Home is where our story begins

Our Valentine's Date

2010-02-21T15:44:00.000-07:00

This year my two younger sisters and I decided to plan a fun Valentine's date for our sweethearts and our kids. Mom & Dad were out of town, but we still met at their house and the girls made a delicious dinner for our families consisting of grilled steak and chicken, garlic shrimp, homemade fried rice, and a special valentine's parfait, and topped it off with sparkling cider. We made the kids heart shaped grilled cheese sandwiches and they got their own candle lit dinner on a smaller table just like the adults. Mom surprised us and had the table all set up for us before she left out of town, it was so cute. Our Valentine's parfait....it was layers of shortcake, vanilla pudding, strawberries, blackberries, and and topped with whip cream.....it was YUM-O!
The kids table.

After dinner was cleaned up we had a little extra time before our movie so we played the new wii game Just Dance. It was hilarious and a good workout.

Then our cousin Chancey came down and babysat the kids and the six of us went to the movies to see Valentine's Day. It was cute and such a fun night.

Dallas vs. Minnesota Playoff game - Jan 2010

2010-01-20T11:30:00.001-07:00

Troy and I were able to get tickets to go to a playoff game this year. Anyone who knows me knows how HUGE of a football fan I am and also knows that DALLAS COWBOYS are my team. We actually bought the tickets to fly into Minnesota and watch this playoff game before we knew who the Vikings would play, crossing our fingers that Dallas would win and be the opposing team. Luckily, that is what happened and I can not even begin to explain how excited I was to go see my team play LIVE and even more, in a PLAYOFF game.

We went with my uncle Perry and his wife Marcy who are HUGE Vikings (or should I say, Farve) fans. We ended up finding seats on the 4th row.......AMAZING. We were so close I could smell the sweat on the players......did I mention AMAZING!! :)

Even though my team failed to "show up and play" it was still one of the most awesome experiences EVER. We had a great time! Here are a few pictures.

This was from the dinner our first night in town.

Then the next morning we got invited to go tailgating with an acquaintance of my uncle's. Here are some of our tailgating friends. We started tailgating @ 9 in the morning and it was cold.

Here are some pictures during the game. For all you Farve fans here is one of him celebrating to the crowd after a touchdown.

This shows how great our seats were. We were on the 4th row at the 10 yard line. It was AWESOME!
Here are some "super fans" for Minnesota that were sitting on the 1st row just in front of us. They loved that a Dallas fan wanted a picture with them.
Notice the sea of purple. Not too many Dallas fans in this section of the crowd, but I still wore my jersey proudly!!
The Viking rode his motorcycle on the field in the beginning of the game.

The ending score.....I know, I know.....brutal.

Happy Birthday!!

2010-01-01T13:16:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th Birthday to our sweet sweet New Year's Baby Jaycee Kaye! We love you little girl and couldn't imagine our lives without you! Hope your day is great!

Softball Tournament

2009-09-14T16:17:00.010-06:00

This last weekend Troy played in one of the last men's softball tournaments of the season. It was in Boise and we decided to not take the kids to this one. Luckily I have amazing family that was willing to help with the kids. Thanks Aunt Jo, Dad, and Mom for your help with the kids so I could go and enjoy this weekend with my hubby.
We left Twin Friday night to go to Boise and get settled in our hotel so we were there and ready for the games that started Saturday morning. Then we went out and ate and hung out with some of the other couples there from the team.

Here is my good friend Steph and I before we headed out for dinner Friday night. We shared a room with her and her hubby Matt, Troy's assistant coach.

Then Saturday morning the games started. Here is a picture of our fans. Troy's sister and her hubby and their daughter Courtney came and hung out with us for the weekend since they live in Boise.
Some of the girls....Courtney (my niece), Terra (sister-in-law), Jodi (soon to be sister-in-law), Me, Loni, and Steph.My nieces were our score keepers for the day.
In between games we all hung out in the shade. They guys did so amazing on the first day. This is before their last game of the day. They went undefeated the whole day! Warming up for the last game of the day.
This is the hottest player on the team! :)

Here are some pictures of our fans and players with their spouses.

Ivan & Kara
Thayne & Jodi

Troy & I

Terra & Steve

Loni & Mike

Mark & Lisa Amy & Ryan and their son

Todd & his daughter Kaitlynn

Riley & Courtney

Matt & Steph

My good friend Loni & IThayne & TroyMatt & Troy getting a little too cozy in between games in the shade. :)Troy & Matt waiting for their last game to start. This is one of my favorite pictures of the weekend.
A team cheer after winning their last game of the day.
The guys went undefeated for the weekend and I couldn't have been a prouder fan. Love watching them play!

First Day of School 2009

2009-08-24T17:07:00.004-06:00

This year we had two kids getting ready for the First Day Of School. Kayden is going into the 2nd grade and Ori is going into Kindergarten. Ori was so excited to get to finally go to the "real school".

Here they are posing out in front of our house before we left for school.Even Jaycee thought she needed in a picture with brothers.Then we took a couple of individual pictures. The posed all on their own and I totally dying laughing inside. How cute are they.Kayden - 2nd gradeOri - Kindergarten Once we got to the school we decided we needed one more picture on the playground.
And one showing off their cool backpacks.
This is Kayden with his teacher Mrs. Carlson.And Ori with his teacher Mrs. LeBlancThen one last picture of Kayden sitting at his new desk.

And Ori starting a group activity at his table.

Crazy to only have Jaycee going to daycare, but let me tell you.....a lot cheaper! :)

Day #4 of California Trip

2009-07-09T17:52:00.000-06:00

Day #4 of our trip was a relaxing day at the beach. We have some really good friends who live in Huntington Beach, CA. We went to school with Nick and in the last few years have gotten close to his girlfriend Shawna. We were excited to get the chance to hang out with them and take the kids to the beach.

Shawna was working on this day, but Nick was off so we drove to his house and then he took us down to the beach for the day. It wasn't super hot, but we still had so much fun. When we got to the beach and started walking on the sand Kayden looked up at me and said "Mom, is this real sand?" I had to just laugh. I had to remember this was the first time EVER my kids had been to a beach.

Here is Huntington Beach
Once we got there Troy and Nick walked over to the a little pizza joint close by and got pizza and drinks for us while the kids and I played in the sand. Then when they got back we put some blankets down and had pizza and soda. It was a lot of fun to have a little picnic on the beach.After eating we just enjoyed the beach. The water was cold, not warm enough to completely just jump in, but we still had a ton of fun. The kids and I built sand castles, we walked along the beach and found sea shells, we played in the water, and we did some wave jumping.

We had the most fun running out to the water and then turning around and running back trying to not let the waves catch us. The kids laughed and laughed.

Troy and Nick spent a lot of time visiting and catching up while the kids and I played. It was such an enjoyable afternoon for all of us and absolutely priceless to experience the beach for the first time with my kids.

After we got back to the hotel we went to dinner with Troy's Stepdad Dave and his Mom and all of Dave's Cornwell dealers. Then we took the kids swimming for a little bit in the hotel pool and went back to the room and put the kids to bed so they would be refreshed for the next morning. Then we went into Dave & Deb's room (which was hooked to ours) and played pinochle just the four of us. It was a ton of fun and such good bonding time.

Day #3 - Sea World

2009-07-07T15:20:00.000-06:00

I am now playing catch up on my blog. I am doing this more for my record, but please feel free to enjoy also.
Day #3 was spent at Sea World. We could not have picked a better day to go. It was a Tuesday so there were practically NO lines for anything. The park was not over crowded, and the weather was PERFECT, not too hot but not too cold. We also got great seats for all of the shows (the splash zone).
We started the day off with a family photo while we were waiting for the park to open up.
Sea World is owned by Anheuser-Busch. S0 one of the first things we did was go over and see the clydesdale horses. The kids wanted to get a picture in front of the statue to show Papa Clyde since this is his favorite kind of horse, and beer :).Then we walked in the stables and looked at all the real horses. They are so big and so fun to watch.Ori even got to pet the Dalmatian, but he had to be very careful and slow because this dog was very shy.
Next we went and saw some seals and whales. The boys and their dad got to go on a helicopter simulation ride, but Jaycee wasn't quite big enough so we waited for them by the seals.Next we headed over to see the polar bears, and this is what we saw....As all the adults are chuckling, the kids wanted to know why the two polar bears were playing like that. They didn't like the idea that the bigger bear was sitting on the smaller one. Explain that one to a 7, 5, and 3 year old. :)
Then we took some pictures in the polar bear caves.

And then got our picture taken with a real polar bear......well kind of :) Next we went to one of two Shamu shows. The first one was showing us how they train the whales. We got amazing seats front and center, in the splash zone. The kids were completely amazed by the animals.

After that we went the Sesame Street Bay of Play. This was a fun little area. The park employees said the added this to give a little more stuff to do for the younger kids that come. It had a great big huge jungle gym that you could crawl all through which we did as a family. Let me tell you, that was quite the work out.

There was water fountains for the kids to run through.A great big huge jump area. Then they got their picture taken with Elmo.And then Jaycee got her picture taken with Abby Cadabby.

After a quick bite to eat we headed over for the dolphin show. This was such a fun show and the kids loved watching how high the dolphins could jump out of the water and all the tricks they did.

Then we walked over to the penguins. On our way there we passed by a pool with different things inside of it that you could touch, pick up, and feel. The kids thought this was pretty cool. They each had a turn holding a star fish and touching some of the other creatures.
Next we saw the penguins, which Jaycee especially liked because she is a big fan of the cartoon happy feet.

Next, Troy and the boys went on the ride Journey to Atlantis. Jaycee wasn't tall enough to ride this so we watched. (And I was secretly okay with this so I didn't have to get wet again:)

Then we went to our second Shamu show. This one was called The Story of Shamu. This was probably the best show out of all of them. The did all sorts of tricks put to really neat music. The kids were absolutely amazed and I loved watching the looks on their faces. We were in the splash zone again, but it was worth it to be right up close.

