our southern family

Pigeons & Trout

2009-09-15T06:45:00.000-07:00

Martin & his Dad went on a hunting & fishing trip to Monticello. They were able to hunt for Band Tailed Pigeons. They shot their limit both days on Pigeons and ended up with a total of 10 birds each. They camped out in a tent, right close to a little pond. They were also able to fish quite a bit. The pond was full of Rainbow Trout, and each of them came home with 5 big trout. They had a great time.

2 Months worth of Stuff........

2009-08-16T16:22:00.000-07:00

Bergin is 6! It is hard to think of Berg to be getting so old! Let me describe our little 6 year old in 4 words; spunky, hilarious, beautiful, shocking! She has always been the child that surprises us, in good ways and in bad ways! But no matter what she does to shock us, she still is the most loving child we know!

One of Griffin's gifts for his birthday in June was a TOOL concert ticket from his Uncle Daniel. The concert day seemed like it would never come to him, but it finally did!! Daniel & Sharron took Griffin with them to the concert in SLC, and had a blast! Griffin had a hard time even explaining it too us, because it was just so incredible! I know that TOOL is kinda a crazy band, but I guess having Griffin being so into music is better than having him being interested in something worse.

Mini Hi-Steppers is always a fun time for the girls. This is Brinn with Natalie, after the Hi-Stepper camp. Notice how HOT and tired they both look, I think it was a major work-out!

Liv, Kinley (our friend's little girl) & Bergin after their Mini Hi-Stepper performance. Cute little Ladies!

Griffin and his new electric guitar! WOW hu!!

The Fam at Fireworks on the 24th of July.

We were able to spend a few days with My Mom & Stephen at Bear Lake. Grandpa Jones and his new toy, quickly became the kids new toy at the property. Griffin especially loved Grandpa's new ride. He could drive it by himself, and it was just like he was driving a car. He thinks he is ready for his drivers licence now. (I don't think so???)

It is hilarious to have all the kids on the front of the boat! All you can hear is laughing and giggling the whole time! We never have any idea what makes them laugh the whole time they are up there, but it is funny to watch them. We think they may be a little weird?!?!

The never ending sand castles on the beach.......

Crystal Springs Fun!! Griffin and Brinn spent the whole day on the slides and Martin & I and the two little girls spent the whole day in the coldest pool we could find! It was a HOT HOT day, but thanks to the 4 applications of sunscreen, not one of us got sun burned.

The kids did a lemonade stand to earn money to go to Crystal Hot Springs. I thought since they were doing it, I might as well suggest something fun for the family to spend their money on instead of dollar toys. So they were able to earn almost half of the money that we spent on passes to take the whole family to Crystal Springs. They were so proud of themselves, and they loved being "business people". :)

Cute little Alyssa got her first hip surgery. She has DDH like Martin and Liv, and her Surgeon decided that she needed to get her first hip done now, and her next one done in December. Alyssa is quite the trooper though, she is up and doing great on her crutches now. But I am not sure if she is too excited for December to come, to do it all over again. YUCK!

Swimming lessons this year were very worth while. They take lessons from Crystal & Whit Sandall, and this year it seemed like all three girls made some real progress with swimming. Brinn was able to get her dive close to perfect.

Bergin was able to swim across half the pool by herself, and jump off the diving board and swim to the side by herself. Liv is now able to jump with no floater off the diving board and is starting to understand her swim strokes a lot better. Yea for swim lessons!!! This is something that Martin & I think is so important for our kids to learn, and so I am glad we could find such great teachers, that love our kids!

Oh, our favorite time of the whole year has come and gone. George Creek is the most wonderful place on earth, and we can not wait to get to go back again next year. So that explains why there are soooo many pics of George Creek that I am posting.

Brinn learned how to fish for real this year at George Creek. In years past Martin has helped the girls catch the fish and then lets them reel them in, but this year Brinn showed some major fishing skills! She would just go off by herself and come back with some fish. The only thing she could not handle doing was putting a worm on her hook , so she would bribe the other kids to do it for her.

Uncle Dewey is the "4- Wheeler" man! Our kids would bug Dewey to death for another ride on the 4 wheeler, so he would try to get as many kids to fit on the 4 wheeler at a time, to get all the rides in all at once. Good thing he loves all the kids, cuz they never leave him alone.

Brinn with baby Kate. So cute hu!! This was Kate's first time to George Creek and she did great!

Nate, Liv, Griffin & Martin playing cards.

Griffin got his Arrow of Light Award at his last Cub Scout Meeting. They had the Order of the Arrow boys do a special ceremony for Griffin, that was very cool! My Mom, Stephen and Great Grandpa Allen all came to the Award Ceremony to cheer Griffin on, and he loved having the attention.

Martin's littlest brother Daniel married Sharron, the end of June. It was a beautiful wedding, with the most amazing flower gardens I have ever seen.

Our little ladies, were the cutest things ever! Our favorite part of the wedding, was when Sharron tossed her bouquet off the balcony and threw it up so high the bouquet hit an outdoor spotlight and dropped shattered glass, along with the bouquet on all the people below. :) So Funny!

This is Mini-Cheer. The girls get to go to a cheer camp for the day with the Bear River High Cheer leaders. They are exhausted by the time they get done, but they love doing it anyway! Whitney is one of the girls' favorite people in the whole world. Thanks Whit for being so much fun!

The Zoo was one of the kids favorite place we went this summer! They have an awesome new animal Carousel.

I was a rainy day when we were at the zoo, so Martin made a little stand to fit in the wagon that held the umbrella to cover the kids. It worked to well, and we were so glad to have it!! Martin's inventions are really pretty good..........sometimes..... :) ha ha

We make the kids stand by this 200 year old lion drinking fountain every year, and they look like they are liking it, but in reality the kids think we are dorky parents to want a pic of that EVERY TIME!! The up close look at the lion is actually quite yucky!! I know it is an antique, but it is still gross.

The train ride is my favorite! It has not changed in 30 years either, cuz the same things are there that I remember when I was little. It cracks me up!!

We traveled to Glenns Ferry, Idaho to see Martin's cousin and his family that were visiting from Oklahoma. We were able to show the kids a lot of neat sites. This is Martin and all the kids on a boat dock on the Snake River. This is Bergin on the edge of The Malad Gorge bridge. I was scared to death to even let the kids look over the edge, the drop to the bottom of the gorge was scary!!!

May & June

2009-06-17T05:33:00.000-07:00

After not blogging for so long it makes it hard to know where to start! Our lives keep getting busier & busier, but never boring!

The girls are done with dance for the summer. They had their Dance Review last month and did so good! This was Livie's first dance show, because of her hip and her surgeries she started a year later than the other girls did. But the minute her surgeon gave us the OK for her to do dance, she was dancing! She did awesome! Her smile was so cute and so fake most of the time, so was hilarious to watch her fake smile through every routine. Bergin and Brinn did great too, they are professionals by now, and think they have everything in life all figured out! :) So that made it fun watching them have everything memorized and show off all their hard work.
Besides tap, ballet and jazz, Bergin & Brinn get to do Cheer too. They both like cheer the most and I think if it were up to them, they would only do cheer. This pic was at the end of the show and you can tell Brinn is just a little exhausted!!
For Memorial Weekend My Grandpa Allen and Martin took the kids to Iosepa. Iosepa was established in Tooele County's Skull Valley in 1889 as a community for Hawaiian members of the Mormon faith who wished to immigrate to Utah to be close to the temples and headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Iosepa lasted as a community until 1917 at which time the residents returned to Hawaii where the Hawaiian LDS Temple was under construction. Now on Memorial Weekend hundreds of Polynesian families come to Iosepa to camp. They cook a pig in the ground and eat & eat & eat. They have craft projects and make leis out of candy for the kids. My Grandpa has served 2 missions in Hawaii, so he is friends with many of the people who are there, so they invite him to come every year.
The Polynesian people also do a big dance show at the pavilion at night. They have hula dancers and men doing fire dances, etc.. Everyone had fun, but Martin thought taking care of the kids was a lot of work without me. (glad he figured that out :) I stayed back from the trip to help at the flower shop, doing Memorial Day flowers, but I guess next year I will need to go to Iosepa, so that I can help Martin with the kids! ha ha (what a wimp hu)

Next came the Rocket Launch at the school. It is always on the HOTTEST DAY EVER! I swear I get sunburned every year! But anyway...... This year Griffin & Martin made a "Big Betty" rocket and painted it silver & red. Then they cheated and instead of using the "wimpy" rocket motors that the school was selling, they went and got extra big/ powerful ones from the store ahead of time. So needless to say Griffin's rocket went so high, it was hard to even see it, and then finding it after it landed was a job too. Once it even landed in someones backyard about 1/4 of a mile away. :(

Griffin had his birthday and is 11 years old now! He is almost as tall as me, (which isn't hard to do), and his feet are bigger than mine too! He is getting big, and I am not sure if I like it???

Spring time is here! YEA YEA

2009-04-21T06:27:00.001-07:00

It is time to update and get caught up on blogging again!
Our baby is 4 years old now! Liv does not even seem like a baby anymore, and that is a little bit sad for me. She is so big and so smart and especially so much fun!

Livie got this new Vanity for one of her gifts along with a whole drawer full of "REAL" make-up, as you can see by looking at her beautiful make-up face! She had a great party with all of her family, cuz she loves being the center of attention! What a perfect little lady, we just love her tons!
Next came General Conference weekend. We went camping in our cute little motor home to "Devils Playground". My Grandpa Allen took us out there with him to get away from the world and watch conference in peace and quiet. It is amazing out there! So many awesome rocks to climb on and places to hike and it is perfectly peaceful!It was hard to pick some pictures to put on the blog from "Devils Playground" because we had taken so many cool pictures with the kids on the rocks. They made playhouses in the rocks and flew paper airplanes off the highest points and climbed and played all weekend long. We are so glad that our kids get to spend so much time with Grandpa Allen, and get to know him so well. Grandpa is so loving a fun with the kids, he is someone they will always be grateful for, as they get older, just cuz he is such a "Great" Grandpa! Easter was next, and was COLD! Finding the Easter Eggs on Easter morning was not so much fun, cuz the kids were all frozen! Not to mention we colored 36 eggs, so it took them a little longer to find sooooo many eggs in the cold. They got cute matching church clothes and amazingly enough everything fit everyone perfectly! Besides the new clothes The Easter Bunny also brought them toys, kites and candy, so they had plenty to play with on Easter Sunday.
Our family was able to go to The Southern family Easter party on Friday and The Allen Easter party on Saturday, so Easter Sunday was free for us to just stay home after church and spend the day with just our little family! We had a great day!

