Mills Moments

Flashback...summertime!

2011-12-19T17:41:00.022-07:00

A few more things we did over the summer...

In June, Emma and I went to the rodeo with Ashley, Nikki and Trevor. We LOVE the Strawberry Days rodeo!

Miss Emma

Me and Ash.

Emma and Trevor had a good time. She just giggled and giggled.
Emma and Ashley.

Nikki and Steve

Emma sat next to Nikki for a while and held on to her arm tight. I think she was afraid she was going to fall.

I also took the kids and went to the Corinne pageant to see Grandma and Grandpa Mills perform. We hung out with my friend Chrissy and had a good time. The kids thought it was fun to see Grandma and Grandpa up on stage. Levi was a little afraid when they came to see us after the show...he wasn't sure who Grandma was.

Emma took swimming lessons again this year with Hailey and Caden. She was much braver this year and did a great job even when it was freezing in the morning.

Aunt Trisha brought toys so the little kids could play in the water too.

Brayden the little dare devil!

Abby is such a good little mommy. She made sure Levi had enough snacks...as if he wasn't on top of that already...and would scream "LEVI" if he even thought about going near the pool.

Hailey and Caden trying to get warm after lessons.

We had a great 4th at my parents house this year. It is so fun to watch all the little cousins play together. We kept it low key this year and just did fireworks at the house. Levi HATED the sound and just cried. Ivan flew to Utah for the fourth and to drive us home, he was a good sport and stayed inside with Levi. Little Skylar was so cute in her tutu I made her. :) Family is good and we are all so grateful for the freedoms we enjoy!

I did Emma's hair so that it looked like a star. It turned out pretty cute!

My mom has lots of little tutu's in her dress-up collection. She has a big red tutu and a little one. Levi loves to wear tutus and twirl! It was so funny to watch him put on the little red tutu and twirl around and around. Daddy and Grandpa didn't think it was too funny.

The best thing that happened was a neighbor's dog came by and played with us. Brayden was in heaven!

Cute baby Skylar in her fourth of july outfit.

Grandma and Grandpa Workman came to watch fireworks with us too. My mom had surgery on her shoulder when we first came to visit. I am amazed at how tough she is. She really didn't need anybody's help.

When we got back to North Dakota we finally got our garden planted. We just did tomatoes and peppers as well as a couple cucumber and cantaloupe plants. It was so fun to work in the garden with Ivan and the kids. Levi loved the dirt and thought it was pretty tasty too! Since we planted so late we ended up pulling the plants up and bringing them in the house to ripen up when the frost came. We enjoyed fresh tomatoes for a few weeks and then ended up bottling tomatoes on the day we moved to Washington. I was pretty determined to enjoy the fruits of our labor!
We also had a ton of raspberries on our plants and had fun picking them and making yummy treats. Our house in Washington has raspberry plants too and they produce HUGE berries! We are excited to pick them this year....hopefully before the moose get them!

We also enjoyed playing at the park and watching the sun set over the prairie.

It has been months and MUCH has changed!

2011-12-12T20:40:00.015-07:00

It's really sad when you log onto your blog and realize it has been months since your last post...again! So...I suppose we are in need for a serious update.

Although we loved North Dakota, we came to the realization that it was no longer a place we wanted to raise our children. The oil field is getting super crazy there. There are tons of men everywhere and we all know how most boys clean up after themselves. :) The town is really growing and it is going to take a while to catch up with the growth. Everything was getting really expensive. Housing was ridiculous! When I tell people this they don't understand why groceries and everything would be so much more. Well, when you have to pay $16.00 an hour for grocery clerk and more for stockers that cost has to go somewhere. The shelves at Walmart are empty a lot of the time and there are lots of pallets of boxes in the aisles. It is hard for the stores to compete with oil field wages and most wives stay at home because their husbands make good money and are gone long hours. Williston has been on the news a lot. They have talked about everything from the housing crisis to the fact that strippers can make several thousand dollars a night working in Williston. Long story short....we prayed....made the decision to look for a new job for Ike....two weeks later we were in Rosalia, Washington for an interview. A few weeks later we moved to the beautiful area of Washington we now call home. Everything worked out so smoothly and we were finding that we had just what we needed when we needed it. We knew this was the right thing for our family. One of the best things abou it is that we have family near by! Ivan's brother Dave and his family live in Kennewick which is only 2 hours from our house. They came the weekend we moved and helped us with some unpacking. Emma was so excited to play with cousins. We are excited to go and visit their house sometime soon as well. My dad's brother Rick and his wife, Capri, live in Coeur d'alene and are only about 40 minutes from us. His sister Debbie and her husband, Gregg, live in Lewiston, Idaho which is about an hour from us. We were so happy to find out that my cousin Jennifer lives in Spokane! I see a Barlow reunion of sorts in the near future.

We found a really nice house to rent for now and we are loving it. We live just outside of Cheney, Washington in a really wooded area. We are only about 20 minutes from Spokane. I love that we live out in the country and are secluded but have everything we need close by. The house we are in is on 33 acres. It is gorgeous here. This is the road we live on.

And this is our driveway.

Here are some pictures of the kids walking down the driveway. Levi and I walk down to meet Emma on the bus when it is nice outside. We collected pine cones for our Christmas tree. We dipped them in glitter and tied twine to the top. It was fun for Emma and they look really pretty!

The kids were so excited to find a swing and a tire swing hanging from the trees on the side of our house. They are super fun!

Here are a few of our "backyard."

Did I mention we have wild turkeys, deer and moose in our yard? Pretty cool. I had never seen a wild turkey before and they are HUGE!

Emalee started school in Washington and it has been a BIG change. They do part time kindegarten here and she has been used to going full time. I thought it might be half day kindergarten but they actually go every other day, all day. It is really weird. She goes to school Tuesdays, Wednesdays and every other Friday. She also has a boy teacher now. His name is Mr. Audet and she really likes him. She seems to be liking school but will NEVER tell me what she did while she was there....amazing how she can forget everyday.
Emalee gets to ride the bus now and it is the best thing that has ever happened to her. She gets on the bus at 7:15 and the bus drops her off after school at 3:35. She rides the bus for almost an hour each way. I let her decide if she wanted to ride the bus or have me drive her to school and she definitely wanted to ride the bus. I think I have been way more nervous about it than she is! She just jumps right on the bus and goes. Her bus driver told me that she is having way too much fun! She rides with kids who are much older than her and I think she likes that. She is silly and has a great time with them. On the first day when she rode the bus home they put a label on her shirt so she wouldn't get lost and everyone would know who she was and where she was supposed to go. Ivan and I got a good laugh out of it. We told Emma that they shipped her home to us.

Our ward here in Washington seems to have a lot of young couples. There is an air force base here and well as Eastern Washington University. I just turned 30 on Thanksgiving and am feeling super old all of the sudden. :) There are older people in our ward as well and everyone seems to be very friendly. We haven't really made any friends yet but I am sure that we will.
Levi seems to like it here and is his usually naughty self...times two! He must sense that he is getting close to 2 or something because he has been a holy terror! He decided last week that he was DONE with his crib and could just "flip" right out of it. We got him a big boy bed the next day. I was irritated that we had to rearrange the kids' room...but it will be nice when it's all done. We found a bed on craigslist for $50, which was probably too much, but it is the style I wanted for him and is solid wood and is sturdy. We also found a mattress and boxspring from criaglist for $35 at a mattress store. It had fallen off of one of their trucks and got dirty from the road...but is brand new. The mattress is really comfy and is much taller than Emma's mattress so we let her switch with Levi. Emma's bed is much taller than Levi's and it fits it perfectly. I feel like we did very good for $85.00.
So far Levi has been a major stinker about staying in his bed...which is exactly what we expected. We had someone suggest that we put up a baby gate so he can't get out of the room. We gave that a try and he plowed right through it! So...I have been laying in bed with him until he falls asleep and then I sneak out of the room. A couple nights he has gotten out of bed over and over, but most of the time he will stay in his bed all night. We hope it gets better. Naps are non-existant at this point. I did lay down with him in my bed the other day and he slept for 2 hours. He will also fall asleep if we are in the car, but wants nothing to do with his new "big boy" bed.
Levi has also become a VERY good climber. He can take a chair or stool and get on top of anything he wants. The other day I heard him yelling MOM! over and over and I went in the kitchen where he was up on the counter where the snack jar is and had two handfuls of candy! He is also not very nice to his sister. He likes to pull hair and will scream until she gives him whatever it is she has that he wants. Somedays we feel like we won't survive El Diablo in our home. It's a good thing he is dang cute and has sweet side that he shows us once in a while. :) Here he is in the middle of a HUGE mess he made climbing on top of Emma's desk. He also likes to sit on the second floor of the doll house. Weirdo.

Skylar Grace Barlow

2011-10-06T09:04:00.010-06:00

Here is a little more from our summer.

In June, Jake and Jamie were blessed with a beautiful baby girl! I was so glad that we got to be in Utah at that time to meet her!

She is a beautiful baby and we are so happy for Jake and Jamie...they are really great parents also! Jake is going to school right now and is home with Skylar during the day. Jamie teaches 2nd grade and works very hard so Jake can attend school. They make a great team and are doing all the right things.
Here are a bunch of pics I took of Skylar while in Utah over the summer.

And here are some that I took in September of Jake's family and of Skylar.

Isn't she the cutest thing ever?!

We're still here!

2011-09-14T10:11:00.004-06:00

Wow! Life is flying by lately! We are still here though...and doing well. Miss Emma started Kindergarten and is loving it! She is changing so much and so fast! Ivan said last night that he was glad she was coming out of her shell but that maybe she should go back in just a little bit. haha

Ivan is busy, busy at work. A few months ago he was promoted from assistant manager to manager. He really enjoys his job but has alot of responsibility. He is doing a great job and we are so proud of him!

Levi is growing everyday and has the funniest little personality. He is all BOY! He is into everything and really keeps us moving. We had a rough two weeks when school started. Levi had double ear infections...again...and ended up with a bad rash from the amoxicillin. Looks like both our kids are allergic to penicillin. He has an appointment in october with an ear, nose, throat speciailist to see about getting tubes in his ears. I hope they figure out something to make him feel better. He constantly has ear infections.

Emma started coughing practically the first day or school and stayed home several days the second week of school with strep. Did I mention we went to 4 different doctors in 10 days. NOT my idea of a fun time. Both kids seem to be doing much better now. We hope they keep it up.

I have been super busy working a few days a week at the flower shop, being a mom and taking care of all of my church responsibilities. Our ward is growing like you wouldn't believe! They read in an average of about 4 families each week! Looks like a ward split is in the works. Our job as a relief society presidency has been very challenging this summer. We are mostly focusing on trying to meet and greet all the new people and try to get names straight. As the winter comes the growth will slow down.

The town of Williston is booming! There is so much traffic! I hate to even drive at this point...which unfortunately, is unavoidable. There are huge ruts at each stop light from semi's stopping on the hot asphalt over the summer. When I was taking Emma to school this morning I had to wait behind 15 cars at one stop sign and had about that many cars behind me. I don't see how this little town is going to keep up with the growth. Then at Walmart this morning there was over 30 grocery carts full of returns at the front of the store. Businesses are having a hard time competing with oil field wages and have very little help. Customers are getting frustrated waiting in long lines and often leave their full carts of groceries sitting there and leave the store. It really is a mess!

But...we really love the people here and all the friends we've made. We feel that we are right where we were intended to be at this time. It is an amazing thing to watch this growth...especially to watch the growth of the gospel in the little part of a big world. The missionaries here are keeping very busy and have baptisms almost weekly. Pretty amazing.

Well, that's all I have time for today. I have been doing quite a bit of photography and have lots of editing to get done today before scouts and church meetings tonight. I will be making lots of posts this week...so stay tuned! We have all summer to catch up on. :)

Here are a few pictures of Miss Emma on the first day of school. Can you tell who picked the outfit? I love the grouchy face...she didn't want to go the first day. Ivan had to walk her out to the playground with the other kids while the parents met with the teacher. She loves to go to school now though. She goes by Emalee at school because there is another Emma in her class. The little girl hugging her in the picture is Emma. I love how easy it is to make friends when you're 5.
As we said goodbye that day we had one really tear filled Daddy. I am so glad that Emma was blessed with such good Daddy that would take time off work to be there on her special first day of school.

Yes she is about a foot shorter than everyone else in her class! She is now in the 10th percentile for weight and the 15th for height. Levi is down to the 55th percentile and doesn't seem quite as huge as he once was.

