jaussi's

"Rougin It" 8-4-2010

2010-08-04T09:16:00.000-07:00

After Beau finished taking the bar, he took a week off... as you can see... it was much needed, for all of us.

Beau promised the kids we could go camping... for the first time ever. (our camping trips would consist of a tent in our backyard where Mom would sleep out with the kids, while Dad slept cozy in his bed). So, this is Beau's idea of "roughing" it... a nice two bedroom cabin with all the fixins and river access. Have to admit, it was pretty sweet!
The kids absolutely loved it! Smores were a hit over a real 'campin' fire and not just our grill at home.This is our new family tradition. Smore pancakes! Okay, truth be told... I actually forgot the syrup, so I improvised... turned out amazing (much better than it looks) and now... a new tradition is born.
Brrr! The river was so cold! But felt good once you took the plunge. We had to keep a close eye on the kids... the current was actually pretty strong off a few feet off the dock. They were definitely more adventurous than us with the freezing water. Teagan would freak out about the 'sea weed' as she swam to shore. She hated it touching her legs. It was actually quite hilarious in a cruel kind of way:)

Congrats honey! It was so nice to have a week off after the past few months of stress!

The WASHINGTON BAR IS OVER! 7-29-2010

2010-07-29T08:40:00.000-07:00

He could finally see our home in the light of day! No more leaving at the crack of dawn and getting home in the middle of the night... Hallelujah! Welcome home honey!

What an amazing day! I was so excited to get my husband back and the kids, to get their daddy back! It was brutal to have him gone all hours of everday (except a few hours of sleep) studying so hard and so stressed. What a relief to have it done!!! What a huge accomplishment!
But even more so, was on October 15th, even though we were in the middle of our move to Las Vegas, we found out that HE PASSED! WOO HOO!

Unfortunately, now that we are in Las Vegas and he's working at a wonderful firm here, he has to do it all over again with the Nevada bar. But hey, at least he knows what to expect, has some experience under his belt, and some success to draw on!

Hiawatha Trail 7-19-2010

2010-07-19T08:26:00.000-07:00

My parents were passing through on their baseball trip along the coast, and I met them at Hiawatha trial in Idaho, just a couple of hours from where we lived. (7-19-2010) IT WAS AMAZING!

From the Hiawatha website...
This portion of the Olympian Hiawatha route has been called one of the most breathtaking scenic stretches of railroad in the country. The "crown jewel" of rail-to-trail mountain bicycle trails is operated by Lookout Pass Ski Area which is located adjacent to I-90 at the Idaho/Montana state line, 12 miles east of historic Wallace, Idaho. The Hiawatha Trail is generally open late May through early October. This year the trail is open daily thru September 26, 2010 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. PDT.

Winding through 10 tunnels and 7 high trestles, this 15-mile route crosses the rugged Bitterroot Mountains between Idaho and Montana. The Route of the Hiawatha is best known for the long, dark St. Paul Pass, or Taft Tunnel, which burrows for 1.66 miles under the Idaho/Montana state line.

With an incredible history beginning in 1906 of construction, hardships and calamities, unprecedented electrification, and of carrying passengers and freight from the Northwest to the Midwest, generations of railroaders kept the Milwaukee Road running until it finally went bankrupt in 1977. The last train west of Butte, Montana passed through in 1980. After that the line was abandoned.

With government funding and private donations, the rails were removed, and the construction of this spectacular wilderness bicycle and hiking trail was undertaken in 1997. The Idaho portion of the trail first opened for public use on May 29, 1998. The St. Paul Pass, or Taft Tunnel, was completed in May of 2001, and is now open for bike riding.

Man, it was breathtaking! This is where I told my parents that their 15th grandchild was on their way! Quite picturesque eh?
My behind was 100% done by the end of the 15 miles. Man, every bump sent a shock through my system. Bike riding is definitely something you have to condition your booty for! My mom and I were happy take the bus at the bottom of the hill after a wonderful ride... my Dad, on the other hand, is a maniac and did the whole 15 miles of uphill back! It was a wonderful day!

2010-7 River Park - Spokane

2010-07-09T08:49:00.000-07:00

I couldn't believe that I lived just a couple of minutes from places like this! This was one of the first places that we visited with the ward playgroup when we moved to 5-mile.

The kids were nuts! The water was freezing, but they didn't care... they wanted to be in it the whole time... especially London! She got too daring a couple of times and took a dunk. But yet, she wanted to go right back out!
Some other people there pulled out a huge craw-fish out on the other side of the river! The kids were chasing guppies and digging in the sand/pebbles. We came back here a few times this summer. BEAUTIFUL!

Catching up!

2010-03-04T10:45:00.000-08:00

What more could you ask for on your birthday?! How about getting woken up at 6:15 and going for your second eye surgery? Happy Birthday Teagan! Last week was the pool party, so we had to schedule her for her minor eye surgery (just removing a shalayzian- clogged oil gland in her eye-lid) for her birthday. To try to make up for it, we stopped at McDonald's on the way home and I got her a breakfast sandwich and a ice cream sundae for breakfast... it make it feel a little better :)
Teagan wasn't too excited about the whole process. She's been here before (daddy took her last time... I did this one) so it helped and made it worse... let me explain. The first time she didn't know what was going on or what to expect, so although she was a little scared, it was a little easier to convince her. This time around, she understood. So I could talk her through it a little better, but she was still nervous to even get her temperature taken and told me she didn't want to put the gas mask on her face. Poor little sweetie. I remember thinking, as they pushed her away to surgery, that it is amazing how much trust and confidence we have in our health care professionals. To be able to send your five year old little girl to be put to sleep with a gas mask, then to have her eye lid sliced open... wow! It's a scary to think how much could possibly go wrong! But, to be honest, I wasn't that worried! We are blessed to have a wonderful doctor and nurses that put me (maybe not Teagan:) completely at ease. It's amazing! They did a great job and Teagan, just a couple of hours later, is already all dressed up in her 'cheerleader' outfit (swimsuit, tights, skirt and tennis shoes), is having pillow fights with her brother and is asking every 5 minutes when her birthday party is to be able to open her presents. It's going to be a great day!

This is why I am a mom! Notice the top line... let me translate... I (heart) U MOM. I had to take a picture! She did this one all on her own. the next line... I (heart) U BRD. Hmmm. Not quite sure on that one!

The weather has been so nice! It was almost 60 degrees so we had to get to the park! The kids just went crazy! Cabin fever! The first time at the park, although we have been able to be outside a few times in the backyard already. We only had one big snow storm (4 inches) this year. Quite the contrast from the past 2 winters where we were under at least 2 feet of snow for 5 months! (Isn't London so sweet?!)

SWIM PARTY! We had Teagan (5), Pierson (3), and London's (1) birthday party all together at the YMCA. We got to have dinner, eat cake, then we got all the kids their own balls and squirt guns to take into the pool. So fun! Happy Birthday again!

London's official FIRST BIRTHDAY! She loved her birthday cake!

The Valentines that we made for Teagan's class. Teagan's favorite 'treat' is getting her very own water bottle, so wha-la! Water bottle Valentines, paired with ring pops! Perfect!
2-11-10 (Pre-school Valentine's Day Party)

We had to have a big birthday party for the kids while my mom was here visiting. Man, with three birthdays right in a row, we are going to have a lot of parties! I love when my mom comes to visit!

Teagan did the Gonzaga Dancers Day Camp. We were so proud! She was by far the smallest one out there and she rocked it out! She loved it!

Thanksgiving WEEK!

2009-11-30T10:41:00.000-08:00

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving! We decided to stay home here in Spokane and do our own Thanksgiving. Last year we stayed here, but had a few other law families over. I honestly was worried that we would just be bored and it wouldn't feel any different from any other day since I'm always home with the kids. Well, we planned well and had a great week!

Beau had a class on Tuesday morning from 8-9am, then he was ours the rest of the week! He came home and we all went to the gym together and Beau and I did a TRX class together. LOVE IT! We were both so sore! I also took London to her 9 month appointment. She is in the 3% for weight, so she gets to do monthly weight checks just like her brother and sister. Oh well, I know we feed her well and she is healthy. She is also getting her first tooth! so she hasn't been eating quite as much the past couple of days. Other than that she is great! She didn't even cry when they pricked her finger for a blood test... on the other hand she did cry when she got her flu shots, but only for a second.
After her appointment we came home and picked up Daddy and Teagan and Pierson and headed to one of our favorite family outings... Costco! They are accepting food stamps now, so it's even better for law families! Woo hoo! Beau made a ridiculously good Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake that night. Oh yeah! It's his goal to make a great dessert every night. There wasn't a complaint from me!

On Wednesday, we started cooking for our Thanksgiving feast so we wouldn't be so crammed on Thanksgiving day. We made rolls, cranberry relish, prepared the stuffing, and got the turkey ready for the morning. We went to the dollar show and saw Ponyo with the kids... it was absolutely awful. "it's all for the kids, it's all for the kids..." Beau and I kept saying over and over to get through it. The kids loved it. It really was fun to take them. I finished my denim quilt too. My family helped me get it started in the summer, and now it is complete and we love it. I also hemmed up Pierson's curtains in his room. Beau made toffee that night, but since we didn't have a candy thermometer, it didn't get quite hard enough, but was still yummy.

On Thursday, THANKSGIVING! we got up, stuffed the turkey, and put it in before Beau went to play in the turkey bowl with some of his friends. They are so spoiled here. One of our good friends owns the Shock (arena football team here in spokane) so the past couple years they have been able to have their games at their indoor practice facility. As soon as he got home we got to work. We made a pumpkin pie (YUM!), smashed potatoes with garden vegetable cream cheese, butter and garlic (YUM!), and gravy. After the kids got up from their nap, we made 10 big plates full of all of the food we made and took them around to the homeless around Spokane. We said a prayer before we left giving thanks for all of our blessing and asking for help to find those who are in need. The kids were just beaming when they got to hop out and hand plates of food to people who actually live under a bridge in downtown Spokane (were were right with them too). Teagan kept asking "Why don't they have a house to live in?" It was an amazing teaching experience and we felt so blessed to have a wonderful home to go back to. It was awesome.
When we got home we had our own Turkey Bowl in the backyard. Beau and Pierson vs. Mauressa and Teagan. It was hilarious. The kids got quite into it. It was so fun to start more traditions now that the kids are a little older. After teaching how to play, teaching Teagan how to make intimidating game faces at the other team, and teaching Pierson how to spike the ball down and do a victory dance after scoring a touchdown (hands up, and wobbly knees), we only wished we had someone there to take videos. It was so much fun.
We headed inside and got to eat our Thanksgiving feast. Everything was from scratch and everything was so delicious. We went around the table and everyone said something they were thankful for...
Teagan: My family
Pierson: Jesus
Mommy: Nice house to keep us warm from the cold, a hard working Daddy,and my family
Daddy: family,
While daddy cleaned up we made snowflake ornaments with popsicle sticks and yarn. Teagan did great, and Pierson lasted for a whole 4 minutes! Then it was time for movie night. We watched Merry Madagascar that we got in our Thanksgiving package from Grandma and Grandpa Packard. Then, our friends Polly and Nate came over for dessert and games. The kids watched Sleeping Beauty while we played Farkle. So fun. It was a great day! Beau and I felt a big victory that we did it all by ourselves and it was such a perfect day. The only bummer is that we didn't take too many pictures!

Friday we got to just play all together and relax all day. Ahhh.

Saturday, I taught hip hop at the gym (Teagan comes and takes the 6-11 yr old class even though she's only 4) and then we all went swimming at the gym. Our kids are little fish. Beau was taking them down the slide constantly, and I was guarding London on the beach. She was going nuts just crawling around and splashing. She's so adorable. Teagan loves to wear her goggles and practice her swimming she learned in the summer. Pierson is getting more and more daring. This is such a fun age for all of them. We tried to make the toffee again, but this time we cooked it too long and it was too hard... third time will be a charm!

Sunday we went to a friends Eagle Court of Honor. I was so proud when Beau went up and sat in the Eagles Nest because he received his Eagle when he was that age. Did you know that only about 2% of boys that start scouting actually receive their Eagle? I was so impressed. I hadn't thought to much about it before. The kids were great. It will be so fun when Pierson starts scouting. Beau made a great blueberry custard pie. It's a good thing we don't do this dessert thing all the time, or I'd be 300 pounds!

All in all... it was a perfect week!

Swim Lessons and the Zoo

2009-07-09T09:03:00.000-07:00

2009-07-07T13:05:00.000-07:00

Well, to be honest... Beau and I really are not good at being apart, so this whole California internship has been quite ridiculous. Of course, Beau couldn't even handle to the first 3 week stretch (either could I, but he took the action into his own hands) and after two weeks he surprised us by flying home to Washington the week before we drove down to Utah. So, when June 11th rolled around we were both about to pee our pants with excitement to finally see each other again after another two week absence... what were we thinking!! London and I were so happy to see him (Teagan and Pierson stayed at Grandmas) and we brought him a guitar from us and my parents for his birthday present. Woo hoo! Now he can truly fit in with his long hair, and strumming his guitar (He actually got his hair cut the night before we got there, but still). Happy Birthday Honey!! Now, knowing Beau I knew that we wouldn't be staying at Motel 8 like I would've picked to save money, but even so... imagine my surprise when we pulled up to this place....

Are you kidding me!? The Four Seasons!? As the valet came to pick up our car and they carted off our luggage to deliver our bags to our room Beau reassured me that he got an amazing deal and to not even think about it before I started to hyperventilate. It was absolutely incredible! In all me life I don't think that I will ever stay at a nicer place. I mean look at this!!

We quickly decided that there was no hiding it... we are poor and we weren't going to be able to pretend that it was no big deal to stay at this ridiculous place, so the whole time I was gawking and taking pictures.

This was the view from our balcony. Yup, amazing. I felt like we were in Hawaii or Cancun or something because it was such a dream. It was our way of having a getaway just down the street from where he is working for the summer.

Then, as if the resort wasn't enough, we walk in the door to our suite and a huge vase of Star-gazer Lillies sat on our table with an envelope. Inside was a confirmation for my appointment for a 1 hour 'walk on the beach' massage at 8:30 the next morning. What can I say... my husband loves me!

Even London got her own sweet setup. So cute! I about cried when I saw this.

So after ooh-ing and ahh-ing over everything in site, we changed and went down to the fancy restaurant at the resort for a luxurious dinner that I felt completely under dressed for. We lounged on a puffy couch and fed each other like we were on our honeymoon... except for the fact that London was joining us in her stroller next to us.

We got a couple of crazy appetizers, then these were our entree's... I got the black spaghetti (it was one of the only things that I could pronounce that didn't have sea-food-well kinda) it had chicken and the home-made noodles had just a bit of octopus ink to die them black for a better presentation. Crazy! Aren't they beautiful.