Grandma & Grandpa Allen celebrated their 60th Wedding Anniversary! My Aunts put together a Anniversary party at the Nursing home, and invited all of our Grandparents friends and family. It made Grandpa so happy to see everyone, and it made Grandma happy to just be sitting next to Grandpa and hold his hand. What a sweet couple they are, I can't wait till Martin & I get to 60 years! WOW we have a long way to go..... we will only be at 14 years in June.

Nate

2009-03-21T18:59:00.000-07:00

Wow, it has almost been 2 months since I last did a entry, time goes fast when you get busy! My little brother Nate was is a really bad snowboarding accident. So our family spent a week and a half in the IMC hospital in SLC being with him. He is home to my Mom's home now, but still needing 24 hour care. Nate really messed himself up pretty bad. He crushed and shattered the socket on his right hip and broke his pelvis all the way through in about 3 spots. They got him the most fantastic hip surgeon ever and after 15 hours of surgery, Dr. Hillyard miraculously put him back together. He has about 30 screws/pins and 3 long plates in his hip now. Nate has been amazingly strong through the whole thing! He has had to endure so much pain and crap to get to the point where he is now, but he is finally on the road to recovery! He will be out of work for at least 6 months and has to spend every minute in bed as of right now. But his attitude has been great, considering everything he has endured. Our family is so glad to see him smiling lately too! We just love our "Natey Boy" tons!

Winter Time Catch-up

2009-01-27T05:46:00.000-08:00

I am so behind again on this whole blog thing....... I think life is a little to crazy to keep up sometimes? But here is my quick attempt to get caught up!

Martin, Griffin & Willie, (Martin's Dad) all went to Bear Lake to go Cisco Fishing. The Cisco fish are tiny and hard to catch, but Martin & Willie both caught their limit. However when it was Griffin's turn to fish, the fish had stopped running so much and it was extra hard for Griffin to get any. Griffin said he was just to cold to try any more, so he was not as successful as Dad & PaPa. It was a really windy day and the temperature was 8 degrees, so needless to say they were all POPSICLES when they got out of the water! They all seemed to have a great time, even though they were frozen the whole time. (It does not sound one bit fun or exciting to me :(

My little Bergin has the CHICKEN POX! Great hu, that's all we need is more sickness to deal with. Bergin, as well as all of my other kids have had the immunization for Chicken Pox, but for some reason Bergin got them anyway. I have no idea where she got exposed to them from? She is our cute little "Spotted" girl now! She really doesn't itch much, it seems to be a very mild case of Chicken Pox, cuz they are only on her back, neck & head so far. Lets just hope it stays like that and she gets away with a mild, easy case of them!
Uncle Daniel, Martin's youngest Brother, got married this weekend. Daniel & Sharon just had a small ceremony at their church to exchange vows, and are planning a outside reception/wedding for this July. I guess they were just so much in love they couldn't wait to be married. :) They are a cute couple and it was fun to see them both so happy!

Brinn & Bergin had the opportunity to Cheer and Dance at the Utah State vs. Boise State game at the spectrum in Logan. They did a Cheer & Dance clinic with the Aggiettes and the USU Cheerleaders that morning, and then performed the routine and cheer that they learned at the basketball game that night. I just love watching the girls perform, but I must love it a little bit more than Martin does. Martin said that it sure was a lot of work to just see them perform for 10 minutes! ha ha I guess he is probably right, but as long as the girls love it and want to keep doing it, we will have to put up with the hassle!

Griffin has the biggest news of all though........ He had to be taken to the ER with stomach pain last week. After a lot of testing, the Doctor and Surgeon decided he needed his appendix out NOW! They took him in and got his yucky appendix out, luckily before they burst! He was a sick little man! We felt so bad for him to have to hurt so much, but the amazing thing is how quickly he recovered. After we got him home he hurt from surgery for about 3-4 days, and then he felt fine! The biggest disappointment for him however, was the fact that he couldn't play at his basketball games nor go snowboarding for 2 weeks!!! For a 10 year old, that seems like forever! Now we are about to the end of the 2 weeks of taking it easy, so hopefully the Surgeon gives him the OK to go back to basketball and boarding when we see him tomorrow.

Grandma's new home @ the Nursing Home

2009-01-16T10:33:00.000-08:00

What children need most are the essentials that grandparents provide in abundance. They give unconditional love, kindness, patience, humor, comfort, lessons in life. And, most importantly, cookies. ~Rudolph Giuliani

Livie's Fantastic Prayer!

2009-01-15T16:37:00.000-08:00

We had out Family Home Evening at the Nursing Home this week, because we put our sweet Grandma Allen in there last Friday. FHE is always so much fun, but this one was extra fun & extra funny, due to Livie's wonderful opening prayer! My Cousin Chelsie actually did a post on her blog about it first, and since her post is so perfect....... I decided to just put the link here for you to click on to read Liv's prayer! You will die laughing!!!

click below to view Chelsie's post
http://thompsonstation.blogspot.com/2009/01/family-night-with-grandma.html

I got Tagged!

2009-01-14T06:44:00.000-08:00

Five names you go by:
1. Ally
2. Allyson
3. Mom
4. Sweetheart
5. Sister Southern

Three things you are wearing right now...not necessarily in any order:
1. boots
2. Brashers T-Shirt
3. earrings

Two things you want very badly at the Moment:
1. Win Big at the Lottery
2. To have a Republican as our next President

Two things you did last night:
1. Got Grandma ready for bed at The Nursing home
2. Took my girls to dance at 3:00, 4:00 & 5:00

Two things you ate:
1. chicken
2. breadstick

Two people you spoke to on phone today:
1. Mom
2. Martin

Two things you are going to do today:
1. Go Visiting Teaching
2. Go to 3 Parent Teacher Conferences

Three of your favorite beverages:
1. Dr. Pepper
2. Pink Milk
3. Ice Water

Brinn's Baptism

2009-01-13T19:46:00.000-08:00

My little angel was baptized the first Saturday in January. It was such a special day for our family! What a fun time to see your little girl have such a neat experience. She was glowing all day long with spirituality, and made us so proud! Martin did a wonderful job at the baptism, and dunked her perfect the first time. And the confirmation was just as great! Our Bishop had My Aunt Lani, Sister Tricia, (our primary presidency counselor), and myself give a little thought and bare our testimony to Brinn, so needless to say there were lots of tears. If any of you know me well, you know I can't speak in front of others with out crying. :) I was so glad to have so many of our family members there to support Brinn, we are so lucky to have such a great extended family!

Snowboarders!

2009-01-09T09:15:00.000-08:00

Griffin on his new board!

Martin, Griff & Nate

Check out my cute snowboarders! I have always thought that guys that snowboard are HOT, but now that its my son that's doing it, it makes me think that snowboarders are just cute! This was Griffin's first time snowboarding for real, on a real boarding hill at a resort. He has just been practicing on the little sledding hills around here, but now he is for REAL! Martin said that Griff was really pretty good, for his first time. Most importantly Griffin didn't loose his temper, by getting so frustrated. My first time snowboarding, I got so frustrated after landing on my butt for the 110th time, that I gave up and went back to ski's. So Griff is defiantly better than me!

Who loves Uncle Nate?

2009-01-08T18:18:00.000-08:00

Well Nate came over during the holiday break to hang out, sleep over and then go snowboarding with Griffin & Martin the next day. During his stay at our house I am sure he has never felt so loved! Bergin & Livie could not leave him alone! Livie especially had a hard time even going to bed or even going to the bathroom and being away from Uncle Nate for more than 2 minutes. It seemed to just melt Nate's heart to have the little girls hang on him. I am so glad that I have such a cute, sweet little brother for my girls to love.

Christmas at our house

2009-01-06T12:15:00.000-08:00

I need to start by saying thank goodness for my wonderful kids, without them Christmas would not be very fun at all! My cuties make life so fun, and Christmas even funner! We snapped a pic before everyone dug into Santa's load...... check out that load! The gifts go clear into the middle of the floor! I think the Southern kids got a little bit toooooo spoiled, they must have been really good this past year! :)

Livie's favorite toy this year was a "Water Baby".

Bergin's favorite toy this year was her enormous Barbie house.

Brinn's favorite thing this year was her digital camera.

Griffin's favorite thing this year was a Snowboard, boots & bindings.

Our Holiday Festivities

2009-01-06T07:36:00.000-08:00

Once again, like always I am so far behind on this blog, that I will have to do a quick update, with about a million things to blog about! I love this time of year, and my kids are so much fun at this age in life, which makes everything just that much better!

One night our family made a gingerbread houses, very fabulous gingerbread houses I might add. After they were all set up and ready to be moved, we delivered them to people that needed a smile. We went to the nursing home here in town and gave them to some of the cute little ladies there that needed a little Christmas decor in their rooms. The little old ladies just loved visiting with the kids, and we all loved the feeling we had after. It helped us to teach our kids about giving and thinking of others, rather than just themselves. The next evening we went to a Christmas Party at PaPa Willie's house in Mantua. This is always one of our favorite parties each year. It is the loudest, craziest party EVER, but so much fun! The kids love being around all the "southern" cousins, but it always makes me feel bad to think of the messy house that PaPa has to clean up after all of us leave.

For Family Home Evening the next night we went to see the light display at Willard Bay, then to all the see the lit homes in Brigham and then out for Pizza. The Allen's (mitch & Sonya & Bridger) came with us this year, so it made it neat to share such a great night with them. It was a Freezing Cold night, which made the warm pizza even better than usual!

