Is it ski season?

So I don't forget:)

2011-03-09T12:30:00.000-08:00

This post is for me. Its huge and if you don't read it, you'll have 15 minutes of extra time today. I write it because every time I tell my mother a story of one of my kids, she will undoubtedly ask me if I've written it down. And I never do. So here I sit, only 31 with a 7 yr old as my oldest and I'm having trouble remembering which stories go with which kids already. Clearly from the below list, you can tell my memory is shot and since Cordell is the one who's being extra "funny" right now, he's got the longest list.

So here it goes:

Preston:

He was 4, hated washing his hands after he went to the bathroom (took too much time) and hated even more having to go back in the bathroom once I figured out he hadn't. This time, he thought himself to be a genius so when I asked directly after he came out one time, "Preston, did you wash your hands?" he lied and said he did. I calmly told him to let me feel his hands since I knew they'd still be wet if he had. Apparently so did he. Cause turned his head from me licked his hands and held them out to me...

From the age of 9 months to 3 yrs, glared at anyone he didn't know. And if he really liked you then you got a head butt:)

I had a zit on my chin and Preston asked what it was. I, being in a foul mood already, replied in my meanest "end of conversation voice" .."its a zit." He not picking up on my unmotherly tone asked "what's a zit?" I, trying to calm down from my bad mood, replied that it was ouch that you sometimes got on your face. He wouldn't drop it and kept asking "why is it so big? what makes it red? you should put a bandaid on it!" At this point Noah became curious and started staring at me as well. He chimed in with "it looks like a mosquito bite" at which Preston under his breath said "That must have been one big mosquito!" (I laugh now, in fact I'm laughing as I write this but at the time I said something like "That was so rude Preston, you don't talk to your mother that way, blah blah blah...." Then Noah, my little brown noser, said "Mom I think it was a little mosquito!" I told them both to drop it.

Likes to wear all orange. I told him he looks like a giant pumpkin in orange sweats and an orange shirt. He tells me he doesn't care and walks out the door. He's not my most fashion conscious kid.

Just cut his own bangs and asked if they looked cool. They did in fact NOT look cool.

He is extremely smart. The kind of smart where Jared and I will look at each other and mouth "how did he know that?" He is a mom pleaser. None of the other kids are sadly. And we love him so much.

Noah:

Once asked a man why he was fat...awkward

Told everyone I was pregnant with twins...again awkward

I asked him once if he'd ever kissed a girl. His face got all demure and shy-like while he nodded yes. I got my big surprised-eyes on and asked him who and he said in the cutest little voice "I kissed Maddi....(long pause while looking mischievous).....on da wips (he can't say his "TH's" or his "L's"). Maddi is his 15 yr old cousin. We are in so much trouble when he's a teenager.

I like to sing, I've been told I have an adequate singing voice. In fact if I had to pick my favorite talent it would be singing!! But EVERY TIME and I kid you not, that I sang to Noah when he was little, about age 1 to 2, if I started singing he'd look at me, get this annoyed little face and then stick his fingers in his ears. By the way, he never once did it when Jared put him to sleep and sang to him. Again now laughing after the fact.

He's our sensitive one, who picks up on mood shifts and gives luvs easily and readily. And before I forget, our only child who spends inordinate amounts of time to make his hair into a faux hawk and look cool.

Cordell: Where to start and remember he's not even two yet. :):)

He's put a cube of softened butter 3 separate times into the toaster.

Took a Costco sized Garlic powder container and dumped it...where?...into the toaster

He's eaten poo 5 different times

He loves to be naked, I'll leave it at that, oh and that he's not potty trained.

He climbed our shelving unit in our garage that has 3 shelves each spaced 2 feet high (not even sure how he could manage that height with his 8 inch legs but clearly its possible) to get to the top where Jared keeps all his fishing gear (that he never uses) and got a fish hook stuck in him.

If you leave any door unlocked he's GONE. And for the majority of his life its been winter here, so that makes me look really bad.....naked, 1 yr old running down the snow covered street.

We keep all three bathroom doors, the office door, all 3 house exit doors, and the pantry door locked at all times. Reasons why we lock them....1: so I don't look bad 2: he really likes the toilet, hand soap, my makeup, eating deodorant, putting whole rolls of toilet paper in the toilet, turning on the tub and playing in it (which looked very dangerous but he seemed to be having a blast),and did I mention he likes the toilet and reason # 3: whole bags of flour and oddly cornstarch (which clings if you didn't know) are really difficult to clean up, like twice in one day)

He's poured both the caramel and chocolate topping bottles all over himself and the floor.

We find frozen hamburger pkgs on the garage floor all the time and some thawed, since I can't monitor the outdoor freezer at all times.

He's carried dead mice and live ones into the laundry room from the garage. Yes, he's that fast, to catch a live mouse. (By the way, the lock on the garage door no longer stops him if you didn't guess)

He escapes from any crib and has to have a tent over his to keep him well, "caged." Prior to the tent and when trying to teach him to stay in his crib at 13 months old, I once put him back in it for an hour and a half over 80 times, I lost count after that, called Jared and told him to order the tent cover.

He must have a "baba" with him at all times. Its his bottle and my one source of bribery.

Cannot seem to grasp the concept of a cup. And he's somewhat of a scavenger, so if you leave a cup out, it will inevitably be taken by him, drunk a little, and most poured down his shirt and on the floor. Moral of story, we don't leave our cups out.

I'll stop here, although each day I have at least 3 stories. But in spite of all that, we are suckered into loving him... he's very cute, like adorable, he has a huge smile, loves his daddy more than any toy or toaster, and loves when I sing to him.

By the way, did I mention I'm pregnant:):) We're insane.

These are the moments that make up our life right now and oddly, when I write them they seem much funnier and wow, I love my kids!

To the stalwart people that keep checking this blog

2011-01-19T11:31:00.000-08:00

You can clearly tell when I'm backed up on laundry, house cleaning, and paying office bills...cause thats when I blog:)

This is a little over due BUT Jared and I are expecting our 4th little bundle of craziness!!! Everything is going great! So great that I started feeling like this was totally different pregnancy than any of the others (hint, hint). Thats right people...we're having a girl!!:):) I can't believe it, in fact I'm so amazed I haven't even bought any girl clothes yet. But we made the technician look an additional 10 times just to be sure and she's a keeper. Right now, I'm sitting at 24 weeks and due on May 11. We are thrilled, excited, and praying she's a sedate child (yeah, I'm not holding my breath on that one)

closer, Closer, CLOSER

2010-10-18T08:38:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when you point a camera in Cordell's direction:) Its very difficult to take family pictures.

Its been 6 months:)

2010-10-15T06:54:00.000-07:00

The only reason I can think of that I'm blogging right now...because the house is dirty and my list of priorities suddenly has blogging right at the top. So we went to Lake Powell with our friends the Petzingers. We did bring a camera and nope we never used it. This is my Iphone and one of 4 pictures we took the whole week. But it was gorgeous, fun, and exhausting. We will definitely do it again. We will never take Cordell again...but we may review that rule when he turns 18. Preston and Noah had an absolute blast. Preston claimed that it changed his life! He wishes now to own and live on a house boat year round but then he rethought that and said he'd need a car to go get groceries. This is Antelope Canyon, just gorgeous.

