I am still here...

Emree love riding around with Chas on his bike, and no she doesn't have a helmet on! it was just down the road!
Here is Brady riding his bike we would ride it 24/7 if I let him, and he loves showing off his tricks!
Brookie's tricks too!
I love this picture! Can you tell Emree loves her dad!?
I found the kids like this one nigh when they were supposed to be sleeping in bed. Brady snuck into Brooke's room and they were reading stories with her lamp on. At least I know they do get along sometimes!

We are still alive and doing well. I just haven't posted for a long time. I have been busy trying to get some quiet books finished that I started a long, long time ago!! but now I am finished and swear I will NEVER attempt that project again! Although they did turn out cute. And I have been digging out my flower bed in the front yard. Our soil is so rocky here it makes it hard going, plus after I dig it out I have to sift out all of the rocks and then put it back in! Talk about lots of work! But I would rather work outside than do about anything, so it's been fun! Plus if I shovel all day that means I don't have to go to the gym that day!! YEAH! Some exciting things have been happening here too. I am finally done nursing Emree!! night and all. She is doing good, its been about two weeks now! Also as of this morning I have officially lost 20 pounds since having Emree, (only took me 15 stinking months!) but now I am back down to where I was when I got married. I would love to still lose like another 10, but I think that is wishful thinking! Anyway so I am proud about that! We are still anxiously awaiting spring, as it snowed a couple of inches yesterday! Anyway this is short and sweet!

Quilting!

Brooklyn was a big help, she even tied some knots herself!
Glamour shot!

Easter weekend when all of my sisters were here (except for one, we missed you Kayla) we made a quilt for the oldest one (after me of course.) She is getting married in May and wanted to make a quilt for their bed. It turned out really cute and we had so much fun!

Chasing and Blowing bubbles

The kids had so much fun blowing bubbles, Emre loved it!

Random things happening around here

I have a new patio door!!! WOOOHOOO! I am so excited that I don't have to listen to the whining and pounding on the door until I can open it anymore! The kids can slide it open and slide it closed! SO NICE! I do have some pictures of it, I will post them tomorrow. Thanks to our home teacher and his brother (who conveniently happened to be contractors here) who came and helped Chas put it in. What would have been an all day project only took 2 hours. Thanks Glen and Scott! I love it. Also the weather has been so nice today, the kids have been outside most of the day. Brady is getting so good at riding his bike and can do tricks that I can't even do, ( not like I am so co-ordinated on a bike, but still) for only knowing how to ride for a month or so now, he is really good. Emree got her shots today which is never fun, but she handled it pretty well. I think she is going to have the same figure as Brooklyn (lucky girl) according to her growth chart so far anyway. She is only 20 1/2 pounds, but 31 inches tall. Tall and thin, man those genes sure didn't come from my side of the family! Good thing I married a tall guy, or my kids would be doomed to be 6 feet a-round and 6 feet tall. Brooklyn has her first loose tooth and is way excited, hoping it falls out at school! She is also getting good on the piano and can play "OLD MCDONALD" memorized and all. She loves it, I hope it stays that way! I loved piano! Anyway this is a long post. I put some random pictures of the kids in there sunday best. I curled Emree's hair not too sure if you can really tell, but it was so cute!

8 Years!

And of course one more thing I have to post is Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband. (Who probably won' t read this anyway, but I thought I would brag a little about him anyway!)

We were married in the MT. Timpanogos temple March 22, 2000, he says he picked that year cause its easy to remember how many years we will be married ie. 2008, 8 years, you get the picture! Like he did that on purpose! Anyway he is wonderful and definitely my best friend. He is such a hard worker and I can count on him to do anything, (albeit in his own timeline!) It's great how every year gets better than the last and I can say I love him now more than ever! Happy Anniversary Chas!

Happy Easter!

Bright sun!

This is Emree eating the food coloring! (Notice Brady's tongue sticking out, that is his classic concentrating look.)

We had a great Easter and loved having all of my sisters here and one of my brothers! Thanks for coming guys! We went swimming on Sat, had our easter egg hunt and watched movies. The kids loved finding the eggs and I can't keep them out of the candy, especially Emree she keeps finding candy everywhere! I am so grateful that we get to be with our families forever and at this Easter season I am so grateful our my Saviour Jesus Christ and for the atonement and resurrection that gives us that hope.

Painting

WOW! It has been an eventful week and we have sure been busy. Chas and I always get these bright ideas to get a project finished before company comes and we scramble to get it done in time! But Brady's room is finally painted and the trim is up. I love it! I couldn't decide how I wanted to decorate his room so Chas came up with this! He can't get over his love for painting the big "Y"! I love it and can't wait to get the rest of the decor up! It looks great!

Easter Dresses!