After that show we headed over towards the shark exhibit. On our way there we passed by the flamingos. For some reason they were very interested to watch and we stood there for a few minutes.The shark exhibit was very cool. The boys really loved it. Jaycee thought it was a little dark and scary. We actually got to walk through a tunnel under ground and the sharks were swimming above and around us.
After the shark exhibit we walked over to get good seats for the last show of the day. This was Clyde and Seamore's Risky Rescue. This was by far the most entertaining show of the day with the jokes and the funny story. Ori also thought it was cool that the sea lion had the same name as him and Grandpa. While we were waiting for the show to start we took a picture of the kids by the tank.

Then we got some snacks to munch on while we waited. I don't know why but I thought these pictures of Jaycee were so priceless. She enjoyed this cotton candy so much and didn't even realize that anything else was going on around her, she was so focused on her treat.Then the show started. This is Clyde...And this is Seamore....dancing behind one of the actors.It was such an enjoyable day and we managed to visit and see everything the park had to offer. We then loaded up and headed for our second hotel in Anaheim. We had an hour long drive from Sea World to our new hotel in 5 lines of traffic going both ways at about 85 miles an hour. It was super crazy and frightening and I was so glad Troy was the one driving because it didn't even faze him.

Jaycee was asleep about 5 minutes into the ride.When we showed up at the hotel Grandpa and Grandma were there to greet us and show us around our hotel. The hotel was super nice and was a couple of blocks away from Disneyland. Here is Grandma and the kids in front of the water fall in front of our hotel. And this is the kids showing how tall our hotel was.Then we finished the evening off by going to dinner with Grandpa and Grandma. We walked over to a restaurant a few blocks from the hotel. And Jaycee of course talked Grandpa into giving her a lift. :)

Day 1 & 2 of our California vacation

2009-04-16T14:34:00.000-06:00

I know it took me forever to get some of this on here, but you have no idea how crazy busy our lives have been.

This was our first day. This is a picture of the kids just as we are pulling out of Twin Falls for our long trip. I figured I needed to get a picture of them smiling in the vehicle before they were hating it after the long hours. I made a travel bag for each kid that had books, color books, puzzles, and some miscellaneous toys. Then I also took a sheet cake pan (using my imagination) for each of them to use as a tray. It worked out great because when we ate in the vehicle they had a little lip on their tray that didn't let the stuff slide off.We drove all day through Idaho, and Nevada. We pulled into Las Vegas right around 11:00 at night. All three kids stayed awake long enough to pull into Vegas and see all the lights and buildings. The kids were AMAZED!! They couldn't believe it. Kayden asked us who made this city and we said it has been growing over years and years by lots of people. He said to us "I would like to meet whoever did this and thank them for the masterpiece." What a kid! And to think that came from a seven year old.

This is a picture of Jaycee as we pulled out of Las Vegas. She stayed awake just long enough to get to see all the lights and hustle and bustle, then she fell asleep.
The first night we stayed at Buffalo Bill's Hotel in Primm, NV. This is just a few miles outside of Vegas. Perfect for just traveling through and having three very young kids with us.This is the kids the first night in a hotel. They think staying in a hotel is the coolest thing ever. We decided it was like having a slumber party every night. Then the second day we traveled the rest of the way to Sand Diego. We found a hotel that was close to Sea World (where we were going the next day). It had a kid's suite that had bunk beds and a little kitchen. The kids thought the setup was pretty cool. Once we got all settled we went swimming in the hotel pool before we were off the The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. The swimming was a little cold, but felt like summer time compared to the snow we left on the ground back at home.

Great couple of days to start off our week vacation! More to come.....

Our Busy Weekend

2009-03-01T19:59:00.010-07:00

We had a fun and busy weekend. It started on Thursday night with Kayden's annual Blue and Gold Banquet for scouts. We gathered and had an awesome pot luck dinner.Then the awards were given out. Kayden had earned an additional 11 awards (patches, belt loops, and pins) for his accomplishments. Here is a picture of Kayden's Den leader awarding him his awards. He looks so proud :). Then Daddy promised ice cream on the way home to celebrate Kayden's accomplishments. We stopped by Baskin Robbins. The kids always have to walk up and down the ice cream case and look at all the flavors and even try a couple of samples before finally deciding on what they want.

Then on Friday both boys got to invite one friend to come and stay the night. This was Ori's first time ever having a sleepover and he was so excited. We started off by having pizza at the house.

Then we took the four boys and Jaycee over to Hop 2 It to play. Here is Kayden and Daddy sliding down the end of the obstacle course.

Here is Jaycee playing in the ball pit.

Jaycee insisted on giving daddy a kiss through the net of the jump house. I thought that was so cute! :)

Jaycee and Daddy getting ready to slide down the end of the obstacle course.

And the two of them at the beginning of the course.

This is Kayden and his friend Avery.

This is Ori and his friend Caleb.

Piled up at the bottom of the slide.

A picture with mom.

Troy was right in the middle of everything and the kids loved all the time with him.

Loved this picture of Jaycee sliding down on the jump houses.

Then we ended the night with pillows and blankets on the living room floor, watching space dogs and eating popcorn. The boys had a great time!

Then on Saturday Troy and I headed to Sun Valley with three other couples to celebrate a friends birthday. We went on a sleigh ride from the Sun Valley Inn across the Sun Valley golf course to a restaurant where we had dinner. Then the sleigh took us back.

The view was amazing and company was a lot of fun. Here are a few pictures of our evening.

Dinner was excellent. It was served family style. You choose your meat and it comes with soup, veggie medley, garlic mashed potatoes, baked mac and cheese, and dessert.

Our friends Mel and Bill. We were celebrating Bill's birthday.

Bill's parents

And Kasey and Derek Stanger.

Then on Sunday we spent the day relaxing, running a few errands to prepare for our trip, and got the luggage all set out and started packing a little. The official countdown is here and we leave for Disneyland in less than a week. The kids can't wait!

Jaycee's new comforter set

2009-02-25T19:35:00.003-07:00

Since Jaycee moved into her twin bed, I have been looking for a comforter for it. I painted her room to coordinate with the colors of her bedding that went on her crib and I really liked the colors and was hoping to find something that would go along with it so I didn't have to repaint. But after looking.......looking......looking, no luck. I was about to give up and then I finally found something.

This is the colors on her wall. It is a neutral tan colored wall and I painted one big stripe around the top portion of the room. Then I accented with bright red. I loved the combination.And now introducing Jaycee's new comforter set...... It came with the sham

The comforter and bed skirt

And the curtain.

I totally love it and Jaycee is in love with the lady buys. It is amazing how well it matches the walls and decorations.

Working on Valentine's Cards

2009-02-22T20:47:00.004-07:00

This year all three kids had valentine lists for their classmates. It was fun, one evening after dinner we sat all three of them up to the table. We opened up all three boxes of valentines we had bought and let them pick and choose which one that wanted to give to each person.

Here is Kayden working on his list.
And here is "Cheeser" Jaycee working on hers. I swear this girl can't take a normal picture right now. Does anyone else have kids that do this or is it just my little crazy one?

Ori working on his list.

I had to add one more picture. I just loved this one of Jaycee. She was concentrating so hard on what she was writing on this one. SO cute!

Super Bowl 2009

2009-02-22T20:39:00.004-07:00

We spent Superbowl enjoying Perry and Marcy's new house. Well I guess it isn't technically a new house, but it looks like a brand new house with the remodel and addition. We decided to keep it simple and relaxed and started out with just the "six pack". Dave and Steph brought this fun 3D glasses that we were suppose to wear for a commercial later on in the game.We made lots of finger foods to snack on and then Perry and Marcy made tri-tip with homemade mac and cheese and lots of fixings for dinner. It was so yummy. The kids hung out at Dave and Steph's house and played with their girls all day. We played lots of cards and then watched the game.

Later in the day Jason and Hailey stopped by on their way home from skiing. Here are some pictures of the group around the table playing cards. It was such a fun and relaxing day and ended up being a really good game too!

Perry, Marcy, and Colton Hailey, Steph, Riley, and Jason

Troy, Dave, and Jen

Our first Pinewood Derby

2009-02-19T18:19:00.005-07:00

Here is the finished product... For anyone who knows Kayden, they know how patriotic he is. So when we asked how he wanted to paint his car his two ideas were either red, white, and blue or camo. We felt that red, white, and blue would be easier so we went with that. It turned out really nice. We put a big USA on the top with lots of stars. Then we put his name on the back.

Thanks to Aunt Amber for the use of her Silhouette machine to cut out the vinyl to decorate it.

He was so proud of the way it turned out.

His brother and sister wanted to pose with him for one picture before we left.

Kayden was lucky to have several supporters show up to cheer him on. Papa Clyde and Aunt Ab Jo came from Burley to watch. (Don't ask what my daughter is doing in this picture. That is her new thing, to pull faces when I want a picture.)

Grandpa Steve and Grandma Helen were there to show their support too.

And of course Mom and Dad and his brother and sister were there.

They had an awesome track that was all computerized. I guess the pinewood derby has been around long enough to give them plenty of time to perfect it.

They raced four boys at a time. When it was their turn to race they got to sit in the four chairs by the finish line. Each boy had to race his car on each of the four lanes of the track. Then they combined all of their times and ranks to see who won overall.

This is kind of hard to see in the picture, but they had this up on the wall so you could see how each car did. As soon as they crossed the finish line it showed their time, who came in what place, and their time.

Dad, Kayden, and Grandpa watching some of the other races.

Jaycee and Ori had a great time with this. They sat right down in front and watched every race.

After all the races were finished for all the different age groups, they handed out awards. Kayden won first place for his division and received a really awesome trophy.