Okay, this had to be in the top 10 best mornings of my life... So our first morning we slept in a bit and then I rushed down to be -the recommended- 20 minutes early to my massage. After arriving I wished I had been at least 30 minutes early. It really was so close to heaven there. They took me back and got me a nice locker with a luxurious bathrobe and slipper. After changing, I had to try out ALL of the amenities. So I sat in the dry sauna for a few minutes, then on to the steam room for a few minutes too. While I was in the steam room, a worker came in and asked if she could spray some eucaliptus in the air for me... ahhh. Minty. After that I lounged for just a minute in the womens lounge and if I had more time I would've used some of the cucumber slices on ice to put on my eyes for the full effect. But, unfortunately it was time for my "Walk of the Beach". I went into the main waiting room (the pictures with all greenery and plum colored couches and sipped on berry infused water. My masseuse came in and escorted me to the room for my massage. The reason why it is called the "walk on the Beach" massage is because they use these big smooth, hot, seashells and then at the end they give your feet at scrub that leaves little bits of grit between your toes as if you just walked on the beach. Needless to say... it was absolutely amazing! The best I have ever had. Afterwards I snuch a few pictures before meeting my massuease outside of the door where she was holding a little tray with ice water and fresh strawberries and a hot rag. Ahhh. This has got to be what heaven feels like. Beau was supposed to meet me after the massage and I saw him as I headed back to the dressing room and told him (eyes all glazed) that I was going to be awhile! I went back and sat in the hot tub for awhile while I ate my chilled strawberries and water. Then I took an extra long shower (for those of you who don't know... my shower time is my very favorite part of the day) and used every scented shampoo, conditioner, body wash, shave cream possible. After my shower I had to use all the amenities in the dressing room... lotions, q-tips, brushes, mouthwash, even razors... weigh myself on the fancy scale, and then after a quick search around and realizing I had experienced everything about this amazing place possible, I finally got dressed and floated back up to our room. Aaah. Then, to my surprise again, Beau had ordered room service and we had a wonderful, relaxing breakfast together. Beau said that the massage was my reward for surviving as a single mom for the past few weeks.

After an nice and relaxing morning, we ventured out to the beach. It was absolutley beautiful. It was a beautiful day, but still a bit chilly for swimming, so we went back and changed and went to a nice mexican restaurant in downtown Carlsbad then to Cold Stone for dessert. We got to watch the sun set over the water.

After having such an amazing experiece with the whole massage experiece we knew that it was a once in a life-time chance for us, so Beau got one the next morning. When he came back from his "Sports" massage he was floating and found that I'd ordered room-service, but after studying the menu, I realized that kids menu was less that half the price, so we dined kids-style... Nemo plates and utinsels and everything. And it turned out to be the perfect portions.

Then after waiting out the rain, we finally got to go the the beach again... this time with our Beach Butler. They drove us down to Ponto Beach where he set up chairs, an umbrella, towels and ice water for us and gave us his card to call when we were finished and ready to come home. Man, this is the way to experience the beach! We are so blessed that London is such a great baby. At three months old, she did so great! She mostly just would eat and sleep and smile at us when we played with her. It was still chilly, we were hesitant to take off our swim suit cover-ups, but we eventually just dove in. It was so much fun!

That night we got all dressed up fancy and went to Vigilucci's Steak and Seafood. Super fancy... again, I couldn't pronounce half of the stuff, but I absolutely loved my Risotto and beef tips. Aren't they so beautiful!

Let Summer Begin!

2009-06-02T20:27:00.000-07:00

You know it is officially summer when the swimming suits and otter pops come out. Man, I ate so many otterpops when I was little.
I remember being so anxious to play outside in the water... especially to jump on the trampoline with water. My mom would always say "Not until it is 80 degrees". That would not come until the very end of May or first of June if we were lucky. There was a time and temperature number that we could call (no quick internet checks) that would tell you...well, the time and temperature. We would call that number 5 times a day, everyday for a month. We would think it was so hot outside and after the call would realize that it would only be like 65 degrees. I swear as a kid, you don't feel the cold! I know that Teagan and Pierson don't seem to mind it at all! It was probably in the upper 70s, maybe 80 all week and they lived in their swimming suits! Summer has officially begun! Woo hoo!
Wow! She is growing up fast. She is already starting to sit up in her bumbo chair... yes, she can only sit up for about 3 minutes, but she's getting stronger!

This was one of Teagan's outfits from when she was a baby and I seriously get deja vu when I have London wear it. She looks exactly like Teagan did! It makes me excited to see how similar they will be as they grow up. Such a happy girl.

Shout out to the So'oto's!

2009-05-26T22:57:00.001-07:00

It doesn't matter that the vast majority of you don't know the people in this picture. All you need to know is these are the nicest people I have ever met. THis is Vic So'oto Sr. and his wife, I won't even try to spell her name.

So I went to church on Sunday. Don't act like your not impressed! After I introduced myself in opening exercises of priesthood I was approached by a man who asked if I had a brother who played at BYU, I said I did and he told me that his son was Landon's roommate. Immediately I could tell that he looked like his son Vic Jr.

This is Vic Jr. by the way, he also is very kind despite his nickname being the Terminator. he just got out of his boot after recovering from a broken foot. Hope all is well and get better soon Vic.

After priesthood Vic Sr. invited me to a family barbeque and of course if you have ever been to any function that involves Polynesian people and food, you know that you have to go because the food will be incredible and their will be plenty of it. So I happily accepted his invitation and we journeyed to the barbeque after church.

Like I predicted the food was amazing and I absolutely ate to much. So while I was there I met Junior Seau, he is Vic Sr.'s cousin. Just in case your not sure of who Junior Seau is this is him:

Of course I forgot my camera in my car and there is no way that I am asking for a picture with my phone. Plus I was the only white guy at this function so I tried to be as inconspicuous as possible. No, but seriously everyone was great and I had a fantastic time.

So now onto why I think the So'oto's are the kindest people in the world. I was leaving the barbeque with Vic and we were talking about the plans of my summer and I told him that I wouldn't be seeing my family for any extended period of time. He then, out of the blue, offered to let me and Reese and the kids stay at his home for 10 days in July while he and his wife travel to Utah to attend Vic Jr.'s wedding. Of course I accepted and Reese bought tickets that night.

So major thank you's to the So'oto's!

My life in Carlsbad

2009-05-24T07:54:00.000-07:00

Here is the much anticipated sequal to the critically acclaimed," The trip of a lifetimeS." So I feel conflicted here in Carlsbad/Oceanside. Growing up in Texas you were a Texasn first, second, and last. That's just what it was, "Where are your ancestors from?", "Oh, their from west Plano." No one would question that because it was the truth.

Here everyone is just doing their own thing. California is just a place where you live, its not where you are, or where your from. The people also just mind their ow business, which is nether good or bad, their just apathetic. Overall I've had a good first week. My co-workers are awesome. I told my group of friends at school that its like working with them. Only their is a few more f-bombs. Other than that its pretty much spot on. We work, talk sport, work, talk movies, work, eat....and on and on it goes. Working with these guys is a great experience.

Speaking of work, here is where the magic happens:

Its kind of tricky to find because the entrance to the complex isn't on the road that the address lists. SO the first morning of work I was up by 6, but didn't have to be in until 10. I left the house around 9 just to give myself enough time, well of course I couldn't find it and ended up walking in with 1 minute to spare. HIRE ME!

This is the place where I'm living. Its cool, but the neighbors are nuts. The other night I ran out to get some milk from the store and as I was getting into my car I heard shut the ___ up! Don't ___ talking to me! Get the ___ out of my garage! If you want a realistic experience don't put the word "sunshine" in there.

The way we get into the house is through the garage door. The key pad is on the left hand side of the garage. Well my 2nd day of work I walked out, and having to be in at 9 this time I left at 830. It's a 10 minute drive, so I needed to give myself plenty of time. HIRE ME! Well I typed in the code and started to walk to my car when the garage stopped halfway down and then re-opened. I looked and nothing seemed to be blacking the sensors so i tried it again and still it went half-way down and then re-opened. Needless to say I once again walked into work with a minute to spare. I am ambitious and a go getter.

Oh yeah I'm also sleeping on the bottom bunk of bunk-bed's. Every time my roomie hops on to the top bunk I just know that this is going to happen.

Of course it will all happen right after our aerobics class. (Hat tip to Shay).

So yesterday I had nothing to do, like most days after work and I decided to go to the beach. I was told it would be absolutely packed but since I don't have much experience at the beach I couldn't tell the difference between a packed and unpacked beach.

It was awesome. The water as a bit cold to begin with but then I was numb and body-surfed for about an hour until I was about a 1/4 mile down from where I started. Here's the thing about the beach, it seems to bring out the super model in all women. Its like hey going to the beach, gotta grab my spaghettis strap bikini. Oh. My. Gosh. Apparently they don't sell on piece swimsuits in Souther California. Please, ladies, some self awareness, for the love of everything that is holy.

Oh and here is me at the beach. After I took this picture the lady said oh you must be LDS:

The Journey of a lifetimeS

2009-05-20T15:55:00.000-07:00

Well I know that several of you are waiting with baited breath for the details about how my trip went. I found out that the place I'm staying doesn't have an internet connection, or A/C, but its a mile from the beach and so it all works out.

So I have to tell you that leaving my family was awful. I mean seriously look at those kids, how could anyone want to be away from them...whatever Mauressa is saying about the experience she is having needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

By the way, Reese has put alot of pressure on me to perform in my posts. She wants them funny. I hope I don't screw it up.

So the night before I was going to leave I was like "Alright I'm up the and out the door by 7 a.m., gonna get a good nights sleep and be awake and refreshed!" As midnight approached I realized that this goal was more likel than not unrealistic. So I slept in as much as the kids would let me and then Teagan slept in longer than that and I didn't end up leaving until like 9.

Here we are in one last family shot until the 4th of july weekend.

Look how low the back tires of my car are, that thing is completely packed... obviously. I grabbed every piece of sporting goods equipment I had and then started on the clothes.

So as I was leaving and Reese was crying, and I was a little emotional I thought, what is the one thing to help make me feel better? It's not go back to my family (got to get to Carlsbad). A maple bar from Mike's donuts. One last hurrah before I head out and don't get the chance to taste the sweet tender goodness of the maple bar for a whole summer. I love this place, its like Cheers but with out the bad acting and beer.

So as I was driving I thought it would be cool to take pictures of every state sign and my thoughts as I was driving at that point.

I was like, Holy crap I've only gone like 10 miles. Do you realize how fast your music on your iPod gets old. I have over 20 hours of music and by Post Falls I was bored out of my mind!

Then I hit Montana:

For those of you who don't know I served my mission in Montana, and on my mission I thought it was the best place in the whole world (say this like the guy in Nacho Libre who tells Nacho that he hates all the orphans in the whole world.) Driving back through I believe that God created Montana by accident. Also I grew up in Idaho and we had to do a report on the state in 3rd grade, Mrs. Pelitier's class, where we ahd to draw the state of Idaho. So I'm drawing mine and the hottest girl in the class comes up to me, a girl by the name of Stephanie (who I bet didn't turn out as hot as she was in thrid grade)...anyways, for those of you who don't know pretty mich from 1-21 I was a complete dork, and when this girl started talking to me I just stood and nodded. She said that Idaho was supposed to be bigger than Montana but the national surveyors (she probably didn't use that word cause lets be honest she was in third grade and I to this day don't use that word) used the wrong river to mark the boundaries. So i nodded and totally believed her, why wouldn't I she was hot! For whatever reason I remember that story. I don't know if what she told me was true, but its funny that hot girls can say most anything and guys will believe them.

I stopped in Butte to see a family that I served around and while I was driving through I just couldn't believe what a dump Butte is, its awful. The fact that I had baptisms there is a testament to the existence of miracles (not because I had baptisms but because there was anyone to teach and baptize)

So I get through Montana and I'm back to Idaho, its how it happens I didn't turn around but if you have made the dirve this is the place to turn around cause it is ugly!

So I was pretty low on fuel at this point, but thought I had plenty of exits to take advantage of the bounteous gas stations that surely thrive in the eastern part of Idaho. I. am. an. idiot.

My gas light came on, and it was still another 8 miles to the nearest exit. As I get near that exit a sign politely informs me that there are no services and I am 10 miles from the next exit. I as planning on venturing of the path to California to see my brother Dallas, so I thought no problem the next exit is the one I am suppose to take and surely there is a gas station. No. Why should there be one? I mean its not like people drive cars in this part of Idaho. SO I pass that exit, and another sign obviously placed to inform me of my stupid decision, tells me that my next exit is 10 miles away. At this poitn I call Reese and tell her I might be in trouble and ask her to say a quick prayer for me; I'm in the middle of nowhere, there's probably a bunch of mormon's around and who knows what they would do to me (help me most likely). She says she will and tells me later that she prayed that I would learn my lesson.

So now I'm praying that I can make it...and I do. My car has a 10 gallon tank.

My car stalls as I pull into the gas station with me shouting praises and promising never to do something stupid again. I have already broken that promise I'm sure but I have tried to keep it. I will never by another brand of car. I'm a Honda man for life yo!

So then I double back and hit Rexburg to see Dallas. I wen to school at Ricks (pre-BYU-Idaho) and while I was there nearly every sentence that I said to Dallas started with the phrase, When I was here (I'm so lame). Dallas had a soccer game and so I took a picture of him playing soccer with his sweet hair cut. He played another team, not his haircut. Dallas' team won in a shoot out.

While I was kicking it in Rexburg I had to stop by Rocklin and see the old place. Rocklin 214 was freakin awesome. I had my two best friends living with me, even though at the time I hated one of them for some still unexplained reason, and we had three cousins who were all RM's, it was a blast.

Rocklin 214, where the magic happened.

So I took off after seeing Dallas and headed to Utah, I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the Utah sign as it was dark when I crossed the boarder, but I knew exactly the second I crossed the border because suddenly had on jorts, sandals with socks, and a braided belt...weird.

I was able to stay the night at the in-laws place. Thank you Jeffs!

So after leaving Brigham City (awesome!)(sarcasm!) I headed down to Provo to stay with Landon,my other brother. On my way own I get a call from Landon that he isn't in Provo but at some girls place in Salt Lake. He asks if he can pick up him and his friend. So Landon hung out with some random girl the night before with his firend, and their ride ditched them. If it wasn't for me he would probably still be there 5 days later. I am an answer to a prayer!

So we get to Landon's apartment and we throw on our ball gear and go play basketball. Landon's ward has reserved a gym for ball and the one thing he said to me as we were on our way was "Don't embarrass me" What an idiot. Obviously he doesn't know that I play three days a week at Average Joes gym in the Valley! Of course his ward doesn't show up so we play 2 on 2 with some guys, lose, and head back to his place to get ready for a round of golf. So I head upstairs to toss me stuff on his bed come back to the basement and what do I find after only being out of his sight for like 20 seconds?

Some things never change.

I was able to get us a tee time at a golf course called Sleepy Ridge, and luckily for us Tiger Woods was able to join us for a round of golf. What? Are you waiting for a joke or a punch line....cricket, cricket....blink, blink....blink.

Okay so Tiger Woods didn't come and play golf with us, and neither did his sister (Goonies!) But Levi Adams did, and he did a heck of a job impersonating Tiger, he was awesome, played his best round ever. Me and Landon had fun and I beat him by a stroke.

As I was driving back to Landon's apartment I realized that Reese's old apartment is right on the way. We totally made out alot at her apartments. Alot. What?! We didn't see each other for like 3 weeks at a time!

I left early Sunday from Utah and headed down to California. As I got to the border of Nevada I started to think about who the heck actually built the freeway I was driving on? And how did they get assigned to the 7th circle of hell? Wsa it like a mission call where the entire family was gathered around and when he opened it and read it everyone cheered but deep down he was upset. I mean who eve knew that they had a freeway in Nevada! (I loved my mission, seriously)

Oh and just in case the GIANT sign welcoming you to Nevada wasn't enough to convince you that you actually were in Nevada, they threw up a second sign that made it official.

Vegas, a stop on the greatest Mormon road trip. of. all. time. And the birth place of one Tyson Dobbs!

