July... so far

The month started off with my whole family (my parents and siblings and kids) loading into an RV and suburban and going camping in Wyoming over the 4th of July. It was so fun and crazy! Some of the fun things I want to remember:





-we almost tipped the RV over when it got stuck in the mud and started to slip (our prayers were answered though and we got there safe)
-had lots of great food (chili twice in a row though- not the best for close quarter sleeping)
-slept 15 in the RV (you have to be really creative to do this- we had two or three kids on the big dash board every night, and several on the floor)
-a bumpy, dirt rode ride for 5+ hours to do some daytime activities, 16 people in my parents suburban on the way back to camp
-family pictures on the 3rd day camping without any showers (does that seem strange or is it just me? They actually might turn out pretty good though- our hair all has a REALLY healthy shine) - all the pictures are on my brother's camera, of course!
-the beautiful, natural landscape of Wyoming - mountains, red hills, wild flowers...
-my cousin, Nathan, reported on his mission that he just got back from and bore his testimony
-breakfasts of pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, orange juice and hot cocoa every morning (I think, in a 3-day period I ate at least 9 pieces of bacon)



The week after the camping trip Aaron went back to Utah for work and the girls and I stayed in IF. The next weekend was Michelle Johnson's wedding - sooooo beautiful! (I'll post pictures when I get a hold of my parents camera.)

Aaron came up that weekend and we celebrated his 28th birthday at his parents home. Brett and Megan gave Aaron these fake teeth that the kids are wearing! So funny!
We are so grateful for such a wonderful Daddy and Husband!


Aaron is really enjoying his job here (whew!). He likes the people he works with and likes the work he's doing. He has been working on designs for a planned community in Rexburg, across from the temple. He has also kind of become their in-house artist. People come to him with their designs and ask him to draw it up and make it look good. He is so talented!

Also this month I finally took off the title that I had on our blog for the whole winter and spring: 3 Girls, 1 Boy, and the Common Cold. I figured we hadn't had a cold in about a month and it is summertime. Well, wouldn’t you guess…we all got a cold the next week!

On Saturday I donated 11 inches to Locks of Love! It's so nice to not have all that hair in the hot weather.
Do I look tired? I am.
My bishop said he saw a bumper sticker that said: "Retired. I was tired yesterday, and I'm tired again today". I guess I'm retired! :)

Things that kids can get away with and still be cute...

Swimming suit wedgies - not as cute when it's an adult!

Not only does Ellie look cute with a wedgie, but she even looks cute while picking her nose (I wish I could find a picture)

It takes a lot of work for me to look cute in a picture - Carly can do it in her sleep.

pigtails and hair bows

Kids can get away with saying untactful things - Like when Ellie tells me: "your belly's squishy". It's pretty funny when Ellie says that, but if Aaron tried to tell me that, it definitely wouldn't be funny.

Missing teeth

(Ellie - 6 months)

Pot bellies and fat rolls on their legs and arms - so irresistable on babies!

Messy faces

Carly had a broken arm in this picture (2 yrs old)

Fridge Quotes III

May 2008
Ellie counting: “…eight, nine, ten, be-leven…”


May 4, 2008
Mommy was telling Carly a bedtime story about a family of baby kittens. (Carly loves stories about baby animals.) After the story was over Carly told me, “I just want to kiss those kitties all over. I wish I was in that story so I could kiss the kittens!” She is SO passionate!


June 28, 2008
Carly: “Hey Dad, I got a rhyme for ya! -
Please don’t sneeze,
Dance from your knees.”


June 2008
Ellie’s phrases: “Look at!”
“I not! [I didn’t do it!]”
“Two ones [two of them]”

What we've been up to...

My neighbor, Elsa, invited me to go to the Elementary school with her for the end of the year program that the kids put on. This is Joselynn and Jose’s Guinea Pig, Fatty (Gordito), wearing a sombrero at the school.

Our neighbor, Jose, is the one in the orange shirt. Although only 11 years old, Jose is full of wisdom. The other day Aaron and I went on a date and Jose was in the front yard as we were getting in the car. Jose looked at Aaron and said, “You’re going on a date like that?! No! You need to take your hat off and do your hair and wear some different shoes.” I thought it was so funny to have Aaron get dating advice from an 11 year old!