Hangin' out in PG-Summer Catchup

2011-08-10T15:05:00.008-06:00

We spent a lot of time playing in Grandma Barlow's backyard while we were in Utah. Grandma bought a couple new swimming pools for the kids to play in and they had a blast! Oh yeah...can't forget the awesome squirt guns!

Levi and Brayden play so cute together...

And lots of pictures of the kids havin' a good time. Grandpa handed out LOTS of popicles!

Visiting Grandpa Butch

2011-08-10T14:21:00.011-06:00

Grandpa Butch got in a farm accident while we were in Utah so we went up to visit him one Sunday. We are so happy that he didn't get hurt worse! He has an old tractor that slips into gear sometimes and this time it ran him over! OUCH! His arm was just black and he said his leg looked the same way. He also broke a tooth and his collar bone. He is one lucky man.
Melissa and her family came down to see Grandpa too and it was so good to see them...even if it was just for a little while. Dusty and part of his family was there for a few minutes too. We don't see them nearly enough!
While we were there I took some quick pictures of the kids to use for Father's day gifts. I used these pictures on each side of a wooden tissue box cover. I painted the boxes brown and used some small rope and buttons to make them super cute. We made one for Grandpa Butch and one for Daddy's office.

We also got to see Grandma's colt while we were there. Kamree was so good with the horses. That little girl is really growing up!

Melissa's kids are a bunch of monkeys!

Levi had a good time playing blocks and trucks with Kolby and Kelton.

And here's a picture of Grandpa's arm. He was on pain pills that day and was pretty sleepy.

Levi is terrified of the Grandpa's dog. :)

Still playing catch up.

2011-07-20T12:52:00.016-06:00

I hate being this behind on the blog. I still have lots more updates! So here's a few more...

Family fun at the park: One night we decided to go to Arctic Circle for dinner and let the kids play on the playground. My parents and Jake and Jamie came, as well as Josh and Trisha and the kids. It was so fun! We had dinner, and complimentary cones of course, and then the kids played for a bit.

After we played there we decided to go to the Pleasant Grove park which I haven't been to in years. It was seriously so fun! It was perfect weather and what could be better than watching a 9 month pregnant lady swing! haha

Two babies in a swing! They had so much fun...neither one of them noticed that they were swinging together until the end. It was way funny to watch them try to turn around to see eachother.

Hailey felt right at home on the monkey bars!

And so did Jakie...

Emma had a ton of fun with her at the park, especially on the "tickle slide."

Levi was all over the place!...

More of Jamies's belly....because it makes me happy! I just wanted to capture how big she "felt." haha

Brayden was so funny on the monkey bars...I didn't think Josh was going to be able to get him down...

It was a great day at the park. Isn't family wonderful?

Callie Wallie

2011-07-16T16:50:00.002-06:00

We were so excited that Callie came to Utah while we were there. She lives in Colorado Springs now and we rarely get to see her. She also brought her mother-in-law with her and we got to finally meet.

Emma had a ton of fun playing in the backyard with Darcy and Abigail. And as you can see, Levi really loves kisses. :)

It was so good to see them and we can't wait until we can go to Colorado to visit them. I keep trying to get them to move here. Would that be AMAZING? Yes, yes it would.

Utah Blaze

2011-07-16T16:23:00.004-06:00

The first weekend I was in Utah we got to go to a Utah Blaze game. Jared's dad gave him eight tickets so they invited us to go with them. Josh and Trisha, Jake and Jamie, Maryn and Jared and I all went. We went to Olive Garden for dinner first then headed up to the game. It was SO much fun! My mom was amazing and watched my kids as well as Josh's that night so we could go.

I was really lame and left my camera in the car during the game but I took some awesome pictures in the car! My parents had us take their van so we could all fit. I think we might have had the most fun in the car.

See what I mean?

For those of you who don't know, the Utah Blaze is an arena football team. I did not know this existed. We had REALLY good seats and I felt like I could reach out and touch the players. It really was amazing.....even if Utah lost SO BAD. If you ever get the chance to go to an arena football game I say do it. So fun. Thanks Jared and Maryn for having us go with ya!

Utah!

2011-07-13T14:57:00.008-06:00

The kids and I headed to Utah the tuesday after Russ and Janelle had visited. The 16 hour drive seems to get easier everytime. Levi had woken up extra early that morning, so once we got on the road he slept for about 2 hours. Later he was super mad and ready to be out of the car. I gave him some benadryl which worked like a charm. He slept for about 3 hours then we stopped for lunch. After lunch he fell asleep for another 3 hours. It was divine! Emma is always good in the car and just colored and watched some movies. Levi still slept well that night and was so excited to see Grandma and Grandpa Barlow and be out of the car.
The next day the kids had fun playing in Grandma's back yard.

That night we got to go to my cousin Nate's wedding reception. My parents just bought a brand new van so we all got to ride in that. Jake and Jamie came too. Grandpa and Jake were really excited to sit in the back with Emma and watch a princess movie. The van they bought is a VW. My dad said it has a Chrysler engine and was built in Canada. Kinda funny. It is way nice though and has 3 dvd players. The windows on the doors roll up and down and they have a built in screen on the windows that you can pull up. You can also download your pictures and music right into the van. There is a touch screen in the dashboard where you can play music, look at pictures or watch a movie. It's pretty incredible.

It was so fun to see some cousins I haven't seen forever. My Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Farrell are on an LDS mission in Uganda right now so they had them on Skype. Isn't technology amazing? It was the middle of the night for them...but I'm sure they wouldn't have missed it for the world. They even moved the computer into the other room for dancing. Nate has a band so they were the "wedding band." My cousin John gave a very nice speech and then Nate sang a song to his new wife Eliza. Those Barlow's really know how to party! This first picture is one I took of the Groom's Room. These cousins were just hangin out in there. They said they didn't want to go downstairs because all the girls wanted to dance with them. :)

Here are a few pics I took of the reception center. My cousin Mark's in laws own this place. It is gorgeous! My Aunt Marilyn did the upholstery in the bride's room. VERY nice!

Visitors from Nebraska!

2011-07-13T13:57:00.008-06:00

Russ and Janelle and the boys came to visit us the end of May. It was so fun to have them come and see where we live. Russ went to check out Viterra and see where Ivan works and what he does. I don't know if he was impressed or not. He said that it was smaller than he thought it would be. The boys stayed home with Janelle and I and were excited to mow our lawn. We were excited to have them mow it for us! They are such good boys and really know how to work. It was good having them around.
We went out to dinner the first night they were here to JDub's Pizza. It was good pizza and company but the place didn't have water. They had bottled pop you could buy...but no fountain drinks or water. They couldn't even bring us ice...because they had no water! Weird. They told us we could fill up a glass in the bathroom. YUCK! That's North Dakota for ya.
I think the funnest thing we did while they were here was to watch lots of Mr. Bean on Netflix. I have always loved that show...but it is so much funnier when you have Russell and the boys laughing SO HARD!
On Saturday we joined our ward in cleaning up a park here in town. We clean this park constantly! It is a good thing for us to do...I just wish someone would maybe teach the boys who hang out at the skate park to clean up after themselves...you know..the whole teach a man to fish thing. It was fun to have family come with us to that.

We also had a ward bbq later that day. It was fun but there were not a lot of people that showed up. We hung around and ate some hotdogs and then took off. We drove around Williston and the surrounding area a little bit. Here's a picture I took of some oil field housing. They are individual rooms that are stacked. They came from the olympics in Vancouver by train. Kind of a cool thing to see.
We also stopped at a new monument in Williston which Russell got out to read. He said it was one of the most well written monuments he had ever read. I said that was really saying something coming from him! If I said that it would be more like that was the most well written of the 3 monuments I have read. haha Janelle and the boys said it took forever to drive here because they had to stop at every monument.
Russ and family wanted to go check out some sights so they went and visited the confluence center and Fort Buford. Levi was really grouchy by that time so I stayed home with him so he could have a nap.
They came to church with us on Sunday but left after Sacrament meeting to head home. It was so fun to have them come and visit us. Emma talked about it for days. We can't wait to head to Nebraska to see them next.

How we roll...

2011-07-13T13:25:00.005-06:00

One of the best parts about stayin' home with my kids is watching them be themselves. Know what I mean? This is Emma being herself...

And here are both little weirdos being themselves...

Both of my kids LOVE to be outside. When I was at my mom's house Levi would go to the door and point and screeeeaaaammmmm! He wants to be outside all the time. When Ivan gets home from work he is excited about him being home...and even more excited about the door being open. Here are some pictures of us playing at the school playground a while back with our friends the Freeze's. Levi loved having his Daddy lift him up to shoot a basket. Ivan has been playing basketball at the church with a group of guys at 6am about 4 days a week. I think he is crazy to get up that early....especially on days when he has stayed up really late...but he really enjoys it.

Time for some catch up!

2011-07-13T10:39:00.006-06:00

Summer has been flying by! I spent a month in Utah and have gotten even further behind on the old blog. Here we go!

Mother's Day...
I can't think of anything in life that I have done or could do that is more rewarding that being a mom. My kiddos drive me absolutely crazy but I love them more than anything in this world. Miss Emma is a little sweetheart and lets me know each day how much she loves me. We call her the Kissy Monster because she loves to give kisses...over...and over....and over! That takes us back to the driving me crazy part. :) She is such a good big sister and is such a big help with the little monster. I can't believe that she has been in our lives for 5 years now...yet I don't really remember life without her. She is very smart and very creative. She loves to tie things together and we find traps all over the house.
Levi likes to go go go! He is so busy and is such a boy. He is starting to snuggle lots more and loves to come and hug me during the day. The other day he hugged Emma and she was so excited that he hugged her "the way big kids do it!" These little people keep me so busy but I can't imagine anything I would rather be doing with my time.
Emma and Ike picked out a beautiful planter for me to put on our back steps. Ike also had the kids make these super cute cards for me. It was so funny because at the crawfish boil Levi kept dipping his hand in ketchup and anything else he could get his hands on and making hand prints. I guess he liked making the cards. :) The one picture that Emma is holding up says "Emma's favorite thing to do with Mommy" and it is a picture of a slide. I felt very loved this Mother's Day and am so happy to be a mom.

After Mother's Day my good friend Candace came and stayed the night at our house. She used to live in Ray and recently moved to Minot. She had been involved in the community choir, band and orchestra here. She has a major in music and is very talented. She plays the french horn in the orchestra but also plays the piano and guitar. I think she might also play some other instruments but I can't remember. She is amazing is all I know. I am sad that she moved because she was going to give Emma piano lessons and we were putting together a kids music time. Oh well.
We were able to go to her orchestra concert and I helped her do her hair. It was so fun to have her stay with us...I really miss her. Levi loved the concert! Only problem is he wanted to be really close to listen. That kids loves music more than anyone I know. When we were at church in Corinne there was a musical number and he bolted out of the overflow room where we were sitting so that he could see where the music was coming from. He likes to dance to every commercial with music and all his musical toys. He also really likes to lead the music at church. He is a funny boy. We enjoyed the concert despite having to chase around the little monster. This top picture is Levi conducting the audience. It was way cute...but I bet some people were annoyed. Such is life. :)

Crawfish Boil

2011-06-19T12:06:00.007-06:00

The Saturday before Mother's Day we went to our first ever Crawfish Boil at our friends Todd and Tonya's house. It was the same day I did a craft booth in the park for Snapbandz followed by working a few hours at the shop. It was a super long day but it was so fun to end it with some good friends. Our friend Chris was in charge of the food. They ordered shrimp and crawfish from Louisiana. He also did a couple different kinds of brisket. I am not a fan of any kind of fish but I did have some shrimp. It was AMAZING! I'm not sure what was on it besides oranges but I went back for seconds. The brisket was really good too...there was one kind that was mild and sweet and a cajun one that way spicy. They were both really good. We also had dutch oven peach cobbler for dessert. Ivan and I were not feeling adventurous that day so neither one of us tried the crawfish. Sounds about as good as eating a live grasshopper to me! They had a really cool table set up for the Crawfish. They cut holes in plywood and had garbage cans underneath. You can see it in the pics. It was a REALLY cold night so we ended up eating in the garage. This is the same house we had Thanksgiving at. The best part about moving so far has been all the great friends we have made. Here are a few of them...

And here's the food...

The ragamuffins...

And here's a few pics from the parade earlier that day. It was band day...whatever that is! All I know is there were lots of bands in the parade and lots of bands playing all day in the park. We had lots of fun.

A cold welcome home...

