Argh!!

Oh where, oh where could my usb cord be?!?! I really do want to update!

Something Fishy

Fay walked into the kitchen while I was preparing Salmon with garlic...
With a wrinkled nose, "Mom, what is that SMELL?"
"Is it the garlic?"
"No, its something more amphibian."
"Well, that certainly narrows it down."

Cowboy Day

On cowboy day at Kimball's preschool:

Mom: Kimball, if you hurry and put all those shoes into the coat closet, you can help me make the cookies.

Kimball: Mom, I'm an oooooold cowboy, not a picker shoe man!

The Trouble With Bubbles...

How many children are in the bathtub?

The Ultimate Bubble Bath Experience

To View The Ultimate Bubble Bath Experience, Click Here

Charlie

Today was a special day! Charlie (9), our nephew/cousin was here! The kids had a great day wrestling, riding bikes, catching bugs, going to the library, reading, playing angry birds and more with Charlie. Fay even got to show off her kindergarten classroom. Fay, Kimball, and Julia love to snuggle with Charlie - especially when he offers! We love you Charlie! Thank you for coming to visit us and making our day super special!

Julia's big brother's first day of preschool!

What a natural!

Kimball's preschool is 4 doors down on Mon. and Wednesdays from 11:30 to 2pm. His teacher is wonderful and he loves her! I love her too and I love how convenient it is. When Kimball is at school, I even have one hour when both he and Fay are at school and Julia is napping. A little bit of Heaven! Ahhh...

Visiting ID family!

After our campout at Lava Hot Springs we headed to Mitch's sisters' Katie and Alice, homes. They live outside of Boise. We didn't get pictures of the fun, sadly, but we did get pictures of the amazing place they live. The little white farmhouse is where Katie and Greg and their family live. Isn't it amazing! We stayed with Katie and Greg and had dinner Sat. evening and a cookout Sunday afternoon at Alice and Paul's home. Alice and Paul have a large pond in their back yard and behind the pond, flows the Boise river. We couldn't get over the beauty of the area! The kids had a blast fishing, paddling, catching frogs, skipping rocks, and of course, swimming in the water. Thank you Wilsteads and Johnsons for an amazing weekend!

Lava Hot Springs

Lava Hot Springs was warm (especially nice after a cold night of camping), fun, and tiring!

Reviewing the blog

Although our blog isn't anything fancy, it sure is a great way to capture and share memories. We had such fun one evening going back through our family blog and watching videos and looking at pictures. This one was the best.

Labor Day Campout

We finally made it on a family campout over Labor Day Weekend. We Camped outside of Lava Hot Springs Friday night, swam in the pool and hot pools on Saturday, then headed up to Boise, ID where two of Mitch's sisters live, for the rest of the holiday weekend.

Kids playing on the campground playground.
Our new tent - theres room for more if anyone wants to join our craziness!

Julia loves to pray!

Julia playing "hard to get"

Happy Birthday Russ!

Russ' birthday was over conference weekend so He and Michelle and the girls came up on Sunday so we could listen to conference together and celebrate Russ' birthday with Cole and Alyssa.

Unfortunately, in all the excitement (actually, at our house it doesn't even take excitement) someone spilled a glass of water right on the birthday boy...
He's a good sport!

April Festivities

In April Cole came to visit with Alyssa, his lovely girlfriend - whom my children adore. They were able to attend two conference sessions at the conference center and watched the other two with us (as best they could with three little crazies :) ).

Mean Mom Part II

Lets begin by saying Fay had several late nights in a row over the 4th of July weekend. We had a great time but I guess we payed for it today in grumpiness and melt-downs. Unfortunately we needed to go to Costco today... Hard enough with three kids, but sleep deprived ones is a disaster guarantee - or at least spectacle guarantee. I'll spare you the details...

When we got back to the car, Fay began hitting kimball so I grabbed her arm a little too aggressively and hurt her. That made her even more upset with me so she slumped in her booster seat arms folded and scowling. We stopped for gas and while I was waiting for the tank to fill I peered in through the tinted window and gave her the "i love you" sign. She put both hands up and crossed her index fingers to make an X and glared at me. Getting back into the car...

Fay: Do you know what sign that was, Mom?

Mom: An X?

