Nebraska

In August, our nephew Jake got married in Nebraska. We decided to make a little trip out of it and went camping on the way there at Flaming Gorge. That place is so pretty! I always loved camping growing up and thought for sure I would be a camping mom. But seriously, I think having a trailer would make it much more enjoyable for me. Maybe someday.




The wedding was very interesting. There are some different folk in that neck of the woods. But I'm glad we could be there to support the family. We were able to see some pioneer history sites too. We saw Chimney rock in the distance, we were just too tired to drive right to it. It is a really neat landmark for the pioneers. We were in Scottsbluff and this pass below is where some of the pioneers crossed.

This is the original pioneer trail. Most of the Mormon pioneers crossed on the other side of these hills, but some came on this exact trail below.

Speech graduation

Cassie has been in speech therapy for the past 2 years and graduated this summer. This has been an awesome program and not only helped her talk better, but also helped her grow in many ways. She looooved going to speech and participating in all the fun activities they had. I was sort of hoping Claire would qualify, because it is so fun for the kids, but she didn't.

The cabin, again.

After some time in Canada, we met our husbands down at the cabin for some more fun. This year, we put up a vollebyall net and had some pretty competitive games. The guys also built a zip line over the lake and that was probably the biggest hit of the week. It took a while to get it just right, but I think it will help create lots of memories for many summers to come. It was funny watching Nate and Jason test it out and slowly make their way down. They didn't even have to drop, it took them right to the surface of the lake.

The picture above is one of my favorite. Dave's brother Matt was there, and he got a video of Nate falling off the back of the boat while Dave was wake-boarding. We watched it over and over and had a good laugh. I guess he could have been hurt pretty bad. But since he wasn't, we can laugh. I didn't get any pictures of boating, probably because I only went out once. I just wasn't feeling it this year. I was a pretty boring person to be around this summer, pretty much just sat there or plopped myself on the couch. I did enjoy the food though, it's always one of the highlights when we are all together.

Excuses

I'm alive!! Just being a slacker. Actually, I have some very good excuses as to why I haven't been blogging.

First of all, Prison Break. Enough said. But we are finished the series and I miss it. A lot. Go and watch it if you haven't already.

Second of all, moving into a new house and keeping the computer far away, downstairs.

And my biggest excuse, I was really sick and feeling awful all summer. And now I am just really tired and have no energy or motivation to do anything productive. It may be the result of another child growing inside of me. I'm due the end of February and it's a boy!! We are more than excited to even the numbers out. And there is no exaggeration in that.

So anyway, we had a pretty good summer. We moved into our house July 9th and the next day the kids and I headed to Canada. We had that trip planned for a long time and there was no way the kids were going to let that change. They looooooove going to grandpa and grandma's farm. Dylan disappears almost the whole time with his cousins as they "help" grandpa and uncle Chad do chores. He learned to drive the 4-wheelers by himself and was proud of that. Cassie joined in with the chores a few times and she loved every minute that they would let her help out. We love spending time with all the family up there and going to get ice-cream too.

One crazy summer...... so far

Summer has barely begun and we have been loving it! Well, most of it. Not the part where the neighbor kids come over every morning at 8:30 to play. I gave them a 10:00 rule, but they seem to forget. Everyday.

The kids have had on-going swimming lessons and love it.

We spent a week up in Montana with both of our parents and really enjoyed it. It's always a hoot when we get them all together. Dianna and the twins were there too, which was great to spend time with them. And yes, we went the rainiest week of June. But that didn't really matter, the cabin is great anytime of the year. I just love it. The water was so high too, everyday it was at least 6 inches higher. I can't wait to see how high it is when we go back in a few weeks.


Lots of fishing.

And Nate and I were the only brave ones that braved the water. Well, the kids did a little too. And it was cold! But we put on the wet suits and we weren't afraid. It was fun.

Dylan loves selling juice on the street and has been asking since March to do a lemonade stand. So I finally let him. I even baked cookies for them to sell. They made $14 and we ate cookies for the rest of the week. I won't bake that many next time.

We've had some long hot days this last week. The kids have been playing outside non-stop and it really wears them out. Claire was so tired one day she fell asleep on the counter.

And the reason this summer has seemed so crazy so far is because of this...

We are buying a house!! I know, awesome eh???? After 9 years of being transients and never knowing what the next few years will bring, we are finally planting some roots. And we are pretty excited. We came here thinking we would buy a house with in a few months and nothing happened. We couldn't find anything we liked or that felt right. We did have our eye on some land and we have been wheelin and deelin with the stubborn old farmer since about the time we moved here. It was the perfect piece of land. 5 acres and we even recruited some really good friends with kids the same age as our kids to build there with us. But months of trying to negotiate this piece of land had us to the point of plotting ways to kill the farmer off. Okay, not really. But it was annoying. But there were no homes that we liked for sale and no other land that caught our eye. Plus, this was right by a cool park, in the same Stake, still in Hyde Park, we would be back at the elementary school we started out at last year, it would be a cul-de-sac, we would have the coolest neighbors that we hand picked ourselves, I had house plans and ideas all ready.. etc. etc. etc. It was perfect. Except there was no way to move on it. No one could afford the ridiculously large amount he wanted to sell it for. And then it happened. One day our friends told us that his parents were going to sell their house in a couple of months and that we should go look at it. We really didn't want to, but felt like we should since this friend took effort in setting up an appointment. So we went. And we liked it. And it felt so right for both of us. And we are closing on it this week. It all happened to fast! I spent 3 days with a headache and trying to talk myself out of it. It wasn't the right color. It wasn't in Hyde Park. It wasn't in a Cul-de-sac. Our friends wouldn't be there. The lot was smaller than we wanted. Bla bla bla bla bla! As soon as I decided that yes, this is the house, all those things didn't matter and I have been so excited ever since. So what if it isn't the style or color I wanted? Who cares! It's a house and now I don't have to make any of those choices! I know building would have been a headache.

Circumstances had it that we wouldn't be moving until September, but things have changed and we might be moving in a week or 2! Crazy, I know. I haven't done a single thing to get ready for this. And it has changed our summer plans a little. But we are so excited to finally get settled and to stay in a ward for more than 2-3 years.

Here are a couple more pictures of the inside. And no, we don't get to keep the animal heads.

Wow, that was probably way to much info for a public blog.

End of school

Dylan finished school June 2nd and will really miss 1st grade. Mostly because we are buying a house and it puts us in a different school zone. He made some great friends and had a great teacher, Mrs. Knight. I was able to go help out once a week in his class and will really miss everyone there.



The first grade classes sang a few songs to end the year. Dylan kept telling me he was the tallest in his class and I didn't believe him until I saw them all lined up. He's on the back row in the middle.

They also had a fun little carnival on one of the last days that I brought the girls too.

Cassie finished preschool in April. She was lucky to make it into the lab at USU and loved it. She is very ready for kindergarten to start and she asks everyday how many sleeps are left. About 60, I think.

Soccer in the rain

May was filled with soccer and it was a coooold season. Most games were rainy and wet, or breezy and cool. I was glad to see it end. Both Dylan and Cassie were almost the very youngest on their teams and did pretty good considering.

Cassie sort of got thrown into the mix with out hardly even practicing. I was a little worried about her not being aggressive at all it until her first game when she literally shoved and then pulled at least 2 or 3 kids down. Guess we should have gone over rules first. I was a little embarrassed because it kept happening. She really did well though, always getting in there to get the ball. She scored a few goals by the end of the season.