock!!

Then we went back over to Doris and Mel's for Christmas dinner.

Brandon brought his saxophone, so that him and Mel could play together. They played Christmas songs, it was really neat.

We got a toy guitar for Nathan so that he wouldn't feel left out when the older kids play Guitar Hero. The funny thing is that he really thinks he is playing the game when they are. Well, Nathan decided he wanted to play his "guitar" too. So, him and Mel played together.

Then, he tested Mel to see if he could play behind his head like he had seen on Guitar Hero.

Did I mention that Santa left us a note on Christmas morning? He always leaves US a note. Usually he tells the kids how special they are and how they should be good to each other.

If you are really interested in what it says, just click on the picture.

I think this is what we will ask Santa to bring us next year:

For ALL of our family to live here!!

Me and My "BFF"

2008-01-02T19:00:00.002-08:00

My Darling one of these...

Let me get on one of these...

So I could go and visit with these (two)...

I recently went on a little trip all by myself to go and see my Best Friend Heidi and her baby girl Amelia in Oregon.

We have been Best Friends for a long time.

And when she had her first baby, I just had to fly down and see them. Heidi and I are very close and have very similar tastes. And we even end up buying the same things quite often. Well, one evening we decided to get comfy and put on our pajamas. This is a what happened...

We bought these at different stores a year apart!

We went out to eat and went shopping (Ross, of course!) and even got our picture taken with Santa. No, Amelia wasn't there. We just decided to do it, what's wrong with 2 grown women sitting on Santa's lap? We've been good - we even got a candy cane to prove it!

We talked and talked and laughed and laughed. And then laughed hysterically about this yummy dessert I found in her cupboard. Yes, you read the can correctly. This delectable treat is sponge pudding with raisins, canned. And if you look closely, it is microwaveable, you know, just in case you're in a hurry! Did you ever know that Heinz made such a thing?

When I saw this can I thought, "This has "blog" written all over it!" So, I made her pose with it, as we tried not to laugh so hard we peed our pants.

We made homemade candy

Total re-enactment picture, can you tell?

On my last night there, her husband was out of town. And she talked me into putting on our matching PJ's and SANTA HAT'S (only for you, Heidi, would I wear a Santa hat!) and drive around and look at Christmas lights. We stuck the camera on the dashboard, used the timer, and took a picture of ourselves! Aren't we clever?

I took TONS of pictures, with both of our cameras. I told her that I was her own personal paparazzi for the weekend. You know how we all love to take pictures, but are always the ones behind the camera? So, I took lots of pictures of them together. I really had a fun time with them and miss them already! I am happy to report that I got my "baby girl" fix and was able to put my "dressing-a-little-baby-girl-and-putting-bows-on-her-head" skills to use.

Giving Thanks, Even if it's Late!

2007-12-29T21:17:00.000-08:00

I know that we just had Christmas and I should be blogging about what a wonderful Christmas we had. And we did, but we have been really busy, and have a slow computer (seriously, does it take everyone else 5-7 minutes to upload a picture? Maybe I could blog more often if one post didn't take 2 hours!) . So, first I need to blog about the nice Thanksgiving we had...

My parents came to visit and we had lots of fun. We played games...

And apparently we like to choke each other while playing games, MOM!

My mom and I made applesauce.

Tyler and Nathan always try to see if they can last through my dad tickling them to death.

The reward.... $1.00

Well earned, I might add

Nathan always wanted Noni and Papa to put him to bed. Complete with a "race" up the stairs and all his OCD bed time rituals. Thank heavens someone else got to do it for a few days!

We had our yummy Thanksgiving dinner.

One small (literally) problem: The Rhodes rolls. I guess I should have followed Celia's advice and used a heating pad to make them rise. Because mine rose and then fell like a ton of bricks. More like the ton of bricks fell directly on the rolls.

We decided to poke holes in the first batch and brush them with olive oil and garlic and call them "Italian flat bread". Then we made a second batch that actually turned out right. Of course we pretended that we meant to have the flat bread and that I wasn't just a moron! I don't think anyone was fooled.

