1st day of School!!!!

Hooray for school!! I love teachers!!! Today was the first day of school and I was sooooooooo excited and ready for it. I was going to homeschool Cheyenne and then the week before I got a huge anxiety attack about having to have her at home so Joe and I talked and decided if she had a strict teacher and none of the same girls in her class from last year we would leave her in school. My prayer was totally answered and Cheyenne was happy to go. (except for 3 girls but she didn't have problems with them) The kids were kind of nervous but we all made it through the morning without crying or throwing up! Sam and I took a morning walk after we dropped off the kids and then I got to cleaning. Then for lunch we picked up Joe for lunch and then chilled at home for a bit before we met the kids after school. It was a great day with no stress, which I totally needed. I even started dinner early so it was ready by 6!
On a low note, I forgot my camera. Super Sorry! I'll take it tomorrow:)

Baby Hall #6

So a few weeks ago, i started getting some very familiar signs, so I decided to take a pregnancy test. Of course it was positive, so I left it there on the bathroom counter for Joe to see. He was in complete denial and asked me to take another one. So I waited a few days and took it and again it was positive. He then asked me to go buy another brand, by this point I was getting a bit frustrated. But before I could make it to the store he called his parents, so that gave me the go ahead to call mine.
These things are never planned with us, but we couldn't be happier. We love our children so much even when they get hard to handle. They bring great joy and happiness to our lives. I know they will all have a great roles in the future. We can't wait to hold our newest addition and see how he/she will change our lives for the good.
So i'm 8 wks and due on March 10th!! Whoo Hoo!

Ken's Baptism

Kenny was baptized on July 4th. Joe's mom and dad and my mom and sister Teresa and her kids were able to make the drive to Idaho to join us. We all really enjoyed the company we had.
As I sat in the chapel I realized that the time I have with my kids at home gets shorter and shorter. My boys are 10 years from going on missions and Cheyenne is 8 years from college. I'm so thankful for all of my kids and the wonderful people they are becoming. Then watching Kenny as he was baptized was so wonderful, he truly is a wonderful boy and child of God. He is filled with love and compassion. Joe said in kenny's blessing that when he went on his mission he would be able to have great compassion for the people he serves. Ken already talks about his mission and how excited he is to go. He believes he will be going to China, he's very fascinated with their culture.
I love my little man so much!

Happy Birthday Kenny!

Kenny turned 8 on June 26th which was also the last day of school! We had his bday party at one of the city parks and they have a water area for the kids to play in. He invited friends from school and church and had so much fun with them. Kenny's gramps and grandma were there too and that made his day.

Recess!

The kids love to go to recess at school. They get to play outside 3 times during school. It helps the kids release their energy and gives the teachers a small break. They really have a great playground, there are basketball hoops and other bars to play on as well and then the kids have a huge field to play ball in. I took these pictures while we were waiting for Cheyenne to finish the wax museum. Sam had so much fun running around and going down the slide. Abby is great at the monkey bars and kept showing me how she could go forward and backward.

Wax Museum

Cheyenne's 4th grade class along with one other 4th grade class, did a Idaho History Wax Museum to raise money for their end of year party. They had to learn about their person and write a 2 min summary that needed to be memorized. So the night of the showing every student arrived early in costume and with background and set up. The parents were let in at 5:30 and we entered into a wonderful history lesson. The kids did a wonderful job of being perfectly still until you dropped change into their cup and then they would tell you about themselves. We had a great time and learned alot.

Memorial Day

For memorial Day we went to our friends home for a bbq and swimming. Joe was out training Jetta but the rest of us had a ball! My kids love to be in the water and Sam was really brave too.

Doug is 9

Doug had a fun bday party with his buddies from school and the neighborhood. I can hardly believe my little guy is getting older. 10 years until his mission, I better use it wisely!!!

Abbalicious turns 6

My little Abby had her 6th birthday on the 28th and her party was a few days later. She had so many of her classmates come help her celebrate her most favorite day!! Abby is so loving and "so popular" as her siblings call her. I will definitely miss our days together once school starts again. This will be her 1st year to go to school all day. Usually we watch girly movies and go shopping, poor Sammy is going to be super bored too, he's loosing his playmate.

Butchart Garden

Sunday morning we rode a ferry to Victoria, BC. The ride over was so beautiful, my pics do not do it justice. The ride was about an hour and then we rode another hour on a bus to Butchart Garden. This garden is so beautiful and huge, any plant lover would of died to be here. It was created to cover up a factory. Sam slept the whole time which was really nice. He probably would of wanted to pick flowers or run through them. We stayed there a few hours then rode another bus to downtown Victoria. We walked around and found a chinese restuarant to eat at. It was so yummy. We would of loved to walk around more and go see the castles there, but we had to catch the ferry back to Vancouver. The ride back was fun too and they had tv watch, so I watched a baseball game. We returned back to the US at 10pm and drove through the night to ID. We got back around 7am and slept till 11am and picked up our monkeys. Cheyenne didn't get home till the next day, she was off having fun with her friends in Utah.

