Halloween 2011

Jesse dressed up as a couch potato this year. I kept calling him my sweet potato. Isn't he cute? Once again I dressed up as Jen Wakley.

Instead of making the huge mess of carving our pumpkins this year I decided to paint them. It was so much easier and the kids loved it! We did our usual boys vs girls contest. They both turned out cute.

Kameron was a green dragon this year. He didn't mind his costume at all. At every door he would drop his candy in his bucket and then say "See ya!"

Ellie was a princess again this year. Rapunzel to be exact. Kaden was a hunter. He's pretty much been obsessed with hunting since he went with Jess. But I didn't mind because it was the easiest costume ever!

I thought this pic was funny! I think he just discovered his finger fits perfectly in his nose!

Jesse's first elk

Jesse shot his first elk this year. It was only a spike but it was the first one he saw and he doesn't care about the size too much. Especially since I don't like the meat anyway! Unfortunately for the elk his first shot wasn't fatal so they had to track the poor thing down for four hours before ending it's suffering. (I'm trying to not let my personal feelings about hunting come out in the post. Is it working?)

He had a lot of fun with Nick either way. We all went up the week before to try for his deer tag. But Kaden and Brayden were with them so it was hard to really see anything. And they almost got their licenses taken away by the Fish and Game for riding four wheelers on a closed trail. :) Me and Ellie and Kameron had a much more comfortable time watching movies and drinking hot chocolate in the trailer.

Here's our full freezer. I don't know who's going to eat all of this meat.

Welcome home Nick!

Jesse and I have been best friends with Nick and Tami Edwards for years. I think our relationships work so well because Tami is just like Jesse and Nick and I are very similar. Nick left for Iraq last August. It was a long year for Tami and Jess to have Nick gone in Iraq. But on September 13 he finally came home! He flew into Pocatello with about 30 other soldiers. It was so cool to see him come home. I was crying and I'm not even his wife! My eyes watered the whole time I made this post. I never realized until seeing it first hand how big the sacrifice is for soldiers and their families to go to war. Thanks Nick! Glad your home safe soldier!

Where's Nick? He's actually at the very top of the picture holding Jaycie.

Jaycie doesn't let Nick out of her sight for days when he comes home. She's a daddy's girl!

Kaden told Nick, "I'm glad you didn't get shot in Iraq!" So are we!

Nick always gives Ellie what he calls a tight squeeze. Here she's catching up for a year's worth I think.

This picture makes my eyes water. Nick you have no idea how excited Tami was for you to get home. We sat at her house fussing over what outfit to wear, how to do her hair, if her makeup looked ok. I'm sure Nick would have thought she looked hot even if she came in her pajamas!

I think Kameron thought we went there to give everyone hugs!

Home at last. Finally, Jess can have someone to laugh at his jokes again!

Wasn't that sweet of Nick to bring Tami a flower?

Here's the happy family. Together again at last. Life can continue now :)

First day of school 2011

Ellie missed the real first day of school since we were in California. Oops. Oh well. So here's a pic of Kaden and Ellie on like the fourth day of school. Kaden got two days in before we left. Ellie has been dying to go to school all summer. Not Kaden. He would be content to stay at home with mom all the time. (And honestly, I would be good with that too.) Kaden doesn't do very well emotionally for the first couple weeks of school. It's so funny how completely opposite they are. When we were walking to school Ellie was running ahead and making jokes and laughing and Kaden hung back by me and was trying not to cry. Luckily we got Kaden to laugh when I pointed out that Ellie's back pack was so big that it went clear past her knees. (Or is it because Ellie is still in 4T clothes?)

Disneyland and San Diego

We go to San Diego every year but the kids are little enough that they haven't quite caught on to that tradition yet so we decided to "surprise" them this year. After staying up for hours packing all night so the kids wouldn't see, we woke them up in the morning and told them we were going somewhere for a surprise. Jess wanted to wait until we actually pulled up into Disneyland for them to figure it out so we didn't tell them anything about where we were going. We flew out of Idaho Falls so on the drive there we were all trying to guess where we thought we were going. Ellie was so funny. She was saying places like "Blackfoot! Wait! I know! Malad!" She was excited to go anywhere! When we pulled into the airport they were excited to see we were flying somewhere. When we were driving to our hotel the GPS voice said, "Turn left on Disneyland Drive.'' Jess and I thought for sure they would figure it out so we turned around to look at their faces. Nope. Still no clue. We finally had to help them out a little bit but once they knew they were at Disneyland they freaked out and were so excited. (Oh ya, Kameron was a total bear on the flight there. Not that we expected anything different!)

