On Saturday Andrew created this amazing invention.


Claire walking.





Ethan didn't want to be left out so he did the classic superman illusion. (five year old style)

cross-eyed

Proudly displaying our new found talents

chatting

While eating pizza for lunch and chatting
I say: "remember when I couldn't eat cheese, that was hard."
A says: "you loved Claire more than you loved cheese."
E says: "yeah, because Claire you can play with and laugh with and cheese just sits there."

Aren't my boys sweet.

Near Death Experience

OK, I'm being dramatic- I hiked the "Y" with the Young Women. It was a challenging hike for me and there were times I thought I was going to die. Helen and I were at the end the whole time. It is so steep. The altitude is like 5100ft. And it was snowing! BUT, We made it!!!! The first snow of the season. But all in all I had a great time. I'm not saying I will do it again anytime soon. But I really enjoyed being with all the girls and the fun leaders.

At the top. What an accomplishment!
Yeah it was snowing hard!

Candis on the "Y"
As you can see the view was ruined by all the snow. But it was so beautiful anyway.

And above all the snow there was sunshine. Amazing!

Piggy Tails

Claire has hair long enough for pig tails!! I think it's so cute.
She looked just a little bit older to me.

Ethan trying to kiss her. He sure does love our little sweetheart.
(Andrew is never in all these pictures b/c he is at school.)

Little Miss

My Scholar of the Month

Andrew got an award. He was Scholar of the Month in his class.
Andrew is such a great student. Good job buddy.

There was an assembly where the principle handed out the awards.

Harmonica

"You have a surprise in the bathroom"

This is what I woke up to on Sunday morning. Mike was watching the kids and the roll was FULL!!! Thanks Claire.

Big Fish

The pictures really say it all.

Our neighbor and Mike caught a carp in the river in our front yard!!! Let me tell ya- they were so excited!




We had to see how much it weighed. It was not an easy task.



We resorted to the deduction method. It weighed in at 11 lbs! Which is huge.

First Amusement Park

Our friends and neighbors got free tickets to a local amusement park from his work.

Despite objections from the wise wives, the men insisted on doing the water ride first. They also insisted they wouldn't get wet. At least I convinced Andrew and Ethan that they would and they didn't ride it.

Their first roller coaster ever! They loved it.

They are just bursting with excitement.

Claire's favorite ride. (don't worry they had these cool seat belt that had to be unlocked with a key to get out)

There was a train ride that took us past all sorts of zoo animals.
Including tigers, kangaroo, and camels.

I was amazed at how brave the boys were. They got braver and braver as the night went on. They even went on the bat (pictured below-yeah it's the real deal with your feet hanging and all) without acting scared at all. Ethan was an inch taller than the requirement and in fact he rode it two or three times!!





And by the end of the night the Dad's were acting goofy. But all and all everyone had a great time. The boys want to know when we are going back?....

hodge podge

I love rainbows. The sun was shining and it was raining at the same time. And of course we have the beautiful mountains as a backdrop.

I thought she just looked beautiful this day in her little white sweater.

Gotta love the hair. This is what it looks like when she pulls out her rubber band.

However, she is coming to an age where she has an opinion and she cries when she doesn't get what she wants. In this case she wanted the camera.

I took this picture so Ethan could see what he looked like cross-eyed. He would be so embarrassed if he knew I posted this, but it is too cute not to. love ya bud.

.....Ta Da

Because bunk beds/loft beds are so expensive we decided to build our own. Which did not turn out to be cheap, but cheaper than buying them anyway. We decided on making two loft beds so we could have the entire floor space of the room and each boy could have the top bunk. It was a bigger project that I thought and took a week and a half and much sacrifice. My Mom came down on Thurs. and we started with making a plan and buying the supplies. Then on Fri. we cut the wood and assembled some. Then on Sat. we had the help of the men and we were able to get both beds put together and sanded before my parents had to catch their flight (which they barely made-we worked them up to the very last minute-I actually felt really bad and wished we had more time to relax a bit-it's a good thing we get to see them more than once a year now). Anyway, on Monday Mike and I stained the first bed after the kids were in bed. On Tuesday we did the first two coats of varish after the kids went to bed. On Wednesday I did two more coats of varnish during Claire's two naps. Are you tired yet? On Thursday we stained the next bed. On Friday I got ambitious and put the first coat of varnish on during Claire's morning nap. However, I bought the wrong kind of varnish (the kind that smells really bad and is toxic) and I had an allergic reaction or chemical burn-I'm not sure. But my face swelled up, got all tight, and became red and splotchy. And it still hurts four days later. Anyway, I got the right stuff (water based so you know). And over the next few days did a total of five coats. I wanted them smooth and shiny. And what's one more coat when you already have four on there. SO, we finally got them done and in place with some new dressers that my aunt and uncle gave us. I am very pleased with the way the beds turned out. I love their room with all the floor space. Of course it just means they can make a bigger mess.

workin' hard

We gave them each three little hooks for them to hang their back packs and jackets.

my swollen face-if you can tell.

