Our 1st Adventure of 2010

This last weekend we went to West Yellowstone. My best friend Mandee's parents live up there in a cabin year round. Mandee and Clint have been talking about taking us up there for a long time and finally we were able to make it happen. Mandee and I left Wednesday when I got off work - packed up 4 kids (one of Mandee's was already up there) and made the drive. It wasn't too bad - other than Dakota and Garrett pestering each other. The roads were pretty clear until we got past Ashton....and then I'm sure I was driving Mandee nuts. See - I HATE driving in bad weather especially when the roads are icy. You can blame my hubby for that. (about 4 years ago we were on our way to a Christmas party at my parents and we slid right through a stop sign and hit a telephone pole). So I kept grabbing Mandee's arm, but she did great. I'm just glad she was driving and not me ;) Clint & Bry drove up Thursday afternoon since Bry couldn't get Thursday off of work. We spent the weekend snowmobiling, ice fishing, playing cards and a little guitar hero. It was a lot of fun and the kids had a blast.

We're really grateful for such great friends that we enjoy being with. And Mandee's parents were so gracious to let us stay there and to feed us (oh I miss her mom's homemade bread with Yellowstone Huckleberry jam.....YUM!) Thanks for such a fun weekend guys!!!!

I had to post a picture of this place - Bry and I went to this Chinese restaurant on our honeymoon and we both got food poisoning! Not exactly how you want to spend your honeymoon.....

They don't really plow the roads up there, but they sure looked pretty covered in snow..

This is how the road looked part of the way home - creepy....

Love the sky in this one!

If you're going to shovel snow.........this is the way to do it!

Poor Rett was stuck with a bunch of girls all weekend, so Mandee's dad said "Garrett - let's go get a tractor!" Oh boy - Rett was in heaven. And by the time James had finished, Rett was sound asleep....

Me and the kids decided to go out and play in the snow....well, I mainly took pictures and pulled the kids out of deep snow....

All I can say is she makes me smile....Rett loved eating the snow and kept falling down, but the cold never bothered him.You could drive the snowmobiles right on the road in West Yellowstone. Here's Bry filling up before we head out!

Bry got a little carried away and got the snowmobile stuck. I didn't think to pull the camera out until after the got it unstuck. Here's the hole Bry made. It was pretty funny - when he got first got stuck it was just us - no one else around....then all of a sudden like 20 snowmobilers came and stopped to see what was going on. I was just laughing my head off.

Me & my man.....I just love him.

Rett loved the ice fishing, but wasn't very patient - especially when we never caught anything. But we made our own fun. We didn't want the kids to get cold, so we bundled them up. This picture just makes me laugh...reminds me of the little brother off of "The Christmas Story".

Best Friends - Makayla & Brynlee. They were inseperable the whole trip. (I can't believe how grown up my girl looks.....kinda sad)
Me and Garrett making our own fun....with crackers....(a blessing of being my child - you're easily entertained ;) Don't trust Rett's face - he knows I'm funny...

You can see a few more pics on my photo blog here.

Beware: Update overload

I still have more to blog about, but this is a start. Thanks to those who still believe in me and "encourage" me to blog (Becki ;).

We hope and pray that everyone is enjoying the last bits of Fall. I'm trying to soak it all up while it's here.

Trick or Treat....smell my feet....

That was Garrett's favorite thing to say this year....

Well, to start out the Halloween festivities, I really wanted to take the kids to the pumpkin patch. Every day me and the kids would pass the pumpkin patch sign on the side of the road and both of them would yell "THE PUMPKIN PATCH!!!" and then proceed to beg me to take them there. So, what do I do? I choose the coldest day of the year to go. ha ha - not on purpose though. I called my friend Mandee and her little family met us there. The kids had a blast despite the freezing cold. Me and Mandee were wishin for some gloves and a winter coat but the kids could've cared less. Her kids were dressed in their halloween costumes because they had their trunk or treat after. Our kids didn't go to the trunk or treat this year cause the doctor had told me to keep Bryn away from large groups for a while because she was just getting over bacterial pneumonia and the swine flu (I'll post more on that later).

Bryn, Makayla, Dakota & Kassidee - Rett wouldn't get up there with all the girls

All of the kids piled on to each other in the bouncy pumpkin

Taking a ride on the animal train...poor Clint barely fit in there. They aren't meant for tall people...ha ha

Me and my little man (my knees were killing me by the time we were done)

My gorgeous friend Mandee snappin pics of the kids

Yep - even Bry tried out the tube slide with the Rett man

Kassidee the witch

Miss Dakota - doesn't she make the cutest little lady bug?!

Makayla sportin' the hippie look

Bry's such a good dad - always there to lend a hand ;)

Clint's trying to "persuade" Makayla to feed the llama's...

I thought this rooster was cool....we bonded.

Then came Halloween.....

One day my mom and I asked Brynlee what she wanted to be for Halloween. Her response? The Tooth Fairy! Ha - how original. I thought how the heck am I going to make her the tooth fairy? Well, most of my ideas went down the drain when she got sick and was in the hospital. But a very sweet friend from my old ward made Bryn's tutu (thank you Heather - you are so sweet).. and then I went to Fun Daze and picked up a big tooth brush and some teeth and my mom helped me make her teeth bracelets and a necklace. How's that for last minute creativity? ha ha! She was probably the most "colorful" tooth fairy ever seen, but I think she looked adorable.

