Rammell family

Palisades Peach Festival 2011!

2011-10-02T15:17:00.014-06:00

Clayton has been wanting to go to the peach festival in Palisades, Colorado for quite some time. At the beginning of the year we booked our room at the Wine and Country Inn in there. My girls have all been wanting to do their own little vacation and it was Aubrie's turn for her to go somewhere, so in August we packed the van and all three of us were on our way! The ride down was definitely long, especially with construction having us at a full stop for about 45 mins. We got to our hotel, which turned out to be the nicest one in the area, according to the locals! It was really nice and sat right on a vineyard. We got situated and then went downtown to the little plaza where they were having an ice cream social. (There were, of course, peaches on the ice cream: so good!) There was music playing and we went to a local restaurant and had dinner.

Aubrie's favorite part of the whole trip was playing in the pool! She would have been content to just stay there the whole time! They had a great pool and the weather was really nice. One evening they had a band playing outside with a bbq for dinner!

We then hit the festival in Palisades. It was just like a fair or any other festival, but it was so fun to see the different kinds of peach foods! They were everywhere and I didn't even get sick of peaches! We ate peach icecream, pie, salsa, bbq sandwiches, pancake syrup, strudels, dried peaches, and of course fresh peaches! Little Aubrie wanted to enter the peach eating contest, she was so excited to do it! They had it broken down into age groups and timed whoever ate their peach the fastest and they were huge peaches! Aubrie fell into the 7 to 12 year old age group, which was way unfair if you ask me! She did so good! It was so fun to watch her do it, it made the whole trip.

We also got to go to a pancake breakfast and a parade while we were there for the festival. Clayton ran the 5K while we were at the breakfast and parade. Then we went to a car show before checking out more orchards!

My favorite thing to do was to stop at all the stands that people had outside of their orchards to taste all the fresh peaches and other produce. There was one orchard, Clarks, where we got to go on a horse pulled wagon tour of the orchard. It was so impressive, I didnt know that there are over 100 different types of peaches. We got to see all the orchards and learn about the harvest and what it takes to grow the peaches. They also have pear orchards, Gerber contracts with Clarks and uses their pears for baby food! It was amazing!

We also checked out the vineyards outside of our hotel, they were really impressive. Palisades is also becoming known for lavender, it was everywhere and was so pretty and smelled really good! They recently started having a lavender festival too.

We had a really good time, and of course we brought back a ton of peaches! On our way home my sister Camille was flying in from Kentucky after being there all summer. We picked her up and had lunch with my other sister Leslie and my mom in SLC! It was a fun ending to a great trip!

Rammell Family Reunion 2011

2011-08-14T19:36:00.012-06:00

I am very far behind on my blogging but I am motivated right now to at least post this one, I will catch up on the others later.

We spent this weekend in Blackfoot with Sean's family. This was the 1st Jeff Rammell family reunion we have had and it was a hit. All of Sean's siblings and their families came to Blackfoot and we spent the weekend together. Sean has one younger brother, Dorian who married Desire'e and they have three girls and live in Clarkston Idaho. He also has two sisters: one older sister Audrey who married Chad Higley and they have two girls and live in Bozeman Montana, and a younger sister, Becca who married Doug Whyte and they have two boys and one daughter. They live in Cedar City Utah. Sean's parents, Jeff and Leanne, live in Blackfoot. Carol Sant, Sean's aunt also came down from Provo, Utah.

Day 1: By Friday everyone had shown up. We all just hung out at the house and talked and ate. We were each assigned a meal to provide for everyone. Becca's family had lunch and served Taco Salad. Audrey's family had dinner and served smoked turkey. We also had some other activities assigned to us. We had a craft for the kids. That night after the kids played in the mud and we got them all cleaned up, (thanks grandpa), we had the velvet pictures for them to color while I painted all the girls finger and toenails! After that we all stayed up and talked while the kids went to sleep to a movie.

