Christmas Letter

Well instead of sending a letter with our Christmas cards I said I would write a letter on our blog. So to anyone who reads this here is our Christmas letter.
We had a great year which began with our little Emree Jo joining our family Dec 30. She definetly is more of a handful than the other two, but she is finally getting to be a lot of fun and not crying all the time!! She is crawling all over and not even close to walking yet, which is just fine with me. I can't believe she is 1 already!
Brady is 3 1/2 and loves life. He is full of energy and has just gotten into shooting things and hunting. He loves to play with Dad and their new favorite thing to do is go to the church and play kickball. He is very very shy and will hide if anyone he doesn't know tries to talk to him. He also loves to hide if he gets in trouble and we can always find him buried in a blanket somewhere or in a tiny hiding place. He is very polite and almost never forgets to say please and thank you.
Brooklyn is loving school and loves that she can read. She is always trying to sound out words and writes her own stories. She loves to draw and our fridge is always full of pictures that she has colored for us. We are on the fourth book of Little House on the Prairie and she loves those stories. Although she is always asking me now, "How come I don't know how to sew?" or "Why don't you make me a doll?" She has a great imagination and loves make believeing.
Chas stays busy with his church calling as EQ president and is doing a great job of that. His list at home is a mile long of projects we would like to do around the house, but he somehow manages to watch a few football games here and there and play racquetball. He is a great Dad and husband and does so much for us. He is really liking his job here and its a great company to work for.
As for me I love having our own house which we bought in April and enjoy trying to make it a home. I love staying at home with the kids (most days) and enjoy them. We just had a great Christmas up in Canada with all of my family which was wonderful. We are so grateful for our wonderful families and friends and for all of the blessings the gospel bring to us in our lives. May you all have a wonderful new year and we hope you all are doing well. We love you all!!
Love, Chas, Teija, Brooklyn, Brady and Emree

TAGGED

So I have been tagged too, so I thought I would quickly jot down a few things maybe some of you didn't already know. Here goes:
1. I have danced at the Polynesian Cultural Center in the night show stadium.
2. I hate snakes and can't even look at them in the zoo or I will have nightmares. This probably stems from my cousins (1 in particular, Anita!!) chasing me around with garter snakes all the time when I was little.
3. I bite my fingernails
4. I don't do throw-up. Chas is the throw up man around here, I smell it or see it, I puke right along beside them!
5. I am blind as a bat without my glasses or contacts in, can't even see the big clock numbers from the bed if its on the table right next to the bed. Chas always jokes that I can't even go to the bathroom without my glasses. (Most of you know that already though, this is harder than it seems!)
6.I love to bake, but not to cook! Cooking dinner and the like takes way too much inventive-ness and thought!
7. And last but not least I LOVE LOVE LOVE the SNOW! Anything to do with snow I love it, must be from being in it 7 months out of the year growing up! Every holiday had snow, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas, Spring Break, you name it! Snow is just magical to me and I love it!
Ok there you go, there's my list now I tag Marissa, Lindsey, Angela, and Marci! It's fun reading funny quirks about everyone! Makes you feel right at home.

Well it has been way too long since I have posted anything, but here is some new pictures and stuff. We had a great Thanksgiving in Boise and I even got Chas to wake up early and got Christmas shopping with me, although he was not very excited about it. So we got most of our Christmas shopping done there, which was so nice! We also got a lot of snow around the first of December and of course we all loved playing in it! We went to the tree farm and got our Christmas tree and then went sledding, it was so much fun. Since then all of the snow has melted, we had like 8 inches, it melted and then snowed again, but only like 1/2 and inch. We are all looking forward to Brookies birthday tomorrow, she is so excited! Can't believe she is 6!!! Anyway here are a lot of pictures for you!

Here is Emree crawling, isn't she so cute? We think so. Don't mind the kids yelling in the background, they both want to have Emree crawl to them, so they keep putting new things out to entice her to come to them and not the other. So that is what the arguing is about, sorry!

