"Smile First"

Thanksgiving day!

2011-11-27T20:33:00.001-07:00

We had an awesome day with Dave & Jill and family. We felt so at home, it was the perfect day.... Great company people and food

2011-11-20T14:30:00.001-07:00

Cedar is finally home.....haven't seen her all weekend. Birthday party and then to Twin with Keely

2011-11-20T11:27:00.001-07:00

Walk with pat and the dogs Sunday morning

2011-11-20T09:45:00.001-07:00

The competition is on.....we love this game!

I am trying out blogging from my phone....I am hoping this will help me stay more up to date

2011-11-19T22:03:00.001-07:00

Nice Sunday Afternoon...

2011-10-16T13:55:00.000-06:00

I am just reminding myself how much I love to post to this blog. It has been a long time and I am sad I haven't kept it up, at least each month, well I hope I can start here again and be more on top of it. We definatly have a lot of stuff for me to document and without making a few notes about it, my mind just lets it all go. I can hardly remember what I did the day before. Time is so crazy, as Oakley and Cedar keep getting older faster and faster I feel like it is all a blur.
I have such a huge list of all the people I want to contact, things I want to accomplish, crafts i want to make, and on and on and on. I guess just this one little post is a tiny little thing I can say I finally did. Hope to continue to post.........we will see!

2011-01-23T17:39:00.000-07:00

Smoke meeting his son, and little Cash's new family here to take him home!

The puppies have grown a ton!

2011-01-23T17:36:00.000-07:00

Horse back riding with Jeremy and Shelby

2011-01-23T17:32:00.000-07:00

Stephanie's going away party!

2011-01-23T17:25:00.000-07:00

What wonderful memories, I love all these women, Now Steph is almost ready to give birth to a baby and we are all so happy and excited to see them all when they come and show her off.

2011-01-23T17:20:00.000-07:00

Little Akiya looking beautiful in the sunlight.

Oakley's 6th grade band performance. He is playing the Bells. He did not fall in love with it and gave it up after this year, but he did good.

Chris and Smoke hanging out!

2011-01-23T17:11:00.000-07:00

This is how we entertain ourselves between games.

2011-01-23T17:10:00.000-07:00

More soccer pictures, they did an Applebees fundraiser and had to wait tables. they made good money and had so much fun!

2011-01-23T17:07:00.000-07:00

Talent show at Edahow

2011-01-23T17:05:00.000-07:00

Twin Falls tournament: we were able to watch the base jumpers go off the bridge, pretty scary, I missed getting pictures though, bummer!

This is Mimi and Smoke's little ones I think she had 11, they were beautiful!

Cedar donated her beautiful hair!

2010-08-26T10:42:00.000-06:00

Cedar was ready for a bit of a change and bravely went in a cut off 10 inches of her amazing hair. I am so excited for her and she is really having fun with her new hair. she is a little hero. Just wanted to give her a little pat on the back.

Chipped tooth, black eye, bruised and a bit shook up.

2010-06-16T21:19:00.000-06:00

Having fun at BBQ, Cedar stumbled on some loose rocks and witnesses say did kind of a front flip, hitting her tooth on a rock and getting a black eye and bruised down her whole right side. She had a big fat lip that was bleeding and then that big old chip in her front tooth. Pretty tramatic that night but went in to Aunt Cindy and Dr. Bradley at 7:30am next morning and her tooth was as good as new. She has some good battle stories to tell.

May 11th, 2000 Little Cedar was born!

2010-06-16T21:06:00.000-06:00

Some fun memories of Cedar's 10th Birthday. What a wonderful time and sad time for me, I feel like time is flying by so fast I can't absorb all of it. My little girl being in the double digits is hard for me to accept or believe. You are growing so fast and have always been such an amazing daughter, I am so lucky and proud to be your mama!!! luv you Cedar Pie!

Rainy days of summer more dress up and pics, the girls took some really nice pictures.

2010-06-16T20:54:00.000-06:00

2010-06-16T20:46:00.000-06:00

Oakley has had an amazing season of soccer. The weather was crazy, rain, sleet, snow all of it, and his team stuck it out and played awesome soccer. We traveled to a Twin Falls tournament and one in Meridian, it was great to be with the kids on his team and their parents, lots and lots of great memories. The boys had to wait tables and serve a pancake breakfast at Applebees to raise some money and they had a blast. Way to Go Apollo!!!

here I go again catching up, time goes so fast I can't keep up at all.....

2010-05-03T20:53:00.000-06:00

I just put some of our pictures from Easter together. We spent a pretty quiet holiday, coloring eggs, hunting for candy filled eggs and just enjoying some fun games and great friends. The pic with the snow was the day after Easter. You gotta love Idaho's weather!

