Lovin' Life

Tattoo Day

2010-10-24T17:26:00.001-07:00

Some of Dave's co-workers have been talking about getting tattoos together for about a year. Dave finally decided that it was time. His co-worker Sarah knows someone who does tattoos so Dave called her and set up a day for all of them to go in together. Her shop is in Mountain Home and she had them all come in on a Sunday so that they would be the only ones there. We all showed up and spent the entire day there while the tattoos were getting done.
Dave's co-worker Doug was the first one to go. This was his first tattoo and he was really nervous. Once she got started though he did fine. His clover has both of his parents initials in it. Sarah was next to go. Sarah is a HUGE Michael Jordan fan...she even has a Michael Jordan room in her house. I thought hers turned out really good.

Our friend Megan went next. Megan has been wanting this tattoo for at least a year. She was really happy to finally get it done. Hers took about two hours, and she was a total rock star...I only saw her wince twice while she was getting it done.

Ryley worked this summer at Lansing. This was her first tattoo and she decided this was what she wanted while she was in Oregon on vacation this summer. She was really scared before Laura started, but once she got going she did really well. We all thought she would be the most freaked out......(more on that later)

At about this point I said that I should take a picture of a picture of a tattoo and send it out to Marcy and Perry by phone (they were camping) and put it on Facebook that I had gotten that tattoo. Megan had been posting all the pictures as everyone got done. Sundii picked out a picture of Betty Boops head in a shot glass and we said that I had that done. We were sure that people would start calling me asking me what the heck I was thinking. We were very disappointed that not one person called...I finally decided that we picked one that was too realistic and everyone was afraid to say anything for fear of offending me!! So, I really didn't get a tattoo of Betty Boops head in a shot glass.

Tattoo Day

2010-10-24T12:42:00.001-07:00

(I am not sure what happened, but I can't seem to add any more pictures so this will have to be in two posts....hopefully this is the second, but if not please see the other have of the Tattoo Day post!!) Stephanie Campa is a summer worker that has been at Lansing for the last three years. (I think) She got this on her foot and is turned out really pretty.

This was Colton before she got started on him.....at this point he was still excited. Shortly after this he was not so excited! This was his first tattoo and he got really nervous....then she started and he didn't do so well. He literally turned green and Laura had to stop the tattoo because he was about to pass out. Her helper had to fan Colton with a magazine for about ten minutes, and Ryley must have given him about twenty cups of water. We were all giving him a little bit of a hard time, and told him it was Ryley we thought would have the hardest time! After that though he was totally fine. It took her about two hours to get his done and he did great.

Colton is a huge comic book character fan so he got this tattoo to represent that. The CK is for Clark Kent, but also Colton Knopp which I thought was pretty cool. The Spider Man is half regular and half the Black Spider Man. It turned out really cool.

By that time it was 8:30 at night and Laura had been tattooing for ten and a half hours. She was awesome and totally worked her butt off. She never stopped to eat lunch or dinner, and had just had a few snacks we had given her. All she did was wipe everything down after each person, and start another one. So by this point she was tired, and she still had to draw Dave's up and do it. They both decided that it would be better if he came back the next week to have his done since it was very detailed and would take a long time. He was really disappointed that he didn't get to get his with everyone else, but he knew it would be better if he waited.
That next Friday he left the house at five in the morning and went to Mountain Home to have Laura do his tattoo. It took about five hours and turned out amazing. It has huge meaning for him and he has wanted it for a long time. He had her hide the girls initials in the wood like he had them hidden in the rocks on his dragon tattoo so I really liked that he did that. I told the kids.."I never thought I would be married to someone with so many tattoos." Brooke replied, "I never thought I would have a mom who didn't want any tattoos!" He totally loves it so I am glad that he finally got to have it done.

This is Laura, the tattoo artist. She did an awesome job on every tattoo that she did, and was so much fun to hang out with all day. She totally entertained us with fun stories about stuff she has done and she fit right in with everyone. When we left she gave Dave a hug and said, "I feel like I am really going to miss you guys." If I ever do decide to get a tattoo I know where to go now!

Last Weeks Menu

2010-09-06T18:03:00.001-07:00

I read Danelles blog and it said to list your menu so that you don't repeat so many meals. I don't repeat too often because I have a list of most of the foods I cook and I mark them off as I go and I try to cook them all before I start over. Most of the time it works pretty well. So, here is our menu for last week.

Monday-Pampered Chef taco bake-the one with the crescent rolls
Tuesday-worked late..Dave and Lindsay had a cheerleading meeting till nine-I got home at 8:30, had leftover taco bake-Brooke wasn't hungry.
Wed-Leftovers from steak and potatos we had last week
Thurs-made the girls grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. Our friend Megan made Olive Garden Soup and gave us some to try so Dave and I ate that.
Friday-Chinese takeout-we wanted taco wagon, but he was already closed.
Saturday-Girls had Little Cesars pizza I brought home because I worked till eight. Dave and I had leftover chinese.
Sunday-Ate at Wingers in Mt. Home

I think I will move in with Danelle.

I Did It!!

2010-08-11T16:25:00.000-07:00

Today I ran five miles for the first time ever.
For those who don't know here is a brief history of my running experience.......

Jr. High-HATED running
High School-HATED running..didn't play basketball because it involved running. No track either.
Army-HATED running...the farthest I ever ran in the Army was 3 miles...once. I ran the two miles we had to in training, after that I ran two miles twice a year.
Post Army life-HATED running...I love other sports, just not ones that involve a lot of running.

A little over a year ago I decided to run in the Turkey Trot 5K in Paul on Thanksgiving Day. Don't ask me why...I really don't know. So, I started running.
Here is a brief history on my running experience since then.....

I HATE running.

The farther I run the harder it is for me to go. It's not too bad to say, "I'm going to go out and run a 1/2 mile." It's much harder when you say, "I think I will run five miles today." But, I have found that running is as much in the mind as in the body. So, I try to keep my mind occupied while I run, and I set little goals for myself to keep me motivated. And then when I am listening to that last song, and I get that last burst of energy, and when I look down at my pedometer and I see a number that I have never seen before....

I LOVE running!

(but only for a minute!!)

The Ranch

2010-06-24T20:50:00.001-07:00

This is the sign that we have been driving under ever since Lindsay was just a baby.

I love "The Ranch"....

my kids love it......

my husband loves it...

pretty much anyone who has ever been here loves it.

It's not that we have spent weeks, or months here...but the times that we have been here have been some of the absolute BEST EVER.

I know it's not much to look at, but when we came around the curve and turned down the driveway a hundred memories came back to me.

Like this one....I have the cutest picture of Brooke and Jacob posing just like this with their hands on their faces, their cheeks all red from being outside in the snow. It is one of Brooke's favorite pictures and she mentioned it while we were there.

And this one....the snow gets really drifted around the house, and the kids favorite thing to do was to climb onto the second story deck and jump off into the snow.

And....Brooke also mentioned the time that she came running around the corner, hit the edge and got her first black eye...and that the kids used to bring a little snow in and throw it on the fireplace and we would get mad at them.

