Eagle Project

A little over fifteen years ago I completed my Eagle Project. I planned and with lots of help planted around 600 trees for a pheasant habitat. While we were in Blackfoot we drove out to see how much the trees had grown. When these trees were planted the majority of them where in 2 gallon pots or tiny saplings. It was neat see how much the habitat had changed. I would like to go back when the leaves are on the trees.

Bailee's 3 yr, old Pictures

I finally had some 3 yr. old pictures taken of Bailee the other day. My good friend Angie took these pictures. They turned out absolutely beautiful. These are just a few of them, there were tons that I just love. They will be so fun to scrapbook. These are some of the more artsy pictures, but she was able to capture some of Bailee's true personality. They were so fun, I can't wait to do Owen's one year pictures now.

TROUBLE!!!

Owen is all about climbing these days and if we forget to put the step stool away this is what we find when we come back into the room. I was reorganizing my cabinets so that I could fit all of my new dishes in them. I decided to take a break and accomplish some other things. That is when the Bailee alarm went off and I hear "TROUBLE! TROUBLE! TROUBLE!!!!" When I came into the kitchen I found my sweet little Owen at the top of the step stool pulling everything off the counter that was in his reach. Lucky for me it was mostly plastics. He was so proud of himself. He is such a cutie.

A New Addition

We have a new addition to our family. The news came a few weeks ago, but have hesitated until now to share the news with all of our friends and family.
A few weeks ago Bailee was playing by herself, it was so cute. She was singing and laghing so I decided to go and see what she was up to. I listened closely to the song she was singing. It wasn't familiar to me so I knew that it was a Bailee original. She was singing all about a girl named JENNY WINCO. I thought it was cute and brushed it off as another one of Bailee's songs that she would forget in a few minutes. I was almost right. She did for get the song, but not JENNY WINCO.
Jenny is a 3 1/2 year old with pink hair, she is sometimes potty trained and sometimes not. She joins us at every meal and goes with us everywhere. Jenny is Bailee's imaginary friend. It is quite funny and annoying at times. Bailee has quickly learned when we try to use Jenny to get her to do what we want. Bailee has not slept in her bed for about 2 weeks now other than a nap or two because she wants to sleep by Jenny and there is not enough room for both of them in her bed. So each night we make a bed for Bailee and Jenny on her bedroom floor.
We are getting used to having Jenny at our home but look forward to the day that her mom comes home from work and wants her to come home. (Bailee says that Jenny's mom is always at work so she doesn't miss her) We don't know much about her dad, but he is at home most of the time, but doesn't miss jenny either. What a sad little family. So if you see Jenny's mom, please tell her that she can come and pick her up at our house at any time.

Disney on Ice

Disney on Ice came to town and Bailee got to go with my mom. She was so excited. My mom found her a Cinderella dress and shoes to wear. She was a sweet little princess.

The Shoes, the heels even light up!Watching intently.
So excited.

Cinderella and Prince Charming

Bailee had a great time with her Gramma that day. I am a sure it is one she will remember for a long time.

Pay-backs!

Owen finally had his chance to get Bailee back and he took it! What are little brothers for if not to wake up and bother sisters.

Poor Little Brother

This is what happens when you are a little boy with an older sister. Poor Owen is ready to play with the big kids, but doesn't have any toys of his own. Hopefully when his week of gifts comes he will get his own bike and helmet. Until then I guess he will sport the pink and purple. If he had a little better balance I would have let him go without the helmet. Poor guy.

A Special Baptism

About 3 1/2 years ago we met a Spanish speaking family in our neighborhood who's boys wanted to go to church. Matt (since he did all of the talking with them) offered to take the boys with us. Edgar (12 at the time) and Duvan (8 at the time) went to church with us for a couple of months. Because of the busy summer and Bailee being born transportation arrangements became hard. We have kept in touch with the family and they have since moved to a new neighborhood. A few weeks ago we were told by a friend of ours that Edgar (15) and Duvan(12) were now taking the discussions. A week or two later we learned that they had committed to be baptized. Today we had the special opportunity to attend their baptisms. Duvan's face was priceless when he saw us come into the church. We are so glad that we have had the opportunity to be a part of their lives. These boys and their family will always have a special place in our hearts. Matt and I are so proud of the choice that they have made and know that our Father in Heaven is pleased as well.