We are so thankful for all that we are blessed with, especially family!

LOTS!!

2007-12-20T19:16:00.000-08:00

Recently we had our 2nd annual couples Christmas Party and Ornament

exchange at our house. It was LOTS & LOTS of fun!!

There were LOTS of shoes...

And LOTS of coats...

And LOTS of food...

And LOTS of ornaments...

And LOTS of friends...

And LOTS of fun!!!

We did an ornament exchange that was really fun. You know the kind where you draw numbers and can steal from others?

Here we see some stealing "in progress"

It was a blast. I think the best/funniest ornament was one we all lovingly referred to as "the big fat lady".

The "big fat lady" really got around that night, but ended going home with this happy couple...

"Some" people were upset when the "big fat lady" was stolen from them because they wanted to blog about it.

And were absolutely thrilled about the ornament they went home with.

Can't you tell?

It was LOTS of fun with friends!

P.S. Please excuse all of my "devil eye" pictures. I do not know how to fix the red eye problem as of yet.

A Date With Papa

2007-11-28T19:43:00.000-08:00

Noni and Papa (my mom and dad) came for a visit again. (Since it is about 25 degrees here now, this picture is obviously from their last trip when it was warm!) We had a lot of fun with them, and that's why I haven't blogged in so long! I guess I have a lot of blogging to catch up on... because we took lots of pictures!

First, I have to relate that Nathan LOVES Hummers! He has loved them and been able to spot them a mile away since he was 2! Papa even sent Nathan one when he reached a much appreciated milestone (pooping on the potty, sorry, but I had to tell you, in fact I think the Hummer had a lot to do with him FINALLY reaching the milestone).

So, you can imagine Nathan's excitement when Papa decided to take him on a date to the Hummer Dealership here in Liberty Lake. This is the second time they have been. And I think he would go a hundred more times if we let him.

When I asked him why he likes them he says:

He likes the colors of them...

(This is what the Hummer that Papa sent him looked like)

He says that they are "REALLY COOL!"...

He likes sitting in them...

And because they are REALLY BIG...

Nathan and Papa had a fun time, Nathan got to spend time with Papa by himself, got a cool book showing all the different Hummers to buy, got to sit in them, I got LOTS of cool pictures (thanks Dad), and the poor salesman got NOTHIN'. Sorry guy, but we'll probably see ya in another 3 months.

I personally think that this should be the next new ad for Hummer!

Papa told Nathan that he would buy the Hummer if Nathan paid

for the gas...

And we're holding ya to it!

Do all kids have OCD or just mine?

2007-11-09T10:30:00.000-08:00

There has not been one child born into our family that has not been stricken with OCD tendencies. Our 4 year old, Nathan is the one most affected at this moment. (Fortunately, they seem to get over it at about age 6 or so) The hysterics range from turning his "Birthday Snoopy" around when he goes to sleep because he doesn't like him smiling at him while he's sleeping.

Nathan with the "Snoopy" in question

Nathan re-enacting turning around Snoopy so he isn't smiling at him!

To having to go through a script each time he goes to sleep. This is the script:

Nathan: "Goodnight" (Has to be said BEFORE the door is closed)

Mom: "Goodnight"

Door closes

Nathan: "Goodnight"

Mom: "Goodnight"

Nathan: "Love you too"

Mom: "Love you too"

Nathan: "See you in the morning" (This is said at nap time also)

Mom: "See you in the morning"

If we don't repeat these things back to him verbatim, the whole process starts over. Is this not insanity?

Not only do we have to go through all these shenanigans but he also takes inventory each time he gets in bed. In his bed, he must have:

1. 1 - old teddy bear with old blue t-shirt

2. 1- 2" Pirate from a McDonald's happy meal. Because the pirate is only 2", he is quite frequently lost in the wee hours of the night. To which we are awakened by the screaming of "I can't find my pirate!" By the way, we do have a "back up pirate" , I would never relate this information to Nathan for fear that he would need to sleep with them both!! He also sleeps with a night light, nigh-night and 2 blankets, that have to be specifically placed. Have I made my case yet?

