Milestone.

This year I had my 30th birthday. I really never thought it would actually come. How did I get to 30? Really? Oh well. It's just a number right?! I'm looking forward to what my 30's bring.

We had lunch at Red Robin. It was a lot fun for the whole family.

I'm such a lucky mom!
Rachel made me a beautiful card and Jared wrapped up his stuffed animals and gave them to me. (He's been helping me take care of them. :) )

How did they get so big?!

Ellie is giving me sweet kisses!

We spent the rest of the day shopping. We went to Barnes and noble. I let Rachel get a couple of books and she had one of them finished by the time she got home. Later that night our neighbors watched the kids for us while Bill and I went to a movie. So fun! Happy Birthday to me!!!

Snowboarding(Simplified)

I got the kids a beginner snowboard, it was on clearance for only $11, I've been looking at them online for around $30. The kids went out back and played on the little hill for at least a couple hours. I'm surprised they caught on so quickly, even it was a little hill. We were hoping to take the kids on a more adventurous hill but the snow has been quickly melting.

Limbo

Ellie still doesn't quite understand the concept that it is FREEZING outside. She is stuck between winter and summer, Idaho and California.
Ellie loves to play dress up, and lately she has found her stash of swimming suits in her drawer and loves to put them on. Today she had one of her swimming suits with her dress up shoes, and her brother decided he wanted to go outside and play and she thought it would be fine to put on her jacket and join him. Oh...she had her sunglass on too. What is wrong with this picture???

Crazy hair.

We were trying to get ready to go somewhere and I asked Jared to comb his hair. This was the end product...

Yes, that's right, Jared decided to do Ellie's hair instead...look at this masterpiece.

Ellie seemed to like the hair do.

The creator and his masterpiece.

Valentines Day!

We had a lot of fund for Valentines Day. The kids made homemade Valentine cards to pass out to their classmates and friends. We had our neighbors over for some homemade heart shaped pizza (all of which I forgot to take pictures). But overall it was a fun day.Ellie and Rachel made flower pops.

Jared made alligators, you open the mouth and it says "I'd chomp at the chance to be your Valentine." We stuffed the body with starbursts.

2 Dollars worth of fun!

We decided to try something that the kids had never done before and I had only done once when I was 18. So, we headed out to the city's ice skating rink. We couldn't believe it. It was $1 for a day's worth of skating and $1 for the rental for each person. So for our entire family we spent $10. What a deal! The kids had so much fun. If you ask Ellie about ice skating she will inform you "I fell down on my bum bum." Yes, Ellie, Jared, and Rachel spent a good deal of time on the ice instead of their feet but once they got the hang of it they didn't want to leave.

Bill & Ellie cruising along.Rachel & Jared at the end of the day...

It's hard to stay on your feet when you have two hanging on you
that have a hard time keeping their balance.

Writers Block.

Sorry for slacking in the blogging department. The creative juices just haven't been flowing. It's funny when one of my friends hasn't posted in a while I always think, "Really, you couldn't find anything to share?" And here I find myself, almost a month without posting anything.

Snow Fest!

This Saturday the city put on a snow fest. They have games, sleigh rides, and crazy things like a polar swim. They offered a free beanie for signing up. Are you crazy? They want you to swim in freezing water and all your offering is a beanie? It was about 20 degrees outside. We lasted a couple hours before the kids started complaining the couldn't feel their fingers or toes. It took us the rest of the day to thaw out. But it was worth it, we a had a great day.

They had several different horses & sleighs/wagons. We rode a couple of times. Ellie loved the horses.

The kids & mommy. Bill was helping out for one of his classes as a service project. So I had all three kids to myself.

Rachel & Jared snow bowling. They had real bowling balls & pins. Ellie got a spare. Too bad I didn't get a picture of it. The kids all got a free game of bowling at the local bowling alley.

Painting in the snow, Rachel was attempting to make a flower.

Jared was trying to write his name.

Ellie's Lingo

Ellie has just been talking up a storm, she says so many grown up things now. But occasionally she creates her own lingo. She gets pretty upset if you try to correct her.

Traditional:
"No Way, Jose!"
Ellie:
"No Way, Pose!"

Traditional
"Okie, dokie"
Ellie:
"Dokie, Dokie

Traditional:
"Holy Cow!"
Ellie:
"Oh My Cow"

Melt Down.

At first glance you would think that this post is going to be about one of my kids. Oh no, I was the one with the uncontrollable emotions today.
Today, was parent teacher conference at Rachel & Jared's new school. I was looking forward to meeting with the teachers and seeing how they were adjusting. I met with Jared's teacher first. Jared is doing great. He is at or above all of the grade level expectations. She said she loves having Jared in her class, and can't imagine what it was like without him. Yes, he is very social and likes to be at the center of attention. They complimented on his smile and his eagerness, especially when it comes to singing. I walked out of there feeling pretty good.
I met with Rachel's teacher right after Jared's. Rachel is doing good. Her teacher said, "she is painfully shy" and "I would put her in the advanced reading class but she doesn't take initiative and would be eaten alive by the other students" and "I've tried helping her make friends by telling other kids to go out of their way to be nice to her". I know that there is always an adjustment period when you move. But it tore at my heart to hear that she was struggling to make new friends and to fit in her new class. I sat there listening...I could feel the tears start to emerge. I kept thinking...please keep it together. It just tipped the scale and the flood gates were opened...
Since we have moved I haven't really had the chance to let everything sink in. All of the changes, new home, new ward, new friends, new grocery store to get used to, new routines, being away from family and friends. It hit at the worst possible time. Rachel's teacher was super sympathetic but I didn't even know her. To make matters worse, there was a student teacher observing. Lets just hope that I have now purged every tear and I won't have a meltdown at the grocery store when the clerk asks" Did you find everything you needed?"
Mark this down for things Rachel can blame me for later in life.

It doesn't have beaches or Disneyland but is sure is pretty.

These are the tetons.

Another pretty sunset.

Random pictures.

We are at the sand dunes...or should I say snow dunes.

The snow was a little deep..

Just a cute picture of Rachel

Once there was a snowman...

The kids have had a lot of fun in their winter playground. While I was making dinner, the kids and Bill (like I said, the "kids" hehe) headed outside. When I went to get them to let them know it was time for dinner I found a whole family of snowmen.

Bill and Jared built this super tall snowman. They knocked it down a little while later so it didn't topple over on any innocent bystander walking by.

This is the snowman Rachel built. It took her a long time to pick out just the right eyes, nose & buttons.

This is what the TALL snowman started out as.

This is Jared's snowman, Jared said it was chewing on straw. Have you ever seen ears on a snowman?

It's about change!

I thought this was pretty funny. Enjoy! (Just pause the playlist...so you can listen)

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Changefest '09 - Obama's Inaugural Speech

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Saying the right thing at the right time!

Today I was getting ready for the day. I was putting on my makeup, specifically my foundation. Jared came up and asked, "Why are you putting that on?". I told him it was to help hide all the scary stuff. He said "Mom, you should throw that stuff away. You don't need it, you have a pretty face."
(I know that you all thinking...DON'T THROW IT AWAY...don't worry I'm not) I just thought Jared was SO sweet. My heart melted. I hope he can just remember those things for his wife.