These are some pictures Cedar and Keely took while on there snowshoeing field trip from school. They had really great weather and loved the time with all their classmates. It was really fun seeing the pics that they took and the funny video, this will always be a wonderful 4th grade memory for them. Thanks to the teachers and the parents who helped with this awesome experience.

We are taking a nice walk with the dogs to get a change of scenery. It was a beautiful day and a great walk. We spotted the deer in someones yard on the way home, they just watched us and looked so peaceful, I love spending our time like this. What a great time to chat and collect rocks or whatever.

A Hunter's Poem....

2010-02-27T21:31:00.000-07:00

The Hunter's Poem by Lemuel T. Ward

A hunter shot at a flock of geese that flew within his reach. Two were stopped in their rapid flight and fell on the sandy beach. The male bird lay at the water's edge and just before he died, he faintly called to his wounded mate and she dragged herself to his side. She bent her head and crooned to him in a way distressed and wild, caressing her one and only mate as a mother would a child. Then covering him with her broken wing and gasping with failling breath, she laid her head against his breast, a feeble honk....then death. This story is true, though crudely told. I was the man in this case. I stood knee-deep in snow and cold, and the hot tears burned my face. I buried the birds in the sand where thay lay, wrapped in my hunting coat and I threw my gun and belt in the bay when I crossed in the open boat. Hunters will call me a right poor sport and scoff at the thing I did, but that day something broke in my heart, and shoot again? God forbid.

I have a million things to catch up on but just got a few things updated.

2010-02-12T22:31:00.000-07:00

Cedar wrote a little farewell note to Montana! We sure do miss you old man!

We made a little collage for Keely on her birthday, We are so thankful you are part of our lives kiddo, We love you!!

We are enjoying the dogs, Fritz and Missy up at Grandmas' after she made us an awesome dinner.

We all helped Grandma with her Christmas decor and had an amazing time, it is such a wonderful thing to do each year, so we can admire all the beautiful ornaments mom has made over the years. Each one took so much time and is so beautiful, I know it is the most amazing Christmas tree I have ever seen.

What an Amazing Thanksgiving Day!

2009-11-27T22:44:00.000-07:00

We were so lucky to get to share our day with so many beautiful, loving, fun, and wonderful friends! Thank you all so much, the kids had such a fun day with all the food, games and the spook alleys. I love you all and feel so lucky that your are part of our lives.

Turkey Trot, 19 degrees outside, Brrrr!!

2009-11-27T22:25:00.000-07:00

Thursday morning we all got up and headed out to do a 5K fun run/walk. Oakley and Pat ran it and ended up finishing 96th Oakley and 97th Pat. They did a great job and I walked with Cedar and Keely we came in 277, 278, 279. We had a blast and is was so cold to start but was really nice once you start moving. The girls from the coffee shop did the walk too and we all warmed up with yummy coffee afterward.

Our little Cedar.

2009-11-19T19:28:00.000-07:00

I have been playing around with some of our pictures and this one just needed to be posted. This little one is so amazing in her pics. She really loves to dress up and pose. I am so amazed at her sweet, beautiful, absolutely precious little self, I love you Cedar!

cute windows, raking and coffee shop girls

2009-11-19T19:23:00.000-07:00

This is the cutest little pilgrim, I don't think they drank much Tully's Coffee back then.

Our leaf raking tradition. We are so happy Grandpa and Grandma have such huge trees that fill up the yard.

Each morning of Halloween week, the kids and I stopped by to get coffee before work/school and took pics at the drive thru. It was so much fun seeing everyone each day, I love all these girls and they sure make our life more entertaining and so much more fun!

Snowy days and paintball battle.

2009-11-19T19:15:00.000-07:00

Lovely November weather...the kids shoveled the snow so they could ride the scooters around the driveway. I guess its a nice way to get the driveway cleaned off. The dogs and I are watching from the warm bedroom window.

Oakley got a few hours of paintball battles with a group of world cup paintball players out at PASS. He had a blast, the people were so fun and they loved having him play, he ended up with a few welts, and got to hit a couple of the pros, so he was thrilled.

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T09:31:00.001-06:00

here are the amazing pumpkins the kids carved. What fun this was, but so weird because I didn't have to do any of the work this year, the kids had a blast and turned out with some awesome jack-0-lanterns.

Thursday we tried for some good old cheap fun, we bought 3 block ice cubes and hit the hills. Kind of hard to get your balance on the cube, (especially my butt on that little bit of ice!) but we got it figured out and ended up flying down the hill, it was so so fun!

bringing in the backhoe, hanging with Dad and Mom, and a best friend!

2009-10-31T09:14:00.000-06:00

You can't beat an ice cold beer on the ice cold desert, burrrrr.....
Dad and Mom were getting ready to head to warmer ground, so dad shut the gold mining business down for the winter. This is a wonderful 20 mile per hour drive back into town. We had a super fun day and it was fun going so slow and talking and watching scenery go slowly by.

