Idaho!

Jen's Mom and Dad are selling their home in Middleton, ID and are moving to another home in a nearby town. Jen and the kids went to visit one last time and it was a wonderful visit (until Jen got sick the last day there). We met Grandma at work and headed over to the coolest park in Boise - Ann Morrison Park. We fed the ducks and geese, played in the water fountain, and played at the playground. Grandma spent lots of time taking the kids on walks and playing with them. It made us really wish we still lived near Boise and we are seriously considering moving up that way. We are saying prayers and keeping our fingers crossed that Dennis can find a good job up there. There is plenty of housing (8000 houses on the market not including rentals) so the cost of housing is cheaper there than here in Utah. It would be so nice to be close to Grandma and Papa again.

School's In!

Both of the kids have started school. Cameron started half-day kindergarten on September 1st. His teacher is really nice but is taking 6 weeks off to have a baby really soon. Cameron really likes school and seeing his friends but seems to get amnesia when he gets home. I'm going to have to volunteer one of these days so I can see what he does there for 3 1/2 hours.

Kylie started preschool on September 6th. She only goes for 2 1/2 hours 2 days a week. Even though she is only 3, her teacher has another little girl her age in class and they are both doing great. She is learning to write her own name and starting to recognize letters. She is also becoming quite the little artist. She is drawing a kitty cat in this picture.

Mommy is enjoying her two afternoons free each week and planning to try copyediting or go to the temple more often. Just having two afternoons of quiet is really nice too though.

Family Pictures

After 4 years, we finally had family pictures taken. The photographer at Target did a great job. Here are a couple of the pictures.

Cameron iris folds a dolphin

Here is Cameron iris folding the dolphin that he took a 1st place ribbon at the county fair. He did such a great job!

Congratulations Cameron and Kylie (and Jen)

Cameron and Kylie (and Jen) all brought home ribbons from the county fair this year. Cameron's drawing of a line repair truck done when he was 4 took a 1st place, high blue and a Sweepstakes ribbon. Kylie's drawing of a bunny, turtle and ghost took a 2nd place ribbon. Cameron's iris fold of a dolphin took a 1st place ribbon and Jen's iris fold of the Salt Lake temple took a 1st place ribbon too. Jen also entered two photos and won a 2nd and 3rd place ribbon.

It was fun going to the fair with Jen's sister's family as well as our Aunt. The nephews had fun on the bungy jumping thingy (don't know the real name) and Cameron and Kylie had fun making a oragami wand with one of their cousins. We also ate at the Mayan before we went and although service was slow, the food was really yummy.

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July everyone! We celebrated by attending the Sandy City Fireworks. There were fun slides for the kids, good music and we ran into some good friends. It was lots of fun.

Kylie had fun wearing her daddy's hat and sun glasses and looked really cute in them.

This is Cameron's new pose for the camera. We don't know where he got it from. Its kind of silly but definately Cameron.

Kylie vs Markers

Kylie just hasn't been able to master coloring with markers while watching TV. She gets a little distracted and soon the marker is in her mouth and on her face. The first picture is what happened while she was coloring while watching Dora the Explorer.

The second incident happened while I was helping Ms. Shirley upstairs. I heard the kids screaming with delight and came down to this.

At least for another year, Kylie may not watch TV and color with markers. And definately not without some adult supervision! Thank goodness they are washable!

Cameron Graduated...

from Preschool! Congratulations! It has been a really fun year. He has gone on so many fun field trips and learned so much! He loves his teacher and is glad we live close by her. We see her at church every Sunday and occasionally at the store.

His graduation program had lots of songs. When asked what he wants to be when he grows up, he said "A loader driver." His teacher commented that he loves construction trucks and is the artist of the class.

Cameron will start Kindergarten in August and is excited to be in the same class as best friend from preschool and another friend from church.

A Letter From Greg Wiggle (Page)

It takes a lot to make Jen jump up and down screaming but this letter did just that. We sent get well cards to Greg Wiggle when he had to step down several months ago due to an illness. We were so excited to get this personalized and signed letter from Greg. He had mentioned on the Wiggles website that he was going to send thank you letters to everyone who had sent him cards and well wishes.

Thank you Greg for making all of our day!

P.S. The kids jumped up and down screaming too but I think that is because Jen was ;)

Happy 3rd Birthday Kylie!

Kylie turned 3 this month! We celebrated with a party with a few of her friends. She wanted a Go Diego Go cake and we gave her friends Dora and Diego books as party favors. The kids played outside on the swings and colored the front sidewalk with chalk. We had lots of fun!