Last, but defiantly not least on our countdown to Christmas activities, was the Nutcracker Ballet. Grandma Jones took the 3 Utah Granddaughters (and their mom :) which is me) to "Ballet West's" Nutcracker Ballet. It was FANTASTIC! It is hard to even explain how fantastic it was! But going to the Capital Theater in SLC in the bad weather to see Ballet West perform is well worth it! Oh yea. we also got to be outside the 2News studio at the Gallivan Center as the news was being broadcast, so Martin and Griffin at home were able to see us outside the window during the news broadcast! Fun hu! We might be famous now????

2008 Christmas Tree

2008-12-16T06:05:00.000-08:00

Our annual Christmas Tree hunt and cutting went off perfect! We ended up with a perfectly beautiful tree and we had a safe, but cold trip cutting it down! So glad we have this tradition with our kids, because they love it and will always remember the snowy trips to the mountain as they get older!

Thanksgiving & Birthdays!

2008-12-07T17:33:00.000-08:00

I can never keep up with blogging! But I will do another quick summary to get caught up really quick!
For Martin's birthday his buddy Tom, took Martin & Griffin & Brinn up for a private plane ride. They had such a great time, it was Brinn's first time in any kind of plane at all, and Griffin's first time in a small plane like that. They went over our house and called us to have me & the little girls run outside. They could look out the plane window and see us, as the size of ants. Great Birthday gift for Martin to get to do something so fun on his birthday!
Thanksgiving at Aunt Lani's house. Lani & Rodger had us to their house for Thanksgiving dinner this year. We loved being there, yummy food, fun entertainment and tons for the kids to do! Oh yea- Martin & Livie even got to fit in a 2 hour nap in Rodger's den after dinner. We are thankful for so much, especially when we have a day we get to have a nap. :)Next was my birthday, and I am so old now, that birthdays are just like normal days! But my kids and Martin got up early (even though it was a school day) and made me breakfast in bed! They made me cute homemade cards to go with my gifts and my day was wonderful!

Now for Brinn's birthday! She is now the big 8!! She is getting baptised in January, so to celebrate for her actual birthday she got to take her best friend to the Cache Valley Fun Park. They did rollerskating, laser tag, arcades, jungle gym etc.... I think that the best thing they did was rollerskating, just because I got to laugh my butt off the whole time! They spent more time on their butts on the ground than they did skating! They were so funny!!! Brinn said that it was the best birthday ever! (but she says that every year, so.......?)

Martin & Ally

2008-11-25T12:21:00.000-08:00

We got some family pics taken this month and I had to share one of my favorites! When I look at this pic of Martin & I, it reminds me that we really do like each other..... even though our everyday life is not always full of love! :)

Gardner Village

2008-11-14T12:56:00.000-08:00

While my sister Amy and her family was here for a visit on their way to Hawaii, we took full advantage of every second of the time with them. Grandma Jones took all the girls for a "Girls Shopping Day", to Gardner Village. That is an awesome place with great boutiques. All the Grand kid Girls got a manicure at the spa to get Halloween nails and we had a great lunch at Archibald's. It was a fun day! Thanks Grandma!

Frightmares at Lagoon!

2008-11-11T18:04:00.000-08:00

Frightmares is so much fun! We love going to Lagoon in the fall, with all the Halloween decorations, it makes is so much more enjoyable! We get less lines, cool shows, great costumes, and better not so hot weather! Here are some great pics of our family and our friends' family too. We were able to go with our friends Kami & Mike and their kids Taylee & Dylan. What a perfect day.

I Love Halloween!

2008-11-07T08:20:00.000-08:00

Halloween is so much fun! I love getting costumes for the kids and I love the fall weather and I love dressing the kids up and everything else! We went to 2 Halloween parties, 1 costume parade and then trick or treating, all on different days. This means we got to dress the kids up 4 different times this year! So FUN! Griffin was a "Evil Jester", with fantastic face paint done by Dad. Brinn was an "Angel", which was very fitting for her! Bergin was a "Devil", which was also very fitting for her. Brinn and Bergin are very opposite from each other in every way..... so their costumes really made sense! Livie was "Dorothy", from Wizard of Oz, because she loves that movie more than any other, and knows exactly how to be Dorothy!

Martin's brother Ty had a Halloween party for the kids and we went to a corn maze, and this is a pic of Livie and her cousin Gavin in the corn maze.My mom also had a Halloween party and dinner with all the cousins, and my sister and her family was here on their way to Hawaii. They are on their way moving from Georgia to Hawaii, so we got to spend a week with them and we loved it! They are a way fun family to be with! So this is a pic of all the cousins at Grandma Jones house.

Martin got his deer

2008-11-04T06:23:00.001-08:00

Yes, I am very, very slow getting this post up, but here it is, finally! Griffin and Martin sluffed Family Home Evening to go deer hunting a few weeks ago, and they got their deer! They were up on the mountain in one of their favorite spots to hunt and they found this deer. Martin was not even going to shoot at him, because he would have rather waited to possibly get a bigger one, but Griffin talked him into shooting at this one. Martin with his perfect aim, got the deer! After getting very bloody and messy they managed to get the deer cleaned out, and hauled off the mountain. Look how proud the two of them look. :)

Another fall catch up......

2008-10-14T06:36:00.000-07:00

These past few weeks have been crazy and busy at our house! So I will do another quick update to catch up on all of it. Last night we went to the pumpkin patch for family night. It was great! They had wonderful pumpkins! It seems like there were so many perfect pumpkins to choose from. Our kids each picked cute pumpkins and have a good time finding one that was just what they wanted. After the pumpkin patch we went to Gpa Allen's house for dinner and carving. This past weekend Chucker hunting opened, so Martin & Griffin went up on the Honeyville mountain hunting. They have a mine that they go into each year when they go up there and it kinda freaks me out a little to see the pics of the mine, cuz it looks too scary and yucky for me, but they love it. This is Griffin on top of a pile of dirt, showing how the mine has caved in on that part. SCARY! But anyway, they never did get any chuckers, cuz it was to stormy all day.

Martin & his Dad went to Sublet, Idaho fishing. They fished for Browns and caught their limit, so other than being cold all day they had a great day fishing.

Wow I got to go on a little vacation! It seems like I never get to go anywhere, but I finally did! Suzanne, Martin's little sister invited me to go to Las Vegas with her and 2 of her friends from her ward. We went on a Friday and came home on Sunday evening, so it was kinda a quick trip, but definitely worth it! We did tons of outlet shopping and even got to see the Variety Show at Planet Hollywood. We had so much fun, ate lots at the buffet, and got some good deals shopping, what more could you ask for?

Football is finally over! Griffin was so ready to be done with football, but was still a little sad when they lost in playoffs. We are so proud of these tough little guys! They were the first place team in their region, then went to playoffs and lost their first game there. I think all they boys were sad to lose in playoffs, but on the other hand happy to get a break from football practice every night.

Barnum & Bailey's Circus was in SLC, for a week and we got to go see it! My Mom & her friends at work are always winning tickets etc., off they radio and they won tickets to the circus, and gave the tickets to us! We were so excited to get the tickets and go! We had tons of fun! All of the kids liked different parts of the show; Griffin's favorite was the guys on motorcycles riding around inside the big round cage at the same time, Brinn's favorite was the Elephants. Bergin's favorite was the clowns and Liv's favorite was the dogs doing tricks.

We were also able to go to the Children's museum while we were in SLC for the weekend. We love that place! We stayed forever to let the kids play there, and they still could have stayed even longer if we would have let them. There is so much to keep them busy and to entertain them for hours. In fact they want to go back so bad, they talk about it everyday!

Fall Activity Catch up......

2008-10-02T07:10:00.000-07:00

The girls had Taylee, their friend come over for a fun Friday night, and they painted on butcher paper with pudding! I figured that this way they could have a snack and get messy and not ruin things with paint and have a blast all at once! Taylee is our good friend's Kami & Mike's daughter and Griffin is best buds with their son Dylan. Griffin and Dylan had went to the corn maze with their little girlfriends (ha ha that's weird to say, they are only 10yrs old) during this pudding mess! Livie got to start dance! This was very exciting for our family, because of all of her hip problems, casts and surgeries. We never thought that the Doctors would have her fixed this good by the time she was 3 and ready to start dance! We are so excited for her, her surgeon gave her permission to have full activity which includes dance, ballet, tumbling and jumping on the trampoline! She has had a tough few years, but look at her now! What an amazing little lady!
We were able to go to Chuck E. Cheese with Suzanne and Clint and all the family for Owen's 3rd Birthday party. Owen is so darling and the happiest boy in the world! Our kids had such a blast playing games and seeing the cousins, but Liv was scared to death of Chuck? I have no idea why, cuz she loves Santa and the Easter Bunny when we have seen them??? Chuck E. Cheese must be really weird looking??? So it was a really fun party for Owen, and he loved all the gifts and attention that he was getting, so it made it even more fun to watch him.
Bergin & Livie had dentist appointments this month and they had crappy teeth! They definitely do not have teeth like me. I had no cavities until I had my first baby....... and both of them have cavities now and they are only 5 yrs and 3 yrs old! What is wrong with their teeth??? We brush everyday?
Alyssa played on the Powder Puff football team. She is a Junior at Box Elder High and she played on the Junior team against the Senior team. It was Box Elder's homecoming week and the Powder Puff game is just one of the homecoming activities the school does. But anyway the JUNIORS WON!! The Junior girls at Box Elder have not won the Senior girls for many years..... so she was very excited! Oh yea..... it was a little weird cheering for a Box Elder team, but since it was Alyssa is was so fun!

Hunting Guys!

2008-09-18T10:17:00.000-07:00

These are my two cute boys hunting dove. They really didn't see to many dove this year to shoot, but they had such a great time being together looking for some. Griffin is getting really good at knowing when Martin is telling another one of his TALL TALES or if he is actually telling the truth....... so they get along fine! In fact I think the Comedian in Martin is starting to wear off on Griffin a little bit, Griffin is turning into quite a character himself! On the serious side, I am so grateful to have such great men in my family, and both Griffin and Martin have such integrity, they are amazing.

