Heading Off in the Right Direction

This New Year seems to have started out in the right direction:

To top off my list:

1. Kaydree is Potty Trained!! That's right!! We're still working at the all night thing but daytime speaking...it's official!!

2. I managed to read Twilight finally!! I have always wanted to and got the book for my birthday. And I read it in only 3 days! That is some sort of record for me. I snagged it in here and there and even woke up at night to read it. It's alright I guess :). Now I need to see the movie!

3. We have a finished mantle and a few other odds and ends projects done around the house! Just in time to sell it....that's still in the making or in the air so to speak. But it all looks so beautiful!!

4. I have a new cell phone. I bid on ebay and won! It was only $0.99!! I also got a new wallet and Austin got me a new purse for Christmas...so my most used possessions are getting restocked slowly. I feel like things are back together for sure. And my highlight was when I got a new Driver's License. Austin and I headed for the Philippines on my 21st birthday and so I got my license renewed a few days before. Well, since I was inder 21 in Idaho they place your info vertical on the card and so ever since then I've been a 24 year old with a under 21 year old license. It was a big deal to me people! Now, everything's completely to my standards of wanting to get older every year!!

5. My fetish of loving to organize started up in full swing again!! This was caused by one full day of sunlight for me!!! There is nothing more fun to me than cleaning and organizing!!

6. And.....it's official, I am feeling a little/lot baby hungry again!! I know what you're all thinking...it's a new year though....I'm up for a challenge! It doesn't come and end over night though so don't panic! :)

7. I am so excited that Biggest Loser started up again! I absolutely love this show!! I have been known to schedule or ditch appt. due to this show! I just love it...and I really couldn't tell you why. :) I also started watching the Bachelor which I probably shouldn't have because I have a feeling my family might struggle with this for the next few weeks! And to think I usually hate TV!!

All in all I am really liking the start to this New Year!!! It seems like all of you have started on your resolutions and while I have mine of my own I don't want to disappoint or make anyone feel jealous( :) ) so good luck to everyone and Happy New Year!!!

I will work on posting pics. I am missing some sort of attachment to my computer for my old camera!

A Very Happy Holiday

Happy Holidays Everyone!!! It seems to be very cheery around here compared to the weeks past. We had a wonderful Christmas with friends and family and it was a blast!! Life is getting put back together from our last mishaps and I found an old camera to catch a glimpse of some of our fun!

We took the kids sledding along with our neighbors
the Taylor's.


Daddy and Brayden sledding...Brayden wasn't
too sure about the whole thing...he hates wearing
the gazillions of layers!


Our little fam in a cow sled! It was FAST!


Kaydree giving me her ONE catch it or miss
it pose!


Christmas morning... what is going on??? I must
be dreaming still?


Santa brought Kaydree some high heels! She's
already wanting to grow up!


She was sooo thankful of everything from
everyone. She would say, "Oh wow, Thank you"
and then give a little giggle after every gift.


We lost all attention from Brayden when Santa
gave him cars and a train!


And our favorite little friend (cousin), baby
Kamryn and our sister Amber! What a cutie!!

A Not So Jolly Weekend

This weekend Austin and I headed off to Utah for his cousin's wedding. We were able to leave the kids with his family for the entire weekend and I was excited!! His cousin's wedding was in Salt Lake. While we were attending his wedding, Austin's truck had been broken into. Actually, his whole window of his truck was bashed in by some sort of crow bar. We noticed it when we went outside to grab the wedding gift. We saw the theives and their truck take off....the police didn't catch them but I was mad! They stole all of MY stuff! My new purse, my makeup bag, my new camera with very important pics on it, all of our Christmas gift money on gift cards, credit and debit cards, my car keys (I have NO spare), and my cell phone!! It pretty much stinks too. We spent the whole first night trying to cancel everything and cleaning up glass. Did I mention it was a Blizzard!! His uncle had to loan us money just to be able to eat and get gas.
The second day we spent looking for a place to fix our window (we had to borrow money again) and we got to hang out with my sister and her husband at Temple Square. We spent the night at their apartment.
And the third day Austin's relatives got us tickets for the Sounds of Sunday and the Christmas concert. President Monson and Uchtdorf were there! That was THE Highlight of our weekend! After that we drove home 4 hours through another blizzard. SAD DAY!!! I am still a little bit bitter and having difficulty coping but at least no one was hurt.

If anyone does have an old cell phone they'd like to get rid of I will see if my provider will accept it. Thanks for letting me vent. I will try to figure out a way to take and post pics SOON!

Sister, Sister!

