Leavenworth for Labor Day

This is our view from the Condo. It was a cloudy weekend, but still beautiful!
Me, after my hole in one!

Brady putting in the last hole.

Walking down the main streets and looking through

the shops.

Rain or shine, we still went for Ice Cream!

First Day of School

Josh sporting his favorite shirt, LEGO Star Wars! He is starting 5th Grade.

Activites include: Scouts, Piano, Violin, and Golf.
Jace Striking a pose. He is excited about 2nd grade.
Activities include: Scouts, Piano, and Golf

Jairden looking Cool! Jairden attends preschool at the University.

Activities include: Swimming, Soccer, going to the Library and the Science Center.

A Special Week

For Jaces birthday, both my parents, Shannon, and Brady's parents came. He wanted a Baseball theme, so us women put our heads and frosting licking fingers together to pull off a baseball in a mitt cake! Quite ingenious, and delicious!
Baptized on the 4th of July

Since the 4th was on a Saturday, it was the chosen day for Jace's Baptism. Grandma's and Grandpa's helped out with the program, and all of our friends and neighbors came. It was a nice Baptism and he will never forget what day he was Baptized on!

After the Baptism, we hosted a BBQ in our backyard. After stuffing ourselves we played a few games. At dusk we let the Pyros (Brady), shoot off our Indian Reservation bought fireworks! The City Display almost paled in comparison.

Our Trip to California

McCall for Memorial Day

Finally, a Memorial Weekend that Brady wasn't traveling! I've spent the last 2 Memorial Day's doing laundry and cleaning with Brady traveling for work. Since Brady has been gone a lot this year, we decided to get away to one of the condos in our timeshare to McCall, ID. We pass through McCall everytime we go to Utah. So we are familiar with this beautiful town with a mountain lake. Here we are relaxing at the condo. We BBQ-ed on the little deck, watched my favorite summer movie, "Summer Magic", and swam in the pool and hot tub.
This is outside the condo.

Here we are at Ponderosa State Park. It is a penisula that comes out onto Payette Lake. We followed the trail up to the cliff lookout.

Other trails we followed, led us to a marsh. The ranger told us we might see beavers, a bear, or a fox. But, all we saw were bees and misquitos! I took pictures of the beautiful pink, yellow, white and purple wild flowers that adorned the path.

Walking along the shores of Payette Lake.

Back to Blogging

Oh man, how time flies! This blog has been nagging at me to get caught up and I confess, I haven't wanted too! Brady has been gone traveling 1 1/2 to 2 weeks out of every month this Spring! Not to mention his Ward duties and activities he needs to do when he gets home. So any spare moment I have, I use to relax with a book. I guess I need to escape! Not really though. The kids have been great! The real reason is that I am probably the last one on the planet that hasn't read Harry Potter. I'm a little embarassed to confess this, but the series has reeled me in! I wanted to finish the sixth book before the movie comes out. I just finished it last night and cried at Dumbledoor's funeral! (okay, so I am a little lonely this week with Brady in New Jersey!)
Here is a short list of the other happenings:
1. I hired a Stylist to work in my home salon on booth rent.
2. Jace and Jairden played soccer.
3. The IWCC (community choir I'm in) had our Spring concerts.
4. Josh had his Orchestra concert and Piano Recital.
5. Brady basically has been gone!

Blarmey!

Oh boy, time has flown! These pictures are a little late, but I am finally posting again! St. Patricks Day Eve, we constructed our Leprechan trap! We put a $1 coin (acquired from the Vegas trip) inside the trap. It was attached to a string, when pulled, the green netting comes down and covers the opening. Brady the scientist figured out the mechanics of the trap, and Shari (the wanna be designer), disguised a tampon box with lovely green paper!

On the morning of the 17th, the kids woke up to find that we didn't trick the leprechan! But, he did leave them some green treats, along with some tricks. The barstools were backwards, the toilet water was green, and the bathroom mirror had a message written on it in green. Maybe we'll catch him next year!

After being tricked by that silly leprechan, we all put on our green attire and sat down to Green eggs and ham! We even had a green smoothie! Shhhh, don't tell them they drank spinich!

All in all, we had a Lucky Day!

The fountains at Bellagio.

The Buffets were great! We tasted every dessert!

Winning change at the Slots.

