Marilyn, Terry & and Children

Photo Card

2011-11-17T22:20:00.001-08:00

Very Merry Snowman Holiday

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Kung Fu

2011-04-06T12:47:00.001-07:00

Moving!

2011-03-15T12:55:00.001-07:00

I have the perfect solution to weight lose, just move!

Last week I was looking through the classifieds and saw a house listed for rent in the south area of town. It was in our price range and included water, sewer, garbage. Which is rare for house rentals. I called on it Monday morning and found out it was located on the same street as the high school. I knew this was one rental we couldn't pass up. I called Terry and asked him to meet me on his lunch break to look at the house. It ended up being three house down from the high school. When we looked at it we couldn't believe how big it was and that they weren't asking more for it in rent. We knew it was to good to pass on, so we put our application in. On Friday we got the keys. We actually ended up getting the house for less rent then was listed because we agreed to take care of the yard.

Terry has been really excited about it. He timed how long it would take him to get to work. It is only a 4 minute walk. I have been feeling a little overwhelmed with the hole matter. I know that the Lord led us to this house, but it has been hard for me to wrap my mind around it.

I could never have dreamed of getting such a good deal, in such a good location. When we started looking for a new rental at the beginning of the year, I started freaking out about the whole prospect. I prayed about it and got a distinct feeling that we needed to wait. I am so glad I listened. It was hard because I had found a house I really liked. Had we moved into the house, we would have been paying more for rent, had less square footage, smaller yard, and had to pay water, sewer, garbage. I am so grateful for everything we have been blessed with lately.

We are actually renting the house from the fire depart. The home was owned by an older couple who lived there for around 40 years. When they sold it, the fire department bought it for the land. The home is surrounded by fields. They did some fixing up and painting of the house and now are renting it out. Riley was excited about renting a house from the fire department and getting to meet the fire chief. While we were at the fire department signing papers the kids got their own personal tour of the station.

For all those who ever want to visit us, we now have room for you to stay with us.

Full Bath

Basement bedroom. Not sure what we will do with this. It will probably be my craft room or the office or both. First I have to figure out what to do to make sure there and no spiders. When I was vacuuming down here I found a couple. I really do not like spiders. Any suggestions on how to keep from having problems with spiders in a basement.

Unfinished side of the basement.

Back of the house.

Basement family room with the basement kitchen in the back.

Other half of the basement family room. Got to love the antlers on the wall. they will be going. Plus the old boxed TV. We think it will actually work.

Backyard and garden.

Master bedroom.

breeze way between the garage and house. It is also the laundry room.

Riley's room

Abbie's room.

Kitchen

Living room

Living room and dinning room.

View of the mountains from our back yard. Plus some of the pastures that surround our house.

Professor Carlsen

2011-03-14T09:13:00.000-07:00

The Community College has asked Terry to teach Chemistry during the evening. He will be teaching on Tuesday and Thursday nights. He begins on March 29th. There could be an opportunity for him to teach each quarter. It all depends on how this quarter works.

Soon to be 8

2011-01-31T09:13:00.000-08:00

We went to a meeting last night for all the kids in our ward who will be turning 8 this year. There are about 15 of them. Riley is so excited to get baptized. At the meeting they had the Cub master talk to the boys about what they will get to do in cub scoots. Riley was so excited I could hardly keep him in his seat. After the meeting was over he found the cub master and asked her question after question. My little boy is growing up. I can't believe how fast his baptism is approaching.

I know that most of you are to far away to make it to his baptism, but know that we would love to have all of you here if possible. Terry and I do understand if you can't make it.

We have set the date for April 9th at 3:00pm.

Karate

2011-01-24T21:03:00.000-08:00

Right before Thanksgiving Riley started taking karate lessons. He is loving it, and has a great Sensei. Who is actually in our Ward. When he got out on the mat the first day he had this really serous face on, and was just ready to go. I have been amazed at how fast he has picked up on everything. He does really well when he focuses and doesn't get to silly. We are working on his confidence as well. He is so worried he will mess up that he doesn't want to do the different moves on his own, but I know he can. It will be fun to watch him progress.

They had their first test at the beginning of January. Riley was able to get his first piece of tape on his belt. After he get so many and can focus and listen (which Riley needs to work on) he will be able to move up to yellow.

Riley at his first Karate test.

Dad helping Riley out at his test.

Snow, Snow and more Snow

2011-01-14T16:13:00.000-08:00

After the Bott Family Christmas party we spent a few days at my parent's house. We planned on coming home Wednesday, but due to a big snow storm we stayed an extra day. We had fun playing in the snow. The kids even got to help Grandpa Bott plow snow with his tractor.

Bott Family Christmas Party

2011-01-14T12:43:00.000-08:00

The Monday following Christmas was my family Christmas Party. It is always fun to spend time with my family, but it never seems like enough time. I am so blessed to have such wonderful brothers and sisters.
My niece Clarissa (correct me if I am wrong) made these cute scarfs for all of her girl cousins. They loved them. Abbie wore hers for most of the night.
My nephew Kyle getting his first cowboys hat from Aunt Beverly. He had the biggest smile on his face.The two love birds.

We had my brother Stephen and his family for Christmas. We got the girls some fleece blankets. They had fun snuggling with them. They looked like they were ready to go to sleep right their.

Grandma opening her present from us. It is a book made from our blog.

Abbie got a hold of the camera and took some pictures of Terry and me.
My brother Roland and his family gave us this fun snowman bowl, and the game Sorry. We had fun playing the game with Grandma Bott at her house.

Holidays

2011-01-13T13:41:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful time over the holidays. We had a lot of fun. I was worried about what the driving conditions would be like. The drive to Terry's parents house started out foggy, but by the time we got up Cabbage Hill (this is the beginning trek through the Blues) it was clear and beautiful. The sun was shining and the fog was gone. When I looked back behind us, it was like looking at a sea of fog. It was quite a spectacular scene. I wish I had taken a picture.

As usually my kids did a good job traveling. Abbie did her job a little to well and didn't say she needed to use the restroom. She ended up wetting her pants. Mom wasn't to happy, but we got things cleaned up as best we could until we got to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

We got to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas with Terry's parents. On Christmas Eve, we went out and played in the snow. It was too crunchy to make a snowman so we decided to make forts. Terry and Riley made one, Abbie and I made one, and Brian and Tyson made one. Then we had a snowball fight. By the time we got to the snowball fight we were all worn out from building the forts. Come Christmas Day we were feeling the effort of all our work. We were quite sore. I do not have any pictures of this. I was having to much fun in the snow to get my camera.

After our outdoor playing we came in and helped the kids make cookies to eat and to leave for Santa. Wilma had a lot of fun Christmas cookie cutters. Abbie loves sugar cookies. She stood in front of the stove watching the cookies cook.

Later on we had a family dinner and Christmas program. Terry's family has a tradition of reading the Christmas story from the Bible and then the youngest child gets to put the baby Jesus in the manger. After this everyone gets to open one present.
Abbie and her present on Christmas Eve. She got Bedtime Bear.

Riley and His present on Christmas Eve. He got a Mega Blocks dragon egg. He was so excited to get his first Mega Blocks set, so he could become a Mega Block master.
When Riley found out that the dragon egg present was from Abbie, he gave her a big hug.
Wilma made a lot of fun stuff and gave them to everyone. This is a crown and scarf she made that Abbie got.

The kids were so excited to open presents Christmas morning. They each got a pair of slippers in their stockings.
Abbie and her Santa gift. She has been asking for a snow globe for most of the year.

Riley and his Santa gift. He got a big Mega Block dragon set that goes with the egg that Abbie gave him the night before.

Terry gave me this bobbin threader. He got tired of me complaining that mine didn't work on the sewing machine that I use, and that I have to get out my Grandma's old sewing machine to thread my bobbins.
This is the first gift Terry opened. It is a keyboard that he can use with the Wii. We got one for the family for Christmas. I thought that is was going to be the gift that the kids had gotten him. Unfortunately we hadn't opened the Wii yet, and Riley can read now. We had to do some sweet talking to convince him that the keyboard was for Dad's I pod touch and not a Wii. We didn't want to spoil the fact that they were getting a Wii.
Grandma Carlsen opening the present from us. It is a book made from my blog.
Here we are with the Wii.
Terry finally opening the present from the kids.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-22T08:24:00.000-08:00

I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Sorry for the lack of posts. I took on some big projects for Christmas that have taken up most of my time. Unfortunately, one was too big and will have to be finished after Christmas. Oh well, can't do everything. Hope all is well with everyone and you all have a wonderful holiday.

Great Wolf Lodge

2010-11-27T10:36:00.000-08:00

We had the most amazing opportunity at the beginning of November. We got to go the the Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound, WA, over by Seattle. It is this huge hotel with an indoor water park. When the kids found out what we were doing they were so excited. I can't tell you how many times Abbie and I spent looking at their web page.

While Terry was in meetings the kids and I went swimming. Afterward, we planned on doing some activities in the Kids Club during the afternoon. While we were walking around the hotel we saw most of the kids running around the hotel with these wands. Riley wanted to find out what they were for, so we went to the gift shop that sold them. We found out that you can buy these wands that are infrared wands, like a remote control for a TV. Than you go on a quest to earn ruins that help you defeat a dragon at the end of the quest. Of coarse Riley wanted to do this. I sat down with my kids and told them that they each could buy one souvenir and each choose one activity to do. Pretty much every activity they had cost extra money. I wanted my kids to have fun, but couldn't afford to have them do everything. Riley and Abbie both chose to buy wands. Than Riley chose to do the quest and Abbie chose to do the jumping with bullfrogs activity. It worked out well. We were able to put Abbie's wand on demo mode for free. This meant that she could light things up with her wand but she couldn't participate in the quest. Also, while Abbie was doing her activity, Riley got to listen to all the information. He just didn't get to make all the fun stuff that Abbie made.

We stayed pretty busy while Terry was in his meetings, and got in some good exercise at the same time. The quest required you to do a lot of walking. The quest was spread out over five different floors, and you had to walk up the stairs most of the time, because they had some clues on the stairs. There were a lot of times we would walk up five flights of stairs to turn around and walk back down five flights of stairs. Than repeat it.

After Terry finished his meeting we went swimming again. I felt sorry for Terry because by the evening we were all worn out and feel asleep, were he was ready to have some fun. The next morning we tried to finish the quest while Terry went to his last meeting than we went swimming one last time. Unfortunately, we didn't defeat the dragon. We got to fight him and got close to beating him, but we ran out of time and had to leave.

Eating breakfast!

The kids trying to figure out what all these decorations were for. We later found out they were part of the quest.

This was the TV that was on our floor. It was a snoring tree trunk. They were excited when we got to wake up the tree and have him talk to us.

Abbie with her plant aquarium she made during her Jumping With Bullfrogs activity

My little bullfrog

Taking a rest during our quest.

The kids sitting in front of this big fire place in the lounge. This was a huge lounge

Riley getting some more clues for his quest.

