Something's missing!

Something's missing in this picture!

Cameron should be singing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!" Problem is, he doesn't like to sing. So we'll sing it for him! Congrats little buddy on growing up! We hope the tooth fairy brings you something fun!


We spent the afternoon at the zoo today. They recently added a safari exhibit with a giraffe and lions. The kids had a great time and the weather was warmer. On a sad note, our zoo membership expired today. We will definately get another one next spring!

October Happenings

So far its been a pretty busy October. We headed up north to visit Great-grandma Peggy and Grandpa Chuck. It was great for the kids to get to see them since its been about 3 years. The kids loved their rug that looked like roads. They made cut out paper signs and power poles with Grandma Jonna to make cities.

Cameron is loving school and having fun with art club as well as making the sets for his school's Wizard of Oz production. He has also gotten 100% on every spelling test so far. Jen is tolerating the long drive to school (and appreciating when Dennis or grandma can drive). She has also been checking thrift stores and was successful in finding coats for the kids for under $10 each (Kylie's is in great shape and Cameron's is brand new in his favorite colors). We LOVE thrift stores and especially the people who donate such great stuff :) Kylie still loves to play in the dirt and tells everyone who will listen that she is going to be a fairy princess for Halloween. Dennis finished a deck job while working full-time graveyard shift and is appreciating a little break.

We went to a local farm to pick out pumpkins. The kids had a great time and the weather was beautiful. We carved Kylie's pumpkin into a cat, Cameron's into a power pole and bat , and Dennis made a vampire Jack-o-latern. Mommy (Jen) forgot to take pictures of them. :(

Halloween was fun. We went to a ward party and trunk-or-treated on Thursday. On Friday we headed over to a neighborhood in our ward and joined what seemed like hundreds of other trick-or-treaters. It was fun to see people we knew and the kids got plenty of candy to share with all of us :)

Happy Fall and Happy Election Day! Have you voted yet?!

(This is a picture of our neighbors horse Abigail in front of a dusty orange sunset (the farmer was plowing)).

Cameron's Version of Heaven

Cameron was in heaven today! He was given a personal tour of a lineman college where they train the people who climb and repair power and utility poles. Anyone who knows Cameron well knows that he loves power poles. He draws them often, notices them everywhere, and is completely addicted to them. Why? We don't know. We just know that he loves them.

We drive past the lineman school often and had gone in at the beginning of the week and asked for some brochures for Cameron (at his request). We walked away with brochures, an extra manual, and an invite to bring Cameron back for a tour.

Cameron and Kylie were given their own personalized hard hats and lineman ornament and a tour of the inside and outside of the school. Cameron was so excited to see the great big tower model in the reception area. There was a lot of really neat art work and photographs on the walls of linemen working. Outside the students were practicing climbing up and down the poles, removing and installing beams, and "rescuing" dummies. It was a lot of fun to watch. Cameron loved the building where the students practice on "live" wires.

We missed out on a ride up the lift since the truck was being worked on. We were invited to come back another day and take a ride. Cameron is very excited to go back. We are planning to go to the lineman rodeo that they hold at the end of their training. The newly graduated students race each other up and down the poles, rescue dummies, etc.

I am also adding a picture of Kylie. This picture (taken Sept. 30th) reminds me of our pre-horse kick girl. Beautiful, happy, stubborn, wonderful Kylie. She loves to chew gum lately so that is the pink between her teeth. Thank you Heavenly Father for helping Kylie heal! She still has some hearing loss and they are talking about surgery in the spring. We are praying things can heal on their own.

Summer Pictures

Cameron and Kylie loved to see the new Twin Falls Temple during the open house. It was a long drive in our car without air conditioning but well worth the trip. Kylie loved the eternal mirrors in the sealing room and Cameron loved the baptismal font on the backs of ox statues. It is a beautiful temple.
We enjoyed a minor league baseball game as a family. The city library had free tickets for the kids so we decided to go. The kids loved the playground more than the game (of course) but it was at this game that we found out about the art magnet school that Cameron is now attending. We happened (or were blessed) to be sitting next to someone who knew about the changes in the schools in a nearby school district.
Since we posted pics of Kylie playing in the mud, I couldn't resist adding this one of Cameron. We had a fun water fight to get cleaned off after since Grandma and Jen were spreading wood chips and getting dirty too.

Kylie Update

Thank you everyone for your prayers for Kylie. She is doing much better than any of us expected. Although she has some temporary hearing loss, the doctors believe it will come back as her skull fracture heals. She is back to her story telling, singing, meltdown when tired self. She is running around like a maniac again and wrestling with her brother and daddy as often as she can. She is also back to getting dirty again, as you can see from her before (orange shirt) and after (red shirt) pictures. She's put on a little weight, but she could use a few extra pounds. Her smile coming back as well (the doctors told us it could take a few months).

As for the rest of us, Dennis is working nights as well as starting his own decking business. He is working on a 12' x 15' deck and hopes to find more deck jobs soon.