Girls Weekend in Vegas!

It's cooooold, I wanted to go somewhere warmer. . . . it's Vegas Baby!
My sis and I had fabulous four days in Sin City. We saw so many Stars! They were just a little waxy though.


Tim Mcgraw was cool to hang with.

Isn't our wedding lovely?

The Venetian was our favorite hotel. We took a Gondola ride, had gourmet chocolate, watch the entertainment, the wax museum, and went to the Blue Man Group. Okay, a little slot machine playing too!

Valentines Day

After a week of doing special things for our "Secret Admires", we guessed who they were around a candle lit dinner. The boys enjoyed this as did Brady and I for we had each other!

So her name will start with a "J"!

We thought we would carry on the tradition of our kids names starting with "J". So our daughter-to-be will have a "J" name. We have a list of names to choose from. After we see her and interact with her, we'll narrow down the list. I wanted a reference to use when we talk about her, so I thought "J" would be a good one.

I am trying hard to keep up both blogs. I want to keep this one as our "family" one. So please check out my other blog waiting for our angel for all adoption news!

First Haircut

This is the "Before" picture. She couldn't even see! And "After"! The Grooming shop had her all decked out for Valentines Day!

She ran around and was so excited because she could finally see where she was going.

Number Four!

A Lightning McQueen Birthday! Or as Jairden calls him "Light-Ling the Queen"! My Mom-in-law helped me make the cake, wrapped all the presents, and helped with all the preparations! I couldn't have done it without her!

We had a family party Friday night at 11p.m. when my mom and sis flew in. Jairden was a little dazed. The styrofoam car was a last minute creation for Jairdens friend party the next day. Whew, I fit it all in!

Opening gifts from Grandparents, Parents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. Thank you everyone!

Yes! a Batman Scooter!



The Friend Party!
Playing "Red light, Green light".
Happy Birthday little one. I'm sad you are getting so big. You'll always be my little boy!
Love you tons!

Enlightened

The whole month of January, I have practiced to partcipate in the musical play of the Ten Virgins. Our stake put it on for our Annual Women's Conference. It has such a beautiful message of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Each virgin had a personality and a lamp that was specific to her devotion. We each had parts to say and a song that related to our character. The setting was beautiful with a huge stage, props and lighting. We even dressed-up in period clothing. We performed with a CD because the music is so beautiful. Of course there were five foolish and five wise virgins. My character was a "foolish" one. "Adi" was too concerned about the way people think about her. So she used all her money to buy a new dress for the "wedding" instead of extra oil. It is interesting to think that the parable is about church members and their preparation for the bridegroom. "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh." Matthew 25:13

We had a overflowing turn-out and since I performed this the Saturday after Brady was put in as Bishop, my in-laws, mom , and sister were able to see it. Thanks again for flying up here! Love you all.

Here We Go!

We are big fans of this movie, but we didn't think we would be going back to a Singles Ward!
On Jan. 25th, Brady was called to be a Bishop of one of the Student wards in the University Stake. Boy, were we Surprised! We were a bit overwhelmed, but excited! His ward meets at the Institute building on Campus with one other student ward. Our family attended the last two Sundays and Man, is it ever Quiet! The kids did pretty good, though. The kids and I will still attend our family ward. But, we will go to the activities and participate in other ways. Brady's parents came and stayed for a week. My mom and sis flew up the next week. It was nice having family here. It still doesn't seem real that Brady is a Bishop, but I guess when he is gone for meetings, it will feel very real. Now I know why it is important to pray for the Bishop and his family! I feel bad that I have slacked off on that. Any prayers are welcome for Bishop Carter and his family! Thank you for all of your love and support. (We'll need it!)

I dreaming of a White Christmas. . . .

Our dreams came true and then some with the loads of snow that was dumped on us. Christmas day was white, bright, and briskly cold. This picture was taken Christmas day in the afternoon on our way to our friends and nieghbors to see what Santa brought.
The boys all geared up in their new Christmas attire.

Christmastime

Our Friends and Neighbors came to our house for a Christmas Eve Celebration. Isn't our Nativity Scene wonderful?

All Decked out in their Christmas Eve presents and waiting on the stairs to go see if Santa came.

Jairdens Loot.



Jace's Stash

Josh's New Additions