Brrrrrrr...

Today while driving my girls to school the temperature gauge in the car said it was minus 16 degrees outside! Brrrrrr! Some schools around got canceled but not our district. Trent is home sick with the flu. Oooohhhhh how I'm longing for those Southern winters today..... Andrea, Lisa, Lynetta, Martina, or Melinda if you go Christmas shopping today in shorts I don't want to hear about it.

She's Double Digits!

Yesterday Teagan turned 10! She chose to have a family party (after some bribing from her father). Teagan Malia was my only baby that came right on her due date.
I told her to give me a happy smile so she did this...
Teagan loves those Andes' chocolate mints so I made her a cake with them. It turned out fabulous! The frosting is just creme cheese, cool whip, and Andes' mint pieces. Then we decorated the top with mint curls.

Some things to know about 10 year old Teagan include: favorite kind of ice cream is chocolate chip cookie dough, fav color is purple, primary song is "Stars Were Gleeming", fav food would definitely be brownies. She loves to make brownies and cake and has gotten good enough that when she comes to me and asks if she can make a cake, I can say yes and know that she can do the whole thing from start to finish and I never have to go into the kitchen. (Still working on the clean up part without reminders though ;) Teagan loves to play with friends, ride bikes, and read as she's currently diving into the Harry Potter series. She's going through book 3 like a mouse through a block of cheese. She watches the movies after she finishes each book and says she wants to be a writer when she grows up.

She came home with a cerebrum in a ziplock bag from school a couple weeks ago. They dissected the brain of a sheep in her gifted class. I might have to secretly dispose of that thing. Hope she's not planning to keep it forever but with her you never know, lol! She also placed first in the visual arts category in her school's Reflections contest this year. Way to go Teagan, we love you!
Happy Double Digit Birthday!!!

Thanksgiving '09

For Thanksgiving this year my mom and both sisters and their families came up. Some hadn't even seen our home yet so it was great to have everyone here. They all ran the turkey trot in Salt Lake and arrived early afternoon. My nieces have all but grown up and they are beautiful! Here my sister, Karra, and nieces Erica and Ashley are putting together dip for the veggies.Morgan, Karra, and Erica
Below is my sister, Denette, and the boys Trent, Jordan, Derek, and Benjamin who were either running around or hangin' out in the living room...
Finishing up the food prep and carving the turkey...
Steve, Ashely, Denette, Mom, Trent, me, Krista, Jordan
Krista, Jordan, Karra, Steve, Erica, Steve, Ashley
Later on we planned to break out the games but ended up just visiting and laughing and eating leftovers, which we had TONS of...
The next day we hit a few stores but the kids were dying to go to Outer Limits for some laser tag. That's pretty much become a tradition since that's where we go every time they come up. The kids weren't gonna let us out of it this time for sure. Then we hit the Christmas parade and Gingerbread house display. We played a mean game of Taboo and by then, the little kids were beyond exhausted. Saturday everyone had to head back home. It was fun, glad you came up!

Trick-or-Treaters

Hope yours was a happy Halloween!

Brilee, my cute little toothless Egyptian.
They make chocolate ears?

Ben's First Preschool Party

Benjamin chose to be a Knight in shining armor for Halloween this year. He sure is proud of his costume and was so excited for the party they were going to have today at preschool.
This is Ms. Shawna and her class of six boys, that's right all boys. I love that it's such a small group and Ben adores his teacher.
He came home with lots of things he'd made including the candy necklace he's wearing. Benjamin is so animated - he's a little ham. Love him!

One Big Pumpkin

Benjamin and Brilee are sitting on top of a 600+ pound pumpkin grown by Cliff Warren, a neighbor of ours whom Bruce went to school with in Utah. We also learned Bruce had dated his wife's sister... small world. This year Cliff also grew an over 400 pound pumpkin and LOTS of smaller ones they shared with friends. We grew lots of pumpkins of our own. News of what we've been up to coming soon...

Back to School

Everyone is now back in school. Trent started 7th grade, Teagan is in 4th and Brilee is in 1st. Benjamin started preschool today at Ms. Shawna's house. He's been saying her name all week and telling everyone who his teacher is. I thought I would have to go with him and hang around for a bit but he went right in, hung up his backpack, turned around and flashed me a big smile and waved goodbye! As I walked back to my car I thought, 'well that went better than I thought.' I'm so happy! Now the race is on to see how much I can get done before pick up time!

Squeazin' the Last Bit of Fun Outta Summer

Bruce, Trent, and Jordan floating the Portneuf River.


It took some convincing to get Brilee to go down the slides by herself at Lava but when she finally did she decided she loved them. Then we couldn't get her off!


Trent can go down without losing his contacts. One of his many talents, lol.
Benjamin was posing as a fierce Tiger...
Teagan and her friend, Mindy, taking a break on the snake.
They also loved the climbing wall and diving boards. It took them four hours to muster the courage to go off the high dive (not the platforms) but just before we left they had both jumped off it once. Yeah!
Hanging' out at Jumpin' Jacks with Morgan, Derek, and Karli...



We LOVE ice cream!!!
Jordan and Brilee got creative with a container of airsoft gun ammo...