Local (well as local as Twin falls is) carnival. With rides, 4H pets, and lots of learning to be had about agriculture. Hence the reason that Preston is happily an eggplant and Noah just the cutest farmer you've ever seen. We'll call it Local Appreciation Day in honor of our friends the Andersons.

Why do we need a dog?

2010-05-11T19:12:00.000-07:00

My sister came to visit a while back and brought their adorable dog. And since we have half a ton of mouse poison hidden in our garage we thought it best to keep the dog crated while he slept out there at night. Well, the dog left and family went home but the cage never made it into their car, so my kids made excellent use out of it:)

I went out to what I wish I could call my daily run on the treadmill and when I was about half way done...I turned around to see this.

(This is bound to turn up on the internet somewhere with titles of what horrible parents do to their children)

Hello handsome

2010-02-09T16:00:00.000-08:00

Just an update on this bundle of cuteness:) Noah is amazing. He asks every time if something has what he calls "gluten six" in it (not sure how the six got attached). He's already gaining weight. The color has come back into those cute cheeks and hold on to your seats...HE'S POTTY TRAINED. I'm feeling giddy just saying it:) This could have been a nightmare, I envisioned lots of crying over the favorite foods but he doesn't even ask for them. I feel so blessed, he is just such a little trooper. Anyway, thats it. We are doing awesome.

Noah's new disease

2010-01-12T08:42:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have never had the pleasure of babysitting Noah, you may not know that he has power poop. The kind that drives away people, animals and small bugs that may be in a 50 foot area. My brother claimed that it stunk up their like (put in huge number here) sq foot home...you get the idea. So immediately potty training was commenced but after a year, I'm still changing diapers. Not only that, but they became diarrhea about every 10 time and he poops about 4-6 times a day. Now you might be wondering why I choose to enlighten all with this particularly gross info. Well, also over the last year he's lost weight and there wasn't much to lose, grown only 1 inch in 2 years, has stomach pains on a regular basis, and tells me he is hungry about every 15 minutes.

We finally saw a specialist and after some sticking and prodding and oh yeah, tubes going down his throat, he was diagnosed with celiacs. What is celiacs? Well, if it happened to me, it would be life over as I know it. But since I have this love affair with food that might be tad more that the average person, its probably not quite that dramatic. Noah is allergic to gluten aka the protein found in wheat, barley, rye and most oats. It means that his body sees gluten and sends out the troops to destroy it. But in doing so, it destroyed his stomach and intestinal wall so that food, not just gluten, couldn't be absorbed hence the tiny boy I love to see every day.

So he's been started on a gluten free diet. Which means no more grandma sycamore bread, gold fish, birthday cake, donuts, crackers, kikkoman soy sauce and cream of anything soup (those seem important for some reason) and about 60 percent of the food out there. I will no longer be shopping with my children since I have to read every label to see if it contains gluten,modified food starch, natural flavors, and any number of things that can be places for gluten to hide. And believe it or not, I liked shopping with my kids, because my husband is always there and it feels like a family outing. I know, I'm crazy. I'm a tad sad that I'll be shopping alone, most of the time. So there you have it. The Lord knew that I was unorganized and somewhat not caring about it and so blessed me with a child that will force me to be the most prepared (every time we leave the house, outing, vacation, etc must be thought through and planned for), the most organized women I can possibly be.

By the way, when I told Noah that he was not going to have diarrhea anymore he said, "Oh thank you mommy!" Adorable!

I vant tu suck yer bloooood:)

2009-12-01T13:58:00.000-08:00

I felt like I was 16 again.

These crazy people are the member of the famous HillStimpAnder Book Club, and no we did not read New Moon. But our book club happened to fall on the weekend that New Moon came out. The menfolk donned the "I Killed Edward" shirts (which after watching the movie was fine with us). Meanwhile, us ladies, put on "Why can't he be more like Edward?" (Again, after watching the movie, should've substituted Jacob in that sentence) The greatest part of the evening was sending the men to save a place for us while all three of the women had to feed babies and put them to bed. Thank you HUSBANDS. And yes they all stood proudly with their shirts and became popular conversation topics by all who saw them.

The movie: My only comment...well, it was better than the first one, but since I laughed all through that one, that's not saying much

Random Pics

2009-11-18T06:23:00.000-08:00

Jared went to work in costume that included blue hair and Noah demanded that if dad got to have his hair colored then by golley, so did he. Then night time rolled around and we headed over to the Petzingers for some good family fun and Preston and I felt left out. This was a sad 5 minute attempt at a mohawk (something I've secretly wanted forever) and Preston wanted white hair which just made him look kinda like an old man:) Sadly, I do not have pictures of the kids in their costumes and I've still got to get pictures from our party hostess for Jared and I's.

This was hilarious. We all went for a walk the other day. The kids were in PJ's and wearing flipflops in 35 degree weather but it was when Preston asked if he could take along his pumpkin that things got interesting. He couldn't figure out how to carry it, so Jared jimmy-rigged this car to hold the pumpkin and then got a peice of string to tie the car to Preston's bike. EXCEPT you couldn't see the string and it looked like some possessed toy chasing after Preston all around the block. I'm so glad Preston insisted he bring his pumpkin.

I figured its time to show off our cute baby. Although, right now he's in trouble for waking up 4 times last night. Cordell couldn't be cuter and during the day, we love him so much:) The night time is a different story. If you came at night, you might be able to pick up a free kid.

Wo daddy

2009-09-03T08:52:00.000-07:00

This is the man I picked to marry.

AND pictures do say a thousand words like:

Wo, daddy

And ...(ok, no words, just laughing) I love this man. By the way the pond he's about to jump into with full snorkel gear and flippers (I missed that pic) AND the innertube is 4 ft deep.
What a great sense of humor he has ...and also thin hips because there is no way that tube was fitting up around mine:) Love ya babe

2009-08-31T11:44:00.000-07:00

Cordell Washington Hill

Wow, kid number 3 has been here for 4 months already and I have come to understand why my mother has no pictures of me (her 6th child) as a baby. This was the only current photo I could find and I DIDN'T EVEN TAKE IT. Preston did. He loves to play with my phone taking any and all pics, in fact, the one after this one was of his big toe. But I thought Cordell was cuter, so I picked this one.

Cordell is an angel. As my sister-in-law will tell you, I have been blessed with mild children (until they hit 3) and he is the mildest so far. (Which means he could be the craziest at 3 but that is a long way a way). As shown, he loves to eat his hands, his shirt, other people's arms if they wander too close, etc. He's a hefty little thing. He came in at 8lb 14oz and then jumped to 15 lbs by 8 weeks and now at 20 weeks, we're sporting a 20 pounder and he's not even close to stopping the growth. He may even pass Preston up...he topped the charts at 23 lbs at 6 months. People thought he was a four year old:) Cordell loves people, he's got the shy look down pat, he will smile at anybody (which is very different than Preston...he glared, I mean the meanest scowl you can imagine at everybody, even the grammy's). Cordell reminds me more of Noah in that regard. We love him so much. And can't believe he's only been in the family for this short time. Preston and Noah adore him, and if he can survive the mauling for the next few months, they are all going to be great friends.

What was I thinking?