Day 2: We started the day with family pictures. It was probably the best family picture event yet, only two kids ended up crying and parents kept the stress to a minimum and the pictures turned out really good!

After pictures we had a great breakfast from Dorian's family of sausage, eggs, and toaster strudels! Then we all piled into the car and headed to Idaho Falls to Tautphus Park! It was a nice day and the kids were excited about the zoo! Well, all of them except Alyssa, who was hesitant the whole time. As we approached the monkeys one jumped at the window and made all the kids scream and she was DONE! Sean had to take her out and just wait for the rest of us to go through the zoo! After we were done our family had the meal and we had a picnic at the park with hoagies, chips, and cookies! After lunch the kids got to each ride one ride at the park, and then we went back to Blackfoot.

Everyone was exhausted and some of us took a nap! Not the kids though, we brought some animal puppets that they could make and their grandparents gave them all their birthday presents which were marker boxes made of wood that they could decorate. They all got their craft on again! Jeff and Leanne then got pizza from Pizza Hut and we ate again!

After dinner we headed to the park for a game of wiffle ball! It was the kids against the adults! It was a blast and I will say that all of the grandkids are very impressive ball players! We then went back to the house, put some of the little kids to bed and then walked to Rupes for ice cream, yum yum! After that we stayed up way too late talking!

Day 3: We were all up early again and headed to church. Our family took up the whole back section of the chapel, it was fun! We got the kids situated in Primary then the adults were headed to sunday school. There was literally no room in sunday school for any of us so we sat in the foyer talking again! After that we went to Relief Society and Priesthood where we all had a great lesson on chastity! After church we went back to the house and Sean's grandparents came up from Rexburg to have dinner with everyone. It was very nice visiting with them. Leanne and Carol made a great Sunday dinner and we enjoyed every minute of it. After dinner we got some words of wisdom from Jeff, Leanne, Max and Denice. We are so blessed to have such great parent/grandparents with such great morals and testimonies to keep the rest of us going! One thing that Jeff said to all of us was that we are family, we chose to be with each other and be a family, we will leave no one out and we will do all we can to help and support each other. I couldn't help but tear up hearing these wise words. It really made me realize that friends may come and go but you will always have your family! Leanne gave us all pins that said Joy to remind us of the joy we bring each other!
After that we all started to pack up and go our separate ways! We will start preparing for next year!

Memorial Day 2011

2011-06-02T20:59:00.006-06:00

I really wanted my children to know what Memorial Day was really about, not just a day off of school and no work! We have been doing family home evening with the Byrd's for the past few months and this Monday Victoria and I decided to have a lesson on Memorial Day, since it was Memorial Day! We met at the Byrd's and I gave the lesson. We talked about the history of Memorial Day and how it came to be celebrated in our country. We talked about the soldiers that died for our country! They got to make a coloring book that told about Memorial Day.

Then we talked about the current war going on right now in Iraq and Afghanistan with our country. I printed out a copy of the soldiers from Idaho that died in this war so far. On the print out it had their picture, when they died and where they were from. The kids went through them and read the cities off where they were from. They found some in cities where they are familiar with.

We then loaded the kids up and took them to Century High School where they had a Memorial set up of all the fallen soldiers that have fought in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was called "Field of Heroes." There was a white cross set up for each soldier who gave their life during this war. It was set up exactly like Arlington's Cemetery. There was a bigger cross for those soldiers who were from Idaho. They were having a ceremony and the kids got to see the soldiers take down the flag and shoot off the guns! Pocatello is the only city that does this in the whole nation! We then went back to Byrd's for some yummy homemade cinnamon rolls!

I love my country and am so proud and grateful to be an American. I respect those that have served my country and have given their life for my freedom to live here and raise my family the way I choose! Thank You!

Aubrie's Tee-ball

2011-05-29T21:41:00.005-06:00

Aubrie wanted to do tee-ball this year and since I had so much fun coaching her and Anna's basketball team in the fall I thought I would coach her tee-ball team this Spring! We had 8 kids on our team, we called ourselves the Lizards! Tee-ball was very different from coaching basketball. It took a lot of help from the parents or the kids would get very board. It was nice because we scheduled practices on an evening Sean didn't have to work, so it was extra fun having him help coach.

