Cut me some slack

Last Thursday we piled in the car and headed to Colorado for a little family trip. Farmboy loves to drive, and I love to not drive so it works out just right. The drive wasn't too bad. It was actually quite beautiful at times. And HY was in heaven--what will all the tunnels and trains. Plus he got to indulge in his latest craze. (Thomas the Train)


But what's in Colorado? Only some of our dearest friends EVER!

Talk about fun. Our kids had so much fun playing and dressing up (we don't have dress up clothes at our house, so this was a real treat.)
Mini-E was a princess for the first time.


(Big Boy J was a good sport and let me put a tu tu on & this red hat).

We visited the Cozy Cow & learned all about where milk comes from. And we splurged on some egg nog (mamma's fav) and chocolate milk (daddy's fav). But we didn't stay long because it was windy and freezing!

We made the yummiest meals ever. And Red E was her Momma's big helper.


Of course HY came to help "clean up"---

Mini-E favorite spot was in the retro high chair eating her usual 4 bowls of Cereal!
Yes, FOUR bowls!

gotta find me one of those cool chairs...

Hair courtesy of Lise

On Saturday, we were joined by another favorite family.

more pictures here.

We wanted the BYU game, ate hogies & just hung out. It was a fabulous reunion.


HY and Red E played all day and night with minimal problems. I'm not surprised, this little lady is such a sweetheart.

But Mini-E & Big Boy J were another story. A bit of competition there! But I'm convinced they love each other deep down inside.

more here.

A big huge Thank you to our Friends who invited us into their home and let us be apart of their everyday lives. It was such a treat! We love you!!!

Since being home, I've cleaned & cleaned & cleaned* & still my house isn't the way I'd like it to be. I've been busy with photos session, planning Thanksgiving, designing custom Christmas Cards, & trying to get everything in order for a Christmas Mini-Session. (watch for that soon)

*laundry, unpack, bathrooms, de-clutter, dinner, dinner, sweep, mop, kitchen...the list goes on

So, there you have it.
We have Christmas lights up, but not turned on (there are 3 people on our street with lights on--crazy)

And last night I was treated with the a girl's night out to the Cheesecake Factory and TWILIGHT! A true treat!

What a DAY...

Yesterday we got in the car around 9 am and headed to Idaho. Farmboy had some business to do & I had some friends that I was dying to see so the kids and I accompanied him. It was like a mini-vacation.

Here were some of the highlights. Sadly, I was having so much fun with our friends that I forgot to take a picture with them. I'm pathetic!

The kiddos at the Idaho Falls Temple.

You'd think Mini-E was in Alaska the way I've got her dressed.


We took a tour of the temple visitor center:




We listened to the Christus statue & HY remarked "listen Mom! That's Jesus talking..."

We took a walk on the grounds and Farmboy pointed out the squirrels in the trees. I think the kiddos loved that part the best. I know HY did.




Then we headed to Rexburg to visit one of my oldest/longest friends of all time--Raygon.
She was so kind to let us drop in for a few hours, eat dinner, play, and visit.
She had home made soup and home made crescent rolls. She's amazing!
It was WONDERFUL.
We sure wish that they lived closer so that we could do that more often.
She took a few pictures, so I may have to borrow one or two from her to post.
Thanks so much Raygon for letting us spend the evening with your family!

We headed home & got to bed around 12:30 this morning.
A very well spent day.

You can see a few more pictures here.

Memory Lane Monday

I thought that these pictures would bring back a few good memories to some of my readers. The year was...1993....Christmas Formal; Junior Year of High School. Just a few things I want to point out. Bangs!---The Size of our Hair!---The look on innocence on our faces. Thank you ladies for such sweet memories.

If I had the chance to tell my 16 year-old-self something...

I think it would be to ENJOY the simplicity of life back then.

What would you tell your old self?

A little "US Postal Service Snack"

A few days ago, I got a special letter in the mail from this girl:
(Love this picture of her little bro. trying on his old scout uniform!)

And this is what I found in the letter: This may look a bit familiar. I guess when I posted this, it got Aidsy thinking back a few years to when we did the same thing sitting at a table overlooking the water in Seattle. I think the year was ...well, when was it? 2000? Good memories. Funny how much we guessed right & how WAY off we were in a lot of it. So I say, thank you Aidsy for sending me such a fun letter! Wish we could get HF to catch a glance of it. I know that she'd appreciate this choice picture of the 2 of us singing with those "dudes" on the street.
This one's my favorite of the 3 of us. It's not exactly the best looking, but boy it brings back some great memories. Love you girls!

Fun with the Faculty

Yesterday I took my kids to see a few friends from my teaching days. Here are just a couple of our favorites. Crafty B and Science Duke loved seeing Mini-E for the first time. Everyone wanted to know if I'd ever end up with a child that looked like me. Probably not!

I've only been gone for 2 years and yet...I now have 2 kids. It's amazing what can happen in only 2 years. I also ran into a few students that were 7th graders--now 9th graders. ALL taller than me. Big surprise.