Jaden is getting baptized!!!

We are so excited (especially Jaden) because Jaden will be getting baptized next Saturday! He can't wait! The primary counselor brought over his jumpsuit the other day - it is HUGE on him. They only have two jumpsuits and they gave the smaller one to a girl in the ward (who is actually bigger than Jaden), but that's alright - we'll just roll up the legs and sleeves. Jaden had called all the family that lives close to invite them to his baptism and asked some to stand in the confirmation circle. He is feeling pretty big right now. I can't believe that he is turning eight in just a couple of days - it makes me feel like I'm starting to get old... Anyway, this is the picture that will be included in the program, I think he looks pretty grown up! We are sure proud of him!!!

A Christmas Party

Lexi and Tyra had invited us over to their house for a little Christmas party. The kids had a great time making these chocolates. I think they turned out pretty cute! It's kinda fun to look at the chocolates and guess which kid made each chocolate!

Guy even dressed up for the party!!! I thought it was pretty neat - funny, huh!?! HO, HO, HO!

The kids played Santa Bingo with Lexi and each came home with a bag full of prizes!

This is a much better picture of Lexi, but not of my kids, so I may have to do some creative Photoshopping!!!

We all had a great time. Tyra and I made some caramel and chocolate covered pretzels while the kids played - they turned out great! We used them for fun little neighborhood gifts. I didn't get a picture of those though, oh well!

Santa Claus

Santa was at Tyra's office the other night, so we decided to take the kids up there to get their pictures taken with him and to give him their Christmas letters. It was a lot of fun and Santa was so wonderful with the kids! They also have such a great backdrop and place for pictures. Afterwards we went to Tyra's house and the kids played the Wii with Lexi - they had a great time.

The Kids Christmas letters

These were the kids' Christmas letters - I thought the were pretty cute! We had gone to Tyra's dental office to see Santa and have their pictures taken with him! It was a lot of fun.

This is a picture of Santa Claus that Kaylee drew on the back of her letter to him! Pretty cute!

I love the way Jaden ended this letter!!!! Hilarious!!!

Guy's office Christmas Party

I know, I'm real original with my post titles!!! Anyway, Guy and I went to his work Christmas party tonight. It turned out to be quite fun. I usually dread these formal things, where I don't know the people very well. The party was at a nice restaurant, called The Sandpiper. Great food! I was a little uncomfortable because in order to eat, I have to take out my retainer (with my fake tooth on it) so I had a big hole in the front of my mouth - man, I can't wait to get an implant done!!! But the people sitting with us were so fun and didn't care, I was still a little self-conscious though.

It turned out that the people we were sitting with had two of their kids go to the same school that I will be doing my student teaching at. In fact, they both had my cooperating teacher! It was nice to hear about her and what she is like. They both loved her and said that their kids loved her. They also raved about the school principal and what a fun time I should have there - and how nice and accomodating everyone there is. It sure helped to hear these things - I've been pretty nervous about it!

Anyway, I wish I had a funny story about the kids to tell or something, but I don't. I did want to share a page that I made for a friend. She liked the one I did of Kaylee so I thought that I would steal a photo off her blog and make one of her daughter. I thought it turned out cute!!!

Just playing around...

I was going through some of my older pictures the other day and just couldn't resist scrapping these ones. There are a lot of others as well, but these were the ones that I had time to do. School is finally slowing down for the semester.... Thank goodness! I only have one final that I have to really worry about, the others are done or aren't going to be much work. Anyway, it feels good to relax and do some stuff that I enjoy. I'm hoping to be able to make some pumpkin cookies with the kids within the next couple of days - they've been asking for a couple of weeks....

Fairy pages

Here are some layouts that I made of Kaylee from a fun fairy kit. These were so much fun and I think Kaylee makes a beautiful little fairy!!! I'm thinking of printing one of these (or maybe all three!) to frame for Kaylee. Just thought I would share these...

Photo edits

I have to thank Kristy for showing me that you can edit pictures using Picasa. So fun and so easy! I had a lot of fun doing these pictures. Kristy, do you know how to save them as a copy so you still have the original and how to make them show up in your My Pictures?

Anyway, this was just a lot of fun!

Thanksgiving

We had a great time in Seattle for Thanksgiving. We were able to go to the Woodland Park Zoo and see all of the 'big' animals that we don't have here. The kids loved watching the gorillas - especially the baby one. We all also enjoyed watching the hippos. Usually they just sit there and do nothing, but this time one was up moving around and swimming in the water. It was fun when he went to take a drink - they can open their mouths WIDE.

