Rooster's Nineth Month

To celebrate Rooster and I did some Black Friday shopping together. I had about 4 items in my shopping cart for her and I was trying to decide which ones to get her for Christmas. Then it hit me. She will be having a BIRTHDAY in 3 MONTHS! I tried desperately to contain my composer. It doesn't seem real that it's come so fast. Needless to say I brought all the presents, some for Christmas and some for...sigh...her birthday.



Last week right after we got home from McCall Rooster was drooling like crazy. I did the standard check of her mouth and much to my surprise 2 top teeth had already cut through. You could already see quite a bit of white tooth. Seeing how dramatic it was for her bottom teeth to come in I couldn't believe the top came in without a peep. NOT COMPLAINING, trust me! The funny thing is it was her eye teeth that came in. She looks like a little baby vampire (either that or I still have Twilight on the brain.) It's pretty cute in a comical way.



In other big news Ruth is crawling! It's kind of a scoot/crawl combo. But she is definitely getting across the room (especially if food is involved!) She does this very cute thing where she pushes her legs up so her bottom is straight in the air. Then she is ready to start moving.



A few days ago Ruth crawled over to the basket of books by the rocking chair and tipped it over so all the books spilled out. And instead of eating or destroying them she very carefully looked at them. I LOVE that she is a typical Romans and has an early love of reading. We love you Rooster Girl!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We've been battling the sickness this week. When we returned home from McCall on Saturday I picked up Spencer and gave him a hug. He returned the love by puking all over me, twice. Then it started coming out the other end. Emma joined his ranks and was very sick for 2 days solid. By Tuesday we were better and back to our normal activities. Wednesday afternoon Ruth decided to follow Spencer's example and puked all over me, twice. Since so much puke had penetrated my skin naturally I got sick too. I rushed home from Mutual and set up camp in the bathroom. Ruth and I stayed home from the Thanksgiving dinner at Bill & Cindy's. Hey, at least we got an uninterrupted nap out of the whole deal.

Regardless, we have so much to be grateful for...

~ that our sicknesses were very short term and we enjoy good health most of the year.
~ an amazing husband, he was so good to help while my forces were down, thanks!!!
~ Austin and his hunger to learn, his quick mind and easy understanding.
~ Emma Lynn and her love to create.
~ Spencer and his adorable smile coupled with his talent to make us laugh.
~ Ruth and her ability to help us remember all things heavenly.
~ A successful business that still brings Kurt joy (and some stress.)
~ A new (to us) home.
~ A prophet who speaks with our Heavenly Father.
~ Food storage.
~ FABULOUS family in Oregon, Idaho, Washington, D.C., Virginia, Utah, & Nevada.
~ A super Sister missionary in Fiji - we love you!
~ Good books (especially the scriptures.)
~ Gorgeous fall colors, & other constant beauties all around us.
~ YW of Vale First Ward.
~ Teachers to love, enrich and bless my children's lives.
~ The time and ability to develop talents.
~ Good Music.
~ Friends who support, listen and love us even though they don't have to!
~ Having Family Home Evening every week.
~ Elaine finding eternal JOY! What a perfect ending/joyful beginning.
~ Our Savior, Jesus Christ. Without whom nothing would be possible.

Happy Thanksgiving. All our love from our grateful hearts!

Give Away

I just stumbled upon this give-away. It's pretty darn awesome. I am personally encouraging everyone to check it out. And Good Luck!

30 Years of Greatness

Happy Birthday Kurt!



When Kurt got home from work on Friday night I told him that our babysitter, Shaylona was
here and that he should get ready to go on a super date. After he was ready we headed up to McCall, Idaho for an overnight trip. With no kids! I planned this out about 3 weeks ago and have been hyperventilating every minute since. But I knew a get-away with me was the best present I could give Kurt (he's so sweet!) We went to our timeshare resort in McCall and had a fabulous time away. The scenery was gorgeous and it even started snowing, is it time for that already??? And of course it turns out that the kids did wonderfully (at least that's the story that I was told.)