And...the time we had a picnic on the knoll and it took us two hours to get everyone to the top because the snow was so deep we all kept getting stuck trying to get there. One of the best picnics of my life.

And...when Tom, Marcy and I took a midnight ride up to the top of the knoll. The moon was out, the stars were amazing and we just spent some time talking.

And...Dave's work trip when "Fat Albert" made his first appearance, or all the times Tom begged and finally got Dave to tell "The Bear Joke".

And...When six of us piled onto a huge tub and flew down the knoll....and crashed...and someone's glasses got broken.

And...The million hands of poker that we have played there..and the list of all the poker games we know...and the poker game that someone (I think Dave, but I'm not sure) made up called "Flat Top".

Yes, we absolutely, positively, without a doubt love the ranch.

So, after being at the house and thinking about all our great times there we decided to go and check everything else out. We went out to the house where my nephew Cory is staying.

He is home from college and working at the ranch.

This is the stove that is in the house...everything is a little old, but he has the cutest sun room with lots of books and a little table that is perfect for sitting down and playing a few hands of cards. So, we took a few minutes and played a round of 21. Brooke was the winner.

Our next stop was to go to the top of the knoll. Brooke wanted to try driving my new machine so she took off, like the Nelson that she is, heading straight for a huge puddle...of course I'm yelling at her to

"Slow down" and "don't get me all muddy".

That only worked for the first couple of puddles....after that she pretty much smiled and plowed right through them.

She got to drive up to the top on a trail that was pretty steep and really rocky, and she did really well. She was a little scared, but she made it.

The view from the top was spectacular...everything was so green and pretty.

This is the grave of the original owner of the ranch.

Brooke, Jacob, Tonia, me, Marcy

This was an awesome experience for us. Being back at the ranch and talking about all our memories was really great. We will be forever grateful that Tom has been so generous in sharing a place that means so much to all of us.

Update

2010-06-07T21:48:00.000-07:00

Well, I keep thinking that I will get my life for the past few months updated, but it just doesn't ever seem to happen, so I thought I would post what is going on right now with all of us.
Brittney has moved to an apartment in Twin Falls. She is still working in Gooding for now, but plans on transfering to a facility in Kimberly in July. Her apartment is older, but is good sized and has a cute little balcony that she has a great view of the country from. She called me today and said she say a police chase...I guess that is life in the "big city"! Dave is swearing that he will not move her stuff anymore or store it in the garage again....I keep telling him that the moving won't be done for many years to come if she is anything like us, and he should just be glad she doesn't have as much crap as we always have to move.
Lindsay is already bored this summer. Neither of the girls are playing softball this year which is what keeps them busy during June. She has cheerleading once or twice a week, but we are trying to find things to keep her busy. I am going to print some pictures out for her so she can start scrapbooking some of her own stuff. She can't drive on her own yet so it really limits what she can do.
Brooke has been at a friends house, or had a friend over almost every day since school got out. She has only called me once to tell me that she is bored. I have noticed that she seems to be on Facebook taking all kinds of quizes and leaving lots of status updates! She went swimming at the pool today and came home totally sunburned. I don't think she thought about suncreen since it really wasn't that warm.
Dave and I are just working, like always. We went to Natsoopah for Memorial Day and loved our trailer. It was so nice not having to pull things out of a tote every time we were cooking, and the heater was awesome since it wasn't very warm at night. We got a used 4-wheeler last week so we are excited to go up to the mountains and try everything out for a weekend. We are hoping to go soon since there won't be too much time before harvest starts.
Dave has started a new project...he is going to try and see how many different styles of beard/goatee styles he can grow this summer! He is starting with the "soul patch". He is such a goofball sometimes, but he sure does make life interesting. I need to take pictures so I can document his experiment.

Lansing Snowmobile Trip

2010-02-24T10:03:00.000-08:00

After being in Pine for the last two years the Lansing crew decided to go to Featherville for a change of scenery. The weather was AMAZING both days...on Sunday we actually took some of our gear off because it was so warm. Saturday morning we stopped at Rocky Bar, which according to Jody, was once one of the most populated towns in Idaho. There were only a couple of buildings there, but during that time period there were tents galore. We explored an old house and an old bar...it was pretty cool, except for all the mouse/rat poo everywhere you stepped. Dave, Sundii, Marcy and Megan

Kelly and Diane in the house

oops...I hate it when I forget to rotate the picture. Saturday we went on a big ride to the town of Atlanta where we stopped and had drinks and played "3 ball". Saturday night we hung out at the big cabin and played cards and had a foozball tournament. There were a few really good players so it was fun. (In case you were wondering I was not one of them..Marcy kicked my hiney several times)
Sunday we decided to go to the Trinity Lakes area. We stopped at Rocky Bar again and a guy that had stopped there was nice enough to take our group picture with no less than 5 different cameras. He took a far off and close up shot with each camera..we decided his wife must scrapbook because he was a really good sport!

The ride on Sunday was incredible...the weather was so nice, and the snow was great. We stopped and had sack lunches of sandwiches, chips and candy bars on the trail. After that I had to go to the bathroom so I went behind a tree...while I was going Sundii threw a snowball at the tree and ALLL the snow(which was a ton) came crashing down on my head. Hilarious for everyone else...not so funny for me!! The worst part was that I'm squatting down with my rear hanging out, snow is everywhere on me, my nose is bleeding because ice hit it and scrapped it, and Marcy is taking my picture!! Even I had to laugh about it!! After that we found a hill that we all had fun playing on. There were a few places where you could make some good jumps which was fun. We stopped at the warming hut and signed our name to the list of people that had been there which was kind of cool.

The food was good, the weather and the snow were awesome and the people Dave works with are always fun to hang out with. We had a great time and can't wait till next year!

Football and Face Paint

2010-01-28T11:40:00.000-08:00

The Knopps invited us over to their house to watch the last of the playoff games on Sunday, and we were told we had to wear Jets or Vikings colors or pay a penalty. Of course this made Sundii and Dave decide to go all out in support of the Colts and the Saints! So Sundii and Megan came over to our house Sunday morning to get ready. Megan painted Sundii's face while Lindsay worked on Dave. Brooke helped by doing tattoos and I ran around trying to get everything else in the car ready to go.

Dave made his own wig, and I even sprayed the back of Sundii's hair blue!

All the Colts fans in the house....

and the Saints fans....

Marcy is a huge Brett Favre fan so of course they were cheering for the Vikings. (Notice her L for Loser finger!) She played the Vikings fight song all day and had the lyrics printed and hung in every bathroom! She had printed out a picture of Favre and hung it right under the TV so Dave kept putting his Saints monkey with his tail hanging down on the mantle right over it.

The games were really good, a little too good in the Saints game. Dave was so stressed out because the game was so close that he couldn't get too excited until they won. We had a lot of fun and FINALLY after 18 years of waiting Dave's team is in the Super Bowl!!

