Reflections Contest

Annie entered and won the Reflections Contest. She took this picture with her own camera while we were in Yellowstone in September. Now they are sending her photo down to be judged in our region. We are so proud of you Annie.
Here is her photo.

Our new Suburban

For our 15th anniversary, Scott and I took a road trip to California to get my new car. Scott's mom was nice enough to take 2 days off work so we could go. We had to take Eva with us, but it was still a great anniversary. We ate fresh seafood on the coast and drove highway 1 towing the suburban behind us. It was great! Scott has been looking for an old suburban for months and we finally found the one. It is going to be so much better than my Cruiser. No more climbing over the seats and squishing poor Margaret in back with the dogs. Scott has the FJ40 up and running and has to finish a few things and then he is going to start on my new ride. I'm so excited! And yes I am keeping the Orange, but it will be Orange and white. Scott wouldn't let me have my blue because the FJ55 is blue.

The girls are super excited. The first night we were gone, we called to talk to the girls and the first thing Margaret said was Did you get the new car yet? No not yet. What color is it? Orange. That's my favorite color.

Good thing our girls are just like us and love old cars.

a big house for 2 big dogs

Our poor dogs have shared an igloo for the past 3 years, so we finally built them a penthouse. It wasn't meant to be quite this big, but I was worried they would be too squishy, so Scott made it 4 feet by 8 feet. It's insulated, has a summer porch and inside winter quarters, shingled roof. I think we need to send a picture into Jay Leno, but the dogs love it.

Watch out for that spit!

It was a little tight painting the inside of the doghouse! We let the girls help paint the doghouse too, but they were bored after about 15 minutes.

Korie coming over to check out the progress


Look at all that insulation

Margaret and Ruby testing it out.

Happy Halloween

Annie was a vampire, Margaret a skeleton, Ellie a witch and Eva a pumpkin

This year Halloween was really rainy, but the girls still had a great time going trick or treating and to Aunt Nancy's party.

Our annual Yellowstone Trip

We love our annual trip to my parents cabin and Yellowstone.Sweet Eva
Margaret and Ellie Mae playing in the loft

It was so cold we had to let the dogs sleep inside. I had to wash all the walls when we left, it was so gross.

My cute family

Mags kept trying to sneak and touch the water, so I let her and Annie freaked out because she might get burned. I touched it first, but Annie is so cute and motherly.

Mags holding her nose!

So funny! Never gets old!

We saw many animals, but my favorite was the bear eating berries right by the road!

Me and Ellie Mae

Mags and Annie

So stinkin cute

Hot Dogs with the Bellamys

We went up to Fernwood with the Bellamy's for dinner. I have never been to Fernwood. It is just off the highway in Layton. It has a great picnic area and a hike. We can't wait to go on the hike. There was a fire restriction on, so we had to grill the hot dogs instead, but they were still great. The kids had fun running around. They kept talking about a purple monster and Mason really wanted to find it. We played the candy bar game. It was fun, but I don't think the kids are ready to play that for a few years. There were many tears. The more I blog I realize that I'm a very distracted photographer. I always forget to take pics of half the people and I'm never patient enough to wait for the really good ones.


I had the hardest time getting a cute picture of the kids. I should have been patient and followed them around instead because this one wasn't so great. I had to include it because it was the only pic of Annie and Maggie.

The kids didn't care we didn't have smores. Ellie and Ethan eating cookies and marshmallows.

Mason looking for the perfect stick.

Ellie having a great time!

Eva loving her hot dog bun.

Baby Zach and Spencer

Nap Time

I put Eva down for a nap and went to jog and when I came back a half hour later this is how I found her. I can't believe how big she is. This is the first time she has pulled herself to standing all by herself. She is almost 8 months.

So Close

Scott is so close to being finished, but he still has wiring and plumbing to do. The painting took a little bit longer than expected, but it's done and looks soooo good. I know I said it was close last time, but we had to enjoy our season passes at Lagoon too.

It needs a bumper too

Yes I know, I'm not the best photographer.


Sweet little Eva fell asleep, okay she fussed herself asleep, while I was out in the garage helping on the cruiser. At least she was smart enough to find a comfortable pillow.

Camping with the Meikles

We went camping with our good friends, the Meikles, to Tony's Grove. This trip was in August, but I lost the pics for a month. I forgot I took Annie's camera and have been searching all over the computer for a month. We had so much fun. The first night rained and our new tent didn't have the right poles, so poor Scott had to drive home to Kaysville to get some more. The next day we went down to the Ice Caves and got raspberry shakes in Garden City. The last day we went on the lake in the canoe. Jaren was so brave and went in the canoe for his first time. We ate the best dutch oven meals and had a great time. Annie and Jaren even took the canoe out by themselves, but I don't have a picture. The kids had so much fun. Jaren and Annie started a Nature Club. They were pretty cute about it. Poor Emily was kicked out for killing a bug on Jaren.

Ellie, Maya and Eva. Eva is enjoying a piece of licorice so I could cook.

Steve and Emily

We ate the best dutch oven meals and had a great time.

The kids were so cute and played with the dogs and took them for walks.

In the Ice Cave

Otis and Ruby love to go on road trips with us. It is so funny to see them in the car. Poor Ruby still won't jump in the cruiser, so Scott has to lift her up.

The First Day of School

I am so excited for my little girls. One of the great things about Scott's job is that he works crazy shift work and he had today off. So both Scott and I were able to go take the girls to their first day of school and back to school night, which was during the first day of school. It started at 6:45 am when Annie woke up screaming "Maggie Wake up! It's the first day of School!" They were both so excited. Ellie was a little upset to find out that she didn't get to start preschool today.

My big third grader! Annie is in Mrs. Furse's class.

I tried not to embarrass her, so I snuck this picture.

Maggie was just a little nervous on the way to school, but I told her that I would stay with her for today and she thought that was great. She walked right into the classroom and hung her backpack on her hook. We didn't tell her to, so I had to double check to make sure she put it on her name and she had. We showed the girls around the classroom and the bathroom. Ellie was very excited about the mini toilet and had to use it because it was so cute.

Maggie and Mrs. Taylor

The girls were excited to see Dallin and Ethan on the way to their classroom.

Ellie getting a big squeeze from Ethan.

Last Camping Trip before school

I can't believe summer is almost over. It's gone by so fast. We decided to go camping for our last weekend before school started. We went camping up to Monte Cristo and spent one day playing in Bear Lake with the Krebs Family and then wheeling in Cache Valley.

We had a great time floating in the boat. Scott took the dogs swimming in the Lake. I think it was their first time swimming.

Scott and Ruby taking a nap.

Eva is such a happy little girl. The nights were too cold for her and she ended up sleeping in my sleeping bag this time, which is not so much fun for me. I was so worried about suffocating her that I barely slept.