2009-08-24T14:40:00.000-07:00

I'm an idiot or maybe psychotic..a mixture of both, I don't know, but I somehow let my retarded friends (Betsy, Russell and Jelina) convince me that I need to do a triathlon. So here goes nothing. Jared complains that he can't sleep very well the night before he does one, well, I have 3 weeks before mine and I've already started waking up in the middle of the night paralyzed with fear. And they tell me it will be fun, that my adrenaline will kick in and save me from the BUTT KICKING I'm going to recieve. I'm having a hard time believing that at this particular time. BUT I'm doing it and blogging about it so I can't go back on my word. So all 6 people who read my blog can now hold me to my word.

My kids are cuter than your kids:)

2009-08-24T14:11:00.000-07:00

So each year thousands, okay millions of parents go through what I know Jared and I go through: What sports do we put our kids in if any? We tried soccor and he ran around at the back of the herd of other kids chasing the ball with his hands in his pockets. (Its really kind of funny, ask your own kids to run around while their hands are in their pockets...you'll see), so then he asked the coach if he could be a goalie (they had 3). We wondered why you'd need three, there weren't that many kids on the team until we saw the ball approach. None of the kids moved, they just stood in their spot hoping that they had picked the mostly likely position that would stop the ball. Well, Preston picked the best spot, he reached up and grabbed the top bar, making it so the ball could now go under his feet. Its very effectively ball blocking as you can tell. So we've moved on.

The last sport has been T-ball. We taught him (the night before) which direction to run and what the names of the bases were and then sent him on his merry way thinking we were delinquent parents for not teaching our son more sporty skills. But we got a good laugh when we realized that just knowing the little bit we'd shoved at him the night before actually made him ahead of most of the team. So here is Preston...with his hands in his pockets, he does that when he gets nervous, but looks very GQ I think.

Jared showed up for the first game, saw our 6 month pregnant friend coaching Preston's team (really, she coached... and I thought being 6 months pregnant, heck even 3 months pregnant got you out of things like...moving your body) and offered to be assistant coach. I had to take this great shot. Here's Preston he's just hit a wammer, runs to first base, where he wraps his arms around his daddy. So cute. But what made me laugh was when the next kid got up to bat, hit his ball, ran to first and he also hugged Jared. Preston started a great trend.

This is what happens when you tell Noah to say cheese and smile. We're working on it:) His little friend Cameron I think also wonders what the heck the crazy face is for as well.

Okay, this one is just pure bragging. My son..on skis...he's only 6. What a great day.

OUCH!

2009-05-28T18:08:00.000-07:00

So this is the "post-op" picture of what happened. I really wish I could have taken a picture of what it looked like when it happened, but grabbing my camera as I ran to the ER was not on the top of my list of things to do. As many of you already know, Preston, aka Evil Kinevil, crashed while racing around on a four-wheeler yesterday. I was at work when I got the call and immediately (after finishing with a patient) drove to the ER to meet him there. When I got there he was totally calm but looked terrible. His top lip was split all the way up to the bottom of his nose and was splitting apart every time he would breath. He looked like something off of Alien. He wasn't crying he just pointed to it and said, "Dad, it hurts right here."

After talking with the ER doctor we opted to wait for our local plastic surgeon to come and stitch him up, especially since the cut was right at the vermillion border. So we waited and watched cartoons for about 2 hours until he arrived. When he did, he was excellent. He was so good with Preston and did such a great job of suturing. In total he probably placed around 30 stitches most being on the inside and a few on the outside.

So of course the next day (today) was Preston's big graduation day, and he was not about to miss it for anything. He did great and loved it. He was a little nervous though and said something that tugged on my heart strings. He said, "Dad, I hope nobody makes fun of me." Upon arrival to the classroom he was relieved when not only did they not make fun of him, but they were very worried about him and all wanted to make sure he was OK. It was a relief for both of us.

After graduation today is when I put the splint on his teeth that you can see in the first picture. He did so great. He fell asleep as we were doing it. Yes, he may lose those teeth in the future but they are all baby teeth, thankfully. I am so proud of him for being so great about the whole thing. Let's hope he doesn't follow in his dad's footsteps or this is the first of many trips to the ER!

He's here!!!!

2009-05-01T10:26:00.000-07:00

On a cold snowy afternoon in Ketchum Id, Cordell Washington Hill was born. He weighs 8 lbs, 14 oz and is 21 in. long. Both mom and baby are doing well.

I would just like to take a minute to say thank you to everyone for all of your care. We are extremely blessed with a fantastic family and fabulous friends. I will post more details later.

3 Days and Counting

2009-04-27T09:21:00.001-07:00

Noah, when he was a wee little babe and we crazily took him with us when we went to Italy at 10 weeks of age. The other little baby Jared is looking at, is the Anderson's, they were just as delusional as we were and took their baby too! :)

And this is Preston when he was about 4-5 months old with his Idaho Grammy. Those cheeks just kept getting bigger and bigger until WE thought about hiding storage in them.

No, I will not be posting my hugeness on the world wide web but I did want everyone to know how excited we are to be having our 3rd little terror/boy in 3 days. Life has stopped/been put on hold and we only do things that prepare us, the boys or the baby for what is to come. Like tell Noah 377 times not to get in the bouncy chair. And thanks to my efficient mother and my time giving mother-in-law, my house is now clean (weird) and organized (even weirder), food is in the freezer (I am in love with my upright freezer even if the only thing in it are the freezer meals), the baby will have clothes to wear, well, at least for the first week until I have to do laundry and when I forget to do laundry, he will have 100 blankets to cover his naked body. I just put together the bouncy chair, successfully only breaking one piece of it and that little adventure has made me decide to wait until Jared gets home to put together the final item...the swing.

I can't believe it is all happening so fast. April was SO far away and now its almost over. I'm not completely delusional to the fact that I'll be tired, tired, tired BUT we're excited.

Happy Valentines Day!

2009-02-13T21:41:00.000-08:00

Maren and I have been together now for over 7 years. Ever since I met Maren I knew she was special, and each day as I get to know her better...I realize that I need her more and more in my life. I can't begin to tell you what she means to this family. So I thought and thought about what I could get her for Valentines Day that would show my appreciation and love for her. Since chocolate is not high on her languages of love I decided to give her some words of affirmation (something I am not very good at). This is a quick 4 minute review of the last 7 unforgettable years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TULbKm8kVdg

Sweet children

2009-02-12T11:26:00.000-08:00

So even though saying "I'm pregnant" should cover all range of ridiculous things I do and say and think and well, everything....I still feel silly even sharing this latest. But my sons were so unbelievably cute, here it goes.

It all started sometime in the morning, as I thought about each individual room in my house and could only think of 2 that qualified as clean. Then I looked in the office (not one of the clean rooms I might add) and saw the monumental pile of work that I have let accumulate. To the point that it will now take me around 8 hours of staring at the computer to get caught up:) Remind me to thank Jared later for making me his bookkeeper. Then Noah showed up with a dirty diaper that you'd have to smell in order to appreciate why I looked like death had just landed on my doorstep. The kind that scream from a distance "Yep, I'm gonna need a bath after this."

