Deck the Halls

And stockings were hung by the fire with care...ok we dont have a fire so they're hung on the shelf by our tv with care lol! This years tree is real...Yeah! It smells so good! I dont lnow what we were thinking for the past 10 years having an artificial one. I gave the tree a rustic theme again this year and added a couple new ornaments like these cute snowmen and birdhouses and some cardinal birds and more stars. So cute!

Katelin turns 7

Katelin turned 7 yesterday but we've been celebrating it for three days. Friday we took the kids and stayed the night at the Amerihost hotel here in town and let them swim and eat pizza. Saturday my mom took her and some of her cousins to the new movie "Tangled". Afterwards we went to Dairy Queen for blizzards. Then yesterday I made her a "Candy Land" cake that she wanted. It fit her perfectly! Then today she wants me to bring cupcakes to her class. I told her "I'll think about it" but because I love her so much I probably will lol! She is so precious to me! I love her so much! She is growing up so fast! But this weekend marked a new chapter in her life. Grandma bought her her first Barbie. She hasn't stopped playing with it! I think turning seven might have brought out the girl in her. The tomboy stage might behind us, oh but wait...the first thing on her Christmas list is a football. Other than that she's so smart! She's been reading like crazy! Her favorite book right now is Diary of a Whimpy Kid. It's a third grade reading level series. She just amazes me! Her concept level is above average. Her math and spelling is above average. I don't mean to brag but a mother can be proud! The best thing I love about her is that she loves life! Nothing can bring her down. She's always happy! I just love her. Happy Birthday to my Katie Bug!

My mom turns the BIG 6-0!

My beautiful mother turned 60 on Saturday. So of course we had to have a little party :-) and CAKE!! She's so pretty inside and out! I am so thankful for her!

My Lil' Punkin's

With the last few days of good weather upon us I took the opportunity to grab the kids and take some pictures. Literaly I grabbed them off the bus, brushed their teeth, combed their hair and within 20 minutes had snapped these photos of my adoring children. Aren't they cute :-) HaPPy fAll everyone!!!

Halloweenie 2010

Halloween was a success. After the dog ate my witch costume I had to make a mad dash to Walmart and fight the crowds for the last of the costumes. It was a halloween miracle! I found my Wilma costume but decided to find fabric to make Kyle's Fred Flinstone and Weston's Bam Bam costume. Luckily while I was in line with my costume and fabric esentials, Weston caught out of the corner of his eye a Fred Flinstone Costume lodged under a rack. It was a miracle! So we headed home and bribed Kyle into dressing up again this year, for some reason it didn't take much. I think he just assumes I will have a costume ready for him each year. It was fun! The kids got away like bandits with their mother loads of candy. Savannah was a blue butterfly, Cody was a street hockey player and Katelin was a green witch.

Things to come: Kyle and the kids signed up for the Moses Lake 2011 production of The Sound of Music. I am excited to see what parts they get. Kyle is now the 2nd counselor in the Young Mens Presdiency. Which means he is the Decon's Leader and the Scout Master. So we don't see him much anymore with Stake dances, youth conference and Scouting but are awaiting the many blessings that will come.

The newest happenings

It's October and I haven't posted a blog for awhile. So what have we been up to?

We went to Ensign and contributed some hard working hours of service. We had to cut logs into circles, cut the circles into pieces and then stack the pieces one by one into a log shed. It was fun...for the first five minutes. We were really grateful for the great opportunity to serve :-)

We got a new suburban! Yeah! It's so pretty! Kyle and I took off to the tri cities and found one with in an hour. The best feature: The built in entertainment package. Equipped with a DVD player for hours of enjoyment. Oh and the leather seats that heat up. I feel spoiled!!

The kids and I went to the tri cities and enjoyed a day school clothes shopping and having fun! We went to lunch at Red Robin then bopped around the stores and mall while we waited for the Suburban to be detailed. The kids found lots of entertaining things especially these cute animal masks. They thought they were a hoot! Especially Savannah!

