Snoooo Fun

We had the most beautiful snow storm. Almost 3 feet in 24 hours. As you can see it is almost to the kids waist.

We have had the never ending dressing and undressing.

Its a good thing it is beautiful because I could swear that a good portion gets into the house.

Again, proof that Papa is the greatest!

The Christmas fun begins

We started off the Christmas holiday with one of the children's favorite things to do.

The Coeur d'Alene Light Cruise.

This consists of going on the boat, drinking hot chocolate, seeing all the lights, visiting Santa at the North Pole, and most of all, being with family.

Chistmas is here!

It seems like Christmas comes so fast every year. It might have something to do with the fact that I turn Christmas music on in September, however it never really hits until the day after Thanksgiving when we pull out the decorations and finally turn on Roger Whitaker for the 1st time, the kids singing "our" traditional CD that finally makes it real.
WE LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR!

Thanks Deanna for the cool new way to display more than one picture at a time!

Honoring Vetrans' Day!

Our Cousin Stephen was here for 2 weeks. He is a Sargeant Major in the Army Special Forces. We were honored to have him attend our elementary school assembly with our children and they were proud to have him there. We could not have asked for a better example.

Thank You Stephen and all the other men and women who serve for us and our Amazing Country!

Halloween Party

Last night our ward had a great Halloween party, it was very well prepared and the children loved it, there were games, food, candy, hay rides, and lots of space,everything you could want at a party. I left Matt in charge of Isaac and ran to do the activities with the other 3 kids, we had a blast. Matt was quite worn out after the night was done, he definitely had the harder job!

Zac was a bee! ( we have one of those every year)

Aaron was the Red Ninja Turtle
This is him playing one of the games, but it was Livi who really got into them- I could not even help her aim.

I let the two older kids pick what they wanted to be this year,

Ele was a Bunny Rabbit, big surprise!

If you did not know, her nick name is "Ele Belly Bunny Rabbit" given to her by her Papa

I don't know how I missed Ele at the party

so this is her at Aaron's School party with Michael and Livi

Emmalee, Mandy, Jamin, Melissa, Jessica, David, and Joey

These are some of my favorite kids, Mandy and Emma were a little creepy but Lissa was the cutest adult pirate I have ever seen, and I was told that Joey made a mushroom look pretty darn good. Jess is "too old now" and Jamin and David were just poops.

I would like to think that I was the angel between the witches but when it came right down to it, I was a poop also!

Pumpkin Carving

Many of you know how it is with carving pumpkins, the parents end up doing 90% of the job. Matt did the carving and I was the one who dug through the goup to find the seeds. Regardless, the children all are very proud of the way "their" pumpkins turned out.

Ele is my unique child, last year she wanted a white pumpkin and thought that it was pretty cool to be different so she wanted to do the same thing this year, but there were none to be found, at least at the fruit stand we went to, but she saw the red one and said that one would do. (The Goup is a lot more slimy in the red than the regular orange, but the seeds are quite a bit larger if anyone is interested)

The Pumpkins all aglow

Yes, that is a Coffin in on our porch. Matt is endlessly tormenting my mom and he built it for her but she didnt want it (I cant imagine why) It worked out pretty good for us. It just finishes my halloween porch decorations.

Aaron Turns 6

Aaron's Monster Truck

No laughing, I never claimed to be a culinary artist. He requested a Monster Truck, I know it looks more like an old fashioned farm truck but he loved it anyway.

Opening presents with all his friends
When we asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday he said that he wanted to go
"real golfing, not the fake kind".
even though they only got through 6 holes before they decided they had had enough, they all came home feeling very old and proud of themselves
Aaron will often go out in the yard with

Papa and Grammy and hit golf balls.

Not to brag but he is actually quite good, OK so I am bragging.

Biggest Mistake

My Sister Debbie wanted to see my biggest mistake on film so here it is!

The kids named him Sammy. I would have said no, but Matt knew exactly what to do. He brought the little ball of fur home as a surprise! How can you say no to that. He really is cute. I would be more upset about it but I do know that because Matt loves dogs he will be well trained and I wont have to do anything for him. So, you tell me, could you say no to that?

Besides I did get a kitten not even 3 weeks ago. I really had no leverage.

I Have Been Blessed

We finally got our family pictures taken. The last time we did this it was with just Aaron and Ele, I cant believe how quick the time flies, maybe we can keep this one current for a while!