So this is all in the morning and I'm thinking to myself, what have I let happen to my little life I'm responsible for? The day goes on, Noah goes to bed for one of his blissful 3 hour naps (I know, I am extremely lucky and should shout praises everyday) and then the wam bam of all hideousness occurred: I stepped on the scale. I've been avoiding it for some time now, I mean, what kind of self-respecting 7 month pregnant woman torments herself by getting on the scale everyday? Well, apparently I do...because that's exactly what I did and I felt myself slipping into one of those emotions that only occurs when you are pregnant and completely insane. So I did the only natural thing that the time required, I broke down into tears:) (Please this is not a pity post you don't need to say anything about my weight) At this point, Noah woke up and I couldn't stop crying so I went in and got him with the ugly crying face and all.

And this is where, the blog should really begin. After Noah's naps (like all of them, every day) he is very mad, completely irrational and needs to be held for about 15-20 minutes. Today he stopped his normally selfish behavior and looked at his psychotic mother. And for the next half hour ran his little fingers down my face saying, "Don't cry mommy, I'm sorry, feel better, I'm sorry, don't cry...."over and over. Kissing my face, making sure that he was always touching me on the arm, shoulder, giving me a hug. It was the most tender display of love that it made me cry even more which brought Preston out of his TV coma and upstairs to where we were. Preston saw what was going on and immediately disappeared, which I could only assume meant that he was trying to find medication for his pregnant, crazy mom. But about 2 minutes later he brought me a picture of himself and me holding hands and said, "I made this help you feel better." I have amazing children. And they have a completely mental mother. I feel so blessed to have these little people in my life. Sometimes motherhood is not rewarding (like gaining weight when your pregnant, really... after all that we go through would it be too much to ask to lose weight when we're pregnant as some kind of heavenly reward) but sometimes motherhood can be the most rewarding job on earth. I love my kids.

Its been a while

2008-12-12T15:20:00.001-08:00

So much has happened...I am completely overwhelmed and unless there is going to be 28 hours in a day ...this blog is just never going to get caught up. So I will start with what has happened today and move one!

Today I had the great pleasure of drinking 2 quarts of water and then told not to pee for 4 hours. Those of you that have experienced this know what a joy it is. So clearly I was not doing this for fun. About 16 weeks ago, I found out I was pregnant and today was my 20 week apt. to check out our newest addition. I clearly should have blogged sooner but again with the lack of time..just didn't happen so...I AM PREGNANT AND ITS A BOY!!!! I feel incredibly outnumbered.

Noah's snake

2008-10-12T17:26:00.000-07:00

Noah has gotten to the wonderful habit of using just one word to where most of us would use an entire sentence. Like "Pete" and "Repeat," Jared and I copy his one word and translate it into the appropriate sentence. Its a gift really...others look at us and wonder how we are so adept at this highly skilled translation process but I digress, there is a story with this.....

About a month ago my mom visited us and when the kids wrestled through her suitcase, they were delighted that she had come baring gifts. 10 frogs for Noah and 10 snakes for Preston. So for the last 4 weeks I have been stepping on them, finding them in the toilet, in their beds, in MY bed and so on.

Well, about a week ago Noah was toting around one of Preston's snakes. We'd just gotten out of the car, when Noah calmly said "Snake." This is where my highly trained skills in translation plummeted. I thought he meant he had dropped his snake, so like any good mother I bent down to pick it up. To say I was surprised, would be lying, I full-on screamed like a third grader when it struck out and tried to bite me. In case you are confused, Noah was still holding his little rubber snake and I was trying to hold the real one. So here is our newest addition of wildlife we find in our yard. Mountian lions, wolves, foxes, deer, raccoons, and now snakes. Welcome to Sun Valley

If you're worried that I'm a tad too close, our camera zoomed to 12x for this baby.
Isn't he cute as he tries to climb up our garage?

I Love to See the Temple

2008-08-28T16:47:00.000-07:00

Last saturday and sunday Jared and I had the honor of participating the Twin Falls ID temple dedication. Jared spent about 4 months teaching our young men and young women how to perform in a dance program made for 4,000 youth. (That's right, I said four thousand!!!) They've practiced every Wednesday night since May and finally performed with the 13 other stakes. They danced friday night and twice on Saturday and it was fantastic.

Then on Sunday it was my turn. They had 4 dedications of the temple and for the last session, I got to sing in the choir. We've been practicing since May as well. It seemed a little tedious practicing that far in advance but once we got in the celestial room and were able to be just a few feet from the Prophet, it was all worth it. What a great experience that we'll both never forget. Me, because I got a thumbs up from the Prophet and Jared, because I don't think anyone ever forgets when they work with 4000 kids in 95 degree weather.

My sweet Preston

2008-08-22T12:48:00.000-07:00

Preston is my oldest. Things that naturally come along with that: he mimics all my phrases (even the ones I wish he wouldn't), he thinks he is really 8 or maybe 12, he is very proud that he dominates his younger sibling in all areas (except maybe in the screaming department), and he wishes that Noah and him were the same age so they could play better together:) I kind of wish that too.

So when Preston was born, I only noticed his unusually large feet and hands, but about 2 days later I also noticed that his belly button poked out abit, especially when he cried. And then it really started to poke out, enough for Jared to say that we might have to keep a t-shirt on our perfect little child for say..oh the rest of his life. The doctor told us it was just an umbilical hernia and in fact, it was starting to close already. Well, it got smaller and smaller, but then one day it just stopped and he's had this adorable little outie since then. He's actually quite attached to it. But alas, every once in while it would hurt and the doctor said it was time to get it fixed. So yesterday we went in and he had his very first surgery (hopefully his last).

Preston has the best poker face ever, his first rollercoaster ride, his first seadoo ride, boat ride, new people, new situation of any kind and his face doesn't even flinch. Dead pan..is the phrase that comes to mind. And for 2 hours yesterday while they prepped him, that was his face. No one got him to crack a smile, he barely knowledged their existance. I love Preston:)

Anywho, he did great. His was only under for 45 minutes and today he has already started playing. Not like "jumping on Grammy's bed" playing (which I'm sure he never does) but none the less he was still moving around and I'm glad to see him already getting better. We'll see his new belly button tomorrow and he starts kindergarten on Monday. Way to go Preston!!

6 New Posts

2008-08-19T10:04:00.000-07:00

Today was the day. After 2 months of going AWOL, I have returned and be forewarned: there are 6 new posts that I have completed. This is not for the faint of heart and I won't be offended if you only look at the pictures:)

Triathalon #2

2008-08-19T09:43:00.001-07:00

Jared is amazing. A 1 1/2 weeks ago he did an Olympic triathalon. That means he swam a mile, biked 24 miles and ran 6.2 miles. Quite a few too many miles if you ask me. I am so proud him and am quite certain that if I had been in his shoes I would have drowned in the lake.

To my discouragement I cannot get this first picture in the right order. This is not the beginning of the race, or I wouldn't have let him even start (he looks a tad tired). This is the finish line but the rest are in order:)

Jared has now asked me to call him an Olympian:) Great job, Jared! I love you!

