Another Birthday!

OK,.... so December is a busy month for us as we have two birthdays and Christmas and New Years Eve, but who's too say there is too much partying going on? So I'd better post a birthday wish to our little Emree, who I can't believe is 2 years old today! She is so so much fun and such a happy girl, maybe she will be for the rest of her life, since the first year she was NOT! She is still getting better with other people and has come out of her shell for the most part. She loves nursery and wants to be a big kid. I love though that she will still bring me her blankie and say "Rock, Mom, Rock" and we will go in and rock in the chair. That's what takes the cake when your a mom! I love sitting down and rocking with her. She is so loveable and is always giving everyone hugs and kisses. She is usually the first kid up and its fun to see her face light up when the other two come wandering in for breakfast, she will always say "Hi Gokie, Hi Bady!" She is such a joy and delight to have in our home!

WE LOVE HER!!! HAppy BIRTHDAY EMREE!!!

counting down....

Well Folks we are down to single digit number of weeks left! YAHoo!!! I had a dream the other night that we had already had him, it was so so real, kind of crazy! But then you wake up and realize you are still pregnant!! AHHH!!! oh well 9 weeks left, I am getting anxious to meet this little guy, although for any of you wondering we can't agree on a name so any suggestions are welcome! Hope you all had a very merry Christmas and I will post some Christmas pictures later on today, hopefully!

Christmas 2008

Since most of you have probably received our Christmas cards by now I thought that I should get out a Christmas letter. Our cards only had our blog adress and a Merry Christmas greeting, hence our letter will be here.

We have had a great year and I am feeling right at home with all the snow and cold weather, it has been so much fun and I do so LOVE the white Christmas. We have so many wonderful friends here in La Grande and can't picture ourselves moving from this beautiful place. Mountains, snow, nice warm summers, small town feel, what more could you ask for?

Here is a quick update on each of us:

Chas -Looking forward to having his Professional Engineering test over with in April!
- keeping busy with all the house projects and outside projects we have for him to do around here and of course his church calling
Teija - teaching piano lessons and keeping up with the kids
-excited for the baby to get here asap
Brooklyn -loves first grade and reading
- learning to play piano
Brady - loves playing with friends
- learning lots with numbers and letters
Emree - started talking and is so much fun
- potty trained!
We feel so blessed and love celebrating our Saviour's birth at this time of year. We are so grateful for His life, example and the opportunity we have to live with each other forever! May you all have a very Merry Christmas and have a wonderful new year!!
Love, Chas, Teija, Brooklyn, Brady, Emree and baby

soon....

Ok so it has been a long time since I have posted and I promise I will soon..... but I don't have the time quite yet!

7!!!

Well I am a couple days late to wish my little Brookie rook a HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! I can't believe she is already 7, next year she will be baptized! Here are some pictures and of course I couldn't get them in the order I wanted, but oh well.
7 Reasons we love Brooklyn:
1. She is very kind
2. She always tries to do whats right
3. She is a good example to others
4. She tries to make sure everything is fair
5. She is a goof and loves to have fun!
6. She is a wonderful big sister and a big helper
7. She is very smart
We love you Brookie, hope you had a wonderful day!

6 years old

5 years old

4 years old

3 years old

2 years old

Birth day!

1 year

Missing My Family...

Ok so after my little rant yesterday I thought I better post something else. I can't wait to get our Christmas tree tomorrow and that will help it feel a little more like Christmas around here, since we are still waiting for snow. My sister in law requested a picture of my nice round belly, but I have not gotten around to taking that yet, (or maybe ever!) We will see if I can find a way to get a halfway decent shot! We found out yesterday that Chas' parents are coming up sometime before Christmas and the kids were so excited dancing and running all around the house yelling "Vovo and Pops are coming!" I really do wish we lived closer to grandparents, I have so many wonderful memories of living close to my grandma! What would we do without family? I truly don't know, what a sad life that would be!!!! Anyway to all my family out there who may by some chance read this, I love you! Here are a few pictures... Lana is a great person, and is so good at keep in touch. I love how on the ball she is and ALWAYS sends pictures and fun things in the mail! Amron is a good Dad and tells the rest of us how it is!!!