So I didn't see a sign for entering California, so i took a picture of this:

Which is a better sign of things to come. California is awful. I drove through death valley and it was hot and ugly. Barstow is a hole, and the agricultural inspection stations they have are a joke. I was stopped at a booth, after being in back up traffic in 100 degree heat for 5 miles, and asked if I had any fruit. What? Are you serious? If I wanted to seriously do some damage I could just tell the guy no I didn't and be on my way. He totally took me for my word. This could seriously lead to a big problem if someone wanted to sneak some bad fruit in. I smell a season of 24 coming up!

Well I actually made it to Carlsbad. After 22 hours of driving and alot of miles I made it. It was hot, cold, sunny, cloudy, and overall...eh.

But this totally makes up for it...

DANCE RECITAL!

2009-05-19T07:45:00.000-07:00

"Beyond the Sea"- She loved this one. We turned on the music and just danced around with the tubes and paddles to choreograph it. It turned out so cute!
"Kiss the Girl"- The girls loved blowing a ton of kisses at the end, and kicking their legs like they were swimming on the grounds. There's a partner part where they hold hands and skip around each other... well, Teagan and Ella started going faster and faster and just giggling and they ended up falling into the curtains on the back of the stage. I held my breath waiting for Teagan to start crying, but she just popped right up laughing and they found their way back to their places to continue dancing.
I love this picture! It truly captures the essence of 3 yr old dance (Teagan is the only 4 yr. old in there). I had a couple of crying girls at pictures and dress rehearsal, but they all did great at the recital!
Yes, she only has one ballet shoe. She was playing in them earlier and only packed one in her dance bag, so we thought that we should take a picture for memory sake. Goofy smile!
"All in a Golden Afternoon"- in this dance all my 3 yr. olds started out hiding in flower pots that we made. I came out and watered them with a watering pale and they started to 'grow'. They danced in their pots, and then came out in front to show off their sweet little costumes. I have to admit... for only charging $30 for 2 costumes for each of the classes... I think they turned out pretty darn good! and Beau took all the pictures (he did a GREAT job) and we posted them on photobucket so they got them for free!

These are my other classes that Teagan is not in. So cute!

Just a heads up

2009-05-16T18:39:00.000-07:00

I will be blogging my experience this summer in Carlsbad. I plan on doing a couple of posts a week. So keep checking back.

This is Beau by the way. Just in case you thought it was Mauressa, which would be crazy cause that would mean that I would be in Spokane with the kids by myself. That would not last very long.

Blessing Day Visitors!

2009-05-08T15:41:00.000-07:00

Beau's father came over from Port Angeles for London's baby blessing. It was nice have him with us for the day. The kids absolutely love Nala (his dog) too!
Beau's parents (Grandma and Grandpa Packard) came for the blessing and got to stay for a whole week! We had so much fun. Unfortunately, it was a couple of weeks before finals, so Beau could not miss school and could not cut down too much on his study time. The kids favorite activity was making bubbles with Grandpa Packard and blowing them all over the park. I felt bad... they are such amazing and busy people that I hope they weren't too bored spending the week hanging out with us and our nap-times, early bed-times, and having to feed little London every three hours. We had so much fun with them and the kids still talk about it and beg for us to go to their house in Texas to swim in their pool. Soon... we will see them in Utah in July, and then we are visiting Texas at the end of August.

2 DOWN 1 TO GO!

2009-05-07T16:09:00.000-07:00

Congratulations on making it through your second year honey! The kids were waiting to welcome him home after his last final. Only one more year to go! Woo hoo!

I bow down to Reese's sports knowledge

2009-04-20T15:17:00.000-07:00

Had I only known that Reese was holding out on me I would have proposed after only 3 days instead of waiting the entire 5 days.

For those of you who don't know, Reese is a sports bully. Oh, she may play all coy like she thought that the Cowboys were on when BYU was playing, or that she can't effectively explain the flex dribble-drive offense, but she can beat you down with your sportsness.

This past NCAA tournament, the guys all thought it would be cool to show how awesome we were at sports by having our wives enter into a bracket pool with us. Inside this chlanege we were sure that our wives would realize why they fell in love with us all over again as we flexed our sports knowledge like Gaston in Beauty and the Beast. They would swoon as team after team we picked would advance on through the tourney and as it increased our rankings in the challenge it would only increase their love for us.

However this was not to be, indeed it was like Beauty and Beast, only we weren't Gaston flexing our muscle and we weren't the Beast with a happy ending. The last Rose petal fell and the Belle's just took our dignity and threw the rose in the trash as they looked down on us in their high tower.

Reese took third place out of 18 people participating and I took 15. not 1/5, but 15, as in; "Man next year when I'm 16 I'm going to go on so many dates, yet I'm only 15 and life sucks right now." Reese did awesome, she picked the championship game correctly by having Michigan State make a cinderella run all the way to the finals. She was the only one to get the championship contenders correct in our pool and had the Spartans prevailed, Reese would have won the whole thing. Instead another wife won and 4 out of the top 5 finishers were wives.

So congrats to my wife, she is the sports bully in our house and as such is completely awesome, and hot. I mean like really hot, no seriously, she's hot, and I love her; not only because she is hot but it certainly helps.

BLESSING DAY

2009-04-19T18:40:00.000-07:00

ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY!

Pierson has had to do some adjusting getting used to sharing the spotlight.

London in her sweet blessing dress... the same one that Teagan wore on her blessing day.

It is such a wonderful blessing for the father's to be able to bless the new babies with the power of the Priesthood. I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful husband that loves his children as much as I do. It helps me to feel closer to my Heavenly Father to know that he feels the same love for me as his daughter as we feel for London. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful blessing.

EASTER

2009-04-12T18:08:00.000-07:00

This picture captures Easter perfectly... it rained all day, so we did a quick hunt with all the kids while I chased them around with a camera. It was FREEZING!

SOFTBALL

2009-04-11T18:28:00.000-07:00

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!

2009-04-02T15:05:00.000-07:00

Are you kidding me! It's April 2nd! It is supposed to be spring! We got a big snow storm last night and busted out the snow gear yet again. I have such a love/hate relationship with Spokane. I don't mind the snow for a couple months, and the falls, springs, and summers here are awesome, but unfortunately for the two winters that we've been up here have been out-of-the-ordinary, ridiculously long! I'm talking almost 6 month! Where is SPRING!

Already behind!

2009-04-02T15:00:00.000-07:00

I'm already feeling bad... they say that you take fewer and fewer pictures the more kids you have, well, it is true. She is growing so fast and I already feel like I've missed taking pictures of so much! I can't believe that she will be 6 weeks tomorrow! She is doing great! She is starting to look all around and move her head to look where noise and lights are coming from. She smiled at me two days ago! Twice! Well, I haven't seen one since, but they were actual smiles! She's sleeping at least 5 hours a night, usually 5 1/2 to 6 1/2. Hallelujah! She's such a sweetheart. and man, she still hasn't stopped her big grunting. She is making more and more cooing sounds though, which I love. I love you London!

B-day party with G-ma and G-pa

2009-04-02T14:51:00.000-07:00

While my parents were in town helping with the kids while I was having London and recovering, we had a birthday party for Teagan and Pierson and London. They are all within a month of each other. The big presents were a hit. Pierson absolutely loves his basketball hoop, and they both fight over the mini-trampoline (in the background). What fun presents! I couldn't have made it without my parents help for the first week. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TEAGAN! 4 YRS. OLD!

2009-04-02T14:31:00.000-07:00

Don't make fun... I was pretty proud of Teagan's little 'purse cake' I made. Teagan has an obsession with purses, bags, boxes, anything that she can throw toy and junk into and carry around. We've found that no matter what we get her, if it is small enough to fit in her purse, she doesn't even play with it... just gets a kick out of carrying it around. Hey, takes the pressure off of us when picking stuff our for her! Therefore she loved her cake... at least the idea of it... Teagan actually doesn't like cake or cupcakes or frosting. Strange huh?
This is how she got her presents. I ordered a ton of diapers and they came in this huge box, so I filled it with shredded paper and threw her wrapped present all inside. Man, she had a hay day jumping in and digging around. Her favorite present by a mile had to be the piggy bank that daddy got her. She's been asking for one ever since we saw one at the dollar store when we were shopping for Pierson' birthday a month ago. That was her only request. Between Beau and I, we had to have hit 5 different stores trying to find one. Wha-la! A beautiful, ceramic :( piggy (not a plastic one for miles!).
Pierson tried to sneak a bite of cake when we weren't looking, but the evidence was all over his face.

Teagan loved her package from G-ma and G-pa in Texas. She loves to listen to the music and follow along in her books. Her favorite song is the rap, "The Rules of the Classroom."
London's first real Birthday party, other than her own:) Woo hoo!

Teagan's 4th B-day Party!

2009-04-02T14:15:00.001-07:00

I can't tell you how excited Teagan has been to go to Chuck E. Cheese's for her birthday. Ever since her dad told her that they were building a Chuck E. Cheese by our house she has been talking about and planning her birthday party. (Which is funny, because she's only been there once... in Idaho over a year ago...) I think it was such a build up, that when she first saw Chuck E. Cheese (the Chuck E. Cheese) she was so excited to run up to him and give him a big hug. Unfortunately, there were paying customers (I guess you can pay extra to have Chuck E. come sing and dance with you for your birthday) getting all of the attention and when Teagan couldn't even get him to look at her until he was done she just broke down. She looked at us with tear filled eyes and when Beau picked her up she just started bawling. It was so cute. She's so sensitive. Luckily, daddy saved the day and was able to get her some time with the big mouse for pictures, and even a little dance. She was in heaven.
Teagan was so sad when Chuck E. Cheese didn't tell her happy birthday like he did the other little girl.
I can't believe my little girl is 4! We had a great time at Chuck E. Cheese's. The kids loved the rides. I think they felt so grown up carrying around the 'money' and putting it in the machines. They especially loved all the different kids of cars that would just bounce around. Pierson sat in the jeep for a good 15 minutes at least riding that thing. He'd ride it, then when it would stop he's just start yelling "DA DA! DA DA!" with his hand stretched out to get more tokens and Beau would race over from wherever he was helping Teagan. It was pretty darn funny to watch. Beau bought so many tokens, and the workers there kept giving me more that were left on the table, so we 'smuggled' out our left-overs (over 60 tokens) and they headed back the next week to finish them off. London was quite the party animal! Okay, she was only a couple of weeks old so she just slept the whole time, but I sure appreciated getting out other than just doing errands. It was a fun day.

London Slide Show

2009-03-22T20:34:00.000-07:00

London Jaussi from michelle sidles on Vimeo.

London McKay (14 days old)

2009-03-18T16:49:00.000-07:00

We did yet another photo shoot... this time for London at 14 days old. Isn't she sweet! She got some cute shots of the kids too. She was so tired at the beginning that I'm surprised that we got a few good ones with her eyes open. She has been such a sweet baby. Her nightime sleeping schedule has been pretty spiratic, but I'm sure that it is due to the fact that I can't keep her on a strict sleep and wake-time schedule to get her days and nights straight now that I'm back to teaching six classes a week and taking her with me to the gym, not to mention the fact that she has a 2 year old brother and a 4 year old sister... phew! We have fun! She usually sleeps at least 4 1/2 hours at night, so I can't complain too much, but we're working to get it to a full night. She is our big-time grunter! She grunts all the time. Especially when we wrap her up and she isn't quite to the go-to-sleep calm stage. That is one of the reasons why she is already in her crib, sharing a room with Pierson. We just couldn't sleep! She does all the sweet little squeeks and she really does have the cutest, yet saddest, little cry. She rarely cries actually... she's just a sweetheart and loves to be held. She's just starting to make eye contact and it is so fun. She looks exactly like Teagan did when she was a tiny baby. We will have to label our pictures carefully!

Sneak Peak

2009-03-15T17:06:00.001-07:00

So, we haven't got our pictures back from London's two week photo shoot, but the photographer is giving a sneak peak on her blog... take a look. and if you are looking for a photographer... she has done great!

michellesidles.blogspot.com

Details on the delivery

2009-02-26T14:42:00.000-08:00

Okay, for my memories sake, I thought that I should record the time line of the big event... It will be short because everything happened so quickly!

1:00pm- checked into the hospital, paperwork, IV
2:10- started the pitocen
3:30- they broke my water
4:15- Epidural... ahh.
5:59- She was born in only two pushes. Beau realized that she was almost here and hurried to call my parents so they could bring the kids to see her. I had to tell him to hang up the phone because she was coming right now!

6lbs. 12 oz.
18.5 inches long
Full head of black hair

She is such a sweetheart. My parents got here the night before to help watch the kids. We were planning on going in at 6am on Friday, but got a call from the doctor on Thursday night telling us that the hospital was booked and that all elective births had to be put on hold and that they'd call us when something opened up. After that news we were pretty bummed (Beau especially... that meant he had to go to class:) so Beau took us all to IHOP for dinner (we ate there right before I went into labor with Teagan). I called the hospital the next morning and they said that it was so crazy and that if they couldn't get us in that day that I'd for sure get in sometime that weekend. I was about to die. Man, all this prep! So, we got all ready and my mom and I took the kids and went shopping while my Dad went to the gym to work out and we met up at the mall for lunch. I got a call at 11:30 saying that they'd have a room ready for me at 1:00pm. Woo hoo! We ate quick and rushed home to get ready. Beau rushed home from school, and that's where the time-line begins. Phew! It all went so quickly, especially because we were so into watching the second season of Friday Night Lights during practically the whole labor. Such a great show. It's great to have something to take your mind off of the pain! It was a great day!

Our Little Dolly

2009-02-26T14:26:00.000-08:00

So, London is so tiny that none of the baby clothes that we have for her fit yet. Well, Teagan has a couple of dresses that came with little dresses that match for her dolly to wear, and guess what? Perfect size for London. We had so much fun playing dress ups (London did not enjoy it quite as much as we did:)

She's been doing great! We were so excited that last night she ate at 9:00 then 1:30, then 5:45! Woo hoo! Hopefully it's just up from here!

I forget the toll that it takes on my body. My recovery is going extremely well since I had such an easy delivery. I just forget about all the after pains, engorgement, internal organ repositioning, sleep deprivation, nursing pains and all that fun stuff. But hey, to be honest... I think I hit the peak of it all yesterday and I'm on my way back to normalcy. It was such a blessing to have my parents stay with us for a week to help out, and especially keep the kids entertained. It's going to be a fun new adventure now that we're on our own again. I'm excited though, everything is going to be wonderful. We love our new little angel. Teagan is her second mother already and Pierson just can't resist mauling her out of love ("baby! baby!") every time he sees her... yes, we have to keep a close eye on him and we are trying to teach him to be softer. Our home is filled with love... and chaos, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

London's first photo shoot

2009-02-22T19:43:00.001-08:00

London McKay

2009-02-20T20:14:00.000-08:00

London McKay was born at 5:59 on Friday, February 20.

She is 6.12 lbs and 18.5 inches.

Reese did absolutely amazing. We went in at 1, and they got her started by 2 on the potosin and by 6 out she came. Reese only needed to push 3 times, she was great.

Teagan and Pierson were absolutely amazed by her. Pierson kept on telling us to be quiet (shhhhhh), and Teagan sang London a song that she made up just for her.

Thanks to everyone for the kind words and for all the support.

Maternity and Family Photo Shoot

2009-02-18T14:42:00.001-08:00

One of my friends at the gym took some maternity and family pictures for us and here are a few of my favorites. Aren't they beautiful! If anyone needs a photographer, check out michellesidles.blogspot.com. She did a wonderful job.

2009-02-06T15:26:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PIERSON! 2 YEARS OLD!