Lighting up the lantern with his wand

Swimming with dad. The indoor water park was awesome. I wanted to take lots of other pictures, but is cost $10 to rent a locker. I didn't' want to spend that much, so I took a few pictures and than took the camera back to our hotel room. They had all these fun slides you could go on. Riley, Terry and Terry's coworker went on the Howling Tornado first. This is the description that there web page gives for this ride, "Our most thrilling adventure. Grab up to 3 other members of your pack willing to drop into the 6-story funnel. You'll quickly learn how this ride earned its name. Repeatedly swish and swirl 30 feet up the sides of the funnel, before making a safe splash landing." Terry said he was to scared for Riley and keeping him on the ride to be scared for himself. After this we couldn't get Riley to go on any other rides. We had Abbie crying because she was to short to go on most of the ride and she wanted it to, and Riley who was tall enough refusing to go on the rides. Finally, right before we went Riley agreed to go on another ride with Terry. Which he enjoyed a lot more.

Going on part of the quest with dad.

I never got a picture of Riley trying to defeat the dragon. We were in a hurry, but this is Riley and Abbie right outside the room were the dragon was.

Dragons

2010-11-27T10:24:00.000-08:00

Riley like most children right now is obsessed with dragons. This is all due to How To Train Your Dragon. After we bought the movie and watch it, Riley was insistent on building a dragon out of his Lego's. So, Riley and I spent an afternoon building this dragon. It was lots of fun seeing him come up with the idea and initiating it.

Porcupine

2010-11-27T09:42:00.000-08:00

Terry took some of the young women and young men over to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. When he got home he came inside got the camera and asked me to come outside to look at something. I started to get worried, thinking that he had gotten in an accident. He than showed me these porcupine quills in the front tire of the van. He said that he had almost hit a porcupine on the way home.

Halloween Parade

2010-11-15T08:22:00.000-08:00

The Friday before Halloween, Riley's school had a Halloween parade. The kids got to dress up in their costumes and walk around to all the class rooms and show them off. Than they come back to their classroom and had a little party. Riley really wanted to be a blue ninja.

This is Riley with the student teacher Mr. Erland. Riley was a blue ninja and Mr. Erland was a ninja master. Of coarse Riley wasn't the only ninja in the classroom. There was a least two other boys who dressed up as ninjas.

Trick-or-Treat!

2010-11-15T08:16:00.000-08:00

Okay so I am finally getting around to writing about Halloween. I made the kids costumes this year. Riley's was quite simple. He wanted to be a ninja, so I just made a karate vest for him and bought him sweat pants to wear underneath. Than, on-line, I found this cool way to put the ninja wrap around his head. All I had to use was a long-sleeved shirt. The only problem I ran into with his wrap was that the shirt was a little big, so it didn't want to stay. He wanted to be a blue ninja and it was the only blue long-sleeved shirt I could find that would work.

Abbie's costume was a totally different story. She wanted to be a ninja until I tried the head wrap on her, and than she changed he mind. She decided to be a pink 'Super Abbie.' It was my own fault that I ended up having troubles with the costume. I decided to skip a step and paid for it. I didn't want to try the pattern on Abbie. I figured if I just went by the measurements according to the pattern I would be fine, big mistake. I got the fabric all cut out and had sewn that bodice part of the pattern to together (thank goodness I hadn't gotten farther). This included sewing the applique onto it as well. Than I tried the bodice on her. Well what to my surprise, it was to short and to tight. This should not have surprised me one bit, considering my daughter has a long torso, and was blessed with my broad shoulders. Luckily I had bought extra material and had enough to cut out new bodice pieces. The most frustrating parts were trying to figure out how to make the applique work, and trying to make the skirt fit the larger bodice. I didn't have enough material to cut out new skirt pieces. I ended up adding strips to the sides. After I was done, I wish I had just gathered the top, but I was not changing it at that point. I also, did not want to start over on the applique. I ended up cutting it out of the old bodice and sewing it onto the new one and it turned out fine. The costume wasn't perfect. The most important part is that Abbie loves it. Besides it was dark for most of our trick-or-treating adventures so nobody could see the mistakes.

On Friday, we took the kids trick-or-treating to the stores down town. I hesitated doing this because it was a nightmare the year before. We decided to give it a try, if there were to many people we would leave. It wasn't nearly as bad as the year before.
You can see that the ninja wrap was to big. Riley had a hard time seeing out of it. When I first tried it out, it was with a smaller shirt and worked a lot better.

Friday night we went to the church for some fun trunk-or-treating. The kids had fun, but didn't want to go for to long. They wanted to mostly hand out candy at our van. Terry got a little frustrated because everyone kept giving him their candy to hand out instead of setting up their own vans.

On Saturday the high school was having a trunk-or-treat as well. The different clubs set up cars to hand out candy. They also had a couple of haunted houses. I wasn't to excited to go to this because it was raining, but Riley and Abbie really wanted to go to the haunted barn. Than Abbie was scared to go into the barn, so we waited outside. The funny thing is she wanted to go to the other haunted house they had in the auditorium. She did pretty well with it until the very end. At the end you had to open a door to exit, and for some reason she didn't want to open the door.

At church the next day they found out that their babysitter had been involved in the haunted house and they were excited about this. They love their babysitter and are always asking when we are going out again so they can have her over.
Abbie waiting for Terry and Riley outside the haunted barn

Riley and Terry coming out of the haunted barn.

Riley having fun at the FFA station. Abbie didn't want to wait in line for this one so we moved on.

We didn't plan on doing anything for Halloween on Sunday except hand out candy. Than I remembered that our next door neighbors would have something special for the kids, so we got them dressed up and took them over. It is a good thing we did. They are wonderful neighbors and always do special things for my kids.
Abbie and Riley going over the our next door neighbors house.
Abbie holding the special treat from our next door neighbors.

One last picture with their pumpkins.

Abbie laid out all her candy and organized it. I remember doing this when I was little. She loves candy and would have eaten it all at once if I had let her. We let them have a few pieces and than put it up. They can than have a couple of pieces each day until it is all gone.

Pumpkin Time!

2010-11-10T08:44:00.000-08:00

For FHE, the Monday before Halloween, we carved our pumpkins. This was the first year that my kids would even touch the inside of the pumpkin. It was a lot of fun. Riley choose a traditional face for his pumpkin and Abbie choose a raccoon on top of a pumpkin.

Phase 6

2010-11-09T19:42:00.000-08:00

Beach!
After we went to the Oregon Zoo, we headed over to the beach. We stayed at this really cool KOA in Astoria for a couple of days. The KOA was located across the highway from Fort Stevens Stake Park, and not far from several fun beaches. They had free pancake breakfast, miniature golf, an indoor swimming pool, a play ground, and lots of other fun stuff to do at this KOA.

We spent one day at Seaside playing in the sand and walking down the board walk. We spent another day by Cannon Beach at Ecola State Park at Indian Beach. While I was up at the van getting the kids shorts, so they could play in the water, and the food. Riley decided to play in the water and get all wet. The sand got all over him and we couldn't get the sand off. It was the last pair of clean pants I had for him, so he got a new pair of pants, and I got to go to the outlet mail. The next day we went over to Stevens Stake Park to this beach that has the remains of a century-old shipwreck, 'Peter Iredale'. It was really foggy and cold and we needed to get on the road, so we didn't stay long. On the way home we drove into Astoria. We stopped at the Columbia River Maritime Museum, so we could take a look at the cool boats. Than we came home. The kids had a blast and keep asking us when we are going back.

I have added captions to some of the pictures. If you want to read them just click on the slide show and it will take you to our picsa web album.

Phase 5

2010-11-01T16:11:00.000-07:00

Oregon Zoo
We had fun at the Oregon Zoo this summer. I thought we would be done exploring by around 2 o'clock, but we got done more around 5 o'clock. There was so much to do and see. They had a dinosaur exhibit set up that Riley loved. Abbie had a lot of fun at the Trillium Creek Family Farm, mainly because you could pet the animals. We all enjoyed the train ride. It was one of the last things we did so it was nice to just sit for a while. Just because there was so many wonderful pictures to share, I made a photo slide. I have put captions on some of the pictures, but you will need to click on the pictures to read them. Enjoy!

4 Year Old

2010-11-01T13:27:00.000-07:00

On October 18th my lovely little girl turned 4 years old. This year her birthday fell on a Monday. Abbie just happened to be in charge of the lesson for FHE, so she choice to go to the pumpkin patch. Than we went to McDonald's for her birthday dinner. Afterward we came home and had more cake and ice cream and opened her presents from mom and dad. She had quite a weekend full of fun for her birthday.

I love this picture of Terry going down the slide, at the pumpkin patch, with the kids.

Terry and the kids at the bottom of the slide. The extra one is the little girl I watch.

Playing on the boat at the pumpkin patch.

Abbie picking her pumpkin.

Riley picking his pumpkin

Abbie opening her presents. She had been begging for a pair of suede boots for a couple of years, so I finally got her a pair.

Abbie playing with her camera she got for her birthday. We tried to buy her a cheap camera, but it didn't work well. I ended up taking it back and getting her one of those cameras made for little kids. I spent more than I had planned on, but I like it much better and so does she.

Abbie playing her My Little Pony DS game that she bought with the money that Grandma and Grandpa Carlsen sent her.

Party Time!

2010-10-27T09:48:00.001-07:00

Abbie had her first birthday party this year. She was so excited. She declared that it was her turn for breakfast in bed and choose her favorite, sugar pancakes (crepes). It was so cute when she woke up. She starting singing, "It's my birthday, yah! I get breakfast in bed. It my birthday!"

When Terry was cleaning out the attic at work he found some old tickets, and was able to give them to the kids. Some of the tickets were pink, which is Abbie's favorite color. She decided she wanted to use them for her birthday party. We set up the party like an arcade. You could earn tickets at the different stations, and cash them in for prizes at the end.

The first station was decorating bags. They used the bags to hold their tickets, and put the prizes in.

Than we split up the kids in two groups and did the other stations. We had pin the belly badge on the care bear, belly badge walk, decorating cookies, and making spider suckers.

After the activities Abbie got to open her presents.

This is Abbie's cake. She loves Care Bears, and wanted a Care Bear cake. We went on-line and found this fun cake to make.

Abbie with her cake. While we got the cake ready, the kids got to go and cash in their tickets for prizes.
Abbie wearing a cute hat she got for her birthday.

Soccer

2010-10-27T08:58:00.000-07:00

Riley had fun playing soccer this year. It was a beautiful season for it as well. There were only two games that it got cold, and one of those was an evening game. We enjoyed watching him. My favorite time was when he was playing goalie and would start screeching every time the ball would get close to the goal. He is such a character. The scariest moment was when I dropped Riley off by the field he was playing on, and than went to park the van. By the time I got to the field Riley was sitting on the side line with an extremely pale face. He looked like he was going to pass out. I asked him what happened and he said he fell and hurt him arm. I was afraid he had broken it. I had him hold his arm up and it looked good. He could make a fist, but had a hard time holding his water bottle. I had him sit there for a while, and put ice on it, until he started feeling better. He finally went out on the field and played the last half of the game, but was still favoring his arm. I kept an eye on it for the next few days. It did get better. I believe he hyper extended it, because he was saying it hurt right at the elbow. He is doing fine now.

Don't you just love this picture. It was so cold that Riley decided to use the camping chair covers to keep his legs warm.

Suprise!