Joselynn, his little sister, came over the other day and read books to Carly and Ellie – they are such nice neighbors.

Joselynn is also a great beautician. I couldn’t believe Ellie let her do five braids in her hair – it was so cute!

Carly and Ellie hiding by the side of the house while they eat SweetTarts on the sly.

This Monday was John Huntsman Sr. Day at Heritage Park in Salt Lake. Which means we got in for free ($20 discount).

Heritage Park is where the “This is the Place” monument is. They have a whole pioneer village there with different pioneer homes and shops to tour around. They have a petting farm, pony rides, train rides, and covered wagon rides.

And because it was John Huntsman day everyone got a free ice cream cone too. THANK YOU JOHN HUNTSMAN! My friend Andrea (from my ward) told me about it, so Steph and I went with her and her husband and their two boys, Brock and Scott (they are Carly and Ellie’s age). Carly told me that she thinks Brock is handsome and that she will marry him. I’m glad she is finally making some friends here.

A sweet moment when Carly and Ellie are being so lovey-dovey with each other.

Our first few weeks in Salt Lake. . .

Well, I'm definitely liking things a lot better than the first few days that we were here! I'm starting to feel a little more comfortable and familiar with my surroundings. It’s been really great to be so close to family. We spent a day at Angela's house just hanging out. I see Stephanie just about every other day and we had a family dinner at my brother Ken’s home on Sunday. He makes the best Curry meal!

Last week we took the Trax into SLC.

Although it is an adjustment for me to live in a big city, there are definitely pros about it. There is so much to do!

While we were in Salt Lake we went to the Church History Museum. This is a video of Ellie at the “I Am a Child of God” center in the Church History Museum.

We also went to the Beehive House (Brigham Young’s Salt Lake home) which brought back many childhood memories. My little sister, Stephanie, and I hated to shop when we were little, so when we would go to SLC, my mom would take the older kids shopping for school clothes and my Dad (who also wasn’t keen on shopping) would take Steph and I to the Beehive house and around Temple Square. I always looked forward to those trips!

We went to the Conference Center to see Leon’s (Aaron’s Dad’s) paintings of Elder Scott, Elder Bednar and Elder Cook - aren’t they amazing?! (The photo we took of Elder Scott's had too much glare.)

This is a picture from the Green Roof at the Conf. Center (I'm pretty impressed with my photography skills on this one)

I LOVE going to Temple Square!!!

Carly’s favorite part of the day was the escalator (cheap entertainment)!

We went to Gardner Village last weekend – it is the coolest little set of shops! They also have a petting zoo and a pony carousel ride.

Our next door neighbors here are so nice – it seems that we just always get lucky when it comes to neighbors – in Rexburg, Moscow and here! Our neighbors have made us feel so welcome. They have a son, Jose (11 yrs), and a daughter, Joselyn (9 yrs) – they adore Carly and Ellie and vise versa. They are such a neat family.

Our ward is so different from what we are used to – it’s what you would call a “Newly Wed and Nearly Dead” ward (ours is about 80% “Nearly Dead” and the "Newly weds" have all been married longer than we have)! When we sat down in sacrament meeting Ellie looked behind us and, pointing at one of the older men, said "That bishop is going to die"! I guess she thought he was a bishop because of the gray hair. Funny girl! Everyone was very kind on Sunday and made us feel welcome.

Of course the day after we moved here we made it to the public library to get library cards and have been there about 4 times in the past week and a half.

Carly finally got her own bike.

And Ellie has been wearing big girl panties for 3 days now. We've tried potty training her a few times before this, without success, but hopefully this is it!

Also, while we’ve been here we received a job offer in Oman (in the Middle East). They offered amazing compensation (like nothing you would see in the States) and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but it wasn’t right for us…at least for now. This is, by far, the hardest and most stressful decision we have made since being married!

The End . . . of this Chapter

a.k.a. Super-long Post

On May 10th Aaron earned his Masters Degree in the field of Landscape Architecture!
We moved to the Salt Lake area 3 days ago and . . . . lets just say we're getting used to it. I've shed a few tears of homesickness. I'm definitely not used to living in a big city (I.F. is the biggest city I've ever lived in).