Well here is my very first time sewing any type of clothing! I think it turned out pretty good, I am so proud! Anyway a big thanks to my friend Danielle for helping me out and giving me the sewing 411. I had to post these pictures before Easter as I just couldn't wait to show it off. And I LOVE Emree's nice cheesy grin!

Sleeping Baby

Ok so I have some great news! I have been putting Emree to bed for naps by taking her in her room, putting her music on, (cd of primary songs played like lullabies, I LOVE this cd! If you haven't heard it you must buy it!) and then rocking her, the first day was a mess! It ended up in her crying and me leaving the room totally frustrated and ready to pull my hair out, 2nd day much like the first only 2 crying fits instead of 3. Yesterday no crying fits and she held out until song #8, but today song #3 and she was out like a light!! HHOOOORRRRAAAAYYY! I even called Chas at work to tell him the great news. OK to some this is not a big deal, but you have not lived in our house with this feisty little child for the last 14 1/2 months!This is a MAJOR breakthrough and if you can't tell I am so excited! I can handle rocking her for a couple of minutes before naptime and actually enjoy it as she has never let me do it before, that position was for one thing and one thing only! and it is on the road to no nursing! She still nurses at night before bed, but hopefully in a couple more weeks, we will be done. Does kind of make me sad, but she is getting of big! Of course there are no pictures of her sleeping! Like I would go in and take a picture of her and risk waking her up! Anyway there is definitely a silver lining to the dark cloud that we were going through! LOVE IT!

Being Canadian

OK so all of you know that I am Canadian so here is a glimpse of how things were growing up. I think everyone of these is true! My favorites are 5 and 6, I have to admit I laughed out loud!

(Forget Rednecks, here is what Jeff Foxworthy has to say about Canucks )I

f your local Dairy Queen is closed from September through May,you may live in Canada .

If someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance and they don't work there, you may live in Canada .

If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you may live in Canada

If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you may live in Canada

If "Vacation" means going anywhere south of Muncie for the weekend, you may live in Canada . If you measure distance in hours, you may live in Canada

If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you may live in Canada

If you have switched from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day and back again, you may live in Canada

If you can drive 90 kms/hr through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching, you may live in Canada

If you install security lights on your house and garage, but leave both unlocked, you may live in Canada

If you carry jumpers in your car and your wife knows how to use them, you may live in Canada

If you design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, you may live in Canada

If the speed limit on the highway is 80km -- you're going 90 and everybody is passing you, you may live in Canada

If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow, you may live in Canada

If you know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction, you may live in Canada

If you have more miles on your snow blower than your car, you may live in Canada .

If you find 2 degrees "a little chilly", you may live in Canada

If you actually understand these jokes, and forward them to all your Canadian friends & others, you definitely live in Canada.

So I guess I definitely am Canadian because I thought some of these were hilarious! (Most of you won't think they are that funny, but my canadian relatives will!)

Here's to a beautiful spring day!

So it has been GORGEOUS here! Yesterday we spent 2 hours at the park and today it is already warm enough to go out. Emree is feeling better she is still so needy though. Man its hard not to give in when I know it will make her feel better in like 5 minutes instead of listening to her whine all day. Although Tuesday she actually let me hold her and rock her to sleep, that folks is a miracle! She hasn't ever done that. Other than that most days at her nap time we are conventiently out and about and she falls asleep on the way home. So thing are looking up, or maybe its just the sunshine outside it makes me feel so much better! I got to go to Brooklyns classroom this morning for the first time, I know I know, but when you know your baby will cry the whole time your gone I haven't had the courage to leave her. But I finally decided she's old enough and she can cry for 1 hour while I am gone. So I had the neighbor come over and I went to school, it was a lot of fun! I can't wait to go back next week! Brady crashed on his bike yesterday and got a flat tire, must have been quite the crash. Didn't know 3 year olds could get flat tires. Crazy! Anyway I know I really need to post some pictures, I will try and get some today of Brady riding his bike and us playing at the park!

thought we were all better....

The day ended with Emree throwing up all over me again! Poor little thing, and its not just baby throw up anymore, disgusting. She did it once in the morning too, all over me, and I HATE throw up. Chas was at work, so what could I do? Poor Brooklyn got woken from her nap to me calling her to come and help me. She's such a good little helper! She watched Emree while I changed and then I had to put her in the bathtub. And then she didn't puke again till last night about 6:00 and it was all over me again! Even down my shirt this time! Luckily Chas was home and cleaned it up for me while Emmie and I took a shower. She "slept" with us last night, and was awake from like 2:30 until 4:00, so ya our days have been better. I just hate it when they are sick! I am praying the other two don't get it! And to add to the problem this weekend I decided I was going to wean her this weekend from nursing at least in the daytime, and it was going good, now I am debating, 'cause she's not eating anything, and not taking naps. Anyone have any suggestions!! I am dying here!!! She doesn't take a binky, bottle or anything else to go to sleep, I know I should have made sure nursing wasn't the only way to go to sleep, but here we are and what am I supposed to do! Please any suggestions are more than welcome! Anyway since you all wanted to hear that I guess that is my post for today, sorry it's so depressing!! (just had to vent!)

