Merry Christmas

I hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May joy and happiness be with you always.

Thankful for...

Daddy's. Ki went to Denver a couple of weeks ago, on a business trip. When he got home, the kids tackled him and hugged him. We missed him a lot and were all very glad he was home. Sweet.

 My Dad with the kids. They made masking tape mustaches.  I think they all look quite sophisticated.
Ki is a great father and we both have wonderful fathers.  I loved Dad's.

Moms. I'm grateful to be a Mom and I'm so grateful for my Mom and Ki's Mom.  Mom's are always there for you and love you no matter what.  I LOVE being a Mother. It is one of the hardest things to do but also the most rewarding.  I love Moms.

for kids. I think the pictures say it all but these are great kids. I love them and the bring me so much joy and happiness.  They continue to teach me patience, forgiveness and love.  I am grateful for my kids.

Our spooktacular Halloween

Halloween was fun. The kids got way to much candy but had a blast. They went all around the neighborhood for several hours and were troopers in the rain.  Ki and I took turns taking them around and staying home with Liv to hand out candy.  Livy trick-or-treated for about a half hour and then enjoyed seeing who was at the door when the door bell rang.  Happy Halloween!!

Happy 6th Birthday Kiley!

I can't believe my little girl is six.  She is such a joy to have in our family.  She is so sweet!  She is a great big sister to Kade and Olivia.  She is always watching out for them and making sure that they are okay.  She has a great memory.  She loves to sing songs to us that she has learned at school.  Just tonight she sang us a Halloween song they have been learning.  She is loving learning to read.  She is doing an awesome job.  It is fun to watch her learn and see her excitement at getting a word right.  She loves dancing and dressing up.  She loves infomercials.  She memorizes those infomercials and tells me and Ki about amazing, wonderful stuff all the time.  It is hilarious.  One finally came through for her.  She and Kade have been wanting pillow pets forever.  Well...she got a purple unicorn pillow pet for her birthday.  She was so EXCITED! 

I love you Kiley!

Summer 2010 conclusion

Somehow I missed posting Olivia's scooter picture down below. Third times the charm right! I posted some other fun pictures that I found while searching for the scooter picture. I love to see my kids with smiles on their faces. They always put a smile on my face.

Summer 2010 conclusion

Daddy did a triathlon in July with some of his friends. It was the Spudman triathlon in Burley ID. He did awesome! I was so proud of him. He finished despite wrecking on his bike( due to another rider)and getting some pretty good scrapes and bruises. It was fun to cheer him on and to see him at the finish breathing and moving. :)



Olivia loves fruit and vegetables. She would often sneak stuff from the garden (mainly green tomatoes) or kitchen; wherever it was available. I'm glad she has chosen to like these yummy foods on her own. Hopefully it will continue.

Aunt Lori showed Livy and Gabriel (Lori's son) how to ride a scooter. They loved it as you can see from the pictures. They didn't want to stop and were bummed when they had to take turns with the older kids.

Summer 2010 conclusion

We went to our ward camp out in August. It rained pretty much the whole time but the kids still had a great time. It was fun to be there with members of our ward.

Welcome Fall

I LOVE Fall! It is my favorite season. What a perfect day for the first day of Fall. It was overcast and warm but there was a slight cool breeze. I wanted to stay outside all day. I'm excited for the cooler weather and all the fun Fall festivities. HAPPY FALL EVERYONE!

Funny ha ha's

I had to post a couple of cute things that the kids have said lately. I don't want to forget them and since I am not a journal writer I figure that this is my best bet.

A couple of weeks ago, Kiley invited two of her friends over to play after school. She spent the morning building a tent in her room that they could play in. She told me that she was going to let Kade play in it, even if her friends didn't want him to. We picked both friends up and they walked with us to school. I was a little bit ahead of them, pushing Kade and Olivia in the stroller when I heard this:

Kiley: "I built a tent in my room that we can play in after school."
Friend: "But not Kade, huh."
Kiley: "Kade can play too. We don't leave anyone out. It's in the scripture s, well (laughs a little)okay maybe it's not in the scriptures but Jesus never left anyone out."
Friend: "oh, okay."

I was proud, even though I had to chuckle a bit. Cute!

Kade loves to watch Super Why! Lately when he is doing things that he's not suppose to and I ask him to stop, he says, "I can't. It's in my story. I have to throw wet toys out of the tub (or whatever it is that I want him to not do)." It is hard to be mad at him after he says that. :)

Olivia has learned to say MOM. She stands in the hall and yells, "Mom!" and then smiles when I say, "What?" She understands almost everything now and nods or shakes her head to everything we ask her. Isn't communication great?!

Summer vacation

We were able to take a family vacation to Washington to visit my brother, Derek and his family. We were also able to visit Ki's Aunt Lynda and Uncle Eddy. We had a great time!! Ki and I celebrated our eighth wedding anniversary. Thanks for letting us go out guys!! Ki and Derek were able to fish several times. Unfortunately, Ki was not lucky at fishing. We came home with zero salmon. :( He was successful at clamming and we were able to have fresh clam chowder. We went able to go to the beach several times, we made a trip to the coast and went crabbing. We went boating a couple of times and Janna and I got to have a girls night out. We got pedicures, shopped and went to dinner. We also picked fresh blueberries and blackberries. Fresh are so much better then store bought! DELICIOUS! It was a great trip and a good break for all of us.

Pictures as promised

Here are Kiley's school pictures and also one of her lost tooth. I took the first picture the first day she went for just an hour and then the other pictures are of her actual first day of school. The second day of school we were leaving and I said,"Let's go!" Kiley responded with, "Okay Mom but no more pictures." :)