2010-10-27T08:22:00.000-07:00

I had the most wonderful surprise a couple of weekends ago. My mom and dad decided to come down for Abbie's birthday party and didn't tell us. I had gone out Saturday morning to do some last minute shopping for Abbie's party. When I was driving back I saw a car in front of my house and wondered who it could be because the party wasn't until the afternoon. Than I saw the license plate and realized it was my parents. I started crying and had a hard time parking the car. I can't tell you how wonderful it was to see them. The kids loved having grandma and grandpa there. Not only did they get to be there for Abbie's party, but they got to go to Riley last soccer game. It was such a fun day for all.

The kids sitting on grandpas lap at Riley's soccer game. They sat on grandma's lap as well, but for some reason I didn't get a picture of that.

Grandma helping out at Abbie's birthday party.

Phase 4

2010-10-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

Science Experiments:
Riley found all these fun books at the library about science experiments with little kids. We planned to do at least one experiment a week during the summer, but ended up only doing a couple. Hopefully next summer we can do better.

The traditional volcano experiment. Riley choose this one.

Died flowers. Abbie choose this one. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the finished product.

Hiking:
We went for a fun hike up at Bennington Lake. Than we tried out our fishing poles again. For some reason I didn't get any pictures of us fishing, but I got plenty of us on our hike.

Picture of Riley taking a different trail than the rest of us. Riley has been wanting to go off on his own and explore more often. I know that I need to give him his space and let him, but it is so hard to let go.

Love this picture Terry.

The little girl in this picture is one of my day care kids.

I feel like my house looks messy in almost all of the photos I post. This is proof that it is clean at times. My kids, especially Abbie, love to vacuum.

Phase 3

2010-10-25T14:05:00.000-07:00

During the summer we had fun visiting our family. There are so many wonderful pictures to share that I am putting in slide shows.
For the 4th of July we spent time with the Bott family. It was wonderful spending time with my family and seeing friends. It doesn't feel like the 4th to me unless I am in Malad. I know that it is because it is what I am used to. This 4th of July was a little different because it was so cold. We didn't have any pants. Luckily we had some jackets, but it was still so cold. Regardless of the wind we enjoyed ourselves. We went to the parade and traditional western shot out and than enjoyed lunch with my family. The kids got to go to the farm with grandpa and I got to spend time with my mom and sister Beverly.

After the 4th of July we went to Terry's parent's house and enjoyed time with them. We got to do some fireworks and celebrate Ethan's(our nephew) birthday with him.

Terry and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary this year. I can't believe that it has been that long. I love my husband more than ever and appreciate his patience and understanding with me. We had the opportunity to leave the kids with Terry's parents for a couple of nights and go the Anniversary Inn in Salt Lake City. They have themed rooms you can stay in. We stayed in the Romeo and Juliet suite the first night and the Swiss Family Robinson suite that following night. It was lots of fun. We loved both rooms, but the Romeo and Juliet room was our favorite.

Pictures of us in the Romeo and Juliet Suite

Picture of us in the Swiss Family Robinson suite

Fair

2010-10-11T10:10:00.001-07:00

As usually we attended the Walla Walla Frontier Days at the beginning of September. The kids look forward to this all year long, and are constantly asking when we are going to the fair. They were so worn out by the end, and so were mom and dad. I love watching my kids at the fair. I wish we could have gone earlier and not gotten done so late. At least we got to see all the rides lit up for the night before we left.

Abbie and her cute hairdo.

Isn't this the cutest picture. Riley was being such a good big brother helping Abbie with all the rides and making sure she was safe. I have about four pictures like this that we took throughout the day.

Riley and Abbie on Riley's favorite ride. This is the Indiana Jones Ride.

Here we are at the end of the day. Lucky for the kids that they get one last ride home. Riley bought this glow sward. It was like a strobe light all the way home. My eyes were pretty sore.

Parade
The next morning we went to the Walla Walla Frontier Day Parade. Like most kids, mine love parades. Mostly for the candy, but they do love to see all of the floats, horses and other things. We ended up sitting on the wrong side of the street though. We were in the sun the whole time. Had this been a parade at Malad, it would have been no problem because it would have been over before we felt the affects of the sun. However, that was not the case. It was a pretty long parade. The kids were hiding in our shadows by the time it was over. It is a good thing we brought lots of water.
The kids wearing the pink bandannas that were handed out.

Bullies of the Park

2010-10-11T09:24:00.000-07:00

We decided to go to the park last month to feed the ducks and have a pick-nick. The kids loved it and we had a lot of fun. We took our grill with us and cooked steaks. The whole time the kids kept asking to feed the ducks. We told them we needed to eat first. Finally we went to feed the ducks. There were four big swans or ducks there, not quite sure which they were. Anyways, they were the meanest ducks I have ever seen. They chased all the other ducks off, bit us when we weren't feed them, and chased Riley and Abbie. At the very end, they started chasing Abbie. The next thing I knew they had bit her on her bum. Which was showing a little because her pants didn't want to stay up. It was so hard not to laugh. In fact, I am laughing now just thinking of it. I know it was traumatic for Abbie, but it was so funny at the same time. I so wish we had a picture or video of it, but Terry had put the camera away by than. We did get a picture afterward of her crying.

You will notice the big white ducks in practically every picture.
Riley sharing his bread because Abbie ran out. What a good big brother.
Abbie crying because the ducks bit her on the bum. Notice I am smiling, because I am having a hard time not laughing.

Haircuts

2010-10-11T09:03:00.000-07:00

I took the kids to get their hair cut the other night. I was hesitant to cut Abbie's hair because I knew I wouldn't be able to do all the cute things with her hair anymore. At the same time it, her hair is just to fine for it to be long right now. It kept breaking off when ever I would comb it and it was getting ratty to much. She really doesn't like me playing with her hair anyways. The hair cut turned out way cute. She loves it, and it is a lot easier to comb.
Riley really didn't need a haircut. He just need his bangs trimmed, but we ended up getting it cut anyways. He has pictures coming up and I wanted him to look good. I am pleased with the results. Unfortunately, you can't see how it turned out to well from this picture. It is spiky though and mixes well with those crazy cowlicks he has.

Phase 2

2010-10-08T13:34:00.000-07:00

As promised, I am posting more on our summer doings. I have gone through all we did and determined that it will take about 6 phases to get everything up to date. Please bare with me as I try to find time to do this. I broke them down into this many, so they won't be to long. Also, it won't take me to much time to do one every once in awhile. With this said here is phase 2.
Sorry about the difference in front size. I don't know what was going on. I tried everything that I know to fix it, but it didn't work.

Lick
Just over a year ago this stray cat showed up in our neighborhood. My kids took an immediate liking to her. Needless to say we sort of adopted her. We would feed and hold her whenever she came around. Which was a lot in the winter. We even let her come in the house and sleep during the day and than put her out at night. The kids would have kept her in the house all the time if they had their way. Unfortunately, we are not suppose to have pets and their mother isn't the biggest fan of pets. Especially in the house. Well it seemed she was getting sick. She wasn't gaining weight and she throw up all over my house one day(this is why I don't like pets in the house). I went and talked to my neighbor about it because they do a lot of rescue work with animals. They sounded concerned as well. We decided to take her to the shelter. My kids were devastated. We didn't know what else to do though. We didn't want her to die, and they were having a free day at the shelter, so if she was sick she would get the help she needed. We knew she would get adopted by a loving family because of her sweet disposition. I even got a little teary eyed. To pacify our kids we took a picture of her. We went the whole summer not know what happened to her, until one day when we got back from vacation, and she showed up on our door step. She had a collar and an owner. We called the owner and found out that Lick actually belong to her since Lick was a baby and had ran off. The kids were excited to know that she had a home to go to.

CAMP OUT
At the end of June we went camping to a fun campground not to far from are house. The campground is on the bank of the Snake River. We took the fishing pool we got Terry for Father's Day, and bought little kid fishing pools for Abbie and Riley. We had a lot of fun, but found out fast that we are not very good a fishing. I think we will need to take a How to Fish for Dummies coarse. Abbie refused to go to sleep that night so everyone was a bit cranky the next morning. I look forward to visiting this campsite again. Hopefully, next year.

Playing at the playground. Riley insisted that everyone have a turn with his Indianan Jones hat. Notice how it is way to small for Terry's head, but fits my head almost perfectly.

Riley trying out his new fishing pool.
Abbie showing off her pink fish bat.

Trying to fish from the dock. This dock separates the SnackRriver from a little inlet that you can swim in. We didn't have time to go swimming though, so we defiantly will have to go back again.

Family Doings

2010-10-05T13:29:00.001-07:00

Everything has been quite hectic here. As can be guessed by the lack of posts. I actually should be doing something else right now, but have a few things I wanted to post before I forget them.

Riley has been enjoying soccer for the past month and we have a few more weeks to go until the season is over. I have learned this year that he has inherited the Bott competitiveness. There has been a couple of time at practice that his team wasn't winning and he had a complete break down. It actually happened last night. Thank goodness it has only happened at practice and not during the middle of a game. I was worried it would happen during the first game when he was put in as goalie. He is very hard on himself and expects perfection. Well the other team scored on him and he threw the ball. I looked at Terry and said here we go. Terry said he would go talked to him. The next thing I knew Riley was smiling and actually doing a pretty good job. Later I asked Terry what he said. He told me, he said, "Riley don't worry about the times when they score, just focus on all the good things you are doing. You stopped the ball twice before they even scored on you." I felt so humbled after this because I probably would have gone over there and lectured him or yelled at him for throwing the ball. It was a good lesson on positive reinforcement.

Abbie is turning four soon and very excited about her birthday. She gets to have her first birthday party this year. She has been going through a temper tantrum stage. She spent about an hour crying and screaming in her room the other night. She did sleep well that nigh,t however. She tries to be the little mother and tell everyone what to do. It is so cute to watch her. Her love for music is still going strong. She has now high jacked the radio in the van. We have to listen to one of her CDs whenever we are out and about. If I have to hear the song 'If Your Happy and You Know Clap Your Hands,' one more time I will scream. I am just joking. I love listening to her sing all the songs in the van. Riley has even started singing some of them. He has a very beautiful voice, but I don't get to hear it very often because he doesn't like to sing.

Terry, as usual, is running at top speed. He is still the Head of the Science Department, and has picked up a new position to go along with that, Computer Tech. He was doing a lot of the Computer Techs job anyways, so it isn't to much more. He just gets paid for it. He also is busy trying to inventory the chemical store room at the school He is supposed to have it finished by October 16th or 15th. He is getting paid for it as well. It is just a lot of work.
Terry got called as the Ward Clerk a few weeks ago. He is pretty busy on Sundays now. It is a different story trying to get my kids to church by myself. At least I only have two to get ready, I can't imagine how mother's do it with more. The good thing about it is we are guaranteed a set up front and don't have to sit on the folding chairs in the back when we are late.