Maddie and Cedar being weird as usual, these two love each other so much it is such a wonderful time anytime they are together.

Triatholon!

2009-09-19T22:14:00.000-06:00

I was so proud of Oakley today, the University held a Kid's Triatholon today and Oakley and Brayden thought it would be a fun thing to try. It included 200 yards swimming, a 3-4 mile bike ride and then a mile run. Oakley completed it in about 25 min. and Brayden beat him at about 20 min. Oakley said the swimming was the worst part of it. All of the kids recieved a medal and a T-shirt and is was a great event, something I think they might try to work on for next year. I loved that even though they were so tired they kept on trucking and I could surely see they are both pretty competitive kids. Great Job, boys!!

The best of the fair....

2009-09-19T21:54:00.000-06:00

This is the thing you gotta love about rides. Cedar and Keely were doing great and then they got in line for the Zipper. As they were waiting a boy close to 10 or 11 got off the ride and was crying and very upset, it didn't faze these guys they thought it would be awesome. Obviously, it didn't turn out so good, they both got off the ride bawling and scared. It was hard not to laugh, you can see Jeff was really being sympathetic. They recovered pretty quick but I don't think they will try that one again.

bye, bye, to summer.

2009-09-19T21:48:00.000-06:00

Snake River Coffee Baristas!

Now on to the Blackfoot Fair, we really haven't been good supporters of the fair while the kids were younger because it was to much money and we felt it wasn't worth it. So this year we went ahead and bought the wristband for the rides and they had a BLAST! We spent about 6 hours there and ate yummy corn on the cob and other healthy goody's ( yeah right!) and the kids rode and rode and rode. I am so happy we went and it really brought back alot of fun memories of me being a kid and loving all those rides, now days I felt sick just watchin the ride so I could try and get pictures, pretty sad but I did feel a bit sick watching them go around and around.

2009-09-19T21:37:00.000-06:00

Here is a pic of the little pug, I can't remember her name and I feel terrible, I hope she doesn't read this.

So here we are back at another Chukars game, third one over the Labor Day weekend. It was the last home game so they had alot of prizes and activities for the kids. This game was the most exciting of the three, with some homerun hits and better score.

This is our friend Steph, the girls from the coffee shop planned her a party and we had everyone over here to roast hot dogs, vegi dogs, chips and dip, beer and margaritas, it was such a beautiful night and the fire was wonderful. The best thing was the birthday girl and all of the people celebrating at our house.

Stephanie and Kenny!! Happy Birthday!

alot happening right along with the start of school.

2009-09-19T21:26:00.000-06:00

Here we are over Labor Day Weekend, we ended up with free tickets to the Chukers Baseball game on that Friday night. (they are the Idaho Falls Semi-Pro team) We drove up all excited and we are stuck on the freeway for 35 min because of an accident, and that with all the labor day traffic it was crazy. Finally at the stadium and they cancel the game because of a sprinkler problem and the field is a bit of a lake. So they moved the game to Saturday and it will be a double header, so here we are the next day watching two 7 inning games. It was a wonderful day and nice to be there together. Oakley and Kaden ended up with 7 game balls and got a ton of autograph from the team. Pretty cool.

The Adams family, got a few new members of the family, this is Pugsly (sp) she is so sweet and so little. This pic is so funny. I can see how much she really loves Steve (ha, ha). Then Nancy's parents got a pug at the same time and they are so cute together and I am sure will be causing alot of trouble for all of these guys. Good luck guys!

Best Friends!

2009-09-02T16:59:00.001-06:00

These 3 girls have had so much fun together. They can come up
with some of the greatest ideas and they are so creative together.

Pappoose Creek

2009-09-02T16:45:00.000-06:00

Pat took us on a hike in his old stomping grounds, right above

West Portneuf Road. It was hot, but beautiful.
It was fun to hear his stories, playing on the mountain.
What an amazing place with so much space to explore.

Driving, yeah!!

2009-09-02T16:37:00.000-06:00

A day out at the mine.
Grandpa gave Oakley a few driving tips and let him hit the road.
Oakley did a great job and he loved driving Grandpa's truck.
He drove about 12 miles all together, going out and coming back.
He really looking forward to more chances to hit the gas.
Thanks so much Grandpa!!

2009-09-02T16:26:00.000-06:00

Old Montana Boy. taking a ride.
Archie looking sweet on the porch.

Tea and sandwiches, anyone? somehow the tea and food tastes better when it is itty bitty.

Good old American Falls day, and My dad had his 55th high school reunion.

2009-09-02T16:18:00.000-06:00

City Creek, we loved the hike.

2009-09-02T16:08:00.000-06:00

City Creek, nice little hike with beautiful scenery. Lovely day with my kiddos.