FREE AND CLEAR

I just got back from taking Claire to the allergy doctor where we had her retested for her milk and egg allergies. They also tested for wheat, soy and peanut. And she had no reactions!!!! yeah! I have done so much to get her here (those six moths of no milk and eggs in my diet were very difficult) and I am soooooo happy!!! She can now enjoy all the finer things of life with the rest of us. :0) I hope she likes it all....
I can't tell you how happy I am, what a relief this is. Those of you with children with allergies know how I feel. I'm just glad she outgrew this while she is so young. I do think she knew there where things I denied her and her fits would have only gotten worse.
Thank you for all of your prayers.
(huge sigh.........)

Ethan and School

Even though he looks unsure in the picture he was really excited. And no reports of nervousness at all. He had a great first two days. Then on the third day his teacher forced him to take the bus home. My neighbor and I take turns picking up and taking the kids to school. I had told Andrew to pick Ethan up at his classroom and take him to the meeting spot. So, on Friday it was my neighbors turn to pick up. When she got there her son told her he saw Ethan getting on the bus. She dismissed it (which is what I would have probably done too-her son can be a jokester) Then more time passed and still no Ethan. So she thought maybe her son was telling the truth. He ran after the bus but it was too late. So she went to the office in a panic that Ethan might have in fact been on the bus. They called the teacher to the office and indeed she put him on the bus. (later I learned Ethan told her "I don't ride the bus" and she said "today you will") She did not know which bus she put him on so they called the bus depot and paged all the buses looking for Ethan. They found him two miles in the opposite direction of our house. The bus pulled over and Mike went and got him. Ethan of course was upset and had been crying. The rest of the night he would blurt out of no where "I felt bad," " I was scared." Yeah! So was I! I was so upset I don't know how I kept it under control. My neighbor the secretary yelled at the teacher for me. And needless to say I will be there EARLY today for Ethan. And I think the secretary might be looking out for him a little extra. Geesh! At least he is safe and well.

Jumpy's Birthday

Yes, I'm crazy. We celebrated Ethan's Webkinz's birthday. He turned six. Of course the kids wanted me to go all out and throw him a full on birthday party with gifts and everything. What they got was a pumpkin spice cake (I'm been wanting to make anyway) with candles. And we had our neighbors over. We sang happy birthday and Ethan helped him blow out the candles. I also found a 75 cent toy pinwheel that we bought him. We did not wrap it. (I know it was really for Ethan but hey it was 75 cents and it made him feel special). So, you can laugh if you want but we had some yummy cake and my children feel validated.

Claire walking

Just a cute picture of our Claire

This is her new favorite activity. I brought the outside push car in the house and she has been pushing it back and forth for hours. Just giggling and laughing. She will be walking in no time with all this practice.

Mike's BFF

Mike has made good friends with the downstairs neighbor. They even mow the lawn together. We joke that they are BFF. (best friends forever).

Ethan and the neighbor

Happy First Birthday Claire!

Here she is before the cake

She tried to grab the candle, Good thing Grandma was there.

Not so sure about this.....

She really didn't like the cake.

But at least she liked the presents.

For her one year check up she weighed 16 lbs. 9 oz. She is in the 10th percentile now! (she was in the 3rd) We are keeping her on soy formula until we get her retested for allergies. But she is healthy and well otherwise and right on track developmentally. She say, "hi dad" and "mama" and "baby." She can stand on her own and is close to taking her first steps. We love o

Express Yourself

My brother made a "post-it" commercial for a business class and it's really good so I wanted to show you all. When he and I get together we like to make short movies. Maybe one day I'll try posting one.

Here's the url: (sorry I think you have to copy and paste it)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7weJJQENSCU


Good Job "Skot"

Homesick

Last week we went to visit my parents in Boise. We had a great time. We did lots of fun things. Like go to Boondocks (fun center), go kayaking down the river, go shopping, go to the theatre to see Wally and go swimming EVERYDAY. And now that we are back home and summer is settled down I find myself homesick. It just didn't feel like we were coming "home" when we were coming home. Moving is so hard. I can't believe how much I actually miss Indiana. A part of who I am I became in Indiana. And even though I'm closer to family I miss my good friends. Especially when the time difference and our busy lives make it so hard to reach each other on the phone.
Don't get me wrong- it's not that things aren't great here. We have a great ward, a great apartment, great neighbors and I love the town. It's just not "home" yet.
Maybe things will get better when we get into a routine when school starts. Does anyone have any ideas how to soothe my soul? I know we have all done this moving thing before (including myself) so, what has helped you?