2011-05-31T16:39:00.007-06:00

When I got back to North Dakota from Utah the weather was terrible! I got home late on Thursday night and decided to take it easy at home all day friday...afterall I had driven 16 hours in the car alone with two kids! Friday was REALLY rainy and cold. When Ike got home from work he told me that there was a winter storm warning. Whatev. There is ALWAYS a winter storm warning in North Dakota. Well...with winds of 50+ miles an hour Williston ended up without out power...for days! There were tons of HUGE trees down in the middle of roads, on top of cars and a few houses. There were also lots of downed power lines. We were lucky enough to have a power company that got their power up and running quickly. We were only without power for 24 hours or so. We also lucked out with a gas stove that kept us nice and toasty. We also have a gas water heater, so we had hot water most of that day, until the water in the basement got high enough to hit the pilot light. Our basement started flooding the first of April. When the power went out and the pumps weren't running it got up to two feet down there. It is an unfinished basement but our furnace has been out since then because the pilot light is under water. We have a heater on the wall in our bedroom and the upstairs, the kids rooms, is heated with a space heater anyway. There are no heat vents to the upstairs...gotta love little old houses. :)
A few of our friends had no heat and Tonya's family had no heat or water. So it became a party at our house! Did I mention the snow? Yep. Lots of snow. So much for Spring. Tiffany, her husband and 4 kids came and hung out. Mandy, her husband and 3 kids also came. As well as Tonya, her husband and 3 kids. Yes there were 12 kids in my tiny house all weekend! We had a good time though. Most of the kids slept here and kept warm. The adults went home and toughed it out. Mandy and Logan did stay one night at our house though. We never really roughed it. We had the laptop to watch movies on that we were able to charge in the car. This was a good thing when it got dark but the kids were still wound up.

We had practically no groceries since I had been out of town for a month. We have food storage in the basement but it was tough to get to because of the 2 feet of water down there. Everyone brought food from their houses and we made lots of yummy treats. I called my mom for her brownie recipe and she suggested that we might consider making something like bread. haha The brownies were delicious and we made bread too. We also had no bake cookies. Nobody was going hungry around here.

The kids had a blast playing and destroying my house. I only had a bit of a panic attack over it. :) Mandy's little boy Tyson came up with the genius idea of sledding down our roof. I said we better hurry and take pictures before we needed to head to the hospital. It was actually a beautiful day after the storm had passed.

Luckily no one was hurt. They made the "slide" close enough to the house so they didn't fall off the roof. Alli did get fiberglass slivers in her hand when they decided to try again later after the snow was all gone. Crazy kids. I told Emma she could watch but not slide down the roof. Not that she would even consider it!
Church was cancelled on Sunday so we all just hung out. On Monday I went to work to process flowers for Mother's Day. They still had no power at the shop but did have a generator so we worked away to lamp light. The power was restored to Williston on Monday night but there were lots of people outside of town that were without for a week. I worked that entire week at the shop and also did a craft show on Saturday. I also worked the following Monday. That day was extra crazy. They had opened the shop on Sunday for cash and carry only. They sold every single thing out of the cooler. It was completely empty! We worked hard all day to get the daily orders out and attempt to restock the cooler. You would be amazed at how many people order flowers AFTER the holiday. I love working at the shop but it has been a nice break not to work the past couple weeks.

Easter Pictures

2011-05-30T19:17:00.005-06:00

I took these pictures of the kids in their Easter outfits while we were in Utah. It was a really cold and rainy day, but I think we got a couple good ones. :)

Easter

2011-05-30T17:10:00.007-06:00

We were so happy to spend Easter at Grandma and Grandpa Barlow's this year. We had our annual BBQ and egg hunt at Grandma Workman's house and it was FREEZING! We all huddled in the carport and visited. This will probably be our last year having Easter there since Emma will be in school next year.
Levi was really happy about picking up eggs. I love this age when they are discovering new things every day. Emma and Levi both got a lot of eggs. It was so fun to play with all our cousins. The kids also got spoiled by the Easter bunny. I think my favorite part about this Easter was Emma telling my mom and I the story of the resurrection. She had the most concerned look on her face and gave lots of details. I am amazed at the things that she remembers. My Mom's next door neighbor, Gina, is her primary teacher in my Mom's ward. She was my teacher MANY times growing up as well as a Young Women's leader for years and years. She is so good with the kids and teaches in a way that they really understand. It is fun to see Emma go to her class.

Quinn's Birthday

2011-05-25T16:57:00.006-06:00

We got to have a fun cousin birthday for Quinn while we were in Utah. I can't believe he is already 7! We went bowling at the new lanes in Lehi and had pizza for dinner. Grandma showed us all up at bowling and hasn't quit reminding us about it since. It was a really fun day.
Here's the group...

Uncle Jakie and Emma...

Eating pizza...

Brayden really wanted the cupcakes...

Quinn is such a good kid. He got 2 transformers for his birthday...one blue and one red. His favorite color is blue and Colin's is red. When Colin asked Quinn if he could have the red one he happily said yes and handed it over. I was pretty impressed. What a good bunch of Barlow kids we have!

Kangaroo Zoo

2011-05-23T14:58:00.004-06:00

We also got to go to Kangaroo Zoo when we were in Utah. We met Ashley, Nikki, Kasen, Megan and Talan there. Emma and Talan had a fun time jumping and going down the slides. I was surprised with how brave Emma was. She just climbed right to the top of the big slides and went right down! Talan wasn't convinced that the big slides were too fun...but he had lots of fun jumping! Levi had a good time just running around. Baby Kasen just snoozed through the fun.
When we left we got to go to the Pizza Factory and have lunch with the best waitress EVER! Maryn was home from their honeymoon to Vegas. It was fun to have her sit at our table and be our waitress. Good food too!

Maryn & Jared Hunter

2011-05-23T13:23:00.017-06:00

The number one reason for my trip to Utah this last time was that my sister in law, Maryn, was getting married. She got married on April 16th to an amazing guy named Jared. We all REALLY like Jared. He knows that he is now part of our family and I think he is ok with that.
It was such a beautiful day at the Salt Lake City temple. Maryn was gorgeous and everything was perfect. I'm not going to lie though...being in that sealing room was one of the hardest things I have ever done. There was a flood of emotions. We are so happy for Maryn and Jared and know that they made the right decision. We were also sad for us. For those of you who don't know, Maryn was married to my brother Joey who passed away December of 2007. We are so happy that Maryn has met someone to share her life with and who is a good man. I just have to have faith that everything will be sorted out when this life is over. This spirit was so strong in the sealing room, and I think we all felt of the comfort.
After the sealing Ashley, Nikki and I were able to follow the photographer around and take pictures. This was a blast. Maryn and Jared are so funny and we really did have such a good time. The photographer was amazing and was giving Ashley and I all kinds of tips and sat down and talked with us a little at the reception too. Here are a few of the pictures that I took.
I love these pictures in front of the fountain...

Warning: These are a little on the sensual side. :)

This picture is so funny because Jared was being crazy and posing for us and Maryn had no idea. hehe

These are some of my favorites...

Here are a couple of Levi.

It took lots of people to keep track of Levi this day...I love the one of my Dad and Levi walking...

Nikki and Ashley...gotta love these two!

Josh and Trisha's cute family...

Hailey and Caden were ready to take pictures when Maryn and Jared came out of the temple...I love the rest of the family in the reflection in this pic...

Grandpa and Abby going for a walk...

Here's a picture of the bouquet. I was able to do the flowers for the wedding and was so happy to do it. Did I mention the reception looked amazing? It was like a sea of blue. The long tables had runners on them so it looked like stripes. They also had chocolate fountains and lots of yummy things to dip in them. They did a really good job. Ashley made the wedding video with pics of them as kids clear up to the wedding day and it was super amazing also.

And Emma looked super cute too as usual. She just didn't hold still most of the day for me to get many pics...

Matt and Jacky's family was there at the reception too but I didn't have my camera when they were there. The photographer got lots of family pics though. Jamie must have been hiding from me that day too. :)
Congratulations Maryn and Jared! We love you guys!

Living Planet Aquarium

2011-05-11T15:09:00.000-06:00

While we were in Utah we went to the Living Planet Aquarium with Jake and Jamie. We were so happy that Jamie was on spring break and was able to come with us! It was the same day we went to the dentist. We also went to Los Hermanos for lunch. Yum!
I was worried that Levi would be naughty the whole time at the aquarium but he LOVED it! We went there a few years ago for Tanner's birthday but this time they had the penguins. They were the best part if you ask me. I could sit and watch them all day. Also really LOVED the sea turtle. Here is an overload of pictures...
Jellyfish...can you see me in the pink jellyfish? See sometimes I post pictures of myself. :)

Frogs...

LOVE this picture of Jake and Levi...

The group...

They have a place where you can reach in and touch the sting ray....way cool! It took Emma forever but we finally convinced her to try it.

Sea turtle and other cool stuff...

The kiddos in the boat...

Levi had a blast! He loved to run around and check everything out...

Penguins!...

More pics of the kids...

For some reason Levi is a balloon magnet. A random lady gave him these. Gee...thanks. He was loving it though. Most of them were mysteriously popped before we got in the truck. We still had balloons at Grandma and Grandpa's house from Emma's birthday. They lasted the entire month we were there. I told Grandpa that we needed to buy balloons that were less awesome next time.

The kids were exhausted by time we left...especially Levi. It took just minutes before he looked like this...

Sugar bugs...

2011-04-20T23:16:00.003-06:00

We have the best dentist in the world! My cousin Christie's husband, Keith, is our dentist. We like to go to him not only because he is a great dentist, but because he is amazing and so funny and we wouldn't get to see him often enough otherwise. I mean seriously, what other dentist do you know that sings to you the entire time? Really...this guy is so funny! He has been a part of the Barlow family for most of my life. I rememeber the first time we met. He picked me up and swung me around and sang "Mandy" to me. Can't forget a first impression like that. :)
My mom was concerned because Levi has broken his front teeth. Go figure. The kid is a mess! Keith says his teeth should be fine...they just don't look that great. He attempted to file them down a little but Levi didn't want anything to do with it. We will try again when he gets a little older. Emma got a check up too! She had 2 cavities...dang it! Keith calls them sugar bugs. They were able to squeeze us in the next week to get those taken care of. Emma did so good. I think it is because Keith is so good with kids and makes it much more fun than you would think a trip to the dentist could be. His assistant is way fun too. They were finding all different colors of sugar bugs in Emma's mouth.
When we got back from the first check up Emma told my mom that she was sick. I looked at her and said, "you didn't tell me that you were sick!" She said, "remember...the doctor told me?" I said, "oh yeah, she has 2 cavities." What a funny girl. When she got her fillings they gave her nitrous and she was soooo loopy! She even spit out the thing that was supposed to hold her jaw open and bit Keith's finger. hehe Thanks Keith for a fun trip to the dentist! We will try to do better about keeping the sugar bugs away. :)

General Conference

2011-04-20T23:08:00.006-06:00

I can't believe I almost forgot to mention conference. Jake, Jamie and I were blessed to get to attend the Sunday afternoon session of General Conference. This was on Emma's birthday! Our Bishop had announced a couple weeks earlier that anyone interested in tickets for conference should talk to him after church. I was surprised that our Stake got any tickets. I knew I wanted tickets because I was going to be in Utah anyway. He got me 3 tickets and mailed them to my moms house because I was already there. We have such a wonderful Bishop and I am grateful that he does what he says he will do. He is a great man!
It was such a great experience. We had really good seats and they were super comfortable too! I was so impressed when President Monson walked into the room. There was a hush of silence and the spirit was so strong. Jamie and I couldn't hold back the tears. I have never been to a meeting in my life where someone had walked into the room and without warning or notice that many people were brought to silence. It was an incredible feeling. That feeling continued throughout the entire meeting. I enjoy conference and like to record it so that I can go back and watch it again later. I enjoy being able to kick back at home in my jammies to watch conference. But nothing compared to the reverence and spirit that is felt when you are there in person. I am so grateful for the experience and am happy that I was able to share it with Jake and Jamie. I hope one day Ivan and I will be able to go together.

Baby Shower for Jamie

2011-04-20T22:49:00.003-06:00

Jamie is having a baby girl! We are soooooo excited for Jamie and Jake. They are going to be the cutest little parents ever. They have the nursery decorated so cute and seem so ready for this little angel to join their family. She is due June 12th. Of course I have to head back to Utah then to meet this little one who I am hoping will have RED CURLY HAIR! Jamie hopes she has dark hair, but of course she is going to be adorable either way. Haven't met a Barlow kid yet that isn't!
I was excited to throw Jamie a shower while I was here. Her mom came up from Richfield and of course the Workman girls came, Jacky and Trisha, Grandma Workman and Alene. We played a few games...guess which candy bar is in the "messy diaper" (Grandma had never heard of this game, note the picture below), baby animal names and a memory game using a tray full of baby items. We had a fun time and my mom made lots of amazing food as usual. She insisted that we have more than just snack food so she also did chicken salad croissants, pasta salad, fruit and veggie trays, brownies and cream puffs with pink and brown frosting. My mom also bought some beautiful flowers for me to arrange for Jamie. This baby is going to be SPOILED! She already has a closet of seriously cute clothes. I can't wait to meet her!

