Jaycie's Birthday Party

Jaycie is turning five on the 24th. Crazy!! She wanted to have a horse birthday party. It was a little tricky planning a girl horse party. All in all it was a hit!
The girls having a donut eating contest! It was hillarious.

Eating the horse cupcakes.


Cute little cowgirls.

Playing Horse, Horse, Pony

Christmas Tradition

Every December, my family heads down to Salt Lake City to see the Christmas lights. This past weekend, we had a great time continuing on the tradition. I think the kids enjoyed the swimming pool more than anything else we did. We were so excited that it snowed. It really brings in the Christmas spirit! Temple square was amazing as always.

Mya and Jaycie - they never wanted to get out of the pool!

Crae and Allie

Jaycie is part fish! She jumped in about 100 times.

The whole clan

My parents came out with this nice hats on. Let's just say nobody wanted to walk too close to them!

Grandpa Joe and Jaycie. She is a Grandpa's girl!

Allie was tuckered out!!

This was a cool picture of the kids standing by the reflection pond.

Friends For Life

Yesterday my girl friends from High School met for lunch in Pocatello. We had such a great time catching up and talking about old times. It is amazing how we can go years without seeing one another, yet start the conversation like no time has passed at all. I am so glad they could make it!! We missed you Natalie and Allisha!

Private!

I have delayed long enough!! I fianlly made our blog private. I hope all of you got your invite and were able to make it here. If it worked, please leave a comment!! Thanks.

Halloween!

Our little cowgirl and Princess.
The girls' costumes this year were perfect matches for their personalities. Jaycie wanted to be a horse, but saw this costume and had to have it. (close enough) Allie picked out a kitty costume, which was fitting because her true love is Cuddles our cat. She has been wearing it for the past month, but for some reason on Halloween night when I was getting them in their costumes, apparently the kitty was too big so she got the Cinderella dress out of the dress-up box and insisted that she was going to be a princess. So, she was Cinderella with a tint of pink on her nose. (I had already painted her nose pink for the kitty.)

The Giant Wiener!

I had to add a few pictures of my preschool classes dressed up. They were all so cute in their costumes!

Pumpkins with the Packers

Yesterday, we took a quick trip up to Idaho Falls for Crae to do a Blind job. Amy (my sister),my parents and I took all the kids to the pumpkin patch and let them pick a pumpkin. They had a great time! We then had some intense carving going on. Travis, my Dad, and Crae all did some serious carving. It was a quick trip, but tons of fun. My girls love going up there to play with their cousins.

Keslie

Mya and Jaycie

My parents - My dad had to get the biggest pumpkin grown at the patch!!!

Cameron and Jaycie

Isn't the cart supposed to be for the pumpkins??

The finished product.

Crae's masterpiece!

Men hard at work.

Zak Attack

With only one blister, he is finished!

One car family!

A couple weeks ago, I decided that I would try to sell my good old minivan. It was getting up there in the years and especially in the miles, so we thought we would just try to sell it. I really didn't think that we'd sell it, but we did. And now, I have been car-less for a week now, and have no idea what to buy!! Our van was a 2001 Honda Odyssey and we really loved it. It was great, so we have been looking for a newer Honda Odyssey, but they are few and far between and WAY over priced. So, I have always loved driving Hondas, and have never really driven anything else, so I need some of your opinions of good family cars out there! Crae has a big truck with terrible gas mileage, so I would like to get something with decent gas mileage. Please if anyone has any ideas, please let me know - and quick!!! I am desperate for a car. I have been driving the Rhino around, and it is getting way too cold for that! Thanks for your help.

Say What?

Yesterday we were in the grocery store. When the girls stopped chasing each other around, Allie looked at Jaycie and said, "So, what's the word on the street?" Jaycie just started laughing, and so did I. I asked Allie where she heard that and she just laughed and said, "I don't know". (She is barely three.) Where did she come from?

The other night Jaycie was talking to my dad on the phone. He was asking her some questions, and he asked, "Do you miss Grandma and I?" She just very seriously said, "No." My parents laughed so hard - thank goodness! I am glad that she is an honest little girl, but maybe a little less honesty would have been okay in that case!!

Learning Llamas!

This is funny!! So, our good friends (and next door neighbors) T.J. and Teresa Bingham and us have been playing pranks on each other for the past couple years. It all started when Crae put a 35 foot tube standing up in their yard (dirt) when they were out of town. Well, they returned the prank by putting it back in our yard right in the middle of our dirt pile (we were putting in our yard) and wrapped it with Christmas lights all the way up!! (This was during the summer!!) Well, there have been many more - and many more to come!! Keep posted.
Here's the story. T.J. was imitating an activity I did for preschool. (Their son comes to my preschool.) I told him he should start a preschool. He said that he was going to start one and copy all my ideas and charge half price so all my kids would go to his. So...

This is my preschool sign I had up in my yard until my classes were full.

The other day, this was what was in our front yard!! This is T.J.'s sign advertising his preschool. I think it looks so professional!
T.J., I really hope this works out for you!!!