Then all the first place cars from each division raced at the very end for the award of Pride of the Pack. Kayden had to race against boys who were all older than him. He did such a great job and ended up winning third overall. He received a Huge 3rd place ribbon for the pack race.

This was such a fun event. The whole family really enjoyed going and watching him race. Now we have a lot to live up to for next year. We better start planning now. :)

Kayden's 1st derby car

2009-02-17T12:31:00.004-07:00

Kayden is a Tiger Cub this year which is the youngest rank in the scouts. This has been our first year doing scouts and we have really enjoyed it. We just had the opportunity to help Kayden make his first pinewood derby car. He was so excited to do this. Grandpa Jensen and Dad helped him get started on this project. We picked a pattern off of the Internet and then Kayden helped his dad cut it out and sand it.Kayden felt so important that he got to stand at the saw with his dad and cut out his car.

Then we sanded it and got it all prepared to paint. You will see the finished product in the next post.

Kayden's winter basketball

2009-02-16T19:55:00.004-07:00

Kayden has been playing winter basketball again this year. Troy is coaching his team and Jaycee, Ori, and I love to go and watch. It is amazing at how much he has improved just from last year. He has games on every Saturday. They practice for 30 minutes and then have a 30 minutes game. It is a nice set up, because we aren't running one day for practice and then one day for games. It is all combined. Another thing they do that I think is such a good idea, is they have each of the boys wear a different color wrist band. Then they opposing team has wrist bands on too. So Kayden knows that if he is wearing the blue wrist band that he is guarding the boy on the other team with the blue wrist band. I think it is such a smart way to teach the boys about paying attention to who they are guarding.We have had lots of family come and support Kayden. I happen to have my camera on the day Uncle Perry and Aunt Marcy came. The others that have supported him this year are Papa Clyde and Nannie Becky, Grandpa and Grandma Jensen, and Great Grandpa Jensen. Kayden always loves when people come to watch him play. Thanks for those of you who have supported him.

Jaycee's 3rd Birthday

2009-02-15T10:31:00.006-07:00

We welcomed the new year with a birthday for our little "New Year's Baby". I know, she is not a baby anymore but she will always be my baby. Jaycee turned three this year and we celebrated her birthday the weekend after New Years. She was so excited for her birthday this year and helped us count down the days until it was here.Her brothers thought they needed to help her with all of her presents. :) She was so cute and so appreciative of every present. Since it was right after Christmas and she really didn't "need" more toys, she got a bunch of new clothes along with some toys. She needed the clothes and was so cute after she would open each new present. In this picture she had just opened up a cute pair of jeans and she was so excited about them. I can see it now....future shopper and clothes fanatic.We made cupcakes this year instead of a cake. I love this picture of her getting ready to blow out her candle.She got a princess package for one of her gifts. It had a little purse in it, a crown, lip gloss, and finger nail polish. She thought that was one of the coolest gifts. She put her crown on and walked around putting lip gloss on everyone and painting every one's fingernails.

Ori even got in on the action and put some lip gloss on Aunt Terra.

Here are a few pictures of family and friends who shared this special day with us. Courtney, Aunt Terra, and Uncle Steve from Boise. Notice Jaycee had to try on one of her new outfits and her new coat for the picture. Dave, Steph, and Brooke.

Grandma Becky and Aunt Ab Jo.

Grandpa and Grandma Jensen.

Uncle Gary, Aunt Amber, and Regie were there also but snuck away before I got a picture. Thanks everyone who was able to attend and who helped us celebrate having this special little one in our lives. We love you all!

Christmas at Lindsays

2009-02-11T12:31:00.004-07:00

Late Christmas Eve we headed to my parent's house just in time to tuck kids in bed. Then we waited for Santa to come. After Santa had made his stop, I snapped a couple of pictures before heading to bed.

Here is what Jaycee got from Santa. A Kitchen set with some food and dishes to go with it and a doll. And her stocking filled with the normal new toothbrush, hair accessories, candy, a movie, and lottery tickets.
The boys each got a PSP with a carrying case. Three games each for their PSP and their stocking filled with new toothbrushes, toothpaste, candy, movie, and lottery tickets.Here are the kids seeing their stuff for the first time Christmas morning.
Amber and Gary and Regie were at Mom and Dad's house too for Christmas morning. It was fun to watch Regie open her gifts too. All four of the kids are at such fun ages for Christmas. Here is dad trying on the Modern coat that we gave him for Christmas.Then Mom showing off the new set of dishes we got her. We had so so so much snow in the Burley/Rupert area for Christmas. It just kept snowing and snowing and snowing. It was so nice that we didn't have to travel. We just hung out as a family and played games and relaxed as the snow continued to close roads around us. We got the snowmobiles out and Troy, Abbie, and the kids played on them a ton. Dad and I even bundled up a couple of times and went out and rode with them. Then Keegan and Logan showed up with theirs and we all rode together for awhile. It was a ton of fun, the kids loved it. Here are all the kids bundled up ready to go out. They had layers and layers on but they didn't care.Jaycee even fell asleep on one of the rides with Aunt Jo. Gary and Amber decided that they didn't want to go out in the cold on the snowmobiles so they hung out inside and played some cards with Grandpa and Grandma.The rest of the time we played guitar hero, wii, cards, and games. It is always so nice to hang out with the ones you love around the holidays.

Christmas Eve with the Cantrells

2009-02-08T20:42:00.009-07:00

We spent Christmas Eve at Troy's mom and stepdad's house. We always have so much fun getting together with family, playing games, and just catching up. Troy's brother Eric was here from North Carolina with his two kids Kayla and Cody, His sister Terra and her family came, his sister Wende and her family came, and his other brother Thayne and his family were there also.

We started the evening with dinner and our favorite tradition for holidays, California veggies...yum-o! Here is a picture of Troy helping his mother in the kitchen.

He even carved the turkey this year.Then we all just hung out and visited while the adults helped clean up the dinner mess. The kids had such a fun time hanging out with their cousins. The just don't get to see them nearly enough. This is Kody, Kayden, Katelynn, Ori, and Jaycee playing on the computer.And Jaycee loving on Grandpa and getting a "horsey" ride.Then we all gathered in the family room and opened gifts. Jaycee got an adorable dirt devil vacuum from Grandpa and Grandma. It turns on and lights up and makes sounds just like a real vacuum. Jaycee absolutely loves it and insists on getting it out every time I am vacuuming around the house so she can help me.Ori got a construction set that has a bunch of different vehicles and people in it. This could not be more perfect for him right now. This is exactly the kind of stuff he is in to. And Kayden got a small pin ball machine that you can sit on a table and play. I could have swore I got a picture of him with it, but I can't seem to find it.

This is a picture of me with my niece's new boyfriend she brought for us to meet. He was laughing at me because I was walking around taking a bunch of pictures, so I decided to break him in the right way......having him take a picture with me. :)Then we spent the rest of the evening playing our wii, playing darts, and ping pong in the garage.

It was such an enjoyable evening and always so much fun to spend time with family.

Christmas Catch Up

2009-02-08T20:25:00.003-07:00

Since the holidays we have been so busy that my blog has been completely neglected. I know that we are way past Christmas, so please understand that these next few posts are more for my records where I am using this as a family journal too. Please feel free to view them if you would like.

Before Christmas we went up to the south hills with our family, Thayne his girlfriend and daughter, and Eric and his kids. There is a house that has over 300,000 lights and normally a camel too. When we went the camel was sick so we didn't get to see it, but the lights were still a sight to see. The kids thought it was completely awesome and even got to see Santa there. Here are few pictures of our evening.

Update!

2008-12-20T13:42:00.001-07:00

Life has been so crazy busy and then the fact that it is this time of year doesn't help, because this time of year is always busy. Here is a little update on some of our activities the last couple of weeks.

Work is going GREAT and I am truly loving it. It is still taking some time to get use to the schedule and balancing everything, but I think we are slowly getting the hang of it. Jaycee is adapting well to daycare and doesn't cry anymore. She tells me everyday about her "friends" that she plays with and loves that her older brother Ori is there in case she needs him.

Ori is also enjoying preschool/daycare. We were trying to balance both of his preschools (the one we enrolled him in when I was staying home and the one he attends and daycare) It got too difficult and he started asking not to go the one he went to before I started working. He liked staying at the other one better. It didn't make sense to go out of my way three days a week to pick him up from one and take him to the other when he didn't even want to go. So we finally decided to get rid of the one and just go to the other. Then I get a phone call from the preschool he first attended saying they would help me do whatever they could to get Ori to and from school because they don't want him to stop going. After long consideration and talking to Troy about it we decided that we are going to continue both schools for now......crazy I know.

Kayden has been super busy in school and is loving it. I am AMAZED at how well they start reading in 1st grade and have really been enjoying listening to him read to me at night. He is getting so smart. He is signed up for winter basketball through the parks and rec and it should be starting soon.....and, his dad is coaching so he is super excited about that.

We finally, finally, finally, are getting over the stomach flu. My kids literally had it for 2 1/2 weeks and we are not talking just mild fevers and tummy aches, we are talking non stop vomit ting and diarrhea for 2 1/2 weeks. I finally had all I could take and took them to their pediatrician at the risk of her telling me exactly what she did......"It has to run its course". I am like yeah, but the course is taking TOO DAMN LONG!! :) There is still a little lingering tummy aches, but overall everyone is feeling much better.

Kayden had his Christmas program at the Roper auditorium. It was really cute and he did really well. Here are a few pics from that night.

Kayden and his best friend Dallin

We feel like we have been going a hundred miles an hour in separate directions, so we decided that it was time for family movie night. We put everything else to the side, each picked out a blanket, popped some popcorn, added the hot tamales, and watched Horton Hears A Who. It was such a cute show and the kids were actually laughing out loud. Our niece Katelynn came and watched it with us and it was such a fun night.

