Crazy Busy Summer

We had a really busy summer. Derek finished his first year of Grad school. We moved out of our old apartment and put our stuff in storage and went on a trip to Idaho for 5 weeks, I finally graduated with my bachelors, then we drove back home and moved into our new apartment. Now Derek is back in school, busier than ever, and the girls and I are spending A LOT of time together. Now I will post a bunch of pictures, because I know you all want to see them more than hear (or read) me rambling on.

This is our last time at the pool at our old apartment.

We got to stop in Indiana and stay with our friends Whit and Andre Ann on our way to Idaho.

While Derek and Whit went camping Andre Ann and I took the kids to the zoo.

 We also got to stop and see our friends Luke and Mary. We took the kids to Thanksgiving Point; Hallie loved riding on the horse.

 We went with Derek's family to Ross Park and the girls loved swimming in the kiddy pool.

I FINALLY graduated from BYU-Idaho. It has taken me a while, but I am so happy to finally be done. It has been a lot of fun going to school, but I am really excited to not have homework anymore; homework and children to not mesh well:)

Oh, and I got my hair cut and my ears pierced. Hallie was so excited for me to get my ears pierced; she kept telling everyone she knew. My mom on the other hand probably thought I was going through a midlife crisis or something (haha).

 We also got to go to the Haderlie campout while we were in Idaho and the girls loved riding on the boat; they didn't want to get off.

Macie rode with Derek for a minute on the tube while the boat was going back to the dock and 

Macie cried the entire time.

Derek's cousin Kevin thought it would be a brilliant idea to jump a bike off the ramp into the river; and of course Derek had to try it out. I was a little late on the shot and got Derek right as he was going into the water.

 My dad took the boys camping in the woods and so Hallie and her other (girl) cousins were sad that they didn't get to go camping; so we set up a tent for them in my parents basement and they slept the night in it. They had a blast:)

 The kids were pretending that they were camping and roasting marshmallows (apples) over the fire.

Here are the girls on our drive back to Virginia. The girls were so good on both the drive to Idaho and the drive back to Virginia. We were so proud of them.

 The girls and I went on a little hike with some friends in the ward when we got back.

We went out and picked wild blackberries. These particular blackberries have terrible thorns; I had one sticking in my leg when we got home (it went through my levi's).

Here is Hallie catching fire flies for the first time. We didn't really have fire flies around our old apartment; she loves going out every night to try and catch them.

 Hallie really wanted to take pictures with Derek and I. She is obsessed with pictures and videos.

 This is the amazing (Huckleberry Trail) here in Blacksburg. The girls and I love to go on walks on it; Hallie rides her bike, while I push Macie in the stroller.

 Hallie has been my little helper with canning peaches and corn, since I don't have my mom or sisters 

to can with.

 I put Macie's hair up in pigtails for the first time today and everyone said she looked so much like Hallie.

 The girls and I went to the beach at "Claytor Lake" with my friend Amber and her two little boys. We had a ton of fun; the girls didn't want to go home.

We sent Derek this picture to let him know we missed him. Derek is so busy with school and work that the girls and I usually just go on outings together, but we wish so bad that Derek could come with us.

Another Trip to Idaho

The girls and I were able to go to Idaho for 5 weeks and visit family and friends. It was so fun to see everyone and have someone to talk to and spend time with during the day, but it was also great to come back home and be with Derek. Here are some pics from our trip.

This is my little sister Janalyce; we got to be there to support her for Jr. Miss and to see her give away her Jr. Miss title to the next girl.

The girls got to have an Easter Egg hunt with both sides of the family.

Coloring eggs with Derek's family

The girls with all their cousins on my side of the family.

  We got to go to the zoo in Idaho Falls with our friend McKenzie and her little girl Georgie.

 This is my little brother and his new wife Megan.

 It was great to be able to go to their wedding and support them.

 Flying home to see daddy Yeah:)

Hallie at the airport with her new suitcase.

Trip to D.C. in December

In December we went to D.C. with my sister Heather and her husband Brett. It was a lot of fun to see all the sights and Derek and I were able to go to the D.C. temple, which was great since we now live 41/2 hours from the temple and don't get to go to the temple as often as we did in Rexburg.

This room was really cool; the entire room was covered in photographs.

The girls really enjoyed the Natural History Museum, but after a little while Hallie said, "mom aren't there any animals that are alive?" She got bored with all the dead animals:)

Fall Time Fun

 The girls had a lot of fun playing in all the leaves.

I took a few pictures on campus one day. It is so beautiful here in the fall.

 This is Hallie at the Halloween party for preschool.

 They had bowling with pumpkins and they made spider cupcakes.

 Macie Trying to paint a pumkin

 Hallie loved painting her pumpkin.

 

 Cinderella and Pebbles at our ward Halloween party.

 Hallie really liked the sack races; she kept getting in the sack and going back and forth.

  We went to a Pumpkin Patch, but didn't end up buying a pumpkin because they were $10-$30 and I am way to cheap to buy pumpkins for that price.

 They also had pony rides and a little petting zoo. Hallie loved riding the horse, she was so happy and so proud to be riding a horse all by herself, she talked about it for days afterwards.

I thought the vines on this grain silo were really cool.