I am busy with my daycare and being a mother. I love being with my kids. They are growing up to fast. I just want to hold onto them and keep them from getting older. At the same time I love watching them learn and grow. I just picked up another girl in my daycare. That makes 3 girls that I am watching. Yesterday was my first day. She is a doll, but keeps me running. Unfortunately I have her until just after 6:00. I have learned that once you go past 5:00 it gets stressful. I will only be watching her temporally though, so it shouldn't be to bad. After she left yesterday. I was feeling pretty tired and stressed. I was trying to get a hold of Terry at work to ask him to get something at the store for me, but couldn't. I don't know why, but this made me even more stressed. Finally, I packed the kids up in the van and went to the store myself. By the time I got home it was 7:00, and we hadn't had dinner yet. Terry had just gotten home right before us. I walked in the house and said, "I am so stressed." He replied by saying, "If it makes you feel any better so am I." While we were fixing dinner Terry and I decided that we were not going to do FHE. It was to late and we were both just to stressed to worry about it. Than Abbie proceeded to give the dinner prayer and thanked Heavenly Father that we were going to have FHE. Terry and I looked at each other and said, "It looks like we are having FHE." I am so glad we did. Riley was in charged of the lesson, and he did a wonderful job and we had a good time together.

My children love anything that involves the family. They love FHE, family prayer, family dinner, family movie time, and especially family hugs. Somehow we started this tradition, don't asked me when it started I can't tell you, but basically what it is; is anyone can call, "family hug" and everyone stops what they are doing and we hug as a family. They also love 2 minutes. What we do is give each child time in their beds each night. Terry with one child, while I am with the other child, and than we switch. It is about 5 minutes with each child, but we call it 2 minutes. This can be tedious at times. There are just some nights I wish I could tell the kids to go get in the bed and that is it. I was having one of those nights about a month ago, when Riley reminded me why we even do this. During the middle of our 2 minute time Riley said, "Do you know why I love 2 minutes so much mom? Because 2 minutes are so exciting." Whenever I have one of those nights were I just don't want to do 2 minutes I remember what Riley said.

Knees

2010-09-03T14:32:00.000-07:00

Well I just got back from the doctor's office. I have been having trouble with my knees since last summer when I tried to train for a half-marathon. I ran a 10k on the 4th of July and my knees hurts so bad afterward that I decided I wasn't made to run a half-marathon. Well my knees have hurt off and on since than. I finally decided to go and see the doctor about them. Basically the cartilage is wearing away in the outside of my right knee and a little bit in my left knee. No more running for me. I was told to stay with low impact exercises. I hate low impact exercises they are so boring. I will do my best to listen to the doctor though because I need my knees to last. At least I don't need to go back to the physical therapist.

Phase 1

2010-08-31T13:44:00.000-07:00

Okay as promised I am updating my blog. Some of you may wonder why I am going so far back. I am doing this mainly for myself. I plan on making a book of my blog at the end of the year and want to try and post most of the big moments.

So we will begin with the Last Day of Kindergarten. I was able to go to the school on the last day and eat lunch with Riley. I took him a McDonald's happy meal. While I was their Riley insisted that I take a picture of him with all the various teachers that he had.Riley with his Kindergarten teacher Mrs. Rose.

Riley with Mrs. Shaffer. She was one of the Kindergarten paraprofessionals.

Riley with Mrs. Greenwood. She is one of the other Kindergarten teachers. Riley had her as his reading teacher. She loved Riley and every time I saw her she always told me that she has a son named Riley as well. She even gave us a picture of her and Riley and her son Riley.

Riley with his PE teacher.

Riley with Mrs. Butler. She was one the kindergarten paraprofessionals.

Father's Day

We had fun celebrating father's Day. The kids were excited as usually. They love their dad so much. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband. Whenever I feel bad about asking him to stay with the kids so I can go shopping or exercising he always tells me to not feel bad because he would not want to be doing anything else but spend time with his kids.

The kids could hardly wait to give Terry his present. Riley has been begging to go fishing for a couple of years now but we have never had any gear. So for Father's Day this year we got him a fishing pole. No excuses now!~

Dress

2010-08-31T11:03:00.001-07:00

I made this simple dress for Abbie. It was suppose to be pajamas, but it turned out so cute that if she wants I will let her ware it during the day. It is really easy to make. Just go to the store buy a t-shirt and fabric that matches. You cut the t-shirt so it is just under the chest, than cut a front and back out of the fabric to the length and width you want. I made the width just a bit bigger than the width of the t-shirt so I could gather it together. Sew the front and back together, than a gather stitch along the top, gather it so it fits the shirt and than sew it onto the shirt. I than cut about a 5 inch ruffle twice the width of the skirt folded it in half, stitched a gather stitch and sewed it onto the bottom of the skirt. A quick note: make sure that the shirt fits. I bought a shirt that was one size to big thinking that if I made it big she could wear it longer. It ended up looking like a tent on her. I had to spend more time on it than I would have liked getting it to fit right.

I know that my explanation isn't the greatest so here is the web page I found that helped me with the project: http://deannasstuff.blogspot.com/2009/05/make-simple-tshirt-dress-with-ruffle.html

Ward Campout!

2010-08-30T09:31:00.000-07:00

I don't know if I have mentioned how awesome our Ward is here, so I will. We are blessed to have such a wonderful ward family. Everyone is so close and whenever there is a new family they welcome them with open arm. It will be really hard if I ever had to move out of our ward. With that said, after having been in this ward for seven years, we finally had our first ward camp out. It was so much fun. Riley pretty much spent the whole time running around with his friends from the ward, and Abbie even got to spend some time with her best friend as well.
We stayed at the stake campground. All of the campsites are named from people in the Book of Mormon. Their is even a strait and narrow path over the River Sidon, and The Promised Land were you can get together and have a bonfire or play games.

We all got together that night and roasted marshmallows and sang songs. All the young women in the ward led the songs. It was fun watching them together. Than Brother Nelson, from the bishopric, got up and gave a small message and prayer. I loved what he had to say. He talked about how he got ready to come over to the Promised Land when he realized he had forgotten his flash light. He figured it would be okay because he could see the camp fire and all the flash lights, from the ward members, that he could find his way. Even with this guiding light he still stumbled and tripped over rocks and pot holes. He than talked about how much easier it would have been if one of us with a flashlight had come and helped him to the campfire. He said that our ward is a shining beacon and how we can be those people who go out and help guide those who may be stumbling through and tripping over those pot holes and rocks of life.

I am posting a slide show of our ward camp out pictures. At the end there is a picture of Riley next to a pile of bear pop. At least that is what everyone said it was.

This is a video of the kids crossing the strait and narrow path over the River Sidon. Notice how Riley just walks across no problem at all, while Abbie holds nice and tight to the iron rod. Of coarse Riley did have his walking stick with him. Makes you wonder sometimes.

First Day of School

2010-08-26T10:02:00.000-07:00

Yes we are here. We just had a fun, full and busy summer. I will have to take time to post more about our summer later.

Riley started first grade on Tuesday. I am excited for this year and hope things will go a little better than kindergarten. Some of the things we had an issue with in kindergarten are not being used in first grade. Riley wasn't sure about going to school, but the first day was a success. At least I thought so, until it was time to get ready for the second day of school and he didn't want to go. He said he didn't like school because it was boring. We had a good discussion about finding positive and fun things about school. I asked him to go to school and find something he liked about school and than come home and tell me. When he got home I asked him what he liked about school that day. As most of you can guess, his favorite thing was recess. He also said he liked that he didn't have to go to PE and music. When I asked why he didn't like them? He responded by saying that they take to much time. Go figure a boy who doesn't want to go to PE. We will see how today goes.

I was surprised that Abbie has been fine with having Riley gone. We have been trying to stay busy and make sure we do lots of projects. I am enjoying my time with her.

Riley modeling his backpack. He really wanted a Lego Clone Star Wars backpack. So I sewed on a iron-on transfer. He loves it.

Riley's Classroom is in the background.

Abbie wanted to model her back as well.

I just have to post what Riley did at church about a month ago. Riley got a new teacher to help out in his primary class. I was excited when I found out because I thought she would be great with the kids. She told me later what Riley did the first day she was their. When they got to there class room she had to do something to discipline Riley. After wards, he looked at her and said, "I X you out." The teacher said that by the end of class, though, Riley had come over and sat down next to her and put his head on her shoulder and said, "We can be friends now."

Riley

2010-06-01T08:17:00.000-07:00

At church on Sunday, Riley went and picked Abbie up from Sunbeams. When he got their Abbie's teacher said that Riley put his hands on his hips and said, "Are You Taking Care Of My Sister!" Abbie's teach responded, "Yes I am." Riley than said, "Thank You!"

You have to love the protective older siblings.

FREE!

2010-05-25T09:41:00.001-07:00

Are neighbor was giving an entertainment center away for free. We decided it would be nice to replace our old one that we bought from Kmart when we were married. I hope to paint it a different color when I have time. Plus I am not sure what color I would paint it right now. What do you think? Should I stain it a different color or paint it black or white or some other color?

Mother's Day

2010-05-10T11:11:00.000-07:00

I love Mother's Day. My family does a good job pampering me. It is so wonderful to see the joy on my kids faces. Of coarse if it wasn't for them I wouldn't get the opportunity to celebrate Mother's Day. While I was visiting my visiting teaching ladies, one of them gave me this poem about mother's.

The Magic of Mothers
There's magic in a mother's touch
and sunshine in her smile.
There's love in everything she does
to make our lives worthwhile.
We can find both hope and courage
just by looking in her eyes;
Her laughter is a source of joy'
Her words are warn and wise.
There is kindness and compassion
to be found in her embrace,
and we see the light of Heaven
shining from a mother's face.

I learned how much a mother means to her children, when I went to Time Out for Women. The Sunday after I got home, I saw Riley walking down the church hall crying. I went and tried to figure out what was the matter. He just kept crying and saying, "I got mad and I am so sorry." I finally found his Primary teacher. She wasn't sure why he was having such a hard time, but he had been emotional all through primary. She had tried to bring him to me, but he didn't want to leave class. When we got home he wouldn't leave my side for some time, and later that night he confessed that he was scared I was going to leave again and not come back. Sometimes it is hard to remember how much they need us, but they do. I am trying to cherish every moment I have with my children. How much I love them and know they love me. I am so grateful that the Lord trusted me to raise two of his choice spirits. I pray everyday that I am doing a good job at it.

TOFW

2010-05-10T11:05:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I got the chance to go to Time Out For Women in Spokane with a couple of friends. It is the first time I have left the kids with Terry over night, and only the second time I have left them at all. It was hard not to feel guilty for going. However, I kept reminding myself it was for a good cause.
I had a wonderful time. The speakers and the music were awesome. Spokane has a really beautiful park next to the conference center that we got to walk through. It was a much need break and very relaxing time.

Great Aunt and Finger

2010-05-10T10:39:00.000-07:00

In April, we had a situation that should have been just a normal slammed finger in the door that turned into a scary time. As you can see from the pictures, it was a pretty bad slammed finger. It happened on a Saturday, and due to Riley being in shock and not calming down, we took him to the walk-in clinic to make sure it wasn't broken. Thank goodness it wasn't. Well come Monday the finger actually looked worse, and so I took him into the doctor and had them drill a hole in the finger to drain the blood. Which should have been done at the walk-in clinic, but the doctor gave Riley the choose and Riley choose not to have it done, so I had to take him back. Than Monday Riley got off the bus after school, and I could tell he wasn't feeling well. He had a really high fever, and told me he slept all afternoon at school. Why they didn't call me and have me get him I don't know. So I kept him home Tuesday, but I started getting worried about him having a Staph infection because it was a really high fever, and his finger looked worse still. Needless to say we ended up back at the doctors office, and Riley had to have some blood work done. He didn't have Staph thank goodness, but I think he ended up with a strep throat. I never had a test done because we already had him on an antibiotic for a possible Staph infection. Riley is doing much better. His damaged finger nail fell off and a new one is growing back in its place.