Nothing better than a Mom

Well for all of those who often check this blog, I thought I would let you know Emree started crawling!!!! YAAY!!!!! Most parents often sigh when their little one gets to this stage, but considering she is 10 months old, it is about time!! Her DR. said if she wasn't crawling by a year we would have to do some further "testing," so now I can stop worrying about that!! November 6 was the big day! She is very funny about it too, she will only crawl a couple of feet and then stop and clap for herself before she resumes on her way. Chas is recovering well and is so glad to be back at work. He repeatedly would ask me, "are they always this loud?" "can you make them be quiet?" I just laughed and said, "welcome to my world!!" Where everyday it's this loud, crazy, chaotic, messy and almost every other adjective you can think of, would describe a typical day in the life of motherhood!!
I just finished (I am in primary now, so I have an excuse to be a week behind right?) reading the lesson in the Spencer W. Kimball manual about motherhood and womanhood, it is awesome!! And makes me so proud to be a mother! It's one of those that you need to post around the house, so you can remember that we are doing the Lord's work, even though it seems mundane some days. For those who haven't read it yet, read it!! For those who have, read it again! My favorite quote, "Those who rock the cradle, rule the world!" So there!!! Can't argue with that!! I love being a MOM!

Well Halloween is come and gone, and we have enough candy to last probably until Valentines day!! The kids had fun and loved the trunk or treat and carnival at the church. Brady was Zorro, but by the end of the night the only thing he had not lost or broken was his cowboy hat, so everyone thought he was the lone range. He did start out with it all cape, mask sword, but everything dwindled down to the bare minimum by 8:00. Brooklyn was tinkerbell and loved wearing her costume, not sure if she was more excited about the costume or the makeup and glitters she got to wear. Emree was a horse and didn't mind one bit, it kept her nice and warm and she didn't even notice it. Chas was a bolivian, but Brooklyn called him "pacha" said he looked like pacha from Emperors new groove. Anway here are a few pictures I will try and send some more later.

Well sorry for all of you who had to look at our ugly blog for the past few weeks. I wanted to change the colors for fall, but the background couldn't be changed. Talk about ugly!!! The kids and I went on a last minute trip to Utah and Rexburg a couple of weeks ago with my mom and sister. We had such a good time visiting with my brothers and seeing some old friends, and of course shopping! I do really miss some aspects of living there in Utah, but have realized that life is much slower and relaxed in a small town. I never thought it was too crazy there when I lived there, but going back it seems crazy! Maybe it's because I let my brother drive us around Salt Lake in rush hour! My mom and I were both about to step out of the car and walk home!! It's great to have no rush hour and I can plan to go places any time of day and not take rush hour into consideration! We got to go to the zoo, which the kids thought was so cool. There was even a white alligator there, talk about freaky looking!!! It was really weird! We also got to see the new temple being built in Rexburg, it is so beautiful. Brady asked what was on top of the temple, I said Angel Moroni, and he asked, "How did he get way up there?" So I had to explain that it was really just a statue. He is getting to be quite the funny kid. He asked me the other day what his name was, I told him and he said "Oh, ok I am Brady." Like it was some kind of revelation to him or something. He's a lot of fun. Anyway I will post some more later and send some pictures.

Hello everyone! Sunday seems to be the only day I actually have time to sit down and update this thing!! We have had a fun weekend of camping, probably the last for the year as the nights are getting quite chilly. I froze!!!! and I even slept in the back of the expedition! But it was a lot of fun, the mountains are always so relaxing and the kids have a world of fun exploring, playing in the river, and "hunting" for whatever they can think of. We went with some friends of ours and had a great time! Chas finally got his "new" truck to run, we were very lucky we made it all the way home without having to leave it on the side of the road, but now it is running and Chas can't wait to get it up in the mountains and fill it with wood. Brooklyn is liking school, though she finds it hard to wake up every morning. She wishes school wasn't every morning, just most days. Brady is trying to figure out what to do without her, especially since I have been canning and not had alot of extra time to spend with him. The leaves are all changing here and it is so beautiful, nothing like Vanderhoof of course, but still pretty! I love the fall!!! And we are so excited for Christmas!!!! we get to go to Canada and we are counting down the days! So Happy Fall everyone, we hope you enjoy all of the beautiful colors and cooler weather!!