2009-02-05T15:32:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness! Time flies! I can't believe my baby boy is two years old! He still seems like my baby. I guess that feeling will change when London is born. He'll seem so huge! At his Dr. appointment he was still in the 95% for his height, and 50% for weight. Tall, thin, but big boy! And man is he a BOY! He loves trucks and tractors (he has to point out each truck and semi to me whenever we drive in the car). He could stay entertained for hours just throwing his play balls around and chasing after them. His favorite word right now is basketball "ba-ket'bowl" (every ball is a ba-ket-bowl). He loves to growl and wrestle with his sister and daddy, and well, he tries to wrestle with everyone... yeah, that's got him a couple of time-outs at the child care at the gym. He just loves to rough house. And yes, he loves to beat up on his big sister (big being a term of age- Teagan only outweighs him by a quarter of a pound and she is 2 yrs. older). Luckily, or unluckily, she can hold her own for now. He is very affectionate. He loves to give big hugs and multiple kisses. He still is not talking much at all. I pray everyday for that to start (okay, slight exaggeration) so that he won't have to just yell "MOM!" and jibberish at me all day. He'll answer and say "shesh" for yes to questions. He is very emotional for the good and the bad. Almost every night before bedtime he has to bring out his big tonka truck and race it back and forth from the living room to the kitchen for at least 10 minutes, yelling his jibberish, and (my favorite) jumping on two feet across the floor. Hey, it wears him out a little bit more for bedtime!
He had a bit of a hard time transitioning to his big boy bed because we had to keep the crib in his room for new baby London. He sure loves his crib and would point to it saying "baby's" and cry to sleep in it. I tried to change the crib bedding to hot pink and navy girly stuff to try and make it not seem like the same bed, but we'd still find him in the morning inside. He can climb in and not climb out, so it was kind of hard for us to let it go too, because we could make him stay in bed longer when he was trapped! Now he gets up early and wakes us up, or goes downstairs and wakes up Teagan. But luckily that attachment only lasted a couple of weeks. We wanted to get him over that so we wouldn't find him doing him front flip into the crib with little London there to break his fall (although, I wouldn't be suprised if he still wanted to get in to be with his baby sister).

PIERSON'S VOCABULARY (these are the words he says completely on his own without us having to have him repeat after us.)
Choo Choo- (trains, he loves trains)
Choo Choo Bus (his newest name for trains, he likes to scream this one out)
uh uh- (you know... meaning no)
Mine- (of course, the two year old favorite)
EEse- Please
Tee tee- Teagan
Dada- Dad
Mama- Mom
a dis?- What's this?
oh- I know this isn't much of a word, but he always says that after he asks a question like he
completely understands
atch dis- Watch this
Baby-
No- can't forget that one
ba'ket ball- his favorite... basketball
Hi
Bye

I think that is about it. It seems like most of the time when Pierson is talking he talks in a gruff, forced voice. It is hilarious. Oh well, he'll catch up soon!

Me and my good friend Kristi took the kids to the little playground in the mall for his birthday during the day. He loved running around and wrestling with the kids (yes, I had to break them up and apologize. He just wants to play with them, but most of the kids just start crying instead of playing along). Then we had a little birthday party for him that night when daddy got home. Teagan got to help pick out a couple of toys for him at the dollar store, and mommy got to give the always fun needed clothes (jeans). He loved his new trucks and loved his cake that Teagan helped me decorate. Good times. Teagan is so anxious for her birthday now!

London McKay

2009-01-29T15:09:00.000-08:00

This is the unfortunate status of 99% of my maternity clothes... they are too short to cover my huge belly! And yes, they are full-blown maternity clothes made for big bellies! I get comments everyday that I look like I'm going to pop and have looked ready to deliver for at least a month. Ah, that's always good to hear. I know... I'M HUGE!

So, I'm pretty bummed... I got an ultrasound at 36 weeks and we got a few great shots of little London. Unfortunately when the Doctor put them on a cd for me, this is the one that actually copied onto it, and it isn't one of the good ones. You can see her little face, but the reason why it's a little bit blurry is because her umbilical cord goes up right by her nose, covering a lot of her face. She was wiggly and looked like she was chewing on something during the ultrasound. The Doctor even said that she is already practicing breathing. Isn't that amazing!? Who knew babies 'practiced' even before they have air to breath! He took the machine an put it right up at the very top of my belly (above my ribs even) and, it was so funny, her little foot was right up flat against the top, as if she were standing upside-down in my belly. Yes, yes... I know that foot well... it's the one that's always kicking and doing ronde jambes inside of me (that's a ballet term meaning around the leg where your foot makes a big half circle extended with a straight leg- in other words, we see that foot pushing my belly out from one side of me to the other). I think it's amazing to feel and see, but Beau is just anxious to hold her in his arms... he says it's a little too weird and alien-ish for him to feel and see her move inside of me. According to the measurements, she is already about 6 pounds! Everything looks great and we are getting even more excited.

Vote for Dallas

2009-01-27T10:28:00.000-08:00

In my last post I didn't link to the site that allows you to vote.

As a general rule all those who visit this blog must vote.

Here is the site: Sounders Super Search

If you know Dallas you know that this has been his goal for as long as he has had two legs, which to my knowledge, he has had two legs since the day he was born. So you connect the dots.

Take the time to vote, I know that he would appreciate it.

Sounders FC Super Search

2009-01-25T20:01:00.000-08:00

So normally I'm not a soccer guy. I can appreciate the skill and athleticism that the players possess, but all in all I would rather watch and play alot of other things before soccer.

My brother Dallas on the other hand (who happens to be single, just going to throw that out there), is obsessed with soccer. He's played it all his life, and has done it really well too. He's good enough to have been selected as on of 10 finalists, out of 600 original contenders, for the Seattle Sounders FC Super Search. The winner of the tryout will get a spot on the teams roster.

Anyways, I'm pretty pumped for my brother. He's always worked so hard at this and now he has the chance to fulfill a life long dream.

Here is the King 5 website with his video:

Dallas video

What can I say the camera loves me!

So good for him.

The Wylie News has also done a piece on Dallas and Landon, and how they have both taken their talents to the next level.

So I was discussing all of these accolades that Dallas and Landon have received recently with some of my friends at school. One of the more observant friends I have, Levi Adams, made a great comparison. If me and Dallas and Landon were all the Manning brothers I would be Cooper Manning. If your saying who, then the joke has been successful.

Eli and Peyton, the famous Manning brothers..I couldn't find a picture of all three, which further adds to the joke.

Anyways, I'm Cooper, the one thing that I do have on both Dallas and Landon, is a wife and not only that I have a hot one.

So point to Cooper.

Anyways good luck Dallas, we'll be there in Seattle this Sunday to cheer you on.

I'm bringing some of my friends along and we're going to do something like this:

If Dallas doesn't win, you can expect something like this to happen

I'm just saying.

Fun with the Family

2008-12-30T14:42:00.000-08:00

Jeffs' Annual "As Much as Ya Wanna, run" and Santa

2008-12-27T14:24:00.000-08:00

Jeffs Extended Family Christmas Party

2008-12-26T14:19:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day!

2008-12-25T14:01:00.000-08:00

Good Morning! It's Christmas! I was suprised that Pierson got so excited and kept pointing to Santa while we were spying on him early in the morning saying "Danta, Danta!" He even said it in a whisper too!
We got lucky this year again. Daddy hear Santa bringing us presents and woke us all up to spy on him. It was 6:00 am, but the kids were wide awake pretty quick with excitement. We hid behind the couch a got to see him bring in 2 bags full of presents. The kids must have been really good this year!

Teagan was so nervous to get caught his year. I got in big trouble for taking pictures. "Mommy, stop... you'll scare Santa away!" It was so cute!

The kids about died when we came out after Santa left. Teagan had a big doll house and Pierson had a big Tonka Truck that just had big bows on them. So their eyes were huge when they got to see them. Pierson was hooked. He just wanted to play with it the rest of the morning. He didn't want to reallly unwrap anything else! Teagan on the other hand was having a hay day! She couldn't stop to look at the things she was unwrapping until she had everything open. Teagan got mostly new clothes since she his getting to the 4T size. She got educational games, a doll house with a bunch of furniture, Chutes and Ladders, Tinkerbell the movie, and "Glasses to drink out of"- her special request to Santa. Pierson got the big Tonka truck, 2 different Mr. Potato Heads, toy cars, foam letters for the tub, and a puch bag (the kind that blow up and rebound when you hit them... he loves it!). Beau got some clothes and a new winter coat, I got some wonderful maternity clothes and Beau got me a wonderful new fancy camera. It was a wonderful Christmas.

Teagan was so excited to give daddy the tie that she picked out for him. We talked a lot about the Savior's birth for the whole month and about the importance of charity and giving. I think Teagan is getting smarter and smarter and really is starting to understand and remember our little lessons in FHE and from everyday life. She's a sweetheart.

Christmas Eve!

2008-12-24T13:57:00.000-08:00

Woo hoo! Movie night!

Teagan took a lot of pride in her special work for Santa. She was quite protective of them. Daddy got in big trouble for trying to sneak one. She put together a whole plate of cookies and treats, and even a plate of carrots and snap peas for Santa's reindeer.

Pierson was better at eating the decorated graham cracker and treats, then helping put them together.

Christmas Eve was a bunch of fun. We hit the gym like normal, had early naps, then we met up with daddy for a nice dinner. We went to a nice Steak House (that's how much I love my husband). The kids did well with their macaroni and cheese of course, and me with my chicken. Then, we came home, decorated cookies for Santa, got to open an early present (pajamas) and then we had family movie night. Teagan was so excited. It's fun that she remembers last year and can look forward to Christmas morning.

Sledding!

2008-12-23T13:47:00.000-08:00

Sledding was such a blast! I remembered last year that Teagan only went a few times and Pierson panicked at the sight of the sled, so I wasn't sure what to expect. They both absolutely loved it and would've spent all day going up and down the hills. Teagan loved going down all by herself. Pierson actually liked it too, but would end up slowing to a stop in the powder along the runs. We'd yell out "Pierson, lay down!" to try to get him to keep him moving down the hill, but he'd lay down and still come to a dead halt. It was hilarious. The most fun was when the kids would go down together. Teagan was quite the daredevil. She loved to go down alone, head first. We'd send them down the hill (Beau would usually take one of them down) and then I'd walk down to meet them (I'm a big 7 1/2 months pregnant so I only went down once or twice) and then Beau and I would each pull a kid up on the sleds. It was a great workout!

The kids loved the snow! Teagan would just sit and eat it or hours. We tried to help out with the snow shoveling. As you can see, it was a little bit tough to make a dent in the three foot snow. Beau spent an hour just clearing off our side, and that wasn't even the huge berm that the plow made when it plowed the street. So, he had one of the boys in our ward come with his snow blower. Even with Beau shoveling and the boy snow blowing, it still took them over two hours to clear it all, and then he hired a snow plow to come clear the berm by the street that was huge and icy. Ridiculous!

Oh.My.Gosh.

2008-12-20T21:50:00.000-08:00

I don't know who this guy is in the picture; but buddy, I know how your feeling right about now.

I should have seen this coming, the signs were there in the beginning and while I might have recognized them I tried my hardest to ignore them.

Today was quite possibly the worst sports day of my entire life. If you know me, you know I am two things: 1)Unemotional/Rational, I never get overly excited or dramatic.... 2) I am a huge sports fan, I just love sports, the strategy, the emotion, the pageantry (that's right pageantry), I love it all. So if you really know me, you know that only one of those things applies to me and it defintely is the latter. O.K. I admit it I'm a bit dramatic, oh well, I am who I am.

So onto how this was the worst sports day of my life. As the weeks progressed I could see that December 20th was shaping up to be awesome. First my high school made an amazing run to the 5A State Championship game in Texas. If you have even the slightest knowledge about sports oyu know that, that is a huge deal. It got even better when I realized that it was going to be broadcast on T.V. and that I got the channel that would carry the game. Second, Gonzaga was playing #2 UConn in Seattle, and Gonzaga is stacked this year. Third, BYU basketball is 10-0 and was playing an overrated ASU team who is ranked #20 in the nation. Fourth, the Cowboys were playing the Ravens on T.V. and it was the last game in Texas Stadium, I was able to attend a Cowboys game in TS and it is awesome. Fifth, BYU (my brother included) was playing Arizona in the Las Vegas Bowl. In my mind all 5 teams were going to win, and I could seriously die a happy man.

Well, reality hit me cold in the face.

First, my high schools football game was blacked out here in Spokane, so I couldn't watch it. They ended up losing 17-3. Crap, no big deal because I graduated 10 years ago and haven;t been to a game for a few years. Stinks that they lost but I can handle it.

Second BYU basketball lost in a controversial ending to ASU. BYU was down 1 with 3 seconds to go and appeared to have the ball tipped in as the buzzer sounded to get the win. The shot was reviewed and it was determined that the player still had the ball in his hand when the clack hit o.oo. Wow, 0-2, I am not a big BYU basketball fan, I kinda think it is like all the really good church basketball players playing for BYU, like an all-star squad of church ballers. Still It would have been cool to see them beat a top 20 team on the road.

Third the Cowboys lost. They had to have this win to continue controlling their own playoff fates. They didn't. Their defense, which had been lights out for three straight games was awful, giving up two touchdow runs of 77 yards and 88 yards in the 4th quarter. 0-3, at this point I was thinking that it coudl get out of control.

Fourth. When a team is up 11 with 10 minutes to go, you excpect a victory. Gonzaga was up the entire second half, they were playing lights out and then they spit the bit. By spit the bit I mean that A.J. Price, the UConn point guard hit a freaking miracle three to send the game into overtime and at that point I think mentall, Gonzaga was toast. 0-4, holy crap I'm on edge now.

Fifth. Not to worry BYU football can carry the day. BYU is playing an Arizona team that they beat last year, and needed to win its last game to make a bowl game. BYU got absolutel man handled. Arizona wanted it more and it showed. When I talked to my bro about the game, Reese told me to take it easy on him. I felt bad for Landon, I think that he can give way more than the coaches have let him. Bronco Mendenhall has always said that the best players will play regardless of status. He's lying, and everyone on the team knows it.

So anyways I ended up 0-5, and to add insult to injury I spent $70 on chains last night and this morning as I was driving home from playing basketball one of the chains fell right off. So now I don't have chains, I just have chain. Good times!

Now just imagine that rusty...that was pretty much my sports day. You know what I'm talking about guys.

SNOW, SNOW, AND STILL SNOWING!

2008-12-18T13:41:00.001-08:00

We hit an all-time record for the most snowfall in 24 hours in Spokane's history. 19 inches in 24 hours, but that was early this morning and it still has not stopped all day!

So, there is still blizzard outside and we're already up to about 26 inches! I'll have to post more tomorrow!

So this is me, Beau, furiously shoveling my car out from underneath this winter wasteland...I mean Wonderland! Tyson Dobbs called me about 5 minutes before this picture was taken reminding me that I had agreed to take him to the airport to catch his flight. Oh. My. Gosh. I had forgotten and ran upstairs and threw on my wicked sweet winter gear (sarcasm) and started to shovel. What is not sown is the fact that i had already shoveled about a foot last night, so all this around my car is new snow as of 7 o'clock last night. My back and lungs were burning as I tried to get my car out from under the snow, all the while wondering how I was going to even get the rest of my driveway uncovered and then jump the 3 foot high burm that was made by all the cars driving on my street, which still hasn't been plowed. About halfway thorugh uncovering my car my phone rang; tyson let me know that someone with a 4 wheel drive Yukon had agreed to take him. I guess me and my little front wheel drive civic aren't good enough for him or his fancy trip home on that big fancy airplane! I collapsed out of sheer exhaustion, and gratitude to Dan Ross who was going to give him a ride. I am so glad we came to Spokane instead of Miami.