Sleepover in Corinne

2011-04-20T22:36:00.003-06:00

Kate was heading home to Washington on Thursday and planned to stop in Corinne, so we decided it would be a good time to go see Grandma Marjie and Grandpa Butch. We met Kate at her parents around 1:30 but Colty was very sick so they decided to hang out there a while longer. We headed up to Corinne anyway. Luckily Colty got feeling better so they were to Corinne by dinner time. The roads were terrible between P.G. and Corinne and we were grateful that we all showed up safe and sound. It was raining sheets of water for my drive and Kate also got some hail and snow thrown in there.
We were happy that their plans got changed because we got to have a sleepover! Emma was so excited to spend some more time with her cousins. We were also pleasantly surprised when Uncle Russell showed up from Nebraska and heard that KaDee was spending the night also. It was really random that we were all there on the same night but it was fun. We had a nice dinner and Grandma made popcorn and we also got to try out their soda machine. It was a fun night and we were happy to get to visit for a while. Emma was also excited to open her birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa Mills since they didn't make it to the party. She loves the Leapfrog DVD they got her about school.

A picnic with some familiar faces...

2011-04-20T22:14:00.007-06:00

Kate decided that it would be fun to get together with some of her old roommates from college while we were in town. They lived just a few doors down from me and we were all in the same ward, so I knew them all also. We met at a park in Lindon and had a picnic. There were some horses behind a fence there that the kids were so excited about. Kate also brought some bubbles and Emma and Tanner played so cute together with them. It's sad that we don't get to see our cousins very often.

Levi was tired and pretty grumpy the whole time. He has decided that he does NOT like grass and didn't want to walk around with the other kids. After we were there a while a couple of the kids need to go potty and the restrooms were locked. Eliza's parents live close to the park so we headed to their house. They had ducks, baby geese, bunnies, chickens and a playground! I wondered why we ever bothered to go to the park! The kids had so much fun! Levi loved the baby geese. Brooke's little girl Sadie is hilarious. When we were at the park she had practically her whole arm in the horses mouth to feed them, then at Eliza's parents house she was chasing the ducks...all this while wearing a skirt and tights. That's my kind of girl!
It's so fun to see our old friends and catch up a little.

Emma turned 5!

2011-04-20T22:03:00.004-06:00

We got to Utah on Wednesday and had a birthday party at my mom's house for Emma on Saturday. Levi's favorite part was the balloons. 2 1/2 weeks later we still have a couple! Next time we will buy less awesome balloons. :) We were so happy that Aunt Kate was in town and came to the party with cousins Tanner, Colton and Braden!

We had a Strawberry Shortcake party. We planned to start the party outside with some little games, but Emma went outside...saw a BEE...and then came back inside. SHE WOULD NOT GO BACK OUTSIDE! Maryn's now husband, Jared, was there and helped me talk her into going back outside. She was still terrified of the bee outside so Aunt Trisha saved the day and took her inside to spray on some "bee spray."
Here is a picture of her pouting...hehe

Emma and Aunt Trisha...

The kids played for a few minutes then we decided to do the pinata that Grandpa had bought for Emma. It was a strawberry shortcake pinata! Thanks Grandpa! It was a different kind of pinata. Each kid got to pull and string and only one string was the one that opened the door to the candy. We thought we might have to do the party inside because of the weather and that that kid of pinata would be better for indoors. I was amazed that each kid got to pull a string and it was the very last string that did the trick. We weren't sure it was going to work at all for a minute. :) When all the candy came falling out the kids huddled together...all except for Emma who stood back and cried because she couldn't get any candy. We helped her put some in her bag and her cousins were nice to share with her. She really just doesn't do well when there are a lot of people around. Next year I think I will just give her a cupcake. :) We finished up the pinata just as it started to storm so we headed inside.

Grandpa made us hotdogs for dinner and we had lots of other good food too including strawberry soda.

After we had dinner we sang Happy Birthday and had some strawberry cupcakes and strawberry icecream. Levi likes to lead the music...

Emma was spoiled rotten and loved opening all her presents.

Aunt Kate and the boys got her an awesome alphabet train puzzle. She was excited about this cause it's the same one they did at gearing up for Kindergarten. Grandma got her several Strawberry Shortcake DVD's so we watched one while we ate. She got a travel glow station from Josh and Trisha and the kids. Emma was soooo excited about that! Hailey and Caden got them for Christmas and Emma was sad that Santa didn't bring her one. If only Santa had known they existed. Jacky and the kids got her an awesome Strawberry Shortcake toy which she loves. The Workman's got her one of those terrifying little zhu zhu pet baby buggy things. Thanks Ash! ;) Daddy got Emma the Baby Alive doll that she had asked for and let her open it before we left North Dakota. I got her a remote control my little pony airplane that does not fly. Yes it is as weird as it sounds...and it plays the theme song from my little pony. She asked for that also. Like I said, the kid is spoiled rotten. We were so happy that everyone was able to come and that we could share this birthday with our family. Next year Emma will be in school and we probably won't be here for her birthday.
I still just can't believe that she is FIVE! I am so grateful for my sweet little girl...even when she chooses to be sour!

Sooooo much to blog about!

2011-04-20T20:58:00.004-06:00

So I have been in Utah for 3 weeks today! We have had so many fun adventures since we got here but I think I better finish up blogging about my North Dakota adventures first.
I was able to attend our Stake Relief Society Activity that had been postponed just a few days before we headed to Utah. It was such a last minute thing to go (I decided around 1pm to go and we left at 3pm) but I am so happy that I did! And I am VERY grateful for my wonderful husband that supports me when I make random last minute decisions like this.
There was a lady in our ward, Christine, who had planned on going to the activity with a friend. Her friend ended up leaving town at the last minute to go to a funeral so she had no ride. This was the last of many things that happened that made me finally decide to go. I picked her up at 3 and we headed to Bismarck. Can I just say that I LOVE getting to know new people? Christine's husband is our Young Men's President so Ivan gets to work with him at church. Christine teaches primary though so I don't get the chance to see her much. She is so fun! We talked and talked the entire 4 hours! When we got to the Stake Center they were playing some fun getting to know you games. Our Stake Relief Society Presidency is amazing and had thought of everything! The focus was mostly on how no matter what our age or different factors, each of us can relate to eachother in some way or another. One game we played was called have you ever? They had the chairs around the outside edge of the gym and had us run to the center of the floor and high five the other people in the group if they mentioned something that applied to you such as have you ever been bungy jumping? I got to run to the center for that one! Other's included things like attended college, graduated college, lived in a different country, have a birthday in January and so on. It was so fun to get to know so many different people so quickly and get to know more about the friends I have already made. I even met a girl there from Pleasant Grove! She looked so familiar and it wasn't until the next day that we figured out that she was friends in High School with my best friend Brandy! Small world.
That night they also had a wonderful video presentation focusing on humanitarian work and hygiene kits. They had requested that each ward collect items to assemble hygiene kits that night. The lady in the video is from Africa. She told her story of growing up with practically nothing, being run out of her home, losing her family, being kidnapped and being threatened to have her legs cut off. Through all of this she relied on God, prayed and by some miracle was saved. Sometime during all of her struggles she was given a hygiene kit. She CHERISHED this hygiene kit. She met members of the LDS church and was taught the gospel. She joined the church and had a desire to serve a mission. She was called to serve at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. Just before she was to leave for her mission she got word that her little neice and nephew had been found. She was their only relative and felt that she needed to stay home and take care of them. The wonderful LDS family that she had become so close to said that she needed to serve her mission and that they would take care of the children while she was away.
She took her hygiene kit with her and headed to Utah. She was told that she did not need to take it with her because she was going to the land of everything. This was her only posession and she treasured it. She spoke of each item in the kit with gratitude and told of how she shared each item except for one toothbrush that she was selfish with. :)
While serving her mission she met a couple that were looking to adopt a baby from Africa and asked her if she knew of anyone. She showed them the picture that she carried with her of her neice and baby nephew. The family ended up adopting both children. When her mission ended, this family requested that she stay in Utah and not return home to Africa. They showed a picture of her neice who is now grown and was recently married in the temple. The nephew is around 8 years old and was in the picture also. She now travels and speaks at Time Out for Women.
She had such an amazing story and I couldn't help but think that she is just one woman. One woman who had been blessed to receive a hygiene kit. One woman who shared that hygiene kit to bless the lives of many others. One woman who has learned and knows the truths of the gospel and loves to share it with anyone who will listen. What a great example she is.
We were able to put together MANY boxes of hygiene kits that went to bless the lives of people in need in our community. This was such a great lesson and one that I hope I will not soon forget.
That night Christine and I were able to share a room with our Bishop's wife, Karen, who also happens to be our Stake Relief Society President. She also had staying with her my good friend Shawna and another lady from our ward named Rozanne. We had such a fun time together! When Christine and I got to the hotel they were doing facials. Karen had this amazing dead sea scrub that you take off with a magnet. I need to find me some of that! My face felt amazing afterward. We stayed up late sharing stories with eachother and just being silly. I learned lots about our Bishop. :) When we (I) finally settled down and it got quiet, Karen decided to sneak across the room to my bed and tickle my feet. These ladies are CRAZY!...just the way I like them. And here are a couple really scary picture of us with scrub on our faces...sometimes I think it's time for a funny face when it's not.) lol

The next day we had a very nice lunch at the church and watched a funny and well done play on visiting teaching. These ladies just amaze me. The lead girl who also sang a lot in the play was not able to be there because the activity was rescheduled, so they had another girl fill in and she did so good. I actually really love visiting teaching but of course understand how it can be a real struggle to get it done. We also attended 3 different workshops on visiting teaching. I loved all the stories the sisters shared about ways that visiting teaching has blessed their lives and the unexpected friendships they had made. I am so grateful to be a member of the church. I have so many friends in the gospel and know that I am never alone. I am so glad that I followed the MANY small whispers of the spirit that told me I needed to go to this activity.

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

2011-03-28T20:47:00.008-06:00

I have been doing more photography. Check out this adorable baby! This is Miss Autumn. She is 7 weeks old in these pics and belongs to my good friend Elizabeth. We had so much fun changing her clothes and hair bows. I have a ton more to edit but this is a start before I head to Utah tomorrow morning for a MONTH!

Patrick Day and Bowling

2011-03-28T17:30:00.006-06:00

We mostly just hung out at home on St. Patrick's day this year. Emma made a fun shirt the other day when she was at my friend Kelli's house. We did her hair so it looked like a four leaf clover (sort of) and added some ribbons to it. Daddy made us some green pancakes for breakfast which were delicious. We had planned on an all green dinner but Ivan was very sick that day so we went with some homemade chicken noodle soup. It was a good day. Emma asked me all day if it was still Patrick Day. She is so funny.
We also went bowling a couple Saturday's ago when my relief society activity was canceled. We went with a few friends and their kids. Emma had so much fun with her little friends and it was good to do something as a family.

The amazing world of the four year old...

2011-03-12T23:40:00.007-07:00

Our little girl will be turning 5 years old in a couple weeks! I cannot believe she is that old! She has grown up so much this year and is really looking forward to Kindergarten this fall. She has come out of her little shell and has made a lot of new friends in North Dakota. She even talks to grown ups some times! She is an amazing big sister and shows so much love for her little brother. I laugh when I remember her calling him "a handsome little level." She is such a big helper and loves to take care of her little brother. She is always watching out for him and yells out several times a day "BABY ON THE LOOSE!" Levi is a little trouble maker so it is a good thing he has a big sister to keep him in line. I know exactly how that goes! :)
Miss Emma is a character. The last few months she has decided that she can do lots of things because she is FOUR YEARS OLD! Here are a few of them:
*Four year olds like jam on their pb sandwiches...until now Emma has NOT liked jam. She used to just ask for "peanut butter bread."
*Four year olds are big enough to help put away clothes.
*Four year olds like tomatoes...before she wouldn't even try one.
*Four year olds like strawberries...Emma hated strawberries so much that she would throw a fit at cafe rio when they would put a slice on her plate with her quesadilla.
*Four year olds like oranges too! Emma has always loved veggies but it has taken her FOUR YEARS to learn to like most fruits.
*Four year olds can do lots of things on their own...pick their own clothes and get dressed, say the prayer, make their bed, pick up toys REALLY FAST, give themselves a bath, comb their own hair, and many many cool gymnastics stunts/tricks. Isn't the four year old just amazing?!
Oh yeah, and she also has a little boyfriend named Kasen. He is my friends little boy. She willingly admits that he is her boyfriend but he will NOT admit she is his girlfriend...however he asks his mom every day if she is coming over. They play so cute together and like to whisper to eachother with their noses almost touching. We had them holds hands for the picture in my previous post. It took Emma a minute but she got him to do it! Four year old love! :)

We are so proud of our beautiful little four year old and can't wait to see what new things she will learn when she is FIVE!