Well things have been crazy and busy around here, what's new eh? The last weekend in August Chas and I got to go out of town, without the little rascals, well we still took Emree with us. Chas had a training in Portland and so at the last minute I decided to go with him, since his hotel was free and we drove a company car, there was not extra cost for me! Well not too much anyway! It was a sweet deal the hotel was like two blocks from the outlet mall! So I got to go school shopping for Brooklyn and spent a day there, the other day I just hung out at the hotel. Laid around, took Emree swimming, watched movies and try to get my journal up to date. As much fun as it was without the kids, well it was pretty quiet anyway, I did get a little lonely without them around. It was good to be home again! It was a nice little break for me. Then the next weekend,(last weekend) we headed back over that direction again to go to Jared and Gina's to bless their new baby. We had a fun time over there swimming and visiting with each other. We got home Monday, thought we'd been home too long so decided to go to Boise wednesday night to join the family in blessing Keeton and Melissa's new little guy. That was last night and it was a long night, but fun. So now we are planning on staying home and trying to recuperate for a long time!! I have been making and canning salsa all day today and am now officially TIRED!! We got all of our corn in the freezer and it's nice to have one thing totally done!! Now if I can just get the other 500 things all done!! I will be feeling great! I have so many tomatoes I really don't know what I am going to do with them all, lots of salsa I guess! If I have your name for Christmas, don't be surprised if you get some!! Brooklyn heads off to school tomorrow, and I am sad!!!!She is so excited so I am trying to be excited with her. I told her once I wanted her to stay home with me, and she decided she already knew everything and so she really didn't have to go to school anyway! Well this is getting super long, I need to write more often so they aren't so long!! Anyway, so now I am officially old, I have a child in School! AHHHHH......

Well we finally got some batteries for our camera, but now our computer is all haywire!! Talk about annoying. these hi- tech things are supposed to work! Anyway it won't let me put pictures on here, we will see if I can figure anything out! Chas and I got to go out last night for my birthday it was nice to have a little time to ourselves, it's been too long! He got me a pressure cooker/canner which I am so excited to use! I used to think it was so cheesy when moms only got things to use in the kitchen, but now if it makes my life easier and gets things done faster I love it!! Plus I will probably start my canning next week, so if anyone feels inclined to come and visit I will give you a couple cans of peaches for your pay!!
I am kind of sad today though, as all of my family are at Mom and Dads and they are all going camping for the weekend, wish I could be there with them! They are going to have a fun/crazy week. But I am looking forward to seeing Jeff and Tyla and spending the weekend in Boise, should be fun!

well we have been slackers and still haven't bought any batteries for our camera which stinks because we did lots of cool things this week!! Thursday the kids and I went to the fair saw all the animals, watched a couple sheep and steer shows, and looked at all the fun things. That night Chas came with us back to the fair and the kids got to go on the rides, which they loved. Brady is actually not too chicken when it comes to rides as long as Brooklyn is on with him. His favorite was the big huge slide and Brooks favorite was the merry go round, of course! And the peak of everyones excitement was the blue cotton candy at the end of the night!! We all had a good time, even Emree enjoyed watching everything. Friday we went to the fair parade in town which is always fun. Rodeo queens, fire trucks, riding clubs, cool cars, what isn't to love? Oh and you can't forget all of the candy!!! If anyone has a recipe which calls for tootsie rolls please let me know!! There's got to be something good to do with them! So we have had a fun weekend and are looking forward to going to Boise this weekend to spend time with Chas' family. Summers are so fun!!!! WE LOVE SUMMER!