Cameron loves his new school, although Jen isn't too fond of the drive (40 miles round trip). Cameron won a 1st place certificate for Self Expression for K-3 for a city sponsered art contest. He got to shake hands with the mayor when they awarded him his certificate. Jen got to take a ride up the 84 foot ladder truck that they had brought in for the ceremony and festivities (Jen is NOT a fan of heights but decided to face her fear - and actually enjoyed it!)

Jen is also busy playing shuttle driver and shopping thrift stores for good back to school buys (lots of cute clothes for Kylie and $2 for almost new Wrangler jeans for Dennis!). Oh, the little things that make us happy :)

We hope to visit our own stomping grounds soon. Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later. We miss our friends and family down south and around the country :(

Kylie is Home!

Some of you may know, but most of you will not, that Kylie was kicked in the head by a horse last week. Thirty stiches and 5 nights in the hospital later she is home again. She is doing really well although a little wobbly due to fluid and swelling in her ear wrecking havoc with her equilibrium. The left side of her smile isn't cooperating due to swelling by her facial nerves. She is happy to be home though and back to her story telling, singing, drawing self again. We are grateful for the power of prayer and for the wonderful doctors and nurses at St Lukes in Boise. We couldn't have asked for better care.

Welcome home Kylie!!

New blog for Dennis

We've started a new blog for Dennis' at http://mountainwestdecking.blogspot.com/ This blog will be for Dennis' deck building business that we are starting in Boise, Idaho. Please feel free to stop by and check out his projects. Also, if you know anyone in Idaho that is looking to build a deck, please feel free to share our blog with them.

Happy Birthday Kylie!

Kylie doing her spotlight with Mommy and Cameron at preschool

(A picture for those who complain that they never see the photographer).
Kylie in her new big girl bed with her cute blanket and pillows from IKEA.

Kylie sitting on the couch during her party (why blogger is posting this sideways, I can't figure out). We realized half way through her party that she was sick with a fever.

Kylie had fun celebrating her 4th birthday with a new bed and bedding from IKEA. She had 4 of her favorite friends come over and join her for crafts, strawberry shortcake birthday cake and balloons. Then she was sick for two days. She is feeling lots better today so hopefully we can go to the zoo since she couldn't go with her preschool this week.

And one last picture of Cameron and Dennis taken recently.

Art Kits are Ready!

Remember these?

Well, look at this! This is what $180 in art supplies looks like

(with some punch, scissor and paper donations).

Yeah!!! We have 24 art kits ready to deliver to Primary Children's Hospital next Wednesday. Each kit has a sketch book, coloring book, washable markers, crayons, pencils and stickers. We will also be delivering some Fiskars squeeze punches, decorative scissors, glue sticks and construction paper for their craft room. Cameron is excited to deliver them and the hospital is very excited to receive them. This has been such a fun project. The kids helped with flattening craft ribbon and Kylie sharpened lots and lots of pencils (have to love automatic pencil sharpeners =) We just need to decorate the outsides of the bags and they are ready to go.

THANK YOU to everyone who has helped out by buying cards, making extra donations (thanks Mumzy, Shirley, Wendy Jo and Jenna!), and helping to sell cards (thanks Mumzy and Shirley!). Thank you Fiskars for the scissors and sqeeze punches.

We will continue Cameron's donation project with the sales of his remaining cards. We may even make future cards with new drawings. We would still really like to make art kit donations to the homeless shelter and domestic abuse shelters as well.

Cameron Playing T-Ball

I just have to say that I love to check up on family by reading their blogs. I'm sorry I haven't been updating our blog very much lately. Now that some craziness is behind us and more craziness is scheduled (moving), I'll try to keep everyone updated.




Cameron started t-ball last month and has really been enjoying it. He plays with 4 of his friends from school and church. T-ball is pretty funny at this age. Most of the kids can't catch a ball or throw it very far. Quite often they have to be directed to which base to run to. I've seen the runners try to field the ball instead of running to base. There have been more dog piles on the ball than the coaches would like to admit. Its just plain fun to watch!

In other news, we will be moving again May 31st. Where? We aren't sure yet. My job here with Shirley is ending. Cameron finishes up school on July 1st. We might stay at a friends house in Sugarhouse for a month if their house hasn't sold yet. We want to get back to the Boise area and we are job searching for Dennis. He would like to do decking in Idaho but it may take a little time to build up his business. For now we are just looking for good paying work with a schedule open enough to allow Dennis to do some deck jobs on the side. This will be move # 12 - so wish us luck!

Cameron's Donation Cards are Here!

I thought I had posted about Cameron's donation project here, but rather than repost, you can check out my card making blog for the details. Just click here!

Cameron's cards are finally done! I ordered them with the cheapest postage so that we could keep the card cost down. It felt like forever for the order to arrive but we finally got them today. I also decided to only do sets of 4 cards and took the 4 pictures that had the most votes via email and message boards.

The cost will be $7 for a set of 4 notecards with envelopes. The insides of the cards are blank and Cameron's picture is on the back. Half of that cost will go towards the cost of printing and shipping. The other $3.50 will go towards art supplies for kids at the local children's hospital as well as the homeless shelter.