Something about this castle. Have to stop and take a picture in front of it every time!

Kaden was so excited to do this Jedi training. You have to jump up and down and be really loud to get picked and that is so NOT Kaden. So I put him in a Star Wars shirt that day hoping it would help. He got picked and loved every second of it.

Night time firework show, another must. We stayed on the resort this year so I was able to go back and have Kameron take naps and bathe the kids at night before the firework show. So nice to be so close.

Kameron loves to say cheese for the camera!

Another Disneyland must. Mickey Mouse ears. Much to Jesse's dismay :)

It was so hot the second day we were there! In California Adventures they had some little water parks for kids. It was the most fun poor Kameron had all day. He was pretty much stuck in a stroller for two days except for the carousel and the teacups. He got completely soaked and finally had a smile!

After two days at Disneyland we went down to San Diego for Jesse's conference. Usually the kids have a quiet day at the beach. Not this year. Kameron smashed their sand castles and threw sand in Ellie's face. Never a dull moment!

This picture sums up what Kameron thought of the beach. He hates sand. He was constantly trying to wipe it off his hands and feet. When we all walked out onto the sand he stayed back on the cement and wouldn't walk on it for a while. And then the waves would come and he would scream at them. My poor baby.

Definitely not Kaden and Ellie. We always have to drag them away.

San Diego Zoo. I'm actually lucky I have this picture at all. I lost my camera at the zoo and a good samaritan turned it in to lost and found so I got it back. Yeah! Oh ya, and the zoo was awesome.

Kameron hated his mustache. It didn't last very long. I thought it was super cute. After posting about our vacation I realized there isn't a single picture of me on our adventure! I guess I need to pass the camera over more often! I promise I was there!

Casey and Shane

My little sister Casey got married 12 days later to Shane Humphries. They are an awesome couple and he is so good for her. All of my sisters were her bridesmaids. She had a beautiful outdoor wedding at a church in the country. Unfortunately since I was busy chasing kids around and being a bridesmaid I don't have many pics of her wedding yet.

But she was a gorgeous bride and I am so happy for her. All of my siblings are married now and I must say we have all made perfect choices. But nobody's as lucky as I am...

Jeff and Anna

My little brother Jeff got married on July 30. I can't believe he's married. He picked an amazing girl named Anna Belnap and we all love her. She fits perfectly in our family. They had a beautiful wedding. They were sealed in the Idaho Falls temple in the morning and then had a reception that night.

These are my grandparents from Arizona. I only see them once a year. I don't have any pics of them so I made them pose for me. They are amazing people.

Since we had tons of family and kids at my parents house waiting for the reception, my parents were kind enough to rent a huge jumping water slide. The kids loved it. Me and my sisters were dying laughing at Ellie because she had a monster wedgie the whole time!

The reception was gorgeous and Jeff and Anna were so happy. It was a perfect day.

Kameron and Ellie dancing. Awww! What a gentleman! Ya right. Everyone who knows him knows that's a joke!

Bear Lake and a broken arm

We make a trip to Bear Lake every year. This year was much different than any other year! To start with, the lake was VERY high so all the beaches were under water so we didn't even go to the actual lake. We stayed at the KOA which luckily had tons of stuff for the kids to do so we still had tons of fun. Tami and her kids came with us and tried out our new trailer. It was our first time using it and to start it off right, we punched a hole in the side of it while we were putting out the slide out. Oops. It totally crunched the electrical box and left a gash in the siding of the trailer. Needless to say Jesse was NOT a happy camper! (Ha! No pun intended!)

The KOA had cool bikes to rent and a big jumping pillow that the kids loved to play on. Things were going great.... until Kaden and Brayden thought it would be a good idea to jump over the cooler. Ya, Kaden didn't make it! When he tried to jump over the cooler he landed on his arm and ran over to me screaming at the top of his lungs that he had broken his arm. Well, earlier that morning he had fallen off his bike and insisted that he had broken his back. So I didn't believe him. The poor kid was up all night "trying to get his arm comfortable" and in so much pain. So first thing in the morning we drove him to Bear Lake Community Care and got an x-ray. Sure enough...

It was broken. I felt awful. Poor Kaden. I guess I'll try harder to believe him next time. We had a fun time still. We went to Minitonka Cave which was really interesting. Very cold inside. The kids did really well considering there are 888 stairs!