For those of you who have never heard of having popcorn and Hot Tamales together must try. It is YUM-O!!! Troy tried it one time when we were dating and he has been hooked ever since. It was something my mom and dad started a long time ago and since then we have got a lot of people hooked on it. Try it and let me know what you think! :)

Last weekend we had a big Christmas candy making day and Dave and Steph's house with Perry and Marcy, Dave and Steph, and our families. It was a lot of fun and work but well worth it. Dave and Marcy were the two candy making pros, the rest of us just filled in where ever we were needed. By the end of the day we were all tired but had a lot to show for it. Here is what we started out with...

We made white fudge, regular fudge, cinnamon walnuts, toffee, peanut rolls, peanut brittle, thumbprint cookies, pecan clusters, peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate, candy cane white chocolate, Carmel corn, popcorn balls, and chocolate covered pretzels.

We made several trips to the store (which is always an inside joke with this group anyways because we can't ever get together without making at least a couple of trips to the store to get stuff to munch on or cook). We all took turns stirring, stirring, stirring, and stirring the fudge until it looked good to Chef Dave. :) Perry made a roast for dinner which didn't end up cooking as fast as he thought so our last trip to the store for the day was to buy a bunch of frozen pizzas and it was amazing how well those frozen pizzas hit the spot.

Jaycee was so interested in the popcorn popping out of the air popper. She sat like this and watched it for a long time.

Troy was amazing and really got into it more than I thought he would. He was in the kitchen the whole time cooking and even took his turn at the dishes. This is Marcy helping me document all the time Troy spent in the kitchen. Love that guy!! :)

This was Perry's position for most of the day.....sitting on the couch under a blanket watching football. :)
Love Jaycee in the background of this picture watching Aunt Marcy.

Imagine that, Perry on the couch watching football again....lol. At least this time he was taking his turn stirring the fudge.

Love this picture of Steph and Jaycee. Jaycee was helping Steph unwrap all of the hershey kisses for the thumbprint cookies.

Troy and Marcy even made a snowman cookie.

This was us at the end of the day. Still smiling but exhausted.

Then this week Ori and Jaycee had a Christmas program for their daycare. I couldn't believe how well they did. Their teachers really had them practice because they totally knew every song and every action. It was a lot of fun to go and watch. Then they had a little gift exchange. Each kid had to bring a $5 toy and then they switched with another kid their age. The kids were thrilled they got to open a present before Christmas. It was so cute.

At the beginning of the program they had everyone stand and say the Pledge. Ori was asked to hold the flag for everyone and he was SOOOOOOOOOOO proud.

Sunday as a Family

2008-12-02T09:23:00.007-07:00

I am working from home today, Kayden has officially come down with the flu that his brother had that last two days and his sister had last week. Troy also got the flu and stayed home with the kids yesterday, so today is my day to stay home. Hopefully now we will be through with this, it seems that everyone has had their turn but me.........which I really don't need a turn. :)

We had a great Sunday together as a family. We are always so busy on weekends going places, having people over, etc. This last Sunday we just spent the day as a family which was well needed after a busy holiday weekend.

The first thing the boys did after getting up was got dressed in their Bear's jerseys for "football day". We love football in this house! Then they went out on the front lawn and played for a little bit together.

Then we took all of our Thanksgiving and Fall decorations down around the inside and outside of the house and got all the storage tubs full of the Christmas decorations out. We took a quick break for lunch and then started hanging our Christmas lights up on the outside of the house. The boys each got to take a turn climbing up the ladder to take dad a strand of lights.

Then when that was finished we came inside and put the tree up and all the inside decorations. The decorations below have become a new tradition in our family. It is ceramic Santa and Mrs. Clause that my mom painted the first year her and my dad were married. A couple of years ago when she was going through her Christmas decorations she was throwing away some of the older stuff and adding new. When I walked by the garbage bag and saw these two figurines in the garbage I about died. My mom laughed at me and said they were old and not "in style" anymore. I didn't care......we had these figurines out every Christmas of my life, they had just become a tradition and I couldn't believe she was getting rid of them. So mom said I could have them and start a tradition on having them around every Christmas at our house. So even though they may not be "in style" they hold a much more important and special meaning.
The boys insisted on helping dad carry the recliner downstairs so we had room for the tree. They did it "all by themselves" and they were pretty proud.The kids had a great time helping put out all the decorations and trimming the tree.
Dad loving on Hummer......I got a big kick out of this picture. Dad is getting pretty close to the dog that "He didn't want!" :)

We got a lot accomplished and had such a fun day together. At the end of the day after all the kids were in bed. Troy and I were sitting on the couch watching the Sunday night football game together and I looked over at the tree and just started laughing. We got so busy earlier that I didn't have the time to notice, but all the decorations on the tree were in the same spot and at about the same height, where the kids could reach. Being the dork that I am I so badly wanted to go and fix it, but after Troy and I talked about it we decided that it couldn't be "more perfect". It showed that our kids helped us and we couldn't change something they were so proud of.

Christmas in the Nighttime Sky

2008-11-29T12:13:00.008-07:00

Last night we went the Christmas in the Nighttime Sky. The last couple of years we have thought about attending this event, but have been out of town. This year we had Thanksgiving in Twin and decided that we would go check it out and see what it was all about. We went with our family of 5, Thayne and Katelynn, Josh & Wende and Josh's two kids, Steve & Terra and their son Brady, and Dave & Steph and their two younger girls. We parked in the Kmart parking lot and they had buses that picked you up there and took you down to the nursery were the event was held. This is the kids waiting to get on the bus.

Thayne and Katelynn on our bus ride.The price of admission is a the donation of a new toy. So when we first got there we stood in line to see Santa. We gave Santa our toys that we were donating and then each kid got a turn sitting on his lap and telling him what they want for Christmas. When we walked away Troy said honey don't you want to sit on Santa's lap......Santa got a good chuckle out of that and made the rest of the line laugh.Then after visiting Santa we got in the food line. All of this is included, no extra charge. We got a baked potato with chili and cheese on it. Then they had pop and hot chocolate. After getting our food we walked outside to sit at a table and eat.
After eating we picked one out of several bonfires to stand around. They had a radio station there that was playing Christmas music. It was so much fun. Totally got us in the Christmas spirit to stand around a warm fire, sipping hot chocolate, and listening to Christmas music.

The Coca-cola bear was there so of course the kids had to get a picture with him.

We were right by the speakers and the music was so much fun. The kids danced around all night long waiting for the firework show.

Then at 7:30 all the lights went out and it got silent for a minute. Then the music started playing the fireworks started. I have to say it was one of the most amazing firework shows I have ever been to. They were so close and were just awesome. The kids loved every minute of it had an OOOOOOOOO or an AAAAAAWWWWW for every firework that impressed them.

It was such a fun night spent with great family and friends. This may end up being a tradition as much as we enjoyed it. What a great way to get in the Christmas spirit.

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-11-28T07:28:00.009-07:00

For those of you who don't know, I have been taking a LOT of tests in the last couple of weeks. In fact, that is basically all I have been doing is studying....and testing.

But, the good news to this story is I took my LAST test (except for one BIG BIG one that comes later)on Wednesday night in Pocatello and.......

I PASSED!! WOO HOO!! WOO HOO!!

So I am sure you can imagine how ready I was for Thanksgiving yesterday to finally relax and spend some time with family. We had a GREAT time. We spent this Thanksgiving with Troy's family at his Dad and Helen's house here in Twin. Of course Steve and Helen were there, Grandpa and Grandma Jensen came from Idaho Falls, Troy's Uncle Stan and Aunt Charlotte and their family came, Steve and Terra and their three kids, Wende and Boyfriend Josh and her two kids and his two kids, Thayne and his daughter Katelynn, and our family were all there.

We showed up late morning to so we had plenty of time to enjoy everyone from out of town. Grandpa Steve promised the boys he would wait to put the flag up until they got there so they could help. They put in a really cool flag pole in the front of their new house that shrinks all the way down inside itself when not being used and the boys were dying to give it a try.

Then we all hung out for a bit while the food was finishing cooking. We watched football, visited, and looked at some scrapbooks that Great Grandma brought with her.

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The food was absolutely AMAZING! Helen made all the food and requested that each of us kids just bring a pie. There is nothing like Thanksgiving dinner.......YUM-O!! And all the pies were pretty darn good too!

Then after dinner it was more visiting, football, naps, kids playing outside, dvd games, and bonding.

Then Ori asked Grandpa for a ride on the Harley. Grandpa of course said yes and that started a whole line of people waiting to ride. Grandpa was a good sport and continued giving rides until everyone who wanted one had a turn.

A peek into our busy lives.

2008-11-20T13:43:00.007-07:00

One of my favorite things about this time of year is our Sunday afternoons. I love getting together with friends and family, watching FOOTBALL, eating great food, and having family bonding time.

This is one of our most recent Sundays. The Cederberg family came and spent the day with us. Jaycee and Regie had a great time playing together...

The boys watched some football... The younger boys played all day with some of Ori's new birthday toys...
Amber worked on a puzzle (with help from Troy later).... The kids got in some wrestle time with dad...(check out the picture on the television in the background...I couldn't have timed that any better! :)

And I studied for my test, did a little laundry, and enjoyed our company. We had roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, and rolls for dinner. I love having family close by and cousins around for my kids to grow up with.

This is how Ori ended his day.....fast asleep, cuddled up next to dad watching Sunday night football.

We have been very busy with Scouts, but Kayden sure does enjoy it. He has earned lots of segments, patches, and beads. Lucky for us, we have Grandma Helen to help us sew them all on.

Two weeks ago Kayden was so proud to help with the flag ceremony for his meeting.

Last night at the Pack meeting Kayden was asked to have a speaking part. He was the only Tiger cub asked to speak but his Den Leader knew he could do it and he did and awesome job!