This is one happy Saints fan....."Oh when the Saints go marching in...oh when the Saints go marching in..."

Happy New Year.....or not

2010-01-10T13:50:00.001-08:00

On New Year Eve and New Years Day it snowed a lot in Gooding. We got over a foot of snow. Brooke decided she wanted to go out and build a snowman...but she says she has never made one so she really wasn't sure what to do. Troy and Rhonda gave us this cute snowman kit several years ago for Christmas so she used that for her "accesories"! The hair is filler from a basket we got for Christmas which I thought was a pretty cute idea she came up with. Over all she did a really good job for her first one. The Jensens came from Twin so we could take the kids around in the snow on the four-wheelers. First we started to build a huge snowman...it was really hard to get the middle ball on! We got all three balls on, but we were running out of light so we had to get going before we could finish.

We went to Dave and Perry's work where there is lots of space to ride around on. The kids really liked being pulled on the tube and riding the four-wheelers in the snow. Dave pulled out both of our snowmobiles so we had those to ride too.

That was the funner part of the day....now the not so fun part of the day....while Dave was riding with Kayden he hit a frozen pile of wheat and flew over the handlebars of the snowmobile and flew about fifteen feet before he hit the ground. Several hours later after he had changed into lounge pants everyone noticed that his leg was swollen up really big and was as hard as a rock. He was in a lot of pain so Troy called his sister, who is a nurse, and she said we better go in to the dr. So off we went to the emergency room for the next three hours. I just happened to still have Brooke's camera so I took this picture while we were waiting.

They did a CT scan, iced his leg really good, and most importantly gave him some good pain medicine! We decided it was a good thing it happened on the first day of the year for our insurance deductible rather than the last day. He took it easy Saturday and didn't go to work, but by Monday he went back. He showed me his leg on Wed. and I had to take this followup picture...his leg looks like someone took a baseball bat to it. So, hopefully our hospital trips started and finished on the first day of 2010!

Lindsay turns 15

2009-12-29T19:23:00.000-08:00

Lindsay wanted to buy something from Hollister or Abercrombie this year for her birthday shopping so we headed to Boise. The weather the day before was not very good, but once we got to Bliss the roads were fine. Dave had gone to Boise the day before Christmas shopping, and he said it wasn't busy at all. We got to the mall and couldn't even find a good parking spot it was so packed. We went to Vanity and she found this cute hat... We ate lunch at the food court....

She didn't find anything at Hollister, so we went to Abercrombie and she found a shirt and a pair of sweats that she really liked. She had really been wanting a new pair of sweats so she was happy.

I was doing some Christmas shopping while we were there and by the time I took this picture she was about done. She still had money left, but we were both tired so we came home. We had a good day and I loved spending it with her.

For Brooke's birthday I wrote a few things about her and I wanted to do the same thing with Lindsay.

1. After six years of being in Gooding she finally has her own room. She picked out the paint and the comforter.

We trimmed around the window and put up blinds.

Dave picked out some Japanese lanterns and hung them for her.. she really likes those.

Her room is really cute and now that she has more room she keeps it really clean. Her closet is very organized and she hangs things in a certain order. She has some pictures on her desk and she likes them to be in an exact spot. The funny thing is that every time I would go in her room I would put them in the spot I wanted...then when I would go back in they would be moved so I would put them back...finally she was in there one day and I went to move them and she informed me that she wanted them there and she couldn't figure out why they were moved all the time!
2. She is really liking music right now. She loves her IPOD and it seems like she always has music playing. Even when she is on the computer doing something she will have her playlist going.

3. She likes Suduko. There are lots of nights when I will go into her room and she will be listening to music and doing Suduko puzzles. She has a book of them that she has almost finished.

4. She likes toffee, Dr Pepper, and chocolate covered raisins. Dave got me a big thing of raisins in October and she ate most of them! She doesn't like Raisinets though, just the ones from Costco. For Christmas we got her a movie and her own thing of raisins.

5. She is a lot like me...if you have been around us much you know how true this is. She is a good artist, although she doesn't really like to draw, and she definately gets that from her dads side of the family.

6. She is a saver with her money. Brittney and Brooke tend to spend their money as fast as they get it. Lindsay is a lot better at keeping it...she has even started her own bank account and has money saved there.

Happy Birthday Lindsay-we love you.

Summer Softball

2009-09-08T07:34:00.000-07:00

Both Lindsay and Brooke played softball again this year with the rec. district. I didn't get any pictures of Brooke playing unfortunately. Her team had 5 or 6 girls that have never played softball before so it was definately a learning year for them. Her team didn't win very many games, but at least Brooke got to play first base all game every game so she did like that.
Lindsay's team didn't win very many games either. They went into the tournament in fifth place....last. They only won two games during the regular season. They started the tournament playing Buhl....Buhl thought, like every team, that they would blow right past us. We ended up winning that game. Then we had to play Wendell (1st place in the season) the same night. The girls never gave up and they fought clear to the end and won. We were all so excited. The next night we played Kimberly. We were down eight runs, but once again they never gave up and came back to win. So Wed. night we had to play the same Buhl team again. We lost the first game and had to play them again for the championship. Buhl played awesome and we couldn't seem to get anywhere until the very last inning and we got up by two runs. They had last bats and started getting people on base. They had the tying run on third base and the winning run on second with their best batter up. She hit a line drive straight to McKenna who caught the ball, stepped on third and got the runner out. Double play to end the game. It was amazing....
We were so proud of their whole team....they kept their spirits up, they never gave up and they just kept playing the way they knew how to. After six years of playing together they finally won a first place trophy. When we got home we were looking at Lindsay's trophy's. There was only one year that they didn't place in tournaments, so they have done really well all these years.

McKenna, Tia, Lindsay

The only sad thing to happen was on the last night when I brought my camera to take some pictures. Brooke went out and took a couple of Lindsay in the field and I got this picture in the dugout....then my camera batteries died. I was so bummed out that I didn't have it when they won 1st. I missed the team pictures after the game. I got one with my phone, but that is it. I guess I will really have to beg Marcy to get me copies of hers!

Mom's Birthday

2009-08-30T10:06:00.000-07:00

My mom turned 60 this year so we decided to have a party for her. We held it at my grandma's house and invited the whole family. Danelle did a great job on the decorations and everything looked really nice. We had a video made (thank you Troy and Rhonda for all the help on that) so we went to my moms house before the party to watch it. It had pictures of her growing up, each of our family's had pictures and then pictures of all of us. It was awesome and made her cry. Then it was time for the party. Brooke and Chelsey...they called themselves gangsters all day because of their sunglasses...they look more Hollywood than gangsters though.

Mikayla and Lindsay

Robin and Christopher...Taylor is hiding behind them. Robin says he doesn't like having his picture taken anymore!

Braquel and Brittney. My biggest laugh of the day.....my grandma has a clothes line over by where the food was set up. Braquel's boyfriend Kevin kept running into the line everytime he would walk over there. After a while we were trying to think up reasons to have him walk over there just so we could see him run into the clothes line!! Ok, not very nice....but it was funny!
My second laugh of the day....Our main course was a whole roasted pig...