What did she say???

2008-09-14T18:01:00.000-07:00

Our little Liv is quite a character! Her vocabulary is unbelievable and even quite silly at times! Her are some of the funniest things that she has been saying just this week. She says so much cute and crazy stuff daily! I could fill up pages and pages of stuff she says cuz there is so many funny things, but I will just give you a sample of this week's newest vocab!

"Today is just a really bad day for me"

"HOLY BUCKETS!"

"Oh JUMBOLIAH!"

"Hey Dad ......or whatever your name is"

"I'm just going with the flow!"

"Just keep me posted on that"

"You are really starting to BUM me out"

"How Sweet is that?"

"So how serious are you?"

Just Dang Cute Girls!

2008-09-14T17:36:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share pics I took of the girls before church a week ago cuz they turned out so cute! My girls are quite the "Posers", they love getting their pics taken!

Dirt & Rain & Fishing

2008-09-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

Martin & Mitch took the kids out fishing a few weekend's ago. Mitch & I's Dad and Martin's Dad both came to fish a while with them. They went to Benson to fish, and came home early cuz of rain. (big wimps) But they were there long enough to get FILTHY! It looked like the kids had sprayed themselves with mosquito spray and then rolled around in the dirt while the spray was still wet. They roasted hot dogs, fished and had lots of fun!

Super COOPER!

2008-09-10T18:42:00.000-07:00

Lucky us! We got to tend my cousins' Chelsie & Lathan's baby, Cooper. What a great baby! It was so good to have a new baby at our house, to make my baby hungry girls happy! They could not get enough of him, and he loved all of the attention. (well at least I think he did??? he never cried??) Oh yea..... look at his hair, it's the very same color as Bergin's, so cute hu!

First Day of School

2008-08-30T16:56:00.000-07:00

I must have taken to many pictures the first day of school in the outfits that they choose to wear on the first day, because the other days of this week when they wore other new cute clothes they refused to pose for more pictures! Next year I will have to remember to take less pics on the first day so they are not sick of pics for the rest of the week.

Bergin started Kindergarten, Brinn is in 2nd grade and Griffin is the big kid in the school now, in 5th grade. They all love school and have great teachers! Bergin defiantly loves the bus ride more than anything else! Griffin hates waking up so early! And Brinn is very very very particular about clothes, hair etc..... that it might drive me crazy???? But so far so good! We really do have great kids!

Tagged

2008-08-26T19:07:00.000-07:00

Suzanne tagged me!
Here are the rules...List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself.

Joys-
1. My Family & The gift of a Forever Family
2. Not fixing dinner and eating dinner at a restaurant (now with all our kids the eating out thing doesn't happen to often)
3. A clean house
Fears-
1. Loosing a child
2. Not Parenting my kids well enough
3. Money, Money, Money forever!
Goals-
1. To have more patience
2. Be more organized & prepared in daily life
3. To keep jogging & walking daily
Current Obsessions/ Collections-
1. Dr. Pepper (but only one per day now, which by the way I cherish the time it takes me to drink it each day)
2. Taking Pictures of our family stuff (I think I may take a few too many?)
3. Doing Laundry, I do a batch or two each day. Getting caught up and keeping caught up on laundry is such a good feeling to me.
Random/ Surprising facts about me-
1. I have illegally bungee jumped off of a 160 ft. freeway/Interstate bridge over the Snake River
2. I love my husband so much and think that he is still cute as ever, even after 13 yrs of marriage!
3. I worry so much! I worry about things that really don't matter at all, and I also worry about things that I have no control over anyway. Why? Weird I know??

Hyrum Dam Weekend

2008-08-21T13:20:00.000-07:00

We took a quick camp trip to Hyrum Dam to go boating and jet skiing with my Mom & Stephen. We got there on Sunday afternoon and came home Monday night, so it was a real quick trip. The campground was great though, cuz it was practically empty and really quiet. The kids had a wonderful time swimming, boating and tubing behind the boat with Grandma & Grandpa. The kids are always excited to get to spend time with them, and especially with the 2 dogs. I think that Reggie & Piper get bugged to death by the kids, but the dogs seem to put-up with them fine. We had a free jet-ski rental to use this weekend, which we used, and it was more of a pain in the butt than it was worth! But we were happy to get another camp trip in before summertime gets over!

Mini Hi-Steppers

2008-08-19T08:40:00.000-07:00

Bergin & Brinn are true blue Bear River High Girls! They had so much fun doing the Mini Hi-Stepper dance day camp! Their cute cousin Lacy (their most favorite person ever), is a Hi-Stepper so they got to dance with her and all the other cute dancers. After learning the dance they had a show for the Mom's to come watch, and then they got to be in the Wheat & Beet Days Kids Parade to show their new moves. The little dancers like Bergin rode on a Hi-Stepper trailer and Brinn and her friends got to dance the parade route (which by the way was only like 1 mile at the most). TONS of FUN! I am so glad I have girls who love to dance.

Bergin is 5!!

2008-08-17T06:59:00.000-07:00

Bergin is finally 5 and ready for Kindergarten! She will for sure be the smallest and the youngest in her class, but also the CUTEST! Our little Bergin is so sweet and loving to the whole family. We couldn't make it through a day without her contagious smile and her generous hugs! On the other hand, she is very much the most SPUNKIEST girl we have ever seen! We just love her so much!

2 Medal winners!

2008-08-13T13:02:00.000-07:00

Our family has been trying to become more active this summer and get ourselves in a little better shape. So running, walking or jogging on the track has become an almost daily activity at our house. We entered the 5K as a family for Tremonton days last month to ride our bikes, and we all did very well, so we then entered the Garland Wheat & Beet days race. Martin & Griffin did the 2 mile competitive race and the both won! Martin won 3rd place in his age group and Griffin won 1st place! They both got medals and were happy to have finished so well. I entered the 3 girls in the 1 mile kids walk/run and I went along with them to see how they would do? And all 3 girls crossed the finish line without being in the very last! They had so much fun, but did not compete in that race, so they were in no big hurry to be in the front of the pack. Our next race will be the Fair Days race on Aug. 23rd, and the whole family will get to do that one too, so it should be great!

A Night at Crystal Springs

2008-08-09T07:10:00.000-07:00

All of the little league T-ball, Softball, etc.... kids that played for Tremonton City were invited to bring their families and swim at Crystal Hot Springs. Although Crystal Springs is kinda old, and yucky...... the kids had a blast! The 3 biggest kids spent the whole night going up & down the slide with the Davis boys (Brayden & Hadley) so, we didn't even see them much. Martin, Livie and I just went in between the hot & cold pool soaking and trying to keep floaters (leaves, bugs etc..) away from us......yuck. Anyway the kids had a tons of fun!

The Wallflowers

2008-07-31T08:01:00.000-07:00

I was able to go with Martin to Spokane for The annual Rock & Roll sale at the Auto Auction he works at. I get to go with him to Washington for a few days every July to see a concert, and this year it was The Wallflowers! They were really good to see live (mostly cuz Jacob Dylan is ugly in a cute way), but they were good! It is always so fun to get together with all of Martin's work buddies and their wives that have now become my buddies. It kinda makes me feel like I have a real social life for a few days. Being a mom at home with kids all day, sometimes makes me feel a little"unsocial", ya know. We left our kids with Martin's sister Suzanne and her family and they loved being there, so it made being gone easier. We had so much fun, but I am glad to get back to normal life with the kids again.

Brinn is our All-Star!

2008-07-29T20:17:00.000-07:00

Our "Ballplayer BRINN" was chosen to play on the ALL-STAR Softball Team on Saturday during the Tremonton Days celebration! She was 1 of 2 kids from her team that got to play! It is so exciting for her, because this is her very first year to even play ball! Who would have ever thought that Brinn would be so good at Softball and love it so much! She has always been our little dance and cheer girl, but she is an amazing little ball player now too! It made her so happy to have so much of our family there to watch her all-star game, what good family we have! Thanks for coming everyone, and great game Brinn! :)

Hales Reunion

2008-07-26T15:59:00.000-07:00

We were able to attend a Hales Reunion for my Mom's side of the family on June 12th. It was in Ogden at a Park, where we ate and the kids played games all afternoon. After the gathering at the park we went to Weber State and we were lucky enough to hear Elder Hales speak. Elder Hales is a member of the 12 Apostles and he was amazing! It was so neat to meet him, shake his hand end especially have my kids meet him. Elder Hales came to the Reunion to do a special talk for our family. I feel like that was a chance of a lifetime to be that close to a member of the 12 and it could possibly be the one and only time my children will ever shake the hand of an actual Apostle to the Prophet. We had a great day and loved spending time with my Mom and her family.

George Creek

2008-07-24T17:27:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at George Creek for our annual Allen family camp trip/ reunion! Each year we all go out West to George Creek for the 4th of July Weekend. My family has been going there since my Dad was little, so this is how we have always spent our 4th of July my whole life. Now my children are getting to be a part of such a fun tradition. All of my kids have been to George Creek each year since they were tiny babies, and they love it more and more each year!
We eat, play in the creek, eat, go on hikes, eat, play games, eat, sleep, fish, eat, talk, sit, and eat some more! This year was perfect! The weather was great, not to hot or cold and we even got a little rain on the last day. All of my kids are finally getting big enough that I don't feel like I need to watch them every second. So it actually felt like a vacation for once. We have a motor home with a bathroom and a shower, and that makes camping so much more enjoyable! We loved every minute we were out there, and are so happy that we get to do such a fun tradition every year!

Swimming

2008-07-08T11:39:00.000-07:00

The kids have finished their swim lesson session for the summer and they loved it! Well maybe the girls didn't love it at first, but by the end they ALL LOVED it and did not want it to end. They are lucky enough to have the best swim teachers in the world! Crystal, Whitney, Katelyn & even Scott are so good to us!
Griffin is and always has been a fish in the water, he can dive and swim like a pro. My girls on the other hand, have always been wimps in the water! They usually even have a few tears during the lessons.
Brinn made a huge improvement however, after a few days of tears and throwing up and hyperventilating. She can now swim across the length of the pool (even in the deep end) and jump off the diving board and swim to the side by herself. YEA BRINN!
Bergin also amazed us! The Sandall family was so good with her and got her walking on the bottom of the pool and jumping off the side and really swimming for the first time by herself!
Thank goodness for the patience the Sandall's have with my kids. We are hoping to get Livie doing all of this next year, she is still just trying to get use to her whole head under the water.