I ordered 12 sets of cards to start. Cameron has already sold 3 sets to family and friends (Thank you Niecia for our first purchase!). He is really excited to get the art supplies so that we can take them to the hospital. A friend of mine who works for Fiskars is also sending some children's scissors to include with the art kits (Thank you May!). Cameron also wants to include a small toy which I think is a great idea. If you are interested in ordering cards, please email me.

Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive with votes and suggestions.

Happy Birthday Cameron!

Cameron celebrated his 6th birthday with his friends and his sister. Jen made her first ever decorated cake for him. She has a ton of cake decorating tips from a former neighbor but has never learned to use them. This was a fun way to start. Cameron loves excavators and anything construction. The "dirt" in the hole was Dove dark chocolates chopped up. Considering she only had 45 minutes to frost the cake and decorate it, it turned out okay.
Kylie had fun at the party too but really wanted to open presents. Cameron was nice enough to let her help him open a few. Isn't this such a sweet picture of her!

Cameron had a great time with his friends. These are his buddies that he hangs out with at home and at school. Thanks to all of his friends who came and brought such super cool presents. We had such a fun time!

More Snow!

The snow just isn't going away this year. Saturday morning we woke up to 15 inches. Suprise! Dennis stayed home from work and we all went outside and shoveled/played with snow. The kids had a great time climbing the mountains of snow created by the snow blower and shovels. They'd climb up one side and slide down the other dragging more snow out on the driveway and sidewalk. The snowplow never made it down our street but we have a nice neighbor with a digger who plowed one side of our street. Four days later, our street is still a slushy slippery mess (its kind of fun to drive on :)

Dennis and the kids posed in front of his new work trailer. He has put in new shelving for his tools so he can reclaim his truck cab. He was a very happy camper to finally be able to get this.

Someone complained about not getting to ever see the photographer so this is what you get! Cameron insisted we pose next to a light post in a snow bank. Its hard enough to take a self-portrait without balancing on a 2 foot snow bank! Not my best picture ever but there I am!

I love....

My family! I was trying to get a cute picture of our new Sunbeam Kylie this past Sunday. She is so excited to be in Primary now and is doing so good for the Primary leaders and her teacher. While playing with the portrait setting on our camera (it blurs the background - great for those messy room pics), I took these pictures of the kids and my hubby. I have to include the great self-portrait Kylie drew. Pretty good for a 3 year old!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

We drove to to Idaho this past weekend to spend some time with Jen's parents before Christmas. The kids were so excited for the trip that they probably asked every day in December if it was time to go see Grandma and Papa. The roads were clear going up but coming back they were pretty scary at times. It was so worth the trip though. Grandma and Papa have finished fixing up their new home with beautiful carpets, hardwood floors and really nice furniture. The kids were excited to go outside and check out the barn and play with their dog Taz. Cameron was really sick the first night we were there but with a father's blessing and some Heavenly inspiration he was able to get some rest and start feeling better. The presents we opened didn't seem as important as just spending time together. The kids were, however, very excited to get lots of new tracks for their GeoTrax set and we even got some suprise presents that we weren't expecting. Thanks so much Mumzy and Daddy for a wonderful weekend. I'm sure the kids will make sure that we are up to visit again really soon.

On Christmas Eve we headed back to Utah over snow covered roads. The summit was snowy with patches of ice so Jen put her nose in her book and trusted Dennis to get us home safe. The kids got nice long naps so they were ready to play and have fun at the family party. It was such a relief to make it with no incidents and it was great to see Dennis' parents, brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews. I didn't count how many of us were there, but it was a lot. Thank you everyone for your thoughtful gifts. We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas day.

We are not sure of our New Year's eve plans but hope to see our friends Don and Eliane before they head to New Orleans. Whether you stay home or head out to party with friends, we hope you are safe and enjoy ringing in the new year.

Snow!!

We finally got some snow here - two storms, two weekends in a row. Both storms dropped about 8 inches. The first snow melted before the 2nd storm hit so it hasn't been too bad. We wanted to let the kids go out back to build a snowman, since this was our first wet snow, but the snow was so heavy that it kept breaking branches from the tree that covers the back yard. (We usually get really dry fluffy snow that doesn't pack well. Perfect for skiing but not for snowmans.) Hopefully tomorrow it will be better so Cameron can build his snowtanker and Kylie can build a snowpenguin.

We also put up our Christmas tree last weekend. The kids were VERY anxious to get it decorated. We tried to get pics of the kids after decorating. They were quite hyper so this is the best we could get.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We really hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We spent the afternoon in Eden, UT (up Ogden canyon). It was beautiful but freezing cold! We had lots of good food and yummy desserts. Cameron and Kylie love to see their Grandma and Papa as well as all of their aunts, uncles, and cousins on their daddy's side of the family (and a few neighbor friends). The turkey card was drawn by Cameron. We'll be sending a copy to both sets of grandparents. Kylie's Indian costume was from preschool. And by the way, we didn't drive the four wheeler around although I'm sure Dennis would have loved too. It just made for a different photo spot than the big barn wall. Happy Holidays Everyone!