School Pictures 2010

The girls got their pictures taken at school.  They turned out pretty well.  Our little girls aren't so little any more.

Halloween 2010

We had a three-ward trunk-or-treating event at the church last night.  Sage dressed up as Artemis and Lise was Cleopatra.  Brenden and Ella Rowley joined us for the evening as well.

Christopher "Officially" out of Air Force

Well, after 11+ years in the Air Force, 3 moves, 5 deployments, Chris has finally seperated.  It has and will continue to be an adjustment for us all, but hopefully the pros with outnumber the cons.  He is currently enrolled at BSU in some accounting classes.  He stopped working a couple of months ago, but his last day was the 11th. We are very proud of him and grateful for his willingness to serve and protect America.  So, here's to many happy and healthy years out of the military :)  We love you, Christopher!!

Analise had a birthday

girls in the hot tub

livee and casey (cutie pie)

eating cheesecake for birthday

hanging out in the rock wall area

Amidst everything that has been going on, Analise turned 10.  She had a really fun party at the YMCA.  It has a huge water facility as well as a climbing wall.  She was so excited to invite her cousins this year!!  She almost had a cousins only party, but in the end she invited some new friends from school and church.  I have some really bad pictures, (should have taken the big camera)  but we still had a good time and hope everyone else did as well.

Our Turkish Clarinet Player

Sage is in the 6th grade Band.  She has been learning to play the clarinet - this is her practicing (she had just gotten out of the shower - hence the towel turban)  She does really well, and is most the time excited to practice.  She was recently chosen 1st chair.

My Mom

Here is Mom's Obituary:



http://www.magicvalley.com/app/obituaries/?type=obit&id=78955

Happy Birthday, Amylee!!

Amylee celebrated another birthday.  Can't tell you her age...might get in trouble (don't try counting the candles, it won't help you).  Anyway, we went out to the Olive Garden for dinner and splurged on some yummy black tie something or other cheesecake, which we turned into the birthday cake.

New Family Member

When Chris arrived home from Texas, he had a surprise for the girls. He brought Willow, a rabbit he adopted about a month before leaving San Angelo. She likes to lick your feet and tries not to be a chase magnet for Samson; Samson thinks it's loads of fun to chase the rabbit around the yard. Willow is litter trained and likes to snuggle and have her cheeks and head scratched.

"Most Resourceful" Pit Crew

We had an opportunity to create a car out of cardboard boxes for a ward activity this past weekend.  The ward hosted a movie night along with a car-building competition prior to the movie starting.  Chris and the girls built this car Saturday afternoon, and the girls won "Most Resourceful".

Dog Update (warning: graphic images)

I know that you have been worrying about Samson, so I thought Iwould give you an update. They took his bandages off last week to let his wounds "air out". Then at the beginning of this week they took his stitches out. He still has a few rough spots, but he his doing good. He walks pretty well, except after he has been laying down for a while, he is a little stiff. Here are some pices

with bandage and splint on

after the bandages came off

the cone of shame - he could not function with this thing on

taken today, u can't see very well, but this is the bad leg, wound is the white line running up side

looks way better!!

his usual position asleep - he is hard to photo, he shows up as a black blob

We took him over to play with "Boomer" and I think it was a little much for him.  He was pretty sore and didn't hardly eat the next day.  Maybe a little too much too soon.  One nice thing is he can't jump up on people - maybe this will break his habit. 

clogging kids

Sage and Analise took a clogging camp this past week and at the end of the week they had a preformance debut at the Nampa Arts Festival. They did really really good. Sage has been wanting to take clogging for a while now, but we could not find anyone that taught it in San Angelo, but we found a place here. Analise decided that she would try it out too, just for fun and she likes it too. So, I now have 2 clogging kids. Here are a few pictures that we took in the park.

Walking on stage

Party in the USA

At the end they invited up people from the crowd to do the Cha Cha slide with them it was fun to see the people dance, specially that really big guy in the middle :)(if you can see him)

Sage and Analise are excited to start the season

Weekend at Mom's

Well, the girls and I (and Samson) decided to go home for the weekend. we didn't get to go over the 24th celebration because our dog got hurt, so next best thing was this weekend. Kaydee and Kell were there with their kids and (Sav and Hal too) we all went to the play the OVAC ( http://www.oakleyvalleyarts.org/) they put on a great production of "Bye Bye Birdie" with our favorite leading man, Zane. It was really fun.

