The Vegtable of Trees

Here is Kirsten at the Vegtable of Trees as she calls it (really the Festival of Trees) in Salt Lake. A lady did a tree in honor of my dad so my mom and LeAnne went up to see it and Kirst went with them. Later that week, we had planned to go up and Jannika got the flu. Well, we thought the other kids might get it too but we decided to go anyway. We did have a nice time at the Festival and went on up into the city to see the lights at Temple Square and Claire got sick. So I stayed in the car with her while Kyle took the other kids out to see the lights for a few minutes. Then on the way home Kirsten got sick too. I will spare you the details of our looooong stinky ride home and just say that we are stronger for having that experience and we will listen to our instincts next time!

Halloween Fun

We had lots of fun this Halloween. We went to the city party and Kirsten even won a prize for the best costume in her age group! We did our ward trunk or treat (which they had inside, thank heaven, because it was FREEZING outside) We had so much candy from those parties we hardly needed to go out on Halloween!

Family Pictures

We had some pictures taken on Saturday over at the family farm. Pretty good except that in most of them Kirsten was in one of her moods... Oh well.

Happy Birthday Kyle!

It's Kyle's big 3-0 today! Wow, are we really this old?! Anyway, just wanted to give you a shout out, honey and I wanted to tell the rest of you 30 things about my hot husband!

1. He is very funny. He makes me laugh all the time!
2. He doesn't really like candy or other things that are too sweet, except Swedish Fish.
3. He does like Japanese food, Chilis restaurant, cinnamon rolls, donuts and sunflower seeds.
4. He doesn't do drama like really dramatic scenes on TV. So, in other words, we never watch CSI, ER, Grey's Anatomy etc. TOO much DRAMA! Maybe he doesn't like it because he lives in a house full of WOMEN! Sorry!
5. He does like to watch Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond and The Office. We are also liking the new Jay Leno show. Yay, it's at 9 now! (I know we are dorks because we don't want to stay up late to watch it!)
6. He is my buffer in social situations. I am naturally shy and he naturally talks to people so it makes it easier for me to meet/talk to people when I am with him.
7. He does really well with the Young Men and has pretty much had YM callings since we have been in family wards.
9. He is starting to like to play Scrabble. He did not like it when we first got married (my family plays it a lot) and a few days ago he won the game against me, my mom and LeAnne!
10. When he gets his mind set on something that he wants, that is all he thinks about. He looks for it online, comparing different ones (like trucks, camp trailers, 4-wheelers etc) until he finds exactly what he wants and then he finds a way to get it. Very persistent.
11. He loves our kids so much. They run to him when he gets home, he takes Jannika to scouts with him and gives them rides on the 4-wheeler. He is a great dad.
12. He loves going deer/elk hunting.
13. He likes to tell stories to our kids about when he was a little girl growing up in Ferron (his grandpa always told stories that started "When I was a little GIRL..." So Kyle tells them like that too.) The kids think it is so funny.
14. He is great about watching the kids while I have a girls night/day out.
15. He is a great handyman. He put in a new countertop, sink, beadboard for my mom and put up trim and beadboard in our girls' room.
16. He loves golfing and snowboarding.
17. He gets up in the night with the kids.
18. He changes poopy diapers :)
19. He sticks with things. Going to Japan on a mission was very challenging but he stuck with it.
20. He drove over to Ephraim from Price (about 1 1/2 hours) almost every weekend while we were dating. On my birthday, he even drove over and surprised me and had to drive back that night!
21. He has always been a friend to everyone.
22. He sometimes asks my mom or his to babysit and takes me out on a date.
23. He ran for city council this year and maybe will run again in the future.
24. He works for government agencies but is NOT a tree hugger!
25. He likes 80's music, a lot!
26. He took a ballroom dance class with me and liked it!
27. He sometimes forgets the punchlines to jokes.
28. He honors the priesthood.
29. He has a very strong testimony.
30. I'm so glad he's mine!

Happy B-Day Honey!

Pre School!

My Kirsten started pre school a few weeks ago. She has a little bit of a hard time when we first get there but then she loves it for the rest of the time. I am glad she is getting some social interaction because she doesn't like to go to primary so I hope this will help her! She is such a sweet girl and loves to climb up on the counter to help me when I am cooking. She likes to play alone a lot and I often hear her talking to herself and playing games by herself. She likes other kids too but doesn't mind playing alone. She loves to wear skirts (she is wearing a skirt in these pictures) and loose pants, it is very hard to get her to wear levis!

Here we are soaking up some of the last days of summer. The kids have loved the new city pool and also our little kiddie pool.

Sorry, randomness. Kyle cut down a bunch of trees in our back yard and went out and saw that he had carved our initials in a heart shaped stump. Isn't that just romantic?!