Then later in the evening he was awarded with three more beads and one more segment. He has really been working hard in scouts.
At the end of the evening each scout got to take an ornament and say what they are thankful for this time of year and then hang their ornament on the tree. Most kids got up there and said presents, friends, etc. Kayden stood up in front and as loud and proud as can be announced that he is thankful for his FAMILY!! The whole crowd went AWWWWWWW, I was a very proud mom sitting in the front row looking at my son growing up so fast.

Catching up!

2008-11-11T21:01:00.002-07:00

For those of you who don't already know, I started back to work full time last week. So that explains my absence from our blog lately so I am going to try to do a little catch up because I have lots to share.

Most of you know that I just recently got my insurance license and now I am working full time out of the new district office. I am LOVING it! I have amazing training from our District Manager who works right in my office. It is a lot of information to learn but I really am enjoying it.

This last week has been a huge adjustment for the whole family but I think we are getting the hang of it. To top it off last week Troy's partner was out of town all week (which means double the amount of work for him), Jaycee went to daycare for the first time (which she doesn't particularly care for but is getting use to), Kayden had scouts, Ori had a birthday and we went out to dinner with family that night, then Ori had a birthday party, We made 25 monkey cupcakes for Ori's preschool class on Wednesday, and we made 40 chocolate cupcakes for Ori's daycare class on Thursday, Kayden had Parent Teacher conference, and the boys didn't have school on Friday.

The boys knew how much I had on my plate and decided they wanted to help me. I walked out into the backyard and this is what I found....

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They said, "Mom we want to help you so we are going to rake up all the leaves." They made a pretty good sized pile and decided that was enough for the night. The nice thing about it was they were so proud and the next day our landscaper came and mowed the lawn and blew out our sprinklers and cleaned up all the leaves.

This year for Halloween we decided to just stick around Twin Falls instead of head to Burley/Rupert like we normally do. I must say we definitely missed Grandma Knopp's popcorn balls, but it was still nice. Troy and I got all the kids ready a left the house around 5:30. We first took them to the Kmart parking lot where they have a bunch of camp trailers parked in a big circle and local businesses each have their own trailer and hand out candy. That was nice. Then we hit up a few neighborhoods and then our kids looked at us and said, "We are done. We have enough candy and we are getting tired." Troy and I looked at each other surprised but didn't argue. We finished the night off stopping in at Troy's Dad and Helen's house and went home and watched a movie to end the night. It was very enjoyable.

Then Kayden had his weekly cub scout meeting. His Den leader is so great about having things planned to help them achieve their goals and earn patches. This particular week we visited the Twin Falls police station. The boys thought it was one of our coolest trips yet. We had an officer who showed them around the station and explained everything to them. Then he ended the tour out by his patrol car. The boys all got to take turns sitting in the back and he turned the sirens and lights on too. A couple of the boys finished the evening off by putting their hands on the hood of the car and spreading them. They thought that was so funny!

The kids also got invited to a birthday party at this new place in town called Hop 2 It. They bought the old gymnastics building and turned it into a place for kids to come and play and have parties. It is fixed up really cute and the kids had a great time. It is just completely filled up with a bunch of different bounce toys, slides, and obstacle courses.

Then we also celebrated Ori's birthday. The day before his birthday he got to celebrate his birthday at preschool because he only goes 3 days a week. When he showed up at school they had the birthday flag flying for him. We made monkey cupcakes for him to take for snacks and when I picked him up he was wearing the birthday crown that they make for everyone's birthdays. He was so proud to wear it and wore it for the rest of the night.

That evening Ori got his present for from Grandpa and Grandma Jensen. They had ordered him a pair of insulated coveralls just like his dad's pair. He has been wanting some of these for some time now. Helen found them online and Ori was THRILLED!! He had to instantly put them on and wear them home to show dad and now he wears them all the time!

Then the next day was Ori's actual birthday and he was in charge of taking snacks for daycare. So that morning we made and frosted 40 chocolate cupcakes before we left for the day. That night my parents and my youngest sister Abbie came to town and took Ori out for his birthday and brought his presents for him. They knew they would be unable to make it to his birthday party so they wanted to do something special for him. We went out to eat at Applebees with my parents, Abbie, and the Cederbergs.

On Saturday we had Ori's birthday party at the bowling alley. For some reason Ori had set in his mind that he wanted to go bowling for his birthday and has asked to do that for almost a year now. So we planned the party at the bowling alley and it was a ton of fun. When we got there they had the party table all set up for him with an old bowling pin in the middle with balloons coming off of it.
All of the kids bowled on two lanes and the adults bowled next to them on another lane. It was a ton of fun and even the adults had a good time. The kids got to bowl for an hour and got to enjoy pizza and soda while bowling.

Troy was wearing sandals when we got there so the bowling alley gave him these snazzy socks to wear with bowling pins on them. We had to get a picture of the cute socks! :)

Then they all sat up to the table to enjoy cake while Ori opened up his gifts.

Then each kid received 6 quarters to enjoy the arcade. Grandpa Cantrell was spoiling the kids by buying them rings and glasses that light up.
So there is a little catch up on what we have been up to lately. I am sure I missed a few things but this is still probably the longest post EVER! I take my other test this Saturday......wish me luck! Love you all!

Challenges of Life

2008-10-25T14:02:00.009-06:00

Smooth roads never make good drivers
Smooth seas never make good sailors
Clear Skies never makes good Pilots.
Problem and hassle free Life never makes a strong person
Be Strong enough to accept the challenges of Life
Don't ask Life, "Why Me? . Instead say "Try Me!"

When life gets tough...

And things just don't go right...

I realize how lucky I am...

To have an amazing family standing by my side!

I love you guys so much and I thank you!!

Mom's 50th Birthday Party

2008-10-20T13:59:00.014-06:00

Last weekend we went to Burley to help celebrate my Mom's 50th birthday. We had a big party planned Saturday evening at Dad & Mom's house and promised we would come early enough to help prepare everything. It was fun being there with all my sisters and their families and preparing for the party together.

We spent all day Saturday helping clean the house (my mom's house is always clean, but we just helped with what mom felt still "needed" to be done), cleaning up the yard, setting up tables and chairs, and decorating. We decorated in Black (of course for over the hill) and added some red and orange in there to spice it up. We also decorated with pumpkins since it is that time of year. Our theme was "50 and Fabulous" which definitely defines my mother. Here are a few pictures of the decorations.

We also had shirts made for all six of the grand kids that said on the front: My Grandma is 50... and on the back: and fabulous! They looked so cute and the kids were so proud to wear them. I also made black and white hair bows for the three girls to wear with their shirts. They looked so cute!!

We had a great turn out and had so much fun. Dad made a big bonfire in the middle of the yard and everyone mingled, ate a huge array of finger foods, enjoyed the fire, and danced the night away. Here are a few more pictures of our evening.

Sunday morning all us girls and our husbands woke up and cleaned everything up and let mom and dad sleep in. Then the three son-in-laws headed to town and bought everthing needed to make breakfast. They got back and we made biscuits and gravy, eggs, sausage, hasbrowns, and bacon for everyone. We also invited all of mom's siblings and their families and Grandpa and Grandma Knopp down to enjoy breakfast with us. Then we hung out and watched football and played games all day. It was a very enjoyable weekend and mom's birthday party turned out PERFECT! Thanks for everyone who attended and everyone who helped. We love you!!

Happy Birthday Mom!

2008-10-16T19:03:00.005-06:00

First of all I would like to wish my amazing mother HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! 50 AND FABULOUS!!! I hope you have an amazing day and I can't wait to see you this weekend.

We have been staying really busy the last couple of days! We cleaned our garage out and built some shelving in it to store all the odds and ends. Until Modern's shop is finished our garage tends to be a "catch all" for some of the miscellaneous stuff that isn't needed in one of the four trailers. It got so bad you couldn't even walk through our garage. So the whole family worked together to get it cleaned out and organized.

Then we cleaned up the rest of our yard and put hoses away and did all the little miscellaneous stuff before it gets any colder.

Yesterday we made a HUGE double batch of Halloween sugar cookies with cream cheese frosting. I love love love these cookies and try to make them three times a year....Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine's Day. We always make a big batch so we can share them. We took a plate to our neighbors on both sides, Grandpa & Grandma Jensen, Gary & Amber, Kayden's teacher, Kayden's scout group, all three of Troy's crews, Ori's best friend from preschool, and saved enough to take with us this weekend to share with the Burley group.

I received my study material to start studying for my Life and Disability portion of my insurance license. I am eager to get these tests over with also, so I can really get going on this. I am excited to try something new.

We are headed to Burley tomorrow after the boys get out of school to go and help celebrate my Mom's birthday. Excited to go and see family and friends and I will have some pictures to share when I return!

These are a few of my favorite things.....

2008-10-13T17:37:00.007-06:00

So whenever I find something I love I like to share. Here are a few of my latest favorite things.

First I am in love with Haagen Dazs Sticky Toffee Pudding

It is to DIE for. I love love love this ice cream! I actually have had a hard time finding it lately, but just checked the website and they still make it. Keep your eyes open for it and let me know what you think when you try it.

Second is Grandma Sycamore's Homemade bread

This is the most amazing bread. It tastes just like my Mom or Grandma's homemade bread. I learned about this bread through my mother-in-law. One day while visiting her my husband and I had a sandwich made on this bread and I fell in love! It also makes the best toast with homemade jam and even great french toast. The slices are the perfect thickness. You gotta try it!

Number three is Phat Thai

Okay, okay....I totally understand that this is not the most appetizing picture so you are just going to have to trust me on this one. It is SOOOOOOOOOOOO good. My younger sister Amber bought this for me for the first time one day for lunch and the two of us have been hooked ever since. I crave this meal!! I get it from Prasai's here in Twin. You can pick what kind of meat you want in it and then it is the fried noodles, what ever sauce they use, bean sprouts, green onion, and peanut pieces. You also can get it with no spice (the way I like it) or up to 3 stars which is the hottest. Gary tried it with 1 star and it burned the heck out of all of our mouths so be careful when ordering the stars. They have one store behind Target and another one down town. Think outside of the box and give it a try and let me know what you think.

