Picture of Maddie's Dress

Here are some pictures of Maddie in her baptism dress. Malinda (family friend) sent them to me. Thanks Mal! Hopefully we will be able to get one of the bottom part of the dress. There was beading along the bottom and one large flower and stem coming up. Hope you enjoy the picture as much as I do. Well- I've been trying to figure out why it won't let me put some of these pictures on. They are in JPG format but says there is an error. Some how(don't ask me how) I was able to get this one on. So just look really close at the dress. :) Paige kept eatting my hair. I thought this was a good picture of our family. I'll keep at getting some more pictures on the blog. Maddie sure did look great!

Sauvie Island 10-14-06

Our first time to Sauvie's island and likely our last. The traffic wasn't terrific. Dad and Tanner enjoyed the opprotunity to discuss the merits of various topics related to current events. Once we got there we went on a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch which was fun. The pumpkin patch was big and crowded. It had some nice size pumpkins though. The girls enjoyed looking at all the pumpkins. Trying to find a small one for the girls to carry was a challenge. Brianna did find the two pumpkins we brought home. She did a great job!


























































After taking the pumpkins back to the cars we went into the corn maze. The maze numbered along the path and you took clue cards where you answered questions and it would tell you which way to go. Shane thought that was cheating but it was fun. I don't know how long it took us - long enough that the kids were tired and hungry. Once we finished we headed back to the cars and drove home which didn't take as long as we thought it would.























































Once we got home we enjoyed a wonderful meal mom had prepared ahead of time. It was called White Chili - mom I need that recipe before you leave!
Dad was hard at work trying to get the sink hooked up for mom so there would be running water in the kitchen. Brianna helped him hold the flashlight so he could see. I think he enjoyed her help. It took about 6 trips to Home Depot and yet still wasn't able to get it working. He was disappointed to say the least.

Long time no see!10-13-06

We drove over to Mom and Dad's to see the family. We haven't seen Tanner, Cherylyn and Clark since last Christmas. It was great to spend time with them. Even though it was only for a few days it was worth the drive. On Friday we went to the park and got out of the house. The kids thought it was great. Brianna enjoyed herself. Paige did too until she loaded her pants. Shane being the great dad that he is said that he would take her back and change her. Brianna pretended to be a captain on a ship and I was her matey. Clark liked the slide until he almost went head first off of the side. Thanks to his parents they saved him. Grandpa came to provide moral support and took pictures. :)

My little helper

One of the things Paige loves to do it bring in the garbage cans with me. Every Wednesday she sees the garbage truck and waves goodbye to it. So- after we take Brianna to Preschool we come home and bring in the garbage cans. It's great having someone help you with things like this.

Maddie's Baptism 9-30-06

Unfortunately this is the only picture I have of Maddie's baptism and it's not even her. The memory card was full on the camera and the batteries went dead! A family friend is going to send me a CD of more pictures so they will come. Sorry!
Shane was asked to perform the baptism and confirmation. It was the first time he has done it in English and the first time to confirm period. He said he always had his compaion do that part. To hear him give these blessings was amazing and emotional. We are blessed to have the priesthood in our home. I was asked to give the talk on baptism. Even though I wasn't looking forward to it I appreciated the opprotunity. It made me think about my baptism and how it has blessed my life. Another reason why it meant so much is because my mom was there and I was able to bear my testimony. She said that she could feel the spirit and wanted to cry. I also asked her if I could make her a dress. It was a lot of work but fun to do. It was the first big project that I have under took. I did ask a fiend if she would help me if I couldn't figure it out but then she moved. Talk about stress!! In my opinion it turned out great! (As of now you'll have to take my word for it!) Don't mind me I'm just patting my own back. Brianna wondered if she could have one like it and I told her she could have what ever she wanted as long as it was white, had sleeves, and a long skirt. She beamed with happiness.

Go Horsey! 9-29-06

This is the first time the girls have ridden on a horse and it was even bare back. Brianna was very excited she prayed that we would be able to ride the horse for about four nights before we even left to Aunt Rena's house. Then when we finally got there she saw how big it was and was not quite sure about the whole idea. She still really wanted to. Bri rode it for a few minutes with Aunt Rena leading the horse. Paige then wanted to and it was fine until the horse started to move. Then the fun ended! Latter that night Brianna prayed that next time the horse would have it's saddle.
The horse is a new purchase of my Aunts. It needs to be trained and have someone pay attention to it. The last owners never put shoes on it or rode it. So we are all hoping that by next summer it will be more kid friendly. Over all it was a good experience.

Visiting Friends

We have some friends that we still get to see. They live about 2 hours away. We try to see each other once a month. This is the family that when they moved Paige ran after their van and Cried out Mama, Mama. It was so SAD! Our kids get along great and we have tons of fun together. Once the kids are in bed we stay up and play Sequence. The girls usually kick you know what! Shane has gotten to the point when he would rather play Sorry. :)
Anyway this last time when we got there we put the kids to bed and then played and went to bed. This is what we found. Brianna sleeping on Paige! It was the first time that they had slept this close to each other. We couldn't help but take a picture.














While we were there we went to the county fair. The animals were a hit. Bunnys were great but the kittens even more. As you can see Brianna isn't around animals very much. Look at how she is holding the poor kitten. I had to help her because she was not quite sure how to do it. Paige just wanted to pet all of the amimals.





























Yep that's our girl up flying in the sky. We debated on letting her do it. It was $6.00 and we thought for sure that she would cry the whole time. Brianna surprised us all. Not only did she do it she liked it. We couldn't really get her to smile or do a flip but when she got done she was HAPPY! As her mom I was so PROUD of her. Paige thought it was funny that sis was up in the clouds. It was worth every penny!

Baseball Time

I love this picture of Paige looking at her daddy. Shane was asking her what she would like to do with him. Bri picked playing Baseball. Paige wanted to go on a walk with him. It is a BIG deal to go on a walk with daddy. So they went for a walk. Latter I saw Paige trying to play her own kind of baseball. :)













Brianna has a chore chart that she gets to put stickers on. Once she has filled up the chart she gets pick a prize. One of things she picked out this summer was a baseball and bat. It has gotten good use this summer. She has really improved and surprised Shane and I. Whenever we go anywhere she asks if we can bring it with us. Cute HUH!
Our yard at it's worst in this picture. We have since learned that we need to water in the morning otherwise your yard can grow mold/fungus. The yard now looks great. I do have to mention that half of the yard you see is our neighbors and he doesn't take care of it.

Dad gets help

We got a new bookcase for the girls. Brianna was given the chance to use the hammer. Paige was just excited that she could be with the people she loved. The new bookcase fits more of their books Aunt Rena gave us from the trip down to IF. Thanks Sis!

Time back home 8-26-06

While I was in IF for a week we drove past the new Rexburg Temple. As you can see it's coming along. It's positioned up on the hill so you can see it wherever you go. As we stopped to look at the temple Paige dumped a yogurt all over her lap. To say the least she wasn't the only one not happy! To look back on it now it's funny.



Another thing the girls did was put on a fashion show for us. Paige said that she wanted it off because it iched her. Brianna didn't know if she really wanted all the attention. Maddie loved it and could have done it for hours if she was told she could. Kids are so funny and oh so different.