I love you Kurt because you are...

1. Perfect Provider
2. Smart (genius as he would say)
3. Hard working
4. Diligent
5. Honors his priesthood
6. Loving
7. Dedicated to his family
8. Loyal to his parents
9. Plays with his children
10. Supportive
11. Teaches our children about the gospel
12. Loves me regardless
13. Values education
14. Patient
15. Reads the scriptures
16. Easy-going
17. Makes time for Family Home Evening every week
18. Has a testimony of the gospel & shares it
19. Understands the importance of "ME" time
20. Prays always
21. Excellent boss
22. Loves the Lord
23. A perfect father
24. Takes us on family vacations
25. Obeys the rules
26. A natural leader
27. Listens to my worries and ramblings
28. Bought me a house! (thank you!)
29. Wants to date me
30. The best husband I could ask for

Happy, Happy Birthday my love!

For the love of food!

My kids have always been good eaters. Ruth continues the trend. We were pretty late starting her on any kind of baby foods for a few basic reasons:

1. I was in denial (maybe if I didn't feed her baby food she wouldn't grow up as fast and I could keep her an infant longer...)
2. She loved her milk (breast and formula)
3. It was so much easier to hand her a bottle (just comes down to convenience and laziness I guess!)

When she started getting irritated for no apparent reason we stepped up the solids and she is a happy, happy girl. We pretty much bypassed the baby food thing. One way to save money I guess.





Spencer's is constantly saying, "Mom, I'm hungry." Most often heard 10 minutes after he gets down from the table. He loves yogurt and could eat the entire carton in one sitting. I actually let him do it this week. He didn't say he was hungry after that!

THE Movie

I went to the midnight showing of Twilight last night with 7 friends. We left Vale at 7:30. We went out to dinner and then showed up 2 hours before the movie started to get seats. There was a wide variety of people there...it was interesting...

So the movie was o..k..a..y for me, I'm not gonna lie.

But I did have fun with the ladies, thanks for a great night out!

Done!

I finished Breaking Dawn last night. I'm ready to discuss now! :)

Washington Family Vacay

Of course I wasn't going to forget to post about our trip. Life hit hard the minute we got home. I finally had time to go through some pictures. It was gorgeous! I wouldn't mind living in Washington any day.

Friday, November 7th Kurt had to take his contractor's test (to become licensed) in Baker, Oregon. We stopped at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. It was very well done and very informative. It always gives you a greater appreciation for those blessed pioneers.


Late Friday night we pulled into Leavenworth, WA. It is a gorgeous tourist town up in the mountains (about an hour and a half from Seattle.) The town is completely patterned after that of Germany. Impressively done and it was quite nostalgic for me. A small taste of Europe, ahhh.
We spent the next 3 nights at our time share resort in Leavenworth.

We did lots of driving to check out the scenery and beautiful landscape, walking, a local petting farm, the National Fish Hatchery, A Nutcracker museum and a walk through the downtown streets. We loved all their little shops mostly with sweet things to eat!


(I know this is impossibly small but I wanted a quick record of all the different things we did in Leavenworth. Plus I had SO many pictures!)

As I said before Leavenworth is breathtaking. I wanted to capture the beauty as much as I possibly could. I'm sharing a few favorites.








Sunday we drove an hour to church in order to spend the day with Grandma Miles sister, Lorene and her family. We had lunch with them afterwards. The food was delicious and the company superb. I wish we lived closer. I am more dedicated than ever to plan some family reunions this summer!

Monday we left Leavenworth at noon and headed for Moses Lake. Kurt spent the rest of the day and half of Tuesday preparing his inventory for his next business adventure (selling spray equipment.) For FHE that night we watched Madagascar 2 in the theater (practically the only reason Emma came on the trip!)

Tuesday afternoon we got back on the road to head home. It was excellent to get away, to spend time together as a family, to create new memories, to express gratitude and marvel in the magnificent beauties created for us. I'm recommending Leavenworth for your next family get-away!