Here is the culprit, with his nigh-night, bear, and pirate!

The whole reason I had the idea of this post was one evening I came across this...

Ya know, you never quite realize how crazy your life sounds until you write it all down.... Heaven help me!!

Happy Halloween!!

2007-11-02T09:55:00.000-07:00

I wish that I could take credit for this awesome show of Halloween festiveness (is that a word?) but the creative genius behind over 40 personally carved pumpkins is our neighbor John Hunter. When I arrived home from Tyler's Halloween school party I saw John still carving. After seeing how many pumpkins he had carved, I jokingly said, "What, did you take the day off of work for this or what?" He did.

I stole this picture from Jessica You really do have to click on it just to he how neat it was!

Not only did he carve them, but later that night, he set some on fire, and put flares in others...

The pictures don't do it justice!! Great job Hunter's!!

Our costumes this year are the same as every year, just a different kid in them!

Trevor is the lucky one, he is so tall that he is the only one that doesn't fit in any costumes from the year before. This year he was a tamed down vampire. I don't like the yucky, evil costumes. So, he is wearing his church clothes and a cape. He is a nice church going guy by day, not so mean vampire by night. I even made him smile for the picture.

Brandon is a convict. Notice the blue sweatshirt UNDER the costume. Hey, it's cold here! He looks like a convict ready for a fight. And a shave!

Tyler is Harry Potter. He also has about 3 layers UNDER the costume! You can't see it in the picture, but the fire was on. It looked really neat when I took it, like he lit the fire with his wand. Now, it just looks like Harry is pointing at the fireplace. Oh well...

Nathan was of course, Tigger. He loved Halloween and really got into it this year. When people would say, "Oh, look, it's Tigger!" He would reply, "It's just a costume." Hey, he just wanted to be honest in his dealings...

This is Nathan with his playgroup friends.

Tyler at his class Halloween party.

Nathan was not shy this year about trick or treating. He was very complimentary to those handing out candy. By telling some boys, "Great costume!" (They were in their pajamas.) And saying, "That girl was really cute!" when he was a couple of feet from her. He is 4 and is already noticing girls that are cute...Oh no.

Here's the crew. After an exhausting night and walking around begging for candy, we took this picture. If I knew that I looked like a stay puff marshmallow in that jacket, I would have opted to just be cold! I guess at least I have the beastly photo for posterity...gotta look on the bright side!

Is this a ridiculous amount of candy or what! My kids are going to be in a sugar coma for sure!! And right next to them, their sugar-addicted parents!

This is what we all feel like after eating all this candy!! (Once, again this was a John Hunter pumpkin)

Well, I think that just about sums it all up! We had a really fun and exhausting night. Good thing it only comes around once a year!!

The "Do's" and "Don'ts" Of A Great Day at Greenbluff

2007-10-28T21:21:00.000-07:00

DO: Stand and watch as they shoot a pumpkin out of this cannon (called "Punkin' Chunkin'") and try to hit a target 1500 yards away. It's never been done in 7 years, by the way, but very cool to watch.

DON'T: Take your eyes off the pumpkin once you find it in the air or will you never be able to find it again and miss it as it smashes to the ground 1500 yards away.

DO: Let your kids have fun and jump in the hay.

DON'T: Worry that they will get all itchy and then paralyze themselves.

DON'T: Ever try to ride this freakishly short, fat horse.

DO: Take his picture because you know you will blog about him later.

DO: Take the hay ride out to pick the pumpkins. Go ahead...Put your family's life in the hands of a 15 year old farm boy.

DO: Take lots of pictures of your cute kids, even when they complain.

Definately DO let your 2 smallest and most fragile necked children ride "Little Toot" the "train". Made from a riding lawnmower, a few plastic containers, some wheels, and a guy with a conductor outfit and a good imagination.

DON'T: Be surprised when an attorney contacts you to file a class action suit against said conductor for whiplash.

DON'T: Do NOT under any circumstances stick your head through the mouth of these creepy pigs and have your picture taken...EVER!

DO: Invite Grandparents. Last year we took Noni and Papa. This year, Grandma.