And the final favorite thing of the day was introduced to me by my big sis Jess. It is the Quaker chewy dipps peanut butter granola bar.

I am not sure if this really counts as an actually "granola bar" it is more like a candy bar, but it is DELICIOUS! You know my weakness when you combine chocolate and peanut butter. And the granola gives it just that extra little crunch. YUM-O!!

Hummer's New Haircut

2008-10-13T17:27:00.003-06:00

Hummer went in for her booster shots and grooming today. I was surprised when I went and picked her up and saw her new haircut. She looks so different. They even tied a little Halloween hanker chief around her neck. Here is what she looked like before:

And After:

Lots to Share!

2008-10-12T19:36:00.011-06:00

Some of you may already know this, but I have been studying really hard to get my insurance license and Thursday I drove to Boise to take my test. I dropped my two younger kids off at Jessica's in Glenns Ferry and Kayden was in school. Thanks Jess for helping me out, the kids had a GREAT time!!

And...........I PASSED!!! WOO HOO!!! I was so excited and drove straight to the Department of Insurance main office (also in Boise) and turned in my application for my license. They said it would take two weeks to get and guess what I found in the mail on Saturday......

WOO HOO...it is here already!! I was so excited! I am OFFICIAL!! My husband has been so supportive and has helped with the kids a ton while I have been studying and preparing for this test. On Friday he came home with a special gift for me as a "Congratulations!" It was two massages, eyebrow wax, Two tans, a express facial, and a spa manicure. I was so surprised. Thanks baby, that was so sweet of you!

I still have to study to take my life and health tests (the second part) but I am officially licensed to start selling property and casualty.

The kids had such a fun time at Aunt Jessica's while I was taking my test. Here are some pics of their day...

Four wheeling

Playing playdoh

Cleaning up playdoh
In Aunt Jessica's hot tub

After taking my test I stopped by JoAnn's in Boise to get some ribbon for some new hair bows. Then I drove back to Glenns Ferry to pick up the kids. They were having such a good time and didn't want to leave and Jess was wanting me to stick around for a bit so I stayed for awhile. Jess and I made dinner for the kids and then worked on making some new hair bows for Kaylie and Jaycee. The kids painted pumpkins and then played for awhile longer. It was a ton of fun to hang out with my big sis. We just don't get to do it often enough and the kids always love spending time with their cousins!

Here are the bows we did that night together. At three layered green and purple bow and a two layered halloween bow. Mine are on the left Jessica's on the right. We thought it was funny how we both made the same bows but how they still turned out so different.

These two (Ori & Ty) played football together for the longest time. It was the cutest and most hillarious thing to watch. They were very serious and took score. They each had their end zone on separate ends of the hall and took turns trying to get a touchdown while the other tried to tackle them. I loved watching.
We woke up to snow every day this weekend. The kids LOVED it! They begged and begged to go Saturday morning but I tried to hold them off as long as possible because we all have been fighting colds off and on for the last several weeks. We did puzzles and I sent Jaycee to the "store" with a shopping list several times. Eventually the two youngest had begged long enough that we got them all bundled up and sent them out to play. It took them no time at all to lay down in the snow and make snow angels. They had a fun time.

Then Saturday night we decided that it would be a perfect night just to hang out at home. We invited the Cederbergs over and order Thai food (thanks Troy for thinking outside of the box and trying something new) and worked on a big puzzle together and watched college football. The Thai food was SOOOOOOOOO good and is totally a favorite of both Amber and Me lately. We are totally addicted to the Phat Thai. IT IS MMMMM MMMMM GOOD!!

On Sunday Troy had to work out at NWSG again because they are wanting to start moving everything in on Monday and there is still a few little things left to do. The kids and I attended church at Lighthouse which was so good today. Then the boys got to go help their dad for awhile and brought Jaycee home for a nap. This evening the Cederbergs came back over to help work on the puzzle some more and enjoy roast and mashed potatoes and gravy that I had made and to watch my team lose in overtime :(. It is fun to have family close by. Thanks Cederbergs for spending the weekend with us!

Where Did Fall Go?

2008-10-11T08:27:00.002-06:00

This is what we woke up to this morning! And if you can't tell in the pictures it is still going STRONG! Fall just started and now it is snowing? I love the snow, but Fall wasn't here long enough.

I did it.....well, kind-of

2008-10-08T09:35:00.006-06:00

I did it! Woo Hoo! I made and canned salsa for the first time all by myself. No, it didn't go perfectly and I definitely learned some things through trial and error. But, I did it and the salsa tastes good so I am happy about that. Now I will know what to do differently next time. Thanks Mom and Debi (second mom) for all of your help and being patient with numerous phone calls! :)

I also wanted to share this with you. This is an office building my hubby is working on right now. It is almost finished and is looking SOOOOO good. This is for Northwest Sand and Gravel and Gordon Paving (now owned by the same people). Both businesses will work out of the same new 6,000 sq. ft. office. Here are a few pictures.

This is the front desk when you walk in. All custom made with custom bead board.
This is one of the several custom made drafting tables. It looks so awesome!
All the doors and casing were custom made and absolutely beautiful.
The conference room with all custom cabinets.

The financial room (side note...wouldn't this make a perfect scrapbook room, all of the amazing counter tops and all of the storage. Wait until you see the next picture which is the other wall in this room, perfect storage for all of your paper!)

The vault that is hidden behind a secret door.

I will try to take a few more pictures when it is complete because it is going to be even more amazing!

Weekend in Burley

2008-10-07T09:31:00.008-06:00

We went to Burley over the weekend to spend a little time. We haven't been there for so long and my parents kept reminding me of that. So we headed down Friday so we could attend Abbie's last home football game EVER! I can't believe that she is a senior. We got to see the new football field (which I didn't even know they had or was playing on, does that tell you how long it has been since I have been in the "Burley happenings") and it was fun to watch the game. Here are a few pictures from that night.

Can you tell how cooperative these two were on taking a picture. This is the best one I could get out of the two joksters! :)

Then on Saturday Mom and Abbie went with Marcy, Colton, Steph, and Brit to Idaho Falls to get their Senior pictures done by Robin, a good family friend. Check out some of their pictures
HERE. She does such an amazing job. So while we were waiting for them to return Perry and McKenna came to Burley and we hung out and played cards and made taco soup.

Then we all spent Sunday together watching football, eating, playing cards, sewing (at least I did, working on some christmas projects), playing basketball, scrapbooking, and enjoying the company of family. McKenna took my three kids down the road to Kory and Michelle's house to say hello and check out the new four wheeler. Here are some pictures Michelle emailed me that she took. Thanks for sharing the pics Michelle.

Isn't this an awesome four wheeler. The kids thought it was so cool that it was so big all of them could ride on it at the same time! Thanks Chancey for sharing it with them, the LOVED it!!

Decorations & Soccer games

2008-10-01T08:53:00.007-06:00

The kids have been begging to get our Fall and Halloween decorations out for a week now. As soon as we went to the store and they had Halloween stuff out a couple of weeks ago the kids thought it was time. I held them off until close to the 1st of October, but yesterday we decided it would be a good time to get them out. My kids always love helping me decorate for the holidays.

Saturday is Kayden's last soccer game for the season and there have been a few family members who have been wanting to come and watch him before the season is over, so for last night's game he had quite the group of fans on the sideline. Papa Clyde, Nannie Becky, and Aunt Jo all came from Burley to watch him. Grandpa Steve & Grandma Helen took a break from moving into their new house to come and watch him. And Uncle Gary, Aunt Amber, and Regie joined us also. It was such a fun game and Kayden made 3 of the 7 goals that helped his team win the game. He was so proud and would look over at the sidelines after each time he scored to make sure we were all watching! Thanks to all our family who came and supported him, WE LOVE YOU!!

Steph's & Megan's Birthdays

2008-09-28T17:47:00.005-06:00

We went out last night for Steph's and Megan's birthdays. We started at La Fiesta for some yummy Mexican food and Steph and Meg got the royal birthday treatment with all the singing, sombreros, and even whip cream on the face. They were both good sports.

This is Dave trying to fit under Steph's hat to get in the picture with her, we were laughing so hard!
Then we headed off to Side Winders for some dancing, foosball, and karaoke. We had a ton of fun.

Some of the girls: Sundii, Steph, Megan, and Me
This was like #5 of several attempts to get a picture of these two. They kept making funny faces and make each other laugh.

I sang Shoop by Salt-n-Peppa with a good friend of ours, Jesse. (btw he is an AWESOME singer)

Then the guys got up and sang Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. They were AWESOME and totally got into it. They were doing all the different voices and actions and everything. They even put their arms around each other during the "serious and sentimental" parts of the song. We got the biggest kick out of the four of them and the whole place cheered for them when they were finished. They were by far the most popular song of the night!

Awesome Game!

2008-09-27T14:54:00.003-06:00

Kayden was AMAZING in his soccer game today! His team won 8-1 and Kayden scored 5 of this team's 8 goals. He was on FIRE!! I was so proud of him!

First Scout Badge

2008-09-25T09:11:00.003-06:00

Last night was Kayden's Pack meeting where he earned his first badges. He earned his Bobcat badge and also earned his bow & arrow badge and belt loop and his BB gun badge and belt loop. We are so proud of Kayden, he has taken this really seriously but also really enjoys it. He works hard and this was such a wonderful way to celebrate his work.

When he received his Bobcat badge he earned a pin. He gets to pin it on either his mom or dad. Here is Kayden pinning it on his dad. Notice Ori & Jaycee had to be right there watching what was going on.

And here is Kayden showing all of his accomplishments and awards.