This Friday my older sister Katie flew into SLC from CA to come visit me for the week. We haven't hung out together as sisters since who knows when. We even got to hang out with my twin sister Traci last Friday for the day! Katie had a baby this past Sept. and brought him along too. It has been a lot of fun! We've decorated some more of my downstairs, watched movies, did some speed cleaning (since yes, my new house is still on the market.. always the story), gave her a fun makeover (and showed her what eye makeup is for JK!), went shopping and I bought some cute clothes, played games, used her height to get to the top of our tree to finish some decorating and well, just hung out! But it was fun! I do think I convinced her that ONE child is enough though! Everyone tells me..."oh, their just in that stage"..but how long does that stage last?? Brayden's mellow, sensitive, and caring while you know who is a little miss sassy ALL the time! What can ya do? I love her with all my heart, I really do! But this week has flown by and I hope that we can continue to grow closer as sisters.

Here's some picture's of some of our random, sometimes pointless, FUN!

Katie and I

New haircut....(The whole thing was MY idea 1st :) )

Katie and Ryan (3 months)

Daddy's idea of a BIG girl!

Aunt Katie in a quiet slumber with Brayden

Baby Ryan....I just had to do a mini photo shoot

Christmas Tree Hunting

It's an annual tradition the day after Thanksgiving to head to the mountains in search of the PERFECT Christmas Tree. This year we braved it and took the kids too! We all had so much fun! There wasn't that much snow until that night..but the kids had fun snowmobiling and playing in the snow! We love our tree and even though we cut only 2/3 of it down it stands 13 ft. tall. I don't have any pics yet because I ran out of light strands!! Here are just a few pics of the adventure.

Their first time snowmobiling!

Brayden taught Kaydree the ropes of a good

snowball fight!

And Kaydree showed Brayden how to eat snow!

A little piece of Heaven....we are always the

only ones out here for miles and miles!

This is IT before being chopped down...I think

this picture shows only half of it!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!!!

Today is our (My Twin sister Traci and I) 24th birthday.....yay I'm almost 25 now!! I don't know what it is but I love getting older. I'm sure that will all change when I hit the BIG 30 but I love Birthday's!! Happy Birthday Traci!! Here are some pictures from a LONG time ago. I thought it would be fun!!

Me (left) and Traci


Me (left) and Traci's first birthday. Thank goodness
I still have all of my fingers!


Traci (left), older sister Katie, and Me
One year old


Me and Traci 2 years old...don't you love the matching
outfits!! Thanks MOM!!

Mark Your Calendars!!

This Saturday from 9-5 is the annual Unique Botique held at Bonneville High School. It's huge and full of great steals! I usually go every year..but this year I have a booth! There's 4 of us and we've been working hard. I am so excited! Even if you don't find our stuff entertaining there's plenty of others. It's free to get in (it has been in the past) and located off of Ammon/Iona Rd. Hope to see you all there!! We do personalizing too! We have huge letter/words, benches, bows, headbands, nativity sets made from glass blocks, vinyl signs, vinyl, tiles, etc. etc. etc.!! COME and check it out!

Here's a quick peek! Give me your feedback! :)

Miss Bonneville Pageant

On Saturday night we went to the Miss Bonneville Pageant to watch Austin's sister Aerika. She was selected as one of the 16 contestents to compete for Miss Bonneville. As crazy as I am I decided to bring our 2 kids to watch it and ended up in the back the whole time with Brayden. But Kaydree loved watching the princesses change into many different dresses, dance, sing, play the piano, etc. It was kind of like a Miss America thing and lasted almost 2 and a half hours! It was fun though. When it came time to announce the winner and runner's up we crossed our fingers. Aerika is a Senior this year and did an awesome job. She has many many talents. The new Miss Bonneville crowned was Aerika Farmer!!! Yay! We are so excited!! Good Job!

Tag

I'm sorry I didn't post pictures in this! They are all packed up right now!!

1. Where did you meet your husband?
I met Austin on April 16th 2004 while working at the special olympics that were being held at BYU-Idaho. He was there with his parents and his little sister because his brother was competing. His little brother has down syndrome. I was asked to hold the doors open so that the hundreds of competitors could make it to the platform for the torch lighting. His sister and him also held open the 2nd set of doors. I had briefly saw him inside but he was with his family so I said nothing earlier. So when we realized we'd be holding doors open awhile we figured we should start doing some talking. (I think we were both blushing).

2. What was the first thing you said to your husband?
I think we just said hi first and I asked him who he was here for so we started talking about him first and I found out he had just gotten home from serving his mission in the Philippines (He was so HOT and tan..I think my hands may have even been clamy...too much info :) ). We started having fun after He admitted to me that he thought I was a competitor too!!! How embarrassing....because I was talking amongst the participants....How rude!!?? It was funny thankfully. That broke the ice!! Then I hung out with him and his sister for the next few minutes until his parents started coming down the stairs to exit the building. He said he needed to go and so he said bye real quick. The next day was the events day and I secretely waited and waited until I saw him outside in the stadium. It just so happened that I was in charge of the track and field events, which his brother was competing in...so when we got a break he came down and we started talking. He invited me inside to eat luch with his family and even made me a sandwich too!! I got the whole awkward thing over with within 24 hrs. of meeting!! It was nice. After lunch we played ball out in the field like little kids with his little sister too and so I got to ask her lots of questions to get the dirt out on him....Oh, the good ole' days. After it was over we sat in his truck to talk and he gave me a ride to my car. We exchanged numbers and he called me that day.

