I'm Back

It's been a long time. I will try to catch up today and this could be a very long post with way more pictures than you want to see, but I am going to post them anyway. What a great year we had in 2009! Most of you have heard by now that we are expecting a baby in the spring! I thought I was done and I got rid of all my baby stuff after Kate was born, but about a year ago I decided I wanted another baby and we are so thrilled to be due in June!

Other than that exciting news, we had a wonderful fall full of raking leaves and building a fire out back.

Kiley practices her fire starting skills

Will helps bag leaves. He got paid for every bag he filled. He was saving up for an Ipod. He finally earned enough money and bought his ipod in November. He lost it about 2 weeks later. Still hasn't shown up yet. We keep hoping. Poor kid.

Will and James working together to rake leaves.

Our back yard was beautiful this fall.

Kate enjoyed playing in the leaves.

We had to cut down one of our beautiful oak trees because it had oak wilt (diseased) and the city comes through and inspects the trees. Tells you which of your trees are sick and most people pay to have a tree removal service take the tree down and cut it up, but not Jason. I think he was secretly excited to get the news about our diseased tree, because he has this new chain saw that he has been dying to use. So one Saturday, our whole family spent the day outside cutting down this huge oak tree. Hauling the wood and another Saturday burning the branches. It was a huge job. I can't even explain how tall this tree was and how probably dangerous this was for all of us to be in the yard when it fell, pulling on the rope tied to the top so it wouldn't fall on our fence or trampoline. Hmm. Could have gone badly, but it didn't. We saved a ton of money and Jason was happy that his new toy paid for itself in the first year. What a guy! While I don't have any pictures of us working on taking the tree down ( I was a little preoccupied with trying to keep everyone alive), I do have this picture of what the oak looks like now, all wrapped up for a year until I think we can burn the wood.

We had a nice Halloween and a great Thanksgiving. We told the kids about the pregnancy over Thanksgiving dinner. That was fun and they were all very surprised.

Then for Christmas, we got to have Jason's parents come for a visit. Their flight was delayed for several hours in SLC and they had a long day of waiting, but they made it to MN in time for Kiley's choir concert that night.

Are you thinking what I am thinking?

Why in the world did they put her on the back row? Turns out, they didn't. When all the kids got up on the stand, the choir director looked up and mouthed to Kiley, "Why are you standing on the the back row?!?" Poor Kiley has not come to terms with her shortness yet.

Kiley is participating in three choirs this year. For the other two performances, she found her place on the front row with the younger girls. She was not happy. She wanted to stand by her 8th grade friends. What a cruel world!

Then on the 23rd we took Jason's parents up to the Lighthouse Resort (in Northern Wisconsin) where the company owns some cabins on a lake amd let us use them.

We had such a nice Christmas, full of gifts, good food, loving family, scripture stories, puzzles, snow, ice skating, sledding, snowball fights and everything that makes up a great Christmas.

The kids got new pj's and we took pictures of them on Christmas Eve. Kate was being very silly and posing like crazy for us. She loves having her picture taken.

I managed to surprise Jason with this gift. For months I have planned to refinish the cushions on this Morris Chair. This chair use to belong to Jason's Grandmother. It has been in her family for over 100 years. Jason inherited it, but the leather cushions had worn out and been replaced with some green terry cloth cushions. I had an old picture of what the original cushions use to look like, and had them remade. Jason was shocked and so happy with this surprise. It looks beautiful and sits in our bedroom.

For Christmas, Jason surprised me with the GPS I've been wanting and the sonic care toothbrush I have been hinting about.

The day after Christmas, the kids played out on the lake.

James got Will good with this big chunk of snow.

He planned a quick get-away after the attack.

Jason was equipped with a shovel when the fight really got going...

And Kate got involved too. She was pretty brave and got her brother good...

Kate helped Jason shovel off an ice rink for skating.

Then she tried on her new ice skates ...

Grandma helped her learn to skate while Grandpa watched the excitement. Grandpa had shoulder surgery recently and had to stay out of trouble.

Will pulled Kate around the rink to help her get the hang of it.

She got pretty good!

When we got back to Minnesota, Jason's parents had to catch a flight back home and Jason had the week off to work on the basement. He loved that and even talked the boys into helping him build the walls for our storage room. This is what our storage room wall looks like and now the framing is done and Jason is going to start electrical this weekend.

This basement project is much smaller than our past projects. It basically consists just of this storage room and the main room that Jason is going to make into a small family theater for his projector system. The boys had a great time helping and Will made a stool and table for Kate over the vacation too.