When Gary and Jason started getting the meat out all of the kids went over to check it out. We have four boys in the family and they all were quite disgusted with the whole thing. Guess who sat in the back of the pickup and watched.....

The girls!! And of all the girls guess who was the most into it.....

Brooke had to get on the gloves, help get the meat out, and pull off some skin. I had walked away for a minute and when I was walking back I heard her say, "I want the ear"!

After dinner we had cake. Danelle's kids decided that Grandma should have 60 candles since she was turning 60. So we put twenty candles on three different cakes.... it is not easy to get 60 candles going all at the same time. We had four of us lighting them and still took awhile to get them all going.

I hope my mom had a great birthday. She is an amazing person who is always there to help me when I need it. She calls me at least once a week just to check in and see how our family is doing, and the kids think she is a miracle worker! Any time they have anything that need sewn up or fixed they put it in the "do you think grandma can fix this" pile. We love you mom/grandma.

Is it just me??

2009-08-27T16:36:00.001-07:00

Is it just me, or is everyones lives getting busier all the time? It seems like I never have time to get all the things done that I want to in a day. Today is my day off and I had a long wish list of things that I wanted to get done. Clean house, do laundry, get the car serviced, get a haircut, go to the library, take Brooke to the Dr., mow the front yard, etc. (Most of the time it seems like I work harder on my day off than when I'm at work!) Anyway, after the kids were gone to school I decided to make my breakfast. While my french toast was cooking I sat down to check my Netflix que...then I looked at a couple of blogs...then I looked to see if I had new e-mail. Then I realized.....when I smelled something.....that my french toast was burning away. Obviously my attempt to get a few things done while I was making breakfast didn't turn out too well! I guess I better just try and stick to doing one thing at a time, especially when it comes to cooking! (Hopefully Dave doesn't see this post, he hates it when I try and multi-task while I am cooking. This isn't the first, and more than likely won't be the last time something gets burned.)

I'm sure that most women would agree with me that there is just too much going on in our heads to keep track of everything.....or is it just me??

Graduation

2009-08-04T12:35:00.001-07:00

We made it!! The day we have all been waiting for all year finally came. The were more than a few days when none of us thought we would make it. But, everything came together in the end and we are very proud of Brittney for graduating. We decided to have some of our family and friends over for a pre-graduation get together. We spent lots of time outside getting pictures of Brittney with everyone. Lindsay, Brooke and Britt

Britt with her two cousins..Braquel and Taylor

Even Ellie got to come to the graduation!

Taylor, McKenna and Dave

Me, Marcy, and Tonia

My dad and Brooke

We had finger foods and snacks until it was time for Colton and Brittney to go to the school. We all decided to go early so we could get a good seat.

Braquel, me and Danelle....check out Dave in the background!

Amber (Cory's girlfriend), Cory and Brooke

The graduation was actually not bad at all. The speeches were all short and to the point. Colton was the salutorian and his speech was really good. There wasn't a key note speaker so it didn't drag on and on. I only teared up once (I know, can you believe it) during the slide show...each senior had a baby picture, a senior picture, a quote and their signature. It was definately my favorite part.

Colton and Brittney...

WOO HOO! I can't believe eighteen years have gone by so fast, it seems like she just started kindergarten and here she is with her cap and gown. Good job Britt...we love you.

WE ROCK!!!!

2009-06-14T14:55:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun at the 80's prom last year that this year we had an "80's hair band party" for Troy's birthday. I had to work the day Dave went shopping for our outfits so Jen and Marcy helped him out. They picked out my whole outfit together and I have to say that they did a really good job. We met at the Jensen house to get ready together which was a little crazy because we were in a big hurry, but fun. (Dave looked AWESOME..he should have been in a band!) Then we loaded up and headed to The Turf Club.

Ready to rock!!

Abbie, Troy and I. Abbie and I ended up wearing the same shirt and tights, just different colors. (I was going to say that great minds think alike, but then I remembered that I didn't pick them out...dang it)

The groupies

Nikki Sixx, Slash, Axel Rose

Clyde and Becky looking good.

Sarah and Heather looking very 80's

We had so much fun at the party. It was a really fun theme, and almost everyone dressed up. We danced all night until they kicked us out.

Dave was pretty tired by the end of the night. He did say though that he was ready to go dancing again soon because he had so much fun. Thanks Jensens for such a fun party....it's our turn next year!

Track Stars

2009-06-11T19:23:00.001-07:00

Both Lindsay and Brooke took track this year. I'm not sure Brooke really liked it, but she did appreciate all the excersize. We were inspired by Colton not drinking pop all during basketball season, so we decided that during spring volleyball and track we would not drink pop. It was actually not as bad as we thought, and we have cut way back on our pop drinking even after track was over. I am not a big fan of track meets...I think track is the least fun spectator sport! I think it's mainly because it always seems to be freezing at track meets! I took the camera to their last meet to get some pictures, but my batteries quit after just these three photos. (Luckily my mom was there and she took a bunch for us...thanks mom) When I got to Kimberly it started raining...all the kids got back on the buses. It quit raining so they started again, then it started hailing. This time they just kept on going. It was COLD. Brooke did the discus, the long jump, the 100, and the 200. Lindsay did the long jump, the 200 and two relays.

BRRRRRR!!

My mom and Jeff came because my girls and my neice Mikayla were all running that day. Lindsay and Mikayla ended up running the same leg of the same relay against each other which we thought was really funny. Our biggest laugh though was at Brooke. As she was running the 200 she kept looking at the other runners. When I told her not to look at other people and just run her fastest she explained to me that she had to look at them so she could see if she was last. If she was last she would run her fastest, if not she would just run hard!!

Stairs

2009-06-09T20:48:00.001-07:00

Two years after we built the add on we finally have "real" stairs out of the back door!! Troy brought his equipment so he could help us get this project done. Troy is really good at what he does and we were so glad to have him, Jen, Marcy and Perry there to help us. Perry and Dave carried all the wood

The girls supervised the work!

We decided that we would all sign the concrete before we covered it up.

Dave and Perry were taking bolts off with little tiny wrenches....Jen had to show them how a professional does it!!

At the end Troy let all of us have a turn putting in some nails

Even Lindsay came out and got in on the action.

In an amazingly short time our stairs were finished. We are so lucky to have such awesome friends that would give up their Sunday morning to come and help us. Thanks guys...we love you.