I got to attend the Brad Paisley concert with Shana. We had so much fun!! Felt like we were 16 all over again. Her and I have a fun history of our adventures. This was one of them. Right when we sat down the guys next to us asked if we were single. We laughed so hard. It was a good concert to. We danced and sang to all of the songs. He had Darius Rucker and Justin Moore (who I actually thought was better than the Main act) The most entertaining part of the evening was watching all of the drunk people dancing and singing. Life is so much more entertaining when you are sober and you can watch all of the drunk people make fools of themselves!

I started working again. I got hired on at Perkin's Bakery as a waitress in hopes to get some extra income coming in. Because of the suburban getting stolen which caused us to have a car payment and the house in Warden not selling as quick as we had hoped, I will be working until we sell the Warden house at least. But it's ok. I like to work. I feel it gives me a sense of accomplishment. Sounds funny I know. Maybe that's why I've been a waitress for 12 years now. The tips are like instant appreciational gestures from customers. I love coming home everyday with instant money in my pocket! Plus I love to give great customer service :-)

Anywho...well that's about it. I'm excited for Halloween. We were going to go with the family theme but the kids just wanted to be different things so Savannah is going to be a blue butterfly (her favorite color is blue) Katelin is going to be a neon green witch, Wes is going to be a Zombie football player and Cody is going to be a Warewolf (gosh is that how you spell it?)

Happy Fall everyone!!

The Boys Trip to Paradise Island

As you all know or have heard, the boys were very lucky to enjoy a week's vacation before school started to the Hawaiian Island of Owahu. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and it was fully paid for by thier Aunt Jodie so we let them go under two conditions: #1 they listened to Jodie and stayed with her at all times #2 They brought me back some chocolate covered macadamian nuts!

They had a great time as you can see in pictures. They rented these little electric cars that you can drive all over the island. They went snorkling and surfing. They visited the Polynesian center where they got to watch real live performances of Hula dancing and fire walking. They even enjoyed a real luau. Our friend Bonnie Allen who is currently working in Maui as a nurse was able to join them one of the days for some of the adventures. She was the one who took alot of the pictures for me.

Their trip was a success except for a little trouble in the end when their plane ride home got diverted back to Hawaii for some 'maintenence" issues. But they were furnished with a new plane and flew into Seattle Airport at 4 am! Boy were they glad to get home! But they miss Hawaii! They brought me my chocolate covered macadamian nuts. Six boxes! And they brought the girls official coconut bras and grass skirt outfits. Tiki statues, sea shells, coffee mugs and lots of souveneirs and knick knacks to remember their trip for years!

We are so glad to have them home! I am so glad they were able to experience this grand adventure! But...I'm not letting them out of a 20 mile radius for a while!

Climbing Mountains

Well last time we talked the kids and I had entered some stuff into the fair. The boys had entered pictures they drew and I had entered a cake and some photography. I was a little surprised to find out that my cake got a second place ribbon. One picture that I thought was going to get first (the picture of the boys in their cowboy gear) only got a second and the one I thought was going to be second got first ( the black and white picture of Savannah as a baby). The boys both got first place on their pictures which was cool! So the fair is over and done with. I had about 5 spaceburgers and my share of corn on the cob, Pronto Pups (giant corndogs) and snow cones and even tried a Fried Twinie this year. Oh man my stomach just growled! The fried twinkie was outstanding!! I recommend anyone to try one! The Othello fair is next week! Can't wait to see if they have the twinkies there!

I am excited for fall! You can feel it in the air! Today is suppose to be 84 degrees but there is still that crispness. Here are some things I love love love about fall:

Well, on another note. Our Suburban got broken into on Sunday while we were in church. I figure people know that Mormons are in church for three whole hours! Plenty of time to steal everything out of their cars! They got away with Cody's wallet ($200 from his birthday and months of savings from working for our neighbor) A few items of clothing and the keys! Our only keys! (Savannah had taken our spare while "playing" one day) So we had to leave the Suburban parked in the church parking lot until we could get to the Chevy dealership to make us new keys. So we notified the police and they were going to "watch" it during the night until we could come pick it up! So the next day Kyle got off work early just in time to make it the Chevy across town and they made us some new keys. We got back to the parking lot of the church and NO SUBURBAN!!! Yep! It had been stolen! No trace whatsoever yet! Luckily we have some nice friends that lent us their suburban until the insurance can figure things out. Or the police. I was really mad but I have forgiven my trespassers and have moved on. Only with the hopes of them finding my BIG RED MOMMA Sub safe and sound somewhere close! If not Kyle claims this was his answer to his prayer of getting a new pickup. We will see. Happy Fall everyone!!