Playing with Daddy

At times like this, I think that maybe I have 3 kids. I absolutely love it when Matt plays with the kids. Bailee loves how silly her dad can be and I like watching him and waiting to see who might get hurt first. Matt or one of the kids. So far we have had minimal injuries and so it is still great fun. Bailee and Matt riding on the spring horse.

Halloween

This year for Halloween I dressed Bailee in the cheer leading outfit from when I was little. She looked so cute! Owen was adorable in the dinosaur costume that Aunt Steph picked up for him. We started the day by visiting Matt's office Halloween party and then later that evening we went to our ward's chili feed and trunk or treat. We had a great time visiting with friends and sharing in the fun.
After the trunk or treat we went with some friends of ours to a neighborhood that we had heard doesn't get many trick or treaters, but had the good stuff as far as candy goes. The rumor was true, each door they were greeted with a friendly face and a hand full of candy, full size candy bars or something else that was fun. One house handed out glow in the dark bracelets along with the candy. Bailee had so much fun and after each house would say "Are we going to the next one?" She was quite the trooper and walked about half a mile, and didn't get tired of walking until we only had about four houses left in the neighborhood.

We then of course took the kids over to see Gramma in their costumes. Bailee loved getting to hand out some candy at Gramma's, she was quite generous. What a fun Halloween.

My little cuties.

Bailee and her friend,Matt

Waiting to say "Trick or Treat!"

Celebrating 60 Years

My mom turned 60 on October 25th and when I asked her how she wanted to celebrate, she said that she wanted to go bowling and have pumpkin pie. So that is just what we did. Matts parents were in town for a pageant and so they joined us for the fun. It was Bailee's first time bowling and she had a blast. The bowling alley has sure gotten high tech, it was programed that the bumpers came up only on Bailee's turn. It was so fun. Matt won the game and I didn't don't think that I even beat Bailee. I guess I need to brush up on my bowling skills.
After bowling we went back to Mom's for pie and to give her our gift. Bailee didn't want to leave when it came time so she stayed the night and went to church with Gramma. Bailee wanted to carry her ball to the lane all by her self ever time. She is such a big girl.

We picked up GG and she was our cheerleader. She always is the best company.

Matt showing off his skills.

Mom looking for a strike.

Mom opening the card that Bailee made for her. Bailee was so funny, she insisted on having a gift bag too.

New Dishes!!!

When we got married we didn't get any dishes so I just went and bought the cheapest set I could find. About three years ago I picked out this set and I finally got the first pieces for my kitchen for my birthday this year. Matt got me 8 "ice cream" bowls and his parents got me a 16 piece set ( a place setting for four). I am so excited and can't wait to get the rest of the set.

My Best Freind's Wedding

These past couple of months have been kind of crazy, packed full of fun things. One of the high lights was my best friend, Amy's wedding. Bailee was her flower girl and I was involved in some of the planning and prep stuff for the wedding. One of the things I did was design their wedding announcement. It was fun for me to help her through all of the preparations.

On Friday before the wedding I went with Amy, her family and some other friends to get pedicures. We had a lot of fun chatting and being pampered.

Friday night was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Bialee had lots of fun practicing walking down the isle throwing the flower petals. The two girls would go down the isle throwing the flowers and then would go back up the isle and them up and do it all over again. The were sure cute. The both love Amy so much and were so happy to get to help with her wedding.

Owen of course was not left out of all of the attention. He was passed around at the dinner. He mad a special friendship with Lance's uncle who gave him his first sip of sparkling cider at the reception.

This is a picture of Owen with Amy's Dad, Mark.

Bailee was so beautiful in her flower girl dress and her curls. She did such a great job. She stood right next to the maid of honor, my friend Tiffany, through the whole ceremony. At one point in the ceremony she turned to look for me and when she saw me mouthed "I love you Mom" and blew me a kiss. She just melted my heart, but then shortly after she picked her nose. I guess she was getting board standing up there. She did a wonderful job, I was so proud of her.

This is Amy and I. I love her so much and would do anything for her, she is one of the best Friends a girl could have. We have sure been through a lot together in the 11 years that we have been friends. Amy looked so beautiful on her wedding day. Matt and I are so happy for Amy and Lance.