Tyanna is such a hard worker and easily shows up the rest of us in that department!

Mom and Dad are wonderful and can take full credit for any of us turning out half decent!

One of my favorite pictures of my Dad!

Ezra and Lindsey who put up with us every month and watch our kidswhile we come down to the temple! Thanks guys!!!

I found a picture of my Grandma, isn't she beautiful?

And the two young ones! Who are the greatest aunts ever. They are so fun to be around

There are a lot of us when we are together!

Grandpa and all the grand- daughters, love it!

Aaron and Marissa, Marissa is the epitome of patience and being a dedicated Mom. Aaron keeps us all laughing.

In Laws Too

I couldn't pass the oppotunity to tell my in laws I love them too! I am so greatful to have married into such a wonderful family!

Lynn and Dixie, Thanks for raising such a wonderful son!!

Keeton and Melissa, (it's an old one, but it'll have to do!) Melissa is very caring and a lot of fun to be around.

Mandy is always tons of fun and up for anything!

Most of us at our reunion in June, where we had our Christmas since everyone was there.

Had to stick this one in Gina! Poor sunburnt Gina! If we all could be as organized as Gina, we would be 100% happier! and more efficient, (I am still waiting for you to come and do my house Gina!)

A great shot of Trina, I swear the girl is always smiling! and never complains

This picture is a great depiction of these two, goofs! but would do anything for anyone! Thanks for your great examples.

BRRR....

Well I took Brooklyn to school today and while riding our bikes noticed that it was a tad bit chilly out there! I told the kids it would be, but what do I know and so they both wore their light jackets and complained the whole way there, will they ever listen? or is it just my kids! Sometimes I feel like I could just scream!!!Anyway I am glad that it is getting colder maybe we will actually have some snow before Christmas, I really hope so, it's just not the same without it.

snow

It's seems like forever since we have had any snow, and we still don't have any! The other I was telling the kids that Grandpa needed to send us some snow since they already have some, this is Brady's interpretation.
I got Mom & Dad's christmas present from the "box guy"(UPS) the other day, here is what Brady said
What's that mom?
me: Present FOR Grandma and Grandpa.
B: From them? OHHHHH I hope it is snow!!!!Is it snow, mom?
HA HA HA, that was my laugh for the day....
Me too buddy, me too!!!! If only we could get snow in the mail to fill the back yard and go sledding whenever we wanted!

No more Diapers!

I'm a big girl now!!! Her hair is getting long enough to put in pigtails, it is getting to be so much fun, although it is so fine, it doesn't stay in very long!

Well Emree is potty trained! (not through the night yet, but we have a month before shes two) She hasn't had an accident in about a week and is doing so good! I wish Brady had been this easy and done before he was two. I guess I can brag about her being potty trained, she still doesn't talk much and only Brady and I can understand her. She definitely expresses her opinion but it would be nice to know what she is saying! I can't believe she is almost 2 already, 1 more month!!!It will be nice not to carry the diaper bag around with me for a couple of months, I remember loving that freedom after Brooklyn was potty trained too.

Brady and I are enjoying our one on one time doing preschool in the afternoons, he now knows all of his letters, except a couple, can write his name and count to 50. He is learning so much and its fun to see it all click with him, especially since he knew nothing when we started out.

I do HATE standing on the scale every month when I go to the dr. why must they torture us that way, not like we can't see ourselves in the mirror EVERY DAY!! Every month when I go in I have gained 5 pounds, what the heck! I still go to the gym in the mornings and never worked out with the other pregnancies, can't quite figure out why I cannot gain less than 5 pounds a month. Discouraging let me tell you!

Anyway this post is becoming rather long, but it's been awhile, until next time......

Delicious!!!