I got air

2008-08-19T09:36:00.000-07:00

I'm not exceedingly proud of how terrified I look in this picture but it is proof that I got air and I actually landed it and have subsequent others. Something I haven't done in like 8 years. Jared on the other hand, only started wakeboarding this summer and he might have just an inch or two on my jump. maybe

Wold family reunion

2008-08-19T09:21:00.001-07:00

The Wold Family Reunion:) WOW...pretty much sums up how that went. I'll let the pictures describe but we went up American Fork canyon and went four wheeling and dirt biking. It was a great day and Preston would really like Grammy to buy him a four wheeler for him. How 'bout it Grammy:) ??

We also went to 7 Peaks in Provo. I only wish I'd had my camera out more. I have never laughed so hard as I did when I convinced my sweet older sister to go down a death drop (and she didn't know, since she's legally blind without her glasses). I am so mean. And these are my nephews who are under the impression that they are the coolest people walking the planet.

So in defense of my two overly confident nephews...I was impressed that they could breathe while going down this slide, let alone be cool for the camera.

Hill Family Reuion

2008-08-19T09:03:00.001-07:00

What would a Hill family reunion be without a boat, warm weather, and lots of water toys. Actually we did do other activities, but the camera only made it to the water events. We did a humanitarian project, made Harry potter wands that were so real looking- they could have been used in the movie, we played games, went fishing and had way too much food. It was AWESOME. Definitely a do-over and over and over...you get the idea, we had a lot of fun:)

I love my son but he's about as photogenic as I am:) By the way see that belly button. Well, as of this thursday he will no longer have it. Preston is getting surgery to remove the umbilical hernia that causes it to bulge out like that. He's a little nervous but after I promised a day full of XBOX, he said he's be fine getting it done.

Craters of the Moon

2008-08-19T08:33:00.000-07:00

So while my family was here...we had every intention of going waterskiing, but then we remembered that to get that boat up here from Boise, we'd have to tow it behind the Passat. And while I was all for trying, Jared didn't think it was a great idea. Plan B: My brother, Eric, said he remembered going to Craters of the Moon when he was 8 and having a blast and its only an hour from us. He went on and on about how cool it was and how all of us would love it. But over the next couple of days, logic started setting in. How cool could walking on a bunch of rocks be..and how cool would they be in 95 degree weather? But we were determined and so we set out!

This one might need some explaining. This was the only red colored rock in a 10 mile radius and Boyd saw the inspiration it created immediately. He's still 12 years old.

So to sum up. Craters of the Moon is still awesome. We all had a blast and will definitely be going back.

Wold family fun

2008-07-15T17:29:00.000-07:00

So I did this post about a month ago and never posted it. I'm a slacker:) But here they are... the beginning of the summer pics..more to follow soon.

I'm a little late posting this but we had so much fun. Big thanks to my brother, Boyd and his wife, Natalie with their 2 kids and my brother, Eric, from California for making the trek out here to the middle of no where. Jared and I decided to cover all the small town venues including the rodeo, a BBQ/western musical producion, and of course, fireworks. I love my family, we had so much fun.

We made the Wold family waffles. Clearly one can see that the bacon is the flag pole and then there is obviously the flag. My sweet niece, Maddi, made this particular work of art.

Next we made it to the parade. This was not Preston's idea of fun until the candy started being thrown. My brother, Eric, picked out the spot of sidewalk that was sure to have shade by the time the parade started but that never happened:) But what's a parade without blistering heat?

Can you imagine walking the whole parade on stilts? Newfound respect for these girls.

Next we made it over to the Rodeo. Preston quickly found his little buddy, Brady. He told us a month before that he would do the mutton busting but when actually came down to touching one...not gonna happen. I especially like the lady up front eating her icecream:)
This was the highlight of the whole rodeo.

Wow more pics to come but that will have to be another post:)

THE water ski video

2008-06-13T07:48:00.000-07:00

So the video says it all so I won't even try to explain. Check out Jared's latest movie on youtube:)

Link is on the right column. Make sure to watch it in HD

2008-06-09T14:53:00.000-07:00

Summer has officially begun...it may be still 60 degrees but we are most defiantly calling it summer. We are loving the lake and have had so much going out. So this is before I got up on the wakeboard:)

This is after I got up and thought I was really cool, and then obviously fell. Zoom in and you can try and guess what naughty word I'm saying:)
This is just nothing but cuteness. It only took his cousin Hannah 45 minutes to convince him to get in there and go out on the lake. He's our little risk taker:)
Kevin in the back, then Jared, and Cash up front. Maybe one of the funniest things I've yet to watch in this life time. Nothing like seeing grown men flying around on the water and then all getting flung out into the air to crash land with style.

Our little graduate

2008-06-01T15:57:00.001-07:00

Preston graduated preschool!!! I may be slightly biased but he was so handsome and looked so adorable giving his flowers to his teachers. He really wanted to hide them and say "surprise," (I think we have a romantic man in the making:) They marched in the room to the graduation theme song, sang some songs themselves and then the school provided the scariest clowns ever for entertainment for the kids. Noah was a little taken back when she came at him with a squirrel but I don't blame him, I was too. We didn't know whether to laugh or hide but either way, scary nightmares that night were inevitable. Anyway, we are so proud of Preston and loving seeing him so pleased with his accomplishments.

So much to do, so little time

2008-05-28T19:45:00.001-07:00

What a fantastic week we just had. Jared and I both have siblings that have for some unknown reason chosen to live back east where people can rarely visit. This happened to be one of those rare times, as we decided to take our oldest (Preston) and fly back there. We left poor Noah home to harass Jared's mom and my sister, Jayne's family (we owe them for life). We left on Saturday which happened to be my birthday. I tried to think positively that this was really the best birthday present I'd ever gotten, but after 9 hours of sitting on an airplane with a four year old, I began to question that. We eventually got to New Hampshire where Jared's brother Jay and family live. As we were about to land, Preston leaned over and asked me why they planted so many trees. I agree, why did they? We landed in a deciduous jungle. Very beautiful and we didn't get one picture of it....I guess we'll just have to go back.

So here we begin with the ever so muscular, Ronan. He ran around with Preston on his shoulders for at least 2 laps of the house before the inevitable happened. Seriously, never seen a buffer kid:) The kids treated Preston to games of Bottom-ho (Jumping off the top bunk into love-sacs), finding salamanders in the woods, and probably too many hours of Preston's favorite game of Lego Star Wars (its hard to say no when they all look like they're having so much fun).

They took us to a pottery store where Preston picked out his cereal bowl of choice and painted it green, blue and pink. He's so talented and doesn't he look so artsy in his cover-up shirt he chose all by himself. Talented and stylish.

WICKED!!! Need I say more? We'll probably get sued for this picture but we were so excited to be there and it was the BEST experience. A must if anyone has a chance to see it.

After we spent time with Jared's brother and family, we drove four hours to my sister, Liz's house. They live in West Point, again another beautiful area that I have no pictures of. The place is either like living 200 years ago or else living at Hogwarts from Harry Potter. Massive grey stone buildings and halls that look like they came right out of JK Rawling's mind. We also decided to hit an outlet mall there. We had limited time and lots to see and honestly came away seeing about 1/50th of the place. It was gigantic.

We had so much fun their family and started missing Noah enormously, since they also have a 2 year old who was cut from the same mold as Noah: Sassy, bossy, and way too cute.