We went to the zoo this month with Cameron's preschool. Shirley joined us and we had lots of fun! The kids enjoyed playing with their friends from preschool and we got to see a white Crocodile. Sadly, there will be no butterfly exhibit at the zoo this summer :(

We have also learned that it is best to not let Kylie watch TV while coloring with markers. This isn't the only time this has happened and what is funny is that she seems to not really think about what she is doing. From now on, only crayons when the t.v. is on.

April Happenings

I can't believe its been almost two months since I've updated our blog. We've had a ton going on. In April, we visited Grandma Jonna for her birthday. We had fun going to the Boise Zoo and meeting Papa's new dog Taz. We also went to the Birds of Prey exhibit where Cameron was excited most by the power line display and not the birds. We stopped by Mary's Barber shop in Middleton and Kylie got her first haircut (just a few wispy bangs).

Our Creative Saturday

Saturday was a rather creative day for Jen, Cameron and Kylie. It all started with a new hair bow that I made for Kylie. I've decided I want to learn to make hair bows so I did a few web searches, bought some ribbon, and spent hours curling ribbons in the oven on Thursday. The result was a blue, purple, and white korker bow. Today's pink rose bow was much easier.

The kids were also busy making cards and drawing pictures. Cameron drew a thank you card as well as a picture of our family on a boat (he's stuck on boats right now for some reason). Kylie drew a picture of a giraffe and zebra.

And I also made/finished 2 cards. One was an easter card that I started last year and finally finished up to mail to a friend. The second was a 3D goose card for a Fiskateers.com challenge.

Our busy weekend...

Friday night, Jen's parents (aka Papa Chick and Grandma Jonna)came into town. We met up with them at the Mayan restaurant where we had front row seats for the cliff divers. Jen got sung too for her birthday and we enjoyed Mexican food. The kids got a balloon train and penguin made by a very talented balloon artist.
Saturday morning, Jen made an iris fold and paper piecing card for Grandma Jonna's friend Darlene's wedding while Grandma took the kids for a walk around the neighborhood. It was from a pattern posted by Ingrid at CircleofCrafters.com.

That afternoon we went to The Living Planet Aquarium that is now in Sandy. It is only a preview exhibit but the kids had a great time. They got to say hi to sharks, sea horses, Nemo and Dori. We also got to pet friendly sting rays that jumped up to say hi. We got a yearly family pass so we will be visiting there lots. Its great that it is only about a mile away.

Today, Sunday, Grandma and Papa headed home to Idaho to put their house on the market. Hopefully we will get to go visit them one last time at their current home and see Mary's spring lambs.

Kylie's drawings today

Kylie had lots of fun at church today drawing flowers and faces. It is so cute to watch her try to get eyes and mouths in the right places. Considering she isn't even 3 yet, we're pretty proud of her! The first picture is a quick drawing of our family (including grandma and papa since they have been visiting) by mommy. Kylie drew in all of the faces and colored the kitties at the bottom (the blue blob) and her's and Cameron's clothes. The 2nd picture is of flowers. The far left flower has eyes, a nose, mouth, a "flower holder upper" (stem) and leaves. Aren't her drawings cute!

Last Snowfall of the Season?

We had a good snowfall on March 4th and it was finally wet enough snow to make a snowman! And the kids didn't have colds so we could go out. Yeah!!! We had to pack really hard and it took forever but the kids had fun so it was worth it. A few days later, our snowman was a lump of snow.

We are looking forward to spring though. Today was a beautiful day and I am so grateful that we have a fenced backyard to send the kids out to play. The tulips are sending up shoots and the grass is slowly turning green. Here's to more sunshine and no more valley snow til next year!

Pergamano Temple Picture

When I bought my pergamano kit, I intended to do some temple pictures. I tried one of the practice cards from the instruction book and wasn't very happy with it. I set my kit aside for the past 2 months thinking often that I should try it again. CircleofCrafters.com had a contest this month to do a card with something unique to where we live. I decided to finally try out a temple. I traced the temple with white ink from a photo I took years ago. Then I embossed the white areas. I decided to be brave and do some color. I used gold gel pen behind Angel Moroni. The rest of the color is watercolor pencil spread in places with lavendar oil. I'm really happy with how it turned out and have decided I won't be giving this one away.

Some Recent Cameron Pictures

Cameron has been busy drawing as usual. He wakes up drawing and goes to bed drawing. The first picture is of Tow Mater (from Disney's Cars) when he was younger and had his hood still. Cameron drew the big rig and police tow truck for mommy for her birthday. The writing was on the back of the picture when he gave it too me. We are always amazed at the detail in his drawings.