On the Road

Yesterday we drove from Meridian to Vancouver, British Columbia. The scenery was so beautiful, i'm glad we drove during the day so we could see it. Sam was a real trooper. He really didn't enjoy being in his seat forever and cried a little bit, but he doesn't have a loud cry so it was all good. We stopped a couple of little towns along the way and when we finally arrived in Seattle for dinner we realized how glad we were to live in Meridian. We forget what it's like to be in a big city with tons of people and traffic. Kind of made me homesick, but we love ID. So we needed to exchange currency so we went went downtown and barely made it to the bank before they had locked the door. We weren't positive to where it was and we called and the employees helped us out. As I ran in, they all knew it was "the currency girl" and they were making bets to whether or not i would make it or not. So luckily we got canadian money and no fee because it was our bank. We then went to a restaurant called Red Mill Burger. Joe had seen it on some show and has been lusting over it for months. We got there it was packed but our wait wasn't long and it was really great! We finally arrived at the border around 9:30 and got through around 10. Joe almost said something stupid to the border guy. He took our ID's then our birth certificates and asked why we were there, where we were going and how long. Did we bring any weapons and then Joe hesitated and I knew he getting ready to say something stupid. In my head I was saying, "shut up, shut up, shut up" what seemed like forever, but was only 2 seconds, he finally said no. The officer lets us pass and I hit Joe. He started laughing and i asked what he was wanting to say. He didn't realize i knew he wanted to say anything and then said he was going to tell the officer, "besides my wifes butt I don't have any weapons" Luckily for joe's life (because i would of killed him) he restrained from saying what he wanted. We got to our hotel and love our room. I got a great deal on priceline, so we feel a bit spoiled. We have a king size bed, lounger, desk, 2 robes, microwave, fridge, free internet, and free covered parking. So in an earlier post i said we were doing the medifast diet. well i didn't know we would have a microwave so i didn't bring oatmeal or soups, so know i'm so sad. i really look forward to breakfast and lunch. bars and shakes aren't very awesome all day long!! so dinners look even better now.
Joe is now at his class so Sam and i are relaxing in our room. So fun! :)

Take Shape For Life

In Joe's office they have a weight loss program for their patients and Joe asked me to be a health coach for him. So i'm taking a 4wk course and reading alot, so i can coach his patients. He also asked me to do the diet so i would know what every person is going through. So i started this last Saturday and I have to say that though it was mentally hard the first 3 days i'm am really enjoying the change. I have great energy now, last week before i started I was really dragging and couldn't get any energy. My crohn's is doing really great on it too! So it's a bonus!!! Joe has lost a lot of weight as well and i'm so proud of him. If anyone is looking to lose weight check out Joe's website called Take Shape For Life, the link is to the right of this.

Pinewood Derby

It was Pinewood Derby time and the boys were pumped for this years race. Of course we procrastinated on the making of the cars. The sunday before, joe and the boys started carving and sanding out the cars they had picked out. Doug wanted a skateboard and Ken wanted a cop car. Our friend Darron helped out Sunday and gave some great advice. Then next few nights were spent painting, sanding, painting, sanding, and so on. Joe actually got advice from a few dad's who recently had their pack races, so he had a ton of knowledge. Long story short, Doug's car broke when joe was putting the wheel on and ken's car had some minor damage minutes before we were going to leave for the race. I spent the afternoon fixing doug's car and we had to hot glue ken's car. we were truly hoping the boys would just win 1 race so they wouldn't be disappointed. the girl's and i were late and to my surprise our boys had luck on their side. They both had wins under their belts. They won race after race. Doug was finally beat by Ken then his friend Trevor. The other scouts kept wondering who had the skateboard and cop car. So it was time for the results and for some reason they put Ken with the webelos, the 11 yr olds,(Ken isn't an official scout yet, the leader let him participate because he's close to scout age). So Ken got 1st and Doug got 3rd, Doug's friend Trevor Ball was 2nd, it was a Hall-Ball sandwich:) After the scouts raced the Elder's Quorum had their own derby race. Joe decided he would enter in Ken's car since he did some(alot) of the work and with luck on his side he got 2nd. So he did some trash talking and next year we will be trying to defend ourselves against the Ball's again:) I'm glad we have some laid back dad's in the ward! I heard races can get a little ugly at times.