More pictures..

2011-03-12T22:50:00.007-07:00

So the weather was HORRIBLE on Friday morning when we were supposed to leave for Bismarck...so horrible that the Stake Relief Society President called me at 8am to let me know the RS activity was cancelled. SO glad we didn't go. We had winds up to 50 mph and freezing rain. My friends and I decided that we would still hang around here and go shopping for the day. It was fine for the most part except for when it was a complete white out and we had to stop in the middle of the road. I also got blown into a parked truck while walking into a restaurant...but nothing serious. :) We had a ton of fun! We started at the thrift shops and I found a cool lamp that I will be repurposing for Emma's room. I have a few other similar projects that I will be posting soon. I will also eventually get her room finished and post lots of pictures!
The good news about the activity being cancelled was that I had time to finish editing pictures. WARNING: You are about to experience a serious picture overload! The top are of little Levi and the rest will be my favorites of the Freeze kids.

Sneak Peak

2011-03-10T23:21:00.003-07:00

Today I took Levi's one year old pictures. This is the only one I have had time to edit so far. I love learning new ways to take and edit pictures. I probably do everything the hard way but as long as the end result is good I am fine with that. I also took pictures of Emalee and my friends 4 kids today. WHEW! It was a long day and I have spent several hours editing and now the day is far over. Tomorrow I get to head to Bismarck yet again with some fun friends for a 2 day relief society activity. More pictures to come...

A Seusserific Birthday Party!

2011-03-08T11:30:00.008-07:00

Levi shares his birthday with the magnificent Dr. Seuss. We decided that it would only be appropriate to party accordingly. My friend Tiff and I made this amazing cat in the hat cake. (At least I thought it was amazing.)

We attempted fondant but it turned into a big mess...I think the piping looks great anyway. The goldfish I sculpted out of gum paste. We made the cake out of rice crispies so that it would be strong enough for the original fondant idea. We also made cupcakes with blue and red frosting. On Saturday we had a little party at Pizza Hut with a few friends. It was way fun! Ivan thought I was crazy for doing a party for a kid who won't know the difference. I told him when you live in North Dakota any excuse for a party is a good one! :) Levi did have fun though. I was happy that he was feeling much better by saturday. We made some fun hats with the kids. They could either have a cat in the hat hat, or a thing 1 or thing 2 hair hat. They turned out so cute! Levi was not happy about the group picture...which I think makes it even better! The picture of Amanda and her boys was great though! It was her youngest little guys birthday that day...he turned four. When our party was done we got to go to his. It was a very fun and long day!

We gave Levi his own little cupcake to devour. He was loving it! At first he just held it up to his face like he was hugging it and at one point he was licking the plate! LOVE this kid!

Levi was VERY spoiled for his first birthday. He got a few more tractors, a hammer and peg toy and a hammer train toy. He was ripping the paper right open! He is so funny.

The kids had the most fun running around and playing with the balloons. We sure miss our family on days like this...but it's so good to have friends!

Little Man turns one!

2011-03-08T10:26:00.002-07:00

Levi turned one last Wednesday the 2nd. I can't believe it has already been a year! He was very sick that day so we mostly just stayed home. He was running a temp of 103. We took him to the doctor on Thursday when his temp was back up to 103. He has pneumonia and an ear infection. We have been doing breathing treatments 4 times a day and he is on a couple of antibiotics. He is much better now and seems to be back to his crazy self.
On Levi's birthday Ivan had scouts so we waited for him to get home to open presents. He LOVES the dumptruck with blocks in it. Every time Ivan or Emma would try to build something on the bucket he would rip the blocks off and throw them back in. He is a silly little guy. Emma picked out a little book for him that lights up and sings and he loves that too. He also got a cool plush John Deere tractor that makes tractor noises when you push on the hood. It was a good day...minus the fever anyway.

Valentines Day

2011-02-24T12:28:00.006-07:00

At the beginning of February Tiffany and I decided it would be fun to make cookies with the kids. She has this great sugar cookie recipe that does NOT require you to chill the dough. The kids had a lot of fun! We also did a few chocolate molds. They were a little more tricky so Tiff and I did them. Here's a few pics...

Levi is pretty content to just hang out on the floor...

And here's one of Emma and Dakota with their chocolate lips!

Here's the recipe for those who want it:

Sugar Cookies
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C. sour cream
3 1/4 C. flour
1/2 C. shortening
1 C. Sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 egg (beaten)

Mix together. Roll out and cut shapes. Bake at 350 for 8 minutes.

The week before Valentine's Day I worked at the flower shop in town. This shop is AMAZING! It is a really big flower shop and the building was built in 2000 so it is pretty new. It has a big greenhouse as well. They have a bunch of full time floral designers, 2 full time greenhouse ladies and also a full time girl that manages the gift area. They have tons of different things in the shop for gifts such as paintings, tons of different candles and lotions, furniture, home decor, lots of baby items and even tons of cookwear. The manager is really cool. I wasn't sure what they wanted me to do at first...and when I asked he told me to use whatever flowers and containers I wanted, to have fun and be creative. LOVE! In the greenhouse they have rows of vases and containers to choose from. We also had almost any flower imaginable for Valentine's Day. They also have a lot of fun things like wire mesh, colored wire, picks, and wire moss. It was fun to see all the different styles of the designers. I had a blast working at the shop and actually worked for 9 days straight! It was crazy and exhausting but we had a ton of fun. My friend Mandy also works there so that is fun too. The girl that works in the gifts is named Mandy also...so that makes 3 of us!
They didn't have enough room for all the designers in the design area so Mandy and I and another designer, Amy, got to design in the greenhouse. It was fantastic! We could actually hear the music, the sun was shining down on us even though it was FREEZING outside, and there were flowers everywhere! We also didn't have the stress of all the customers bugging us. We sold just under 7000 roses! That is crazy! They said that this was their biggest Valentine's Day ever. They had about 750 sales at the cash register on that day alone. There were people everywhere in the shop the entire day. We would design something in the back and walk out to put it in the cooler and someone would take it out of our hands. It was impossible to keep up. In fact, they quit taking orders for delivery by 2pm on Valentine's Day so the rest had to be delivered Tuesday. I am going to start working just a couple days a week and Tiffany will watch my kids for me. Way fun!
I took just a couple pics while my phone...

Gettin' a little cheeky!...

2011-02-24T12:05:00.002-07:00

Levi is a little stinker! This little guy is SO BUSY! A few weeks ago Ivan was getting Levi ready for bed and made the mistake of leaving him alone with just a diaper on. I was in the room but I just watched. :) As soon as Ivan went up stairs to get pj's, Levi ripped off the diaper and took off. When I grabbed my camera and said his name he just looked at me with this grin! He knows he is naughty. I say NO NO all day long! He knows what it means now...he will go to do something naughty and stop to look at me to see if I will tell him no no. He does have the fact that he is completely adorable going for him. Look at those cheeks! Don't ya just wanna pinch 'em?...all four of 'em? And those thighs! I just can't get enough of this kid. He has finally decided to really crawl. At the beginning of this month he would just roll and army crawl to get anything he wanted. He would also walk along the furniture, which he is still doing, but now he is REALLY fast at it! He has taken a few steps between Ivan and I but hasn't really taken off walking on his own yet. He will turn one this coming Wednesday and I will post much more about him then.

Heat Wave

2011-01-26T16:22:00.015-07:00

The other day it got up to 32 degrees! Woohoo! With the windchill it was still only 20 above...but it felt so warm! We decided to take advantage of the fabulous weather and go sledding...this time Ivan was able to come too! Our friends Justin and Amanda joined us along with their two boys, Christopher and Jacob. Tiffany also brought her four kids. Emma has so much fun playing with McKilie and Dakota. She likes to play with the boys too but she really loves when the big girls come to play.
Bridger and Levi were both asleep in the cars. Levi woke up just before we left so we bundled him up and Ike took him down the hill a couple of times. I'm not sure if he liked it or not...he mostly just look confused. :)
Here's a cute picture I took of Levi all bundled up...

Check out this kids cheeks! LOVE them!

Beautiful Dakota...she likes to pose for the camera!

Levi and his Daddy...

I love this picture...

Crazy girls...

Amanda and Tiffany...

Tiffany and McKilie just about went into the road!

Kasen and McKilie...

Justin and Jacob...

Kasen...

Amanda on the snowboard...

A shot of the group...

After we got home we had some hot chocolate and I took a few more pictures of the kiddos...it was a good day!

Girls Night Out

2011-01-23T17:33:00.011-07:00

Last night I was able to go out with a bunch of friends. We went to Applebees for dinner and then bowling. Ten of us ended up going and it was soooooo fun! All the restaurants in town are a joke. They can't find anybody to work so they are always shorthanded and it takes FOREVER! Our waitress was really struggling. My friend Amanda ordered some chili and a dessert but her chili never came. Then they tried to charge her for the chili and a drink and TWO desserts. She had only ordered water to drink. She had to expalin it several times and the waitress finally got it. Then our friend Keisha FINALLY got her dessert which was a hot fudge cake with ice cream...but the cake was FROZEN. REALLY FROZEN. We had a lot of fun laughing about the whole situation and even more fun laughing at Amanda who has the best laugh EVER...snorting and all! :)
Ivan was amazing again and stayed home with the kids and also watched Tiffany's 4 kids becuase her husband was at work. He is the man!
We had so much fun bowling. I'm not sure I have ever bowled more poorly...but it was great. The second game we played we decided to mix things up and have different rules for each frame. We had to bowl granny style, backwards, spin and bowl, bowl on your belly, bowl while holding someones hand and bowl through the tunnel. It was hilarious. Our friend Elizabeth is 37 weeks pregnant and she is the bowling queen! She made us all look bad. I wasn't sure that I wanted to go out last night but am so glad that I did. We have such a fun group of friends here. Give us lots of sugar and keep us out late and it gets pretty crazy! Here's the proof...
It's good to celebrate the little things...and a little bum pinching never hurt anyone. :)

The tunnels..

These ladies really are crazy...and I like it!

Keisha likes to be the center of attention...lol

Belly Bowling...Mandy was super excited when she got a strike!

Miss Shawna

Definitely need to do this again...and again...and again...

COOKIES!

2011-01-23T16:43:00.004-07:00

There is not too much to do in Williston because it has been so cold! Most of the time we get together with friends at McDonalds and have lunch and let the kids play on the big indoor playground. Last week my friend Tiffany just brought her 4 kids to our house to hang out. I had bought a cookie kit from a little girl in our ward for a band fundraiser. The sugar cookie dough was in 4 tubs and were different colors...like play dough. We had lots of fun making different things out of the dough and were amazed at how big they got when they baked! The kids (and big kids) played with the cookie dough for a long time and then played with toys while we waited for them to bake. It was way fun! The girls were out of school that day and it was fun to have them come over too. Emma has so much fun playing with these kids. Here are the few pics I took....we were too distracted by the cookies to take too many pictures. :)

Here's Emma...don't know why her eyes are closed.

Cute little Bridger

McKylie showin' off her cookie...

Ready to go in the oven!

New Years Day

2011-01-06T17:03:00.014-07:00

We got up early New Years Day and drove 2 hours to Woodruff, Utah where Ivan's brother, Dusty, works on the LDS church ranch. Melissa and Klade and their kids met up with us there. We had the whole family together except for Dave and Kate. Dusty said that they had been feeding elk on the ranch and thought we would like to see. I am a little slow sometimes and thought we would see a few elk in his backyard. I was pretty excited when we pulled into the ranch and saw this...

After everyone got there we put on snow clothes and headed out.

Dusty had a big tractor with a really big trailer on the back. We went and waited while he loaded some hay onto the trailer leaving a path down the middle for us to walk down. We all parked our cars and jumped on the trailer. Ivan had bronchitis and little Levi had a bad cough so they rode in the cab with Uncle Russ. The rest of us braved the 4 degree weather. I truly did not think it felt that cold. I must be climatized or something. We didn't have to drive far before we saw this...

