Boise Trip and New Accessories for Avery!!!

Yesterday was a fun, but very LONG day! My sweet mother-in-law, Shirley, offered to pick me up some Washington apples and meet me in Boise with them. They were a really good deal, and I thought that a little day trip to Boise sounded fun. So, I asked my sister-in-law, Stephanie, to come with me. She and I have made applesauce and apple pie filling together in the past and plan on making A LOT more this year with all of our yummy Washington apples!

So, I had to get all 3 kids ready and out the door by 8 a.m. Not the easiest task, but the kids all cooperated and we were on time. I had to drop Easton off at school and drop Paisley off at a friend's house. (Thanks a ton, Valerie!) Then, Avery and I were headed to pick up Steph and get on the road.

(Thanks a bunch, Heather for picking them up from school and letting them play at your house! And thanks, mom, for taking them for the evening! It takes a lot of help for me to be able to leave town for the day!) :)

Avery did well on the drive, for the most part. She did have a few cranky moments because she was sooo tired! But, she took a short little nap on the way up and that seemed to help. I was so glad that Steph was with me so that she could try to make Avery happy when needed.

We met Shirley at noon at the Cheesecake Factory. I LOVE the Cheesecake Factory and eat there whenever possible. Avery was so excited to see grandma, and I am pretty sure that grandma was just as excited to see little Avery! :)

It was a happy reunion!

Lunch was great and a trip to the Cheesecake Factory would NOT be complete without some CHEESECAKE! So, we shared 2 pieces between the 4 of us. SOOOO delicious!

After lunch, we went out to the cars to switch the boxes of apples from Shirley's car to mine. While Steph and I were walking we came up with the idea that Avery needed her ears pierced today! :) We got Paisley's ears pierced when she was 6 months. That was a good age because she didn't mess with her earrings at all. So, I had kind of put of doing Avery's because of her age. But, being 2 1/2 now, I can reason with her and tell her not to mess with her ears.

We got so excited about our idea, but also felt really bad. We kept asking Avery if she wanted earrings and she would excitedly say "Yes!" But, we felt bad because she had no idea what she was in for!

We got her to the store and she sat in the chair so nicely.




She was very patient and waited for whatever she thought was going to happen.



Getting her ears marked with pen to mark where the holes would be

And here is how it went down...

The ladies who pierced her ears were very nice and did a great job. They pierced both ears at once.

WAIT FOR IT...WAIT FOR IT...




















All Done!!!



Me trying to have her look in the mirror, but Avery not caring and reaching for a sucker instead!! :)




Sucker is helping...


Almost better!

Avery, really cried right afterwards for a minute or so. They gave her a sucker and that really helped. :) She looked so cute! She was pretty excited about them once the initial crying was over. She has been really good to not mess with them.


Here she is with her new little earrings:



Afterwards, we did a little more shopping and then headed home.

Just so you all know, she was fine! A few minutes later we were at the Disney Store and she had forgotten all about it! ;)


Nemo and a turtle can make anyone happy!

The ride home was about like the ride there. Avery was pretty cranky for some of the time, but I couldn't blame her. Thank goodness for portable DVD players, that's all I can say!! :)

Now, Steph and I have 200 pounds of apples to process! :) If anyone has any good apple recipes they would like to share, I would love to have some more ideas! :)

Thanks for the fun day, Steph! It would have been soooo boring without ya! And, thank you so so so much, Shirley, for taking the long drive alone to bring us some apples! I really appreciate it and really enjoyed having lunch with ya!!!

We all want to be rockstars when we "grow up"

A week ago we had a little bbq with my two brothers and their families. It was a lot of fun! I hadn't seen Andrew since May because he had been in Florida all summer. So, it was extra nice to visit with him.

After dinner, we hung out and talked. Then, we got roped into playing duck, duck, goose by the kids. That actually turned out being pretty fun with all of us playing. Somehow, we started saying different things other than duck and goose. We were doing names of male and female animals (bull and cow, hen and rooster, etc.) So, it became a competition mostly between my brothers of who could come up with the most combinations. The kids just loved that we were playing their game! I wish had pictures of it all!