Then on the 30th we celebrated Kate's 6th Birthday. She is growing up so fast. Here is a picture of her showing off her shirt she got, advertising that she will be a big sister. She is such a character and always keeps us laughing. We are so happy she is part of our family.

We had a nice New Years Eve and played games with friends. We rang in the New Year with the kids and look forward to this new year and all the life experiences 2010 will bring.

September

We have been so busy this month. The biggest news is that my parents got to come for a visit and spend a few weeks here. We loved having the company and showing them around. We mostly just hung out together, but we did make it to a Twins Game and we took them to the Mall of America a few times.

Kate on her first day of School

Kiley and Kate

The kids all started school and they are really happy with their teachers and friends this year. The schools here are just so good and the teachers-excellent. Kate is in half day kindergarten so next year when she is full time, it's back to the books for me and I will start working on something...

Kate was so excited to lose her first tooth this month. She begged and begged Jason to pull it out and she was so brave when he finally got it.

Mike and Lara came to visit this month too with their sweet kids. We roasted marshmallows out back in the fire pit and made some smores. It was so good to see them. We miss them and our other friends from Racine. Lara gave me the best birthday present ever and I haven't had to cook for a few weeks. She made me all these frozen meals and desserts and stuff. YUM! She knows how much I loathe cooking. Thanks, Lara! I am totally spoiled by you.

I am going to be making my blog private soon so if you would like an invitation to view my blog in the future, send me an email or leave a comment with your email address and I will send you an invite.

Soccer and Teenagers

Celebrating Kiley's Birthday

Kiley became a teenager on Friday


Kiley turned 13 this weekend. Jason had Friday off and she wanted to go to the MOA and do some shopping. We had a great time shopping all day and we tried out the Flying Dutchman Gangplank Ropes course. This was cool and kind of scary as they hook you up to a harness with a rope and turn you loose inside this obstacle course where you can climb 56 feet above the Nickelodeon Universe and trying out your talent for tight rope walking and walking across steps, boards, and cool obstacles and ultimately reaching the top where you walk out on the plank and ring the blow horn, signaling that you made it. It was scary and very high, to feel like I was just dangling there, but the rope gave me some sense of safety and I made it back down safely.

Then on Saturday, Kiley's sweet friends in the neighborhood planned a surprise party for her. There were only five other girls and they got Jason to take her out running errands so they could come decorate for the party, then she came home and she was very surprised. That was so fun of them. One of her friends in the ward made this adorable cake for Kiley. I thought it turned out so well. Those of you who know Kiley, knows she just loves giraffes.




And Saturday morning, Kate had her first soccer game. They won, like 5-1. She had such a good time and she was pretty good at getting in there and getting that ball moving in the right direction. None of my other kids have ever had any interest in playing soccer, so this is a first for all of us and we are really enjoying it.




As you can see, Kate is very short compared to the other kids on her team, but she is fast and she loves soccer. It was so cold here on Saturday.

Rod Stewart

Jason and I got great tickets to the Rod Stewart concert at the Target Center. I am actually a pretty big fan of his music and we had so much fun. Jason sometimes gets tickets to stuff like this through work. The tickets were actually really good seats, on the floor and right up front. We went with some friends in our neighborhood and I think we were the youngest people there. It was awesome to watch all the older women swoon over him and sing along with all their hearts as they danced and really got down. He was hilarious too. I could not believe that a guy his age put on such a great show. He had some corny, goofy moves and just really made me laugh. He was sweating up a storm and complained that Paul McCartney never sweat like this. Anyway, the concert was awesome. The highlight for me was his song, "You're in my Heart." I have to admit I even got carried away during that one. Caught up in the moment, I suppose. I know, you're picturing me as one of those "older women, swooning and singing along with all my heart as I danced to his songs." Maybe I did get swept away with that one song, but I behaved myself for the most part, in an effort to not embarrass our guests and Jas.

Also this week we are getting the kids ready to head back to school and Kate started soccer, which she loves. We are still enjoying our summer and have had some awesome weather lately. The other night I woke up to a thunder storm that was so close that our house lighting up so bright from the lightning and shaking because of the thunder. I hurried down to shut the windows. I love a good rainstorm. Then yesterday was exciting because we had some tornadoes come through this area. Jason spent part of his day in the tornado shelter at work, and we watched movies in our basement just to be safe. I love the crazy weather around here. Keeps things exciting. Enough for now. I will take some pics of the kids in their school gear and post again soon.

Back to Reality again...