3. Where was your first date?
That night we talked and he came over to my apartment to hang out and we looked at pictures and openly talked about things. The next day he called and asked if I wanted to go for a drive to show me the ropes of Idaho. He said he needed to make a quick stop and (do I have to??) it was to his old high school girlfriend/waited for him but dear Jane'd her girlfriend to go to her house to pick up his stuff like snowboards and a box of stuff. Talk about awkward!! It's funny now...I don't know how we made it past this....But we never did have an official first date.

4.Where was your first kiss?
This might make everyone think differently of me but I kissed him that night that we went out!! It was just innocent fun....what can I say...we both liked it though. :)

5. How long did you date for?
We dated for 10 and a half months until we were married (I wanted to make sure and sense of a few things ...). I think it was the best thing ever!

6. Where did you get engaged?
This is the confusing part....we knew we were both in love around the time of when a huge famiyl tradegy came..I think it brought us a lot closer....we picked out a ring together in July 04' when we went down to Provo to meet with my sisters for the first time. He bought the ring with me there...I wore it the whole drive home....BUT to really answer the question...not officially until 3 weeks before we got married. I came home from work on Valentine's day. While at work his family got me all moved into our apartment. When I went inside, Austin was down on one knee with candles, rose petals, and the whole kit and caboodle. Aww, how romantic! Finally!!!

7. When and where were you married?
We got married Friday, March 4th 2005 (3/4/05) in the Idaho Falls, Idaho Temple.

8. How did the reception go?
It turned out great!! My immediate family as well as some of my extended family came and it was beautiful. It snowed the night before when all of my family arrived, which made it a cold wedding day too...It all really went by so fast and we had tons of friends and relatives come from all over. It turned out really beautiful. The only downfall is that between him and his 30+ odd immediate close cousins is that our car was trashed!!! I mean confetti, cans, whipped topping, chocolate syrup, cookies...inside and out....but we all survived somehow.

9. How was the honeymoon?
After leaving the reception after 10pm and spending 2 hrs at a spray and wash, we managed to spend our first night in Pocatello and then in Twin Falls, Boise and Jackpot Nevada...and yes I gambled $1 in pennies...just to say I did it!! But we really didn't have time to take a real honeymoon being that I had school and he had to work that following Monday. Our real honeymoon wasn't until November that year when we decided to head back to the Philippines...and it was amazing(even though I was around 6 and half/7 months pregnant!). I am so glad we finally got to go though!! I can't wait to go back again very soon!


10. I tag.....
Noelle Taylor, Angie Ingram, and Becky Grider

Fallin' in Love with FALL

I think I am really beginning to enjoy the holidays, especially Fall! I love the atmosphere of the stores and I love the cold(not freezing), brisk weather. The kids are so amazed at all of the fun decorations and colors around them. Bring it on!

The Unexpected

Last night Austin and I finally had a date night. It had been almost 2 months since we had gotten to go out without the kids, and they were all set to have a slumber party at grandma and grandpa's house. After we ate dinner we happened to look at our cell phones and had missed about 8 phone calls from his parents. We called and they told us that somehow one of his mom's deorative bird houses fell on top of Brayden and cut his head open. So we headed to their house to check things out. Brayden had a pretty good gash on his head that bled a whole lot and we knew needed some medical attention. The only problem is, is that in Idaho almost nothing is open past 9pm...and being that our health ins. doesn't start till Nov. 1st we decided to make some phone calls for advice instead of paying to go to the ER. Austin's friend and neighbor graciously took us to his office in Idaho Falls where he practices dermatology and stiched up Brayden's head. It was a gash about 1 1/2 inches long and 1/4 inch deep. He did pretty good after being numbed up and the Dr. did it at no cost, calling it a good deed needed every once and awhile...... We feel so blessed to have such great friends!The other unexpected is that WINTER is officially here!!! How? you may ask.....because it SNOWED!!! Yes, it has been really been getting cold... but SNOW, already?? I'm just not sure what to think!

Finally!!

I finally posted some pics for you all to see of our home. These were taken shortly after moving in so some things were not quite finished yet and we still have some projects to work on. We really love this house even though we're in the process of selling it. It's just a cute, simple home, perfect for our little family!! I'll try and post more pictures when the rest of the projects are finished (mantle, master bath, handrails, etc.). Let me know what you think!!

I posted it at the bottom of the page!! I'm not that good figuring out all of this blog stuff :)