Pretty Pumpkin Cinnamon Buns
(must be Canadian using the term "buns" instead of "rolls") Ok so I have been a little busy!! Thus my non blogging streak. I canned 30 quarts of pumpkin the other day, so I have been looking for some yummy pumpkin recipes. I ran across this one the other day and made it today, can I say delicious!!!! HOLY COW, these were so good! My kids loved them even more than "normal" ones, so I guess the recipe has to go into my book. Anway here is the recipe
2 tlbs. yeast
1/2 warm water
4 eggs
1 c. shortening
1 c. pumpkin
1 c. warm milk
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. instant vanilla pudding mix
1/3 c. instant butterscotch pudding mix
1 tea. salt
7-8 c. flour

Filling:
brown sugar, butter, cinnamon (just make the inside like all cinnamon rolls: butter, sprinkle cinnamon and sugar

Icing:
3 tlbs. water
2 tlbs. butter, softened
1 tea. cinnamon
2 c. icing sugar
1-1/2 tea. vanilla

Dissolve yeat in water. Add the eggs, shortening,pumpkin, milk, sugars, pudding mixes, salt and flour. Let rise till double in size, then roll out and add butter, br. sugar and cinnamon. Bake at 350 for 22- 28 min or until golden brown. In small bowl mix water, butter and cinnamon. Add icing sugar and vanilla, beat until smooth. Spread over buns, serve warm. YUMMO!!!!!


Brooklyn had an awards ceremony where she got a "responsible learner" award. I tried to take some pictures, but she had her paper in front of her face the whole time, stinker! Good Job, Brookie!

aaahhhh.....

Emree went straight to the fire after her bath the other night, this is what I came into! She is hilarious!! She kept saying "ahhhhh.... warnm....." over and over, we were dying laughing

Emree taunting Brady,

Brady's crazy dance...

If only I had this much energy, he did this for like 20 minutes! If only, if only...... imagine how much I could get done in a day!

pumkin patch

Here are some pictures we took at the pumkin patch last weekend, I know a little late, but oh well. I am sure I will post some more later of our Halloween party tonight, but thought I better get these up. Dad and Emree on the hayride, she was so tired....

Typical look of Brooklyn " Excuse me!"

brady looking for Brooklyn we got there way early and no one else was there so we played hide and seek in the maze for an hour, it was tons of fun!

3 amigos!

Love this picture of Brady

My favorite of the day! She held her hat like this all day cause it was so windy, thought this was so cute.

Follow the yellow brick road!

couple more

Brady most often falls asleep in the hallway, weird I know, but whatever! Ok here is a question for ya, this is the first quilt I ever made and Brady's favorite. It has seen better days obviously, but I just can't throw it away, but what can I do with it? Any ideas.
This is what happens when you try to warm up a little too close to the fire!
Kids making funny faces, I love Emree's so funny!

pictures

Here are some random pictures of the kids. I love sunday mornings when they are all dressed up and ready for church, they just look so darn cute. I just wish I could take better pictures of them! We had a fast and furious trip to Boise last weekend to go to the temple and ran into some old friends from Provo. It's crazy how small the world is when you are a member of the church. It was fun to see them and catch up on life. Hte temple is such a calming influence in a very CRAZY world. We have been busy trying to get everything ready for winter and are almost finished all of our outside projects (for this year anyway) yeah! Now we can start the inside ones!!

I love this picture of Brady, he just look so handsome in his suit coat. He is very particular about what he wears and we can only get him to wear this because it looks like Dads. I have a couple of cute vests from Trina and he won't even put them on! I thought girls were bad!


I got this ADORABLE! sweater for Emree at a second hand store here in town. Sometimes they have the greatest things, it was only $6.99 and I couldn't resist!! Perfect for cold sunday mornings!
Brady is such a good brother, he is always taking care of Emree and giving her hugs and kisses.
Here is one of all of them, not sure what they are looking at, but I ahad to stick one of Brookie in here too.
This picture has a funny story... Chas went in to say goodnight to Brookie and found her laying like this, so I told him to go and take some pictures of her. Well after he was all done taking the pictures she started laughing and yelled "Gotcha Dad!" What a faker! SHe is always doing funny things like that. We were totally fooled!