A bit of Coffee Shop humor, one of the girls left Pocatello for college and they left all these notes all over, for her. We will miss Molly and hope she does great.

Snake River Coffee, We just went and got pics at the university with our coffee mugs, lots of fun!!

2009-09-02T15:45:00.000-06:00

2009-08-06T22:11:00.000-06:00

Check out all these handsome guys!

and more.....

2009-08-06T22:09:00.000-06:00

2009-08-06T22:08:00.000-06:00

Love you, Grandma!

Oakley and Dallen (The groom)
Brennan and Grandpa.

more wedding.....

2009-08-06T22:05:00.000-06:00

Little flower girl and Usher.
Kelsey was SO beautiful, I love this pic with the three of them. Then all the girls, I am just so in love with all of these people. This wedding was so beautiful and fun, I can't think of a better wedding because of the playful things, we were laughing, crying and just really entertained.

Kelsey and Dallen's Wedding

2009-08-06T21:59:00.000-06:00

Aunt Fran and Austin, came to see the wedding.

Cedar's hair was so beautiful for her job as flower girl. Kiddo you were amazing! Here is a pic in the dressing room with the bride. There were two flower girls, so Cedar and Neveah got to throw the flower petals and look beautiful.

Family and Friends :)

2009-07-23T12:01:00.000-06:00

Lazy days of summer with family and friends.

What we have been doing....

2009-07-23T11:56:00.002-06:00

I made our dog kennel into a little aviary for the doves this summer. It is so awesome, the kids love to play with them and I think its nice for the birds to have some more freedom while they are outside.

Steve had his 40th birthday, It was a really nice day and alot of fun for us and the kiddos.
Maddie had her 11th birthday at Lava, it was a blast, a bunch of crazy girls.

Pat's wild adventure!

2009-06-19T09:48:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we wanted to go check out a salamander pond up Mink Creek. So off we go the weather was great and no rain. Of course Pat sees a mud puddle and Oakley is in the back saying "go through it Dad!" and as fast as that Pat hits the gas and off we go, as soon as we hit the water we stop. Not surprising since it has been raining everyday for the last 15 days or so. We can't even move the Jeep is totally high centered. When Pat gets out the water goes up pat his knees. Thank goodness for cell phones. We couldn't get a signal so walked a bit and got ahold of Pat's mom and dad, and they were on their way. Cedar and I started walking back to the main road to show Grandpa and Grandma where we were and Pat and Oakley, with the help of a very nice guy on a four wheeler stayed back and tried to get out. I took pics of these butterflies on the road, Cedar and I had a beautiful walk and saw butterflies and a million ground squirrels. We ended up walking past some more campsites and a couple of guys heard about the fun in the mud and headed up on their 4 wheelers to help. Grandma and Grandpa picked up Cedar and I and by the time we got back to the Jeep the 4 wheelers had pulled it out. What a fun day.

Hike up Slate Mountain

2009-06-19T09:32:00.000-06:00

Wednesday we all got up early and headed up to Scout Mountain. We found a really fun trail on Slate Mountain and headed up. It was such a beautiful hike, it is so amazing how green it is from all this rain. The wildflowers covered the hills. All the kids did great, it was tough going on all the rocks and pretty steep in some spots. After our hike we drove to the top of Scout and waited for the rain to come. We wanted to get wet and watched the black clowds move in. We got our wish and within 5 min it was small drops to full blown hail the size of peas. It was so great! everyone got soaked and pelted with ice. I love these kiddos so much and am so glad they will get out there and play.

One of the best days...

2009-06-16T09:50:00.000-06:00

So here we are 3 weeks into our summer vacation and alot of rain, cleaning out closets and just getting caught up on crap, Yesterday I decided to stop feeling bummed out by the wet dog smell in our house and all the things on my list of things to do and just try to not worry about it and live for the moment a bit. Pat had to work so the kids and I were home. We spent the day playing Risk, Marathon and eating junk food. We took all the dogs out in the pouring rain, all of us got soaked to the bone, but it wasn't cold, it was the BEST! That warm wet feeling, because the sun came out a little after. So my house was totally wet and it was smelly and we were all happy. We will try to spend more days like this together.

Dog Days, Rainy Days of Summer!

2009-06-16T09:38:00.000-06:00

Finally a bit of sunshine, all of us felt so happy.

Don't make me go out there!

This is the run off into the creek from the road. The water just keeps coming and keeps coming.

2009-06-11T21:59:00.000-06:00

2009-06-11T13:16:00.000-06:00

Go Frogmen! Oakley and his awesome team.

This is a new family member of Oakley and Cedar's Great Grandma Jeanne. Her name is Missy and she is a bit older than 3 months. I took about 30 pics of her and these are the only 2 that weren't blurry. She is non-stop, she is so cute and full of so much energy. We love you Missy.