During the whole Staph scare, I had a great aunt, whom I didn't know, call me. She lives in Spokane. She told me she was coming down to Walla Walla to visit a nephew and was wondering if she could come see me. It was really exciting to get to meet her. Her sister was my mom's mother. I never had the opportunity to get to know my grandmother because she past away before I was born. I have been given the opportunity to meet a couple of her sisters over the past few years. I am grateful to meet her. It is nice to know I have some more family around here. If you look closely you can see the wrap on Riley's arm were he had his blood drawn.

Chuck E Cheese

2010-05-10T10:22:00.000-07:00

To celebrate Terry finishing his National Board's Project and spring break we took the kids to Chuck E Cheese and a movie, "How to Train Your Dragon." They had a lot of fun. It was nice to get out of town as well.
You have to love the static hair!

Riley's Birtday

2010-05-05T10:42:00.000-07:00

Last month we celebrated two big events. Riley turning 7 and Terry finishing his National Board's Project. Which happened on the same day.After the whole ordeal of Terry's project, I realized how blessed are family is. I know that the only way Terry was able to do his project was through many blessing from our Savior. Thanks to all who prayed for him. It was an arduous process. I am so grateful that trial in our life is over. I am also so grateful for the lesson learned and blessings granted.
My little boy is not not so little anymore, of coarse he started life as a big boy anyways.
He proved how big he is by how patient he was with his father during the long months of Terry being gone while he worked on his National Boards. Especially how patient he was on his birthday while he waited for daddy to come home so he could open his presents.

Here is a picture of Riley on the day he was born. He was 9Ibs 15 0z

Here is a picture of him a few days before his birthday.
For his Birthday day we celebrated first at his school the Friday before. I took in some cupcakes and ice cream and he got to be the child of the week.

Riley and his teacher

Terry and I started a tradition when we got married to serve breakfast in bed to each other on special occasions. This year Riley announced that he wanted breakfast in his bed for his birthday.

Riley asked for this Star Wars Lego ship a hundred times before his birthday. This was pretty much his birthday, because it was such a big present.

Here are all the Lego pieces lad out. It took us a while to get it together.

Easter

2010-04-15T10:39:00.001-07:00

We had a wonderful Easter. How I wish I could have been with all of my loved ones for Easter, but I am grateful that I was able to celebrate with my husband and two beautiful children. It was wonderful to have General Confernce on Eas ter. I throughly enjoyed conference. All the talks were wonderful. I loved Elder Cook's comment of going to the higher ground of safety, and avoiding the lower pathways of danger. As always I loved Elder Uchtorf"s talked, and how we our the hands of the Lord. There were lots of wonderful talks on the family and how we can be better p arents.

My kids enjoyed the many activities of Easter. They were very excited to color eggs. Abbie slept with the box of dye the night before we colored eggs, and wouldn't put the box down until we were ready. They got lots of candy. Which mom and dad have enjoyed as well.

While we were setting up the Easter egg hunt outside, Riley was being a secret agent. Abbie decided that she needed to be one as well. Riley took his glassed off before he went outside.

Get Ready, Get Set, GO!

Abbie in her Easter dress. Sorry you can't see much off it because of her poncho.

Riley had so many eggs in his basket they kept falling out. Than Abbie would come behind him and put them in her basket.

Legos, Legos, and more Legos!

2010-04-14T12:06:00.000-07:00

My son is obsessed with Legos. We have them all over the house. I can't tell you how many times I have asked him not to put his Legos on the sofa, or to clean up his Legos because they are every where. He loves to go onto Lego.com and play games and look at all of the available sets. While he was on Lego.com, he noticed they have new Lego board games. Ever since, that is all he can talk about. He had been making up his own Lego board games and we have been playing them. He likes to take pictures of the games he has invented so he can remember how to put them back together. Here is just a few of the games we have been playing lately.

This is a picture of Riley after they had pictures taken at school. He was sad because I didn't order any. This was the second time they had pictures taken, and since I had already purchased school pictures of him earlier in the school year, I didn't get any this time. Riley was sad, so I took a picture of him at home.

Bigger Brothers

2010-04-14T11:53:00.000-07:00

We had the opportunity to have Terry's older brother over in February. My kids absolutely love their Uncle Dave. It was a good break for us to take from our busy lives. It was nice to see Terry take some time off for the first time in months.

Guitar

2010-04-14T11:22:00.000-07:00

When I was walking Riley to the bus during the winter, a lady walked pasted us with a little toy guitar. The next thing I knew she turned around and asked us if we wanted to have the guitar. She was taking it to work to give away to whoever wanted it anyways. My kids were so excited, because I had just started taking guitar lesson myself, and now they could play along with me. Here is a picture and video of Abbie with the guitar.

Carrots!

2010-03-24T07:34:00.001-07:00

Life has been ever busy at our house, as you can tell from the lack of posts. This week I have a break from my day care so hopefully I will be able to catch up.

Abbie has been a little pill lately when it comes to sitting down and eating. I can't get her to stay at the table for long. When she is at the table she will just take a few bits and than proceed to play. The other day she wanted to go for a walk to the grocery store and get a treat. I told her she had to eat a good lunch before she went. As you can guess she was not cooperating. I was getting frustrated when I finally said, "We are not going to the store if you do not eat. You have only taken a few bits of your rice, you still need to finish your turkey, and you haven't even touched you carrots." She stopped what she was doing and looked at me with a smile, than she reached over and touched her carrots saying, "I touched my carrot."
I could only laugh after that. She has a very witty personality.

2010-02-03T08:30:00.000-08:00

As always my kids say and do some of the cutest things. I think we all believe that of our kids. Terry is better at remember what they are than me. I am trying to get in the habit of writing them down so I won't forget.

Here is a few things that has happened recently:

My kids absolutely adore their babysitter. Riley has a hard times with names, and has yet to remember what her name is. The other night she was watching the kids for us while we went and watch Avatar. She was really good at putting them to bed for us. Riley proceeded to wake up at about 1:00 in the morning saying, "babysitter."

I have been trying to teach my kids the importance of eating a well balance meal, so we have been talking a lot about getting our proteins, carbohydrates, and fruit and vegetables. Sunday morning Abbie was saying her head hurt. Than she said, "I have a headache. I am not getting enough protein."

Happy New Year

2010-01-06T10:10:00.001-08:00

Hope everyone is excited about the new year. I look forward to what it will bring.
Right now I am trying to adjust to my new schedule. Hopefully, by next week I will have my schedule down.

I like to set a couple of new year resolutions. Here they are.
*Get up and exercise in the morning before the kids get up.
*Try and eat healthier foods. I ate way to much candy and sugary foods last year.
*Try and be more patient and understanding with my kids and husband.

So here is my challenge to all of you, make a new years resolution, and share them if you would like. It is always fun to see how well I have done at the end of the year. Good luck with the new year.

Snow

2010-01-06T09:42:00.000-08:00

Riley and Abbie finally got to play in the snow last weekend. Riley really wanted snow for Christmas, but unfortunately didn't get it. We only had frost. I don't know if you can count a really thick frost as a White Christmas or not. We always make a snowman that is almost always melted by the next day. Anyways it was lots of fun, and I finally got to use my new boots I bought for the season.

Christmas

2010-01-06T09:32:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas. It was fun watching the excitement of the kids. By the afternoon the kids had worn Terry and me out. It was a successful day. We didn't take to many pictures because we were having fun with our new video camera. I will have to figure out how to download the videos. Here are a few pictures though.
Riley made this ornament for us. He was really excited to give it to us.

Bathroom

2009-12-19T15:24:00.000-08:00

I should be cleaning my bathroom right now. I keep finding other things to do instead of cleaning. I don't know what it is about cleaning the bathroom that makes it so hard for me to get it done. Once I actually start to clean it is not so bad, but getting me to do it is another story. As you can tell, I have found another excuse to not go do it by writing this blog.
Oh the joys of a clean house, but the process not so joyful!

Tall

2009-12-19T15:22:00.000-08:00

The other day I was talking to Abbie about how she wasn't tall enough yet to do something. I can't remember exactly what it was. Anyways, after our discussion she proceeded to walk over to her little rocket chair and stand on it, and say, "look mommy I am tall enough now."

Reading!

2009-12-19T13:41:00.000-08:00

Last night Riley read most of a Scooby-Doo book to me. I am so proud at how far he has come. He didn't even complain about reading and try to get away with just reading one or two words. During the summer I tried to help him learn how to read, but he fought me so much about it that I stopped. He has come such a long way since this summer. He still prefers math, but his reading is improving.

Happy Birthday Terry

2009-12-02T12:24:00.000-08:00

We got to celebrate Terry's birthday yesterday. The kids were excited to give their daddy "lots of presents." Abbie was so excited that when Terry got home from work she started showing him what we had bought. Unfortunately I hadn't gotten anything wrapped yet.

One of my friends did this on her blog, and I that I would try it out.
33 reason why I love my husband. They are not in any particular order.

1. He is a gentleman
2. He makes me laugh
3. He is a great Dad
4. His children absolutely adore him
5. I trust him
6. He loves me
7. He is a very intelligent man
8. He brings comfort and safety to my home
9. He is a worthy priesthood holder
10. He is one of the most selfless men I know
11. He always makes time to be with his family, even if it is just to eat dinner with us.
12. He lets me go and exercise for about 1 1/2 hours Monday and Wednesday evenings
13. He makes dinner for the family while I am exercising
14. He helps Riley with his school work
15. He has a testimony of the gospel
16. He helps me want to be a better person
17. He is a non-judgmental person
18. He supports me
19. He has a great smile
20. He is always trying to better himself
21. He has a great family
22. He loves my family
23. He has a great sense of humor
24. He has amazing blue eyes
25. He is honest
26. He is my best friend
27. He listens to me
28. He is understanding when the house is messy
29. He is willing to help clean the house
30. He gives more than a 100% at whatever he does
31. He holds me when I cry
32. He is willing to say he is sorry
33. I love him what else matters

This is a video of the kids listening to the card they got Terry for his birthday. I was trying to get a video of them laughing. Which of coarse they didn't do, and when I turned the camera off they started laughing.

Thanksgiving.

2009-12-01T13:43:00.001-08:00

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. We were able to go to my mom and dad's for Thanksgiving this year. It is the first time in 5 years that we have been able to enjoy Thanksgiving with the whole family. I am so grateful for the beautiful weather we had to drive in. I was worried it would snow and we wouldn't make it over the pass. We had a fun time. My kids enjoyed playing with all the grand kids, making gingerbread houses, and helping grandpa feed the cows at the farm.
We meet up with Terry's parents on Saturday, and had lunch together. Than we went out to see Terry's grandpa's grave. We hadn't been out their since the funeral. Thanks Aaron and Danny for letting your boys come along. Riley loved playing with them.
At the cemetery Abbie made us walk around and read every head stone with her. It was a good thing that it was a small cemetery.

