Fall Break in Idaho

We went to Jerome and Muldoon Idaho for Fall Break with my family. The kids had a blast! We did not want it to end!

My Papa showing us the cows

My Grandma, Kaley, Me and Thomas

Kaley, McCall and Harrison playing on the playground.

I love Kaley's face in this one!

I love Thomas' face here!

Kaley and McCall - we call her Callee. These two became good buds within seconds! They are just a couple months apart in age. McCall is my cousin, but is Kaley's age. They had such a good time together! Kaley can't wait to go back to Idaho for Thanksgiving! She kept asking, "When do I get to see my friend Callee again?

One cool Dude!

Hi Dad!

I love how Thomas' checks are hanging in this one! He looks like a tough dude!

Danielle, Me and Bella, Clarissa and Drew

My riding buddy

Bella and her bottle.

Thomas is showing Dad his stick. Note the band-aid on his forehead. He walked right off the little bench along the deck and nearly needed stitches! We were 20 minutes from the nearest first-aid station in Carey, and probably an hour from the nearest hospital. We decided to take our chances and just put a couple butterfly band-aids on it. It was one of those cuts that could have gone either way. It was about 2 cm long, and almost deep enough for stitches. He was acting ok though, so we just gave him some Tylenol and he was good to go! He is one tough kid!

Catching grasshoppers with Grandpa

Bundled with Bella

I love this one! Bella was awake to peek out of her little cozy cave!

The boys

Splashing in the mud! The kids loved getting muddy!

Papa and Grandma are building a pond out at Muldoon. The kids had a fun time trying to throw rocks and make it into the pipe.

We found a little frog down by the pond. Thomas got a kick out of holding it! What a cute little boy!

Out for an early morning ride

Bella' squishy face! I love it when she scrunches up her nose and

I guess I don't have to wonder where she gets it from! I love this little girl's face!

Family picture! A trip wouldn't be complete without one!

I love this little stud!

My cousin Andrew

My cousins Harrison and Adam

My cousin Torrey (twin to Andrew)

My Great-Grandma and Grandpa Daw

My Momma, Drew and Emily

Kaley and McCall

Crazy kids!

Mikesell, Clarissa, Kelly (twin to Adam) and Danielle

Thanks to Papa and Grandma for letting us stay at your house! We loved playing with all the cousins! We'll see you again soon!

What's new?

Kaley is loving preschool!  She loves to tell me about the things they do!  Sometimes she is tired on the walk home, and says, "Mom, can we talk about preschool when we get home?  I'm just tired right now."  Too cute!  She loves to play "house" with the other little girls there.  She tells me that her friend Carter is the dad, and Kayla is the daughter.  She cracks me up with the things she comes up with!  She loves to color and cut with her scissors.  They sing "You're a Grand Ol' Flag" in her class, and she loves it!  She tells me that they take turns waving the flag while they sing.  She loves story time too.  Her other favorite part is when they paint.   It is the highlight of the week if they paint!  Kaley is a generally happy girl.  She does have her sassy moments though!  She still loves to play with Max whenever she gets the chance.  We don't know what we are going to do now that the weather is getting colder and we can't be outside ALL day.  I guess I'll have to get creative!  
This is Thomas in his cowboy boots.  My Aunt Audra gave us all her boy clothes, and I found these this week. Thomas LOVES them!  My little T is an adorable boy!  He loves to sing "It's Autumn Time" and "Once There Was A Snowman."  Those are his favorites!  He also loves "Called to Serve."  He loves to sing!  I hardly get to listen to my ipod in the car anymore because he wants me to sing songs with him!  It makes my day!   He is quite the mischievious little boy!  He loves to get into the fridge and pull things out.  He loves to empty my kitchen drawers daily.  He LOVES getting into things he is not supposed to, like baby shampoo.  This weekend he did quite the number in the playroom with the baby shampoo.  It's a good thing that boy is so cute, otherwise I would be one unhappy mommy!  
Little Bella Rose has been kinda sick this weekend.  I took her to the Dr on Monday, and they ran some tests.   They tried to draw her blood, and couldn't find a vein.  It was awful!  Bella cried and cried!  We had to go to the hospital to have them try again, and it was magic!  It worked the first time!  I was so glad!  I don't think I could have gone through all the crying again!  They also ran a urine test too.  I am just worried about her because she hasn't gained any weight since she was 4 months!  She has stayed at 16 lbs.  We will see.  She is SUCH happy baby though.  She does the cutest thing where she holds up her arms when she wants to be held.  She does it in such a non-demanding way.  She scrunches up her nose and eyes when she smiles, and it brightens my day!  She is every mother's dream when she snuggles up and gives loves.  