Which then brings us to the above picture. So I look like I have a really bad boys hair cut in this but here we are: two small town hicks dropped in the middle of Times Square. You'd think that since we'd lived in San Francisco, we'd be used to this but wow, how do people actually live there. Visit? Yes. Live? NO.
My sister and her husband, Chip's adorable kids with Preston on Chip's bullet bike:)
Oh how we love the beach.

We had such a great time and want to thank our siblings for housing us. We wish we could be out there and see them every month. You guys are great and we love you.

Life in the fast lane

2008-05-14T15:06:00.000-07:00

I love my little Preston. This is his Spring pre-school concert, which I thoroughly enjoyed. You can tell every minute is absolutely agonizing for him. He is so shy but he gets up there and sings (not loudly) but enough that we know, HE knows the words even if no one can hear him:) He loves pre-school and he especially likes his teacher, Ms. Sharon. Upon meeting her, she told us not to be afraid of her smokers voice, (which was well stated because we were afraid) because the kids love her...and they do.

The bishop owns an airplane that he uses to jump from Bear Lake and Hailey for his job. I thought it was so nice when he asked Preston and another little boy in the ward, Bridger, if they wanted to go flying. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing, we went to a baptism on Saturday where the Bishop was and an hour after he'd asked us, we were in the air. Of course, I use the term, WE loosely, since Noah and I stayed grounded. Partly because of seatbelts but 95% because I get sick going around a corner too fast let alone, riding in a small airplane. Jared went with them and they had a BLAST.

3 posts in one day to catch up:)

2008-04-29T13:35:00.000-07:00

This is going to be our entire summer vacation. However, when you start in April, only the dad with the full body wet suit is the one going in the water. We are so excited that Jared's mom got her family a boat and anticipate many fun family functions well, every weekend until October:)

Jared's new toy

2008-04-29T13:22:00.001-07:00

I'm beginning to think that if Jared had to pick another job he might choose his place in a rockband:) ROCKBAND on XBOX is our latest way of creating enjoyment up here in no mans land. (Ironically, we're reading "Last Child in the Woods" about kids with nature deprivation, I'm sure Rockband will help our cause in getting the kids in the wild more) And when we aren't embarrassing just ourselves we invite family and friends to do it with us:)

So its been a while

2008-04-29T12:57:00.001-07:00

So I know its been a while. First it was our huge LACK of internet access and then it turned into the slowest internet on earth...truth be told, I just started avoiding the office all together:) So this is what our family has been up to just to start with. Cash and Marisa came to visit and in honor of Cash and his love for Mountain Dew we made these:

Mountain Dew Apple dumplings

2 cans of refrigerated crescent rolls 1 cup sugar

2-3 apples cinnamon

2 sticks of butter 1 tsp vanilla

Cut apples into 1/8ths and put one or two wedges in each crescent roll. Lay them in a nine x thirteen. Melt butter in pan, add vanilla, and then dump the sugar in. It doesn't need to be mixed very well and the sugar should not dissolve. Pour mixture over your crescent rolls. And then comes the good part. Take a can of mountain dew and pour about 3/4 of it around the edges of your 9 x 13. And it will fill in the rest. Sprinkle with cinnamon. And cook for 40 minutes at 350.

Now this is not a picture of us making the above fat maker, BUT I did want to show how I usually end up making all goodies. Aren't they adorable kids. (Kids who need a hair cut or at the very least for their mother to do something with it:)

Where did we move to?

2008-03-20T06:41:00.000-07:00

Last night I woke up to the sound of a woman screaming...or what can clearly be confused for a woman screaming when its only 4:00 in the morning. We have a sliding door that leads off our room going into the backyard. It seriously sounded like someone was standing right outside of it, yelling these short wild high pitched screams. Of course, I made Jared go see if we were about to be murdered in our beds, so he got out of bed real stealth-like and peeked out only to see we were not going to be the victims that night. Some poor creature was being herded by two foxes until it was backed up right against our house. And that my friends, is where it lost the fight. It was the most terrible sound, I felt like I should go out and save it or something. Jared's response was slightly more manly "ooooh, lets check tomorrow for the blood!" All in all, it begs the question...."where the heck did we move to?"

I give in...tag your it

2008-03-12T19:49:00.000-07:00

So this is the second time I've been tagged this particular tag. It must be a sign:) So I decided to finally do it.

10 Years ago....I was in my 3rd semester of BYU. I was pretty sure I knew everything there was to know about life and was very cocky since I was dating a hottie. Unfortunately that's when the Lord decides to teach those of us more prideful a lesson. So all in one semester, I learned that the hottie I was dating was a complete loser. My stellar grades of all A's dropped to the more southern end of the scale, and I found out my dad was dying of cancer. All in all, not a year I choose to revisit very often.

Things on my today list...since its 8:30 and the boys were just put to bed:) not a whole heck of a lot to do. But the dishes need to be done, read a book (any book), wait for Jared to get home from Young Mens, plan my day to tomorrow (I'm going to Twin Falls - the budding metropolis that has Costco), and enjoy some alone time. Rough life, I know.

What I'd do if I was a billionaire...

Thank God (All of you wish that had been top on your list:)
Pay for my house and my families, including a huge cabin for all to play in
Get a house boat for trips to lake Powell, with every water toy imaginable for Jared
Fly my family all around the world to see what life is like outside our small sphere
Pay off Jared's student loan that equals the amount of a really nice house, except that there's no house just a big loan
Get my hair done more than once every 6 months
Give to my church more than 10%

Bad Habits...

Leaving hair in the drain

Licking my fingers if they have syrup on them

Leaving the water on while I brush my teeth (it annoys Jared so much, he reaches over and turns it off)

Eating everything in sight the second I decide that I'm on a diet (like my body knows that I'm preparing to starve it)

Places I've lived...

Washington
Texas
California
Wyoming
Russia
Idaho

Jobs I've had...

Subway, for a day
Sizzler
Telemarketing, yes, I was the one calling you
Baskins Robbins when I was old and married and everyone else there was 16
Physical Therapy Asst
Apartment Manager

Things people don't know about me....

I got 2nd place in a Junior Miss Pageant (obviously, my Junior year)
I can turn my feet to face completely behind me while the rest of my body still faces forward (its weird)
I was Nephi's daughter in the Hill Cumorah Pageant
I eat all the chocolate off of Reese's Peanut Butter cups and then eat the peanut butter inside.
I got a blessing once from Elder Richard G Scott

My absolute "can't do withouts" are...

2008-03-10T08:37:00.000-07:00

So my SNL put on her post the things that she can't live without in her life...I loved it. Since there were too many to list in the comment section, I decided to blog about it. And I know you're reading this thinking about all of yours:)

Things that keep me sane:

My Pride and Prejudice book by my bed
The Court Jester movie, which I don't recommend unless you are in my family
Anything with Cary Grant or Doris Day
Preschool 3 times a week
Paper plates for dinner on a regular ol' day
Always sleeping on the side of the bed without a window next to it.
My anti-humectant pomade for hair (I just ran out..its gonna be a bad day)
Eating chocolate chip cookie dough but avoiding the chocolate chips
My 100 calorie packs from Hostess
Heated seats
Trips to Boise
Heavy blanklets on my bed with a cold room while I sleep
Water..I'm a freak about water, no pop, no juice, just water, please
Colin Firth, need I say more?