DO: Take this awesome picture of your handsome boys in a buggy. (Even though it took forever to get them all looking at the camera at the same time.) And then DO frame it later.

DO: Let your 11 year old son take a picture of you and your sweetie. And then DO kiss your sweetie for suggesting it (there aren't a lot of pictures of us, because I am always the one behind the camera) and for being a good sport about me wanting to take so many pictures.

DON'T: Stress that your 11 year old son will either drop the camera in the mud or cut off our heads in the picture. He did a great job! He must get it from his Mom and Papa.

DO: Pose your 4 year old and take lots of pictures of him because he is the only one that doesn't complain about it.

DO: Take a nap on the way home with your new gloves and your $2.00 balloon animal...courtesy of Grandma.

DON'T: Stress about mud on their shoes, on their clothes, and on the floor of your new car.

DO: Have a fun day as a family, and remember all the reasons why we want to be Together Forever.

Arrow of Light

2007-10-25T16:31:00.000-07:00

We had a really neat experience with Brandon this past week. We had a pack meeting where he received his Arrow of Light. I guess they hire these people to come and do the ceremony. We walked in and it was all decorated, there were trees and all types of Indian stuff (Me, being the good Bear leader that I am, have no idea what any of it is called.) and a bridge, etc. This "tribe" gets all dressed up as Indians (which, by the way, scared the crap out of Nathan) and they hooted and hollered. All the kids loved it. They had a man and woman playing some Indian drums REALLY LOUD. Nathan had his hands over his ears the whole time. I wanted to do it too, but thought it might seem rude. They told stories, and had (fake) fire. They called the boys all up, had the parents take off their Webelos scarves and put them in a basket, and then we all went outside. They said that if the boys were pure in heart, and looked into the fire, the scarf would not burn. They proceeded to set a scarf on fire, it burned for a little while, then an Indian guy grabbed it out of the fire, and it didn't burn. He said all the boys were pure in heart. We went back inside and the parents had to stay up with the boys. They gave us little gifts and then presented each of the boys with their Arrow of Light. They painted the boys face, and then their parents - fun. They then had the boys with their parents walk over the bridge. (there was even "smoke" that came out from under the bridge) Which represented bridging from Cub scouts into Boy scouts.

This is Brandon, Sean, and Corey with their new fearless leader!

It was an awesome ceremony and a huge production. Nathan was really afraid of the main Indian guy. But while we were up with Brandon, the "big Indian" came over and talked to Nathan and gave him some little stones. Nathan said, "He gave me something special for the dark. They are to make you see." Of course these special little night vision rocks were lost within 5 minutes tops. It was a really special evening and we are so proud of Brandon!

Unfortunately, we didn't take our pictures fast enough. Not only was this group really talented, but man, are they fast at clean up. We got the pictures during the clean up, bummer.

Little Doll

2007-10-21T15:26:00.000-07:00

You all know special friends that have impacted your life forever...well, this is mine. This is Heidi. She is more than a friend, she is more like a sister...

She is the most recent member of

the "mommy club"...

This is Amelia Elizabeth Rawe.

She made her entrance into the world on

October 17, 2007.

(She even waited for mine and Todd's

15 year anniversary! Wasn't that sweet?)

She was born at 4:18 a.m. And weighed 7 lbs. 14 oz.

and was 21 1/2 inches long.

What a little doll! Don't you just love those pink little lips? And LOVE the hair!! I will have to get her outfitted with some serious hair bows!!

I can't wait to see you little Amelia!!

Fall Has Arrived.... The Sequel

2007-10-14T20:54:00.000-07:00

Do you all remember the post about Fall arriving in Liberty Lake? Well, I wrote that I sometimes just have to take pictures of the beautiful colors, and that people probably think that I am a stalker...Well, see this picture of this beautiful red tree? Look way down in the left hand corner... See that girl there? Well, she DID think I was a stalker! I was pulling into the Whimsical Pig Apartments, and yes, you read that right, the Whimsical Pig. Anyways, as I was pulling into these apartments (my mother-in-law just moved in there) I pulled out my camera and snapped a shot of this tree and drove on. I never even saw this girl. As I pulled into a parking spot and got out of my car, I had some girl come up to me and ask if I just pulled into the apartments and took a picture. I said, "yes, why?" She asked me if I took a picture of her and her kids. I told her that I was just taking a picture of a tree, she said, "oh, that scared me, I thought you were taking a picture of me and my kids." Like I have nothing better than to drive around taking pictures of random people and their kids...If I want to take pictures of kids, I've got a whole house full of them, not to mention the 21 kids that live on our court. But thanks lady!