I must admit that in the past it was really hard to find incentive to get our pictures taken knowing that it would be outdated in 9 months. But just look at those faces and see why we continue to bring them into the world. I have been blessed!

Just us Girls

Cute guys

Remodeling

Our house is in constant remodel - we are trying to pay cash as we go along so it is a slow process. We have already redone several portions of our house that were a necessity like our kitchen and bathroom, but this was one of my biggest pet peeves. The back door that you are looking at was a finger chopper and the kids had to push with their feet against the frame to even be able to open it, and no matter what we did we could not keep the handle on. The window was so low we could not see out of it with out bending over. Well 2 years later it finally happened.

This is our new slider. I can see the whole back yard and I love it.

This is our carpenter. Kind of goofy but cute none the less.
Many of you have never seen our Humble Abode. Well, this is it and believe it or not it looks 100 times better than it did when we got it. I think it gets cuter every day, I am usually decorated for Halloween by now but my flowers are doing so good I don't have the heart to pull them out yet.

New Kitten

I am not a huge animal lover in fact the only animals that I have ever gotten on my own were because they were either sick, dying neglected or very ugly, and Matt certainly is not a cat guy . However this kitten was both neglected and ugly, and Matt cant ever tell me no, so... it was meant to be ours. For the 1st time I do not regret my decision. She is so gentle. Most of the time Isaac is carring her upside down and she just hangs there. The Kids adore her. Now I just have to deal with a litter box, craziness at night, and in the future, kittens. (I have the philosophy that every female deserves the chance to be a mother at some point in her life. even a cat. ) then we have to get her fixed and declawed so our Free kitten was not so Free.
Side note: She loves Matt, and will not leave him alone.

Grandparents Day!

In Honor of Grandparents day last week, Let me just say, my kids have the greatest grandparents! This was not just a pose, he really mowed the whole lawn like this with one more most of the time. Livi got bored half way through. Thanks Mom and Dad we love you the most.

Mother and Father Prayer

What a wonderful day it was for our Aaron, I know without a doubt that I was more scared than he was. He has been such a strength around the house and the thought of him leaving the safety of our home to go into the world was a bitter sweet thought. I know what an example he can and will be to everyone that he comes in contact with but it breaks my heart to know that he will now see and experience things that a mother never wants their child to know. However, I am blessed with the knowledge that he is not alone, and that the Lord will watch, protect and comfort him during those few hours that my arms cant always be there for him. I love you Aaron.
The night before school started my sweet, wonderful Matt, went into our bedroom and spent some time in prayer and came out dressed and ready to bless our sweet son with the strength that he would need to start the next chapter in his life. How blessed we are to have the gospel in our lives.
I cant imagine their being a cuter kindergartner out there, although I know there are mothers out there that might disagree, Gabe and Mark made a very close second
This is the group from my side of the family that attend Dalton Elementary. I am so grateful that Aaron has such good examples and friends so close to him.

Floating the River

We did our annual float the Coeur d'Alene river trip. For those of you who don't know about this, it is quite the ordeal. The water is freezing, at some points you have to get out of your raft and walk because it is so shallow, the water is freezing, you have to paddle at least 75% of the way because there is no current, did I mention it is freezing, and it is a blast. Matt thinks it is a lot of work but tries not to complain too much. we always have so much fun.

Still Young

When we got done with floating the river all the kids decided that we should jump off the bridge. It is about 4 stories high into FREEZING water. I had done it several times when I was younger so I could understand their desire, however that desire was completely gone for me now. But my husband being the sympathetic man that he is reminded me that my son was starting kindergarten and I was turning 30 all in the same week and that I should jump one more time before I was OLD. So of course I had to do it. To prove that I did, I opted to put the picture of me in the water right after I landed rather than the one of me flying through the air. Trust me it was for your benefit.
Matt on the other hand was pretty proud of his moment, he dove, almost Olympic quality too!! Way to go Matt!!!

Labor Day Camping

It seems that everyone from my family has officially gotten too old or too BIG that the thought of camping the day before school starts was a little much for them. This year it was just my parents and our family, ( they joined us on Saturday for the day though) it was really the 1st time that we have ever had to cook at a camp out and frankly Matt and I decided that we would almost rather not eat. No seriously, my family has always made major meals at camping and with a lot of hands it never seemed so bad but with just us we have decided hot dogs sound really good. Fortunately dad never fails with the dutch oven and popcorn so we survived.