It's Fair Time!!

Here we go! Space burgers! Larger than normal corn dogs and corn on the cobb! I LOOOOVE it! This year I decided to really get into the Fair Holiday Spirit and entered a couple of things into the arts and crafts division and the Home Economics division. First is the picture of the Boys in the cowboy gear. I took this picture a while ago and tried entering it into the fair last year but didn't have it "mounted" right. So this year it was entered successfully. The second picture I entered is of Savannah when she was a baby (obviously). I named it "First Light" I think she looks so angelic! The last picture is a picture of the cake I entered. You had to decorate a cake to the theme of the fair "Down Home". Funny story to this cake is entry time was between 9 am and 7 pm. I woke up early and started at 7:30 in the morning. With all the detail work I finished at about 3:30 in the afternoon. Plenty of time to get it in. So I loaded it up and had Katelin "watch" it on the trip into town. We got to the fair grounds and I opened up the back and Katelin had fallen asleep...my cake was her pillow! It was squished and all the frosting had been smeared. Poor Katelin looked like a poor puppy dog with frosting in her hair and all over her legs and arms. It was quite hilarious. So we rushed down to Walmart to try to find anything that would help salvage the poor cake. I did the best I could and entered it anyway as is. So we will see how that turns out. All in all it was fun and I can't wait to see how everything does.

WHOa! SLoW dOwN sUmmEr!!

Wowsers! I can't believe it's been over two months since my last blogins! Fur those who follow MY blog I apoplogize for the anticipation :-) Here's what me and my fab family have been up to:LOTS OF CAMPIN!!!!

SavANNAh tURnEd 3!! sO We had TO hAvE a mIInIE mOusE b-dAy PaRtAy! ThIs WaS hER cAkE I made :-)

tHIS WaZ MY bIRthDaY cAkE (WELL hAlF Of iT waZ, tHe oTHeR halF WaZ MY aWesOMe tWiN bRoThEr mIChAeL'S) mAdE bY MY bff ShAnA bAnANNa AnD sIs-iN-lAw rAcHaEL. Mike and I turned 31 this year!!!!!!!

i decided to redecorate my lovenest for my b-day. So my honey buns surprised me with this bedset! This is not the accurate pic of the actual bedroom but it's pretty much 89.9 % how it looks.

We added a new addition to our family. A braZilian Masstiff named Keelie (Key-Lie) She is beautiful!

Kyle's sisters ShaURIE and Cherise came to visit along with the new twins Lydia and Addie Mae. Beautifyl babies!! While they were here we went up to Ensign ranch to have some fun. This is a picture of Shaure and Lydia in our cabin.

The GINORMO slip n SLIDE! SO MUCH FUN!

We stopped by and visited the Wild Horse monument. While the kids tracked themselves us really steep path to see the horses Savannah and I stayed FAAAAAAR below to observe. Katelin took these pictures

We got home from camping. Washed all of the clothes and sleeping gear we used up at Ensign just in time for Kyle to pack the boys up and head up to the Ranch for another weekend of Cattle wrestling. The girls and I stayed at my mom's and spent Saturday morning soakin in the hot tub.

Well. That's about it for the last two months. We've been havin a blast and using every minute of summer to enjoy our free time! School starts in 3 weeks! We still have a lot planned for that time! We are heading to a Mariners game in Seattle tomorrow. The fair is another big event! It marks the 15th anniversary of our first date at the Rodeo! The boys are heading to Hawaii with Jodi! Yes you heard me right! My boys get to enjoy an all expense paid vaca to the island of dreams! They'll have so much fun! And then somewhere in between there we are squeezing in a trip to Silverwood! I Heart Summer!