2009-06-11T13:09:00.000-06:00

I love you, babe!

So this was the second annual Brian S. Reams Memorial Basketball Tourn. It rained the entire day, it is a three on three tourn. and the teams did amazing under those conditions. Keely and Cedar worked hard all day taking orders for coffee and hot chocolate, while the parents and kids watched the games. They made good money on tips and had a great time. Oakleys team played great but didn't win any of the 4 games they played in. they were soaked to the bone. You gotta love Idaho weather.

Summer fun.

2009-06-11T12:29:00.000-06:00

We just returned from the hospital, Teddy Bear Clinic. What a fun time the girls had. They met so many other animals that had very strange accidents that morning. They got to xray, vaccinate, cast, heart rate checks, the stuffed animals had very good check ups and both are recovered and doing great.

The boys designed and helped build these rubberband guns. They were pretty cool and lots of fun for them.

Oakleys baseball season ended on Tuesday. They ended up winning 2 games this season and kind of struggled the rest, but he had a good time playing. I learned alot about baseball I didn't know and had fun, but I am so happy we get a break from it. We lived baseball the last 2 months. Yeah!!

Pat getting a bit of cuddle time with Tucker.

Spring Break Video

2009-05-06T12:53:00.004-06:00

I decided to post my spring break video, just for fun. It is really long (about 23 min) if anyone has the time to watch, but I loved our whole week and loved the pics we got so I thought some of you out there would enjoy them too! It is priceless to have the time with my Dad and Mom, our kids are so lucky to have them to play with and share these wonderful memories and just good old hanging out time with them.

2009-05-06T09:27:00.001-06:00

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Baseball and Acrobats!

2009-05-02T17:27:00.000-06:00

These two are always performing and I wanted to always remember this little sign they made to start their show. It says "The Amazing Keely and Cedar Acrobats!" then there is a "caution : Do not try this at home!" and "Free Admission" I loved it and have some great video of their skit. I love having this blog so I can have a place for all these little moments that make me laugh and smile.

Oakley is on the White Sox team and has played 5 games so far. He is doing an amazing job as a baseball player, even though he has always been a soccer player. I have had to learn all these crazy baseball rules and I think it is pretty fun to watch. The third game, Oakley earned the game ball for his awesome job as short stop, we were all pretty excited. Thursday we played in American Falls, so we ate dinner with my mom and dad and they were able to watch the game. It was fun to have them there, we didn't win but it was a fun game anyway.

Finally a weekend to blog a bit.

2009-05-02T17:07:00.000-06:00

I took these pictures in March and never got them on here so I just put a few together. The girls love dressing up and getting pics taken I think they are so beautiful and I love taking their pictures. It is so easy when they are all so cute anyway.

February 24th was Pat's 38th birthday. Wow he is getting up there! We bought a cake and just hung out all together. We all love you dad!

The kids have been very busy out in the creek, they have a little fort and are always trying to get the bridge right. with all the snow and rain they keep having to redo it because of flooding.

What happened to April?

2009-04-19T21:27:00.000-06:00

I am sitting here after getting off work at the coffee shop and thought I better write something. We have had an amazing month and a half, spring break, good weather, baseball started, we have been able to be outside alot and just alot of fun. I plan on a picture update of some of the fun things happening, but tonight I just wanted to jot down a bit.
I am so shocked each day how fast time seems to be going, I can't keep up, I am thinking everyday how I want to contact my friends and maybe do something with them or at least make a plan to see them. Then suddenly it has been a week then months. I am freaking out. How can there be so little time in the day? I am very excited for summer vacation, then I won't be working at the school and only have three days at the coffee shop and maybe we will have a bit of down time to just enjoy our family and friends. It is bedtime for kiddos so I am signing off, I hope all out in blog land, have a wonderful week and hopefully have some down time.

BELIEVE!

2009-03-05T16:58:00.000-07:00

The kids went to a class called Believe, it is to talk about believing in your dreams, help with your self image and esteem and how to deal with bullys. It was really fun for them and they got a great workout.

Dinner and a makeover.

2009-03-05T16:43:00.000-07:00

Here we are having a wonderful dinner with friends. This was so fun, but we had never invited them over for dinner and they came by for a beer and happened to have all this great food in their car. So we got there food and finally had them over for dinner. Kind of tricky to make them bring the food to eat at our house. We had a blast and loved having them here. Thanks guys.

So on to Makeover.....
The girls found some recipes for lemon juice shampoo and avocado conditioner so they whipped it all up and their hair was soft and so shiny after. They surely love to mix and create stuff. it was really fun.

Nice Sunday hike.