McCall Get Away

In February, Matt was named the January MVP at work and was given a one night stay at the Whitetail Club (Shore Lodge) in McCall as well as a dinner package for the Narrows restaurant. After a few scheduling troubles, because of our crazy schedules, we finally got our night booked for Friday, October 10th. Matt took the whole day off so we could go up early and play.
My friend, Krista, watched the kids for us all day until my mom could come and watch them for the remainder of the night. Krista takes her kids to a home school co-op on Fridays so Bailee got to go with her friend Julianna to pre-school. She was so excited. We packed her backpack with the supplies she needed and bundled her in her coat (it was a cold morning) and then we sent her to her "first day" of pre-school . She is growing up too fast. After the kids were on their way, Matt and I headed up to McCall. On our way there we stopped in Cascade for lunch. Near Donnley we stopped at some hot springs. It was a great day for getting into hot springs. It was cold out side but it made getting in them that much nicer. We stayed there for and hour or so and then drove the rest of the way to McCall.

We weren't quite sure what to expect when we got there, so we were almost expecting them to charge us for something at any time. Lucky for us there were no added charges. When we got there we checked into our room and hung out until our 7 pm dinner reservation at the very nice restaurant there at Whitetail/Shore Lodge (they are in the process of changing the name back to it's original name "Shore Lodge") called the Narrows.
Our Room
The view from our patio. It was cold and windy that night so we didn't spend any time out there, but it was beautiful.
Just before 7 pm we got dressed for dinner. The restaurant was very nice and had a dress code. We felt a little like fish out of water there, or maybe like hicks in a big city. We were expecting that our dinner package was worth a certain dollar amount, but to our surprise it was good for any two appetizers, entree', and deserts. The only cost to us was gratuity. We were so surprised and ended up ordering the two most expensive entrees on the menu. One of the waiters had recommended the rib-eye, saying it was the best steak that he had had in all of the restaurant he had worked in. So that was what Matt ordered. I have never seen my husband enjoy the food he was eating as much as he did that night. Even now if you mention that rib-eye he smiles and says that he would go back and pay the $45 to eat it again, it was that good. Coming from Matt, it must have been good for him to be willing to pay that much. Eating there was so exciting for me, I love to cook and have always wanted to go to one of those fancy restaurants that have "fancy food". You know, almost to pretty to eat. I loved it when they brought out our appetizers and Matt's prawns were standing up on little dollops of mashed potatoes and my mushroom and puff pastry appetizer was decorated with asparagus spears and garnished all around the plate. It was so fun. At the end of the night they brought us the check, it totaled $127 and all we were responsible for was the gratuity. Which was about as much as we would ever spend at any normal restaurant for our whole meal!
We had such a great time while we were there. We left early Saturday morning so we could get back in time for our friends wedding, but it was nice to have a little get away just the two of us.

Rendezvous 2008

In October we had our first Boy Scout Rendezvous. It was a great event. Troop 423 along with Troop 433 went to celebration park for our camp out. Upon arriving we set up camp and made dinner. The leaders made pizza in these handy little cast iron molds you put in the fire for a couple minutes. As far as the boys one patrol had hamburgers the other patrol had dutch oven pizza. After dinner they played capture the flag for a little while. At ten o'clock Brian put on a fireside where we discussed our rights as US citizens. The next morning we got up at 6:00 made breakfast and got ready for the day. We had a flag ceremony then we started the rendezvous. In the first three events they learned about animal tracks, plant identification and how to sharpen a knife and axe. The boys where able to find the tracks and urine spot from the coyotes that we howeling during the night. They took a quick break and then we started the second round of events. Each pair of boys had 30 minutes at each station. There were six stations consisting of fire building, knots, compass course, lashing, height and width of objects, and first aid. We had 10 boys competing and they were paired up as follows Tyler/Nathan, Sonny/Brandon, David/Ben and 4 boys from troop 423. They earned points based on how accurately they completed each station. Neils ran the lashing station, Rob was in charge of fire building, Dan headed up the compass course, Jeff was the knot guru, Caleb took care of first-aid and Brian took care of height and width. It was a very successful event. We hope to have another one next fall. David/Ben won 1st place, Brandon/Sonny took 2nd and Troop 433 placed 3rd. The prizes were multi-tools, head lamps, soda, candy bars and small flashlight. It took a lot of planning but the boys had a lot of fun competing. Thanks to all those that help make it a SUCCESS!