Here are some graduation pictures:
Aaron and Steve Drown (Aaron's major professor)


My parents and us (Carly is such a character)


Aaron's parents and us (I was closing my eyes in most of the pictures)
Note: My mom - barely 5'; Aaron's mom - 4'10" Is there any question as to why Carly and Ellie are under the 5% on the height curve?

Missing Moscow: I wasn't sure what to expect when we came to Moscow 2 1/2 years ago, but I know I didn't expect to love it as much as I have. These are a few of the things we will miss here.

I think it is the people who really make a place great, and that is no exception with Moscow. We have so many great friends there that will be missed. I was really nervous about making friends when we moved here, but I had nothing to worry about because the people there are so wonderful!
-The Palouse rolling hills - much better in person!




- The beautiful U of I campus - old architecture and mature landscape

- Ladie's Nites with friends

- U of I Institute classes and "Happy Thursday" (fresh homemade bread at the institute building - free for all)

- The Nielsons (see the post below for more details)

- Our ward family. I know that Carly and Ellie are going to miss Bishop and his goodie jar.

- Library Story Time with Miss Kathy

- Farmers Market

- so many parks to go to

- the water park (we only went the first summer we were here, but it was fun the few times we went)

- the small college town atmosphere - some people would think I'm crazy, but I love the size of Moscow

- the people here, they are so down-to-earth and friendly.

- Eastside Marketplace's inside play area (it's great when you are desperate to get your kids out of the house in the dead of winter)

- Hillside Village apartments - we were lucky enough to have awesome neighbors and tons of little kids for Carly and Ellie to play with.

- The view coming down Rodeo Dr.

- Grittman Hospital (I loved their new maternity wing when I had Ellie)

- Main Street

- Loco Grinz Hawaiian "kalua pork" (I've tried to make it and it's just not the same)
- For the most part I think that Moscow is a good distance from SE Idaho (not too close, not too far)

- the opportunity to make friends who aren't LDS

- celebrating holidays for the first time on our own - I was really nervous about this, but I've really enjoyed starting our own traditions and not stressing about how to split our time between my family and Aaron's family.

- the Landscape Architecuture program (Aaron has learned a lot and really enjoyed it). Aaron has made friends with people he wouldn't have known otherwise. One person imparticular is Aaron's major professor, Steve Drown. He really saw Aaron's talent and potential and has given Aaron confidence in his abilities and really encouraged him. I am so grateful that Aaron had such a caring and excellent professor.

- the farm animals down N. Polk road (horses, chickens, goats)

The Spokane Temple

The Nielsons

One of the things we will miss the most about Moscow is our good friends, the Nielsons. Aaron went to high school with Jordan and Jenny, and they moved here about 6 months after us. It was nice to have some already-made friends who lived just 15 yards away from us.

Jordan and Aaron often took breaks from their school days to visit each other and they went to each other's Masters thesis defense. Jordan has been such a long-time and loyal friend to Aaron.

Jenny and I probably never went more than 1 or 2 days without seeing each other (unless we were out of town), and we traded off kids or had play-dates on a weekly basis (or more). She is such a great friend to everyone - I don't think I've ever met anyone that is so easy to get along with. Everyone who knows her has only good things to say about her.


One of our many Rook nights. We would set up our monitors and play Rook when the kids were in bed. Jenny and I pretty much killed the guys every single time because of Jenny's awesome hands! :-)




We've gone to Robinson Park a few times for BBQs.








We've enjoyed fishing with them a few times

Ellie's first B-day - Jenny made her that little beanie



Ellie 2, Emery 3 1/2, Graham 5, Carly 2 1/2



Olivia's turtle face - Carly and Ellie can't get enough of her!




A letter to Ellie from Graham "le [Ellie] thank you for kard [card]"

An evening at the park - May '08

I could probably make a whole scrapbook out of pictures of just Emery and Carly. They are such great friends - Carly's first best friend. They get along so well, I know they will really miss each other. The other day Jenny told Graham and Emery that we were moving and asked Emery if she was going to miss Carly. Emery started crying and told her Mom "My eyes won't stop watering". It gets me choked up just thinking about it.

Fishing - summer '06

Easter weekend '07

Sun Bathing

Building spaceships with their friend Kaydence

Reading Scriptures

Best Friends!

Silly faces!

We Love You Guys! Good luck with the job search - you deserve the best.

p.s. Thanks for helping us with the moving! I don't know how we would have done it without you.