Night in the Desert

2009-06-09T20:26:00.000-07:00

We went to the desert outside of Gooding one night to hang out and have some fun. Just getting there was an adventure because the road is very rutted and the sun was just going down so we couldn't really see the road that well. Once we got there we built a big bonfire, hit golf balls (and almost a golf club!) into the lake, roasted hot dogs, lit fireworks, and danced. After a stressful week it was fun to just relax and let loose a little bit. My only problem with the night was at the end when I was running to get in the truck and I tripped over a railroad tie and fell flat on my face! The whole rowdy group

"Six pack is where it's at"

The girls

Easter

2009-06-09T19:55:00.000-07:00

We decided to go to Burley for Easter this year. Lindsay wanted to fly kites so we walked from Tonia's house down to the Heyburn Elementary School. Lindsay has a six foot kite and we got that up pretty easily. We weren't as successful with our other kite. We could get it up, but only for a few seconds and then it would fall. All of us took turns running with it and trying to get it to stay up. We never could get it to work so the kids made up a game where they would go out in the grass under the kite and then try to not get hit when the kite dive bombed to the ground! It was great entertainment!! Jake almost got hit several times. The funniest thing of the day though was when Dave was running with the kite and tripped right over the cement guard around the swings and fell into the gravel! Lindsay and Jacob

Diane, Dave, Tonia

Taylor and Brittney playing tetherball

The rest of our trip

2009-06-07T19:52:00.000-07:00

Ok, it has been a really long time since I posted, but I wanted to finish our trip so that someday in the future when I finally scrap these photos I will have some kind of journaling for it. On Friday we went to a family fun center just down the street from our hotel. The first thing we decided to do was the go-carts. We had fun chasing each other around the track in these carts.

McKenna

Lindsay wouldn't drive the first time we did the track. She was scared that the cart would tip over around the curves, or that she would crash. The second time we went I told her I would ride with her and she had to drive. Of course she loved it and wanted to go again, but we had used all of our tickets for that ride.
Then we went to the miniature golf course. We haven't played mini-golf for years so it was fun spending some time doing that. The weather was perfect and it was nice being out in the sun.

On Saturday we got up and headed towards home. We decided to see Bryce Canyon on our way home even though it was out of the way since we didn't know when we would ever be that way again. We stopped at another museum full of animals that was a lot bigger than the other one. It had all kinds of animals, bugs, spiders, butterflies and even fish. The owner had been collecting for years and had finally opened his own place. The kids really thought it was cool and once again the girls took tons of pictures! The weather in St. George had been awesome, but out by Bryce it was a lot colder and there was even snow on the ground still. Bryce Canyon is totally different than Zions. It was incredible, but kind of freaked me out a little bit because of the heights. Along the path there are steep drop offs and of course that made me really paranoid.

Marcy and Perry at our first stop.

McKenna and Brooke on the path. Brooke kept going over by the edge and trying to scare me...which it did. I didn't like that part of it, but it really was amazing being right there by all those awesome rock formations.
So we finally headed home. We ended up on a scenic road that I can hardly begin to describe. First we were in the rocks...more rocks than I have seen in my entire life. For miles upon miles upon miles of nothing but being in the middle of rocks. We were rounding curves that had no guard rails and nothing but drop offs on both sides. As far as we could see there was nothing but rocks. It was really cool, but a little scary. When we finally came out of the rocks hours later, we went into the forest. We climbed, and climbed, and climed. I couldn't believe how high we were. At one point we stopped in the road to see two wild turkeys cross the road. Right down the road from that we stopped to watch a herd of elk that was only 30 yards away from us. I kept telling Dave that I couldn't believe this road and how crazy it was that we were on it. Usually when you drive in the mountains you stay mainly low and there are mountains high around you....not on this road. When we reached the top there was nowhere else to go to get any higher...we were at the very top. We could look out across the valley and I swear CLOUDS were lower than us! It was insane. Dave made us all get out of the car so we could document the moment!

We had driven for hours and in all that time we had only passed two cars going in the opposite direction, and we had passed only one car going in our direction. We drove forever even after this picture looking for somewhere to eat and stay. We kept coming to little towns, some of them that didn't even have gas stations, where there was no fast food places, and the ones that did actually have a restaraunt were closed. We were all starving and tired. We stopped finally at the first town that had a decent motel and a Burger King! The scenery on the road was absolutely incredible and I am glad we went that way, but it is a little freaky being that far out in the middle of nowhere. I told Dave that we werent in BFE, we were in BFFE!! Sunday we made it home. We had a really fun trip and it was fun going somewhere we had never been before. It just wasn't that fun coming home to the cold!

Spring Break Vacation

2009-04-01T19:07:00.000-07:00

Day one & two.....
We decided to go to southern Utah over spring break this year. Our trip started out on a bad note when we hadn't even gotten to Twin yet and both of the portable DVD players we had brought weren't working. Of course Brooke wasn't happy...about every thirty seconds she would let out a BIG sigh and make some comment like...."so we can't watch movies the whole time", or "I wanted to watch a movie right now". So, after about ten comments Dave said he would buy a new one when we got to Burley. We drove to Provo, spent the night and headed to St George the next morning. We plugged in Brittney's IPOD and sang and danced for quite awhile, which was fun.

When we got there we discovered that it was warm. I was wearing a long sleeved shirt and had to go change because it was too hot. We spent Wed. shopping, playing volleyball in the parking lot, playing cards, and the girls went swimming in the pool.

Thursday we went to Zion National Park, which was spectacular. What you see in a picture can't really describe how awesome and huge it was. The colors were amazing.

We decided to go on some of the hikes that they have there. This was the kids at the beginning of our first hike.

We went clear to the end of the trail, which was narrow and full of people. At the end we came to a place that was enclosed by the canyon walls and had a pond with a waterfall coming off the mountain. We had been hot while we were hiking, but here it was nice and cool and shaded. It was really neat.

Dave, Colton and Brooke decided to climb through a ton of rocks around the pond and over to where the waterfall was coming down. There was even a patch of snow left over there.

As we were coming back down the path Brooke said, "That was really cool. I hope I never will forget that." We did two other hikes, one being the Weeping Wall which was water coming down off a rock and you actually go behind it. It was kind of like being out in a sprinkle of rain. I was hoping this picture of Dave and Colton would show the water falling behind and on them, but you can't really see it.

After the hikes we drove through the park more. We got to drive through a really long tunnel that actually went through the mountain. Brooke thought it was really fun to yell in the tunnel. After we left the park we stopped at a little tourist shop that had a small museum full of animals (taxidermy) put in a realistic setting. Brooke and Lindsay thought it was really cool and they took a ton of pictures of all these stuffed animals which I thought was kind of funny. Of course Dave and Brooke had to goof off with the bear.

Brooke's Birthday

2009-03-31T21:08:00.001-07:00

Brooke decided to go birthday shopping this year instead of having a party. We were going to be gone on her actual birthday, so we decided we would go the Sunday before we left. She was really excited and wanted to leave early Sunday so she had her purse with her birthday money in it on the couch Saturday night! We headed out Sunday morning and our first stop was at Cook's to get doughnuts and Smart water. (This is her new favorite water-I'm not sure what makes it so smart.) Our next stop was at Wal-Mart where she got a Mickey Mouse shirt that she immediately changed into once we got into the car. We went to Target and Barnes and Noble since the mall wasn't open yet. She got some bookmarks at the book store, and a new SIMS game for the computer at Target. (The SIMS game is "seasons", and after we got home she was playing it and she let her girl wander around too long out in the snow and she fell down and almost froze to death. We had to really give her a hard time about almost killing her character.) Once we got to the mall she bought (among other things) a whole new outfit..pants, sweater, scarf and bracelets.