2009-02-08T17:41:00.000-07:00

Today was beautiful outside so we made a lunch and took a little hike up to check out the city. It sure felt good to be outside and get some fresh air. I sure love looking out around the city, its a nice new perspective. I love doing this with the kids, we had great conversation and alot of fun. Now back to the beginning of the week. here we go.

We had an OOPS baby.

2009-01-28T21:40:00.000-07:00

I have doves named Jack and Lily, we have had them for about 5 years. during this time they have had 8 babies. We gave 3 of them away and we kept the other 4, one died about 2 years ago, so now we had 5 at our house. Lily lays 2 eggs about every 3 weeks and I usually switch them out with the unfertilized eggs that my other female dove have lain. They are in separate cages from Jack. I guessed I missed the fertilized egg because Saturday I am petting Lily and I see a broken little egg and find this little one. They are so fragile and small I love them so much. Jack and Lily have never minded that we handle the baby or them. They are very social and sweet birds. Pats not so thrilled.

In this picture Cedar is holding him at one day old and then Mckenna and Keely are holding him at 3 days, they grow really fast. It only takes 18 days for the egg to be lain and then to hatch it is amazing.

Out for a little stroll...

2009-01-28T21:26:00.000-07:00

We all took the dogs for a nice long walk this past weekend because Pat was having his ankle fixed after breaking it this summer. He has had trouble ever since but they thought it might heal. They ended up finding a bone chip about the size of a stretched out nickle, no wonder he couldn't really move, it kind of sat in there like a door stop not allowing his ankle to bend. It has now been about a week and Pat is doing great, it already seems like its better. We are glad we had it fixed. Anyway the walk this day was great but we froze to death, I think it was like 25 degrees outside. burrrr!!!

Happy 11th Birthday, Oakley!!

2009-01-28T21:09:00.000-07:00

So Oakley is getting way to old. What happened? He had friends over and we took them swimming to try to wear them out, it didn't work. But they had a blast, after swimming they told scary stories, or talked about girls I am not sure which. We got up and all walked the dogs and they just played non stop. Cedar had Keely over for girl support. We had a great time with a bunch of awesome kids.

Busy January, what the heck, it's almost February

2009-01-28T21:01:00.000-07:00

Wild Turkeys on the way up to Pebble Creek. Oakley got snow board lessons for his birthday.
It was such a beautiful day. no wind which is shocking.
.... while we all played Keely's room was getting a makeover. Very nice!

2009-01-04T15:36:00.000-07:00

Fun in the snow!

2009-01-04T15:31:00.001-07:00

Here are a few more pics of fun in the snow, what a great vacation from school to get to play and be at home.

3:47 am Christmas Morning!

2009-01-04T15:24:00.000-07:00

We tried to wipe the kids out Christmas Eve at Grandpa and Grandmas but it didn't work. They came to get us at 3:47 am. We told them to go back to bed, but you all know how that goes, it doesn't work! so here we are up and at'um all the presents opened a bit after 4am. We had a wonderful day and got a nap in too!

My Dad turned 72 on Christmas Eve.

2009-01-04T15:08:00.002-07:00

Happy Birthday Dad! Cindy's family and ours all went to mom and dads for Christmas Eve for dads birthday and the awesome fondue dinner mom makes each year. We spent the whole day together and had a blast. The time with family is so precious, all the kids are so grown up and its great to have these bits of time together as a whole family. We love to play games and eat and of course mostly talk, talk and more talking. I love you all so much!

11 days of Christmas.

2009-01-04T14:46:00.000-07:00

Oakley and Cedar got to open a little package each day till Christmas. Usually I do the 12 days of Christmas but this year I was a bit behind and didn't get my plan all worked out. The kids made a little homemade book and each day they had to write down special things they are proud, thankful for, love, wish, etc. and it would go along with how many days left until Christmas. It was fun and will be neat to look back on in the future.

Keely and Cedar stayed outside as long as they could possibly stand it. This fort was so cool and I thought these pics of them needed to get posted.

Cedar's 3rd grade Christmas program.

2009-01-04T14:40:00.000-07:00

This program started off the Christmas Holiday so nice. They sang some awesome songs and all looked so stink'in cute, it really got you into the spirit of the holidays.

We had so much fun with friends and family. Here we were at the Sand Trap having dinner and a bit of a boy vs girl competition.

Yes! tons of snow!

2008-12-22T12:46:00.000-07:00

2008-11-30T19:23:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving 4 day weekend.

2008-11-30T18:44:00.000-07:00

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. We definately did!
We ate a lot of food and had great friends to help us enjoy the long weekend.

Shiver me timbers! Arrrrg, its family reading night.

2008-11-20T20:27:00.001-07:00

Edahow had the big pirate event for family reading night. It was so cool, someone here in town had made a whale that was only 1/3 the size that they normally would be and they blew it up in the gym. In these pics the girls and I are inside the whale. It was huge!