What a terrible day to be sick!

Arguing with a 3 yr. old

2008-12-14T15:34:00.001-08:00

It was snowing outside and was just starting to stick when it was nap time for the kids. Teagan wanted to play in the snow so bad but I told her that we would have to wait until tomorrow because it would be dark by the time we got up from our naps. (it gets dark by 4:30 now!) She said "no it won't mommy. It won't be dark and then we can go play outside in the snow." After telling her it would be a couple more times and reassuring her that we could play outside tomorrow, she would not give up. She kept telling me "No mommy. It won't be dark." After going around one more time I finally said "Teagan, what time does the sunset?" She didn't even hesitate... "Thirty-one" she said confidently. When I smiled and started to laugh a little while trying to hug her she quickly tried to correct herself "thirty-two?" Then a smile spread across her face and we both just laughed together.

Coeur d'Alene Santa Cruise

2008-12-05T12:22:00.000-08:00

We went with our friends the Lemons and the Sorensens to the Santa Cruise in Coeur d'Alene. We got on a big fairy and they took us out to 'The North Pole' where we saw Santa in his workshop with Mrs.Clause. We sang songs with Santa and he lit up the north pole with thousands of lights. Teagan was pretty bummed that we didn't get to sit on Santa's lap, but all the kids were excited about riding on the boat. The dock was covered in lights as well. It was beautiful, but freezing cold!

Putting Up Christmas Lights

2008-12-05T12:13:00.000-08:00

Teagan was so excited to help Daddy put up Christmas lights this year. Obviously she was a little too short, but daddy gave her a boost. She just stared in awe when we turned them on, even when it was still light outside. It's going to be such a fun Christmas. Teagan remembers so much from last year, so she's so excited. It's been fun making new family traditions now that the kids are starting to get a little bit older and are remembering. We put up our nativity and told the Christmas story for FHE this week and she loved it. It's wonderful to have a whole season to think specifically about our Savior and try harder to be kinder and grateful. That is what we are trying the emphasize as much as we can with our 3 year old! She's a sweet little girl.

Beau's Father's visit

2008-12-05T12:11:00.000-08:00

Beau's Father came to visit us. It was so good to see him. We had not seen him since Teagan's baby blessing. The kids ran right up to him, which was surprising. Usually they take a few minutes to get over being shy, but they automatically warmed right up. They loved his dog "Nalla" too. She's a great dog and made me nervous that Beau would drive right out to the pet shop and bring one home as soon as he left. Teagan set the table for dinner that night and said "I want to sit by Grompa because I love him." It was a great visit.

Biking

2008-12-04T22:25:00.000-08:00

The kids just absolutely love to ride their bikes (or pushing them in Pierson's case) in the driveway. It was kind of funny because we rode our bikes one day, and played in the snow the next. It has sure gotten chilly, so they don't stay out too long unless they are completely bundled up.

Flag Football

2008-12-04T22:23:00.000-08:00

You're Joking Right?

2008-11-29T12:15:00.000-08:00

So, I'm only 26 weeks along. No, I'm not joking. I have people ask me all the time... "So, are you getting close!?" When I tell them I still have about 3 and a half months left, some ask "are you having twins?" I carry so far forward, and this third baby has just shot right out. I feel great! I can't imagine how I'll look in 3 1/2 more months! I feel so much bigger than with my other kids!

First Big Snow

2008-11-28T12:04:00.000-08:00

It snowed a little bit the day after Thanksgiving, but this morning (the day after that) it continued to snow until there was enough to cover the grass. Teagan was so excited as soon as she saw it out the window. After bundling them all up, they waddled down the stairs and Teagan automatically dropped down and did a snow angel. She had demonstrated to me how to do one in her bed the night before in her anticipation for the snow day. I have to admit that it's kind of nice to not be completely snowed in already. I don't mind not having as much snow because I think of last winter when the snow lasted until April and I'm not in a hurry for it all to begin... As long as we can go sledding over the Christmas break!

Coeur d'Alene Lights parade and Fireworks

2008-11-28T11:46:00.000-08:00

We've had a fun time checking out the little festivities in spokane and all the little neighboring cities (especially if they are free!). This was Coeur d'Alene's big event. The lights parade and firework show. We went with the Adams and we all about froze. It was so chilly and sprinkled rain the whole time. We had the kids in the stroller layered up and tucked in with blankets so they didn't seem to mind. The fireworks were lit right over the lake. Although a lot of them were blurred by the cloud cover, it was still beautiful. Teagan wasn't afraid of them this time like she was in July. Afterwards we all thawed out at a local mexican food place. Yumm! It was so nice to go out to eat! It's been so long!

Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T22:40:00.000-08:00

I'm so bummed that I forgot to take more pictures! It was a wonderful day. It started with Beau and I getting up at 4:45am to put in the turkey and stuffing. We went right back to bed for an hour, but then the day officially began when we heard Pierson calling out "mama!" from his crib. Beau went to the turkey bowl at the Shock (Spokane's Arena Football 2 team) practice facility. Yup, indoor. They were a little spoiled. The girls came over with their kids at around 10:30 and the guys got back from the game too. We had the Lemons, Mayfields, and Patrick and his girlfriend over. We divied out the cooking responsibilities. We did the turkey, stuffing, potatoes, gravy and cranberry relish, the rest they all took care of. I can't imagine doing it alone! It's a lot of work. I have more appreciation for my mother now!
After our fabulous feast (everything turned out perfect), we put on a show for the kids downstairs and we all crashed and watched Get Smart while the food digested enough for us to move. After that we played games, did crafts with the kids (the turkey hats and turkey pictures with feathers) and ate, yet again. We had to have pie! Everyone stayed until around 6:30-7. It was a wonderful day. Although it was strange to celebrate Thanksgiving without family, we had a great time with our close friends up here.

A Day at the Movies

2008-11-25T22:35:00.000-08:00

So we tried our luck and took both kids to the theater. Teagan was quite jealous when she came with me to pre-buy our Twilight tickets, that we decided that it was about time for a family movie. The movie was really cute and Beau only had to take Pierson out once. My purse was packed with snacks, so anytime he's get too anxious I'd just pop an M&M or a dum dum in his mouth. Coupled with the bag of popcorn it proved to be quite successful. Teagan loved it. Near the end she ended up standing up and watching through the seats while still snarfing popcorn, but she did such a good job at holding still. Good times!

It's true... we were there

2008-11-21T22:38:00.000-08:00

Yes, we can say it... we were there. Although we didn't hit the midnight showing of Twilight that morning, we though we were pretty die-hard to brave the crowds that night. We all pre-bought our tickets a few days before. Our show began at 6:40 and we got there at about 5:40 and there were already about 80 people in line. It was crazy. The guys were such good sports about it, seeing that they were practically the only men there, surrounded by 80% teenagers and their moms. There were four of us girls that drug our husband to see the show with us and we were so glad that we did, because the LOVED IT! It was hilarious! All the girls really liked it, but the guys were so shocked at how much they liked it that they went on and on about it. Beau even said that it was one of his favorite shows of all time. Ha! We're not completely crazy like they called us when we'd all try to explain the book to them late at night when we were reading them obsessively. It was so fun to be there in all the excitement. There were cheers as soon as it started, and the whole theater was filled with screams when Edward made his first appearance. Although, of course, it could never be as good as the books, I was impressed and thought they did a pretty good job of sticking to the story. I guess there is no way they could've covered everything unless they made it a 5 hour show. It was a lot of fun. I'm anxious to see it again now.

We had Twins! (for breakfast)

2008-11-21T22:33:00.000-08:00

I know this is a little bizarre, but we had to take a picture. Those top two eggs were from the same shell! Twins! I have never had that happen before. Kind of gross to think about, but pretty amazing.

Lil' T

2008-11-07T20:44:00.000-08:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEEN!

2008-11-03T20:06:00.000-08:00

I was the pregnant 80's prom date with Beau and his sweet mullet (yuck!). Teagan was a pirate for a couple of different parties, but ultimately ended up, of course, being a princess.

So, carving pumpkins was quite exciting. Teagan was anxious to dive in, Pierson screamed when I tried to put his hand in to get the guts, and both of them only lasted about 10 minutes. It was fun though. It's so fun to celebrate holidays now that our kids are getting a little older and can participate. Good times.

The kids had a lot of fun at the ward Halloween Carnival. I think most of the games were a little bit over their heads. Case in point: eating a doughnut on a string... Teagan just didn't get it and kept asking me just to hold it for her. This was the outcome. She finally grabbed it, took one bite that ripped it off of the string. It fell to the ground, she picked it up, and chowed on it on the way out the door. That's how it's done.

The second day of dance classes Teagan switched to a princess... of course.

Teagan was the cutest little pirate at her first day of dance classes (I teach 2 days a week).

Happy Halloween

2008-11-01T08:49:00.000-07:00

Teagan's little crush

2008-10-27T17:12:00.000-07:00

Teagan has been watching our wedding video non-stop for the past two weeks and has a big crush or her daddy. It is so sweet. She tells me over and over... "Mommy, I want to marry daddy because I love him." They have such a precious little relationship. I pray that one day she can find someone as wonderful as her daddy to take her to the temple.

Fall Photo Shoot

2008-10-27T16:51:00.000-07:00

Okay, after looking back on all the pictures over the past few years, I'm realizing that they've been tapering more and more. So, in an attempt to not miss out on these beautiful, constantly changing faces, we went out and took some fall pictures. Aren't they adorable!

Dinner in a pumpkin

2008-10-27T16:47:00.000-07:00

We grabbed an extra pumpkin at the pumpkin patch so that we could make dinner-in-a-pumpkin (one of my childhood Halloween favorites). Teagan loved stuffing the cleaned out pumpkin with food and drawing a face on it, but unfortunately I was the only one the loved actually eating it. Oh well, it was a fun experience.

Sad, sad day.

2008-10-25T15:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, I can do this... It's taken me a week and a half to post this because I was so sad about the whole ordeal. Well, Teagan snuck out of her room after we put her to bed, went into the office and got some scissors. She took them back to her room and gave herself a haircut (hack-job). She came up at about 9:30 (her bedtime is 8) with a fist full of hair. She knew she was in trouble. I marched her downstairs to show me what happened. I found more hair in her costume chest with her scissors she was hiding. I yelled at her, spanked her, and then we cried together. I know it sounds dumb, but she took a big chunk out of the front of her hair! I was so sad! It will take months to grow out! She came up a few minutes later saying "Mommy, I'm so sad." We cuddled for a few minutes and talked about her "bad decision". She felt terrible. Man, I was hoping to skip this seemingly unavoidable part of growing up. Oh well. I took her to Chelsey (my hairdresser, neighbor and friend) and she did the best she could. We shortened it a bit, layered it around her face to hide the chunks she took off the side, but there was no hope for the stubble in the front and along her part. She's doomed to wear a clippy in the front for at least 4 months!

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-20T16:02:00.000-07:00

The kids loved picking out their pumpkins. Pierson could not even pick up his up. We went to Siemer's Farm at Green bluff and it was perfect for the kids. They had a fun corn maze with a castle in the middle and a pirate ship to play in at the end, a little train ride, and pick your own pumpkins in their huge patches.

Pierson is a little teary-eyed because we took the cart away from him for a minute to make him pose for this picture. He loved pushing the little carts you put your pumpkins in and wouldn't let anyone help him.

Teagan's dream come true. She has been wanting to ride on a 'train' for years... literally, so she was so excited! The train conductor was so cute with the kids.

In the corn maze, Teagan pulled out the brochure we got at the front and used it as the map, telling us where to turn and where to go (just like Dora and the Map) "and that's how we get through the corn maze!" It was so cute. Pierson had a hay day just running around and loved to hide and jump out and say "BOO" with me. After getting lost for a minute, we decided to take the little shortcut. We cheated, but we had a good 15-20 minutes running around! The kids loved it! After picking our pumpkins, we barely made it to the car before it started raining. It was quite the chilly day, but was so much fun.

One of my first Digital Scrapbook Pages!

2008-10-15T22:40:00.000-07:00

It was so easy too! I used a template KMILL_LT, and a couple of kits (KMILL Jungle Boogie, and KMILL Lovin Life). I love the kits that I found at kaymillerdesigns.com. So stinkin cute.

The New Twilight Trailer

2008-10-10T14:58:00.000-07:00

All I can say is... woo hoo!

Conference Trip 2008

2008-10-10T14:22:00.000-07:00

Hot dogs and smores with cousins in Grandma and Grandpa Jeffs' backyard.

Beau was taking on all 6 of the grandkids that were visiting there that morning.

Okay, this wasn't just a trip for conference trip, but it was a big part of it. Beau's brother Landon was playing for BYU at Utah State so we decided to make a trip out of it. Beau's parents were there for the game and conference so we got two families in one trip. The only bummer was that it was two days of driving (9 1/2 hours each way) for a 2 day visit.

Man oh Man was Pierson a handful in the car. Oh, yeah, I mean anytime we were in the car. He just wanted out. So the 91/2 hour drive was quite interesting to say the least. The only cure for his whining and tantrums was singing "Popcorn Popping" over and over and over. Before we'd even finish singing the song he'd start yelling "gen" (like again) and doing his hands like the popcorn. It was cute for a few minutes, but obviously we couldn't sing popcorn for 9 1/2 hours.

The kids absolutely loved playing in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard on the zipline and on the catwalk with almost all her cousins. The apple tree had thousands of apples that they ate all day long. We met up with Beau's parents for dinner at Cafe Sabor. It was fun to have both sets of grandparents together. After dinner my dad went to the game with Beau and his parents, all wearing the Jaussi jerseys. My dad had a great time, along with everyone else of course. BYU won by a long shot (not as long as they had hoped).

The next day we went to Salt Lake and watched conference with Beau's parents at their hotel and then the guys went to priesthood and me and mom took the kids around temple square. It was fun to show them the big Statue of Christ and for Teagan to recognize so many of the pictures and the stories behind them. After conerence we met up with Mom and Dad Packard, Grandma and Grandpa Packard, Landon, Dallas, and Tosha and Eric. Though we didn't get our food until after 9:30, it was nice to see everyone, and the kids were suprisingly good.

Quick trip, but it was wonderful to see almost all of my family, Beau's family and have some good quality road trip family time :)

Teagan and Grandma in The Salt Lake Tribune

2008-10-09T21:29:00.000-07:00

Teagan Jaussi, 3, is carried across South Temple by her grandmother, Bethany Packard, Dallas, TX, Tuesday, January 11 2000 (Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune )

ALDF Dog Walk

2008-09-28T18:35:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday the Animal Legal Defense Fund, a student run organization, had a dog walk at the Spokane Humane Society. The Humane Society has a bunch of dogs that need to be walked and have some human interaction. So we packed up the kids and took them out and had a good time. Teagan was especially excited and ended up being bummed that we couldn't take one home.

SEATTLE TRIP

2008-09-10T15:07:00.001-07:00

This is Reese and I showing how excited we were to be spending the weekend without the kids! Thanks to the Cunninghams for watching them while we partied in Seattle! This photo was taken at the BYU sponsored tailgate, and was pretty much the most exciting thing that took place the entire time. I never used to think that alcohol would make or break a tailgate, but after seeing BYU's attempt to tailgate against what we experienced as we walked through the Washington fans tailgate area, I have changed my mind. We need some booze, but since that will never happen, I suppose that BYU fans will always be relegated to second class tailgaters.