The team was great and the parents were also great! Aubrie liked to sit during tee-ball, so we worked on that and she also thought that since her mom was the coach she could get away with more! Thank goodness dad was there to help with that!

Aubrie was the best and most consistent hitter on the team. By the end of the season she was catching really well also! She did get one war wound, while she was batting she hit the ball on the end of the bat where her hands were choked up at and she got a sweet blood blister!

It was a lot of fun to be able to spend that time with Aubrie and see her grow at tee-ball! I was very proud of her and love her very much!

All About Baby Adalyn!

2011-05-29T12:59:00.010-06:00

For the past few months my sister, Camille and her baby, Adalyn have been living with us while her husband Cody, has been in Kentucky installing security systems. We have grown close to this baby Adalyn and the girls just adore her! When she first came it took a while for her to get use to all the noise and commotion at our house, but then she just became part of it! The puppy even loved her, not too sure she loved them back while they would lick her face, but she put up with it!

It has been fun seeing her grow and seeing the girls be so responsible and protective of her! We will miss seeing her everyday when they leave for Kentucky as soon as Camille is done teaching this year! We sure do love her! When she comes back, she won't even remember us, but I am sure it won't take long for her to warm up!

Anna's Reflections Contest and ISU Children's Choir

2011-05-29T12:37:00.006-06:00

Anna entered the Reflections Program again this year. This year she decided to enter under the photo contest part. She came home with fantastic idea. The them for this years Reflections Program was, "Together We Can". She wanted to go down to Jensen's Grove in Blackfoot and take a picture of the litter then take a picture of someone cleaning it up. We did that idea, just not all the way in Blackfoot. Our good friends, Byrd's, have a really nice camera, and to tell you the truth I was surprised they let Anna use it, I would have been a little hesitant! Jason found a place for her to take the pics and Alyssa was her model. We staged the ground with litter and then Alyssa cleaning it up. It turned out great! In order to get the perfect shot she had to get on Jason's shoulders!

It turned out amazing and I was so proud of her and her great idea! She won first place in her school under that category and that took her to districts! She got to go to an awards program and we took her out to dinner afterward. The Byrd's came with us to celebrate, it was great fun!
This year Anna had a friend, Ellie, that was in the ISU Children's Choir and she wanted Anna to be in it with her. So Anna went and tried out and made it in! Every Wednesday for the last 5 months they had practice. Then the end of April they started their performances.

They started off by singing for a fund raiser for a handicapped playground, Brooklyn's playground, then they sang at the opening of Portneuf Medical Center, then they had their end of the year recital at the ISU's Goranson Hall. That performance was the same day as her dad's graduation from Pharmacy school, so she had a lot of family and friends there!

It was amazing, those little kids sounded fantastic and everyone was super impressed! I couldn't believe that sound was coming out of those little kids! They ended their performances with a elementary school tour trying to promote the program! Then they had an end of the year party at a bowling alley! It was defiantly a great experience for Anna and she will be doing it again next year!

Alyssa's Recitals!

2011-05-29T12:24:00.006-06:00

Miss Alyssa has been a busy little bee! This year we put her in ballet/gym through Paunies School of Dance in Blackfoot and in a singing class, TaVaci in Pocatello, as well as Pre-School! The singing class was due to her little friend Morgan that was in it and wanted Alyssa to be in it with her. Those two were also in Pre-School together! It is going to be so sad next year when they start Kindergarten and have to go to two different schools! I am not sure that is going to go down so well!

Alyssa started May off with her ballet performance at the Blackfoot Performing Arts Center where Mrs. Paunie put together quite the show. Alyssa was a Sweetish ballerina! She had a whole week of rehearsal and then two days of performing. Needless to say we were all glad when it was over. She did a great job and is a natural on the stage.

