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!

My Cowboys doing what they love best...

Cody and Molly

Kyle and Budd (Kyle had to search high and low for a horse taller than him)

Molly and Meg

Right before the down poor

Cody, Chase, Chuck, Weston and Kyle

Best friends Cody and Weston

Weston and Meg

The three amigos (Chase, Weston and Cody)

Weston practicing for the PBR

My handsome Cowboy Kyle

Weston and Kyle enduring the rain

No animals were harmed in the taking of this picture

This weekend was the Annual Cattle Roundup at Lionel and Peggy Bates Ranch in Lamont WA. The boys packed up their horses, ropes and cowboy hats and off they went for a weekend full of ridin, roping and brandin'.

Just wanted to post a couple of things that have been going on in the Noyes household. (Yawn) I know! It may be a boring post....sorry :-)

<> The boys are half way through their little league season. They have won two games (out of 5 but who's counting) I think the main goal of children's sports is to build character, gain patience, and understanding (oh and the kids get stuff out of it too) If anything else the boys look really sharp in their uniforms!

<> We spent a total of 6 hours in the dentist office this past week. I blame it all on me. Kyle and Katelin have been up a lot during the night to surrender to their cavities. I knew it was time to call the dentist when I awoke at 2 in the morning to Katelin sitting on the counter with a Q-tip dipped in ambesol out of her mouth and looked over at her Dad who was in the same condition. I say my fault because I just kept doing the mommy thing and saying Katelin will just loose it cause it's a baby tooth. But I was wrong. So I went and took her in the next morning. She had a baby root canal and capped off with a silver cap (she thought it was soooo cool, I was upset with all the money we paid it should have been GOLD!) But she was awesome! She just jumped right up in the chair and didn't move until it was over, no tears or anything. Kyle had to be taken to a specialist in Kennewick and have a root canal. He didn't get a silver or gold cap. He did get a nifty care bag full of lip gloss, tylenol, mouth wash and a toothbrush. He did great too, (although there were no tears he did frown all the way home :-( )

<> I got to attend Time Out For Women in Spokane with my mom, aunts, cousins and sister in law Amy. It was so neat like it is every year. Great Speakers and entertainment. If I could share one thing about the conference it would be "Stop worrying about our weaknesses and try to bless others with our strengths." You just came away with an awesome feeling of self determination and ready to shine like a star!

<> Kyle and I attended a Stake Fireside on Friday. It was based around the archeological findings of the Book of Mormon. It was awesome!! So many facts and findings that not only prove the Book of Mormon is true but also gives testimony that our Savior and Heavenly Father have this great and glorious plan. They know what they are doing. Everything has it's time and place. What an awesome time to be alive! We are witnessing many wonderful miracles in our age. We should be thankful for that. It also made me want to become an archeologist!

Well that covers the most exciting parts that have been going on around our life. Katelin starts cheer camp and tee ball this week. So that should bring on some exciting posts. I can't wait for school to be out! Kyle thought it would be best if we turned off the satelite. (Believe me it was a fight) But now that it is off it's very quite during the day with just me and Savannah. I can't wait for the kids to be home all day everyday (I know I'll regret those words in a few weeks Ha! Ha!)

A quick trip to Ensign

This was a busy and exciting week for us! The boys had their second game of the minor league season. Cody hit a ground ball and made it second and Weston caught a ball and threw it to second getting the runner out. That was so exciting! Weston turned 9 on Tuesday! My mom had already threw a party for him on Sunday and he got some wonderful presents from everyone! But Tuesday he got to take cupcakes and juice to share with his class. He's never gotten to do that before because his birthday always falls in the middle of Spring Break. We asked his what he wanted to do for his birthday and he said he wanted to go camping. The first plan was for him and Cody and his Dad to go out somewhere for the night and camp. Well the plan got bigger and better and before you knew it we were all packed in the suburban headed to Ensign Ranch up above Cle Elum. We had so much fun! Our friends The Merrell's joined us. We rented a family cabin (the pictures posted above that really don't give it justice!) It was awesome! Chuck Merrell blessed us with his delicious dutch oven dinner of scalloped potatoes and smothered chicken. Oh my gosh it was so yummy!! I love dutch oven dinners!! Chuck took all of kids on a nighttime hike for about an hour. That wore them out. so we thought. Nobody really got to sleep until after 1 am. Savannah was the only one who slept all through the night if you can believe it! Weston had brought a friend, Jayden. Him and Cody couldn't get to sleep and kept waking us up to tell us that a herd of elk were walking through our campground. And sure enough in the morning there were elk hoofprints through our campground. Also during the night Cody and Jayden got up to help Kyle cool the cabin down and Jayden fell down the stairs. The poor kid walked away unharmed but it gave us a pretty good scare! I woke up to Kyle cooking a yummy breakfast of pancakes, sausage and eggs. The rest of the morning was spent lounging around the campfire and enjoying the peacfulness of nature. The kids found a river to wade through. So we strung a clothesline to dry out the shoes and socks. After they were dry we took all of them to an opstical course out in the woods. They had a blast balancing on logs and climbing and swinging on ropes draped down from the trees. Kyle took the boys fishing while the girls and I stayed back at the cabin to watch a movie on the laptop. After we got the cabin cleaned up and checked out we headed up to Northbend for an afternoon of shopping at the outlet mall. Then we headed home. I was amazed we got home at 8:30! Just in time to unpack the suburban and get some sleep. I was so happy that Savannah slept in until 8:30 so I could get some sleep too. It was just a great weekend! What beautiful weather! I'm so excited for Spring and Summer. Kyle and I are making it a goal to get to do this more. Camping is just a great way of bringing the family together! The cabins were awesome! I suggest it to any family looking to have a quick get away!