We were also able to go to the beach in Edmonds (my dad's favorite place) and hunt for sea shells and look at all the stuff that is washed up from the Sound. We lucked out with the weather. We had a couple of beautiful days that were fairly warm and lots of sunshine. Those were the days that we went to the zoo and then to the beach. We did have a couple of rainy days as well.

Anyway, we had a great time Thanksgiving day with my family and we were also able to see my old neighbors. It was a lot of fun.

On the way home from Seattle we stopped in Fruitland (near Ontario) for our nephew's homecoming. That was great, most of the family was there. Daryl and Kerry came over and we hadn't seen them since last year (and that was just for a short time). Kaylee loved being able to play with their daughters (her only girl cousins close in age to her), Soma and Fela. They were adorable.

So, all in all, it was a great trip! I wasn't ready to come home back to school and reality... Finals have begun - only three more weeks left. I can't wait for it to be over - however, I could use a little bit more time to get everything done!

Here are some layouts from our trip to the beach.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Student Teaching

I know, I know, it has been forever since my last post. I guess I don't do very well with keeping up with my blog lately - school's been crazy and keeping awfully busy.

Anyway, I thought I would share with you that I got my student teaching placement for next semester. I'm pretty excited! I'll be at Falls Valley Elementary and working with a 4th grade class. It is going to be fun, but tiring. We are to completely take over the class by the third week and on top of that we are to go to a student teaching meeting every Monday after school is out. This is where we will be turning in lesson plans, papers, and our huge Teacher Work Sample that we are to complete. We will also be having 3 all day seminars in Pocatello. On top of all of that, we are expected to attend all the extra-curricular activites for the school! Anyway, it's going to be crazy, but I'm excited because it will also be a lot of fun. It will feel so nice for me to be done with all of my course work!

I'm going to be going home to Seattle for Thanksgiving. I'm looking forward to it, it's been a year since we've been there (it was last Thanksgiving that we were there.) It will be fun and the kids are excited to see their "far away grandma and grandpa!"

Anyway, I guess that's all I have to write right now. Not much is going on, except school!

Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband

Last night we got a babysitter and went to a Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband concert at BYU-I. It was so much fun, Guy had gotten us all great seats (front row, center!). My sister-in-law, Tyra and her daughter, Lexi went along with some friends of theirs. Marydell, Wes, and Melissa came along as well. Ryan Shupe sang "Dream Big", a pretty popular country song for awhile. The whole band is LDS and does a great job. There is a video that the band took of the audience doing "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" that is pretty funny. You can see Guy and I for a quick second on the left of the screen and Lexi (in pink) and her friend on the right side of the screen. It was pretty funny, go check it out!

It's been a long time...

I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted something. My friend, Kristy, was kind enough to get me going again. Helpful reminders are always nice. ;)

Let's see, since my last post, we have been very busy!!! We have moved, the kids have started school/preschool/daycare, and I have started school as well! The kids started at Woodland Hills, a new elementary school for them. Jaden is in the second grade now and just loves his teacher! She is very nice and has a lot of interest in science - which is right up Jaden's alley. He has made new friends and is really liking his new school (they give two choices for lunch!!!). Austin started kindergarten, he goes in the mornings. He has been waiting for this for two long years, watching his brother go off to school without him has just been too much for him to bare. He is really loving it right now and has made several new friends. His teacher is fairly new to teaching and seems very energetic and excited! They are both just loving school and playing at recess - their playground is huge - and has teeter-totters! That is Austin's favorite!

Kaylee started preschool/daycare this past Monday. The first day was a little difficult for her. They put her into the 18 month old - 3 year old room (she turns 4 at the end of September) and she didn't have much fun. They were supposed to put her in the 4 year old preschool room, but forgot that they were going to do that. She started crying before lunch and would sit up on top of the slide and look out the window and cry quietly. The teachers told me that she was also crying as she ate her lunch - so sad! She finally went down for a nap and was sleeping when I got there to pick her up. Austin went there after kindergarten for a couple of hours and had a great time.

I talked with the daycare about making sure that she was going to go into the preschool class and they assured me that she would. Yesterday was her second time going and she just LOVED it!!! I was so happy to find that out. When I dropped her off, I told her that she was going to be going into the big kid class and needed to be a big girl and have fun and not cry. As I was leaving she gave me a hug and then was looking pretty sad, so I told her to smile and have fun. She smiled, but it sure looked forced!!! Anyway, it sounds like she had a great time. She met two friends (who were actually in kindergarten, but went in the afternoons) and their names were Kayley and Kaylee (I'm not sure of the spelling of the second one!). It sounds like, according to the teacher, that those three were having so much fun together and were chatting it up the whole time! Kaylee describes them as "one has a black face and black hair and the other one has blonde hair and a blonde face like me." I thought that was pretty cute. I sure feel better now knowing that she likes it and wants to go back.