It was AMAZING! It was a beautiful day and I think we all had a good time. Here are a few pics I took of the group on the trailer and a picture of the tractor of course!

Emma was really bundled up for the trip and got a little to cozy and fell right asleep. Grandma did a good job holding her so she wouldn't fall off the trailer! We loader her in the car and she was still VERY asleep. Funny girl.

When we finished we headed back to Dusty and Brandee's house and had some fabulous soup and salad and cinnamon rolls for dessert. We were so glad to get to see lots of the family while we were there. This is something we will always remember. The kids always have so much fun together too!

We also saw a few bald eagles. I love red barns in the snow so I thought I'd take of picture of them too.

That afternoon we drove back to Corinne to stay the night and got up early the next morning to head home to North Dakota.

New Years Eve

2011-01-06T15:09:00.005-07:00

New Years Eve we drove up to Corinne. Russ and Janelle and the boys stayed there that night also. Emma was excited to go and open her present from Grandma Marjie and Grandpa Butch. She REALLY wanted a pillow pet and we knew that Grandma had bought her one. She kept talking about it on Christmas and knew that Grandma Cocoa had bought the other kids pillow pets. I finally had to tell her that we had more presents to open in Corinne and she just might get a pillow pet. She was so excited that Grandma Marjie got her just the one she wanted! Now that she has her pillow pet she has seen commercials for the new happy nappers and is sure that is what she needs for her birthday! haha Levi was pretty happy about his penguin pillow pet too! On our drive home Emma let me borrow her pillow pet and I must say I love pillow pets! Ivan enjoyed the pillow pet during his nap in the car as well!

Ivan and I ran to the store to get some munchies and some cereal for the next morning since we had to leave EARLY in the morning to head up to Dusty's house. While we were in Brigham City we went to see my friend Jewel that I worked at the flower shop with. I sure miss that lady! She used to babysit Emma for me on her days off and has a granddaughter that is a year younger than Emma that she watched too. Emma loves Reagan! She talks about her all the time and was so excited when I told her we were going to see her. When we got there they hugged and then held hands as they walked downstairs to go play. We even got to see a puppet show! They are so cute! When we had to leave they just said see ya later aligator to eachother.

Next we headed back to Butch and Marjie's and hung out there all night. It was a pretty happenin' party! haha I think Marjie fell asleep the second she sat down! Emma was just happy to see Daniel and Dalton. It was a nice relaxed new years eve...and I even got a kiss at midnight! :)

Ready to go...

2011-01-06T14:48:00.002-07:00

The biggest challenge we faced on vacation was packing everything to come home! My car was completely packed when I drove to Utah and on the way home I had Ivan and his luggage plus lots of christmas presents. Emma got a dress up trunk and Levi got a big giraffe toy and my guitar took up lots of space. Maybe I need a bigger vehicle or less stuff? haha My dad went and bought a tarp and duct tape and the boys went to work. We ended up packing a whole lot of clothes in a suitcase and a big bag and wrapped them together and strapped them to the top of the car. It worked out great!

More Holiday Fun

2011-01-04T19:40:00.008-07:00

The week between Christmas and New Years we spent just hanging out. Emma had had a sleepover at Hailey and Caden's house the first week we were there but they came over to play lots that week. They had lots of fun in the snow...

Emma and Levi spent lots of time snuggling with Daddy...

We went to visit Grandpa Pete and Grandma Norma...(they have lots of fun noisy toys!)

Other things we did on our vacation included me going to the dentist twice!...I went and got a pedicure with my mom and Maryn...My mom and I went to visit Cecile and got our hair done...I went to dinner with Brandy and Toria...and to lunch with my friends Heidi, Erin, Sandy and Misty. It is always fun to see friends that I haven't seen in a while and to catch up on their lives. Most of these guys I have been friends with since elementary school! I forgot my camera both times so sorry no pictures.
I took Levi for his 9 month appointment while we were there as well. He is 25 lbs 5 oz which puts him in the 97th percentile. He is also in the 97th percentile for height and head size. He still has no desire to crawl but looks like he will be walking very soon. I'm not too sure that I am ready for that! That kid is a handful now without being mobile!

We also went and played games at Debbie and Layne's house a couple times and had a blast! I got to meet Maryn's boyfriend, Jared, and I think he is pretty wonderful. We played just dance on the wii which is always hilarious...

Ashley got kinect for the xbox and we played that a little too. I am so amazed at technology. The wii amazes me with how much it can do. But with kinect there are no remotes or anything...blows my mind! Ashley and I went to lunch and did a little shopping one day and also went to a movie one night before I left. She is on the top of my favorite people list! I sure do miss her!

Ivan had to go to the doctor and found out he has bronchitis and a sinus infection on Thursday. He still has a horrible cough but we are hoping he feels better soon. Levi has a bad cough now as well. No fun.
After we went to the doctor we headed to the cemetary. It was Joey's birthday. It seems so crazy that he has been gone for 3 years already. I miss him so much and think of him everyday. I know he is thinking of us too. There was so much snow at the cemetary we had to dig to find the headstone. It is always so peaceful there though.
Ivan and I were also able to attend the temple on New Years Eve before we headed up to Corinne. We planned to attend the 10am session but had to wait for an hour and 20 minutes for the 11am session. The last session for the day...and year...was supposed to be 10am. There were so many people there they ended up adding several more sessions. There were people lined clear up and down the stairs and into the lobby. One of the temple workers said that she had been there 10 years and had never seen anything like it. It was a special experience. I am so happy that we were able to spend the holidays with family and friends. We are so blessed.

Christmas Day!

2011-01-04T18:52:00.009-07:00

We had such a great Christmas. We made sure to talk to Emma about Jesus and the reason why we celebrate Christmas. She was excited to celebrate His birth. We are so grateful for the gift of our Savior and the time that we get to reflect on his birth and life and try to have a little more charity. While we were still in North Dakota making preparations for Christmas I decided to take Emma to WalMart and pick a name off the tree. She picked the name of a little girl who was 5 years old. She decided we needed to buy for a little boy Levi's age as well. We had such a good time, just the two of us, trying to pick things this little girl and boy would like to open on Christmas. Emma was really concerned about what color was the little girl's favorite. I explained that we didn't know that but she would probably like whatever Emma liked. We picked some clothes and pajamas and then hit the toy department. I was so proud of Emma. She picked out all these things for these two little kids and never once asked for anything for herself. She was so excited to go drop the things we had bought off at the courtesy desk. I am grateful for the opportunity to help others. I know that I have so much to be thankful for and so much more than I can give.
I was VERY surprised Christmas morning by a gift under the tree for me! Ivan and I had bought a new tv for our frontroom for our gift to eachother and later decided to exchange gifts Christmas morning but put a $50 limit on it. So I was really surprised and confused when I walked down stairs and saw a guitar with a bow on it under the tree! I have told Ivan each holiday and anniversary since we were married 8 years ago that I would really like a guitar to learn to play. He told me he figured if he made me wait long enough I wouldn't expect it. He was sure right! He even had it shipped to my cousin Trevor's house so that I wouldn't guess what it was. Matt's family had our name for Christmas and got us a gift certificate to Barnes and Noble so we went and bought me a couple guitar books. I am excited to learn...now if I can only find the time! Here is a pretty sweet picture of me...(One of Matt's boys picked out the glasses for Emma for Christmas...they were a hit!)

Ivan asked Matt what kind of guitar to buy me and he was a great help. That man sure can play!

I got Ivan a shirt and a few jackets and the kids each picked out a tie for him. I also bought him Jesus the Christ on CD that he can listen to while driving to work and back. We were completely spoiled by both of our parents as usual. The kids were ridiculously spoiled and had a wonderful time opening presents. My parents always make a HUGE breakfast on Christmas morning and everyone comes over including Grandma and Grandpa Workman. I love all the excitement as the kids show eachother what they got from Santa. Hailey is sure growing up. She is one smart cookie! She is the youngest in her second grade class and is reading 185 words a minute at 100% accuracy. She asked Santa for a microscope for Christmas. She spent the whole day collecting different things to look at under it. Caden got a glow station and Emma asked Ivan Christmas night why Santa hadn't brought her one. We told her that she hadn't asked for one. Maybe for her birthday. :) Matt's kids all got spongebob snuggies with their names across the chest. They all came over wearing them and kept them on most of the time they were there! I love Christmas.

Emma got the doll she wanted and some great dress ups from Santa. Grandma and Grandpa Barlow also got her 6 pair of princess dress up shoes that went great with the dresses from Santa. Levi was way more interested in opening presents than I thought he would be. He really likes to eat paper! He had fun playing with all his toys and is always happy when Emma is happy and excited.
Here is Abby and Miss Emma playing dress up. Later Emma was singing a song about people coming over to play with her dress ups and she really hates when that happens. She really did try to share though. ;)

Grandma and the two little guys...

Christmas Eve

2011-01-04T18:07:00.008-07:00

Ivan flew in on Christmas Eve. We were so happy that he made it! He
wasn't feeling well and had taken nyquil the night before and didn't quite make it for his flight. Pretty sad since we live literally 3 minutes from the airport. :) He was able to get on another flight and my dad picked him up from the airport and made it to our family party just in time. We have a Christmas Eve party every year at my Aunt Alene's house. All of our aunts and uncles and cousins are there as well as Grandma and Grandpa Workman. We have a big family and it is so fun to get to see everyone at least once a year. Santa comes and the kids get so excited. We also have lots of good food of course!

Levi is a major Daddy's boy and was really missing Ike. He totally lit up when his daddy walked into the room. Levi was kind of a stinker for the first few days of our trip. He didn't want anyone but me to hold him and would scream if I left the room. I really hate that! He did much better towards the end of our trip though. He decided he liked Grandma, which made her happy, and really liked to play with Grandpa.
Emma wouldn't tell me what she was going to ask Santa for. She had said that she wanted a baby alive baby all gone and that was what "santa" had planned on. The day before however she had told Aunt Jamie that she wanted more carebears because she only had one. When she got up on his lap I was relieved when all she asked for was a doll. Levi also liked sitting on Santa's lap. He just wanted to eat the spinner toy that Santa had and really loved the candy cane he gave him.

Here is a picture of Katrina. Emma loves to play with her and talks about her all the time. She has super short hair now since her big brother decided to try out his hair cutting skills.

We were so excited that Callie and Bobbie were able to come to the party! They drove out from Colorado to pick up Darcy and Abby and left right after the party to drive back. We sure miss Callie!

When we got home from the party we stuck with tradition and opened one present each...pajamas of course! Levi was past ready to bed and wasn't very cooperative. Emma was excited to open a present though and loved her new jammies, robe and slippers. Aunt Jacky gave Emma some "reindeer food" that she was supposed to throw outside for Santa's reindeer to help them find her house. She was way excited about that.

Lots of fun...

2011-01-04T17:38:00.005-07:00

My favorite thing to do while visiting family is to visit with my family. I know...call me crazy! I love when we all just get together and do nothing but enjoy eachothers company. The kids have a blast with eachother and are enough to keep anyone entertained. Levi and Brayden are 3 months apart even though it looks more like a year! Levi is in the 97th percentile and Brayden is under 10%. We laid them down by eachother and Levi was so excited. He put his arm around Brayden's head and just wanted to hug him. Brayden hasn't returned the love so far but I'm sure he will with time.

Abby loves to give Levi hugs and kisses also...and Levi isn't too sure about her yet. Abby is the cutest thing ever. She loves to be the center of attention and loves to hug and kiss everyone! She really liked to follow Emma around the whole time we were there and to do what Emma was doing. Emma wasn't very excited about sharing her toys...especially the new ones she got for Christmas.

Hot Chocolate

2011-01-04T17:23:00.004-07:00

The first day we were in Utah Trisha brought the kids over to play with Emma. They wanted to go outside and play in the snow. When they came in they were soaking wet! It had been raining...hard. They waited for Grandma to get home from work and she made them all hot cocoa. What a good Grandma! Josh and Trisha also got my mom an electric blanket for her bday which worked perfectly for warming up the frozen kids.

Grandma Cocoa's Birthday

2011-01-04T16:49:00.004-07:00

My moms birthday was the Wednesday after we got to Utah. We had a pizza party and watched Despicable Me. It was so fun! Emma and I thought Grandma would like that movie for her birthday...but we weren't the only ones. Josh and Trisha and the kids also got that movie for her so Emma and I got to keep ours. :) I also got my mom a willowtree angel that she had mentioned that she liked so we were covered. My dad made some fabulous mint brownies...I told him the next day that we needed to share them or he was going to come home and find me on the couch in a sugar coma. Yes they were THAT good! It was so good just to be there with famliy. I was amazed at how much all the kids had grown. I thought I would also include this picture of Maryn. She had a HUGE lump on her lip and a coldsore. She had smacked herself in the face playing just dance on the wii. We called it "wii trauma." It hurt for her to smile and she kept covering her mouth. She even wore a mask when we went to see baby Kasen...I think mostly so she wouldn't scare him! haha

Best welcome gift EVER!

