CANNOT believe this time has come!

That's Right!

Wasn't this JUST yesterday?

Love this lady!

It's TIME

to makeover this blog and start posting again!.......

My new guilty pleasure....

Can't wait to wear these babies with shorts in the summer time!

2009...off to a rocky start

It's Jan 6th, 2009 and the year is not beginning as I had planned. We had a great new years eve, the kids all had fun and that's about it. Lauren has been sick since about Saturday and I have been home with her Mon and Tues of this week...bi-lateral ear infections if you can believe it. Just the way I wanted to start the year absent and unproductive at work!! Not much I can do about that I guess.

Here are some pics of the last few months that I have failed to post. Some of Lauren on the day of her school program and then pics of those crazy people that I spent my new years with.

Happy New Years...some of my favorite people...

Jenny and Collin...the best neighbors ever!

Zuk...

Me and J

Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!

Another BSU win and...a discovery by my 5 year old...

So, BSU walluped on the Aggies (that's Utah State Aggies) yesterday! Another high point to a very good weekend. BTW, J and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary this weekend. Lauren stayed at the neighbors house overnight and we got a hotel room downtown. Hung out, had a relexing dinner and even went dancing. it was great! Oh yes and how great is this coach??? Soooo cute.

Lauren (so stinkin hilarious) came to me yesterday with an incredible...5 year old discovery. She said to me "momma, guess what I discovered...when you close the fridge door the light goes off and when you open the door the light comes back on!". I asked her and yes, you guessed it, she really thought the light was on all the time. Kids are so funny.

Happy start to your week...I hope it is enjoyable!

Do you bleed BLUE?

Welcome to game day.

That's right baby! 38 to 3

and LA Tech goes DOWN!!!! What a great game last night, it was incredible! BSU truly had their game on and crushed LA Tech. 4 and 0 and here we go!!

Life is busy, busy, busy right now...here's a little something until I get a chance to really post

You Are A Gold Girl

You're dependable and hard working. You never miss a deadline - and you're never late. You have a clear sense of right and wrong. You're very detail oriented. You get frustrated when your friends are sloppy - or when they don't follow through. You're on top of things, and you wish that everyone else was!

What Color Girl Are You?

Living in the NOW.......

I've found myself a little melancholy lately and have been struggling with what might be causing my mood. I know it is somewhat related to our empty house, our kids went back to Boise and we are left with Mom, Dad and little Lauren. Not that she doesn't keep us running, but there was so much more going on with all of our kids in the house. So, we both miss that aspect. Also, summer is winding down and I am not ready to let it go just yet. We've been running every weekend, doing fun things, going on adventures and just enjoying the warm, sunny days. We had a meeting one evening this week at Lauren's school - it was a "welcome to Kindergarten" meeting with her new teacher for this year. It made me realize that life will be changing on September 2nd and we will be entering a whole new world. So I am sure this has helped with my "down" mood. I'm excited for the future and the possibilities that are opening up for us, but it's always a little sad for me to change and move forward.

On the way to work today one of my favorite songs came on the radio...Stealing Cinderella by Cuck Wicks. I listened to the words and was touched by a bit of sadness for the future. If you haven't heard the song, you should listen to it sometime...very sweet. Then I realized after listening to the chorus that I am living the life RIGHT NOW that someday I will be missing. So, my goal for the week and forward is to focus on what I have right now and be thankful for it all - to live in the moment!

This is my life right now...and I am truly thankful for my little girl who seems to always be:

Playing Cinderella

Riding her first bike

Bouncing on the bed and looking for a pillow fight

Running through the sprinkler with a big popsicle grin

Dancing with her dad, looking up at him

Priceless...

List of chores:

make beds = 50 cents

wash dishes = $1.00

clean family room = 50 cents

etc...

etc....

The kids earnings....nearly $45

Lauren's loot = $9

Kira's loot = $12

Grand total at the Dollar Store = $37

Not having to keep the entire house clean by yourself and getting a few kids to chip in with the chores....PRICELESS!!!

Weekend fun.

We had a mostly quiet weekend. Spent a lot of time around the house on Saturday, bbq'd at night and mostly just hung out as a family. We got out into the woods on Sunday and discovered the most beautiful falls on the McKenzie River. I am always amazed at how beautiful Central Oregon is. We find so many wonderful things when we get out and explore. The two falls we visited were Sahalie and Koosah falls. We had a lot of fun exploring. Hope you enjoy the photos and have a great week!

These first two of Sahalie Falls

This is Koosah Falls

The kids at Sahalie...we found a little pond down below the waterfall

Jason and I - Alex took this shot of us.

The family picture at Koosah - there were one's of J and I not kissing, but they weren't quite as funny.

Sisters

We found this awesome plant that looked like Peppermint Sticks...very cute. After getting home we discovered that it is called Allotropa Virgota "Candystick". It's a mycotrophic wildflower.

And of course, a little chipmunk came to share our lunch. The kids named him Alvin...he sure loved the Doritos and wasn't afraid of us at all. This is Jason hand feeding him.

And this was out of the ordinary...a real phone booth. So, we had to take some pictures in this. My favorite is the last one of Jason...

This is so crazy....I have no words...

We went to a place called "Bouncing Off The Walls" last night for Family Fun Night. You pay one fee and the kids get to play on all of the "equipment" there, plus you get pizza and soda pop. Sounds like fun huh? They have a huge room - Lauren's old gym - with lots of those blow up mazes, slides and bouncy houses. Plus, lots of room to run and be crazy. Tucked back in the corner is their Velcro Wall - who knew it would induce so much terror into our lives that night....


We had been at the facility for probably 30 mins. The kids had been playing around and wanted to go back on the velcro wall. So, we suited them up. The way it works is they were velcro suits and there is a bouncy platform that they use to jump onto the well. Lots of fun and the velcro is super strong - it even held Jason up. Well, the kids were playing and Lauren caught a bad bounce which knocked her over the side face first. She kind of somersaulted off and landed right on her back. Well she was screaming so loud that I was sure her neck was broken. Nope, no injuries but we never expected what we had found...she had landed flat on her back, into a pile of velcro suits. So, her hair was sandwiched between the suit she had on and the suit she had fallen on and she was STUCK...seriously stuck. It took us nearly an hour to pull her hair out of the velcro, but I was dead set on NOT cutting it. She recovered fairly quickly and had a pretty good time. The owners felt horrible and offered to give her a free stuffed animal, so that seemed to help with things.

The second worst part of the adventure was coming the snarls out of her hair. It took the rest of that night and then some more time today getting the rats out. She lost about a hand full of hair, but I guess we are lucky we didn't have to cut it. Such a crazy, crazy thing to happen - it was seriously miserable for her (of course) and for daddy and I to try and comb it out. Here are some pics of the event:

Not a great picture, but it gives you an idea of what the wall and velcro suits look like:

Lauren, at home after we pulled her hair from the suit

Starting in the bath by trying to dig out the elastics, then pouring conditioner and painfully combing and picking through her hair

It all looks so easy here, doesn't it?

This is the SECOND day - daddy's still picking through it. We finally got them all out, but her hair is quite a bit thinner...I am so mortified!