We have had a very busy week, just when I think "oh next week," we'll have some time to relax something comes up, most of the time they are fun things and we just can't resist doing the "summertime" activities. This week we enjoyed Chas' parents visit and also Chas' brother and his kids, we had a great time, went fishing and swimming, lots of fun. We've been to the river a few times, the kids love wading in the water and trying to catch "lobsters." As soon as the "waterspiders" come out though, there is no convincing Brady to go back in. We have started to get some produce from our garden which is always so much fun. It's a family activity to go and see if anything is ready to be picked yet. So far we have got 3 cucumbers, 3 zuchinni and everything else is growing like crazy. I am sure most of it will all be ready at the same time and I will have to work like mad to try and get it all taken care of. This week we have been able to pick raspberries for a couple in our ward as they were out of town, and so we have loved having fresh raspberries to eat. In just a week's worth of picking I picked 4 1/2 gallons of raspberries. I want a patch just like that!!! So I have been busy picking, freezing, and making jam. They also have an apricot tree so I have been busy making jam with those as well. I really enjoy it, although the kitchen does get a little hot, good thing our A.C. unit is in the kitchen window!! Yesterday we spent the day doing some projects around the house. Chas is making some "custom" shelves for Emree's room and spent all day installing those. It's so nice to be married to a handy-man! He can do about anything! And I spent my time painting, so yes as for now her room is finally all painted. (I was going to send some pictures, but we have no batteries, the ones in it won't even open the shutter, but I will soon) Anyway we have been busy and doing well. Brooklyn just finished swimming lessons and loved them and she is doing soccer which she is starting to get into. So there are lots of things to do with our time, we just have to decide which is most important. We feel so blessed and are so grateful for all the blessings we have in our life! It's a wonderful life!!!

Well today we found the culprit of Emree's almost incessant crying for the past week. Yup, you guessed it her very first tooth has decided to finally poke through. It's about time!! If all of them are this bad, the rest can wait for a few months, or years! Although its good for her, now I know she is not just being grouchy and has had a very good reason for being so fussy! On the good side, she actually has taken a nap two days in a row now, that is a record. She hasn't napped for about 2-3 weeks now. She would just take cat naps and sleep for 10-15 minutes at a time. Yesterday I checked on her like 20 times, she slept for like 3 hours. Man I got a lot of things done! And she is down for the count right now, so I am crossing my fingers and working like mad!
Brooklyn has started swimming lessons and is loving it, she is learning to do the backstroke and is pretty good. Her favorite thing are the bobs. She also had her first soccer game on Tues and has another one tonight. She is doing much better than I thought. Practices were a little hard to watch as she would much rather be twirling in circles or dancing around. But she seems pretty in to it during the games, so that is very nice! The other day I said to Brooklyn " It's hot out here eh?" (My Canadian slipped out.) And she said "Mom don't speak canadian to me, speak english!" I about died laughing!!! Chas has definitely got her brainwashed!! Although everytime she calls my sisters the conversation starts out with "Whats up hoser?!" or "Hows it going eh?" so she can't really get on my case! anyway it was pretty funny, she is racking in the funny story points lately
Brady just watches Brooklyn do everything fun and can't wait until he can play too. At swimming lessons he constantly asks if he can put his feet in, thats as far as he'll go. He is really good to stay by me and content to watch everyone else swim. He is learning to ride his bike without training wheels. He broke one of them off and so had to ride off balance for awhile, its been kind of hard to get him to sit straight on his seat now. But Chas practices with him every night so I am sure he will get it soon. He is full of energy and always keeps us laughing. The other day he came in the house and said "Mom look what I can do on the trampoline," he jumped straight up as high as he could and landed flat on his bum, good thing it was on the carpet and not the wood floor. But he started crying and I was laughing, "What were you thinking?" I asked, his answer to everything, "I don't know!" So I explained he can only fall on his bum on the trampoline and not in the house, "but I can do it on your bed too." he said. Needless to say the next day when he tried to ride his bike, he came in the house and said, "my bum hurts, can't ride today." Kids are hilarious!!!!!