Then it was off to Taco Bell for lunch, then we came home. Dave fixed one of her favorite meals...steak.

I can't believe my baby is twelve already. She is growing up way too fast. Some fun things to know about her right now are.....

1. She is taking track-we have an agreement that during track we will not drink pop. I'm not sure whether she is liking track yet or not. Her legs are sore, it has been really cold, and no pop!

2. She is playing spring volleyball with the sixth grade girls. This is her first time getting to play other teams and they had their first tournament on Sat. They came in second out of 16 teams and they played really well. She loves volleyball.

3. Her phone is her favorite thing ever. She just got a new phone because her other one got broken. It is hot pink and she absolutely loves it. She hugged her phone one day and told me that "this phone is my life."

4. She spends lots of time on the computer. Whether it is "My Space" or SIMS or looking up videos on utube she likes sitting in front of the computer.

5. She is my only child that occasionally cleans the kitchen without being asked. She also went out a few weeks ago and helped her dad all day while he was cleaning the yard. She even helped pick up all the dog poop. He didn't ask for her help, she just wanted to make his job easier.

6. She makes us laugh. She has always been funny, and she makes me smile pretty much every single day with something she says or does.

7. She loves her IPOD, Taco Bell Mexi-melts, Hot Cheetos, movies, Grey's Anatomy, Friday Night Lights, steak, taco dip, and lounge pants (or jam-jams as she calls them now), and her camera.

8. She still hasn't outgrown some of her clumsiness. Just today she fell out of Brittney's car and got a scrape on her elbow and a big knot on her knee. Even at twelve she still has bruises and scrapes all the time.

That's a look at my girl...we sure love her a bunch.

New family member

2009-03-24T06:43:00.000-07:00

My sister Danelle had her baby a few weeks ago. She weighed 4lbs. 11oz. Her name is Ellie Shae (I'm not sure how they are spelling it, so I am just guessing) She is sooo tiny and so cute. We went down to Albion so the girls could see her and visit their cousins. She is so little that even the premie diapers are big on her! She is healthy and doing very well. I love holding little babies-they don't do anything but sleep, and they always smell so good. (Well, not always, she had to be changed twice while we were there!)

Valentine's Day Shirts

2009-03-13T21:32:00.001-07:00

I never realized how handy scrapbooking supplies could be until my kids started using them for all kinds of different things. My scrap supplies have been used for school posters, election posters, school projects etc. For the Valentine's Dance Lindsay decided to use the foam stamp alphabet set to make a shirt. She drew a big Cupid on the front of the shirt and then used the stamps to write "Happy Valentines Day" on the back. She made little hearts all over it and used the period stamp to put dots all over. She spent all evening on it and it turned out so cute.

Brooke spent the night at a friends and made a shirt also, but we are having trouble getting the pictures from her camera onto the computer. Hers was really cute too. They both said they had a lot of fun at the dance and Brooke was so excited because she "almost" danced with a boy! (I hope that is the closest she gets to boys for a while.)

So Sad

2009-02-09T19:10:00.001-08:00

This has been our latest addiction.... Tabby, the photo center manager at Walmart, has been telling me about this series for a while, so I finally got season 1 on Netflix. Dave, Lindsay, Brooke and I were totally hooked. It is a very realistic show based on football in a Texas town that has a lot of teenagers making choices and how those choices affect their lives. There are times when the daughter and parents are fighting and I swear she says the EXACT words Brittney has said to us before. It isn't as funny as Grays Anatomy, but it is really good. (Side note...this is not a show for little kids, lots of grown up stuff) We got done watching it one night and Dave seemed a little grumpy so I asked him what was wrong. He said, "I just want Tim Riggins (character in the show) to get his life in order and he just isn't doing it."! Obviously we have been really into it. Lindsay and I got Dave and Brooke Season 2 for Christmas and we have been slowly watching it because Season 3 just started and we missed getting it set up in our DVR. So we knew when Season 2 was over we would have to go without for a LONG time. We just finished it the other night and we are already having withdrawls. Brooke has decided that we need to buy Season 1 and just start watching them all over. I'm guessing Season 3 won't come out until fall, so we just might have to do that!

Christmas Spirit

2008-12-04T09:06:00.000-08:00

Sunday we decided that we would put up our Christmas decorations. Dave concentrated on the outside and got all his lights hung. Marcy and Lindsay worked on our main tree, and they did an awesome job. Marcy thought white and red lights would be nice and it turned out really well. McKenna, Brooke and I worked on the rest of the house while they did that. We listened to Christmas music and had a table full of snacks to eat while we worked. I bought some Evergreen oil for my oil burner and it smelled soooo good, just like we had a real tree. After we were all done we relaxed and watched our new Christmas movie "Fred Clause."

Of course we had to have a silly picture!

This is the stocking holder I found at the craft fair. I have been looking for years for one but have never been able to find one with more that four pegs till now. (Now that it is Britts last year here, isn't that how it always goes.)

Our main tree in the living room.

Britt didn't help much with the house, but she did help the girls put up their tree that has their ornaments on it.

I thought it was really cute while we were pulling out all of our stuff the girls were saying where we got certain things, or asking where we got things. I kept saying, "Grandma made us that, Great-Grandma made us that, Grandma made that." Lindsay finally said, "It's a good thing we have Grandma's!" I told Lindsay that when she grew up she was probably on her own because I'm not very good at making things like that. She informed me that her Grandma would still be around and would take care of her! So thanks Grandma's for making our holidays special.

Oh no

2008-11-30T20:05:00.000-08:00

I just spent half an hour doing this post and somehow when I went to edit it all the typing I did disappeared. It didn't show up until after I posted it, so sorry I will try to quickly tell you what all this is.
Halloween...Lindsay was an 80's rocker and Brooke was a dead prom queen. We had no kids at home, so Dave and I and Knopps rented scary movies and had junk food. It was weird not having to take kids out trick or treating.
The last pictures are of Jakes birthday. We went to the movie Twilight and it was actually really good. Lindsay and McKenna talked Jake into reading the books and he actually really liked them. We had a good time celebrating his birthday with him.
Last Sunday we were in the add-on room watching tv when Colton said he saw something poke its head out from under the couch. Perry lifts all of the couches and finds nothing. We return to our tv and pretty soon Colton says he saw a mouse run into the game closet. So Perry and Antonio go into the closet and start taking everything piled onto the floor out. Brittney goes towards them to look..she sees the mouse and start screaming at the top of her lungs (which if you know Britt is really, really loud) and running backwards so fast she falls over the coffee table. In the meantime Marcy, McKenna, Lindsay, Brooke and I are all standing on the couches screaming. I am yelling at Brooke to go get her dad so he can do something. Dave had gone to bed and was not happy to be woken up in the manner!! Thankfully we caught the mouse (our first and hopefully last) in five years. Britt ended up with a big bruise on the back of her leg!
Well, that is a little of what we have been doing in the last month. I will try to do better at posting and keeping everyone up to date.