We have been in Idaho again. We went with my parents and looked for a house in Boise. We finally found them the perfect house and they put in an offer and it was accepted. It wasn't quite that easy, but after some back and forth and some very sleepless nights, they have been able to secure this home that they love.

Congratulations, Ashlyn! We love you!

We spent some time in Blackfoot for my nieces baptism. That was really neat and so fun. I love baptisms! It was fun because my cousin Kim showed up. So sweet of her to come and especially since she is 9 months pregnant. What a trooper. I just heard that she had her baby, little Macy. She is beautiful, Kimberly. Congrats! I found this old picture of Tracy and Kristen and Me and Kimberly. Kim is on the far right and I am next to her.

We spent some time in Rupert with Jason parents and they really helped me out while I was looking at homes with my parents by keeping the kids for me. I was in Idaho for 3 weeks, but Jason was only able to come for part of that time, so it was really nice to leave the youngest two kids with the Allens so I could help out with the house-hunting.

One of the highlights was the Workman reunion. I was so bummed that I did not take more pictures. We reserved a big campsite on Willard Bay in Utah. There was a huge shelter, private beach and bathroom and lots of room for tents and campers. We had so much fun visiting with Jason's family and seeing his cousins and Aunts and Uncles. I took a few pictures of Kate canoeing with her second cousin.


While at Willard Bay, Jason also learned to roll and come back up in a kayak. This was pretty scary to watch. He loves learning new random skills and his cousin was a willing teacher. I was pretty sure he was going to die, but thank goodness he survived it.

After the Workman reunion, we went back to Idaho for the Lindsay reunion in Burley. It was so fun to see my cousins. My mom is the oldest of 10 siblings and eight of them were little brothers. It was fun to see Grandma and my cousins and aunts and uncles. We have such a great family. I am always so impressed by their kindess and selflessness. There is a story coming up that is a perfect example of what I am talking about.

Then we spent another day in Rupert with Jason's parents and then we headed back to Blackfoot to try to get most of my parents house packed in two days. Sandy and Josh had already packed most of the boxes and stuff, but we needed to load stuff and start hauling furniture.

Okay, here is the story about my awesome uncles. My mom's brother Clyde has a huge trailer. He offered it to my mom to use for the move. Clyde lives a couple hours away and we did not have a way to haul the trailer, but Clyde called the morning we were starting to pack to say he had it there and he would be dropping it off that morning. He was in Idaho Falls, because his wife (my aunt Becky) was there for sort of a last minute surgery. I was just so impressed that he thought of my parents when he had a medical emergency with his family. Just so thoughtful and generous.

We packed that trailer so full and so high and got all the furniture from the basement, beds, couches, dressers, chairs. We left my parents with very little left in the house to use over the next weeks till the move. We got it all tarped down tight, and tied on with ropes and My mom called Clyde to see if we could figure out a way to get the trailer somewhere out of the weather. He said he would see what he could figure out. He is in a very busy time with work too and with Becky recovering from surgery. What a saint! Well, Jason and I left Blackfoot, heading back to Minnesota and I got a call from Sandy saying that my mom's other brother, Craig had come and picked up the trailer and hauled it back to Burley so it could be parked in a big garage that Clyde has. I just think my uncles are so awesome and I am so grateful for all they do to help my mom and dad. It was hard to leave when I know my parents need our help with this move, but I was very happy that they are so well cared for by family there. I know Clyde said he has read my blog, so here is a big THANK YOU!!! TO Clyde and Becky and Craig and Kerri! I just love you guys.

Okay, some other things the kids have been up to this summer...

Will had a fantastic season for baseball. He met some great friends on his team and he got pretty good.


Also, we signed Kiley up for a performing arts class this summer. It was so good for her. She just loved it. They did a full out play of Jack and the Bean stock. She was the Bean seller and a cook. She had a solo part too. It was so well done.

We had a great fourth of July Celebration too. James turned 9 the day after the 4th, so here are some pix of the birthday and 4th celebration...

And a quick story about a tree frog. We found a tree frog stuck in our rain gauge on the deck. This was back at the beginning of July and the boys kept him as a pet for a few weeks, he was so cute and little. We let him go down in the yard in the trees. A few days later he was back in the rain gauge. We got him out again and let him go down below in the bushes. We left to go to Idaho and when we got back, he was back in the rain gauge and ENORMOUS!! Evidentally he likes it there and he gets lots of bugs obviously because he has gotten so fat. The kids call him rainy and I got some awesome pictures of him yesterday.

Today we are off to go swimming with some friends. We are really enjoying our summer and are happy to be home finally.