While we were walking around with Abbie, I found this head stone. I am related to the Tingeys'. It will be interesting to see if this is one of my relatives.

Dinner Theater

2009-11-23T11:13:00.000-08:00

My family has a tradition of making our own movie theaters at home. This is due to the fact that it is so expensive here to go to the real theater. When we got home from church Abbie was talking about wanting to make a theater. Riley was helping me make dinner at the time, and decided he wanted to make it a dinner theater. He got really excited about the whole thing. He made place mates for everyone and put them where we should sit. Than he made a menu for drinks and went around asking everyone what they wanted to drink. He went all out, and it was so fun watching him come up with the idea and than executing it. I am so grateful for the wonderful children I have been blessed with and what great imaginations they have. It makes my life full of fun and excitement.

Homecoming!!!

2009-11-20T12:54:00.000-08:00

Terry has been gone all week and gets home today. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It has been an long week, but we made it. We had our moments of insanity, but mostly all went well. Thanks to all those who put up with my phone calls just so I could hear another adult voice.

Abbie has been praying all week for daddy to come home safely. Riley has been doing his best to be good so dad would bring him a toy. I am exhausted because I don't sleep well while Terry is gone. I will be taking a nice long nap tomorrow.

One good thing about his trip is that most of our Christmas shopping is done. Terry is such a wonderful husband for going to all the stores we don't have in Walla Walla and getting the stuff on our list. Especially while dealing with a head cold.

Hair Style!

2009-11-04T11:46:00.000-08:00

I want your opinion!!!!
I am getting really bored with my hair and want to chop it off. I looked through some hairstyle magazines and came across this hair style that I am considering. I want your help on deciding weather to give it a try or not. I have some reservations because of the layers. Plus, I don't always have time to do my hair, and I am worried it will not look good if I just brush it and go. I really like the style. So what is your opinion, do you think I would look good with this hair cut?

Happy Halloween

2009-11-04T10:01:00.000-08:00

We had a fun Halloween. Riley decided to be Indiana Jones, and Abbie wanted to be Dora. It started with Riley's kindergarten class going on a parade around to the different classroom at his school.

Than our ward decided to do the trunk-or-treat on Friday night. I guess there were some who wanted it on a different night so the kids could do other trick or treating on Halloween.

On Halloween we headed to down town for the traditional trick or treating to the different businesses on Main St. Usually it is a lot of fun, but this year it was so crowded that Riley just wanted to go home. By the time we got down one side of Main St. he was complaining and whining. I asked him if he just wanted to go home, and he said yes. We went home and went to a couple of neighbors houses and than the trunk-or-treat at the high school. The different clubs decorate a car and the kids can come trick or treating. The entry fee is a couple of cans of food that they donate to the food bank. Riley had so much more fun here. It was nice to see him actually smiling.

All in all it was a successful time. Now they have candy to last them quite awhile. As long as I don't eat it all:)

My Little 3 Year Old!!

2009-10-27T08:56:00.000-07:00

Yes Abbie turned 3 years old last week. She had a fun birthday and was way excited. She had been talking about her Dora birthday since Riley's birthday. Can you guess what her cake had on it, and what most of her presents were?

Abbie opening some of her presents. I couldn't get her to look at the camera for long, so I don't have many pictures of her face.
Abbie modeling her Dora backpack. She is going to be Dora for Halloween.

Abbie and her cake. I finally got a picture of her face. If you look close enough you will notice she has two different colored eyes.

She looked way to cute on Sunday to not take these pictures of her. It is a good thing I took them before church because by the end of church her hair was all over the place.

Turkey Anyone!

2009-10-27T08:36:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to eat healthier, and what could be healthier than turkey. I decided to try and cook turkey drumsticks, because I didn't want to be stuck with a whole turkey. It wasn't as good as I thought it would be. Thank goodness my children are not that picky of eaters.

Riley showing off his turkey drumstick:) Notice he is missing his 3 front teeth. It makes watching him eat very interesting.

Dress Up

2009-10-14T15:07:00.000-07:00

Abbie wearing mom and dad's shoes.

Abbie and her friend
Hadley putting on all
of Abbie's play jewelry.

Soccer

2009-10-14T14:39:00.000-07:00

Riley started playing soccer for the first time this fall. He has been really excited about everything. He has made a lot of progress from the first day, and I am so proud of him. He finally made is first goal the other day. Of coarse it happened on a day I forgot to bring my camera. Last night he had a game and it was rainy and cold, but the kids were having a blast. If you have a hard time seeing him in any of the pictures, his number is 24. I must thank my sister for all of the soccer clothes she gave us. They really came in handy.

Feeding Ducks

2009-10-12T12:14:00.000-07:00

No one in my house likes to eat the end pieces of the loaf of breads. So, I collect them and when we have enough we go and feed the ducks. My kids love to go to this park that has a pond and swings and slides to feed the ducks.

Riley's Fist Day of School

2009-10-12T12:02:00.000-07:00

Yes, Riley has started Kindergarten! It was a ruff start, but everything has calmed down. They have this colored system for behavior that he has a hard time with. Basically what it is, is if you are good you get a green card, if you have had to many warnings you have to change your card to a yellow, and if you are bad you get a red card. Well, Riley came home the first day of school with a red card. I was a little shocked that they even gave out red cards on the first day. He was devastated. He came out of the class room in tears. I think he thought I was going to be mad or something. Well this just set the tone for how the next few weeks were going to be. It got to the point he didn't want to go to school, and was telling me he was going to lose his voice and not talk at school. Finally, I emailed his teacher and we got together and talked about how we could help Riley, and I told him I didn't care what color he got as long as he was having a good time at school. He loves school now.

After Riley kept bugging me about riding the bus, I finally let him start riding in the mornings. If he had his way he would ride in the morning and after school. I like to pick him up though, because I know if I let him ride the bus, I wouldn't get as much information from him about how school was.

Crazy Hair

2009-10-12T11:50:00.000-07:00

I did Abbie's hair in braids the other day, and this is what it looked like when we took them out.

Summer Time

2009-09-09T12:11:00.001-07:00

Okay, so much has happened over the summer that you will have to forgive me for such a long post. I know I should make more updates, and I have good intentions to do so, but never get around to it. So Sorry!
Unfortunately this post is not organized the way I would like it. I do apologize. I tried to fix it and make it look better, but it wasn't working. I definitely made it to long. After spending so much time on it I finally just posted it the way it is. Hope you can follow.
If any of you are wondering about the picture, above? This was one of my favorite pictures I took this summer. It is on the Nauvoo Temple. I took it from the top floor of the Cultural Hall in Nauvoo. This is were they held their dances.

Well here I go.

First: I must announce that my husband has finally graduated with his Master's degree. Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! Can you tell I am excited. He worked really hard and I am so proud of him. He did an amazing job on his capstone project. Right now we are waiting to see if it will get published.

Second: I got to enjoy my sister and her family coming to my house for the 4th of July. It was awesome. Riley loves playing with his cousins. While we were waiting for them to get to our house Riley kept asking when his brothers were going to get their. We had to explain the whole family relation thing to him. I think by the end of summer he was finally getting the hang of it. Also, I ran a 10K. Yes, I must admit I was one of the last to finish the race, but I did it. It was extremely hot, but fun. The race was to support our Veterans, and we had them on motorcycles escorting us through town. Next year I want to have the whole family do the race, but we will be riding our bikes. I was going to train to run a half-marathon. Unfortunately my knees hurt so bad after training for the 10K that I will not be running the half-marathon.

Third: For our anniversary we went camping with the kids. It was Abbie's first camping trip. She didn't like the fire at first, but by the time we went home she was helping Terry gather sticks to throw on the fire. There was a nice sand bar next to the river that the kids had fun playing in, and yes we drove into to town and went swimming at the local pool. Before we went home we drove to Multnomah Falls and hiked up to the top, which is 1.25 miles one way and about 800 ft up. Riley walked the whole way by himself.

Forth: We went to visit my family. Where we had a fun family reunion. I planned to take some water balloons and have a fun water fight. As we were filling the water balloons I did something to my back and could barely stand straight. So you will see from the pictures that I am nice and dry while everyone else is wet. Also, you will notice that Abbie convinced anyone she could to read books to her.

Fifth: We drove to Navuoo to Terry's family reunion. Yes I said drove. It was a long trip, and we all had our moments of grumpiness. Riley won that award, but for the most part we had an amazing trip. I must say my kids did an excellent job traveling and made the trip a lot more enjoyable because of it. We tried to see as many of the historical sites we could on the way their and back.

We started with Martins Cove in Wyoming. When we got their it was actually chilly enough for jackets. One of my friend's parents was serving a mission their so we were able to have them take us on a ride up to the cove and back. On the way back it started pouring rain on us. It was quite the experience. It made me think how cold and wet we were was nothing compared to the pioneers in the freezing snow.

Next was Winter's Quarters in Nebraska. The kids had fun at the visitors center. They got to dress up as pioneers. Riley thought he was Indiana Jones. While we where in Omaha we went to a pedestrian bridge that spans the Missouri River and walked across it.

Then we went to Carthage Jail, where we met up with some of Terry's family. It was sobering to actually be at the spot where the Prophet Joseph Smith was martyred.

Later that day we made it to Nauvoo. It was nice to finally be in a spot that we could stay for a couple of days. We got to share a suite with Terry's brother Rob. It was fun. There was so much to do and see their that I will just give some high lights. The Navuoo Pageant was amazing. Of course, the Temple. I am very grateful for Terry's brother Dave and his family and Terry's mother and dad for watching our kids so we could attend the Temple. The 3 mile handcart trek we got to go on with the whole family. I believe I won the award for the dirtiest at the end. One of my nieces flicked cow pie onto the bottom of my pants and shoe. Than I lost that same shoe in the mud. I did get it back though.

After having a Sunday morning devotional in Nauvoo we left for home. That day we stopped at Adam-ondi-Ahmen, Far West to see the temple site, and than Independence to visit Liberty Jail. I was really surprised that my favorite place besides the Nauvoo Temple was Liberty Jail. The spirit I felt their was amazing. Yes it was a very dismal place for the Prophet and the other men that were with him, but I had never put two and two together that this is were the Prophet received a lot of revelations. It was a very holy place.

The next morning we went to the Independence Visitors Center. I believe this was my kids favorite place. At the end of the tour they have this play room for the kids. There was a kids size log cabin and covered wagon and other toys to play with. We spent quite a bit of time their. When it was time to go they didn't want to leave.

After that we spent a day at Terry's parents house and than headed home.

Memorial Weekend

2009-06-06T19:25:00.000-07:00

My family and I spent memorial day at the Palouse Falls. It was a wonderful day trip. Since we bought our van we haven't really taken it on a longer drive. This was the first time, and it was so wonderful to have to all the room.
It had been way to long since I had gotten away from Walla Walla (except to go to the temple than home). Terry and I agree that we will not let it be so long again. I think I had it in my head that we couldn't afford to go places all the time, but if we keep it simple and just do small day trips it shouldn't be to bad. Most of the expense will just be the gas. I was able to get some really cute pictures of the kids, so enjoy.The kids spent the whole time trying to find a rainbow and finally found one at the end. If you look closely you will see one in the bottom right corner.