Then, if that wasn't enough, Thursday, Daralee called me on my cell phone. She said that she had just come by my house, that she was sorry that she missed me, she wanted to get my autograph. "What?" I thought, what is she talking about...She said that I was in the newspaper...Huh? For what? What did I do? Well, apparently I was in the Liberty Lake Splash because of my blog. I do not understand how my blog ended up in the newspaper. I guess because I did a post about the fall colors. It quoted me saying that "people probably think that I am a stalker, but I don't care..." GRREEATT! It also said that my self described occupation is "keeping the kids from fighting" Oh, that's Fantastic!! And to top it off, they ended the tiny little article with my blog address!! I guess I better be careful who I talk about huh?

Live It Up!

2007-10-13T14:30:00.000-07:00

Today is a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky. So, we figured we better live it up and get outside...while we still had the chance. So, this is what we did today...

Todd and Nathan washed the car after a morning of mowing the lawn.

All the moms will love this one...this is what Todd and Nathan decided he should wear today to wash the car.

Trevor and Brandon decided that drilling a hole in a piece of wood, then attaching a stick to the drill with duct tape, and then trying to start a fire, by turning the stick in the hole, would be a good activity for today.(Actually is was a pretty good idea.) And I know that was a huge run on sentence, Todd.

Tyler has had a fun day of football with his friends.

To listen to all the "rules" that they had was so funny, "poison ball", "the QB Sneak", they are serious about this game.

Trevor did just a few minutes of this....

And a whole lotta this.....

He did stay up all night long at a Young Men's church activity. But spends quite a bit of time in this very spot even on a normal day....... Teenagers!

By the way, I pulled weeds, did wash, made lunch, did dishes, made a wreath, hung up a curtain and blogged, and am trying to get geared up to cut the kids hair...Do I know how to enjoy a Saturday or what?

Just a little peak into our Saturday.....

Look Out Kenny G

2007-10-08T16:59:00.000-07:00

We have a musician in the family...Brandon has taken up the saxophone. He played a couple of years ago and now is starting back since he started Middle School. His cousin Braden is an awesome saxophone player and Brandon is following in his footsteps...So, you better look out Kenny G, cause Brandon can play a mean "Jingle Bells"!

Fall has arrived!

2007-10-07T13:23:00.000-07:00

One of the things that I really enjoy about living here are the four seasons. Fall has arrived here in Liberty Lake and it is beautiful! As I have been driving around, I sometimes just have to stop to take a picture. People probably think I am a stalker but I don't care...the colors are absolutely brilliant.

Why Camp Out When You Can Just Stay In?

2007-10-03T20:08:00.000-07:00

This summer we decided at the last minute to go on a camping trip to Farragut National Park . We had not been camping as a family in 5 years!! We decided to only go for 2 nights. Partly because I hate being dirty, bugs, and only getting only a few hours of sleep. I should point out that the reason we had not been camping in so long is because our kids wake up at the crack of dawn. Not to mention that we had a child that had night terrors. When we lived in California, we used to go to Sunset beach. Well, our kids were all awake BEFORE sunrise. You know when it is still pitch dark outside? And not only were they awake, but they were loud! So, we would pack everyone up in the car and drive to Monterey (about 30 minutes away) and see the sunrise there. As we would pull back into camp, my parents and sisters family would be just getting up. It was a great time during the day, but the nights and early mornings were horrible. So, fast forward 5 years to our family campout August 2007.....

Nathan "helping" set up the tent

Did I happen to mention

that I hate being

dirty?