So there you have it!  Not much has been "post worthy" around here, so I thought I would just give you a broad update!  We are off visit family in Idaho tomorrow! We are excited!  It will be a much needed break!  Watch for loads of pictures when we return!  

Josh the Builder

Not only is my husband good looking, he is talented! He built us some shelves for our garage! They turned out so nice! I am so impressed with his skills! The kids loved sitting up on the top shelf too! They are pretty sturdy, so I am thinking anything can be stored on these shevles! We have bought a few bins, and are working on the organization part out there! Josh has also started on a work bench out there too. He is just starting, but I will post pics when it is done! He is my hero! :)

Sunday Dinner at Coxes

Grandma had the biggest pumpkin on her front porch! I made the kids play by it so I could take their picture! They didn't mind!

Kaley saw some kids on TV jumping rope between sessions of Conference. Grandma had a rope, so Kaley gave it a try! She was pretty good at it!

I love this one! He is so handsome!

T trying to jump rope. It would help if he could lift BOTH feet when he jumped!

The cousins - on a ride in Grandpa's tractor.

Kaley was such a good sister and held Bella the whole ride! She did so good!

Dallin and Grandpa driving this operation!

Look at Bella's hand - this is what she does when she is saying hi. If it is the other arm, it usually means hold me! So cute!

Kaley's favorite thing is to pose for her Momma! Can you tell?

Uncle Josh and Ethan shooting hoops.

Daddy and Thomas

Grandma and Bella - trying to keep warm!

Our Conference set-up

To help the kids listen to Conference, I made them little binders with coloring pages with Pres Monson and family topics. The activity day girls made little bingo cards for all the primary kids too. Kaley got a kick out of putting her little fishies on the bingo spaces. It actually helped! They would listen for the words that were on their card. We also had a color the General Authority's tie coloring page. They both loved that. I think that it was pretty good! Of course, we also had endless treats and snacks to keep them quiet! We did enjoy listening to Conference - even with little kids! It can be done! :)

Bella Smiles

Bella kept us smiling during Conference with her cute giggles and lovely smiles! She is such a sweetheart!

Strawberry jam!

Wow! I made strawberry jam all by myself for the first time yesterday! I am quite impressed with how it all turned out! I watched the Relief Society Broadcast today during naptime, and felt like President Uchtdorf's talk spoke to me! I am sure many of you felt the same way! I have felt the need to create! I didn't really have a word for it until I heard his talk! I have embraced this need to be domestic and tried a few new things! This week, it was strawberry freezer jam! Thomas LOVES it! He tells everyone that his mommy made "yummy strawberry" just for him! It makes me feel good that he likes it so much! It's little things like that that make my day! It was worth the effort!

Babies in a box

Oh, how they love their little sister.

Their favorite thing to do it "beep" Bella's nose. She doesn't mind when they are being soft. They are cute little siblings! (Let's hope I can still say that in a few years!)

Sometimes, it's like a zoo around here!

We had a game night with the Murrays, this past weekend. The kids came downstairs wearing halloween costumes! We were laughing pretty hard at our goofy kids! Max is the monkey on the left, then Isaac the lion, Kaley the monkey, and Thomas the tiger.

Monkey pile

Little Jake has the coolest exersaucer! Bella had to take it for a spin!