As you can see Riley has lost his upper front tooth. He lost the other one the next weekend.

Abbie was calling the binoculars her camera and as you could see didn't want to take them off for a photo. Luckily we were able to get some photos of her without them.

These last three photos are my favorite!

Easter

2009-05-17T18:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I know that this is late, but we had a fun Easter and I have some fun pictures to share. I hope that you all had a wonderful Easter as well. The kids had way to much candy due to the the plethora of Easter egg hunts. There was about six: Riley's hunt at school; a hunt at a birthday party; two at my house (one with friends and one with just the kids Easter morning); and one at the park that Walla Walla sponsored. As you could see by Sunday I was candied out and ready to focus on what Easter really means.
How grateful I am for my Savior. I am differently not perfect and I know that if it wasn't for Jesus Christ I would be in a sorry state. I am just grateful for the time to really appreciate his sacrifice for all of us. This Easter I have had some situations to help me think more on my Savior.
Riley goes to preschool at a Christian school. Well at Easter time they sent home a cross filled with colorful sand. Riley and Abbie proceeded to argue over whose cross it was. Terry and I had the opportunity to sit down with the kids and explain why we don't worship the cross. That, yes the crucifixion was important but, Christ's atonement and resurrection are what we need to focus on. Christ lives, he was resurrected and because of this we can all live again. I think Riley understood parts of it, and I know we will need to continue teaching him about the Resurrection to further that understanding. Abbie on the other hand proceeded to play with the cross.
The other thing that happened was some missionaries from another religion showed up at my house. I always try to be as polite as I can to missionaries from other churches because I would want the same curtsy shown toward our missionaries. However, the day they showed up had been a stressful day. They showed up during nap time and rung the doorbell. Not to mention at this time I am trying to keep the other kids quiet so they don't wake up the baby. It was a mad house. I ended up being a little rude, especially when the gentlemen sprung a question on me. I don't like being put on the spot. I just don't function well, plus being stressed out at the time. Anyways, he asked, "Have you ever thought about what the name Christ means." I am ashamed to say that at the time I drew a blank. I could tell you about Jesus and what he means to me, but I couldn't tell you what his name meant. Due to this I have taken the opportunity to study more about Jesus and I can now tell you what Christ's name means. Which I will not say, so that if you are like me and can't don't know, you will have to go find out for yourself.
Well I think that is enough rambling. Most of you probably just want to see the pictures so here you go. There is also some videos of Riley singing during his Easter program at school. You will notice that he can not hold still. I think that is why his teacher always puts him on the end. Enjoy!

WEDDING NEWS!

2009-04-24T16:22:00.000-07:00

I am excited to announce the upcoming marriage of my brother Byron. He will be getting married in June, to a woman named Natalie. The last I talked to him the wedding is going to be June 6th. He will be getting an already made family of 4 kids, ranging in ages of 9, 8, 7, and 5. Natalie seems to be a really nice woman and I can't wait to meet her. I have only talked to her on the phone. Terry and I have been keeping tabs of grandchildren on both sides of our families to see who has the most. We have been pretty even throughout the years. This year it looked like Terry's family would pass mine. I am proud to announce that is not the case with the new additions coming.

Health

2009-04-22T09:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I feel like I am falling apart. About a week and a half ago I sprained my ankle pretty bad. It was not getting much better after a week, so I went in and had it checked. Thank goodness it is not broken. It is still pretty tender, but I have finally seen some improvement. Yes, I am Bonnie's daughter! Than on Monday I was walking down the hallway with a load of laundry when my back went out. I could hardly walk. Of all times for it to go out, when I am caring clothes. I couldn't figure out at first why it would have done this, until I finally gave in and called Terry at work. (I didn't want to bother him because he has been so stressed with getting his Masters Project done) After talking to him it dawned on me that I had been working in my garden all day on Saturday. I even ran the rototiller. I am going crazy being out of commission. My house is so unorganized. It took me all day to get caught up on my laundry, plus two hours of folding clothes. I still need to hang up the clothes. Plus, I miss exercising. All I can do is go for walks.

On the brighter side of things. My family is in good health and enjoying the warmer weather. Abbie would be outside all day if she could. Terry is almost done with his project. He hopes to be done by this weekend. It will be nice having him home in the evenings again. I have been spoiled the past year with him being home for the majority of the evenings, I had forgotten how hard it is not to have him there.

I am grateful for my children and my husband and hope all it well with everyone else.

Riley's Birthday

2009-04-03T11:31:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RILEY

The past week we have been celebrating Riley's birthday. He has been pretty excited. He turned 6 years old on Monday. It is hard to believe my first child is 6.
Terry and I decided we would let our kids have a birthday party on even birthdays, starting when they are 4. Riley was really excited to have a party this year. I don't know who was more excited Abbie or Riley. Abbie thought it was her party and she was going to get a Care Bear cake.
I asked Riley what he wanted to do and the only thing he wanted to do was play duck, duck, goose, goose; open presents; and have cake and ice cream. So I started brain storming about ideas. One of the presents Riley was adamant about getting was a pirate lego set. We decided to have a pirate them party. We made a pirate cake, made pirate hats, went on a savager hunt for treasure, and did a fishing pond. The kids had fun, and most important Riley really enjoyed his day. At the end of the day Riley was telling everyone he was 6 years old now. We had to explain, since we had his party on the Saturday before his birthday, that he wasn't 6 yet. He got really sad about this, until he realized he would be getting more presents on his actually birthday.
I got this idea from one of my friends blog. Here are some pictures of Riley over the past 6 years.

Riley's Baby Picture

Riley's at 1 year old
Riley at 2 years old
Riley at 3 years old

Riley at 4 years old
Riley at 5 years old

Riley at 6 years old
Here are some photos and videos of Riley's birthday party and birthday.

Update

2009-02-11T13:26:00.000-08:00

Well it is probably time that I did an update. Things have been going well for us. Busy but well.
I am busy watching three children, besides mine own, during the day. Terry is busy with work and his Masters, so we don't have much time to spare. That is why I haven't made too many posts lately. I will try and make at least one post a month

I have been watching Abbie get more and more crowded in her toddler bed. She has at least four blankets she has to take to bed with her. Not to mention the 10 or so stuffed animals she has. So Terry and I decided on Riley's birthday we would move Riley to the top bunk and move Abbie out of her toddler bed into the bottom bunk. Well the other day while I was cleaning up the kids room, I decided I would start cleaning off the top bunk to make sure I had a place to store everything. The next thing I knew we were making a trip to Home Depot to purchase some wood to make a railing so Riley didn't roll off. It made for a very hectic day. The kids had fun though and Abbie slept a lot better last night with more room. Riley thinks it is fun to sleep on top and says that the monsters and ghosts can't find him now.

Whats For Dinner!

2009-01-22T12:56:00.000-08:00

Well my sister inspired me to try something new for dinner. Lately I have gotten in a rut of making the same old meals, well all that changed last night. After reading my sisters blog about cooking, I decided to go through some of my old cooking magazines and find some new recipes to try out over the next couple of months (about a new recipe a week, just to change things up a bit). I actually found some pretty fun looking recipes. There was this one recipe, or I should say four, that just jumped out at me. It was a whole meal. I just had to try it, so I went to the store that night and bought all of the ingredients. It was one of the best meals I have had in a while. Terry loved it, of coarse he isn't a good example because he will eat just about anything, but my kids enjoyed it as well. I differently will be making this meal again.
Here is the Menu!!!!!!!!!!
*Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin (tribute to you Beverly)
plan ahead.......needs to marinate
1/2 C. Soy Sauce
1/4 C. olive oil or vegetable oil
4 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp ground ginger (I used only 1 tsp)
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 pork tenderloins (3/4 to 1 pound each)
coarsely ground pepper, optional
-In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the first six ingredients; add pork. Seal bag and turn to coat; refrigerate for 4 hours, turning occasionally. Drain and discard marinade. Grill the tenderloins, covered, over indirect medium heat for 8-9 minutes on each side or until meat juices run clear and a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees. Sprinkle with pepper if desired. Yield:8 servings
It took forever to grill the whole tenderloin. I ended up cutting it in to wedges.

*Sweet-Sour Broccoli Salad
plan ahead........needs to chill
4 C broccoli florets
1 C peanuts
1 C raisins
1/2 C chopped onion
1 C Mayonnaise
2 Tbsp cider vinegar
2 Tbsp sugar
-In a bowl, combine the broccoli, peanuts, raisines and onion. In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, vinegar and sugar; pour over vegetables and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Yield: 8 servings.
This was delicious. I have been think about a way to make it more healthy. I think next time I will make it with plain yogurt and splendid. We will see how it turns out.

Pesto-Corn Grilled Peppers
ready in 30 mins or less
1/2 C plus 2 tsp olive or vegetable oil, divided
3/4 C grated parmesan cheese
2 C tightly paced fresh basil (or about 1-2 tsp dried)
2 Tbsp sunflower kernels or walnuts
4 garlic cloves
1/2 C finely chopped sweet red pepper
4 C whole kernel corn (I used frozen sweet white corn)
4 Medium sweet red, yellow, or green peppers
1/2 C shredded Parmesan Cheese, optional
-For pesto, combine 1/2 C of oil, greated Parmesan cheese, basil, sunflower kerneals and garlic in a ablender or food processor; cover and process until blended. In a skillet, saute red pepper in reamining oil until tender. Add corn and pesto; heat through.
Halve peppers lengthwise; remove seeds. Place, cut side down, on grill voer medium heat; cover and cook for 8 minutses. Turn; fill with corn mixture. Grill 4-6 minutes longer or until tender. Sprinkle with shredded Parmesan cheese if desired. Yield: 8 servings.
I am not a fan of peppers by themself, but this was actually very good.

*Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake
plan ahead....needs to chill
2 Pkgs (8 ounes each) cream cheese, softened
1/2 C sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 graham cracker crust (9 inches)
1 Can (21 ounces) blueberry pie filling, divided
-In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add eggs, beating just until combined. Pour into crust. Drop 1/2 cup of pie filling by heaping teaspoonfuls onto the cream cheese mixture; cut through with a knife to swirl the pie filling .
Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack. Chill for 2 hours. Top with remaining pie filling. Yield: 8 servings

I want to challenge all of you to try something new. Go through you old cook books or magazines, maybe go to the Library and look through their cooking magazines and try something you haven't cooked before. Let me know how it works, and maybe share your recpies. For those who want to try these recipes out have fun and enjoy.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-13T14:58:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to say Happy New Year to all. I know I am a little late on posting, but my life has been so hectic the past few weeks. Plus, Terry and I were a bit lazy over the holiday's.
We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year, and hope you did as well.
We got hit by a couple of big snow storms and ended up with about 2 feet of snow. Needless to say we did a lot of snow shoveling over the Christmas holiday's. Now some of you may be saying that 2 feet of snow is not the big of a deal. Which may be true for those who live in Utah, but here they just aren't equipped to take care of that much snow. It usually just snows enough to make a snowman and than turns to rain by the afternoon. We have lived here for almost five years and didn't own a snow shovel. When we got the snow storms we tried to find one but couldn't. All the stores were sold out. It was a good thing that Terry had a couple of weeks off for the holidays and we could just hibernate during that time.
Now we are on the other extreme. It is 62 degrees today. I was outside in a short sleeve shirt.
I wish I had some pictures to show you are 2ft of snow but I didn't get them taken. I did get some taken at the beginning of the snow.
Hear our some pictures of the kids on Christmas

Right before Christmas I had a friend take some pictures of my family. She did an okay job. The picture that turned out the best would have been the perfect family photo had you been able to see Terry better. It looks like we took the picture without him and than pasted him in afterwords. I can't complain though, and I am grateful she was willing to help out.