Update

2008-11-30T19:36:00.001-08:00

Ok,

Super Saturday

2008-10-30T17:41:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday Marcy and I headed down to Rupert to go to the Minico Craft Fair. I have not been to this craft fair for probably seven years, so I was excited to go again and see all the latest trends. I bought a cute stocking holder sign that the kids really liked, and Marcy bought some really cute things for her house. Afterwards, we went somewhere else I haven't been for several years...Docs Pizza. The taco pizza with extra hot cheese at Docs is absolutely the best taco pizza ever. Then we went to my moms and worked all day and most of the night on an advent calanders. We had no idea it would take as long as it did, but we got most of it done. (Finished poduct is on my moms blog)
Meanwhile, seperately Dave brought the girls down to a cousins Halloween party Danelle and Sally planned for the kids. Some of the kids dressed up...Sam was a skunk...
Christopher as a mad scientist...

They made a huge pile of leaves and the kids took turns jumping in it...

Natalie...

Then they got to paint pumpkins..this is Brooke, Natalie, and Whitney..

Taylor, Christopher, and Trevin

The kids said they even made Sally dress up!!

After they left Sally's house they headed to Albion to go to the Spook Alley at the Albion College. Dave said it was "ok", but the girls seemed to like it, they talked about it all morning on Sunday. They all said they were screaming, so it must have been at least a little scary. (special thanks to Clyde for taking such good care of Lindsay) My only complaint was that they dropped fake blood all over Dave's sweatshirt and ruined it. Over all, it was a good day for all of us.

Yum

2008-10-14T20:23:00.001-07:00

We tried Amber and Gary's recipe for sweet and sour chicken tonight and it was really good. (No pictures though because I didn't work today and I look like crap!) Dave even liked it, and he doesn't like his main dish food to be sweet. I missed the step of dipping the chicken in the eggs for the first batch I cooked because Brooke was playing "Sims" and I couldn't get on Ambers blog, but it still turned out fine. So thanks guys for the recipe, it was great.
The snow really motivated us..we spent our time last weekend doing all the fall things that need to be done. We took out our air conditioners, put away the hoses, took out the jet ski battery, put away the grill, put up the bikes, cleaned up our yard and cleaned out the garage. Dave even cleaned up all his tools, nuts, bolts etc. (I think it helped that he hooked up a tv in the garage so he could watch football at the same time!) He is now trying to work on the deck every night so we can get that done before winter really sets in. Hopefully it won't snow again for a while.

Birthdays

2008-09-29T18:27:00.000-07:00

We went out Saturday night to celebrate Megan and I's birthdays. We went to La Fiesta for dinner, which of course came with the sombrero's, blankets, singing and a big surprise. After the waiter had put our hats and blankets on he suddenly reached around me and smashed whip cream into my chin! Megan tried to get away, but he got her too! So Jen took a few pictures since he had lost his camera and we cleaned up. A few minutes later he came around again and sure enough he slaps more whip cream on us since he had found his camera. I had whip cream everywhere, even on my clothes...Megan almost dropped a big glob into her purse on the floor! It totally had us laughing, so I guess it was all worth it.

After dinner we headed to Side Winders, which if you have never been there, is actually like three different clubs hooked together. We played some Foosball, danced in the hip-hop club, and even did a little karaoke.

Troy and Caleb losing at Foosball to Dave and Vanessa

Sundi, me, Megan and Jen

Dave, Sarah and Megan

Jen rocked the house with her rendition of "Shoop" which she sang with Jesse (a friend of Troy's). I think she knew every word without even looking at the prompter...they sounded really good.

Then the boys did an outstanding performance of "Bohemian Rhapsody". They sang, they swayed, and they rocked out at the end. They even had onlookers singing with them, and when it was over the crowd cheered which was the only time that night that had happened.

Football and a Haircut

2008-09-28T13:58:00.000-07:00

This week was homecoming so Brittney was busy dressing up every day for the different things they had to do. Wed. was the powder puff football game and she got to play in it. She played offensive line in the first half, then switched to defense in the second half. She said she liked defense a lot more because it was less boring! The juniors ran the opening kick off for a touchdown, but then didn't even get a first down until the last couple of minutes of the game. The seniors scored so the game was tied..all they had to do was hold them. With 2 (yes 2) seconds left the juniors had the last play of the game and scored just as the buzzer sounded. Britt wasn't too sad though, she had thought they would get killed so she was just happy they were so close. She had fun and we had a good time going to watch her.

My next news is the Dave has finally cut his hair. For anyone who may not know, Perry had told him if he wouldn't cut his hair for six months he would pay him a hundred dollars. (This was on May 3rd so he had to go until Nov. 3rd) This photo is Dave on July 3rd, two months into the deal.

(sorry, I didn't rotate this right in my folder, and I'm not sure how to fix it here!!) This next photo is Dave (with Ori) on Labor Day Weekend in September. All through the summer his hair wasn't really getting long but once September came along it just went crazy.

By mid-Sept. he was going crazy..he felt like he looked like a total bum. We told him he looked like Lloyd in Dumb and Dumber with his hair all sticking out everywhere! So he worked out a deal with Perry and went to work the next day to have it cut. They put his hair into ponytails all over and Perry just started cutting them off. Then he shaved the rest.

Then they decided that they would make a New Orleans Saint symbol with a little bit of hair. He called me at work to tell me and I couldn't quite believe it, I had to have Sundii send me a picture on my phone!! He says he's leaving it until they win the Super Bowl....we have all told him that it isn't going to look good in the 5-20 years that might take!! I am glad to have him with short hair again.

Scrap Fun

2008-09-21T19:36:00.001-07:00

I got to spend some time this weekend scrapbooking and hanging out with some great ladies. We all got a lot done, and had a great time together. I am slowly trying to recover...I have had very little sleep, and I think I have gained ten pounds in the last few days!! Also I am already having withdrawls...I'm not sure I can scrapbook anymore without having a Cricut machine, it is that awesome. Unfortunately I did not take any pictures while we were there, but I did take some of our fun projects. Danelle brought stuff to make these fun Halloween picture frames.
Marcy brought everything to do these amazing blocks that I totally love. I am so ready to decorate my house for fall/halloween and these look awesome on the table by our front door.

Thanks girls for all the food, giggles, projects, and help with my layouts.