What are some of yours?

More Forts and Bowling!

2008-03-05T13:01:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, I made the mistake of promising Preston that we would go to the Park after preschool. Well, of course when it was time to go, the wind had picked up and my car said it was 18 degrees outside. Preston would have been fine, but Noah lasts about 5 minutes in that kind of weather and I don't last too much longer. So, as a bribe to get out of a really cold day, I built him another fort, this one enclosed and let them watch Atlantis in it. However, 2 minutes after the movie ended Preston asked when we were going to the park so, I'm not sure he understood my bribe.

For family home evening, we went bowling. The kids has a blast and so did mom....I beat Jared for the first time in our married life. I will cherish that for the rest of my days.

The fun never stops...

2008-02-26T09:11:00.000-08:00

So Preston will pose for about a half a second. And even though the expression on his face looks like this more than 90% of the day, I can never seem to catch it on camera. Isn't he handsome?:)

Friday nights are now "Movie night with Preston." It was a very simple idea taken from the Norris'. You rent a movie, cuddle up in your bed, and watch a good family flick. But our DVD player has a mind of its own and will only play particular movies, new ones make it especially temperamental. So when it wouldn't play our latest, we decided to go all out and make a fort in our living room, watching it our there. It was great fun and Preston loved it. Neither Jared nor he could ever catch any popcorn in their mouths but they sure had fun trying.

Noah is sometimes refered to as the destroying angel but he decieves people into thinking he is nothing but cuteness. This is evidence of just a tiny, little, miniscule problem that he blesses us with everyday. However, that being said he really is the cutest little 2 year old there is around. He races back and forth from the front door to the back door laughing the whole time. I can't do it justice on a still photo but you can see he hair flops up and down and he waves his arms around, its adorable.

Father Lehi and Family

2008-02-19T19:01:00.000-08:00

For FHE we decided to use visual aids to teach Preston the stories of the Book of Mormon. We weren't able to make the whole family last night but we did make (in order from left to right) Sariah, Lehi, Nephi, Laman, and Lemuel. I know it looks like Nephi is in a straight jacket, but that's how Preston wanted him. Maybe that's what he really looked like when his brothers tied him to the ship.

More Snow?

2008-02-11T20:01:00.000-08:00

Quick cougar update. So my hygienist's boyfriend was going to hunt our friendly neighborhood cougar on Friday; however, he was already...hunted. When her boyfriend's dad went to scout out the situation he found what was left of the deer carcass and saw something moving along the mountain. With his binos he could see that it was two hunters carrying a cat down the mountain.

Never fear, there is plenty of wildlife around here. This morning Noah pointed as he was looking outside and kept saying "pooh-pooh". We didn't think much of it because he only knows six words and pooh-pooh is one of them. Well it turns out there had been a deer on our front porch last night who left his mark, deer droppings all over the place.

One thing we love about Pres is that he loves to play. This is a picture of him landing in a huge snow drift after letting me throw him into a snow drift on our back porch.

You're kidding RIGHT???

2008-02-06T21:07:00.000-08:00

So yesterday, the doorbell rang (a novelty) and it happened to be our neighbor who lives above our garage. That is a story all in itself but anyway, he's holding a phone to his ear, tells me its his sister and that she has commanded him to come and warn us of impending danger. He proceeds to tell me that right up our mountain (a mere 200 yards from our house) is a mountain lion eating a deer for lunch. Not only that but he tells me that there are four wolves waiting to get their chance at the left overs. Preston is standing by me during all this and proceeds to ask if he can go play outside...yeah, so, he hasn't played outside for 2 days now. And may never for that matter. Later, I'm thinking about it and I'm sure our neighbor must have been confused and his boss, too, since he saw them and the wolves are really coyotes. Anyway, so I'm relaying my significant news to a friend and she says, " no, there really are wolves up there!" I feel so comforted. Actually, I'm not really sure what to make of all this, do I whack sticks together every time I leave my house or what. A mountain lion..for reals? Where did we move to?

2008-02-05T13:21:00.001-08:00

The first picture was taken about a month ago but I just love it. I never knew my husband had such an eye for beauty. The next picture is one I took (no eye for beauty there) but it does show how much snow we've gotten. The little picnic table that was in Jared's pic on the left is now gone and the fence line has disappeared completely from the back of the yard. Mind you that's a 4 1/2 foot fence. I say if its going to be cold and snowy, it might as well dump. We are loving it.

We just want to be HEALTHY!!

2008-01-28T21:09:00.000-08:00

Wow, this one will have to go on record without pictures as I was trying to save Jared's life while it was going on. I'll explain.
Friday started like normal, Jared went to work but some patients canceled and he decided to come home and help me pack to go to Boise for the weekend. I love my husband. He came, he helped, he grabbed a couple chocolates,and he left to work on the rest of his patients. About 5 minutes after he left, I heard a noise that I quickly assumed was a thief coming to rob us of our hand-me-down possessions. I ran into the kitchen only to find that Jared had returned and was looking a little odd. If you've seen Hitch or Pure Luck you'll have a good idea of what I was seeing. I probably would've laughed if it hadn't been so serious. (I laughed later..with Jared I might add!) Jared had realized about half way to work that he'd eaten chocolate with a walnut in it and he is very allergic to them. In fact he'd eaten 2 chocolates. So while Jared began to swell and whistling noises were coming out of his throat (because it was getting so small), we jumped into the car and hauled booty to the ER which has never seemed so far away in my life...30 minutes. We ran out, well Jared hobbled out, only to find the ER completely empty, no receptionist, no patients, nothing. When the recep. did finally come out, she looked terrified and 12 I might add, looking like she'd never seen an emergency in her short life.
Long story short, he was finally seen,they medicated him till he didn't know his name and we left 3 1/2 hours later, looking considerably better. And we now own 2 Epi pens.
To top everything off, on the way home my eye started feeling funny and 2 hours later I had full blown pink eye, Preston's doctor said he has pneumonia, and Noah who has no weight to lose, has diarrhea yet again. Last night, we began cloroxing everything in our house.

Dollar Mountain

2008-01-28T08:19:00.000-08:00

Preston Snowboards!! I love this picture. He was like a little bullet rocketing down the mountain. His snowboard is the size of a skate board, I'd say its cute but I suppose the preferred word here is "cool". His uncle Eric taught him to bend his knees, hands out in front and he did it every time. He really was the smallest snowboarder on the mountain and several people commented how surprised they were at his age and the fact that he never fell down:) Granted he also doesn't know how to stop and took out other people several times. We are so proud.

We love visitors

2008-01-23T10:09:00.000-08:00

Just an update on more snow activities....they tell me I'll be having these same updates until roughly MAY!!! Oh well, as long as the snow disappears before my birthday:) So the Gunnel's came up for the weekend and it was fantastic. We celebrated 3 birthdays in their family, JeNeale readily admits they could have timed those births a little better having an additional 2 more birthdays coming up in the next couple weeks, as well.