Zane and Wendy (i know they would love me to post their pictures!)

 the kids played catch baby kitties, always a favorite past time and we picked some raspberries to freeze and bring home - yummy yummy .  I helped Dad and Uncle Matt and his bro. and Dad pour cement.  I know my help was invaluable.  I hope i helped anyway.  It looks really good.  We went to dinner with Aunt kell and Uncle matt and ate some yummy food at UpperCrest in Rubert at the cheese factory - awesome french fries.  It was a fun weekend. 

Cute Bag #2

Back, with a secret pocket

Front - she wanted a hummingbird on it

Analise has been wanting me to make her a bag for a while now, but I have not had the time . mmm.. anyway, we decided to turn it into a school bag.  We found a blog that had a cute one that we used the pattern for http://www.make-it-do.com/make-it/sewing-school-bags/  and here it is.  (Amy I will get you instructions for the other bag) 

Cute Bag

Back of Bag

Front of bag

I made this bag today for a friend of Sage's that had a little birthday party.  I think it turned out really cute.  It is kind of quilted, the front is freehand random and the sqaures I sewed in lines.  Better in person, but still cute.  I like small projects.

My Poor Little Puppy Boy

Samson had a rough weekend.  We don't know exactly how it happened, but he managed to get his back legs all cut up.  The right one was pretty much lacerated from his ankle up to his groin and the left one the skin was torn off his nail.  I think he tried to follow Willie (friend dog) through a hole he couldn't quite fit into.  He was bleeding pretty badly.  So, we put Willie in his kennel and took Samson to the Dog ER.  They kept him overnight and stitched him up.  He has a splint on one leg, so he can't bend it.  The Vet said it was cut to the bone.  OUCH - I have to carry him outside so he can go to the bathroom.  He is on antibiotics and pain medicine.  He hasn't been eating or drinking hardly at all, so, I hope that he will soon feel better enough to start.  He seems a little more perky today than yesterday, so hopefully it will just take time.

The Trip

So in the last little while we were able to take a trip back east and visit family and friends.  While we were there we took a little time to see a few sites.  Really you need like 2 months there to be able to have enough time to see everything.  We flew into Pilly and then drove to Jersey where we stayed with some wonderful friends kind enough to let us live with them for a few days.  We hadn't seen the Roberts for a while, but it was fun to be able to enjoy their company and get reaquainted with them.  Such great people, we didn't even get a picture, totally bums me.  They took us out for a chilly boat ride on the Delaware river, Sage and Analise tried tubing with Tanner and Nicki, ther kids, even uncle JD got in. Way too cold for me, overcast and then the spray from the boat and the wind, sorry I didn't get in (i know i am a wimp).   Pretty interesting with jersey on one side and Pennsylvania on the other.  No Pictures ( i have been slacking on my camera skills)

Later we also we went to the Jersey Coast with JD and Robyn. The waves were pretty big and strong and I was too scared to let the girls get in very far, but they played in the water for a while and we found some big seashells

We also drove into Washington D.C. We rode the subway downtown, which was an experience in itself.  I don't know if the girls thought it was fun or not, definantely faster than trying to take a car.  We didn't have much time, but we went into the Museum of Natural History (again no camera - hello) They have the Hope Diamond there on display, which was not as big as I was expecting, but it is the biggest blue diamond they

have found

I was actually more impressed with the necklace and diadem (tiara) that napoleon gave his wife, one for marrying him and then one for having a son (diadem actually had emeralds, not turqoise, in it when he gave it to her)

We also went to see the Washington Memorial and the WWII memorial - both really cool, Robyn, Analise, and I hung out and by the reflective pool, while Chris, JD, and Sage walked over to the Lincoln Memorial. 

The next day we went to the Washington D.C. temple.  The whole reason we made the trip.  We went and saw Chris's brother and his wife get sealed as well as their little 5 yr old, then Josh got sealed to his

 David and Marsha also.  It was pretty cool.

Then of course we all celebrated by eating too much food at Cheesecake factory - Yumm

The next day we flew out of Philedelia, so we left a little early and saw the Liberty Bell.  We didn't have nearly as much time as needed and though a lot of places were free, you had to get there in the morning to get a ticket.  Still pretty amazing that is where really our whole country first started out. 

It was  fun, fast, but fun trip.  Thanks JD and Robyn for hanging out with us!!