After we ran out of combinations, we decided to play a little Rock Band. Andrew, Steph, Dave, and I used to play Rock Band quite a bit together when the kids went to bed. We formed our own band and we each have our own characters. Dave likes to bug us with making the nastiest character ever! Steph plays the drums, Dave is bass, Andrew and I switch off on vocals and guitar. It is a lot of fun. We have all gotten quite good, actually! :) Anyway, that night the kids were bugging us to play. So we let them each play an instrument in a song, with a little help. They loved it!


Dave helped Easton with the guitar


Paisley sang/held the microphone so talented Andrew could play and sing


Avery played the drums with Steph

It was so cute that I had to run upstairs for the camera to snap a few pictures!

Thanks for the fun night, everyone!

#9 Baby!

Dave and I at his mission farewell, July 1997. I was 18, he 19! We were young! (I am acting so weird because he was tickling me!!)

Dave and I have been married for 9 fun-filled years today! Happy Anniversary, hon! I can't believe it has been that long. But, at the same time, it is hard to remember not being married.



We have had some fun times through the years. I thought I would try to write about a few of the fun times and funny memories (of not necessarily good times)!

We were out together on New Year's Eve, a few months before we got engaged. We were walking with some friends downtown. All of a sudden we walked across some black ice on the sidewalk and started slipping and sliding all over the place. We were laughing at ourselves. At the end of the patch of ice, there was a bench. The four of us sat on the bench and just watched people slip across that ice. We laughed so hard! (I laugh even looking back on it.) We were taking bets on which people would slip and which would fall. It sounds a little mean, but it was so fun. Several people joined us watching people once they made their trek across the ice. That is a really fun memory.

Dave and I went on our honeymoon to Puerta Vallarta, Mexico. We stayed (thanks to my parents' timeshare condos) in a BEAUTIFUL condo right on the beach.


Our condo in Puerta Vallarta

We overlooked the ocean from our balcony. It was amazing! We had a great time!

One of the things we did was a day cruise. Dave was smart enough to buy medicine for the motion sickness the day before. I KNEW I didn't need it and so I didn't take any. But, by the time we had our first stop for snorkeling, I couldn't even move. I must have looked pretty pale and sick because a worker came up and asked if I needed a bag! :) I took some medicine and was fine shortly after.

The funny part (looking back) of that trip was our horseback ride. We went to an island and rented horses. Dave happened to get a lead horse and I happened to get an old nag. So, needless to say, I was alone the whole time bringing up the rear.


Dave (in front) crossing the water on his horse

Our destination was a waterfall. On the way there, we had to walk along a rock wall. The horse was walking right up to the wall and totally scratched my whole right leg up. When we got there, we had to walk across a little stream to get to the waterfall. I promptly fell in and was soaked and scraped my knee. On the way back, that dumb horse scraped my left leg all up along the same rock wall! So, after being alone the whole time, soaked, and both legs and a knee scraped up, I wasn't too thrilled! :) Dave had been riding next to a guy and was chatting. Dave told him we were on our honeymoon. He told the guy that I was riding clear in the back, and hadn't been having the best time. The guy told Dave that he will be able to tell how my mood is as soon as he sees me. I came around the corner where they were waiting at the end and I must have looked pretty mad. They both started just laughing! So, I had no idea why they were laughing, and that made me a little more mad. But, I totally can laugh at it looking back!

Our first little vacation after our honeymoon was a trip to Las Vegas with our good friends, Aaron and Kori. Being newlywed couples, we didn't have a lot of money. So, we made the trip as cheap as possible. But, we really had a great time.


Dave and I in Vegas at Madame Tussuad's "kissing" Harrison Ford! :)

We ended up being able to do a lot of things for free through random ways. It was a fun trip.

One funny memory, of a not good time, was when we had just moved from Salt Lake and were living in a little apartment. One morning, I was doing my hair, and was kind of in a hurry. I asked Dave to put a waffle in the toaster for me. He put the waffle in and a few minutes later I asked him if it was done. He was in the middle of watching something on TV. Without going in to check, he told me it was done. A couple of minutes later, he started to smell smoke. He went to check the waffle and there were flames shooting out of the toaster. It had even started burning our cupboards. I will never forget that scene of the flames. What a mess! And, it was even worse trying to work with the apartment management on how to pay for our accident! We laugh now when we talk about it, though not so funny when it happened!