Fay: Do you know what that means?

Mom: That you love me X-tra much... Thank you Fay, that makes me so happy!

Fay: Humph! (Arms crossed and still scowling)

A few moments of silence...

Fay: Mom, I want to love you extra much but you hurt me... on purpose!

Another moment of silence...

Fay: Did that make you feel good to hurt me!?!

Oh, boy... Its going to take me a while to live that one down.

mean mom

Fay: Mom, your just too mean of a mom for me.

Our Little Sunshine

Our New Home

A favorite feature of our new home is the jetted bathtub in the master bathroom. I didn't realize how little soap you need with the jets on. As long as the jets are running, the bubbles are increasing. Once, we almost lost the kids in bubbles - no joke!
Front yard snowman
Back yard snowman.

View from back patio

The snowblower's fun but I like the sweat it out, break your back, burn some calories manual snow shoveling better. It ran out of gas just when I was getting really bored - we haven't filled it since. Luckily, we didn't buy it! The previous owners left it for us in leu of "renting back" money, so they could postpone their move-out date.
1940 E. 7425 S, South Weber UT, 84405 - in case you want to mail us cookies or something...

Best Friends - a mother's dream

Each morning we await the new cockatoo

The sweetest thing... I feel so blessed! I love our new home for many reasons - but one of the main reasons is that we have space. I feel so much less stressed because, there is a place for everything. With less chaos, I feel the spirit more and I'm sure the children do too. While, this is not always the case, they have been enjoying each other much more lately, and it warms my heart and brings me peace.
Partners in Crime... I told the kids to go get in the car while I was gathering a few last things. When I came out they were buckled together chewing gum they had snitched from my purse!
I came into Fay's room to find her and Kimball tucked in the corner of the closet playing their computers.
Sometimes, when I send Kimball to his room for a time-out. I secretly hope this will happen.

Mother Goose

Mother Goose came to visit one evening during Christmas at G&G Telle's! She was wonderful! She is actually Mom's and John's neighbor but she is practically a professional. As you can see the children were enthralled with her games, stories, poems and props from her flowered suit case. Just a couple of days ago, while looking at a Mother Goose's nursery rhymes book, Fay said, "Mom, did you know Mother Goose is real?!"

Update

A lot has happened in the last few months. Let me give you a brief update and more posts are soon to follow. In August The Arbinger Institute approached Mitch about joining their team. For those of you who may not be familiar with Arbinger, you should google it - it would be well worth your while. At that point in time we were warm and snug in San Diego, thinking we would be there for some time yet. Well, a whirlwind 3 months later (on Julia's birthday) we packed up and moved to Utah to join Arbinger.

We rented a house in Clinton while were looking for a home to buy. It took us a little over 2 months to find the one we wanted. It was quite the process. I think we thought if we were going to be spending that much money we had to find absolute perfection. We may have missed it by a small margin but feel that we got close to it (perfection that is - with our home).

We bought a house in South Weber right across the street from Mitch's sister Carrie and family. We looked at over 150 homes in all. We both felt very strongly - and still do - that this is the right place to raise our family right now. South Weber is a beautiful residential community tucked in the hills and mountains at the very northern most part of Davis county. The traffic is minimal because there is nothing here besides homes. We are still less than 10 minutes from shopping. The Elementary school is outstanding and just a couple blocks down the street. We feel very blessed to be part of such a safe community!

Mitch is enjoying the many opportunities he is having and creating at Arbinger and I personally feel they are lucky to have a man with such talent.

I am loving being a mom and housewife (I don't usually like that term but since I love my house now, I don't seem to mind it as much). I especially love living across the street from the Elton's (Mitch's sister and family) they are amazing people and they have been so generous and such great friends. I can't believe I lived life without them!

Julia is 1!

More Christmas

Grandma Telle made these beautiful skirts for the girls. In Fay's words, she felt "royal."
Leela, Emma and Fay
Flower Child
Christmas vacation is exhausting!
Christmas gingerbread projects. Can you tell which belongs to whom?

Cookout at the Helms

We got to spend a day in White Rock. We had a nice hotdog roast with the Helms in their fancy fire pit.
My awesome oldest(but she never ever ages - her oldest is in college!) cousin, Jenny.

Yum!