Beware of crazy pirates!

This is how big it was on the outside. It barely fit in our entire gym. We had fun and really cool whale! Peace, love and save the whales!!!

Fall Leaves!!

2008-11-17T16:55:00.000-07:00

This is for you...Dad and Mom. This doesn't really look like much work got done, but we really did clean up. This weekend was so nice and a perfect day to be outside. You guys have the best leaves ever!!

very sad night!

2008-11-02T12:58:00.000-07:00

Last night some friends of ours lost their home. I was at friends last night up Pocatello creek and they live a ridge over from where this fire took place. we smelled a fire and kept checking up the mountain and could see a glow and finally we walked up to see if a fire was headed down the valley and I took these pics of the house. It ended up being a good friend of Pat's and their kids go to school with Oakley and Cedar. We are so sad and feeling so stunned. Both of the kids were with their mom in the house when this started and are all three fine. Its Sunday at 1pm and we don't even know if the dad knows cause he was fishing in Salmon this weekend. This home was in the parade of homes last year. It really makes you think about how this would feel, fire is so devistating. there is just nothing left.

Trick or Treat!

2008-11-02T12:26:00.001-07:00

here we have a bit of the 60's and the 70's, these guys had such a fun night and they look so dang cute!
and then here we have Ozzy, the Slayer, and a bad pumkin guy, (Oakley is in the middle) These boys got a ton of candy and covered a lot of territory this Halloween.
Pat's trying to get some of the goods.

This is how these guys normally look anyway, but thought I'd get a picture of them anyway!

2008-11-02T12:04:00.002-07:00

So we hope everyone had a SPOOKY Halloween! We spent Thursday night, carving pumpkins and roasting some pumpkin seeds. The kids use the sheets that you can do dot to dot to cut your design. I think the pumpkins look amazing. This has always been so fun and they love getting the goo out of the pumpkins.

2008-10-24T15:45:00.002-06:00

Cedar had a great opportunity to play with some little girls who were in Pocatello with the African Children's Choir. They were staying with a family who Oakley plays soccer with. Cedar fell in love with them and they got to play a bit of soccer and do some tumbling together. What a beautiful bunch of girls. All of these girls were from Uganda and had lost their families. They loved to dance and would even be dancing while doing summersaults and kicking the ball.

Oh No! what is this snow doing here? I am not ready for full blown winter yet, but the kids were so excited to get out and play, play, play!!

2008-10-06T19:51:00.000-06:00

These crazy boys are doing a school skit to help Brayden win vice President for Edahow. by the way he did win.

Okay, it really is raining outside.

Three wild animals we saw in Jackson Hole.

We went to a soccer tournament in Jackson Hole, WY, it was a beautiful trip and so much fun. The soccer team came in 4th place out of 9 teams, they were awesome!

catch up time......

2008-10-06T17:34:00.000-06:00

Hello out there! we are all doing great and just working and enjoying Fall weather. Here Cedar is saying buy to a little snake that a friend caught and was so nice to think we needed another critter to take care of, we kept him for about 4 hours and then set him free at the creek.

Archie gives Oakley some fast rides on his skateboard. I think Archie wanted to be a sled dog when he grew up.

....so Cedar is here with our sweet, loving, gentle old boy Montana. He is so funny, if Smoke is any where near him he shows his teeth and growls like a mad dog, but at the same time he is cuddling with Cedar. We love you so much Montana.
Little twinners.

more cave pics

2008-08-26T16:49:00.001-06:00

Can you see the rattle snake? Pat took the picture, he is crazy!

Kings Bowl.

I love this pic, beautiful huh?

Island Park and Caving Adventures....

2008-08-26T16:23:00.000-06:00

We spent the weekend of August 1st up in Island Park. Dad and mom and Steve and Nancy & family went. The weather was awesome and we played so much and had such a great time. Saturday Dad and Mom took us out on the boat and we swam and played on the beach and they did a little fishing ( none to be caught that day ) anyway, we got back to the cabin, had a yummy dinner and played cards and we loved being with all of these great people. Sunday was the Island Park Rodeo, usually I ban these events because of the fear the animals are being hurt or something, but Oakley got the idea he needed to try calf riding. So we all went and the people helping the kids were so amazing. The calf riding was first thing when we got there, so we signed Oakley up and then talked to any cowboy standing around to see what the heck he was supposed to do and how is he supposed to stay on. We watched a few kids and they fell off and some cried, one kid got stepped on and limped off, we all started really wondering "What did I sign my kid up for?" I was so scared, after all we had seen Oakley decided "No way, I am outta here!" Then some cowboys that had been talking with him got him on a calf and showed him all the tricks to staying on and he was in the shoot and then he was out in the arena! Oakley was amazing! He stayed on the whole time and rode with one hand like a real cowboy. The clown helped him down and he had come in second place. That was so cool. I got a little teary eyed cause it scared me so bad and I couldn't believe he didn't get hurt. He had a blast and had a hard time believing he did that good also. Go Cowboy!