"The Boys" playing frisbee golf

The kids just sittin' around...shocking!

This is Beaver Bay, it was

Gorgeous!! What a fun day!!

Todd and the kids at the

lake. We actually saw

a snake on the hike to

this spot...Eeeewww

Yuck!

So, why do we do it? It takes us hours to pack up everything we are going to possibly need for the next 48 hours (which is A LOT, by the way), stuff it all in the car, drive up to the camp site while the kids are fighting, unpack it all and set up camp, have to cook outside with the bugs, sleep in a tent with all of your kids, be woke up all through the night listening to them grind their teeth and talk in their sleep, and then have them wake up so early that no one else in the camp is even up yet. So, why do we do it, just so we can live outside for 2 days? When we could just stay home? All of our stuff is already here, we have TV, and electricity, and microwaves here. Why do we put ourselves through it all? I knew the answer when I looked at these pictures. Even though is is a ton of work, we are making memories and traditions with our family. And even though we were up, had breakfast, packed our entire camp, went for a hike, and were in the car driving away at 9:34 AM., I wouldn't trade those memories for all the sleep in the world.

Out of the mouth of babes...

2007-10-02T12:30:00.001-07:00

Since this is supposed to be a type of journal for me, I had to include this story because it is so cute and is something I want to always remember.

It started out as any other trip to Albertson's and turned into a missionary moment. My mother-in-law (she is not LDS) had come for a visit from California. Her and Nathan and I went to Albertson's for a few things. As we passed by the coffee isle, my mother-in-law turned and went down the isle and we continued on. Nathan says: "Eeewww stinky coffee!" I see him looking around as we keep walking. A minute later Nathan starts yelling through the store, "Graaandmaaaa", "Graaandmaaaa" "Heavenly Father says..." I quickly put my fingers up to his lips and said, "Oh, let's not say that." Knowing where this conversation was heading. But he took my fingers from his lips and looked at me and said, "no, mom". By this time she walks up and this is the conversation that ensued:

Nathan: "Grandma, Heavenly Father says that we should not drink coffee because it is bad for our bodies."

Grandma: "I know."

Nathan: "Then why do you do it?"

Grandma: "Because it tastes good."

Nathan: "Well, you need to not drink coffee, you just need to drink juice!"

Out of the mouth of babes...

Did I mention that he just turned 4?

Peer Pressure

2007-09-27T12:58:00.000-07:00

Well, we FINALLY got our front yard put in! Everyone has been asking me what it looks like so I thought I would write a post about it. We decided we wanted to do something different this time, so we went for an island. We absolutely had to have the aspen fir/charlie brown trees in the front. Unfortunatly, one of our trees was stricken with scoliosis and had to be "removed". (I am not making fun of anyone with scoliosis, nor do I have any idea how to spell it!) Our landscaper tried to convince me that they were "very popular" and "everyone wants the ones that are crooked". Well, I am happy to report that I resisted the peer pressure and told him the tree had to go. The backyard is another story....they have this funny rule that if you can't pay them for a beautiful backyard, then you can't have one. So, we had it hand seeded and are waiting and waiting for the grass to grow. I think it's like the saying about a watched pot...

I also am going to start a garden next year. I am giving into the peer pressure on that one...EVERYBODY really IS doing it!! Unfortunately, this is what happened this year when I tried to grow lettuce.

Next year I will have to call in reinforcements, namely Daralee, Queen of the Garden!

Here we go again...

2007-09-26T12:04:00.000-07:00

Ok, let's try this again. Ignore that last blog site that I told you all about, as it is "lost in space" or something like that. I had major issues yesterday, so I had to start all over. This blog is meant to be a way to keep in touch with those who live far away, and for those not so far. My hope is that the mundane, frustrating, embarrassing, and wonderful moments in our lives, will bring a smile to your face. And also as a way to have some sort of written history, since I do not scrapbook or write in a journal. I have read blogs that are creative, fun, and totally hysterical. I feel the pressure to entertain you as I have been entertained...so, a word of advice...Don't expect much and then you won't be disappointed.

Here goes nothin'.....