The Dancing Potato

The other day I found this picture on the table. I asked Kirsten if she had drawn it. She said, "yeah, it's a picture of me. I look like a dancing potato!"

I asked Jannika how school was a few days ago. She said it was okay but they had too many recesses! (I think she didn't like it outside because it was soooo hot!)
I asked her about school lunch and she told me they had hot dogs that day.
Me: "How was your hot dog?"
Jan: "Pretty good. The outside bun was good but the hot dog looked kind of old; it was probably from the fifties!"

Adventures

My sweet oldest girl went to first grade today. She wasn't scared or nervous and I think she'll have a great day!

Kyle went on an adventure a few days ago for..ahem...work. He and another guy he works with decided it was time to do a little hiking out in a canyon called the Black Box. It is pretty much wading through the river and even swimming in some parts where the water is really deep.

Miss you, Daddy

It is strange that it has been a whole year since my dad passed away. We remember him each day, of course, but today it is on our minds a bit more.

This is a picture of him at last year's county fair parade taken two weeks before he died. It is the last picture I took of him and I still keep it on my camera. ((He is the one walking beside the wagon).

This is a picture of our friend, Lee's wagon with a sign that says, "The Pageant Lives on. Thank you, Montell." The Castle Valley Pageant was not put on this year by a decision by the Church to only hold it every other year so it was nice that they put this sign on the wagon. It touched me that they would think to do that.

Miss you, daddy.

Hot Deals

The Albertsons ad for Utah this week has some screamin' deals in it.
If you are from Utah click here
Some examples of stuff I'm getting:

General Mills Promo buy $30 worth of products and get $15 on your NEXT shopping trip. (Prices are AFTER you factor in the $15 on your next shopping trip).

Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks 1.00. Use coupon .50 off of 2 found at this link.
Final price .75

Chex Mix Bars 1.25. Use coupon .60 off 1 at same link as above.
Final price .65

These are only 2 examples of some great deals! Happy Shopping!


If you aren't from Utah, you can still check your state's deals here. Just find your state and click on it and click on the store where you want to shop.

Thanks Pinching Your Pennies!

Crazy Summer

Here's a little update on our summer. I made a wedding cake last Saturday. When I asked the bride what her colors were she said, "purple and orange, not light purple and light orange, but obnoxious purple and obnoxious orange." So, there you have it!

This was on a little Family Home Evening outing to our farm. Claire loves dandelion puffs. The girls call them "wishberries."

We also got to visit with our friends, the Phillips this month! Here are Claire and Miles enjoying some popcicles.

I'm pretty sure the girls liked their chocolate chip pancakes shaped like caterpillars!

We spent the 4th of July with Megan and Errol and Errol's family. They are always so nice and let us crash their family parties! The parade was fun and Jannika is a BIG fan of Megan and Errol's swimming pool!

We have also been to Cherry Hill this last week for our "Stay-cation" with Judd and Keiauni and Jeff and Jacqueline. We swam ALL day and had a great time. Then the next day did arcade games, mini golfing, and batting cages. No pics, though, because we didn't have our cameras with us. It was a fun trip, though!

So, This is New

I discovered that I have tigerlillies and peonies growing in my yard. Love the peonies, they are so big and beautiful!

We went on a trip to Huntington Lake with our friends from Price (Chris and Carlie and their kids) and with Kyle's sister, Megan, and her kids, Kaylee and Ashlyn. We picked possibly the worst day to go to the lake, it was so windy and cold but the kids had fun anyway!
Claire has started to give kisses, and lots of them! When you pick her up she gives you a tight hug around your neck and then puckers up her lips, says "mmmm" and gives you a good smacker! Then she says "di du" (thank you) and gives you some more kisses! It makes us feel so loved!

We took a fun trip yesterday to Joe's Valley and went fishing in Grassy Lake and Pete's Hole. Jannika caught 4 fish and one of them she caught all by herself (cast the line and reeled it in).

Scrapbook Pages

I've been doing some scrapbook pages lately and just wanted to share some of them. This was the photo shoot I talked about in one of my last posts. She was so happy that day!

Goodbye diapers

Goodbye Diapers (at least for Kirsten!) She is potty trained and just wears pull ups at night but usually keeps them dry! Goodbye house in Price. We finally closed on our house and it was the best day ever! I know that some people have a good experience selling their house but we, unfortunately, did not. Suffice it to say that we have been trying to close for months and things kept coming up. The people who bought it were kind of babies but we won't get into that!

Goodbye 5! Jannika had her 6th birthday on the 3rd. She wanted to have a princess dress-up party so we had two cousins (Kaylee and Ashlyn) and two of her friends come over. They dressed up, did a purse shaped pinata and had a purse shaped birthday cake. It was a fun party and I can't believe my little girl is 6!