In another note, my mom has started her own blog...check it out at http://flwblog.blogspot.com/

Cheer

2008-09-17T16:41:00.001-07:00

Its official, I am a cheer mom now. If it were up to me I would not be a cheer mom this year...Lindsay tried out for cheerleader last year and didn't make it. It broke her heart, and it broke mine to see her so upset. So this year I didn't want her to try out again..I was afraid of the same situation as last year. She was determined though, and she practiced for hours to get her routines down right. I was a mess the day of tryouts and the day they found out..it was quite stressful. We were all excited when she made it. I am so proud of her for not letting one failure keep her from trying again, and I'm proud of her for not letting my negativity influence her decision to go for it. I have been going to the volleyball games to watch her cheer and I am really loving watching her cheer and McKenna play on the volleyball team. I try to clap and cheer with them (because Marcy says I'm a cheer mom so I have to) but at this point I have to say that I'm not very good at it! But, I'm sure I will get better. She seems to be having a great time and she is really good at ignoring us when we call out to her or try to get her to look at us!! So last week she had her first football game and she had to cheer for both the 7th and 8th grade games. Brooke, Dave and I all came to watch her.

At the volleyball games I have McKenna to watch and cheer for, but at the football games we really don't have anyone special to watch. So by the time we got to the end of the last game we were getting at little bored. Brooke was doing her homework and then we started taking pictures...

( Brooke was mad at me because she thinks she looked really good in this picture and I had to ruin it! )

Cousins

2008-09-08T20:16:00.000-07:00

The kids don't get to see their cousins as much now that we live in Gooding, so Saturday we met Danelle in Twin so they could spend a little time together. We shopped and ate at the mall, then went down into the canyon to Centennial Park. We played some volleyball and then sat on the grass and just visited. Danelle and I used to spend tons of time at parks with the kids while they were growing up, so it was kind of like old times. It was nice getting to just hang out with them and catch up on what they are doing.
Mikayla and Lindsay

Trevin

Chelsea wouldn't let me take a picture of her at all...Brooke finally grabbed her and tried to hold her so I could take one. This is the best I could do!! Of course Brooke is the total opposite. She always lets me take her picture, and she even does all kinds of funny poses for me.

She so cracks me up...she makes me laugh every day. (She just walked in and told me she was trying to make this look like a professional picture!) I'm sure as she gets a little older she will grow out of this, but it sure is fun for now.

Hard Working Man

2008-09-01T17:29:00.000-07:00

Saturday night Dave came home after a long, hard day at work and this is how he looked. The pictures do not do him justice though because his face was completely black, and his clothes were covered in grease and dirt.(and that was even after he used the air hose on them!) I couldn't resist taking his picture because it is probably the dirtiest I have ever seen him come home. He was a good sport about it though, even when I told him I was going to put them on the blog.

I just want him to know how much we appreciate all his hard work and everything he does to support our family. This time of year he works lots of hours in the hot sun, he doesn't get much family time, and he has a lot of stress, but he rarely complains (at least to me) and he just goes out and does what needs to be done. He is an awesome dad and a great husband and we love him very much.

School Spirit

2008-08-26T17:45:00.000-07:00

School has officially started here in Gooding, and all three of my daughters were glad to be going back. Once August starts they tend to get bored and are ready to see their friends again. Brooke is in the sixth grade this year and has started middle school. (I have no more elementary age kids, and it seems really weird.) After lots of patience and help from her Aunt Marcy, and several trips to the school, she finally figured out how to open her locker. Thank goodness it was before the first day! She can't wait for football and volleyball start so she can go hang out at the games. Lindsay is in the eigth grade and informs me that she is having fun being the grade that rules the school. She has gotten so grown up in the last year that I hardly recognize her. She has become a teenager which makes me a little sad. She is growing taller and although I keep telling her to stop, she hasn't. She is a chearleader this year and very excited about that.

Brittney is a Senior this year....it seems like just yesterday that she started school and now she is almost done. I am realizing that after this year our lives will never be the same. It really makes me not want to take for granted the time that we have right now to spend with her.

I came home from work the other day and this was the scene on my front lawn. Brittney and some of her friends were spray painting shirts to wear to the athletic games. They have decided that they are going all out to support their teams. After doing this they went and painted the school rock. One of the teachers called them the "Spirit Squad" and even had them make a poster for the Senior girls volleyball players to take to the first game.

Ready for the game!!

Road Trip

2008-08-25T18:44:00.000-07:00

Saturday afternoon Marcy and Perry, Troy and Jen, and Dave and I jumped in the car and headed out on a road trip. We decided after some debate (thanks Dave and Perry...it was a good choice) to go to Mackey for some pie. We made a stop at every little town along the way, and even stopped at the historical marker! We finally made it to Mackey, but before we went to town we turned down a gravel road and stopped to dance to Bon Jovi's "You Want to Make a Memory". We also took some fun pictures while we were stopped there. This is us doing a slow motion run while Troy drove off in the vehicle!! The view was awsome with the mountains in the background. We thought it would be a beautiful place to retire to someday.

We had so much fun in the car along the way. We played the IPOD super loud and danced in our seats. On the way home the boys all fell asleep and Marcy, Jen and I sang our hearts out for the whole two hour drive. Of course Marcy "loves, loves, loves" all of her songs and begged (please, please, please) for us to listen to all of them, even the ones we didn't know and couldn't sing to!! We vetoed a few of them because we were having so much fun singing at the top of our lungs. We were sure we wouldn't have voices the next day! It must have been too much for Dave because when we looked back to the third seat he was gone...he had crawled to the very, very back to try to get away from us. This is Dave and I's conversation on the way to our house...

Dave: "You know if the girls had wanted to sleep on the way home we would have had to turn off

the radio and be really quiet."

Steph: "I know Babe, but we're girls and we want our way all the time...don't you know that by

now?"

Dave: "Yeah, I should!"

Here are a few of our car pictures....

We went into Mackey and Dave finally got fed...he had been bugging us every since we left about getting something to eat. We met a fun couple that ate dinner with us and then we all went next door to go dancing. We had a great time and can't wait to go somewhere new again.

Grain Galore

2008-08-24T15:47:00.000-07:00

Dave has been wanting us to come to his work and see all the grain they have there, so Lindsay, Brooke and I hopped in the car and drove over there the other day. We have only been seeing him a few minutes a day, so it was nice to get to spend a little time with him. When we pulled in at 8:00 pm there was still a long line of trucks waiting to unload, and there was grain everywhere. We were amazed at how much there was. Dave drove us around to see all the grain and then the girls wanted to climb the tower. We have been up there before, and it really freaks me out because I am scared of hights.(and it is really high....over two hundred steps up...I counted!!) But it also freaks me out to let the girls go up without me so we all went up. The picture below is me hanging onto the rail for dear life!

Of course the girls and Dave aren't scared at all so they were happy to pose for pictures and look around at the awesome view. Dave took a bunch of pictures of the grain because they have so much of it.

Dave told Brooke that if you chew on some grain for long enough it will turn into gum, so she put some in and chewed for a few minutes. She definately didn't like it and spit it out right away!

Huge, Huge Thank You

2008-08-19T14:29:00.000-07:00

Well, I have joined the world of bloggers, and I am very excited..I have to give a huge thank you to Jennifer and Amber, because without them this blog would not exist! (They obviously know how little I know about computers so they offered to get this up and running) So ladies, I love ya and thank you, thank you, thank you.
Brooke said she is excited to see what fun, cool pictures we will have in our posts, so I will have to get going on that!