Race #1

I had a great time running the Race for the Cure. I can't wait for next year, I hope to have a big team of runners!! It would be even better if I was running "The Race for Crohn's"! Man I need to create that race!!!

Sam and Jetta

Sammy loves Jetta. Loves to sit on her, lay on her, kiss her, hug her, and play fetch. He also loves to play in her kennel. As soon as we let her out he will go in. He's a silly dude!

Joe lost some hair!

We love you Brady!

Sam is 2

So I'm a month late on Sam's b-day, super sorry! It seems as soon as our little dude turned 2 he immediately gained a larger vocabulary. Sam likes to repeat anything you say so Joe called him a brat, just playin around, and sam called him one right back. Along with the vocabulary the tantrums have begun. First the heavy breathing, then the lip starts to quiver, and finally the explosion of tears and crying. If we're really lucky he will throw himself on the floor and we're pretty lucky. He's usually over it in 30 seconds and for that I'm grateful! He likes to watch moomee's and will tell me when he has gone poops. All i need him to do is tell me before the poops happens and i will be very happy. He loves to play the drums and loves to have sword fights with who ever will play with him. He also loves his Daddy and will ask where he is all day long and when joe finally walks through the door sam is the first to greet him. We love you little dude and we are so happy you were our little surprise!

Holy Cow!

So much as happened since I last blogged. So here we go... My little dude turned 2 on April 8th and that night/morning, it was maybe 1:00am, I had to take him to St. Lukes because he was struggling to breath. His little chest was caving in and his tummy was bulging out. In the E.R. he had 3 breathing treatments and a dose of steroids which didn't help, so the doc decided to admit him. Sammy was a great patient and got compliments all day and night, he even had great rumors going around the hospital about him. Every doc and nurse that came in would tell me they heard he was the best kid patient they've had. It was a long 38 hours in the hospital but we had the whole wing to ourselves and Sam enjoyed playing with all the toys and riding on the tricyle and in the wagon! He is doing much better and we hope that this doesn't happen again but we are prepared for it since Abby has asthma.
Joe recently shaved his head bald for one of his great friends, Brady Wirick, in Idaho Falls. Brady found out recently that he has cancer so Joe decided he would support Brady and shave his head. I am totally supportive of this but it has been an adjustment to look at. :) He looks just like his little brother, Nick, with a bald head. We love Brady and his little family and pray that he will be able to fight this cancer and have a long life with his wife and 2 girls.
Other than that we are just trucking along in Idaho. Enjoying the beautiful days and the weather that can't make up it's mind. Cold one day, hot the other.
Joe is very busy with work and the only full day we get to spend as a family is Sundays. This coming weekend will be the huge patient appreciation day, so that will be fun and crazy. Douglas will be turning 9 on May 4th. I'm thinking about running the Race for the Cure in a few weeks and then Abby turns 6 on May 28th.
So I guess that's about it. There's always some kind of excitement going on at our house. Oh! I am feeling alot better. Eating right and taking the supplements my body needs has turned my crohn's around. I still have some bad days but it's not constant and I can totally deal with that. Joe has lost about 35 lbs and has started running with me. I'm so proud of him! He is also training our dog Jetta for the Utility Test in 6 weeks. If Jetta passes this test we can start breeding her!!! Okay I think that's it. I love you all and really miss my family and can't wait for those of you who are coming up this summer for Ken's baptism.

Attempt #1

Thursday we attempted to take our own family pics and what a stressful event that was. First it was cold and overcast, the kids were hungry, and we didn't have a photographer. Here are some of the pics we took. We will have a do over photo shoot when the weather gets warmer, enjoy these in the meantime.

Last Saturday

Last Saturday I took the girls to an audition in Boise. The commercial said they were looking for new "stars". So being the awesome mom I am(HEHE) I thought what a great opportunity to take Cheyenne, she wants to act and loves to sing. I called the number and made and appt, they asked if I had any other children and of course I do, hello! So I signed Abby up for the audition as well. We had to bring a full body shot and head shot and had to fill out an application. 4 hours later, the last group the girls got up and did a corn pops commercial on camera. Cheyenne did great and poor Abby forgot her name and how old she was, but looked super cute! We then talked with an agent and this is where we found out that we were there so they could find more acting students for their company who represents a bunch of big time actors. Some kids got call backs and some didn't. My girls got a call back, but when we got home and talked it over and explained finances ($4000 for the girls to take acting classes) we decided that it wasn't the best option for us. I felt extremely bad because this is Cheyenne's dream, but I know she will make it happen for herself, that's just who she is, she doesn't give up!