Well we have had a busy and fun couple of weeks. Last weekend for the 4th we went over to Cottage Grove and spent a few days with Jared and Gina. We had a blast. Went to a parade, fireworks, Wildlife Safari, the Lake and of course Chas did some fishing with the kids. I really didn't know he liked it so much. We went camping the weekend before that and got a load of wood. We got back from Jared and Gina's and were very surprised at our garden! It is growing like crazy!! 5 days of hot sunshine and it is a jungle out there, good thing that 90% of it is plants and only 10% are weeds. So we are looking at a wonderful harvest in the fall, I am so excited! We had such a good time at Jared and Gina's, thanks to them for always making sure we have a relaxing and fun time! Although Emree pretty much cried the entire time we were there, not too sure what her deal is, we really could have done without that, but oh well. I have decided I need a vacation by myself! and Chas could come too. The kids had lots of fun and all the way home Brady kept asking if they were following us. Thanks again Jared and Gina!!! We had a blast!

The Joys of Life

Well I thought I would have the kids put on some nice clothes for once and get some pictures of them looking clean, what a novelty! Doesn't happen to often, most of the pictures we have sent have been action shots, so here are a couple of nice ones. We spent Saturday watching Chas play football which was fun, I am not sure why they think it is fun though, not many of them were walking so well at church on Sunday. All of them are pretty sore, but oh well. We got to go to the drive-in on friday night which was fun. We saw Shrek 3 and Spiderman 3, so that was a late night, good thing the kids always fall asleep during the second movie. So not much new here just enjoying life and all the blessings we receive each and every day!

Sprinklers!

Well Chas is almost done his sprinkler project. It has been quite the task, taken a little longer than he thought. One day has turned into about a week long effort. But as of this morning the front yard is all finished and hopefully he will finish the back tonight. It amazes me all the stuff he knows! It will be so nice when it is all finished. I plan on filling all of the front trenchs today and then I can plant my flowers, I am so excited!

Feb 27. 2007

We are loving being outside again!! We had a great visit from Mandy!

Colby loved Brooklyn's little stroller, he pushed it all over.

3 amigos

Trying on their new hats, they wear them all over!

Photo Shoot

This is Emree's most common face, the girls cries All. The. Time!  Oh my she is a tough one, and it has been tough on us. Wowsers!

 A moment of quiet, and maybe almost a happy face?  She is super cute!.  She loves to bask in the sun in our front window.

 Not sure how to change these couple of pictures, but they are super cute!

 Annnddd here we go again, this photo shoot did not go well. at. all!

Enjoying some sledding

Enjoying some sledding.  Tyanna came to stay with us for awhile, which was so awesome.  I don't know what I would have done without her here to help.  She is great!

Our sweet little Emree Jo.

Our sweet little Emree Jo was born at 9 o clock on Saturday, December 30.  We went in at 7 in the morning to be induced.  Jared and Gina came over to watch the other kids, it was nice to know they were taken care of.  Things progressed so slowly it seemed, we were there all day, and she wasn't born until late that evening.  Everything went well and she is so beautiful!  She has been the biggest baby yet. 8 lbs. 6 ozs.  Look at her adorable chubby cheeks!

                                                   This cute pink outfit is the same one my sister Janae came home from the hospital in, I remember it exactly! So cute!

This is her on her blessing day.  We did it at the house so everyone that was there could make it.  Bro. Flower came over to represent the bishopric.  It was a special evening.  Thad and Trina made the trek over with Azlyn and Crew, who were born on the 4th.  These 3 are going to be the best of friends!

 All the priesthood.

 Proud Momma and Poppa,  quite tired, but proud!

 Our first family shot of the 5 of us!

 Brooklyn loves her to death.  Sisters are just the greatest!

 Brady is pretty proud as well.  He is now a big brother!

 Beautiful baby girl.  She is so precious!  Vovo made her dress, it turned out perfect.  I could kiss those chubby cheeks all day!

 Crew, Emree, Azlyn