For my mom and dad's Christmas present, I put together a move of pictures and videos I have taken over the past year. When Riley was watching the movie with me he say a video I had of Abbie playing the piano, and asked where he was. Since I didn't have a video of him playing the piano he insisted I take a video of him playing his guitar. Every time I watch this I have to laugh. Don't ask me what he was thinking. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Terry

2008-12-09T15:01:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Terry's birthday the other day. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband. I don't think I would be sane without him. He can always tell when I am having a hard time and is willing to do the dishes or make dinner for me. He is always putting others need ahead of himself. He is a wonderful father, and my children absolutely adore him. I am looking forward to the Christmas break when we can be together without the stress of work or school.

Sleeping Time

2008-12-09T14:29:00.001-08:00

Abbie has decided not to take naps anymore. As she told Riley the other day, "I am not taking anymore naps." It has been quite the adjustment at our house. Not only does she refuse to take a nap, but she has a hard time falling asleep at night. At first she was also waking up about every hour during the night, and than having a hard time going back to sleep. Everyone in the house was cranky. Things are getting better though. She still gets a little fussy around 4-5 o'clock in the afternoon, but after dinner she is full of energy again. Here are some pictures of Abbie sleeping.

Occasionally the kids refuse to go to sleep, so we have to take Riley and put him in our bed. The other night when this happened Abbie proceeded to fall asleep in Riley's Bed
This is Abbie and Daddy sleeping after church. One of the last naps Abbie took!

This is Abbie falling asleep at 6pm in her high chair. This was the during the whole phasing out of her nap time.

Those who know my daughter, know she loves books. She always takes at least one book to bed with her. There was a time she had about ten books with her at bed time. We quickly learned to limit it to just two books, or she would never go to bed because she would be to busy reading her books. The worst was when she woke everyone up in the house at 3 am singing Twinkle Little Star at the top of her lungs from one of her books.

ABC song

2008-12-09T10:36:00.000-08:00

I was helping Abbie eat breakfast one morning and was singing the ABC song to her. The next thing I knew she was singing it with me. I didn't even realize she could sing it, so I had to get it on video while she still wanted to sing. The next video is of her counting the numbers on the refrigerator.

Halloween

2008-11-13T14:12:00.000-08:00

He is some cute pictures of Halloween. We had a fun time. Our town does a big trick-or-treating down town on Main street with all of the businesses. So we went down town and than went to the trunk-or-treat at our church. You would think they would have been worn out by the time we got home, but no they were pretty worked up. We put in a fun Halloween movie and popped popcorn. The kids had a blast. Riley had the perfect teeth for his pirate costume, because he has recently lost is bottom two baby teeth.

Pumpkin Patch

2008-11-13T10:42:00.000-08:00

Okay so I am a little behind on my blog page. I am going to try and get caught up.
For FHE the Monday before Halloween we made a trip to the pumpkin patch. The kids were so excited. They had been asking for quite some time to go their. I think we have a pretty cool pumpkin patch. They have a stack of straw and a slide coming down the stack. The kids love to go down the slide. Of coarse you can't go their without getting an ice cream cone. The kids have fun with the wagons they provide to put your pumpkins in as well. All in all we had a fun time. The next day we craved our pumpkin. We actually only got a small pumpkin we used to make a pumpkin pie, because a friend of mine gave us a big pumpkin from her garden. Riley had fun helping me make the pie and insisted we roast the pumpkin seeds. Which Abbie loved. Thanks Kristine for the recipe.

Mothers

2008-10-26T16:25:00.000-07:00

Mother's of Wisdom

I have been having a couple of frustrating days with Riley. It seems that all we have done is argue. Today I was trying to clean-up the clutter in my house. When I asked Riley to help he refused. Which is a normal response, but I could just feel a argument coming on again. Luckily I was on the phone with my mom at the time. She told me to try and hide something in a toy or under it, and have Riley try and find it while he was helping me clean-up. It worked like a charm. He was excited to try and find the dime that I hide under the toys. He actually asked if we could do it again tomorrow by the time we were done.
I am so grateful to have a mother there to guide me along my stumbles as a mother.
Love you mom.

Abbie's Birthday

2008-10-22T13:18:00.000-07:00

My Little Two Year Old

Well we celebrated Abbie's Birthday on Saturday. She is two years old now. Usually you hear parents say I can't believe my baby is two now. I actually was about to say that, but than realized that is not true. I have almost called Abbie two a couple of times over the past few months. She just tries to be such a big girl that sometimes I forget she isn't. At the same time she differently has hit what most people term the "terrible twos." Which in some cases is true, but it is also the wonderful twos as well, because they learn so much and start to do all these amazing new things. Needless to say I love my little two year old.
We didn't do to much on Abbie's birthday, because I was sick. I got a cold that wasn't to bad except for the fact that it zapped me of my energy. I just wanted to sleep. So, for her birthday, we opened a few gifts in the morning.
Then for dinner we took Abbie to McDonalds to eat. She is always asking to go to Mcdonalds. We let both kids choice a toy. They usually have to share or take turns. I thought she would love to have the little barbie dolls they had for the girls, but no she had to have a car. No matter what I try she just love boy toys more. After we ate, the kids went outside and played on the playground, sliding their cars down the slide.

This is a video of Abbie reading her sticker book she got for her birthday. If you look closely you will also see Riley pretend playing in the back ground. He actually does this a lot.

We than went home and had cake and ice cream and opened the rest of her gifts. Out of all of her gifts, Abbie's favorite was the care bears I bought to put on her cake.

Tagges

2008-10-21T10:50:00.000-07:00

Okay so I guess I have been tagged a couple of times, so here we go with the first one.

Picture Tagged!
by Janita

1. Go to your pictures
2. Upload 4th picture from 4th folder
3. Post

This is a picture of Terry and Riley feeding bread to a Llama. This was when we went on vacation with Terry's parents the summer of 2005. We were staying in a vacation home in Sequim, Wa. They have a farm near Sequim that is home to retired animals. Some of the animals include bears, Buffalo, elk, etc. Anyways, you can go for a drive around the park and feed some of the animals bread. In some places you drive with the animals right next to your car. We drove right through some buffalo. In these places you are suppose to leave you windows up and not feed the animals. There was this car in front of us who didn't listen to the warning and the animals were swarming all over them. If you ever have the chance to go there, it is a great experience, and Riley loved it. Here is there web page for those who want to know more http://www.olygamefarm.com/

Here is the second tag

1. Things I love about my husband: He is the most giving person I know (he always puts every one's needs ahead of his own), his smile, his eyes, that he is smart, I could keep going with this one so I will stop there.
2. Movies I could watch more than once: Any Jane Austin movie, Calamity Jane with Doris Day in it.
3. TV shows I watch: Dancing with the Stars, Biggest Loser, Smallville, Samantha Who, Stargate Atlantis, Life and Knight Rider. These are the shows I watch when I get a chance or I am not reading a book.
4. Places I have been: New York City, Washington DC, California, Baltimore, Philadelphia.
5. Places I would like to go: Australia, Ireland, Scotland, Italy
6. People who email me regularly. Michelle, Julie, Beverly
7. Things I look forward to in the next year: Buying a new vehicle, Terry finishing his Bachelors, possibly having a new baby.
8. People I tag: Kristine, Ashley, Tina

Fall/Apples

2008-10-02T12:34:00.000-07:00

Okay, when I started this blog I thought I would be great at keeping it updated. As most of you can see that has not been the case. My life seems to have been a little hectic lately. Which is probably the case with most of you.

I know a couple of people have asked what my birthday was like. I have been meaning to put an update about it on the blog, so here it is.

I had a wonderful birthday. It started out with Riley insisting I go back to bed so he could make me breakfast in bed. He also insisted that Terry help him make me a birthday cake. He wanted to give me my birthday presents right away as well, but Terry had to go to work. Terry told Riley they would give them to me when he got home. Riley wasn't very happy with this, so he spent part of the day looking around the house for my presents. Unfortunately he couldn't find them because Terry had them hidden in his car. Terry worked all morning trying to get Abbie to say, "Happy Birthday Mommy." He was unsuccessful with his attempts while he was home. Right after he left for work Abbie came running into the room and yelled, Happy Birthday Mommy. It was so cute. Later Terry took me out for dinner and when I got home we had cake and opened presents.

Riley has been watching a lot of Caillou. In one of the epasiodes Caillou does a magic show, so Riley wanted to do one as well. This is him dressing in up as a magician. He used his Batman Pjs becuase it has a cape, and this is the best hat we had for him to use.

Since Riley had a hat on Abbie had to have one as well.

We went apple picking last weekend. Riley has been begging to go. The kids had a blast. Now I need to figure out what I am going to do with all of the Apples we picked.

Our Family

2008-09-14T19:48:00.000-07:00

Well we have decided to create a blog. We hope this helps our loved ones keep in touch, and not lose out to much on our kids growing up.
Just to update you on what is going on right now with our family.
Riley has had a few big milestones this past month.

He started preschool.

He is going to school Monday through Friday in the mornings. He loves school. Every time we ask him what he did at school that day, his first response is that he played with the lego motorcycle. If you can't guess from that, his favorite thing to do his play with his legos.

Riley also lost his first tooth.

He was pretty nervous about it, but once it came out he was excited. His Grandma Carlsen gave him a container to put his teeth in for the Tooth Fairy. He was excited to put the tooth in there. Unfortunately, Abbie was a little to curious about the tooth and wouldn't leave it alone. I had the tooth in Riley's container on the kitchen table. When I came into the kitchen later the tooth was missing. We look every where for the tooth, but couldn't find it. When I asked Abbie if she took the tooth she said she put it in her mouth. Later she told us it would come out in her poopie. Don't ask me were she learned that.
We are really proud of Riley. He has worked very heard all summer learning his numbers, so he could earn Lego Star Wars II video game. He finally was able to earn the game.

Abbie is growing up way to fast. She is like a sponge and soaks up everything. Because Riley has been working on his numbers so much, Abbie has pick up on counting and loves to count everything.

Abbie graduated to a toddler bed.

She thinks she is such a big girl now. We went and bought her a pillow and princess pillow case and sheet.

I finally finished the quilt I have been working on for Riley. It has taken me over a year to sew. Riley was excited to finally get the blanket on his bed.

Terry has started school again. This year has been less stressful, due to the fact he is no longer coaching. He misses the kids and the kids miss him, but it was the right move to make for our family. Every time he runs into one of the kids on the swim team the beg him to come back.