Going Private!!

So I really didn't really think about how many people check our blog until I put the little counter thing on it. I have noticed that there are a lot more people checking it out than are making comments. I really never wanted to go "private", but I think I have been convinced to do so. I really am worried that I will lose contact with some friends by doing this, so please if you have ever checked out our blog, or are interested in keeping in touch, please leave me your email address and I will invite you. Thanks!!!

Beautiful Kauai

Crae and I just returned from an awesome trip to Kauai. We had such a great time. Crae's mom and sisters were kind enough to watch Jaycie and Allie so we could go. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt, which was absolutely amazing. It is such a crazy feeling to walk into a hotel and have an open garden in the middle of the lobby with an open wall with the view of the ocean. The rooms were so clean and pretty, and the pool was the hugest pool I have ever seen. (plus there was a slide, which was a must for Crae!)
Our first day there, we took a tubing adventure through these irrigation ditches that had been used for an old sugar cane plantation. It was kind of weird, but amazing! The ditches went through underground tunnels for over 70 percent of the ride We had to wear helmets and head lamps. Good thing cuz I bonked by head on the side of the tunnels too many times to count. There were lots of tipping tubes over and splashing going on which mad it even more exciting. On the drive up and down, drove in these cool old Swiss army trucks - Crae decided that he wants one - dream on!!
The next day, we took a Napali Explorer adventure along the Napali Coast in a raft boat. It was by far the most amazing place I have ever seen. Aside from my slight motion sickness, we loved it. I have never been on a boat, let alone a raft-boat in the ocean. It was like nothing else I have ever experienced. The guide took us out to a spot in the ocean where we could see the dolphins. They swam all around the raft and jumped out of the water. (There were even baby dolphins!) We also were able to get off the boat and snorkle, which was okay, but I was afraid of getting eaten by a shark, so I didn't last long. On the way back into the harbor, the wind picked up and the ride was a little wild. We were doing some serious wave jumping!! Tons of fun.
The rest of the trip, we spent either at the amazing pool, at the beach or driving to see waterfalls, Waimai Canyon, etc. It was by far the most beautiful place I have ever seen! I think everyone needs to go sometime in their life.

This was our view from the deck off our room.

Getting ready for our tubing adventure!

Beautiful view - Crae doesn't look bad either!

At one of our many dinners out on the lawn at our resort. It was a beautiful night, even when we got rained out!!

This was the coolest swimming hole we have ever seen. It had rocks for cliff jumping and the hugest rope swing ever.

Preschool Begins!

My preschool started back up this week. I have two three-year-old classes and one four-year-old class. They are all so cute. It was a great first week. I really loved my job at Bear River Head Start, but it is so great to have a change and to be able to stay home with my girls. I am feeling so much relief just being able to teach preschool in my home. I am really hoping my girls can handle attending six preschool classes a week! I hope they learn something!!:)
This is my four-year-old class.

Bear Lake Fun

Saturday we went over to Bear Lake with the Palmers, Binghams and the Hess'. We had a great time. All the men had fun wakeboarding and we all had fun riding in the boat and hanging out on the beach. The water seemed extra cold. For some reason, it really doesn't phase my girls. They just want us to get in!

Luke, Allie and Kimball with their "binkies" or ring pops. These have been a favorite treat this summer.

One more silly face picture of Jaycie. Can she ever just smile??

Jaycie and her best friend Kori playing in the sand.

Teresa and I going out with the "moms" on a quick boat ride. Valerie always drives the boat out to the middle of the lake and we all have to jump in. Crazy and cold!!

So super tired!

After the big day playing at Bear Lake, Jaycie and Allie wanted to have a "sleep-over" downstairs. I put them to bed down in the family room on an air mattress. When I came to check on them a little while later, this is how I found Allie. I guess the stair is more comfortable than an air mattress!

What a weekend!

Last weekend, Amy and Travis and their kids came for a three night stay. We had a great time to say the least. We had a fun day shopping in Park City on Friday (despite the many temper tantrums)! Saturday I took my sister to a "cross fit" class (it's a crazy exercise program in Logan that I have been attending) and we barely lived. She thinks that she burned at least 7000 calories :) After we regained consiousness, we did some more shopping at the many stores Logan has to offer - ha ha! Then we took a trip up Providence Canyon for tin foil dinners (a touch on the burnt side - thanks to Crae and Travis) but still tasty. Church was an adventure with six kids, with four that are 4 and under, but we made it through all three hours - with a high need for caffeine when we got home. It was so good to have them come visit and to let all the kids play. Jaycie and Allie were so sad to have to say good bye. Here are some of pictures that were somewhat appropriate to post. (I sure wish the one of Travis imitating the olympic sand volley ball would've turned out!)




Poor Jaycie got a mosquito bite under her eye. It was completely swollen shut for the next two days!

We had a surprise visit from Ariel. She even sang "Ah Ah Ah, Ah Ah Ah,..." (This was Mya's build-a-bear clothes). Nice Amy!