The best part about the BYU tailgate was the trivia game that the band put on. So the lead singer started asking BYU football trivia questions, and pretty soon a group of kids had gathered around the front of the band and were yelling out answers. After not paying attention I looked closer and there was a 40 year old man in jorts (jean shorts) and sandals with socks who was pretty much dominating the trivia game. He was front and center among the group of kids. He would inch closer and closer with every questio/answer increasing his volume with each answer. After getting an answer right he would give a little fist pump to punctuate his dominance over every 12 year old opponent. he was pretty happy with himself. After the rousing tailgate, I was ready for a nap (please note the sarcasm).
The game was great, we had great seats and we were right inthe middle of the BYU section. Luckily I sat right next to Utah pyramid scheme entrepreneuer bleach blonde hair fake tan guy, oh, and his 15 year old son. Time to give it up man.

Husky stadium is awesome, right on the lake, it's ambience is top notch. The entire lower bowl is wooden benches, each with about 40 coats of paint on them. The upper levels are very high and very steep.

It was great seeing Landon get to play in the game. He had a special teams tackle in the third quarter that saved a touchdown on a kickoff. Of course right at that moment I was trying to figure out how to dry my hands off in the bathroom with the paper towels all gone. That pretty much sums up my life. Whenever something amazing or historic (and yes the tackle was historic) happens I ussually find myself metaphorically staring at a paper towel dispenser, trying to figure out my next move. I need to learn to hold it.

After the game we had the chance to talk to Landon, he is a freakin giant. No really, I think he has giantism with a touch of balding mixed in. He looks great.

We had a great time at UW, I really enjoyed the back and forth with all the fans before the game. They didn't seem to like it so much after the gaem, but whatever.
Reese and I had a great time besides the game also. Seattle is our new favorite city, it was an absolutley beautiful weekend. Reese and I spent some time at the aquarium, which was amazing, I've never been to an aquarium and this one didnt dissapoint. We spent the majority of the day at Pikes Public Market, it was prety cool, with all the fish flying around and the fresh veggies and hippies, and more hippies.

For dinner Reese and I went to an awesome Italian restaurant "El Forno", then headed to the Mariners v Yankees game. We got some great seats, in fact our seats were about 50 yards away from Levi Adams' seats. I just couldn't beleive how great the weather was the entire weekend.

To top it all off Landon tossed me his gloves! Hooray! Well we really enjoyed Seattle, I know the weather isn't always sunny and 70 but if it is even close to that , then sign me up!

Baby #3 London or Emerson?

2008-09-01T10:34:00.000-07:00

The baby is just chilling with his/her arms up behind her head in this one.

Well, here is our baby number 3! It was still too early to determine the gender, but I go back in next month to find out. With the first two I was so anxious, but when I look at Teagan and Pierson I don't mind waiting for them to get a little bit older before this one joins us! Which works out great since I still have almost 6 months to go! We are very excited. I can't believe how different this baby is. My body just kicked right into gear and knows just what to do. I've already got an undeniable pooch and am in the 'just look fat' stage. Hmm. I'm only 15 weeks along! Crazy!

Come Back to Texas....

2008-08-31T17:19:00.000-07:00

...we did. It. Was. Awesome.

(Since Beau did such a great job on this post, I will keep my comments on the pictures in parenthesis so as not to distract from the flow of his mastery... and try to not to impose on his love for Texas :) When we boarded the plane to fly to Texas they invited the kids to sit in the seats in the cockpit. They were so excited! Pierson loves buttons and lights, so he was in heaven. They were so nice, and the flights actually weren't too bad. It was so nice to have Beau with me this time. The kids were so excited and didn't even sleep on the flight there. We didn't get to Texas until 10 Texas time, 8 Washington time. Long day.
Our first flight home after the trip was late taking off due to a storm, so we literally had to sprint to our connecting flight in Colorado. And I do mean sprint! I haven't felt so out of shape before! The kids slept for most of the second flight, hallelujah!, and we didn't get home until 11 Washington time, and 1:00am Texas time. Yet another long day.)

We probably should have made a better choice in the time we picked to visit. Look, we all know what Texas is known for, Big hair, Big hats, and freedom. Okay that might not be what comes to everyone's mind, but believe me they love their freedom, topped with as much BBQ sauce as you can handle! To everyone outside of Texas they are known for their heat, and that's it, the hot, muggy, suffocating heat. I always gave my wife a hard time about how she never truly acclimated to the heat in the four years that we lived there, I knew it was hot, but c'mon, this is Gods nation, or Zion if you want. Heat is usually associated with Hell, and for me that place was located to our northwest, in the place they call The Place.

Well I take it all back, well okay only the part about it not being hot. everything else is pretty much true. It is so freaking hot in Texas, but like I said we chose the middle of August to go visit. So maybe we should say that the middle of August is hot, because well, it is. To help you guys understand how I feel about Texas I need to quote the great John Steinbeck;

Texas is a state of mind. Texas is an obsession. Above all, Texas is a nation
in every sense of the word - Author John Steinbeck

It was pretty much a standard visit to my parents house; eating, playing games, watching movies, eating, eating ice cream, eating out, swimming, swimming, and if we could fit it in swimming. Oh yeah I also helped build a fence; that's right I built a fence. I helped tame my parents back yard; This is my land. Mine by destiny! My dad had wanted to get this project done and so Dallas and I put on our work clothes and got it done. Of course I wish it took as long as it is taking you to look at the pictures, but it didn't, not even close. it was great when we put the last plank in, it was a lot of hard work.

(Beau and his brother Dallas and his Dad laboring over the Beautiful fence. It was quite a process... measuring it off, digging trenches, digging post holes. Cutting the posts and cementing (mixing the cement) them into place, cementing the rest of the border and placing bricks in to make it look really good, measuring, cutting, and screwing into place the rails, and then the victory dance. It looked really good. They are going to paint it white soon too. They worked everyday in the heat and rain. )

(On one of the Saturdays we helped them take the new implements for their tractor to the farm (their new property). The kids loved riding on the tractor.)

We also had the chance to go and see my parents property that they had purchased out in Heath. To help you get a better idea about what it looks like, click on this link, now just take out the pond and add some serious under growth and you pretty much got it. They plan on building there sometime within the next few decades, my dad always says when they get some money. it should actually turn out beautiful, my parents do a good job turning nothing into something, they did it with their current property.

(Their property was just beautiful.)

The pictures your looking at now pretty much sum up my entire high school life. never a day went by that there wasn't something to be done around the house or in the yard. The lessons i learned were many, namely that I hate yard work. It wasn't really that bad, it was just bad. It was honestly great working alongside my family, mostly my brothers Dallas and Landon and accomplishing things.

(This is their beautiful home. Beau's mom is an amazing interior decorator by nature and they have done some amazing things to their home. All of the painting they did themselves, including the cloud ceiling in the entryway, and the star ceiling in the library. Just incredible!)

We also had a great time seeing Jon and Britney McCauley. Jon and I were best friends growing up, well when I first met Jon I hated him. I had no idea why but I hated him. Luckily for him I came around and we ended up becoming best friends. Reese and Britney are really close also so it all works out. We went out to County Line BBQ, the best BBQ restaurant in the Nation (by nation I mean Texas, if I was referring to the US I would put US). Reese and I make sure to go at least once whenever we go back. Since this was the first trip we have made since going back, we are 100% on that goal.

Teagan and Pierson went swimming about 3 times a day. we would go at 9 a.m., then again at 2 p.m. and then right before they went to bed. They really loved it.
(One day when the boys were working outside and we were about to make lunch inside, Teagan snuck out of the house and grabbed a floaty and hopped into the pool. Needless to say, she was in a world of trouble. After the brunt of the disciplining was over, she had to earn her privilege of swimming in the pool with an adult back. This was the list she had to complete that she filled in the squares after each thing. It was cute to see her working so hard. It was a scary, but good lesson learned.)

If you cant tell I'm running out of steam. So I will end our Texas story with once again another quote about Texas:

I must say as to what I have seen of Texas, it is the garden spot of the world,
the best land and the best prospects for health I ever saw, and I do believe it is
a fortune to any man to come here - Alamo hero Davey Crockett

I. Love. Texas.

Daddy Daughter time

2008-08-10T16:27:00.000-07:00

Anyone that knows me, knows that I love my daughter. Don't get me wrong I love Pierce but I have a special bond with Teagan. Perhaps its because she the first kid, or she is the first girl, whatever the reason is, it's there. So I was more than excited when my family returned from their vacation to Utah.

Teagan had lost her favorite stuffed animal, a dog she had named "Puppy", before she had left for Utah and when she was there she also lost her favorite flip-flops. So I did what every responsible parent would do, I took my daughter shopping.

We first stopped by Payless Shoe and bought some $3 flip-flops. We walked to wear her shoe size was located and she saw some she liked and said "Daddy, these fip fops are so cute!", boom, she got those cute fip fops.

Next we headed to go get her a new puppy. I decided to do something that Reese and I had talked about for Christmas, I went to Build-a-Bear. For those of you who dont know what that is, its a store that you pretty much build your own teddy bear. You first grab an animal, go over and get it stuffed, put a sound in it, pick out clothes and then of course pay for it.

Teagan found a black puppy she wanted and we went over to get him/her filled (Teagan isnt sure if its a boy or girl, it depends on if she has the bows in), then Teagan put in a heart after giving the hear a big kiss. When we went over and picked clothes I asked her what clothes the puppy needed to wear. She looked up at me and said "Puppies don't wear clothes! Your crazy dad", and all this time I had thought they did!

So Teagan had her new puppy that she "loved" and I was happy because she was happy. Of course in the great balancing act that is the universe Teagan found her old puppy earlier today. Of course she did, why wouldnt that happen, I only spent money on this new one!

Utah Summer Trip

2008-08-10T15:54:00.000-07:00

We got back from Colorado late on Saturday night, and we left for Utah on Wednesday morning. It was nice to have a couple of days to recover before heading off again. And it was another fun filled flight. The kids are good, but boy are they wiggly (especially the little fireball-Pierson) But we made it and I was so excited to let the kids run free at my parents house. They have such a fun backyard with toys, a big sandbox, a playground, and a new zipline, that they could stay entertained for hours... and they did. They loved it. The next morning we headed to Salt Lake for my traditional Tam Jams Teacher Dance Workshop. It lasted Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Mom watched to kids while I danced all day. It was so much fun to let loose and dance hard again. I haven't been able to do that for a year! We hit IKEA before heading home and got some wonderful stuff for the house... new curtains, a beautiful throw, pillow covers a table runner, kids dining sets, a pillow, and a kids tunnel that Teagan and Pierson love. I love that store! We headed to Mantua that night where Camilla Jeffs' dad had brought their boat for all of us to go tubing. Don't worry, I was careful. I'm only in my third month of my pregnancy, but I'm still trying to be careful. Teagan was afraid to go on the tube until she saw the twins go and then she loved it. Pierson loved wading in the water and playing in the sand.

Boating in Mantua!

Sunday was wonderful. Dad took Pierson out of sacrament meeting where he apparently fell asleep in five minutes of being pushed in the stroller. The kids got to go to nursury and I was able to attend all the meetings with my mom. The spirit was so strong, in a large part due to the fact that I could concentrate on it. It was a great day. I got to hold one of my dear friends, Becky's baby and Teagan and Pierson came around the corner when they got out of nursury. Teagan's eyes lit up and she was so excited as she came up to me. "Did the baby come out of your tummy Mommy!" She's so sweet! I had to tell her it was Becky's and that mommies baby still had to grow a long time before it could come out. She still was insistand on holding her however. She's going to be a great big sister. And Pierson couldn't stop petting her either. He loves babies! That night we went to Kyle and Trisha's little home for dinner and had a feast! Pierson loved their loveseat swing outside and took a nose dive off of it. He got all banged up, but after 2 minutes of crying he was ready to climb on it and try it again. Crazy, tough kid. He was so cute running around with all of the kids. Teagan and the twins clicked immediately and were together every chance they got while we were there. Even Great Grandma Jeffs came up!

Pierson's battle scars after his nose dive off the swing.

Monday was Logan day. We headed up to visit Camilla Webb (I add the last name because my sister in law is Camilla Jeffs, just pronounced differently). We had lunch and headed to Willow Park and walked though the cute little zoo. Teagan loved it and ran with the twins pointing out all the animals. Pierson ran the whole time, but actually stopped occasionally to notice the animals as well. His favorite were the turtles. Then they all got to play on the playground outside of the zoo. Pierson loved to go up the rediculously high stairs to the biggest slide in the park. He's a little dare devil and had so much fun. After that we headed back to Camilla's and put the kids down for naps (Teagan had a great nap and Pierson just wanted to play). Mom got me the new Twlight book, Breaking Dawn and I got to relax and read that from time to time... so good! We had a bread making lesson and I'm anxious to make some at home now. It was a fun day.

Willow Park Zoo with all 12 grandkids!

Tuesday we stuck around the house and let the kids just play all day. The kids loved playing in the water. My mother is so good at playing with them, and so is my dad. Teagan and Pierson loved going for rides with grandpa in the bike trailer.

The new zip line in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard.

Water Day at Grandmas!

Wednesday was Ogden day. We headed to Camilla Jeffs' house. They have done a great job fixing it up. We went to a splash park. Teagan played in the water for a while, but seemed to most interested in a big muddy puddle that they found, of course. They'd run though it yelling "muddy, muddy". Pierson doesn't like gettting splashed at all, so he just played in the littlest jets of water, but most of the time he just pushed to stroller all around the park. That is why you don't spend a whole lot of money on entertainment when they are young because they are so easily entertained! A puddle and a stroller is all that they needed for 3 hours of fun! Camilla make chicken enchiladas for dinner. Yummy.

Thursday we went to Kylie's softball game and just played with the family all day. It was sort of our day to charge up for the traveling day tomorrow.

Friday we packed up and headed out early, hitting a couple stores on the way out (including Tai-pan that was a lot of fun). Our flight left before 3. It was such a wonderful, busy, yet relaxing trip. I love my family! Now, we have 2 days before we are off to Texas! Woo hoo!

Packard Family Reunion

2008-08-10T15:17:00.000-07:00

Wow! It's been too long! It has been so busy that I haven't been able to update, or breathe or the last month! So time for a quick insight into what we've been up to...

July 27-30- Packard Family Reunion in Colorado. Beau's family had a wonderful reunion up in the Colorado mountains at a YMCA reunion facility. Unfortunately Beau had school so he wasn't able to go, but that didn't stop me from taking the kids! I absolutely love his family and it's not too often that we get to see the aunts, uncles, and cousins anymore now that everyone has spread out more from Texas. It was so great to see everyone, and they had great events planned. They are fun, upbeat and high-energy, so every event was just a blast. The theme of the whole reunion was "We're All in this Together" and they gave us schedules for the week all corresponding with school activities. The first night we were there we had a school dance. It was hilarious! Everyone, especially the kids, got so into it. My aunt taught us a line dance, a swing dance, and we all learned one of the dances from high school musical during the during dance. What great sports. So much fun.