2011-01-04T16:27:00.003-07:00

My cousin Nikki had her first baby the day we got to Utah. I was so happy that I got to be there to see him. He is a beautiful baby and is so good. Emma was really excited to go and meet him too! Since I don't have any sisters and I am so close to Nikki and Ashley I decided I would call Kasen my "nephin"...a combination of nephew and cousin. I like it. :) They put him in this cute stocking at the hospital...

This was my first time driving to Utah with the kids alone. I decided to leave Sunday night. I drove to Billings and we stayed the night there. The roads were pretty snowy that night and I was grateful that BOTH my kids fell asleep at 7pm. That never happens and it made driving much more enjoyable. We slept in the next morning and then drove the rest of the way. The kids were so good! Emma is always an angel in the car and Levi was better than I expected. I came up with a fun idea for Emma on the drive down. I got a bunch of different bags and put a prize in each bag. Every hour or two I would hand her another bag and she could open it and discover the prize inside. Some bags had a snack others had a toy or stickers. When I pulled into Butch and Marjie's house I noticed what she had done with the stickers. Her entire door AND window were covered. At least she kept busy! We visited with Grandma and Grandpa Mills for a while and they shared dinner with us and then we headed to Pleasant Grove.

Merry Christmas!

2011-01-04T16:08:00.003-07:00

Looks like I better get started on my Christmas posts. Here is our 2010 Christmas card.

It turned out pretty cute...I just wish we would have gotten a new family picture taken before I made it. We had planned to do family pics Thanksgiving weekend and ended up being snowed into North Dakota. It is FREEZING cold outside now so I think we will wait 'til spring. I will have my cousin Ashley take our pics for us. She does a great job and just got a new camera for Christmas that I am very jealous of!

Cute kids in the snow

2010-12-09T21:06:00.002-07:00

Here are a few cute pictures I took for my christmas card this year. Enjoy! :)

Sledding and a busy winter schedule...

2010-12-09T17:34:00.008-07:00

We have been sooooo busy! I have had lots of craft shows and did a big sale on my website. Ivan has been busy with work and scouts. I have had a couple a fun relief society activities. I also had to give my first ever Relief Society lesson this past Sunday. I had way more prepared than I had time for and felt like it went really well. I had an openhouse at my house Tuesday and I have one last craft show all day this Saturday. Tomorrow I am taking family pictures for a friend and Sunday I get to speak in Sacrament meeting with the rest of our relief society presidency. Then on Monday I will begin my journey to UTAH! Whew!
Today we met a few friends at McDonalds where they have a nice big playground indoors. The kids had a blast and the girls enjoyed visiting. This afternoon we met up again and took the kids sledding. Emma had a BLAST! She was just running up the hill as fast as she could. It was in the upper 20's today and felt like a heat wave! The sun was melting the snow on the roads and the snow was dripping off my roof. By the time we were done sledding though we were pretty frozen. I need to buy me some heavy duty winter boots. The only boots I own are the really slick kind with foam bottoms and no traction. I think I will do some shopping when I get to Utah. While the kids were sledding I dubbed myself the camera man and really enjoyed watching them have a good time. When we got home Emma and I made some delicious Stephens hot cocoa and she sat and watched Rudolph. I don't think life gets much better than that. :) Here are a bunch of pictures!
Emma and Lexy flying down the hill!

Maybe too fast!

Some of the group...

Emma and Lexi

Mandy Miller's crazy boys...

Kelli and little Lexy

The Freeze kids

McKylie and Emma

Emma and Reddik having a good time...

A different kind of Thanksgiving...

2010-11-30T14:41:00.010-07:00

This year we had planned to head to Utah for Thanksgiving but the weather was horrible that week so we ended up hanging out in North Dakota. We have some great friends here that invited us to join them for Thanksgiving. There were a bunch of us from the ward along with some of our friends' family and a few guys that work with our friend Todd. Tonya and Todd opened their home up to all of us...I think we ended up with over 40 people including the kids! They took their boat out of their garage and we used a big heater and it was perfect! We didn't have to worry about the kids spilling...or the big kids. ;) We had lunch at noon and ended up staying until after 8pm. I thought we would just stay for a bit and head home but we were having too much fun. Ivan took Levi home for a while for a nap but then came back. We had A LOT of delicious food! We played games and just hung out. It is so nice to have great friends when you are so far away from family. We are thankful for this great place that we live and for our wonderful friends that have opened their hearts to us. We are also thankful for good health, a place to live, our little family and our big family! We are truly blessed!
Here are the photos...

Kelli was happy to have her picture taken! I love this lady and am excited to work with her in the relief society presidency.

Miss Amanda and little Jacob...LOVE this girl!

Ike and the kiddos...

The OTHER Mandy!

I had to sit there a long time to wait for Justin to move his arm so I could get a picture...he was sure surprised when I caught him! Justin is Amanda's husband. He was just baptized a couple weeks ago. It was a great day! And that is Tonya in the front keeping busy!

Logan, Brian and Jaime...

More of the group...

Levi's First Haircut

2010-11-29T20:52:00.003-07:00

Levi's hair was getting long enough that it was poking out over his ears and making me crazy...so I cut it! I thought I could just trim around his ears with the scizzors but he decided to do his fun head shaking trick. So I decided to get out the clippers. I think it turned out pretty cute. Here are some before pictures...

And after...(this picture was taken at Thanksgiving)

Another Bismark Trip

2010-11-29T20:16:00.005-07:00

A couple weeks ago Ivan had to go on a business trip to Bismark and invited me! Our fabulous friend Mandy agreed to take kids OVERNIGHT! Emma has sleepovers all the time...but this was our first night away from Levi. She said he was really good. When we went to pick him up though I was buckling his carseat and said "were you a good boy?" and he started shaking his head NO. He is so funny. He likes to shake his head back and forth...especially if his head is hitting something. He always has fuzzy hair in the back from rubbing it.
Ivan and I had a wonderful kid-free time. The purpose of the trip was to attend a pulse meeting on innoculant. BORING! We got there around dinner time on Monday and the meeting he needed to attend was Tuesday morning. When we go there we were told there was a "hospitality room." Basically the company putting on the meeting bought A LOT of alcohol for everyone to enjoy. They had a suite and everyone just stood around drinking. We stopped by for a minute and enjoyed a coke while Ivan got to meet a few people in the industry. It's funny how different our environment is here. When Ivan worked for Honeyville Grain all the upper management were members of the LDS church. The standards are much different here but I feel like we have a lot more opportunity to be examples of our faith.
After we got to know a few people we headed out to dinner. We went to the Olive Garden where we were offered yet some more alcohol! You can always expect that at Olive Garden though. After a great dinner we went to a movie. The theatre was pretty awesome. It was a 9pm movie on a monday night so it was basically just us. There was one other lady in the theatre when we got there that was pretty chatty. Then as soon as the curtain opened she said "quiet now!" Ivan and I were busting up.
Here are a couple pictures we took. Ivan wanted to pose for the camera! And I even snapped a picture of one of the bigger theatres. It was way cool!

The next day Ivan went to his meeting and I started on some Christmas shopping. I spent some time at Barnes and Noble and even had lunch there. It was strange to hang out alone for once. It was so quiet and peaceful! I really enjoyed myself and am grateful we got the opportunity to get out for a minute.

Halloween

2010-11-09T15:13:00.005-07:00

Wow! I hate when I get behind on my blog and have to play catch up. Well...Halloween was really fun this year. I found a cute spider costume online and decided it would be cute if Levi were a spider and Emma was Miss Muffet. I was surprised that Emma liked the idea too! I called my mom and she agreed to make the Miss Muffet costume for me! She is amazing and I couldn't have asked for a cuter costume! Emma wanted it to be blue so blue it was!

My order from the Childrens Place was returned because my address doesn't exist. We really do exist! I won't miss having all of my orders returned. It doesn't seem to matter where I had them shipped to they wouldn't deliver them. I started having things sent to Ivan's work address yet I still had something returned this week. Grrrr.... Well soon I will learn what my new address is and have things shipped here! I order a lot of things online for Snapbandz and seem to always have something on it's way here. Anyway...I called my wonderful sister-in-law Trisha and she agreed to run to the childrens place to see if they had any spiders left. They had one left and it was in his size! Best of all it was on sale for $10.00! My mom shipped it on Monday with Emma's costume and we got the package on Thursday just in time for our first Halloween party on Friday! Whew!

Our ward had a Halloween costume party on friday night and it was a lot of fun! They had a chili dinner and tons of games for the kids to play to get treats! Our ward has a lot of activites but it is fun to get out and get to know more people. On Saturday we went to a Halloween birthday party for Emma's little friend Alli. She turned 6. Her mom, Tonya, did a great job with the party. I was amazed at all the details. They did it out in their garage and had wrapped the walls in black plastic. All the food was Halloween themed and there was a ton of it! Alli has a few kittens and Emma was entertained by chasing one around the garage the entire night. Ivan and I had planned on dressing up for Halloween but I just plain ran out of time. I will make sure that next year makes up for it! We took Emma out on Sunday and went trick or treating to a couple houses. We had a couple people that were driving by slow down and roll down their windows to check out her costume. She did look adorable!

We moved...again!

2010-11-09T14:33:00.004-07:00

We are finally all moved to our new rental house. Hopefully this will be our last move for a while. We feel so lucky to have found this house. There are a lot of guys working up here that are still waiting to find a place to live so that there families can move here with them. We heard from a friend that this house was going to be vacant and happened to be the first to call on it. It is a tiny little house but is on an acre lot. I think we will be investing in a riding lawn mower this spring! The kids rooms are upstairs in the attic. I painted the entire upstairs blue...including the ceiling which I painted clouds on. Emma wants me to paint grass along the bottom with some flowers. I am hoping to get a new vinyl machine for my birthday and will most likely do the flowers with that. Levi's room also has clouds and I am going to paint grass and bugs along the bottom. I am painting one wall red to make it look like a barn. I will post lots of pictures when I get it all done...so after Thanksgiving!
The house needed a lot of work done to it before we moved in. The owners put up all new siding and windows. Ivan helped out with that part. I had the job of painting the entire house! It makes me tired just thinking about it. I still have to finish painting Levi's room and the cabinets in the kitchen.
Emma was only here one day to help out. We pitched the tent in the office and let her have popcorn and watch a movie. She loved her little hideout and we loved that it kept her entertained.

Emma helped us paint one night and had a blast! She just kept making up songs and singing to us. If nothing else we were entertained!

We moved most of our things in last thursday just before Halloween. We are lucky to have a lot of great friends in our ward that were willing to help out with the kids. Emma has had lots of sleep overs! We still have a lot of unpacking and organizing to do...but it will all get done eventually. We had Halloween parties to go to friday and saturday night after we moved and finished up cleaning the trailer out on Halloween night. Then I had a craft show this past friday and saturday out of town so I had to do a lot of work to get ready for that. Ivan and I stayed up the entire night on Thursday getting ready and headed out at 6am. We were exhausted! The show went really well though and it was good to just sit and hang out together for a few days. We got home at midnight on Saturday night and had to get up for church the next morning. I have never been so grateful for daylight savings in my life! We really needed that extra hour of sleep! I have another show all day friday and saturday this week and am hoping to do an open house here at our new home next week. I am really hoping that life will slow down a little after Thanksgiving!
I am also putting a lot of time into my new calling. Right before we found out we were moving I got called to serve as the second counselor in our ward's Relief Society. I think it is going to be a really fun calling! We literally have at least one new family join our ward each week. This past week they read the names of 3 families. It is a little overwhelming but I am excited to get to know even more people! We got there right at 10 when church started this week and had to sit in the double overflow. It is crazy! Ivan is enjoying his calling as primary and scout leader for the 11 year old boys. His class has about tripled in size since we moved here. He has a boy with down syndrome in his class who really keeps him going! Ivan is so patient and works really well with the boys. They couldn't ask for a better leader. It is such a blessing to be living "in town." It is much more convenient to get to all of our meetings. We might even be able to get a babysitter one night and go on a real date!

Grandma and Grandpa Mills came to visit!

