Megan turned 12!

We can't believe how quickly this past year has gone! TWELVE! (I'll spare you all the "I remember the day she was born..." type stories!)



We sure enjoy every second of Megan! Happiest Birthday, Sweetheart!

Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving was wonderful! It snowed quietly all day. We watched the parade while the turkey cooked. Grandma and Grandpa came down early to play with the kids and help with dinner (thank you, pancreas, for choosing Thanksgiving weekend to flare up). Lindsay and Rex arrived with Daniel and Kaila. Mard and Hank arrived with Derik and Kera...and Oreo Balls!!! I loved every minute of the day!



The day after Thanksgiving was Lindsay's birthday - she opened gifts after dinner and was, obviously, very happy with the Twinkie pan mom gave her!



What family get-together would be complete with a little Wii!!

Ruh-Roh!!

My view on the drive home last night - we live right at the foot of the snow covered mountains!! Ugh!

Family Pictures 2010

407 pictures later, we ended up with 10 new pictures hanging on our wall! Whew!




There were, obviously, many many more pictures than just these two, but Christmas cards and the Christmas blog entry are coming...wait for it!

Oh ok, fine - here are 2 more, but that's IT!

Jim Henson

One of our elementary schools has a Halloween tradition that is kind of fun. The 5th graders (oldest students in this school) choose someone famous, who is dead, and create a "Boo-ography" that they present on the Friday before Halloween.

Jared chose to become Jim Henson. He had to study out facts about Jim's life, then we helped him create a 2 min oral presentation that he was required to memorize and share several times on Boo-ography day. We also helped him create a display containing a timeline of events of Jim Henson's life work. It really was fun (ok, not so much while we were doing the work, but Boo-ography day was GREAT!). We are huge Muppets fans at our house - thanks Jared for choosing such a fun person and doing such a wonderful job!!

The Princess and the Pea

Jared tried out for the Missoula Children's Theater production of The Princess and the Pea this year. He was very low key with us about the part he got, down playing just how involved it really was. We were so surprised, and proud of Jared when we watched the performance and realized he was the Storm King - which was one of the bigger parts. He did a great job with his lines. He was loud enough for us to hear. He just did GREAT!!! Way to go Jared!



(Jared is in the back row, big crown on his head and a dark blue cloak.)

The rest of 40

Ok, here is the picture of the 40+ roses I got for my birthday! Beautiful, huh!



I had one of the kiddos take the picture of the roses/me - with my super-dee-duper birthday gift...




There was for sure a learning curve with the new camera on this phone - but I think I have the hang of it now - this is the first official picture I took with my birthday present!

40 - it's not so bad!

And just like that, I'm 40! And it's not so bad. In fact, it's great!

Does my family know me, or what??



I'll try to remember to add a picture of my bouquets, one of 40 roses and one of 12 roses. They are so beautiful! Well worth the 40 year wait to see them!

Eagle IV - Ammon

I've been the Committee Chairman for our scout unit for 3 1/2 years now. I love it! Sure, it's frustrating at times...and it is a lot of hard work...but it's always worth it!! Friday night we celebrated "my" 4th Eagle Scout!



Ammon and his Crew Leader, Matt



Way to go, Ammon!!



(I joke with him that he's massive...apparently I'm not really joking so much! I'm just glad he never smashed me like a bug those times I pestered him with requirements and deadlines!)

Happy Birthday Maddie-belle!

I'll spare you all the "15 years ago" recount (except the part where I got to the hospital at 3:30am and Maddie was born at 6:00am...that part was exciting). But here she is, all growed up and beautiful!! Seriously, she is a Joy. Sure, still a teenager, but mostly a joy! We love the crud out of her!!



FYI - personal DVD player = big hit!!



FYI - Season I of Psych = also a big hit!!



Maddie was a good sport this year! The evening of her birthday we had an Eagle Court of Honor to attend so her celebration was rushed. We ate Eagle cake the night of her birthday - and birthday cake the next day...and the next day and the next!



Happiest birthday dear Maddie!!
xoxo

Buckle up!

A couple of weeks ago I took Jason to Colville for his driver's test (who would have ever guessed that Colville would one day be the "big city"). Low and behold, the punk passed! I texted Brandon who was home with the kids and told him Jason passed. We came home to a wonderful surprise welcome!



Jason's first car...complete with a dismembered Ken doll!



Isn't he handsome? Jason, not Ken!

Helping Hands 9/11

On 9/11 our church sponsored nationwide community service projects. Our project was to "beautify" the Dean Vaagen Memorial Field in Colville. It's a 3 softball field complex that has been around for close to 30 years.

We started out staining the fencing that goes all around the property. (And we even talked dad in to helping us out...considering the countless games he coached and watched at those fields, it was the least he could do! ha ha)



There were projects for all ages! Jacob & Megan helped sand and pain the picnic tables.



Malorie, Melanie, Joseph & Meredith pulled the weeds that had started to grow into the children's play area.



And of course we did some playing around while we were there!



It was a great day! I can't count the number of softball games I played at that complex back in the day! It was nice to spend some time taking care of it. I believe they estimated well over 1,500 man hours were spent there that day.

Jason's Birthday Dinner

We are now officially all caught up with birthday dinners!!

For Jason's dinner, he chose Chili's! He's a devoted fan of the place! He ordered a burger that close to the size of his head! And I swear, I blinked and it was gone!



I think if we'd have offered, he would have ordered another burger. Dang teenager!

Back to School

Today was the first day of school! Jason 11th Grade/Running Start, Maddie 9th Grade, Jacob 8th Grade, Megan 6th Grade, Jared 5th Grade, Malorie 2nd Grade & Melanie 1st Grade



Madilyn has a 0 Hour class this year and I was afraid she'd have to leave before the group picture. Obviously, she didn't - but this picture was too cute not to share!



Malorie & Melanie...cutie patooties!



Waiting for the bus -

Birthday Dinners

We are almost caught up with the birthday dinners! I hate when we get behind like this! Jacob (May 28) and Melanie (June 9) chose to go to Hu Hot Mongolian Grill for their birthday dinner!



Melanie had never been to Hu Hot before! She liked it and even tried chopsticks! Atta girl!

We know neat people!

Back in August (I thought I was all caught up...) we sent our friend, Ben, off on his mission! He is serving in the Las Vegas West mission! We are so happy for him and we sure do miss him!



Also "back in August" Brandon and I attended a 50th Wedding Anniversary party for our dear, dear friends Glenn & Shirley! 50 years! Aren't they just the cutest couple!