Some of our happiest and most funny moments, of course, have been with our 3 kids! They keep us laughing every day! (And, yes, some moments have taken a couple years to be able to laugh at!)

Being married to Dave has been full of laughter. Maybe not every minute, :) but we definitely have our share of funny times and memories! He is a great man and I am so lucky to have him as my husband! I look forward to many more funny memories in the future!!

I love you so much, Dave! Thank you for 9 great years and 3 beautiful children! You are the best!




*~*~*~*UPDATE*~*~*~*One more reason I LOVE my husband, he NEVER forgets to send flowers on our anniversary! I just got these....



Did I mention that I love getting flowers? He knows it, too! Thanks, hon!!!

Crazy Week

Nothing really exciting to post about this week. Dave started training a new class this week. He trains his classes for 10 weeks. The people in the class will have the 10-7 shift and so hehas to train them at that shift, also. So, really, Dave works from 9-8 usually, sometimes longer. It makes for a VERY long 10 weeks for all of us. So, week one is over (almost). It seems that the first couple weeks are really hard for me. Then I seem to get used to it. I just feel overwhelmed and tired and super busy. It is weird that not having him home for those couple hours at night really makes a huge difference. By the time the kids go to bed, I am exhausted! It is tough. And, I am sure Dave is just as exhausted by the time he gets home!

Dave has also been playing softball still. So, this week, he has gotten home from work, changed and headed to softball. It really has been CRAZY!

One other bad part of this schedule is that I get STARVED for adult conversation. All 3 meals are eaten with just me and the kids. That is okay, but I long to talk with Dave over dinner, also. The days get kind of lonely.

But, the other night, I got to go out with some good friends for a girls night out! (Thanks for putting the kids to bed, Dave!) That night and conversation was like food to my thirsty mind. It really rejuvinated me to be out and just talking and laughing with other women. I really had a great time and was so happy when I got home. So, that was really a highlight to my week. Thanks, girls, you don't know how much I needed it!

Well, that is probably enough of my pity-party. One night this week, I took the kids out on a "date". We went to an early dinner at McDonalds, went and watched Ice Age 3, and then for a frosty at Wendy's. Paisley was already thanking me for the fun night when we had just got started at McDonalds! She said, over her cheeseburger, "I am going to remember this night!" That made me feel good. I love to have nights where we just have fun and I get to treat my kids. It was a great night. I think that the kids had a great night, as well!

Easton is in flag football again this year. They have been practicing for the past couple weeks. He loves football so much! It is his favorite sport. He can throw a perfect spiral, it is awesome. I know Dave smiles inside every time he sees his son playing sports! His games start next week and we are really excited to be able to go watch him!

The kids are doing well in school. They started having homework this week, which hasn't been too fun for anyone. But, I have been making them do it as soon as they get home, so that frees up our night. I think they appreciate that, too, once they are done!

Oh, and I have done a bit more canning this week. A couple days ago I canned ONE quart of tomatos! Nice, huh? We are very slowly getting red ones. I had a few and didn't want to waste them, so I canned a quart. :) Then yesterday, I canned 15 pints of corn and 4 pints of dilly beans. My uncle gave my parents a bunch of corn and they didn't want that much, so they gave it to me. I decided to try canning it, I haven't done that in the past. I like canned corn, so I am sure it will be good.

That is all for our week. Nothing too exciting, a little boring, and a little pity-partiesh, but it's over. I am so excited for the weekend. I think Dave and I are going to try to go to the fair on our date night. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the fair. Dave doesn't, but always humors me. We also have a BBQ scheduled with my brothers and their families. My brother, Andrew, spent the summer in Florida. So, I haven't seen him since May. I am very excited for that. Should be a fun weekend, and a long one thanks to Labor Day! Yea! Have a great weekend everyone!