I've started school now as well. It sure gets crazy around our house! I go to Pocatello on Mondays and Wednesdays for one class (music for the elementary teacher) and come back to IF on Mondays to go to a Physics Lab. Tuesdays and Thursdays I have Physics and History, and have another History class on Friday mornings. So far, they are all going well - let's hope they continue to!

Today is also a special day because my sister-in-law, Melissa, is getting baptized. This has been a real long road for both her and her husband, Wes. They have lived in buses and been pretty much homeless for a long time, drinking a lot. They have both quit drinking and smoking and are doing great. Wes has cleaned up and is going to baptize her tonight. I'm so proud of them and grateful they are back in Idaho near us. It is amazing what the gospel can do for people. We have all pitched in and bought her a nice set of scriptures with her name imprinted on them and a tote for her to put them in. I ran around all afternoon getting them. All she has right now is some that she got from the D.I. that has some pages missing and someone else's name on them. I think she will love this gift.

Anyway, I guess that's about it for right now! I wish I could post some pictures of the kids on the first day of school, but I'm actually writing this from my school's computer! I got here a little early and thought that I would update this blog. Hopefully, I'll be able to post them soon!

Another new page!

I have been having so much fun scrapping these old photos. Here is my latest page.....

(Mom, I think that was Tyler, but where is Barrett? Let me know if I'm wrong.)

Things have been good here, that is, except the weather. We have had constant winds and cold temperatures - we even had snow on our car this morning! Someone needs to tell Idaho that it is June now!!! Jaden's baseball game got cancelled, he was bummed, but I was glad. I wasn't looking forward to sitting there on the bleachers in this weather. Luckily, it's supposed to get better this weekend... I can't wait, I really need some summer weather.

I found a great website the other day. My friend, Kristy, and I had been talking about how blogging was a way for us to keep a journal and she also told me about a site that is a place to keep a journal online, totally private. It's ldsjournal.com and it allows for pictures, videos, and of course, journal writing. You can easily copy and paste blog entries as well. It also has some great family history features. Anyway, if you are interested in keeping a journal online (never have to worry about something happening to it - fire, flood....) go check it out.

Old Neighborhood Boating Pages

These were so much fun to make!!! I used a really fun kit that I got at Scrap Orchard. It has been a lot of fun to use old pictures from when I was growing up. Mom, do you know the date, or at least the year, that these were taken? I'd like to add that into them. Also, where were they taken - just out in the Sound? And thanks for getting those scanned in!!!

Another new header!

I was just not really happy with the last one, so I thought I would make another! I don't have much anything interesting to say today, but thought that I would just tell you of an incidence we had with Austin. My mother-in-law had to call and remind me of this yesterday - I never did write it down before so I thought I would today.

Austin had gone downstairs to Guy (I had just gotten after him for picking on his brother and sister and not doing what he was asked) and he told him. "Dad, when mom gets mad at Jaden, he cries. When mom gets mad at me, I just get mad at her!"

That pretty much just sums up their personalities!!!!

Austin's pics!

Here are Austin's pictures!

Austin hits!

Playing in the outfield
Catcher!
Austin with a teammate - check out the sky!
Don't forget to look at the other post showing Jaden's pics and telling more about both of their games!

My 100th Post!!! and baseball pics!

Jaden had his first coach-pitch baseball game on Monday. He had so much fun! He was able to get up to bat twice and hit the ball both times. On his first hit, he was able to make it to 2nd base - the only double from his team! The second hit was hilarious - I wish I had my video going, but my camera had run out of batteries. :( Anyway, he hit the ball and it was a fly ball and it was heading straight for the 2nd baseman (who actually is a boy from our ward). This boy wasn't paying attention and we were a little scared the ball was going to hit him in the head. He was talking with another kid with his hand and mit hanging in front of him and the ball came down and knocked his mit to the ground. If he had been holding his mit the other way, he would have caught it without knowing!!! Anyway, it was pretty funny! The wind was horrible during the game and we all just about froze! Jaden didn't seem to mind!

Here is Jaden with his shirt and hat - he was hoping his team would be green!

Gettin ready for the pitch!
Swing!
And he made it to second!

Austin had his first t-ball game yesterday. He also had a great time. He said it got a little bit long, but he still enjoyed it. The weather was also horrible for Austin's game. It was WINDY and raining off and on. It is so funny to watch kids play t-ball. Austin would dance and play with his hat and the dirt. He had a hard time paying attention. His favorite part (obviously) was batting. He did good, too! I'll post his pictures in a new post. I guess I've already posted too many, so things may be a little out of order - I don't know how that will work.

Austin all ready for the game - he was hoping his team would be orange!
I'm going to post more of his pics on a new post!!!!!!