2010-11-09T13:32:00.005-07:00

Ivan's parents came to visit a couple weeks ago. Life has been incredibly busy and I am just now getting a chance to blog about it...in fact my internet was just hooked up a couple hours ago! Butch and Marjie came the week that we were trying to paint the new rental house and get moved so it was kinda crazy. They stayed at our house and had a sleepover with Emma since there are NO available hotel rooms where we live. Emma was VERY excited about this. Here are a couple pictures of her and Grandpa eatin' popcorn and watchin' a movie.

We mostly just hung out while they were here. We took them on a tour of Viterra and Ivan introduced them to his boss and coworkers. Ivan and I are really immature and were in tears laughing when Butch was telling Ivan's boss about having a really good year on the farm one year so they bought a van! It was hilarious...guess you had to be there!
We went to the confluence center but it was closed so we just walked around and took a few pictures. It was a beautiful day!

We also went and visited Fort Union. I wasn't too excited about going but it was actually way cool! I will let the pictures do the talking!

We were so glad that they were able to come and visit us and hope that next time we will be settled into a house and they can stay a little longer.

BUSY...BUSY...BUSY

2010-10-12T14:55:00.003-06:00

I decided that I better hurry and update the blog today before life gets really crazy. I am doing a craft show tomorrow night for Snapbandz and also one all day Friday and Saturday. We have also found a little house in Williston to move into and will be moving next weekend. I also have a craft show on the 29th, the weekend of November 5th and 6th and the following weekend. Looks like I will be keeping really busy!
The lady we are renting from is in our ward and is so sweet. Her son is working on the house right now and is putting on new siding and installing new windows. Ivan is planning to go help him out in the evenings and Saturday so they can get it done quickly. I would like to go in and paint a few things and will probably be doing that next week. We went and looked at the house last night. It is just a little old house but will work great for us for now. There are two little attic bedrooms seperated by a little walk in closet upstairs that we will use for the kids. Emma found a little hide out in her room and is sooooo excited. She thinks she needs a new pink blanket for her new room but I'm not sure why. The house also has a single detached garage and a little shed. There is a great garden spot, lots of trees and a whole lot of grass! The little house sits on a corner lot that is an entire acre. We are very excited to be moving to town where we can be closer to friends and more capable of fulfilling our church callings. Of course I will post lots of pictures once we get settled. The best news ever is that we will have CLEAN water! We feel very blessed to have found this home and are looking forward to yet another adventure! And because I can't seem to have a post without a picture...here are a couple of silly Miss Emma. She is really into posing these days. :)

Messy Boy

2010-10-12T14:45:00.003-06:00

Levi has really long arms and tries to get ahold of EVERYTHING! When I was feeding him lunch the other day he kept rubbing his eyes and nose and had food everywhere. He also does raspberries while I feed him and splatters food all over me also! He is much more of a handful than Emma ever was...but we will still keep him! :)

Bismark Get Away

2010-10-11T23:12:00.012-06:00

This past weekend we headed to Bismark for Stake Conference. A lot of people complain that they have to drive four hours for stake conference but we looked at it as an excuse for a much needed getaway! We drove down on Saturday and checked into our hotel. Ivan has a program through work where we can get a pretty good deal on a hotel room. We decided to get two rooms in case somebody in our ward was not able to find one. Kelli and her husband Jeff ended up taking our extra room. It was fun to have some friends right there to hang out with. Ivan ended up watching the kids while Kelli and I ran and did a little shopping. I was happy that she has a Sam's Club Card so I could buy a big box of diapers. I am really missing Costco! After shopping we went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. The wait was forever and we ended up being late to the adult session. We really enjoyed what we were able to be there for though.
After conference we headed back to the hotel for some swimming. The hotel we stayed at had a fun indoor water park. Emma was sooooo excited! Ivan took her swimming and I watched from the sidelines with Levi and Kelli's baby Reece.

It was an easy babysitting gig...I had them both to sleep in their carseats in about 3 minutes! Kelli's husband didn't get there until late that night so it was good that she could take her other two little kids swimming without having to watch Reece. Our friend Chris also came to our hotel to swim with his two little kids. His wife Shawna is our wards Young Women's President and they had a youth activity that night that she had to attend. We also missed our friend Mandy and her kids that night. She was going to hang out with us but ended up getting really sick and spent the night in her hotel room. The water park was really crowded and out of control but I think all the kids had a blast!

On Sunday we went to conference. We got there an hour early to get a good seat. We saved a couple benches so that we could all sit by eachother. The missionaries from our ward and Brother Evian from our ward also ended up sitting by us. We put all the kids on the back row between Jeff and Kelli and Shawna and Chris. They had lots of coloring books and stickers to keep them entertained and they were really good. Levi slept through most of it so it was nice to be able to just sit and listen for a change. Elder Paul Sybrowsky of the seventy and his sweet wife Lynne spoke to us. They have had some great experiences in their lives. The stake center sits on the same property as the Bismark Temple. Our stake president asked all the primary children to stand and told them to go touch the temple after the meeting and ask their parents why he would have them touch the temple. So we went and touched the temple afterwards and took a few pictures. The little boy in the pictures is Emma's buddy Reddik. He is Kelli's little boy. The little girl in the one picture is his little sister Lexy.

Next we had some lunch and then went to an amazing pumpkin patch. I thought we were all just going to look at some pumpkins. When we got there we were shocked! They had castles made out of hay bales, a corn maze, pumpkin cannon and launch, tons of photo op spots, playgrounds made out of pipes and hay bales and piles and piles of pumpkins. They also had a ballet company that was performing. Emma loved that! The kids had a blast! The weather was perfect and it was fun to get outside and spend some time together. Mandy and her kids were there with us as well as Chris and Shawna and their two kids. Amanda and Justin and their two kids also joined us.

Ivan decided to take the scenic route home. I wasn't thrilled about adding an hour to our drive but it was really beautiful and we enjoyed ourselves. We even found some "mountains!"

MORE PICTURES!

2010-10-07T22:50:00.005-06:00

I know, I know...I take A LOT of pictures! I really enjoy it though and you can never really have too many. Right? My friend Emily sent me another outfit for Emma in return for some pictures of her in it for advertising. She looked so cute and grown up! Emily's shop is www.sewdivineboutique1.etsy.com She also sent Emma an adorable Christmas dress and a tie to match for Levi. I will get some pictures of those shortly. They are fabulous!

I have also been meaning to take some more pictures of Levi at six months. Well, he is now 7 months but at least I got it done right? We took Levi for his six month appointment last week. He weighs 22.5 pounds now! He is 28 inches long and is off the charts! I think they must have measured him wrong at his last appointment when they said he was in the 50th percentile for height. His weight for height was the
80th percentile. This was surprising to me because he is soooo heavy...but I guess he is really tall too! The pediatrician we found is marvelous. They actually do immunizations right there in the office. What a relief! I was so impressed with her! She is kind of crazy and over the top...but I think it was a good thing. She spent a lot of time with me going over our family history. Levi was being cranky so she had the receptionist take him out front and entertain him. They were really good about making sure we were taken care of while there. We spent nearly 3 hours at the office that day! She has some major concerns. She actually did an EKG on Emma and I right there at the office and has Levi scheduled as well. The results looked fine on those but she would like to do some gene testing. She is worried that our family may have Long QT Syndrome. You can google it if you would like to know what it is! :) The blood test costs $3600 so we will wait to see if our insurance will cover it. Everything she explained with Long QT sounds familiar. I think mostly our family history gives cause for concern. Joey passed away unexplained and at such a young age. My aunt Connie was also young when she passed without explanation. My Grandpa's mother died when he was an infant as well as my Grandpa's Grandpa when he was a young man. Maybe we will get some answers. Anyway...that is enough about that. Let's focus some more on Levi. I took these great pictures of him today. He is the cutest little guy and is so smiley!

And just because she is so dang cute, here are some pictures of my friend Kelly's little girl that I took a couple days ago.

Missionary Birthday Party

2010-10-07T22:23:00.006-06:00

Today was Elder Hardwick's birthday. He is one of our missionaries. It is so different having a set of missionaries assigned to our ward. We see them every Sunday and they are at all the different activities. Our friend Tonya threw Elder Hardwick a surprise party at her house. It was so fun! Elder Hardwick and Elder Garrard are both great guys! They are so funny and outgoing. We had a bbq outside in the awesome weather and just visited. We are making so many great friends in our ward and are loving it. There are people from all over the place in our ward. It is fun to just sit and talk about where we are from. Tonya and her husband Todd are from Louisiana and I could listen to them talk all day. Todd is a riot! We had a great time and it is always good just to get out of the house! Emma is making lots of little friends too. She loves Tonya's little girl Allie who is a year older than her. We are loving North Dakota....who would have thought?

Here's a picture of the awesome cake that Tonya made...this was her first homemade cake ever! She did a great job...it was delicious!

The kids love both the missionaries...they are so fun!

Homecoming Parade

2010-10-06T13:40:00.003-06:00

Last week I took the kids into Williston for the homecoming parade. They have some serious school spirit here! We watched the parade from my friend Mandy's front yard. Emma was being shy as usual and would not run out and grab the candy they were throwing. All the kids were super nice and tried to help her and were sharing their candy. She is a funny girl. I asked her later why she wouldn't go get the candy and she said she didn't want anyone to see her do it. She seems to be doing quite a bit better socially though. Koda is still around but not nearly as often. She gave Elder Hardwick a high five at church a couple weeks ago and he was shocked! She is loving preschool but still won't tell me what they do everyday. :)

Keeping busy!

2010-10-05T14:14:00.002-06:00

For those of you who are not on Facebook I thought I'd let ya know that I am doing a Snapbandz giveaway! It's today on www.u-createcrafts.com Go check it out and enter. I love their site! They have so many cute ideas! Here's a picture of what I am giving away!

Meet Fluffy Tail...

2010-09-26T17:12:00.006-06:00

This is Fluffy Tail. "SHE" is Emma's new pet fuzzy caterpillar. She found "her" outside and was so excited she could hardly stand it! She had to put her in a jar and picked some leaves for her to eat right away. We had to stop at the gas station on the way to town later that day and I heard Emma singing a song to Fluffy Tail. I whipped my phone out and text the words to myself so I wouldn't forget. It went like this.
I love you little caterpillar
crawl everyday and sleep by meeeeeeeeeee.
Our friendship will never die
I love you forever
You couldn't find your family at North Dakota
Now we're your family
Me and Levi forever

This kid is a riot! I was laughing so hard. She makes me laugh everyday...I am grateful for that. She gets mad at me now though and puts her hands on her hips and says "IT'S NOT FUNNY!" She will think it's funny when I tell her about it when she is grown. It has been a couple days now and Fluffy Tail is alive and kickin'. Ivan and I tried to convince Emma to let Fluffy Tail go free but she repeated that we were her family now. I can see this ending badly. :)

Levi's second little tooth broke through the day after the first! He was one mad baby the night before! He screamed and screamed and screamed some more. Lucky I was up until about 3am working on Snapbandz so he and Ivan and I just had a party! He is so happy again now that both teeth are in. I can't wait 'til I can see them! I love babies with two little teeth!
While Levi was SCREAMING Emma was just a snorin' away. I am glad that she is such a deep sleeper and can share a room with her little brother. Ivan grabbed the camera that night and took this picture. She is funny. Notice the picture of Christ on her headboard? The missionaries gave it to her a few months back and she cherishes it.

Little Toofy

2010-09-24T22:50:00.004-06:00

Levi finally got his first tooth! He has been one miserable little boy! The last couple days he wouldn't even let me go near his mouth. He is much happier now that it finally broke through. Hopefully the other little front tooth is close behind. Levi is now 6 1/2 months old! We have his 6 month doctor appointment on Wednesday. I can't wait to see how big he is! I am also excited that I found an actual pediatrician in Williston that does immunizations and everything! A lot of my friends here go to her and have said good things.

I have been planning on doing his 6 month pictures for weeks now...but it won't quit raining and is very muddy and cold! Here are a couple of pictures of my car. I decided to take a couple before we went to wash it tonight. I had to roll the windows down today just to check my blind spot. Our driveway gets soooo muddy and slick! When I got home from picking Emma up from preschool on Wednesday it looked like somebody had dumped a truck load of chocolate milk on my car.

It looks much better now though!
The sun finally came out today to say hello! Tonight I was being impatient waiting for Ivan to come home (he worked a whole 30 minutes after 5) and decided to take Levi outside and snap a few quick pictures. He is also sitting up now which makes it much easier to take pictures! :) He is such a cute little guy. I could kiss his chubby cheeks all day long! Here are the pics I took. Enjoy! And of course Emma had to get in on the picture action!