Camp Fife

2008-07-07T10:51:00.000-07:00

Martin got to go along with the Webelo Scouts in our ward to day scout camp at Camp Fife, and luckily Griffin is now a Webelo, so he got to spend the day with Dad! They had such a great time! I think that Martin enjoys it just as much as the boys if not more! Griffin and Martin are so much alike, they both came home talking about what they liked best.... and they both liked the same things best. "Like Father Like Son"! Griff especially loved the zip line, the bb-gun shooting and the bow & arrow shooting. I was so glad they got to do that together, Griffin would never of had such a good time if I would have taken them, so it worked out so well!

Softball Sweetheart

2008-07-07T10:33:00.000-07:00

Brinn is quite the Softball player! She has her little batting stance down perfect, and looks like a pro! Last week at her game, she had quite a few good hits down 3rd base line and to center field. They will only let them one 1 extra base in her league or they would have been home runs! Her favorite position to play is catch and 3rd base. Last game she was playing third and caught a hit and then tagged the runner coming to her base, she was amazing! She is convinced that the pink bat her Daddy bought her makes all the difference in her swing, so she never plays with out that pink bat. So we may just have a good ball player on our hands, should we cross our fingers for a softball Scholarship........ ha ha maybe a bit to early to bank on that hu?

Summertime

2008-06-19T13:15:00.000-07:00

Our Summer has been so busy so far I have to just sum it all up in one post.
The school Rocket Launch was a "BLAST" for Griffin, so we launched the Rocket again at home and for some reason???? the parachute didn't do its job and the Rocket did a nose dive into the ground! So that's why I have a before & after pic for ya. One day I came in the bathroom to find both little girls on the toilet at the same time. Both of them were laughing so hard! They told me that they both had to go, so they decided to just share the toilet! WOW- that's thinking!

Griffin took a friend to the Celebration Center in Logan for this year's Birthday party. They had such a good time. They did golf, go-carts, rock walls, and Martin's favorite the Giant Swing that swings so high in the air you almost do a 360 on it.

Our Scout just got his Bear award and moved on to Webelo's den. He got about 10 different awards at pack meeting last week and made us so proud for all of his hard work! He also built this most awesome wood toolbox, with so help from Dad. It was amazing, he is quite the builder!

The kids play outside in the sprinklers, pool, water slide etc... almost everyday now that it is hot! If I don't have them in swimsuits and they just get wet in shorts, Livie will take off her shirt like Griffin and them tells me that she wants to just be a boy for a little while? Weird GIRL??

Martin & Griff went Cat fishing with their friend Bruce down in on the river. They caught some good sized Catfish, and loved being out there doing what they love best!

Bergin & Brinn did the BR High School Cheerleader Mini Cheer Camp together. This was Bergin's first year going, but she was great! Brinn is a pro and always does so well too! It is probably the most HOT thing to watch, so I never look forward to sitting at the Mom's show sweating my butt off, but it was worth it watching the girls!

Griffin competed in the Amateur Auctioneer Contest in Pocatello Idaho last weekend, and won 2nd place. We were so surprised that we had the guts to get up there and auction in front of everyone, but the did fabulous! He sold a old red oil lantern and got quite a few bids on it, and Dad was the final bidder. It was lots of fun!

Well I think you are about caught up on our summer stuff!

Griffin the Great!

2008-06-11T18:30:00.000-07:00

I guess that bragging about your kids is what blogging is all about right?? Well I guess it is for me, sorry??? Griffin won Second Place in his Elem. School Pentathlon in 2 events! he won 2nd in the 40 Yard Dash and the Shot Put. Great HU! He would have loved to get 1st place and advance to the district pentathlon, but 2nd place is wonderful, we think! Right now Griffin and Martin are running everyday and preparing themselves to run a 5K race in August. It is hard work for both of them, but it has been good for themselves back in shape. When Football starts, the first week of football conditioning might be a little easier on Griff, because of his training now (we hope).

Brilliant Brinn!

2008-06-11T18:22:00.000-07:00

Our Miss Brinn was awarded the Outstanding Academic Achievement Award for Garland Elementary 1st Grade. They awarded it to her during the school Award Assembly and she was proud as can be! She also was a star reader for the year, for reading 750 books during her 1st grade year! Wow HU! We are so proud of our smarty pants! She is playing Softball now, so 3 days a week we are at games and practices with her..... so I will update later on her Softball adventure!

Tagged

2008-06-05T20:19:00.000-07:00

I have been tagged! Here are the rules...List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 3 people at the end of your post by leaving their names.
Before I answer, remember that I am all about short & sweet answers :)
Joys-
1. My Family & The gift of a Forever Family
2. Not fixing dinner and eating dinner at a restaurant (now with all our kids the eating out thing doesn't happen to often)
3. A clean house
Fears-
1. Loosing a child
2. Not Parenting my kids well enough
3. Money, Money, Money forever!
Goals-
1. To have more patience
2. Be more organized & prepared in daily life
3. Be jogging/ walking 3 miles per day by the end of summer (I am only at 1 1/2 per day now)
Current Obsessions/ Collections-
1. Dr. Pepper (but only one per day now, which by the way I cherish the time it takes me to drink it each day)
2. Taking Pictures of our family stuff (I think I may take a few too many?)
3. Doing Laundry, I do a batch or two each day, and getting caught up and keeping caught up on laundry is such a good feeling to me.
Random/ Surprising facts about me-
1. I have illegally bungee jumped off of a 160 ft. freeway/Interstate bridge over the Snake River
2. I love my husband so much and think that he is still sexy even after 13 yrs of marriage!
3. I worry so much! I worry about things that really don't matter at all, and I also worry about things that I have no control over anyway. Why? Weird I know??

Memorial Day Camping

2008-06-04T19:41:00.000-07:00

We had a Fun, Fun, Fun, Memorial Day Camp Trip! Our family & our friends from our old ward the Hales', went to Netwon Reservoir for the long weekend. We even got Mitch, Sonya & Bridger to come up for a day too! It was not a very warm weekend, but it was so nice to get away from the world for 4 days! We played games, rode in the canoe, played horse shoes, fished, swam, sat on our butts, got dirty, and ATE A LOT! The day we were to go home the road to get out of our camp site was flooded/ washed out, due to the water rising all weekend, so we had to find a new way through a field and even go mud Boggin' a little, but we made it out and home safely. It was such a great time, it makes us so excited to go on our next camp trip!

Preschool Graduation

2008-05-28T09:32:00.000-07:00

Bergin is finally ready for Kindergarten! YEA YEA! She had her preschool graduation last week and she was the star of the show! She was darling and really makes me so proud! Her social and academic skills are excellent, and her SPUNKY personality just makes everything in life so much more fun! This is a pic of her with her 2 best friends from school Kylee & Shelby (Bergin is the shrimp in the middle). ha ha

Dance,Dance,Dance, Cheer!

2008-05-28T09:17:00.000-07:00

Both Brinn & Bergin had their BIG Dance Review last Tuesday! It was quite a Big production! The High School Gym was filled with crazy Parents & Grandparents (like us) and we were there from 5-9 watching & performing! Our girls did a total of 7 different performances that I had to record. My favorite of Brinn's was her "I don't like your Girlfriend" dance, and Bergin's "Best Day Ever-Sponge bob" dance was hilarious and the best to watch! It was so fun for the girls to be in the spotlight, and I think they loved every minute of it! I am afraid that I have a couple "Little Diva" girls on my hands.

Lemonade Stand!

2008-05-21T06:53:00.000-07:00

The girls did a Lemonade Stand on Saturday while Martin & I were having a Yard Sale. It was funny to watch Livie get into being a "Sales-Woman"! I am sure that she drank more than all the customers put together, but at least she was getting enough fluids in her right? Liv would sit on the front of the picnic table and wave at EVERY car that drove by in hopes to get more customers. Her best selling point is when she would go up to a person at the yard sale and say: "Do you have any money?", "Because you need to come buy some Lemonade from us!". It was hilarious! She was the best! They made $7.00 @ 25 cents per cup, that's pretty good! I am sure most of the sales were due to Livie's great Customer Service!

Field Trips for the Girls

2008-05-21T06:18:00.000-07:00

I was able to go on a field trip with Brinn's 1st grade class to Dinosaur Park in Ogden last week and this week with Bergin's Preschool class to places around town. Both of them were very fun! The kids loved Dinosaur park especially! After being with my kids on these field trips it makes me so grateful for my own kids and their WONDERFUL manners! My kids seem to always behave so perfectly, and it makes me so proud that they are mine!

Bergin's cute haircut!

2008-05-13T09:20:00.001-07:00

Bergin had her hair cut into a "bob" a long time ago, but her hair had grown so much it was to the middle of her back. She is one child that hates having long hair, so she has been asking for months to get it cut off, so we did! This haircut just goes perfect with her spunky little personality, and she LOVES it! What a cutie hu!

The Cast is OFF!

2008-05-13T09:08:00.000-07:00

Yea Livie Finally got good news! We were able to get her cast taken off on May 5th! It was a rough couple days with her sore, stiff, wimpy little leg, but it gets better each day! She is so excited to be able to soak in the tub and shower and even swim! Most of all she is thrilled to be WALKING! Her leg and hip will hurt for a little while longer and she will hopefully be walking without a limp by the winter??? But we are so happy to have the cast off and be done with surgeries for a long time (we hope)!
This is Liv in her swim suit after swimming for an hour!

