Math and Mud

Hello all! I wanted to give you all a quick update on what's been happening since my last post.

Last Thursday, Gabriel, Alexandria and I went to the Family Math Night at Butte View Elementary. The schools here are pretty good about having events that are geared toward the entire family and provide more of a community spirit. I guess that has a lot to do with it being a small town! The object of the night was to complete at least 6 math games that earned you card punches. Each punch was good for one part of a meal...hot dogs with chips and cookies, etc. There were games geared for very young children as well as some that were quite a bit tougher. Both Gabriel and Alexandria had a good time!

On Sunday, I decided to see if everyone wanted to get together with Maw Maw and Paw Paw to go shooting in the desert. The kids and John were up for it. John is hardcore into his gun kick right now and doesn't have much time to shoot. Abby hadn't had a chance to shoot her new Red Ryder BB gun from Christmas. Gabriel is all about gun sports (he is a boy afterall) and has just started with a rifle club through 4H. Alexandria goes with the flow :). And I figure if John wants to get me a handgun, I had better try some out first! So, off we go to Boise. Dad gets all of his stuff together and we load up into two trucks and head out. About 25 minutes later and 15 miles of road behind us, we are sitting in the middle of lots and lots of fresh mud from a couple of rainy days past. So, about 25 minutes after that and the same 15 miles of road, we ended up back at Maw Maw and Paw Paw's house. The kids got to shoot the BB guns in the back yard so it wasn't a total bust. I guess having a plan B next time would be advisable!

Sooo...it has been a while!

Well, I had resolved to update my blog every couple of weeks last year or at least on special ocassions. And that lasted all of about two weeks. I know, I know...shame on me! So, will I do any better this year? Probably not... but let's see how it goes.

A few noteworthy events that should have made the blog... I GOT MARRIED on October 3rd! That's a pretty big deal, right? I had an awesome honeymoon road trip (in June - a few months before the wedding) down through Reno and Tahoe, up the central California coast to San Francisco, over to Sacremento and back through Tahoe. We took a spring break trip (Gabriel, Alexandria, Denise and Carrington) to Salt Lake City. We went to the Hogle Zoo and Kids Discovery Museum. The kids had a lot of fun! John, the kids and I went on a trip to the Oregon Coast in August; Newport, Oregon to be exact. That was special...we all had a blast. Between the Yakina Head Lighthouse, Newport Aquarium, Cobble Beach, brew pub and clam chowder...there was something for everyone! My sister Chirs and family ended up living in Boise for a few months over the summer and fall. It was so great to have the time with them here. All in all... it was a fairly eventful year!

I also was promoted to a Project Manager position at work and John became CNA! He has his medications certification, CPR and First Aid certifications and is currently in a Phlebotomy class. He is enjoying his new line of work (and even gets to cook two days a week while doing it!).

Gabriel is about to turn 10...gulp...double digits! Alexandria is in Kindergarten and just turned 6! Abby is 7 going on 14! We are all snuggled into our circa 1915 (or there abouts) two bedroom house and starting to get anxious to be closer to Boise with more bedrooms and bathrooms.

I will try to get some new pictures on here as well as a few from the above mentioned events. Don't hold your breath though...11 months by my last dry spell could be a long time to wait!

A Special Day

Yesterday John and the kids and I met Mom and Josh down at Qwest Arena for the the compulsary events in figure skating at the Speacial Olympics 2009 World Winter Games. We had a great time there and truly enjoyed seeing the athelets participating. It's really touching to see everyone supporting these great kids and adults from around the world. Joyful smiles and proud faces were the order of the day! Here is a picture of one friendly skater who took a moment to wave at us during his warm up period.

Build-A-Bear er... Dog

One more post to catch up... as a follow up to the birthday festivities last week, we took Alexandria, Carrington and Abby to Build-A-Bear on Saturday. As you may know, Carrington is a PRO at this. They have her picture posted on the wall, know her by name and refer to her as a premier customer. Alexandria knows the ropes, she has about five or six trips under her belt. Abby had never been before! So, this was fun for all of them!!! Surprisingly (or not?) they all chose the same animal. The new Jack Russell Terrier. They have it picutered in a Valentine's themed party dress, but Alexandria's Alexa (as she was named) kinda looks like a cross dressing pup. LOL Anyways, they had a great time and we followed it up with a girls lunch at Olive Garden. Big girls included...Maw Maw, Aunt Denise and yours truly. (Try the new chicken flatbread stuff...it's awesome!) :)

Did you see the size of that dinosaur???

I am playing catch up here so bear with me. Last week on the 6th, I won a radio contest! Long story short, they asked a history question and I happen to be very smart so... :) I won four tickets to Walking with Dinosaurs! John bought a fifth ticket and we took all four kidos. He also ran all over town to pick the kids up and was generally a sweet heart! In the end.. it was VERY cool! It's amazing how realistic these things look! Here is a pic for you to get the idea. The kids loved it and we all had a great time!

Guess who is 5 now?

Last Tuesday the 6th was Alexandria's 5th birthday! We had a family party at Mom & Dad's house for her. Mom, Josh, Denise and her clan as well as John and Gabriel were all there. We ate pizza, opened presents and chowed down on homemade birthday cake...yellow cake with lemon icing and flower sprinkles, by request. Here are a few pics from the day.

Trying to turn over a new leaf...

I am going to try to get some pics on here and make an effort to do an update every couple of weeks or so... at least for holidays and special events. I have to or three posts to put in over the next couple of days. Hopefully I can get in gear... see you all soon!