Birthdays

Ryan and Jenna got to celebrate their 35th and 9th birthdays in our new house!

Ryan loves German chocolate cake. I told Ryan that he got a house for his birthday present! But we also got him a U of U fleece blanket.

Jenna wanted an ice cream cake and she wanted to go to the fair and ride a horse.



Jenna blowing her candles out with her new MP3 player in her ears! What a great day we had!!

A dream come true!

I am so far behind so I am just going to start from here and not worry about the last few months. Well, we finally did it and became home owners!! We put an offer on this house the end of February and finally closed the last day in August! We really tried to close before school started. We didn't want the kids to have a few weeks in their old school and then have to switch schools. So we decided to start them here. That meant I had to drive them an hour to school each morning and then wait for them to get out of school and drive an hour home. It was crazy but, luckily JT hadn't started kindergarten yet so that helped. We would hang out in town or at my sister-in-laws and wait for them to get done. The kids like their new school and made friends by the 3rd day of school. Our house was a short sell and took forever like most short sells do. But we got a great deal and are loving our first home!
stair by the front door
front room
Dinning room
kitchen
Living room
spare room
Girls room
Boys room
master bedroom
master bath
unfinished basement
3 car garage

The first day of school
Jenna is in 3rd grade
Luke is in 2nd grade
JT the kindergartener
All the kids ready for school-even Lindee!

Island Park

Our good friends invited us to spend the weekend in Island Park at their families cabin. We gladly agreed and headed up to enjoy some tubing, skiing, good food, and good company.

The kids getting ready to go tubing.Catching some air over a wave.

Lindee enjoying her tubing ride.

One of the days the water was really choppy so we went to some natural springs and feed some huge fish.

Aaron slaloming for the first time.

Ryan skiing on two skis.

Then he tried 1 and did great.

The little girls enjoying the boat ride. Kalle and I did slalom, but I guess the guys were just so impressed by our style that they forgot to take pictures! We had a great time up and Island Park and hope they invite us up again. Thanks Aaron and Kalle!

Some fun summer days!

After 3 years with the same slip and slide, we finally retired it and got a 3 person one and a new blow up swimming pool. The kids have been having a blast. Our good friend comes over with her 2 kids and we let the kids play all afternoon until our husbands come home! Lindee and Maya are inseparable. When we are together, which is often, people always ask us if they are twins. They love playing with each other. If we can just get Lindee to stop biting then maybe they will continue to be friends!




My good friend Kalle

Kalle's son Brayden enjoying being outside.






The little girls playing on the alligator.

They fell off!

We have been making home made ice cream and the kids and us have been enjoying it!

Redwoods

On our way home from the coast we decided to head down to the redwoods. We went through the Jedidiah Redwoods right after you go into California. We went on a hike and saw the tallest redwood tree. It wasn't the oldest or the widestbut boy was it tall. It always makes me feel so small walking through these giant trees.
Start of the hike

The bridge that we went over


Along the trail we found huge clovers. I tried to find a 4 leave clover but I didn't find one!



The tallest redwood tree 2010!


Sooooooo tall. We had a ton of fun on our trip but it sure was fun to get back and sleep in our own beds!

Tide pools and lighthouse

A bunch of us went to the tide pools and the lighthouse on the last morning. We all had a fun time exploring. Then we went and took pictures on the beach because we were leaving the next day.

Look at all the sea anemones


All of us by my Dad down by the tide pools.

Me and Lindee enjoying the tide pools.

Lighthouse


My wonderful parents that made the Terry and Susan Howard reunion possible! Thanks Mom and Dad we had a blast

All of us by the lighthouse.

Starting up the stairs to look out from the top of the lighthouse.

Jenna jumping a wave.



Luke at the beach



JT playing in the ocean

Ryan and the kids! Lindee did not like to get down. Every time the kids got to the water they would scream and run away from the wave so I think that Lindee thought that the water was going to wash her away.











The kids all wet after playing in the ocean. We had a great time in Newport and can't wait to go back.