Brady and Emree eating breakfast again....


Emree is starting to play with her doll, here she was giving her kisses.

Well I am so done with being sick! I finally managed to drag myself to the dr on wed. and he gave me some meds, but I thought I would be feeling a lot better than I am by now! I have such good friends that have taken care of me which I am so grateful for. Wednesday night Donna brought over some homemade chicken noodle soup and rolls! Plus she took the two older kids all day on Thursday, so I got a nap and actually got the laundry done. Hooray, we have clean clothes once again! Thank you so much Donna! Today I am feeling a smidge better, but still not so great! Plus we woke up to it snowing this morning! AAAHHH I was getting so excited for spring. I guess it is only February though. Here's some pictures of the kids, and Emree trying to walk. Enjoy!

My one and only!

Ok so I got tagged too.. here goes
What is his name? Chas Bart Hutchins
How long have you been married? 8 years in about a month
How long did you date? funny you should ask... there's really not a straight answer to that one, before his mission a couple times, after his mission 2months and then got engaged
How old is he? 30!!
Who eats more sweets? Depends on what it is. We tie for ice cream, but he's a sucker for oreo's and I love anything with peanut butter and chocolate
Who is taller? Chas by far, his 6'3 to my much shorter 5'7
Who can sing better? well not too sure on that one, neither of us?
Who is smarter? No question there, Chas is the engineer!
Who does the laundry? I don't now if Chas could figure out the washing machine!
Who pays the bills? I write the checks, but he does the books
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? me, it's closer to the door and he doesn't hear the kids at night
Who mows the lawn? It's a race whoever gets to it first. We both love to do it.
Who cooks dinner? Mostly me, but Chas will pitch in if I need him too.
Who drives? Always Chas, I really don't like to drive that much
Who is more stubborn? 50- 50
Who kissed who first? He Did
Who proposed? Chas
Who has more siblings? Dead even, 7 in each
Who wears the pants? We are a good match, we each take a leg and it works great!

House of Sickies

Ok so I haven't posted in awhile, but I have good reason! My kids have been sick for like two weeks! Emree was up 2 days last week from 2am to 10am. So that turns into me getting sick from lack of sleep. Yesterday was Horrible! I haven't been that sick in awhile, some really nasty sinus cold, eyes watering, nose running, sneezing you name it. I am so glad I have an awesome husband who did everything yesterday! Lasagna for dinner, cleaned up everything and took care of the kids all day. So glad it was the weekend and he didn't have to work! He is back to work today, but the kids are being pretty good. They are always good when mom is on the couch and they get to watch movies all day, right? Anyway I am feeling better today, still not great, but I am thankful for any improvement. I am so glad that I hardly ever get sick!
Anyway enough complaining.. Chas took me out to Chinese for Valentines day which was really nice. We have a great babysitter who the kids love and she watched the kids for free while we went out for dinner! She is such a sweetheart! Other than that not much is new here, oh one major development with Brady, he finally learned how to ride his bike with no training wheels. We tried to get him to do it last spring, but he was too chicken. He tried it once the other day and now he asks 10 times a day if he can go out and ride his bike! SO FUN, now I will only have to pull Emree in the trailer this summer. Sorry I haven't taken any pictures of him yet, I will get on that for the next post.

PIANO!

Azlyn and Emree ready for church
Emree is getting her molars, doesn't she look sad?

And Here IT IS!!



Azlyn, Emree, Dallin and Crew

Well we finally got down to Boise and got my piano! Which is just so beautiful and I am so excited! I've been telling Brooklyn as soon as we got a piano here in the house I would start teaching her. I don't know who is more excited we finally have one, me or her. She can't wait to get started. Thanks again to Dave and Lloyd for helping Chas move the piano, again! I love it! We had a fun, short trip down to Boise. It's really nice to have so much family there. And it's great that we are able to Ezra and Lindsey when we go down! Anyway here are some pictures!

Brady and Emree love "Little Einsteins" (the cartoon) and Emree is just hilarious when we trun on the music. Here is a video of her going crazy!

Boots and Barstools.... and Pigtails

Ok well that title almost sounds like a country song title or something. Anyway we got some new stools for our kitchen and I love them. Thought I would send a picture. It's really nice when we have company we don't have to sit on wheat buckets now!!

Also I LOVE my new boots Chas got me for Christmas. The other picture didn't do them justice so I thought I would post another one! I wear them everywhere and just love them.