The Price of Gas

Always a hot topic. Since the recent decline in prices the topic has been much less heated. It was fun and interesting to what gas prices where on our trip. The lowest we found was.............$1.99 in Moses Lake, Washington. Since it was such a phenomenon I had to take a picture.


When we returned home from the 5 day vacay gas had dropped 20 cents in my very own town. I was impressed. We are currently at $2.38 Don't worry, you'll hear all about it when Vale is below 2 bucks.

What's the price of gas for you?

Caved

So every female that truly loves a good chick flick read has been devouring and all consumed by the Twilight series. Yeah, I'm sure you've heard of it. Who hasn't??? The whole vampire thing...not really my thing. I stayed away.

Then it seemed as though all my great girl friends had read the series, still all consumed and devouring while ranting and raving. I did value and trust their options. So it started to spark the curiosity. What was all the hype about?

I was in Target (my fav!) a month ago and randomly picked up a copy of Twilight (curiosity mounting) the price was under 10 bucks so I figured I couldn't go wrong.

The book sat in the Target bag for over a month. I couldn't do it. Vampires??? uhhhhhhh, no!

Well, I took the book out of the Target bag this weekend as I packed for our trip to Washington. I knew we would have a lot of driving time so I thought why not. So what I'm saying is...I CAVED!!! And like every other female that reads this book I am hooked, all consumed, devouring, avid fan! I finished it the second day of our vacation and immediately had to go out and buy "New Moon" the next day. I tell myself I just was waiting until all the books were written so I could read them all together! :)

Meanwhile Bella just jumped on the plane with Alice to go save Edward from himself so I'm outta here! AND btw - no spoilers!!

Disappointment

I should be sitting in the Boise, Taco Bell Arena right this very minute waiting for "Disney on Ice" to begin. Instead I'm sitting at home trying to decide what to make for dinner and keep myself diverted from the fact that we are not going to Disney on Ice tonight.

More than a month ago I heard that Disney on Ice was coming to Boise and I jumped at the chance to take our family. We've been anxiously looking forward to opening night, November 6th until last night...

Apparently the ice isn't ready. ARE YOU SERIOUS??? So opening night was rescheduled for Sunday, November 9th. Perfect. We are leaving tomorrow morning for a family vacation to Washington so we are unable to make any of the other nights.

I've been pouting. It's sad to admit seeing how I'm 28 years of age and "suppose" to be mature and everything. I didn't know how we were going to tell the kids. They were going to be so disappointed. And they were but they handled it a lot better than I. So obviously I need to work on the maturity thing.

I promised to write something I'm grateful about in each post this month. It looks like I really need to tonight.

I'm grateful for my kids who teach me to be a better person, who help me reach inside myself and stretch just a little bit more, who motivate me to become the best form of myself. (And as I've witnessed I'm truly a work in progress.) I'm grateful for ups and downs so I can truly enjoy the ups. I'm grateful the reason that we can't go to Disney on Ice another night is because we'll be out of town on a family vacation (honestly why am I pouting? I LIVE for these moments!) And I'm grateful that going to the rescheduled show on Sunday wasn't even a consideration because of my testimony in a kind and loving Higher Being.

I'm feeling much better having said that. Maybe I'll even stop pouting now.

Even Alaska and Texas

After the story of the 10 lepers last night during FHE we continued to talk about what we are grateful for. Austin's response was the whole world. This wasn't shocking since his prayers often reflect the same sentiments. After a short pause he added, even Alaska and Texas. Personally I didn't know he was that educated on areas Alaska and Texas.

During the month of November I'm going to (try to) included something I'm grateful for on each post.

Where to start?...

I'm grateful for Austin and his sharp mind, thirst for knowledge (secular and spiritual) and his level of motivation to do his best at his work. That he thinks I'm fun and cool and is honored to have me come to his class. That he still lets me hold him, loves piggy backs and snuggles. I'm grateful for the opportunity to learn and grow from and with him. I'm grateful to be his mom.