Pine

2008-09-23T15:17:00.009-06:00

Troy was gone all last week working on a job in Pine. He left Monday at 5 am and was hoping to be back by Thursday, but there was more to do than he thought and so he ended up staying until Sunday night. Not that it isn't bad enough that he is gone, but he also had NO CELL SERVICE in pine at all. We missed him terribly. So on Saturday morning, after Kayden's soccer game, the kids and I rode up to Pine to take a few materials that Troy was needing to finish the job. It was SO BEAUTIFUL there.......amazing.

Here are some pictures of the cabin (if you can call it that, it is HUGE) that he was working on. Look how small his truck looks parked in front of it....enough said. :)

Here are some pictures of the view from inside and around the yard. The pictures do it absolutely NO JUSTICE!!

We just hung out all day, the kids were in HEAVEN. There was so much room to roam and so many things to check out. They were absolutely filthy by the time we left, but they had an amazing time.
They found all of these little frogs all over the place. They put one frog in a water bottle and begged to bring it home. You would be amazed the things my children bring home from all the numerous job sites.

The kids had so much fun playing on this HUGE beam they were getting ready to put up. They took turns walking across it and jumping off.

Kayden even held Jaycee's hand and helped her across. I snapped a picture when he wasn't looking because you know doing "cute" things at the age of seven are just "not cool".

Our Puppy

2008-09-18T11:24:00.001-06:00

Okay Craig & Keri, here are some pictures of the kids and their puppy! For those of you who don't know we got a puppy from Craig and Keri for Kayden's birthday. It has been a lot of fun but a lot of work too. Kayden is learning responsibility, and I must say he does very well. He is in charge of feeding the puppy and taking her out for potty breaks (of course mom gets this job at six in the morning and during school hours, but all other times it is Kayden's).

It is a big adjustment to get use to an indoor pet if you have never had one before, but I think we are getting the hang of it. The kids are big helpers.

Here is a couple pictures of Hummer's first bath. She looks like a rat when she is wet, but when she is dried off she is all fluffy and cute again:

Hummer is "officially" Kayden's dog but we all enjoy her. Kayden is great with her and shows her LOTS of love. One day he came in from taking the dog out for a potty break and said, "Mom, having a dog is a lot of responsibility." I said, "Yes it is, have you changed your mind about having a puppy?" and he said, "NO WAY MOM, I love her!"
Ori is great with her too. Ori is to potty nazi. He is always watching the puppy closely to make sure she isn't sniffing around. The second she starts showing signs that is time for a potty break Ori starts yelling "the puppy is sniffing, the puppy is sniffing." This picture is after her bath and she isn't completely dried all the way yet.
Jaycee is hilarious with the puppy. She loves to have something around the house smaller than her that she can feel like she is "in charge" of. When she picks up Hummer she always carries her under her arm resting on her hip. It is so funny to watch her walk around holding the puppy this way. She has also put the puppy in her baby cradle, the shopping cart, the stroller, and in the back of a dump truck. Most of the time Hummer just likes the attention, but sometimes she isn't too impressed with Jaycee's ideas. :)

Weekend Fun

2008-09-15T16:19:00.006-06:00

My youngest sister, Abbie, decided to come and spend the weekend with us and hang out. She also took Kayden and Jaycee to Coldstone for some ice cream. This is one of Abbie's favorite stops when she comes here because they don't have on in Burley.

Then on Saturday Perry and Marcy came to town to drive around and look at some homes to get an idea of what color of rock and stucco to do on the outside of their house. We talked them into packing their stuff and just staying the night since their house is all tore apart. Amber and Gary came over and had tacos with us and brought a couple of wii games. We played the games all night and the girls took turns painting each other's toenails.

Then on Sunday we had FOOTBALL DAY! The same people from the night before were here and then Dave & Steph's family, and David & Amy's family came over and spent the day with us. We had lots of finger foods and watched football, played tennis, and played volleyball at the park. It was a fun day!

Jaycee looking cuter than ever at the park watching us play volleyball. Notice she is sporting her Cowboys jersey for football day! :)

Team 1: Brooke, Steph, Marcy, Perry, Dave (behind the Castaway ball), and Abbie Jo
Team 2: Colton, Lindsey, Troy, Jen (not a Saints fan, just borrowed Dave's hat to keep the sun out of my eyes so I could play better:), Amy, and David

Kayden's Saturday Soccer

2008-09-13T13:40:00.006-06:00

Kayden had a game early this morning. It was actually a fun way to start our Saturday off. Got up, had biscuits and gravy for breakfast, and headed out into the perfect fall morning to watch soccer.

My younger sister Abbie is staying a couple of nights with me for the weekend so Kayden had a good sized cheering crowd this morning. Abbie and her boyfriend Mike, Daddy, Mommy, brother, sister, and Uncle Thayne all went to the game to cheer him on.

He had such an awesome game and made two of the six goals that helped his team win. It was a pretty brutal game and Kayden got knocked down several times, smacked in the nose once, and tripped and smacked his head bad towards the end. He jumped up ready to cry and then when he saw all of us cheering him on instead of running off the field crying he got "mad"......next thing we know he ran up to the ball, knocked two guys from the opposing team over and scored his last point. There is the Jensen competitive blood coming out in him :).

Here are a few pictures from our morning!

Mike playing soccer with Ori and Jaycee on the field next us that wasn't being used.

Uncle Thayne getting "schooled" by Jaycee in a little soccer game.

Mike and Thayne put Jaycee and Ori inside our blanket and started swinging them around. The kids thought it was great, it made mom really nervous.

Kayden, Andy, and Dalin after the game.

I LOVE FALL!!

2008-09-11T09:55:00.006-06:00

I know, I know, I say this every time fall comes around and here it is again....

I LOVE FALL!!

I love when the air gets cool and crisp. I love all the fall colors, the dark reds, oranges, browns. I love when school starts again because everything seems to get back on a schedule and I LOVE organization. And last but certainly not least....

I LOVE FOOTBALL SEASON!!

For those of you who do not know I am a huge football fan and a HUGE COWBOYS FAN!! WOO HOO!! And for those of you who missed it they looked AWESOME last Sunday!

So back to the subject...Our family also gets very busy this time of year with sports, scouts, etc. So I am trying something to see if it will help make my life a little easier and so far it has been great!! This has been my first attempt at "Freezer Meals" or "OAMC (once a month cooking)". I found this cool website Freeze Happy!and thought I would try it out. I am LOVE LOVE LOVING it. And my kids think it is great too. I started with the cookies and made both Chocolate chip and Peanut butter and jelly (both on her site). Now every day when my kids get home from school I cook up 8-10 cookies and they get hot homemade cookies and milk for a snack everyday not to mention I received the "best mom ever" award from them. :)

(PS - try the little trick she has on her site about dropping the cookies after pulling them out of the oven, it TOTALLY works)
(used mom's homemade raspberry jam for the middle of these YUM-O!)

So then I decided to try a little more and figured I would continue on with another simple recipe....mini pancakes. This was super easy and my kids just love that they can have hot pancakes every morning if they want. I just stick a few on a paper plate and nuke them for a few seconds and then give them a little bowl of syrup and a little bowl of jam for dipping. Besides being a warm breakfast it is a fun one too.

So after tackling breakfast and cookies I was really getting into the swing of things. I made my normal monthly menu and then went through and picked out everything I could make into a freezer meal. Here are the results from my first attempt at freezer meals.

Two pans of lasagna:
Three containers of Taco Soup:
Two loafs of Meatloaf (I totally understand this does not look appetizing, but after it is cooked and served with baked potatoes.....yum-o!):
And Two pans of Chicken enchiladas:

Everything is covered with foil (after the flash freeze process) and all cooking directions are labeled on foil with marker. All meals also have a green or red sticker on them. Green means "GO" take directly out of freezer and cook and red means "stop" need to thaw before cooking.

These meals are so great on nights like last night where we had both scouts and soccer. I pull out a freezer meal and after all the running I am not slaving in the kitchen but my family still has a warm, good meal. Try it, I am sure you will love it and I can't wait to hear from you after you try it.

Ori's First Day of School (FINALLY)

2008-09-09T09:36:00.004-06:00

Yesterday was finally Ori's first day of preschool. I am not saying "finally" because I am ready to get rid of him, I am saying it because this kid has been ready to go to school for three years now. Ever since his older brother started school. He was SOOOOOOOOO excited. He is in the afternoon class (I was hoping for the morning class, but there wasn't enough room for everyone who wanted it, so they had to split the kids up) so he doesn't go until after lunch. Let me just say I think that was the longest morning EVER!!! Every five minutes he was asking how much longer until he could go to school.

I am so excited for him and I know he is just going to love it! He is such a good kid with such a FUN personality. Here are a few pictures of his first day.

These pictures are from the other night. Gary, Amber, and Regie stopped by to share some yummy dinner they had made with me. Ori was still awake and begged to come out into the livingroom and say hello. Him and Regie have such a cute connection and always have. He wanted to give Regie a ride on his motorcycle so we walked out into the front yard and watched them for a few minutes. Regie LOVED it and would just smile and giggle the whole time. She was even upset when she had to get off.

(not sure what happened to this last picture, but it was the only close up of both of their faces so I still used it)

"People's Choice"

2008-09-05T15:51:00.004-06:00

I have been wanting to post this for awhile, but I haven't had the chance. I am so proud of my husband and his business and I am taking this opportunity to brag for just a minute.

Modern Construction won "People's Choice" on their parade home this year. After all the hard work and dedication Troy puts into this business, this was a HUGE pat on the back.

Since I don't like to post without sharing some pictures of our cute kids :).... These are just some random shots I took of the kids. I try to do this every once in awhile. Notice they really got into the whole "posing for the camera".