Jake

2008-04-30T14:16:00.000-07:00

Jake, our 11 year old Chocolate Lab died last week. We have had Jake in our family since he was about 2 years old. Jake was the "Gentle Giant" of our family. He was the most loving and patient boy ever. He would let the kids lay on him, sit on him, paint his toe nails, and even give them rides like a pony. Jake had a seizure in January that scared us to death, but he seemed to recover fine. Then last month he got a rash on his belly and back leg from some allergic reaction to something he touched? We took him to the vet for a check-up and to get him on some meds to help his rash, and his check-up was good! The Vet told us that Jake was really old, but still pretty healthy. He also told us that Jake's life expectancy was only about 1 more year at the most, so we knew that he might go soon. Knowing that Jake was old and slowing down never did prepare us for him dieing though, it was too sad!

Last Thursday afternoon Griffin went out to play with him and found him laying down for a nap on the grass that he never woke up from. We think he just went in his sleep, peacefully. All of us cried for a few days over Jake, who would have ever thought that a dog dieing would have such a huge impact on our lives! On Friday we had a funeral and burial in my Grandpa's pasture. We made a neat grave with rocks all around it, and the kids put flowers on top. Griffin put a shotgun shell in with him when we buried him, so that Jake could still do what he liked best, Go Hunting! We will always miss our "Jakey Boy".

Temple Square

2008-04-15T19:41:00.000-07:00

After watching Conference a few weeks ago, our kids have been so anxious to go to Temple Square to see all the sites there. So we took them! We were able to see only about half of all the neat sites, before they had enough. They got tired and restless after seeing so many things, so we figure next time we go we can just pick up where we left off, and see the other things.

But it was so neat to be together as a forever family, and especially to have that eternal knowledge. The feelings of happiness and faith we experienced at all the different places was wonderful! We had a great day!

(Not sure if Martin was trying to take a pic of the top of the temple or of Griffin's nostrils???)

Our Family Trip to Hogle Zoo

2008-04-13T13:09:00.000-07:00

Livie had a Dr. Appointment at Primary Childrens on Friday morning, so we decided to make a fun day out of it! We took all the kids out of school and went to the zoo after the Dr. appointment. It was a little bit of a chilly day at the zoo, but it was so much fun! Livie got so excited to see EVERY animal! Livie's favorite animal was the Monkeys & the Zebras! Bergin loved the Tiger & Giraffes! Brinn's favorite was the Gorilla and Griffin's was the Mt.Lion!

Utah State Capital Tour

2008-04-13T12:26:00.000-07:00

Me & the Girls met Griffin's 4th grade classes at the State Capital for the last stop of their field trip. We went on a tour of the newly remodeled Capital Building. It was fun to see all of the rooms and how excited the kids got over seeing different things!

We especially liked seeing the Governor's private office. We didn't get to see Gov. Huntsman however, he was in session getting a law passed. Going there brought back memories of when I was younger going to work with my Grandpa Allen, while he was a State Representative. The reconstruction that they have done looks so nice and makes the rotunda even more beautiful! We were all glad we took that tour!

Livie's Surgery Stuff

2008-04-09T15:21:00.000-07:00

(Before they took her to surgery. The last time she could move her legs for a while!)

It has been a week since we went to Primary Children's for Livie's "Pelvic Cut" surgery, where they fixed her hip socket more by adding a cadaver bone to her own pelvic bone and did a bone graft. Her Dr. was able to take out the hardware from her femur bone and did not have to add anymore hardware to the femur like we had thought before surgery. Which made the surgery only take 3 hours rather than 4 hours. The pain situation went so much smoother than last time. Livie was quite a trooper! She is such a strong little girl, it is amazing how well she does for having such evasive surgery for only being 3 years old. We did have to stay an extra day at the hospital, due to Liv's swelling and level of pain. Needless to say we were soooo happy to finally get home Thursday night to have all of our family back home and together again. Livie is in another "spica" body cast, and can't walk or go potty on the toilet anymore, but she somehow still has a pretty happy attitude! She is absolutely incredible!
This is Livie in her cast and wheelchair! She is so heavy this time, we are very glad to have the wheelchair!

Livie's Third Birthday!

2008-03-25T11:30:00.001-07:00

My BABY is 3 now, and I am afraid that she might not be a BABY any more? I am not sure if I am sad or glad? ......... I think glad! I just better not ever be one of those ladies that finds out she is going to have another baby when her youngest is 12 or something? I would not survive through something like that!!
But Liv had a great party and she was so happy to have all the attention!

Easter Fun!

2008-03-25T07:34:00.000-07:00

The kids started their Easter fun, by having a egg hunt and party with Grandma Gen & Grandpa Lewie's family. They covered the whole lawn at the church with hundreds of easter eggs for all 13 grandkids that were there! It was so great for them! It was a little cold, but not one of the kids even noticed the cold, because they were having so much fun!

The next morning waking up to Easter Bunny prizes was the best too! Easter time is so much fun with my kids at these ages! I love every minute of it! We are blessed to have such wonderful kids!

We even got to have Alyssa over on Easter, which made it even more special for the kids to spend time with her.

Check out the coolest derby car ever!

2008-03-19T17:24:00.001-07:00

Griffin had his Cub Scout Pinewood derby last night and won 3rd place! Griffin & Martin worked on the car for a couple weeks and the finished product was amazing! Their plan was to shape it and paint it like a Old Chevelle car, and they did just that! It was one of the most professional, neatest looking cars there. The Scouts raced for 3 heats, and Griffin came in 3rd overall, which we were all very proud of! Things like this make me so glad that Martin is always so willing and able to help Griffin do everything..... I could never come close to doing anything like a Pinewood derby car? YEA for Dads!

Bergin's Surgery Update:

2008-03-08T17:46:00.000-08:00

( Before)

Well we made it through another surgery! We can not believe how much time we have spent on our kids have surgeries this past couple years! But Bergin's on Friday was another sucessful one. She went in for her Ultrasound on Wed. and they found about 4 lymph nodes on both sides of her neck were big, however we could only see just the one on the right side that was pushing out on her neck. Her Ear/Nose/Throat Doctor had her come in on Friday morning at 6:30 to the Logan Hospital, and took her in to the OR by about 8:00. They put her to sleep, put and IV and a breathing tube in, then made a little incision on the back of her neck. He was able to remove 1 whole node to use for testing and lab work. They sent a biopsy to the lab and another biopsy to be cultured. After the surgery was done her surgeon came in and was very happy with what he saw. He said that it looked more like a virus in her node rather than something bad like lymphoma. We were so happy to hear that news, but we still will wait for the official results that will be done next week sometime.

(after)

Bergin was a trooper! Not even a tear! She was so cute and all of the nurses and doctors just fell in love with her! Her first words after recovery were "I wanna go home!", and the next thing was "I am SOOO Hungry!". It was Grandma Jones Birthday that day too, so after we were released from the hospital we went out for birthday brunch and Bergin ate a little bit of a cheeseburger! WOW! She ate a cheeseburger right after surgery! We love our cute little Berg so much!

Ice Skating Family Night

2008-02-26T15:19:00.000-08:00

On Monday we went over to the Eccles Ice Skating Rink. We met my Mom and Martin's Dad & Shannon over there to skate with us. It was lots of fun to let the kids try something so new! None of our kids had ever been skating before, but they all took to it very well! Martin & both had visions of going there and ending up in the ER later in the evening with fingers cut off by skates or broken bones from falling so hard etc.... but everything went so good! We only had a few minor bumps and most of them were on Martin & myself (oh and my Mom) Ha Ha. I fell down so hard on my butt while I was just standing still, then when my Mom starting making fun of me, she did the very same thing! It was so great to watch everyone falling and hurting! They had the cutest tiny skates for Berg & Liv and then little walkers to help them stay up. It was Shannon's first time ever skating and I am sure it was NOT her favorite thing to do, but we were so glad to have some of our Grandparents there!
Liv was the best little ice princess! She had such a great time! She never cried once! She was actually pretty good at it.

Bergin was the crazy girl that just went everywhere with no one ever knowing where she was?

Brinn had lots of falls, but wants to take lessons now to learn to do it better. (I think it is only so she can wear the cute figure skating outfits)

Griffin was totally OUT of CONTROL! He just kept going when it looked like he was going to fall over and over, but he somehow stayed up?? So OUT of CONTROL it was funny!

I got tagged!

2008-02-20T14:59:00.000-08:00

I got tagged and, I am suppose to list 8 things that you did not know about my kids!

I am Griffin- 9 years old

1. I was a really big baby at birth I weighed 9.6 lbs. But you would never know that now, because I am just the right/normal size now.
2. My parents think I am almost perfect, but I have a devilish side.... I do little things every day to just bug the crap out of my little sisters.
3. I absolutley love my baby sister Livie! I was sad at first when I found out she was going to be another girl, but I can't imagine not having her!
4. I am very much ALL BOY! I want nothing to do with any girly stuff and will only play sports that are "tough" sports like Football, Hunting and Basketball.
5. I have never struggled in school with anything. School work, reading etc.... has always come very easy for me. In fact in 1st grade I only missed 2 spelling words during the whole school year.
6. I am a very spiritual person, and have always been very close to my Heavenly Father. I began saying prayers at FHE when I was only 1 yr. old and I have always said the most amazing, spiritual prayers that seem to amaze my family. When ever I am upset over anything prayer is the first thing that I do to feel better.
7. My feet are huge! I am already wearing size 7 shoes and they are still growing!
8. If there is any spare time in my busy day, my favorite thing to do is anything electronic..... I am constantly playing computer or playstation or gameboy or MP3 player. I am really quite obsessed with all of those things, infact my Mom is always telling me to just sit down and "unplug"!