Our other favorite events would have to be horseback riding and pony riding. Most of the adults and older kids went horse back riding and we had a fun time. Savanah, Cailey, and Scott were in my group with some of the rest of the extended family. I'll admit that my sitz bones were sore for a couple of days after it, but it was worth it. Teagan was so excited to go pony riding with Darby and MaKaya. They climbed on the fence and admired the ponies until it was their turn to ride. And then... Teagan totally panicked. I went to put her on the pony and she just screamed bloody murder and tried to get away. She must have hated me for a second for forcing her on the pony, but a couple of minutes later she was in absolute heaven. Pierson loved running along the pony track, flopping as he tripped, eventually being covered in dirt from head to toe. Teagan loved every second (besides the first couple) of her experience and was so excited to call and tell Daddy about it. She didn't stop talking about it for days. Darby and MaKaya did great too. As soon as we were done, there was an absolute down-pour. We got done early to let the other little cousins have a turn and I think that they barely finished by the time that it hit.

Teagan and her best friend/cousin Darby.

Some other high-lights were the field day games (relays in the field by our cabins), games every night after putting the kids to bed, Grandma and Grandpa's talk for 'Homecoming' that they gave on their mission in Japan about how to raise a big family in the gospel, eating smores and singing our favorite church songs around the big campfire, playing by the river, and of course... graduation. They got little graduation hats for each of us and we entered the conference room in family order to the graduation march song where Grandma Packard was the valedictorian and gave a great speech to inspire us to keep up the good work in raising our children.

Pierson loves babies and his sweet, new little cousin Brayler.

And now for the bad parts. Teagan and Pierson were terrible! Especially Pierson! I couldn't believe how different he was! I think that he was afraid of all of the new faces and being without daddy that he sort of flipped out the whole trip. He was extremely emotional and sensitive. Anyone even looking at him would set him off to scream. He had tantrum after tantrum and it was so hard because I didn't have Beau to help me, so Teagan got anxious for attention so would start to act up too. The hardest part is that Pierson is so high energy that he is always on the run. I felt like I was running the whole time to keep up with him. With 360 degrees of escapes all around us up there, he just would take off. Phew! I was so thankful for mom and dad's help while we were there. Teagan and Darby played and kept each other entertained most of the time. She loves Darby. I was definitely worn out by the end, but I am still grateful that I went to be with the family. They are such positive and motivating people. They are truly inspiriational.
It was so fun especially to be with our immediate family there. We all met at the airport and mom and dad had driven a 15 seater van from Texas they we all barely fit into. Great memories. The only people missing were Beau, Tyler and Eden and BJ.

And by the way, the kids were back to normal as soon as we got home... strange.

2008-07-15T13:39:00.000-07:00

SICK!

2008-07-15T13:21:00.000-07:00

The top of our HAFTA Hike (Health And Fitness Training Alliance-the fitness group in our ward). Amazing! Overlooking Liberty Lake.

What an amazing hike. It was absolutely beautiful! It was like a hike that we'd travel across the United States to find and do for a family vacation. So lush and breathtaking!

So, when I woke up on Thursday a little quezy I thought to myself, okay, here it comes... my couple weeks of mild morning sickness (controllable with crackers) then I'll be free the rest of the pregnancy. Well, after an hour, it got worse and worse and I couldn't do anything but lay still to keep from throwing up. I felt absolutely terrible, and the thought came to me... Oh my gosh! What if I'm having twins!

Now, let me give a little background... My sister in law had twins at the same time that I had Teagan and a few of my friends have had twins as well, and at me Dr.'s appointment he said that usually when you are going to have twins the morning sickness hits you pretty hard right away. So, with all of that playing in my mind, and I think the fact that this is my third child makes me more aware of what's going on in my body and it's reared up knowing what to do, it hit me like a pound of bricks. Oh my gosh! That would be so crazy. When Beau came home for lunch and I was still on my death bed with the kids running around me, he didn't even want to consider my theory. So, I stumbled through the day, not feeling any better through the night and just sick thinking that if this really was just morning sickness that I felt so sorry for all the women that have such terrible pregnancies that I could be joining (my other two were so easy, even enjoyable). Well, the next morning I woke up, feeling much better, and to finish with an anti-climatic ending... I had the 24 hour flu. Thank Goodness! Beau caught it on Saturday night and was down all Sunday. Hallelujah! It might be knocking on wood to be grateful for yet another beginning of an easy (one baby) pregnancy, but I think it will be! I went for a hike with some women in the ward on Saturday morning and have felt great running each morning this week!

Girls Night Out!

2008-07-15T13:12:00.000-07:00

Well, we finally got our Girls Night Out. It was actually Beau's idea. He's been doing so many sports (intramurals at school, ward softball, city league softball, basketball practice and golfing occasionally) that he was excited to let me get away for a little break from the kids. So, I got a few of my girlfriends (Polly, Misty, Ashley, and Megan- their husband have been doing all the sports with Beau too) and we had a wonderful relaxing night at P.F. Changs. I can't believe that I have never eaten there! It was sooo good! Then, to pass the time, we walked around the mall, walking through Crate and Barrell, a fancy Kitchen Gadget store, and Nordstrom dreaming of the day that we would actually be able to afford something- not on student loans, yet all determining that even when we did settle in a few years that we couldn't spend $700 on bedding when we could find copycats at Target and Walmart for a tenth the price. I really do feel that it is a blessing for us to go throught these tight times together to be frugal and grateful for everything that we have. I have such wonderful friends that are such strong members of the gospel that set great examples for me. We plan to have GNOs more often!

Family Pictures (in reality)

2008-07-08T09:30:00.000-07:00

I decided to take a series of pictures to show the reality of family pictures. Say cheese!

Fourth of July in Selah, Washington!

2008-07-08T09:20:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful time in Selah, Washington with our cousins, Amy and Owen Packard and their family. We got together with all of the family there for the day and for fireworks. They all spent hundreds of dollars on fireworks and put on an amazing show! The kids were so stinkin' tired that by 10:00 pm Teagan just wanted to cuddle and Pierson was running around like a mad man. We had a blast! I've never seen such amazing fireworks! They were almost as good as the ones put on by the city after we finished. There were a bunch of other families at the same park doing the same thing, so it really was amazing! (the picture is Amy with her Beautiful daughter Mia, and her 12 day old little angel Alice.)

We went to David's beautiful home for the day and played in their pool and had a huge All American BBQ. David went all out and had all the toppings and a list of all of the different ways that Americans make their hot dogs around the US. It was so much fun! There had to be 6 or 7 different options with probably over 20 different toppings! After lunch we played games to test our American trivia knowledge. It was a wonderful day. Their home, backyard, swimming pool and garden were just breathtaking. It's so fun to have family close that is so much fun and great influences on us. We were so glad that we made the 3.5 hour drive.

Pierson loved their playground and he surprised us with his climbing skills. He climbed the big rope ladder all by himself, over and over. Climbing up, playing with the wheel, then sliding down the slide and doing it all over again.

Teagan and Luke (Amy and Owen's little boy) get along great! They played together all day. They loved the slip and slide that they set up for them in the backyard. They even found a frog in their pool!

I'm so mad right now...

2008-07-07T22:00:00.000-07:00

You don't even realize! So this might come across as a bit femme, and I quite possibly will lose some friends over this, but I have to say it. I love the show "The Bacherlorette". There, its out there. The problem comes by her picking Jesse instead of Jason. I mean really, when she picked Jesse to me it seemed like the classic "I want the bad boy, not the safe responsible choice." Honestly, I felt like it was an immature choice. Reese was happy foe Jesse, not me. While I'm sure Jesse is a great guy, he bugs me on some level. Jason was screwed over. Poor guy.

Rockin' out with the Doodle Bops

2008-07-07T18:51:00.000-07:00

The first video I took ended up being too long to post, so I had to take another. Pierson is hilarious when the music starts... he just starts running around in circles and bopping to the beat. Here's a glimpse of it. And of course Teagan is my little diva in her own little dancing world when the music is on. She is so concentrated and into it! I just have to laugh at the both of them.

2008-06-29T15:11:00.000-07:00

Well, to be honest there hasn't been too much to report these past couple of weeks. Beau has been on his break between summer semesters and instead of resting, he has dove right into doing an internship with the Shock (Spokane Arena Football). He's loving it. He ultimately wants to get into the sports world after law and business school, so this is a great opportunity or him to get his feet wet. I guess it is like his internship with the Dallas Mavericks, but with the Shock he's able to work directly with the owners and the General Manager and is doing more than just busy work. He's going to be great at whatever he does, because he will end up doing something he loves, because he's a go-getter. He's not afraid to do what it takes to get what he wants.

So, I guess there is one thing... one really big thing to mention... okay, really, really big thing....

I'M PREGNANT!

Wooo hoo! We are so excited. We have truly been blessed to be able to get pregnant to easily and be able to pick exactly when we want to have our next child. Well, I loved the timing of the pregnancies with Teagan (March 4th) and Pierson (February 5th) so we figured we'd stick with that plan, so I figure that my due date will be about the end of February. I'm feeling great, just a little tired. I usually don't get the little bit of sickness until about 8 weeks and it only lasts for a couple of weeks, so here's hoping that this pregnancy runs just as smoothly as the other two! So I'm only about 5-6 weeks along. We are excited, but man, there is a long ways to go. And to be honest... with a 1 yr. old and a three year old, we don't mind the extra time for them to get older!

My YMCA hip hop classes are done for the summer. Our vacationing starts next week. We are going to visit some family in Selah for the 4th of July. Then the last weekend in July I take the kids to Colorado for the Packard Reunion (Beau has school), we come home for two days then I'll take the kids to Utah, then we'll come home for two days, then we will all fly down to Texas for a visit. It's going to be a crazy summer. We are so excited to see all of our family and visit Texas for the first time since we moved from there.

Beau starts school on Tuesday. Three classes in this summer session. Good luck honey!

June 2nd - 15th

2008-06-15T16:55:00.000-07:00

Dance Camp was great! I had it last Thursday, Friday and Saturday. These are a few of the girls dancing with their ribbon dancers we made on Saturday. Woo hoo!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEAU! The big 27! I Love You!

We have loved going to all of Beau's games. He's had about 2 double headers a week (city league and ward softball). It's exhausting chasing Pierson around, he's got wheels on him... no wonder he has the same problem keeping his pants up as his sister! But nevertheless, it's been great. Beau has been playing really well. My friend Megan Arnold took these pictures. Aren't they great!

It has been a wonderful past couple of weeks. Beau had his summer business class final last Thursday, (he's doing his MBA along with his JD) so it has been so wonderful to have him home a lot more. Last week it was pretty much just cold and rainy. It stinks to have glimpses of great weather and than a stretch of the cold again. It even snowed and hailed a couple of times! It's JUNE! Come on! Last Thursday. It was the most amazing dentist office I've ever been to. Our insurance usually doesn't give us much pickens, but I was thoroughly impressed. Dr. Gunsaulis was wonderful. Pierson did pretty well, didn't cry until she had been looking at his teeth for a while, but Teagan was completely different. She was so cautious from the moment that she say the examination chair. She couldn't even relax and watch Dora that they on TV's mounted to the ceiling above the chairs. She just screamed and kicked as soon as it was time to say 'aww'. Beau had to hold her down. Poor girl. She has such bad memories from her last dentist visit. (about a year ago she had to have a pulpectomy for a tooth that grew in gray- we just guessed it just got bonked before it grew in- and they wouldn't put her under, so I had to hold her down and she was awake for the whole thing. It was very traumatic, for the both of us!) Although she was pretty excited about the toys and dental goodies bag that she got to bring home.

I hit the huge season ending sale at Once Apon a Child on Saturday and got a lot of clothes for the kids at 70% off. It feels so good to get a great deal. I have to admit... I couldn't resist getting an outfit for a baby boy, and about 6 outits for a baby girl. We're wanting to have another one pretty soon, so why not? It was a great deal and we will definately use them! Don't let the number of outfits per boy or girl fool you... I would be happy with whichever we were to have next. :) But man, they have so many cute little things for the girls!

More rain at the start of this week, and a couple minutes of snow. Crazy. But luckily by the weekend it was beautiful. Beau's birthday was on June 11th. He's 27! He got a new driver for his golf clubs, golf shoes, and a hat. Teagan and I set up a scavenger hunt for him to find all of his presents. Teagan loved hiding them all, but then would get too excited and would show him where they all were. I let Teagan pick out any 2 things from the dollar store. Out of the whole place, she picked out a cleaning scrub brush, and a razor blade knife set. She was so proud and excited.

I had my Dancing Queens dance camp this Thursday friday and saturday. It was a lot of fun. I had three classes for an hour each, each day. We did a craft each day. Thursday- a positions poster (I cut out little feet out of foam and they put them in the right place like a puzzle to make the 5 ballet positions.) Friday- bell anklets. I'm sure the mom's loved me for this one (they got to bead their own anklets with bells on them to work on dynamics and slow and quick). Saturday- ribbon dancers (they got to put stickers on their sticks and we danced outside with the ribbon dancers making shapes and big movements).

I was asked to organize a fitness group in the ward, so I put together the HAFTA excercise group (Health And Fitness Training Alliance). I thought the name was pretty cute. So, we met at 8:00 am for a stroller walk on the trail for an hour. It is so beautiful. The trail runs along the river and there were tons of walkers, runner, and bikers. We live in such an active community. Then I taught hip hop from 10:45-11:45, then raced home to do dance camp from 12-3, then we dropped the kids off at 5 to a sitter for date night and went out to eat and to The Incredible Hulk (not that good). Needless to say... we were exhausted!

Now it's Father's day, so we are having a family over for a cooking night to celebrate. Woo hoo! I love you Beau. You are a wonderful daddy!

The week of May 26-June 1st

2008-06-01T18:07:00.000-07:00

Well, after the excitement leading up to the Memorial Weekend that we were going to spend in Selah, Washington with family was at an all time high on Saturday night (we were going to leave on Sunday after church) Beau came down with his "finals" sickness. It's the sickness he always gets after finals when his body realizes that it can finally take a breath and recover after months of stress and abuse to push through studying insane hours. We were amazed and thought we were in the clearing when he made it two weeks after finals without it hitting... but sure enough, complete and utter exhaustion and all-over sickness hit Beau on Saturday night. Bummer. We'll have to plan to head to visit the Packard's in Selah over the 4th of July. They are wonderful people.

So, after a Sunday and Monday of sleeping and recovering he was feeling a little better so we had a BBQ with a couple of friends Monday night to celebrate Memorial Day. We love our friends here. It's amazing that there are so many wonderful families that are going through the same things we are right now.

Beau has been a softball fiend. He is playing in a city league with his friends and with the ward also, so we've been having at least 2 games a week. I love it. I must admit, once in a while it gets exhausting chasing the kids around the whole time, but it is always nice to get outside and back to the fields where I was raised (my dad always played softball so I have fond memories). He's been getting better and better and has even had a few home runs. He's also been golfing more and more with his friends as well. He got clubs for Christmas/birthday/anniversary/father's day, so they go to the cheapest course they can find to improve their skills. Their reasoning is that it is a money-making sport... a great place for business deals if you can play well.

We had a fun baby shower for one of the law wives who is having her third baby in under 4 years. Chelsey is adorable pregnant and we all love any excuse to get together. We played celebrity babies (luckily I organized it or I would've failed) to match babies with celebrities and their names. Good times.

We have once again rededicated to P90X now that Beau has a little more time. It's a big time commitment but it's so close to swim suit season that we are both motivated. Man, it's a hard workout, but a good one.

The weather here is wonderful. It's funny how we are complete advocates of Spokane now whereas a month ago when we were dying under a foot of snow. Perfect days now make all those frustrating memories fade. Ha ha. The kids are out in the backyard almost all day playing and we are getting out more for walks and going to parks. This is the Spokane I know and love!