Labor Day Weekend

2008-09-02T09:59:00.006-06:00

This is the first time in a lot of years that we didn't go camping on Labor Day Weekend. We decided to just hang out around here instead. We spent one day with Troy's mom and step dad, one day hanging out at our house with some good friends, and one day as a family. We took the kids out for lunch, went and rented some movies, and came back and snuggled up with some blankets and popcorn and just relaxed together. It was a very enjoyable weekend.

Here are the pictures from our day with friends. Dave & Steph's family, Perry & Marcy, and our family hung out at our house all day. We had pizza for lunch, lots of snacks and munchies during the day, and made a big meal for dinner. We played pinochle, tennis, and volleyball. A very enjoyable day!

Fun at Grandpa & Grandma's House

2008-08-31T11:50:00.005-06:00

Friday night Troy and I worked in the fair booth at the Twin Falls County fair for Kayden's scout group. Kayden is too young to work in the booth but had to have three shifts put in for his part of the fundraising. So, Troy's mom and stepdad agreed to take the kids Friday night so we could go work and then we went down there Saturday morning and spent the day with them.

Troy had a leak on his truck and a couple of things that needed worked on, so Davy took it in his shop and lifted it up and helped Troy do a few repairs. Troy was very thankful for this because mechanics is not one of his strong points and Davy is awesome in this field. Thanks Davy for all your help!!

Davy bought two new four wheelers, one for him and one for Deb. They even bought special little helmets for all of the grand kids so they could ride with them. So after working we played around on the four wheelers and the motorcycles for awhile. The kids were in HEAVEN!!! Kayden rode in front of Grandma and she let him do all the driving. After a little practice and some coaching from Grandma he is driving like a pro now.

Ori had a turn on both the four wheeler and the motorcycle, but a majority of the time he was tooting around on the cycle in front of Grandpa with a HUGE smile plastered to his face.

Jaycee rode in front of Dad and Mom and every once in awhile decided she wanted to drive. She loved pushing the throttle herself, but she only knows one speed and that is FAST!!

It was so much fun hanging out with Grandpa and Grandma for the day. Thanks for sharing your new toys with us! We love you!!

A little summer left....

2008-08-29T08:35:00.006-06:00

It is so weird having Kayden in school all day. It is amazing how much easier things are with only two children around, and it is going to be even crazier when Ori starts preschool after Labor Day. Jaycee and I will not know what to do with just the two of us home.

The weather has been so nice that we are trying to take advantage of the last little bit of summer left. I have been trying to go on a bike ride with Ori and Jaycee everyday. They love it and it is good exercise for mom. Yesterday Regie stayed with us for a bit and all four of us went on a bike ride together. Ori looks like such a big boy riding a bigger bike now, they are growing up too fast.

Yesterday the Budweiser Semis came to town to celebrate Watkins 20th Anniversary here in Twin. They had all the Clydesdale horses hooked up and were only a couple of blocks from our house, so I decided to run the kids by so they could see it.

Fall soccer is starting again. Last night Kayden had his first practice. His best friend's dad David is coaching again which is nice and he has now played with a lot of these same kids for 3 seasons now. It is so cool to see them grow together and get better and better. Here are a few pics from his first practice.

Ori saw me taking pictures of Kayden practicing (by the way, sorry about the bad shadow of the trees) and decided he needed a picture too. He said "Mom, take a picture of me posing like this" as he put his foot up on the ball. How cute is that? Then Jaycee thought she needed one to and did exactly what she just watched her older brother do. TOO CUTE!!

Fun weekend and First Day of School

2008-08-26T08:50:00.004-06:00

This weekend while hanging out in Gooding decided to jump in the vehicle and go on a little road trip just for something new. So the six of us were off, decided to head to Mackay where we heard we could get a GOOD piece of pie.

On our way:
We stopped at several places along the way for a drink, some games, and some dancing:

Troy playing the drums and Dave the air guitar:

Not even exactly sure what this was, but it was a nice view and a chance to get out of the car and stretch so we took a picture by the sign :)

We sang at the top of our lungs pretty much the whole time. This was Troy and Dave telling Marcy what they thought of her singing on this particular song:

Then we decided to pull over to the side of the road and get out and have a slow dance to a good song while the sun was setting.

Our last stop of the night was in Mackay, stop #5. We had some dinner and drinks here and danced the night away.

We even met some new friends who joined us for the evening, Lee and London, they were a lot of fun. This is Troy on the way home.. .. .. it didn't take him and Dave long to fall asleep so then Steph and I traded them spots and made the two of the sit in the very back so we could continue to sing with Perry and Marcy who were sitting up front.

It was such a fun evening and once again "thinking outside of the box" with our very best friends. Never a dull moment when you get the six of us together.

First Day of School

Our "little boy" (don't tell him I called him that) had his first day of 1st grade today. I can't wait to see what he thought. He was so excited that he got to eat lunch at school this year and also for the fact that he got 3 recesses. :) Here are a few pictures before he left for school. Today was "Cowboy" day so he was suppose to dress western and his teacher had a hat for everyone once they get there. I thought he looked pretty cute, but I am a little bias.

It was little sad to watch him walk into the school yard. I settled for a wave goodbye because hugs and kisses at this age are just "not cool" and way to embarrassing for a seven year old. *tear :)

Post #3 - Kayden's Birthday Party

2008-08-19T11:53:00.008-06:00

To finish our weekend off, we had a birthday party for Kayden Sunday evening for his 7th birthday. It was army themed (if you know Kayden, no explanation needed) and everyone came dressed in camouflage. I bought camo material and made headbands for everyone to wear.

We played several games including bomb's away with water balloons, injured soldier, and Troy's brother did some "real" army drills and exercises with the kids.

Then Kayden opened his presents.

After all the presents were done, Uncle Craig, Cassie, and Cody showed up with the final present that we got Kayden. Here is a video that Cody and Cassie took of him opening his last present.

Here is Uncle Craig talking to Kayden about how to take care of the dog.

It was such a fun gift to give. Here are a few more pictures of his new puppy.

#2 Post from the weekend

2008-08-19T10:14:00.008-06:00

Troy's older brother Eric just returned home from Iraq and came to Rupert to visit for a few days with his two kids, Kayla and Kody. We had lots of fun spending time with them. We pulled our fifth wheel down to Troy's mom's house and stayed there both Friday and Saturday night.

On Saturday afternoon after our reunion at Storybook Park, Dave took us all over to his friend's house to ride horses. The kids had a BLAST! Luckily the horses were older horses, because I was SHOCKED at how brave my kids were. Kayden rode one all by himself and Jaycee and Ori both took turns riding with people. Thanks Dave for the fun time!

Then we went back to my in-law's house and spent the rest of the evening and night with family. We got to spend some time with Thayne's son that we haven't seen for awhile. He is getting so big.

Then we played washers, spoons, boccie ball, sorry, ping pong, and phase 10. Deb made chicken and salads for dinner and then had a surprise cake and ice cream to celebrate Eric coming home. It was such a fun time and always nice to spend time with family.

Post #1 from our busy weekend

2008-08-18T16:12:00.007-06:00

We had such a fun busy weekend with LOTS to share so I am going to split this up into three posts so I don't overwhelm.:)

On Friday night and Saturday afternoon we had our 10 year class reunion. For those of you who don't know, Troy and I graduated the same year from the same school. Better yet, we were voted "couple most likely to get married" in our senior class. So this was fun for both of us to go and see some of our friends we haven't seen in a while.

On Friday night it was for just the adults and we met at Morey's Steakhouse for dinner, entertainment, and socializing. It was weird and fun all at the same time. Here are a few pictures from our evening.

After the event we went back to Scott Lynch's house and reminisced some more with old friends. It was a great evening.

On Saturday we met at Storybook park with our families and hung out for a while. It was fun to see every one's kids and to see a few more people who were unable to make it the night before. Here are a few pictures of our afternoon.

Cassia County Parade

2008-08-14T12:47:00.005-06:00

Yesterday we took a quick trip to Burley to watch our youngest sister, Abbie, in the parade. Amber and Regie rode with us and so did my niece Katelynn. We met up with Papa Clyde and Nannie Becky in our usual spot in front of mom's salon. Kory & Michelle and their family, Grandpa & Grandma Knopp, Aunt Debi, Aunt Norma, and Grandma Lindsay all sat by us to. The kids always enjoy the parade. The Burley High School Cheer Squad marched with the Burley band and did the routine that I was privileged enough to teach them this year. They looked so SHARP in their new white uniforms and performed AWESOME!!

After the parade we ran over the fair grounds and had some lunch before heading back home.

Cousins

2008-08-10T12:09:00.004-06:00

Jessica's two kids got to come and stay with us for a couple of nights. My kids LOVE when their cousins come to play. They always have such a fun time together. Here are a few pictures I snapped during their stay.

This is where they turned my dinning room into an army base to play soldiers.

Having a cookie and watching a movie

These next two are my favorite. A shot of the boys...

And one of the girls

Playing at the park

And I couldn't resist adding this one of Jaycee that I took today.

My new favorite thing

2008-08-08T11:02:00.003-06:00

This is by far my new favorite thing. I tried this at my mom's house a couple of months ago and since then I crave it. It is the perfect mixture of sweet and tart and is so refreshing on a hot summer's day. If you have not tried this yet you need to. You will LOVE it!

Boys will be boys

2008-08-05T19:23:00.003-06:00

Walking over to the park for a picnic today, the boys ran across a water snake which was by far "The coolest thing EVER" to them. Grandpa just happen to be passing through town and stopped just in time to check out the snake with the boys and taught them how to hold it. Each of them took a turn holding it by the tail.

Jaycee was totally freaked out by the snake but finally felt safe enough in Grandpa's arms to touch it.

Then Grandpa put the snake back up in the tree where it was originally trying to climb and to give it a break from all the kids. The poor snake was completely scared. Then each kid took a turn getting up in Grandpa's arms to look at the snake in the tree.