I am Brinn- 7 years old 1. I am very "Prissy" and everything (hair, clothes, shoes, etc.) has to be perfect on me at all times.
2. I have 2 things that bug me about certain clothes. I can not stand any shirt that is "itchy", my Mom tells me that everyone else in the family wears clothes made out of the same fabric and have no problems,but I can't do it..... the other thing is; if any pants of any kind that are tight around the waist, even the slightest bit tight is ablsolutley unacceptable! So I will not wear clothes that have either of these 2 problems.
3. I have so many friends! I have such a tender heart and compassion for everyone. My teacher at school has told me and my Mom what a good friend I am to everyone that I come in contact with. I guess that is why I invited 35 kids to my b-day party and 30 of them came!
4. I am always thinking of my future. I have names planned for my kids and where I want to live and what I want my wedding to be like etc....
5. I secretly want my Mom to have another baby. I say little things all the time to let my Mom know that I want one and I wish that she did.
6. I am so strong! For being such a cute little girl, I have muscles! I can really swing a bat too! At every Birthday party I go to I almost break the Pinata with one swing and they have to stop me from swinging anymore to let the other kids have a chance before it breaks.
7. When I grow up I have many careers planned for myself. I want to work at the flower shop, be a cheer teacher, be a professional figure skater, be a professional singer, be an actress..... the list just goes on and on!
8. I have a shy side to me. I never look forward to being in the spotlight during a cheer competition or being on stage in front of everyone at dance review. I love gretting all dressed up for all of those things with costume, make-up etc... but I get so worried that I might mess up, I actually make myself physically sick over it!

I am Bergin- 4 years old
1. I am the spunkiest girl ever! I will do anything to get that little extra bit of attention, wether it is good or bad! But my cute little smile and sense of humor, makes everything bad I do, OK.
2. I have the most tender heart! I get my feeling hurt very easy. Some littlest comments from people, can make my eyes swell up with tears at the drop of a dime!
3. I have always been the most generous child in our family. I am always the first to give up something that someone else wants, or I am the first to share anything I have with everyone.
4. I have RHYTHM! I can really dance and dance good! I can move to the beat and especially shake my little tiny butt like no other! I have always had this talent ever since I was tiny, dancing to commercials on TV.
5. I love my name! Some many kids wish they were named something different... but I always tell my parents that I only want to be named Bergin, because I love my name!
6. When I play house or Barbies or whatever with my sisters I always have to have a Boyfriend! I need a "Ken" doll for a boyfriend when playing Barbies and I try to make my sisters be my boyfriend when we play house together. My Mom is not sure what to think of this? (Lets hope she isn't boy crazy as soon as she starts kindergarten)
7. I want to be on "America's Top Model", when I get older! I have practiced my runway walk up and down the hall way so many times, that I have mastered my "walk" to become a model!
8. I am a fussy eater! I have always been this way. I pick apart every food and I am always the last person to leave the table after every meal. In fact I eat less than my little sister that is 18 months younger than me.

I am Livie- 2 years old
1. I love my Mom! It seems like ever since I have had to be in the hospital so much over my two years of life..... I really "cling" on to my Mom, more and more each day.
2. I love watching "my shows" on TV and get very mad if someone interrupts me during; "Max & Ruby", "64 Zoo Lane",or "Wonder Pets". My secret identity is "Dorthy" from Wizard of OZ- I tell everyone in the family which character they have to be in the movie, but I am always Dorthy!
3. I want to be just like my big sisters! I watch everything they do and soak it all in so that I can act just like them.
4. My favorite thing in the world to do is get in the bath tub! I can play and play and play in there for hours! In fact I stay in for so long that most of the time, my Mom has to add more hot water to warm it up in the tub again.
5. My favorite thing to play with has always been DISHES! I can cook and cook for so long! I would rather just play by myself in my bedroom with dishes and play food rather than any other activity. I have always loved dishes and tea sets etc... ever since I was tiny.
6. I hate getting my hair done! I cry EVERY time that its my turn for hair, but my Mom still does it, just to make me mad! I guess me Mom likes to hear me cry about hair or something?
7. I am always hungry! I bet I say "I am still hungry" about 5000 times a day!
8. I am the only child in our family that has brown eyes like my Daddy and a bad Hip like my Daddy too! Everyone says "you got those brown eyes from your Dad", so my Dad took full advantage of that saying by making up a story; that right when I was born Dad took brown eyes out of his pocket and popped them into my eyes while we were there in the hospital room. I truely believe that story, and tell everyone that Dad gave me my brown eyes right out of his pocket! What a crazy Daddy!

UTAH JAZZ vs CHICAGO BULLS

2008-02-12T09:10:00.000-08:00

Griffin is playing Jr. Jazz Basketball again this year, so he got a couple free tickets to see the Jazz/ Bulls game on Saturday. Martin was home sick with an abcess tooth, so he kept the two little girls home and Griffin, Brinn and myself got to go have fun! Our seats were pretty high up in the arena, but they were free so all was good! Our section was the winning section for the night, so they gave everyone of us a set of inflatable Jazz sticks that you see everyone waving to distract the free throw shots. Then one of the Jazz promoters came around with a small basketball hoop on his back and gave a few kids in our section a chance to make a shot in the tiny hoop and Griff missed, but Brinn made the shot (they did give her two trys, cuz she is so cute however) and she won got a handfull of Jazz Chocolates. So our night was tons of fun! We were glad the Jazz won, cuz that made the night just that much better!

Sad news for our family.....

2008-02-05T16:56:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was our appointment for Livie to see her hip surgeon at Primary Children's Hospital. It has almost been 1 year since the Spica cast was removed from Livie after enduring her first hip surgery. This appointment was set up as the deciding point for our Doctor, to weather or not to have to do surgery on Livie's pelvic bone. We have always been told that by the time Livie was 3 years old we would be able to tell if the pelvic bone was going to form around her newly placed ball of the hip, so after her seeing her x-ray from yesterday we definatly know that the pelvic bone is not fixing itself.
Much to our dissapointment we were scheduled for surgery again, on April 1st. Livie will go in for a 4 hour surgery to perform a "Pelvic Cut" on her pelvic bone. Then the Doctor will do a bone graft with a cadavor bone and fuse her bone to the cadavor bone. During this surgery they will also take out the metal plate and screws that are still on her femour bone and possibly add a new plate and screws to another area on her femour bone to correct a slight twist in the femour bone. She will be put back into a spica cast (body cast) that will hold the hip in place for about 4-6 weeks.
This news I guess was not a huge shock to us, but on the other hand we were hoping and praying to go to the appointment yesterday to find that the pelvic bone was fixing itself. But no such luck! It breaks our heart to know that our sweet little baby will now be in for another painful long recovery again. YUCK!

Cisco Fishing

2008-01-27T17:39:00.000-08:00

Griffin and Martin and PaPa (Martin's Dad) went to Bear Lake to go Ice Fishing for Cisco. They were there early in the morning before sunlight and caught 34 fish. Cisco fishing is pretty easy, you use a net on a long pole and net the fish as they swim by the hole cut in the ice. It was freezing, but great to spend time fishing with PaPa.

Our Basketball Star!

2008-01-19T17:26:00.000-08:00

Today was Griffin's 3rd Junior Jazz Basketball game. Our team is really getting good! We won 29 to 12 today! YEA YEA! Griffin made 3 two point shots and 1 three point shot! It was so much fun watching him get so excited and feel proud of himself. He is so cute, he will turn around after he scores to make sure that Martin & I were watching. What a cute kid! It is hard to believe that my little baby boy is so big now. He makes me so proud each day. We are still such good friends even with him getting older and more mature, he still likes his Mom and is a great son.

Wonderful Christmas Holiday!

2008-01-02T08:15:00.000-08:00

Our Family had such a fun Christmas break! Martin was able to have a lot of days off to be home for the Holidays, which was great! We had a Christmas party with the Southern family first, and everyone was there. Our kids get a little too crazy at PaPa's house, but it was a great time! The next party was at my Mom's house and my sister Amy and her family came home from Georgia just in time for that party. Amy & Dave & the kids had a rough, snowey trip and were glad to finally be in Nibley and be there safe. All the grandkids played in the snow and all got frozen, but had the best time doing it! The last family party as at my Dad's house on Christmas eve. Griffin and I were in charge of the nativity story, and it was neat to do such a spiritual thing with my little boy..... that is not really very little any more.

Christmas morning was go great, my girls are all so excited over everything and make it so fun to just watch them. Livie wanted a "Wizard of OZ" DVD sooooooo bad, when she found it in her stocking she kissed it! Bergin's most favorite item was the "Island Princess" barbie and elephant. Brinn got everything "Hanna Montana" and "High School Musical" that you can think of! Griffin's favorite thing was "Guitar Hero III", and I think that was probably Martin's favorite thing as well! They played it for hours and hours! The whole holiday went very smooth which made it more relaxing. Thank goodness for kids, they make everything so much more fun!

Brinn's Surgery update....

2007-12-19T10:05:00.000-08:00

Brinn made it through her surgery with no problems! She was in the O.R. for about an hour and the Dr. feels like the tube in her duct should be very successful! She was brave and actually even a little bit silly before they took her to surgery! The Dr. only had to probe and tube her left duct and it was very clogged and very very tiny when he got in there. He did have to make a few extra cuts and extra stitches than he planned, but everything should heal just fine. Now she is still bleeding a little from her eye & her nose , but not too much. Overall I think that it will be worth doing and she is definitely doing much better than I thought! Things like this make me very grateful for all of the blessings our family receives everyday and for having the priesthood in our home.

Trying to catch up on Blogging!

2007-12-15T14:40:00.000-08:00

Well, maybe this blog stuff is not something I am too good at..... It has been a month since I last wrote. I need a few more hours in each day! We have done so much since my last post. We had a fantastic Thanksgiving in Nibley at my Mom's house. It is always fun to get to spend time all my family, cuz we all get along so well!

It has been 1 year since Livie's first hip surgery and she is doing so great. We are still hoping that in Feb or March they will do the last surgery or even hoping that some miracle will happen and no more surgery will be necessary! Both of her legs are the same length now and she walks like nothing has ever happened to her.

Martin has been traveling quite a bit more this past month. He been doing auctions in Denver, St. George as well as his regular one in Salt Lake and Spokane. He is such a funny cute guy... we always miss him!

We made it through my 34th Birthday and Brinn's 7th! She had a big party that she invited 35 of her "closest" friends too........ and guess what 30 kids came! WOW that never happens! We told her to only count on about 15-18 kids to come, and we were shocked (about died) when 30 came! It was tons of FUN though! The kids were so funny and crazy and made it a great party for Brinn. No matter how many friends Brinn has next year at this time..... I will never let her talk me into 35 invites again! She just could not narrow the invite list down any more, and I caved in and gave it a try......... YEA- not doing that again!