What a weekend!

We were lucky enough for baseball practice to be cancelled this Friday. It opened up the opportunity to head up to Spokane to go see Gale in the hospital. Kyle called me Friday afternoon and told me to get the kids packed we were staying the night in a hotel. Staying in a hotel for the kids is like going to Disneyland! They love it. So we arrived at the Hampton Inn at 9:30. Kyle took the kids swimming right away to get it out of their system. We ordered pizza and were in bed by midnight. The next morning we headed to go visit Gale in the hospital. Other than suffering from boredom he is doing so good. They can't do surgery until Thursday because of the swelling in his forearm. But he is able to walk around now. We had a great visit. He is very grateful for all of the support from the community, friends and family. The kids were so excited to see him and sat on his bed the whole time telling him stories about the week. We left to go have lunch while he had an ultra sound to check for blood clots. Kyle treated us to PF Changs. One of our favorite restaurants. We gobbled it up! Even Savannah ate lots of noodles and chicken! Then it was back to say goodbye to Grandpa. While we were back at the hospital it started snowing a blizzard! It was pretty but we were glad to get back home to our 50 degree weather! Sunday morning the Easter Bunny came. But because she was so tired from hiding eggs and planting baskets at 5 o'clock that morning she slept in until 8:30! Conference started at 9. What a good conference! All of the talks really touched my heart! I made a yummy breakfast casserole and everyone sat infront of the tv watching conference, eating and coloring their new coloring books they got in their Easter Baskets. During the break I baked a three layer Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting because everyone knows it's not Easter without carrot cake! After the afternoon session it was off the Grandmas with our carrot cake. Grandma made a yummy Easter dinner with ham, potatoes, rolls and corn. Delicious! (Thanks Mom). But unfortunately our good time was interrupted by a phone call from my Uncle Rick letting us know of a tragedy that had just taken place. Little Shelby Roden (11 year old daughter of Shelly (Cox) and Russ Roden) had been in a tragic 4-wheeling accident and had passed away at the scene. We took a moment and reflected on how special eternal families are. I came home and read my patriartichal blessing and searched the scriptures for answers on eternal families. So I would like to close this blog by bearing my testimony. I would like to say that I have been warned numerous times both in my blessing and by church officials about the importance of eternal families. I know that times in my life if not now but in the future I will have an experience in my life when my family will be tried and tested with a very difficult time. Through the past couple of years I can truly testify of this experience. I have had to go to my Heavenly Father and ask him for strength and endurance and each time weather the cry for help was short or long I have been blessed with courage and patience and the knowledge that everything would be alright. I know that no matter what I am faced with in this life I can go to my Heavenly Father for the strength I need for guidance in my marriage and my motherhood duties. Loosing my job in October was probably the most depressing things I've ever been through. My inner strength took a beating! I didn't know what to do with myself. It took me a long time to understand that being able to stay at home with my children was one of the greatest blessings to come of it. I had always been needed at work now I was needed at home. Many times the world has told me that going back to work would make things better. But Kyle was stronger than me and with his faith had told me that everything would be alright. I would trust him and everytime things turned out better than expected. Now I can't imagine going back to work. I just don't know how I would do it! We have been so blessed. I have a testimony that Heavenly Father's Plan works for us. He knows it and now matter what is going on in our life we can turn to him and he will help us make it work. It's the plan for happiness. If you want to be happy then all we have to do is follow this plan. But I also testify that the more we want this plan to work the harder the advisary tries to work against it. That's the scary part! He will tempt us with the most lavish things this world can offer to gets us to go astray. That's why we need to stay as close to the Lord as we possibly can. He will protect us and give us the things we need to ward off the evilness of the world. But it is tough and it is hard and it is stressful this constant fight between good and evil! And in the end Good will prevail and we will live eternally with our families. That is our promise and this is my testimony. Amen

Mini Road Trip

Today started out as a regular day here at the Noyes house. We got up, I made breakfast, the kids ate I cleaned the kids made messes. I yawned and realized it's half way throught spring break and we haven't done anything exciting. So I told the kids to hurry and get on some nice walking shoes, we were going on an adventure. A half an hour later we were all in the Suburban headed to who knows where. I had picked up the boy's friend Chase and asked his Mom if needed to be back a specific time. She said no so away we went. Every turn was navigated by the kids saying turn that way or this way. Slowly we wound our way through Ephrata where we stopped and grabbed some to go picnic lunch to eat later down the road. Eventually we were winding along side Soap Lake and stopped at Dry Falls visitor center. The kids were having a blast and learning a lot! A little while later the kids had pointed out a nice "picnic" spot next to the lake. We all got out and tried to eat on a blanket but it was really windy so we all got back inside and finished our picnic in the car. Our adventure continued through the town of Coulee City. As soon as we were about to hit Grand Coulee I received a phone call from Chase's mom informing me that she had forgotten he had baseball practice at 5. It was 3:50. I hadn't kept track of how long it took us to get there but I told her we would hurry as fast as we could to get him back to Moses. I noticed we were a mile from the Grand Coulee Damn visitor center so I pulled in real fast let the kids jump out of the car and look around for a second. I gave them my most informative speech about the Damn then we all jumped back in the car and headed home. Chase made it to practice at 5:15 ( without me speeding I must add) So in the matter of 4 1/2 hours we managed to leave Moses Lake and return to Moses Lake with a memory that will hopefully last forever...an educational mini roadtrip.