It is STILL snowing here, I feel like I am back at home in Canada. It was even -7 last week. I love the snow though and it is so beautiful outside! The kids and I made a "hill" for them to slide down the other day, we tried to make a snowfort, but I just can't make a hill big enough with a shovel. Too bad we didn't have a fourwheeler! But oh well the kids had fun none the less. They love playing outside, I love the hot chocolate when we come in!

And I had to throw in a picture of Emmie's cute pigtails! Her hair is long enough, but there is not much there. It's fun though and I think they are so cute!

Emree

Completely Computer Challenged!

Ok so I am a total dork and didn't know this whole time I have been blogging the complete hard way, no wonder it wouldn't let me do anything! So my friend informed me today how to do it the right way and now maybe I will post more regularly! Thanks Rachel!!! She also put up some cute background and changed it all around. It looks 100% better. Thanks so much!!! So if you for some reason wondering what happened to all of the pictures that were on there, they are now gone. And I am starting fresh, except for some of my favorite ones!

Vovo's Pj's

Thanks Vovo for the nice pj's! We love them.

Kids

Well my good friend told me the other day that I really need to post more often. I told her nothing real exciting has been happening, she said well if we only posted when something exciting happened, none of us would know anything about any of us. So I have tried to think of something to write about and this is what I came up with. A couple funny things that the kids have been doing lately:
I was making chicken enchiladas the other day and Brady came in the kitchen asking what was for dinner, so I told him. He replied, "Ohhhhh I love chick-a-ladas!" So when you here us talk about chickaladas you will know what we are refering to. It was pretty cute! Emree is becoming quite the little cheeseball. If any of you remember Brady when he was this age, they are exactly the same. You can tell her to smile for the camera and she comes up with the cheesiest grins. She is hilarious. She is becoming quite the bully and was picking on a 2 year old the other and knocked him down, he was not impressed. "This baby is mean to me!" was his response. I guess thats what you get when you are child number 3 or any other one down the line! Brooklyn is loving school and learning to read, she read a paragraph out of her Laura book the other day! We are so proud of her! She can call Chas at work, dial his extension and when he is not there she will leave a5 minute message that goes something like this, "Hey Dad. I guess you are not there, you are probably back talking to Ron again, just seeing when you are coming home for lunch. I am starving. Love you. Bye." I guess I need to stop giving Chas a hard time about never working and always in the back talking to his friends!! Which he insists is almost always work talk! We know better! But after reading specs. who can blame him?!
Well hopefully I will be able to post some pictures with this, but it hasn't been letting me lately. Hopefully I can figure it out! Anyway there is my spiel for the day!

So much for new piano...

Well ya, so much for shopping for a new piano this weekend as we never ended up going to Boise on Friday. So hopefully sometime in the next few weeks we will get one somewhere. Chas informed me that he is not buying one in Idaho since then we would have to pay sales tax, which is true, but we never get up to the Tri-Cities so I guess we will have to make a special trip. Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later. My poor students are freezing having lessons out in the garage! I am already getting spring fever and its only January. I think its mainly because my kids really need somewhere to run around that is not 2 feet from me!! Going Crazy!!! Plus I can't wait to get my garden going again. Anyway not much new here... Maybe my next post will be a little more interesting.....

Piano Shopping

We went to Brooklyn's "winter program" last night as they couldn't do it before Christmas. It was fun to watch her singing her little heart out. She did a great job, but of course in our rush to get out the door, we forgot the camera. Our poor children! Hopefully I can get a copy of it from one of the other parents. We are so looking forward to one of my brothers moving to Boise this week. We are going down to help him unpack on Friday and then will go piano shopping on Saturday. Yep, you heard me!!! Chas has agreed to get a piano, a newer, lighter one than the one we have been using. Although that one has worked great! A bunch of the keys don't work and it's out in the garage 'cause theres no room in here for it, so I have been teaching lessons out there! Pathetic I know! Anyway I got a few new students so we decided to get a piano that would fit in here! I am so so excited!!!! And then next week my sister and mom are coming down to go wedding dress shopping that will be so fun!!! This is my first sister to get married so I am stoked!!! FUN, FUN, FUN!!!!

Well since all the holidays are over (boohoo) we are trying to get back into the swing of things. We had a nice surprise yesterday though and got one extra day off of school. It has been so windy school got cancelled because of snow drifts or something like that. So that was nice to have another day before getting back into the routine of things. It has been so windy we haven't ventured outside for a couple of days now and it has been nice to just stay at home. I finally started the quilt I have been meaning to make for Brady for awhile. He stood too close to the fire the other day and now has a few big holes in his old blanket, so I thought I had better get on the ball and get this new one started. Brooklyn was very excited to go back to school today, she misses her friends. I am so glad that two of her best friends are also in her primary class which makes it very nice for play dates and I know she is hanging out with good kids. Anyhow here are some pictures of Christmas, we had such a great time!

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!