Brinn has a clogged tear duct and has been seeing an eye specialist/ surgeon and just had her 5th eye infection (cold in her eye) for the year, so she needs eye surgery done now. On Tuesday Dec. 18th we will go in to the Brigham Hospital for her to get a probe done on her eyes and have tubes put into her tear duct and stitched into her nose. She seems fine about having the surgery done, but we will see how far that bravery goes when they are trying to do the IV or something?

We also took our annual trip to Malad Canyon to cut down our own fresh Christmas Tree. We always have so much fun sledding, freezing and getting our tree. We have done this tradition for about 7 years and it is getting more fun each year as the girls get older!

Fantastic Southern's!

2007-11-14T16:41:00.000-08:00

We have some great news in our family! Martin got chosen to be in his first commercial for TV. He went for an audition about a month ago for a "Workers Compensation Fund of Utah" commercial, and a few weeks later they called him to come back to film it for TV. We were so excited for him to be one of the ones chosen out of all that auditioned! He filmed it last week at a real film producing company in SLC. He had to sit in a chair for hair & make-up, get fitted for wardrobe etc... It made him feel like a real star! we do not know when the commercial will air, but if you see any "Workers compensation Fund of Utah" commercials be sure to look for Martin, his part was to be working on a lathe machine with safety glasses. CUTE HU!

Griffin is always doing so well in school, and he was chosen out of 4th and 5th grade students to be in a after school program called "Young Astronauts". Only the best academic and citizenship kids are asked to be in this program, so we are so proud of him for being picked! He is also finishing up his Hunter's Safety classes that he goes to for 6 hours every week. He does his shooting range test tomorrow and is way, way excited for that.

Brinn is our next great Southern! She was picked at school to receive the Citizenship award for the 1st grade for the month of October! We have always known Brinn to be a best friend to everyone.... but now even the school noticed how kind she is to everyone! What a sweetheart she is, we are always so proud of her!

Picnic at the Park

2007-11-14T16:17:00.000-08:00

On Saturday our family went on a bike ride to the new playground in Tremonton. We packed a basket with a picnic lunch in it and we rode to the park. We all rode bikes except the little ones, who rode in the bike trailer behind mom. (wow, what a workout!!) We had so much fun! We knew that we needed to get it done before the weather changes so much, that family bike rides will be out of the question. Lucky for us, the weather on Saturday was perfect for a picnic and playing on the playground. The best thing to watch was all the kids going down the slide one right after the other....... and ending up in a pile at the bottom of the silde. They must have liked getting smashed, because they just kept doing it to each other??? All went well, until the ride home when Dad tried helping pull the bike trailer a little bit with a rope to help Mom out with the heavy load. And we had a CRASH! Bergin, Livie and the picnic basket ended up scattered and tipped over all over the road! It was terrible! Livie got the worst of it.... her head must have slid across the pavement, as you can see! The worst part about it is when someone asks what happened to her head and she says "My Daddy did it to me". Ha Ha It makes Martin feel so bad, but her head is healing well.

Happy Halloween!!

2007-10-31T14:21:00.000-07:00

Our Halloween week has been so much fun! We have dressed our kids up about 4 times by now.... going to all the different parties and costume parades. However the kids have loved every second of it! They all LOVE their costumes this year. Griffin is a Jail Inmate (he claims he was put in jail for being so dang handsome) Ha Ha. Brinn is our Beautiful Witch. As we were doing make-up on her I said "do you want to be an ugly mean witch or pretty nice witch?" and she choose to be a pretty witch of course. Bergin is the Little Mermaid Princess Ariel. She was so excited that she did not have to wear a red hair wig...... cuz she already has her own pretty red hair. Livie is a Teddy Bear, and plays the part very well. She is extra cuddley and cute in her costume! Oh-Yea, my biggest kid of all Martin is a dumb looking guy??? I really don't know what you call that weird mask.... but it is funny looking! We took a family picture of us and since I was not dressed up I had to put on a scary mask just to fit in? Halloween is so much fun at our house!

Our family update

2007-10-09T09:35:00.000-07:00

I have not written for a long time, we seem to get busier by the day! This past weekend Griffin finally got done with Football! His team did so well this year, they even made it to playoff's! On Saturday they played Farmington's un-defeated team and lost, which kicked our team out of the playoff's. It was sad to lose, but the boys played like troopers in the snow, rain & mud! Martin & Griffin spent the weekend up in the mountains, elk hunting. They had lots of fun, but no elk yet..... Brinn is still the sweetest thing ever. She is doing so well in school and has got 100% on all her spelling tests! We are so proud of her! Bergin is going to preschool and thinks that she is 15 years old. She is such a smarty too! She is quite a bit younger than the kids in her preschool, because of her August birthday, but she is just as smart and can write and do everything they other kids are doing. Livie is just our yellow girl! Her favorite color is yellow and she tells everyone she sees how much she loves yellow! Livie loves Bergin so much and just copies everything Bergin does. But Livie can also stand her ground and does'nt let anyone get away with picking on her..... she is tough, for being the baby of the family! Our family is all well, and we are greatful for our health and each other!

Autumn is here.....

2007-09-19T12:57:00.000-07:00

We have had a great few weeks! Hunting season for birds has started, so Martin & Griffin have been gone a lot in the evenings hunting. I have been working at the flower shop for my Aunt Suzanne on Monday's while Daddy babysits the two little girls. Funny how, when I am home all day everyday with kids, it is not called babysitting......... but when Dad does, it is???? Griffin & Brinn & Bergin are loving school! Bergin wishes she could go everyday like the older kids, it is really hard for her to only go 2 mornings a week, it is not often enough for her. This past weekend we got to have our "Wood" cousins over to play. The kids are on cloud nine, when Tatumn & Owen get to come over. Livie loves Owen so much, Owen actually has to get mad at Livie to get her to stop kissing & hugging him. Liv is the funnest baby ever! She is potty trained so well now, that she will not even let any of us come to the bathroom with her to help! We are still staying busy running to dance, school, cheer, football, pre-school, scouts, etc..... but I think that is what I love about Fall time, is getting back into all these activities again.

Bergin starts Pre-school!

2007-09-11T09:01:00.000-07:00

Well, my baby Bergin has started Pre-school. It makes me a little sad this time to have another baby starting school. I think that the reason I am sad this time is because Bergin & Livie are so close in age, we have always called them "The two babies", and now Bergin is becoming a big girl. She grew up overnight, she acts like a 12 year old now. She knows all about school and everything she has to do, and everything she needs to take etc.... She especially knows how I should be doing her hair! (she is the hair boss!) Bergin is so much fun to have in our family, and with her loveable personality, we all get lots of affection from her. Livie and I will really miss not having her home on Tuesday & Thursday mornings!

Labor Day Weekend

2007-09-05T09:37:00.000-07:00

Our Labor Day weekend was soooo fun! We started out our weekend by Griffin playing a football game against their rivals the "Bee's". This game was extra speical to us though, because Griffin's cousin Shay was on the opposing team! The Bears played at the Bee's field in Brigham, but they still won! Our Bears won 33 to 6! Griffin played so well, he was first string defense as a defensive end, then also got to play about 1/2 the offense time as a guard. We were so proud of him, he is quite the tough player! Shay played good too...... he is the cutest thing ever!

Right after the game we headed to Bear Lake to camp. It was not so hot this time, so we enjoyed that. Grandpa Jones took us for some long boat rides across the lake. The kids played on the beach in between freezing & shivering. Ha Ha But it was still lots of fun to be with Grandma & Grandpa and Reggie (the dog).

Yea for School!!

2007-08-28T13:01:00.000-07:00

Griffin and Brinn finally went back to school on Monday! They both think that summer went by really fast, but Mom doesn't. This year in 4th grade Griffin has Mrs. Payne and for 1st Brinn has Mrs, Jensen. Both are very good teachers. I forgot to take their pic before school, cuz getting to school at a certain time was so important to the kids......so that is why their hair looks a little messy. It was a hard, hot day at school. Brinn loved being able to stay all day and eat lunch at the school,it gives her plenty of time to socialize!

End of Summer......

2007-08-26T17:38:00.000-07:00

We just got done with the Box Elder County Parade & Fair this weekend, which means school starts tomorrow! The three older kids (Griff, Brinn, Berg) were asked to be on the Chamber of Commerce float in the parade. We about had to force Bergin to even do it at all, she was so scared to be away from Mom for that long. But she did great for about half of the parade route, then when she was me and the whole family sitting on the side watching, she decided she had, had enough, and I had to go lift her off the float mid-parade. The kids were troopers though, they were still smiling even after getting rained on the whole time and then being cold & wet!

Griffin & Brinn both won first place ribbon for the drawings they entered in the fair. Martin & I won first place for our applesauce (first time ever making it) and we also got a big Rosette ribbon for Honorable Mention in canning. WOW Who would have ever thought it would do so well! We have had such a fun, fast summer, but will be glad to get back to a normal schedule as school starts!

The Southern Family

2007-08-09T14:58:00.001-07:00

This summer has been soooo busy and fun for our family! We got a small little old Motor home to take us all camping in and we love it! We took it to George Creek for the first trip in it and we had such a good time. Griffin started football 2 weeks ago, so that consumes a lot of our time now. He is playing "Tight End" and "Defensive End". Brinn is still our little "Cheerleader" and took a summer cheer camp, as well as a tumbling class from the best cheer coach ever (her aunt Suzanne)! Bergin just had her fourth Birthday, but acts like she is fourteen. The best word to describe Bergin is "SPUNKY"! Livie is best friends with Bergin and follows her everywhere! Livie has her check up this week at Primary Children's Hospital and her hip surgeon has decided to give her 6 more months to see if her pelvic bone will correct itself around the ball of her hip bone. It it doesn't correct itself, we will do another surgery in the spring. Our family is great and we are all happy to have each other!