Garrett was going to be a fireman, but the costume I got was way too big. It said for age 3, but good grief that thing would've fit a 10 year old! So, I ran (once again last minute) to Old Navy and found this tiger costume. Garrett loved it and kept telling me that he was Tiger the Super Sluth (from Tiger and Pooh) - it made me laugh when he'd go around saying he was a Super Sluth.

Our gorgeous girl. Gosh I'm lucky...

The Super Sluth Tiger!!

My darling...darling niece Madi. Oh I could just eat her up! The picture below is my favorite.

That day I took the kids to see both of my grandma's and then that night Mandee, Clint and the kids came over. The guys took the kids trick or treating around the neighborhood while Mandee and I relaxed. It was quite nice! We had dinner and then just sat around and talked. We're so lucky to have such good friends.

A 5 Year Old???!!!

I'm not old enough to have a 5 year old, am I?

So, I definitely don't get the "Mother of the Year" award for posting about my daughter's birthday...um...2 months late. But our little Brynlee turned 5 in September. She still looks like she's 3 1/2, but she definitely has the attitude of a 14 year old! But this little girl makes me happy....so happy.

Here's a little about our Ninee.....

*she loves MUSIC: David Archuletta (she claims he is her boyfriend), Taylor Swift, Hannah Montana, Skillet....the list goes on and on.

*she wants to be a rockstar. That little girl can rock - no kidding! She and my friend Jessica started their own "band" Brynlee does guitar and Jess does drums I believe.....Bryn told me today that I could be their lead singer. HA HA (oh and Jess, she keeps asking me when are you going to have band practice?!)

*she is a BIG helper. Lately, she unloads and loads the dishwasher - without being asked and helps me do laundry. Nothing like child labor - we start 'em early ;)

*she told me today that she just loves Jesus and he makes her happy. I agree with her.

*she is very inquisitive about everything and she'll pretty much talk your ear off. (wonder where she got that from??? Probably her dad....)

*she loves primary and Sister Wilcox - the music leader.

*she is very smart (I hold bragging rights). She can write her name, Garrett, mom, dad and I you.

*she's very thoughtful - she loves to make cards and draw/color pictures for people. I'll have to scan one of her drawings and put it on here. They make me happy.

*And she loves to be with me. I don't deserve her. I remember holding her for the first time and thinking my life is only going to get better because of her. So far, I'm right. She's everything beautiful.

Here are a few pics I found of Bryn.

Christmas - 1 years old 4 years old.. (I had to put this on here of her and my grandpa at her birthday party last year...so sweet)

And our birthday girl this year.....We asked Bryn what she wanted to do for her birthday and she said that she wanted to go bowling with Makayla...so that's what we did. Makayla's mom, Mandee, is one of my greatest friends and we were prego together. Makayla's only 6 weeks older than Bryn.

Bryn and her best friend Makayla

That night we had a party at our house. She got spoiled as usual - but how could you not spoil that gorgeous face? She got a MP3 player and clothes from mom and dad and more toys and clothes from everyone else.

We love you Bryn!!

A little summer....a little late

I'm not the best "journal keeper" - that's obvious in my blog entries. Few and far between. Most of our days have been full and busy....and honestly I just haven't had the urge to sit and blog. But this is a new week and I'm trying harder. I'm actually going to make dinner everyday this week - since my poor little family is starving....I'm trying to be more patient with the kids and not nag Bryan half as much as I do....I'm going to try and stay focused and be more productive on things I set out to do - including blogging. What do you think? Think I'll succeed??? Well, I'm definitely trying and so far I have made dinner this whole week (yes - a "whole 2 days"!!).

Our summer was busy and it went by too fast. We did a little camping - not as much as we would've liked, played at the pool, had bbq's, fireworks, went to parades - everything a summer is usually filled with.

Here's a few pics I found from our summer...

I L.O.V.E this picture - Rett just saw the fire truck coming down the road at the parade...

Bryn's "MOM....pleeeease put the camera away...."

1st day of preschool (at Grandma Teresa's). I love my kidlets...

And then at the end of the season, my grandpa's "season" here on earth ended. I posted about him already, but I miss him and think of him almost daily. It's not the same without him. But I am thankful that I have him as my grandpa and that he loved my grandma.

So, our life goes on. These little moments in our life go by too fast. I look at the picture above of the kids, and I think where did the times go when they were babies....their first smiles....just learning to sit up.....crawling.....walking.....needing me. Rett will be 3....3! on Sunday. Bryn turned 5 in September. I long for more babies in our home. Hopefully someday. But for now, I'm enjoying the 2 I have.

An Early Thanksgiving I guess

It's been a while since a post. I just wanted to post some pics of my kids and my hot wife. Sometimes, when you just take a step back and look at the big picture you realize that life ain't bad. I'm a pretty lucky guy.

Her smile brightens up my cloudy days.

I've been called a lot of things, but my favorite is "Daddy".

Rett decided he wanted to go to the hospital for his asthma. He got a nice, fun ride in the ambulance too.
I guess going through even the hard times makes you realize how strong you really are as a family.

Then there's this gal. There's a good chance she hung the moon. I love her more every single day.

I love you Nin, Rett and Shuga! "How could I not!!" ;)