We love having so many visitors, I don't think I'd survive the winter without it. The older kids went snow boarding with Jared. And they all tried unsuccessfully to keep up with Brent on skis. While this was going on, we took the little ones to go sledding and of all the runs they made the one with Grammy was their favorite. I am just getting ready to give them a push in this picture, we were not about to try having 4 people on a sled. And then there is Jensen (Preston's 5 year old cousin) he saw this picture and asked me to include it on the blog, he said it would make her happy. My son is so cute.

Having Fun in Snow

2008-01-04T13:16:00.000-08:00

We have spent so much time in the snow lately. Mostly because it is fun but partly because when there's this much snow, what else are you supposed to do. So I've decided its time to start snowboarding again and Jared is coming with me. And even though I have been 100 times more than him (Jared's been once) he will still be better than me. Its inevitable. Preston also is going to begin. He tried the little skateboard sled thing, that you stand on while going down the hill and LOVED it. He got going pretty fast, bit it pretty hard, and still wanted more, so we'll be seeing him on the slopes as well.

I had most of my family up here for Christmas and it was fantastic. With all the snow, the giant fireplace, and the huge Christmas tree it felt like a real vacation even though we didn't leave home. Preston got Harry Potter 5 and has watched it once a day since then. He also got a Builder Station with drills, wrenches and even protective goggles. He loves it and we love watching his imagination make all kinds of things for us. Noah got a rocking horse that whinnies and moves its head when you press its ear. For the first few times that we showed it to him, he kept hitting the horse on the head as hard as he could when it moved. It was hilarious. He was just a little disturbed by the moving head (we think). Also as a side note to all parents, we told all the kids they couldn't get up until 6:00 but then set the clock we gave them for a hour before so it was really 7:00 when they got up. The idea, I admit, was not mine but I will be doing it every year. All in all it was a great Christmas.

Some of you may have noticed that I said I was going to get Christmas cards out and then never did. Shocking, I know but I'm coming to terms that I don't do Christmas cards, I don't scrapbook and you'll probably never see this blog more creatively done than it is right now:) I really do consider myself a creative person but on the above items...it's just never going to happen.

P-Diddy's Christmas Concert

2007-12-20T22:32:00.000-08:00

Check this out. Preston has the heebie-jeebies while standing next to girls. This was his very first Christmas concert, and Maren was a proud Mama.

Christmas Preparations

2007-12-20T21:09:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again and the Christmas preparations are coming along nicely. Of course we are adjusting, again, to a new place with lots of snow and space. The kids are loving playing outside and with each other (as long as Preston is the one drawing on Noah's face and not the other way around).

We had to get a few new snow toys for the boys and since Maren says that snowmobiles are out of the question (for now) we had to settle on cheaper sleds. I am pretty sure that Noah only stayed in the sled because I bought him the one with the seatbelt. With an older, loving brother like Preston you would have done the same.

So we bought a fake tree this year because Maren claims that she's allergic to pine. Please note there are no presents underneath the tree, and that would be because of Noah. While Preston has really learned to help his mom, Noah, on the other hand has learned to create havoc. For the Christmas play this year Noah is going to be the angel; however instead of announcing the birth of the Christ, I am afraid he will be more of a destroying angel.

2007-12-11T15:39:00.000-08:00

So this is our back yard:) I know all of you are jealous. Notice Jared runs with Noah without holding onto him. I, myself, only figured it out after I took the picture. This is when Jayne and family came to visit and had a great game of football. And then thats the back of our house. For some odd reason I've never taken a picture of the front. Life is good up here in Sun Valley. A little slower pace never hurt anybody. Jared is loving his job and I love having more time with him, since his schedule is a tad better than in Boise.

Preston's most excellent Halloween

2007-11-20T15:47:00.003-08:00

Is he not the cutest Harry Potter you've ever seen?

We're back

2007-11-20T14:48:00.000-08:00

So we wanted to out do last year, when Jared was Darth Maul and Cash was Beast (X-Men). So when our annual party came up, how could we refuse KISS when the theme was battle of the bands.

Jayne and Darrin came up for a visit and we had so much fun. We played football, went hiking and in between listened to conference. The last couple pictures are from this last summer when Jay and his family were here and we decided to get family pictures taken. Preston was born the same year as 3 of his girl cousins, so for the rest of his life he'll be taking pictures like the one below.

We're moving!!

2007-09-02T19:37:00.000-07:00

So life is never boring around our house. I heard a girl talking about her kids the other day and couldn't help but compare her analogy to my own two boys..."like chimpanzees on crack!" Its fitting on any given day of the week, making our house crazy but really fun. On a big side note, Jared and I have decided that Boise has one too many dentists (on every corner) and are going to try our hand, or rather Jared's skilled hands, in Hailey, ID, aka Sun Valley. Yes, we'll be a hop, skip and a 10 mile jump next to Bruce Willis' house. I think we'll be fast friends... real quick like. Anyway, we move Sep. 15 and are going to rent a house that WILL have an extra room for those of you who need a vacation.

So this is a small glimpse into our summer, since its rapidily coming to a close . This is Jay (Jared's brother) throwing E-man into the sky at a Black canyon with a bundle of kids waiting to be next.
Preston jumping into the local pool.
Jared and Cash throwing kids off their shoulders. Yes, I'm Mrs. Obvious.
Noah is terrified of water and him being ankle deep in this picture is HUGE. We're so proud.

We went to Utah a while back and talked to Boyd about his triathalon. Needless to say, Jared got super pumped and decided that he wanted to do it as well. So these are pictures of him at "Emmett's Most Excellent Triathalan."

Preston was so scared of the cannon going off, so he sat like this for about 10 minutes.
Jared beat his brother, Cash, by 2 hundredths of a second...he was so mad:) It was great day and we had tons of fun cheering them on. In all there was, Jared, his brother Cash, his cousin Kevin, Bubba a friend and his wife Carol.

Noah is part of the family, too

2007-08-08T10:09:00.000-07:00

Everytime we point the camera at Noah, he runs toward it saying cheese and tries to touch it. So we now have 37 pictures with Noah's finger touching the lens.

We took these pictures just to document the 100th time Noah has pushed the chair/stool/laundry basket etc to the table and climbed on. He is so proud of himself.

Preston is 4

2007-08-07T08:09:00.000-07:00

Jared put sparklers on the light saber cake and Preston couldn't understand why he couldn't blow them out. He had a great day. We all went to Boondocks, then he played XBOX with his cousins and finally pizza and cake.

Preston's Birthday - Go Star Wars

2007-08-06T22:15:00.000-07:00

Preston turned 4 years old and is still going strong with the Star Wars theme (hence the light saber cake). So this was back in June but I couldn't leave it out. Before the present opening they went to Boondocks and had a blast on the bumperboats.Here's Cassie taking cover behind Preston and Maddi soaked from head to toe.

The Famous Father and Son Campout

2007-08-06T21:47:00.000-07:00

Jared took Preston on a father and son camp out along with his brother Cash and his son, Spencer. Spencer is just moments from falling into the river behind him. Pres came home covered in dirt from head to toe but was so happy.

Summer, Summer, Summer

2007-07-30T19:29:00.000-07:00

Preston sure has loved being so close to family. This is his cousin Audry, or "Ya-Ya" as he refers to her. He really enjoys playing with her and her brother Spencer and his other cousin Jensen. Some of his favorite things to do are play x-box (so much like his mother I can hardly stand it), play outside and go swimming.