For Aunt Carrie

Carrie, Wyatt loves his Legos! He couldn't find them for a picture, but it is just like when any boy gets new legos, it consumed him, and he only came up for food and water. The girls loved their pajamas.

Thank you for spoiling us! And tell Jeff, that even though you didn't want the Viking monkeys, they are a huge hit here, and my kids treat them with the respect Jeff would want them to! Love You!

Happy Halloween!

As you can see we had a pumpkin, and Pittsburgh Steelers Football player, and Rapunzel. This year Nadja went out for almost the whole time that the kids were out. She loved her costume. She didn't scream to take it off. Although, she did not want to get out of the stroller, or have anyone take her bucket to the door either. She just rode in the stroller, and enjoyed the scenery. Wyatt and Isabelle of course loved every minute they were able to be out getting candy.

Fishin'

Wyatt, Isabelle, Jared and Uncle Jordan went fishin! This was not Wyatt's first time, but it was Isabelle's first time, and they loved it. They were both lucky enough to catch 2 fish each (with help from dad and uncle jordan). They were so proud of themselves! Isabelle loved it but didn't want to eat it. We convinced Wyatt and Isabelle to each try a little piece, and they loved it. We even had Uncle Jordan and Aunt Caitlyn over to eat with us. Special thanks to Howard, for coming over to show us how to filet our fish! It was delicious!

Exhaustion

I took my trip to Minnesota this past week. I loved every second of it! I got to play with my nephews, and cuddle the babies. I have to tell you, being up at night is nothing new, since I am a mom, but being up at night with 2 babies, is something else. I can officially say, I never want twins, but I totally relished the time I was with Lucy and Max. I can also add a new hero that I look up to, to my list. That would be my amazing sister in law Carrie. Our week was jam packed with baby feedings, diaper changes, clothing changes (for babies and mommies), naps, lots of giggles, and lots of food. Carrie and I snuck off to the mall of America on Saturday morning. That is definately huge, and will be even more fun when we go out as a family and take the kiddos. It was so nice to enjoy girl time though. I am always so comfortable with Carrie, I can pretty much say anything, and we never run out of things to talk about. Things I will never forget about my trip: Mick saying, "I no want to" about everything (pretty funny after a few days of hearing it!), Sam talking my ears off (it is so cute!), Mall of America, "discussions" with Jeff and Carrie, Twilight watching (Carrie and I watched all 3 movies), playing the piano in the atrium at Mayo Clinic (that is an amazing place), sticking babies in carved pumpkins just for a picture (they are super cute by the way), bonding with Max and Lucy, new baby smell, baby sighs, and baby smiles. Life didn't stop while I was away. Back home, Wyatt had Red Ribbon Week. It was crazy hair day so...

Isabelle was pretty sure that I was never coming home, and told me so on the phone Thursday night. She was ok the next night, and when I told her I was coming home, she informed me that it was ok, I didn't need to. This is the best thing. My husband painted my wall I've been wanting to paint.

Isn't it beautiful? I am so happy that he did it for me! My kids carved pumpkins. I was telling Carrie that they do it every year, without me, because I usually have mutual or something else going on.

Wyatt got to go fishing with our Uncle Steve and Jared. They also went to the elder's quorum activity that evening. Here is a picture of Wyatt wearing Uncle Steve's hardhat (and Wyatt's favorite football team).

A lot has happened in a week's time. I am just so thankful I was able to go out and help Jeff and Carrie with the twins. I will never forget it! Thank you Minnesota Scows! I miss you already!

Sal

Sunday after conference, Isabelle wanted to set up the slip and slide. Well folks, with Idaho weather here officially, it was downright chilly, but warm in the sunshine. Jared told her she had to let him squirt her with the hose first, then she could put her swimsuit on. She chickened out when he grabbed the hose, and decided dad should squirt Wyatt first. He was no where around because he understands cold weather means no swimming. Anyway, Jared glanced down and saw a salamander in the window sill. So they snatched it, brought it in, and now we have a pet salamander. His name was going to be Stanley, but the kids decided it would be too hard to remember. Then it was Paskow (not sure on the spelling) from Tangled. Then it became Sal the Salamander. Secretly though, when Wyatt is at school, Isabelle calls it lizzie, or sally, or Paskow. I'm not supposed to tell Wyatt, so if you read this, mums the word! So we have another pet. Jared read that they eat small fish, so he went and bought some the other night. He put them in the water bowl when Wyatt was sleeping. When he woke up, he told Jared that there were fish in the bowl, but he took them out, because that was not their water, it was Sal's water. So funny! One survived. Wyatt also tried to get out of the house with Sal, to take him for a walk. There is a new rule at our house, no touching or taking Sal out of his tank! I do not want a dead Sal somewhere in my house. That happened once when I brought frogs home for the kids that I caught. They escaped and died. We found them many months later when moving furniture!

Vacation!!

I'm running away! I'm really excited for this trip, and some of my friends look at me strange when I tell them where I am going, and what I get to do, but I can't wait. I'm not going to lay on the beach anywhere, that would be nice though. I get to go to Minnesota, and snuggle 2 beautiful babies, who are dying to meet Aunt Jen, I know they are. Jared's brother Jeff, and his wife Carrie had twins about a month and a half ago, and I get to go spend a week at their house and help take care of the little munchkins. Not a normal vacation, some may say, but since they moved from Utah, many moons ago, I have not been able to go visit. So, even if I get to sit on the couch and hold a baby or two all day, it is going to be awesome! I've been working on all of the child care arrangements on this end, for my kids. Wyatt is easy, school all day. Isabelle and Nadja, need more work because they are home most of the day. So, thanks to an amazing sister-in-law, who will be doing the bulk of child care for me, and my mother in law, and my mom, and my neighbors, I know the list keeps going, things rae worked out perfect so Jared just comes home and spends the evening with his kids. Thank you is not enough to say to everyone who has more than willingly said yes, but it will have to do. My mom is worried how Nadja will react to me being gone, but I think that it will be good for her to be away from me. She is very clingy, and it will help her, or it will have the reverse affect on her, and she will be out of control clingy when I get back. But the truth is, she only has eyes for daddy when he walks through the door after work, so with him still coming around every evening, it will be easy for her, if daddy can give her the attention that she needs! So there it is, a fabulous vacation coming for me in a week! Minnesota, here I come!

Traditions

Every year at the general conference in the fall, we spend the day with Jared's parents. We go out for a drive after conference, and this year we went to Cherry Springs. It was beautiful, and there weren't too many people there. We always take pictures. Sometimes we miss the fall colors, depending on the weather. We had a good time.