After sitting, well, trying to set through a stake conference (2 hours) with the two kids, we realize that we need to kick up the disciplining with Pierson. He is a mad man! He is non-stop from the moment he wakes up until we put him to bed, so it makes for a "fun" experience. It was a great conference and at least we can't ever fall asleep. We both took away the message that we need to strenghten our testimonies by learning directly from the words of our Heavenly Father (the Scriptures) and less on others interpretation of our Heavenly Fathers word. We have both been focusing on meaningful scripture studying daily and it was a great reinforcement of the promptings of the spirit that we have felt to continue to improve ourselves a little bit more each day. We are so grateful for the gospel in our lives. It makes everything make sense (I'm not sure a better way to put it!).

We took a fun trip to Coeur D'Alene and walked around Dock Side where all of the boats are harbored. The lake it up at least 4 feet from all of the insane snow this year, so a lot of the walkways were underwater. It was amazing. Such a beautiful place. We are excited for the warm weather to go back and swim. We went to one of the fancy restaurants on the lake and got dessert. Yum. Fun night.

2008-05-30T16:59:00.000-07:00

Finally.... the dance recital was over a month ago now and I'm finally getting the pictures on. For the finale Daddy came out and met Teagan in the middle of the stage, they bowed, and then he spun her around and escorted her off of the stage, so we had to get a picture with daddy. The smile is classic:) Her road construction hat fell off a couple of times, but she sure loved it!

Pierson's expanding vocabulary

2008-05-30T16:22:00.000-07:00

Okay, so we might be the only ones that can understand him, but nevertheless... he's starting to talk. Here are his few little words...

Shoe- The shh sound is his favorite.
Ba- That is Ball
Uh- Uh- Like 'no no'. He likes to say this one when we tell him to put his blanket and pacifier in the crib after a nap. Then he'll just laugh and hide in your shoulder.
Uh oh- His very first word (is that a word?) he's been saying it for a while.
Da- translation... "mommy, I would really like that one please!" He says this while pointing to anything he wants... and it gets louder and louder until he gets it!
Dank Ew- Yep, he'll let out a few thank-yous every once in a while

Most of the time he is just jabbering away in his own little language that sounds an aweful lot like how Landon would speak to us in Mandrin Chinese after his mission to Japan. He's hilarious. Every morning while I get ready, he'll come into the bathroom, climb up on the step stool and talk to himself and make faces at himself in the mirror and just laugh and laugh. So entertaining.

Spokane Falls (Niagra?)

2008-05-25T19:14:00.000-07:00

With the incredibly wet winter and spring that we have had, the Spokane River is well above normal levels, in fact it is at or beyond flood levels in some places. Coming to and from school I get the chance to see it everyday and have made numerous comments on the size and speed of the river to Reese. So Saturday morning we got up, and as a family went down to Riverfront Park and the Spokane falls area. It was unfreaking believable. There was so much water and it was moving so fast, that it made you tremble as the sound cam rushing out of the river and poured over you as if you were actually in the river. Taylor North and I have had to postpone our "Float the river to school trip" after the city passed an emergency injunction prohibiting anyone from being on or in the river.

As we ventured around the park there was a fountain that came on every once in awhile and I told Teagan to run out to the middle so I could get a picture. She though for a second and then said "Can I have some money?"... Are you serious? Where does she come up with that? Just like her mother!!!!!!

Later on we found a place where you can feed the ducks and geese. Teagan was doing great as you can see from the big smile on her face, and a goose even took a cracker right out of her hand. Then being the greedy animals they are, and for those of you who have been around geese you know what I am talking about, the same goose cam up and tried to take part of her finger the next time Teagan offered it one. Instead of the finger, all the goose got was a couple of tears from Teag, and a couple of loud laughs from Mom and Dad. That little incident took me back to the little place in Boise, and Eden's own goose biting incident. The instant Eden was bitten by the goose I knew that she had turned into one, only in human form. How else to explain the selfish nature of my older sister, and plus whenever she wont stop badgering you it would sometimes sound like a goose's honk. Well? how can you blame 4 year old boy? Little did I know that the goose that I thought was my sister actually turned into a beautiful swan! With an equally beautiful singing voice.

Chekc out the pics, and the video of Teagan telling us where we are.

Shock!!!!

2008-05-25T18:51:00.000-07:00

Tyson (playing bachelor for a few weeks), Shay and Misty Wells, and Reese and I were invited to a Spokane Shock game by Brady.

Spokane Shock are the Arena Football League 2 team here in Spokane. They play in the 10,000 seat Spokane Arena and sell out every game. The production of the game was fantastic, having worked with the Mavs and being able to see how things are done with them, I can say that there isn't any noticeable difference between the product in Dallas and in Spokane. It was really impressive. The game was really incredible, it was fast paced, hard hitting, and just a great atmosphere. 1/2 of the arena was in orange. Brady put us in a corner of the stadium down on the sidelines. They were great seats, we were able to lean up against the pads the entire time and even got a chance to talk trash to the Boise players right after the Shock put one in the endzone. Its amazing how tough you feel standing on the sidelines knowing that the players cant get to you, or they aren't supposed to get to you.

Gillam a corner for the Shock came over and took a picture with me right before a kickoff, the access that fans have to the players is pretty great. The Shock ended up winning, and we all had a great time. It was all Tyson and I could do to stop Shay from jumping over the pads and start playing.

Little Heart Breaker

2008-05-18T21:14:00.000-07:00

Pierson rocked his little tuxedo with his sneakers!

Wedding Day!

2008-05-18T20:44:00.000-07:00

My older brother Kyle got married in the Jordan River Temple on May 15th, so we took a trip down to Utah to be there. The night before they had a dutch oven dinner catered (instead of doing a wedding luncheon on the hectic day). It was delicious. The next day they were married at 11:00 am. After we all joined them (kids and all) outside the temple for the glorious family pictures, and we realized how fun it is to wrestle all the grandkids kids to cooperate (we are up to 14!). But, they did well and everyone looked great. My new sister-in-law Trisha looked lovely in her wedding gown with a beautiful bouquet that mom and I made her from fresh deep red, yellow and white, gerber daisies. And there couldn't have been a happier man than my brother!

After pictures we took all the kids to McDonald's to celebrate my niece, Tyla's birthday and let the kids run around.

We had to be to the reception by 5 and were there until after 8:30pm. They had it in a friends backyard that was just beautiful. Their wedding cake was amazing! It had brown frosting to represent mountains around it, then beautiful frosting flowers all over, and fun little figurines climbing it like a mountain, camping next to a fire and repelling down it. It was so fun (and it tasted delicious too! amazing!) They had a big ice cream sundae bar for their refreshments that was very good. The whole reception was great. There were only three problems... Teagan randomly threw up at the beginning of it on the grass (luckily I brought extra clothes), Pierson had monster blisters on his feet from running non-stop all day long, and then late that night Pierson woke up screaming from the couple bites of ice cream he ate (he's violently lactose intollerant). He screamed for about an hour then was fine, but we wonder if he found someone's ice cream or some of the guest shared with him to cause his reaction to be so bad. Oh well... we'll keep better track next time and remember not to give him any.

It was wonderful to let the all the kids play together. Teagan and the twins, Alayna and Tiana (my brother Travis' kids) got along so well. And although Pierson's not quite old enough to do much interacting, he had a great time waddling around with his 3 other boy cousins that were all born within 4 months of each other and are all walking. And of course, I always love being with my family. They watched the kids and gave us a much needed date night... we went and saw "Iron Man". It was a fun show.

It was a quick trip, but a lot of fun. The trip down wasn't too bad. 9 1/2 hours is such a long drive, especially with a 1 yr old and a 3 yr old, but they both did suprisingly well. I think Teagan was a little sick (she randomly threw up that morning too) so she was quite content just watching movie after movie on our portable DVD player and we just stopped 3 times to let the kids (especially Pierson) run around. The drive back home was a different story. The AC in the suburban went out and of course there was a heat wave making the temperture rise to the high 80s. Wew! It was a long ride. We had all the windows rolled down and were just lathargic with the heat. I don't know how in the world people traveled without AC back in the day! It definately makes me count my blessings!

As soon as we pulled into the drive way, we threw the kids into their swimming suits and ran through the sprinklers at 6:30 at night. It's always nice to be home. I'm so happy for Kyle and Trisha and pray for the best for them as they begin their new life together.

Aint no party like a law school party...

2008-05-11T19:39:00.000-07:00

cause a law school party don't stop! The afternoon after our last final the wives had planned a BBQ with all of our friends at Bowl and Pitcher in River Side State Park. It was a blast to just "kick it" with out having to worry about preparing for Prof. Williams class so you wouldn't get napalmed. The phrase of the afternoon was "I cant believe we're done!", at any moment there was probably five guys saying that.

We all had alot of fun just hanging out, and eating. Eventually a game of 3 flys broke out, and I was able to show off my amazing athletic prowess, well whats left of it...and by the look of the pictures theres not much left!

And now to the pictures....

Teagan and Kamryn just strolling through the forest.

Hail the Victors!

Yes, that is as high as I could jump.

No longer a 1L....but not yet a 2L

2008-05-11T18:45:00.000-07:00

So I guess I'm in Law School limbo right now.

But if this is Limbo I never want to leave!

This past Friday was the last day of finals, and appropriately my last final. For the past 6 weeks I have endured bitter cold, scorching heat, furious winds, and unrelenting pressure; and I have emerged alive....barely!

Out side of my mission I have to say this was the hardest task I have had to accomplish. The earliest I was home over these past six weeks, not including Sundays, was 10:00p, and that was an anomaly , generally it was 1130 or 1200p that I eventually wandered in the door, and back out at around 7 or 730, it was a vicious cycle.

The one redeeming thing about finals, was that I had a bunch of good friends that were going through the exact same thing I was. Actually, they didn't understand how busy I was, they don't even know.

I really appreciated Reese holding down the fort, while I was gone. She did a fantastic job in keeping the house clean, at least having it clean when I got home, having lunches packed, and dinners, and a host of other simple things that made it possible for me to focus on my school work.

Now it is on to the summer, full of accounting and softball!

Twilight Trailer

2008-05-06T22:04:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh...Girls... we have to have a girls night out for this one.

Another week down... just one more week of finals to go!

2008-05-04T10:16:00.000-07:00

All of the law-school wives have pulled together during these last few, lonely weeks for support and sanity without our husbands. We've done kickboxing, Family Home Evenings (Abby and Teagan are sporting their masks we made with our "I am Thankful for Animals" family Home evening last monday), Recipe Swaps, and last night we even did a Wedding album and Video night just to remind us all that we really aren't widows. I made a wedding cake and everything! It was so fun. Man, having kids has really aged Beau and I! Ha ha!

I thought I needed to document our second home this winter season... the Dr.'s office. It seems like the kids have been sick since October! (Well, I guess it's been on and off) Luckily we haven't had anything major, just the flu a couple of times and a variety of colds from friends and the stinkin' weather. I don't like to be a paranoid mother, but when your kids are so skinny as it is, I get nervous for them to lose any extra weight, so Dr. Moon has become a great family friend! Teagan actually tells me she's feeling sick and needs to go to the dr. because she loves to get the stickers after the appointments. Luckily she didn't scream and freak out this last time. We actually went in for Pierson, but Teagan had to get checked out so she wouldn't feel left out.

Finally! The good weather seems to be staying! The kids are loving our park trips and Pierson is getting more and more daring. He had to have gone down the slide by himself, head first, at least 10 times. He'd just laugh so hard.

So, it was, yet again, another lonely week without Beau. He got 4 out of 6 finals out of the way so we are almost done! He's pulled a lot of 16 hour study days to prepare, and felt good about the finals that he has taken so far. I do not envy the pressure he is under right now, but I know he will do great!

The kids are starting to feel the void too... Teagan is starting to get more emotional without our usual schedule and she misses her daddy so much. It has been so nice to just let them play outside all day with the great weather we've had. With a huge backyard full of grass they always seem to end up digging in a small patch of dirt in the corner... figures. Bathtime is a must! (and it probably should be more than once a day!) They get so excited when he gets to come home for dinner.

All the law-school wives have been banning together to get through finals... I never thought that it would be so hard on us and the kids too! We've had a lot of fun, and we are planning a big BBQ at the park on Friday with all the husband when finals are finally over. It will be great to have my husband back!

The week of the Recital!

2008-04-29T21:48:00.000-07:00

Teagan was so cute in her little costumes. I will put up the professional pictures when I get them. She loved getting dressed up and did great at the recital. No stage fright at all!
Well, we had our first Dancing Queens recital. The girls were so cute! They did a great job. We were locked out of the church where we had the recital for an hour past the time that we reserved it and it was supposed to be open (Beau tracked down a key, thank goodness!) so we had to do a quick set up to be able to have things ready. The girls did pictures before and after the recital (before- in their jazz costume, and after- in their ballet) with a mother who is a photographer (Carrie Tolley- she does family, engagement, and wedding pictures too!). I will have to post pictures when I get them back. They should be great! I also had a mother who did our programs and certificates that is a professional digital scrapbooker (Nicole Durtschi-she's amazing!). Needless to say, they were adorable. One of the guys in our ward is a musician and has a children's cd out that's wonderful (Corey Jenkins- Animals A-Z), and he came and performed while the girls changed into their second costume. He did great. Then, I had a few girls from the ward that came and helped the girls on and off the stage, change, and get in order. Everything pulled together and it was a nice show. I definately learned a lot from doing my first recital on my own. It was great experience.... a ton of work, but fun. I learned that I need to delegate a little better rather than trying to do everything myself!, plan an extra hour for setting up just for all the mishaps that will happen!, and that I can't plan everything perfectly when it's a recital with 2-5 yr olds! But hey, that's what makes it so wonderful. The girls are just so cute. I'm learning, and loving it.

My mini's danced to "When I Grow Up" by Shirley Temple and I got them all different dress up costumes (Teagan was a road construction worker), and "The Princess Dance" and they had beautiful dresses that the mom's made tutu's to put under to make them 'poof'.

The Jr.'s danced to "Lollipop" and I made them poodle skirts and scarfs that they wore with a leotard and they danced with big lollipops that I made for them, and they had princess dresses for "Every Girl Can Be a Princess" like the other class.

Most of the week was spent getting everything ready for the recital. Beau was gone almost everyday from sun up to way past sun down again all week... except Satuday... he came home early to help me set up for the recital, thank goodness.

The kids are doing great. The weather has been nicer so they have loved playing out in the backyard. Their favorite thing to do... gather all the rocks in their pales and play in the dirt. Figures... a huge backyard with beautiful grass except for one little corner of dirt, and that's the magnet. They also love the little swing set that the neighbors got for us to share. Teagan loves to swing and is learning how to pump with her legs. The Norths (our neighbors) got a baby swing that you strap the kids in and Teagan loves to go and hop in it and strap herself in. Then, of course a couple of minutes later she realizes that she's stuck and calls for my help. I'm wondering how long I will be able to handle this cycle! But it's nice to let them play while I make lunch and dinner.

Pierson is nodding yes to questions, pointing to things and saying "da da" and already getting into mischief with one eye on me to wait for me to react. he's so much fun, and boy does he have a ton of energy. It's non-stop as soon as he wakes up until I put him down. The only thing that slows him down, thankfully, is giving him his little blanket, his nuk, and the crib when he'll finally admit that he's tired.

FINALS!

2008-04-25T13:37:00.000-07:00

http://www.scribd.com/doc/5107/They-didnt-study- They didn't study, so they got creative. Take a look... it's pretty darn funny!

FINALS begin next week! Good luck to Beau and all his law school buddies. You will all do great!