Cedar and Montana resting while I play on the computer, too cute!

Here is the next little adventure... Dad and mom took us out to some caves that are out on the Wapi Lava beds. It is a bit of a drive out to the caves but we saw about 10 Sage Hens, a big rattle snake and 2 antelope. So the drive was very nice, the temp in the caves was so cold compared to outside where it was in the low 90's, that felt really nice in the caves. I had a hard time getting good pics so these are some that show a bit of what it was like.

Summer quickly coming to an end!

2008-08-13T13:53:00.000-06:00

Well, we are trying to get prepared for a bit of structure to the crazy chaos of summer.

We have loved having fires in the back yard and feeding the kids smores for dinner, not really but that is how organized I have felt with making dinnners. We spent the day at Lava Hot Springs and Mariah and Oakley jumped off the platforms all day, it was both of their first times and each of them motivated the other to keep going till they had jumped off the highest one. I loved watching them even though they kept giving me a heart attack!

Other BIG news is this summer was Marty and Cindy's 25th anniversary. The kids put together a wonderful surprise party for them and had all their friends and loved ones gathered to help them celebrate. 25 years is amazing, Great job guys.

Summer Happenings

2008-08-06T11:46:00.000-06:00

Doesn't he look so cute. Pat fractured his ankle playing softball. He is doing good. This is kind of a pain (literally) for our summer play time.

Maddie held her 10th birthday at Lagoon, these three had a great time and went on all the big scary rides.

Dad and Mom's 49th wedding anniversary. Great job!! you are our roll models. You two are the BEST!!!

Happy 4th of July. We love the USA

2008-07-13T16:54:00.000-06:00

I just wanted to post a couple pics of our weekend over the 4th. We all had such a great time. We ate a ton of great food and drink and played and stayed up too late. The parade was fun and the weather was over cast so it wasn't so hot, the kids grabbed a ton of candy. We spent the day with friends and man it was great to just hang out for a WHOLE day and do nothing but eat and drink.

The summer is flying by, time does not give us a break.

Missing pics from previous post

2008-07-08T17:36:00.000-06:00

Basketball tourn.

2008-06-20T10:52:00.001-06:00

Here we have our "amazing" basketball team. Oakley just got his friends together the night before this tournament, and he and Zack are the soccer players and Kaden and Andrew are the basketball players. They all stayed over night and practiced and played together and then hit the court at 7:30am. We thought it was just for a little fun but as they kept winning we all got way more excited and more serious about our chances to win 1st place. These guys played so hard and worked so well as a 3 on 3 team that they ended up getting 2nd place and played 6 games in all, in that one day. What a great group of friends. Super Job you guys!!!

Cedar and Keely helped out as a t-shirt girls and picked up garbage during the games. it was such a beautiful day and they had a BBQ for the players and all who helped out.

Later a band played and the girls danced the night away.

a day of mining for gold!

2008-06-20T10:30:00.000-06:00

beautiful couple......Dallen and Kelsey

2008-06-19T13:46:00.000-06:00

Just love, strength and craziness at our house...

2008-06-18T20:18:00.000-06:00

Grandma holding her "favorite" dog.

the question is......who is stronger girls or boys?

The wonderful world of playing airplane.

Oakley: Before and After

2008-06-01T21:53:00.000-06:00

Well, here is a shocker! Oakley decided to go cool for the summer, so we shaved his head yesterday. What a cutie. He had two soccer games and the first one was so hot, he figured it would be nice to loose a bit of his hair so he wouldn't be so hot. I was a bit sad because I love his hair long, but he reassured me he would grow it back over the summer. I think he is so dang cute either way.

Schools Out For Summer!!!!

2008-06-01T21:16:00.000-06:00

Oakley and Cedar had a super fun last week of school. They have loved their teachers and had so much fun with friends. So we now officially have a 5th grader and a 3rd grader. What the heck has happened, my kids are growing up so stinking fast. So here we go into summer and alot of fun to come in the next 3 months.

Our little Memorial Day camp-out at home.

2008-06-01T21:03:00.000-06:00

We didn't travel anywhere for the weekend, but we still tried to make it feel like it was a holiday. So we had a little camp fire and the kids roasted hot dogs and (of course! ate smores) we had a nice time and saved our gas money. (ha, ha)
We found this little family of ducks in the creek and have seen them for a few days. I took pictures of dad, there are 8 babies and they are beautiful.

Fun on the farm.

2008-06-01T20:51:00.000-06:00

The kids got to bottle feed this baby goat that lives with our friends, Joe and Kristi. This was so fun and we loved playing with all their animals.