Next she has her TaVaci performance. I was a little worried about this group due to the fact that Morgan's mom took them to and from class every Tuesday and I really had no idea what they were doing, except that she got candy after every class! I was thourally impressed! They sang several songs and not only did they sing, it was all choreographed! That Alyssa is a shining star on the stage, she knew all the words and actions! She is my shyest girl and she just lit up on the stage. Sean and I couldn't believe that was her! So we will have to figure out how to get her to it next year! Aubrie liked it too and wants to be in it next year!

Pre-school graduation was really nice. It was a little bittersweet this time. Each one of our girls have gone to the same pre-school, Bright Beginnings, and Alyssa is the last to go to pre-school in our house. The teachers kept asking, "Are you sure you don't have anymore girls? What are we going to do without a Rammell in our class?" Alyssa shined in this program as well, she knew all her parts and songs. This made me realize that she is capable for a lot more than I give her credit for!

We love this little girl and are so grateful for her! I never understood the whole youngest child syndrome, but know that I have my own, they are just treated differently. It's not intentional and it's not that we love our youngest more than the others, it's just that she is the baby and it is a reminder that this is really the last time our little family will experience these programs and mile stones!

Sean's Pharmacy Graduation

2011-05-29T12:13:00.010-06:00

This has been a long day coming! Sean Jeffrey Rammell is no Dr. Sean Jeffrey Rammell! On May 7th he had his ISU graduation from Pharmacy School! It was a long 6yrs. but there was a light at the end of the tunnel and he/we made it! We are very proud of his hard work and sticking to it! It was a very hard and intense program, I would look at his text books and they looked like a foreign language to me! He is super smart and can not fool me now!

To start the day off we had many good friends and family at the graduation in the Holt Arena! It was a nice ceremony and there could not have been a better speaker/singer for Sean,Jakob Dylan, Bob Dylan's son!

We then went to the church where I got it decorated up in ISU colors and had it catered from Nel's Bi-lo. We had pulled pork sandwiches, cheesy potatoes, poppy seed green salad, fruit kabobs, cookies, and cheesecake. Sean gave a great speech thanking everyone for the support through out the years. The kids had a good time playing with each other!

After the lunch Sean wanted to hit some baseballs so he, Leslie, Katherine, Steve, Chad, and Bret went to the field. It started raining but that didn't stop them, they were a wet mess when they got home, but they had a blast!

We are so proud of Sean and can't wait for him to start working! He will take his licensure exam on June 3rd and his state test on June 6th! The last milestones before he is official! He is planing on working for Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and Costco as a fill in Pharmacist! Between all three they should keep him busy!

Grandpa's Early Suprise 80th B-Day Present

2011-05-15T19:15:00.000-06:00

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Daisy Dukes Rammell

2011-05-05T13:21:00.006-06:00

Ever since we got Lily I have been wanting another Boston Terrier. Our breeder has a brown and white one, or seal or brindle whatever you want to call the color. I thought they were just beautiful. Also Lily has been rough playing with Beans and she is getting to big for Beans. So why not get another Boston. I have kept in touch with my Breeder and she keeps me posted when she has a litter. The first litter did not have any brown pups. So we waited for Brooklyn and Chief to breed (Lily's parents), Brooklyn always produces a few brown and white pups. She did not fail this time either. She had a litter of 7, 3 brown and white and 4 black and white. Two of the brown and white where females just what I wanted. My breeder said I could have first pick of the litter and would hold off telling others about them until I decided. So we headed to Jerome and met our little Daisy! Anna really attached to her and I liked her because her color was so dark!

She is a sweet little puppy and the potty training is not that bad. When we first brought her home Lily didn't know what to think. Our first night was a rough one, not because of Daisy but because of Lily. She was not about to share me. Daisy would sleep by my neck and Lily would come take her nose and move her away and growl at her. I ended up putting Lily in her kennel for the night. After that Lily and Daisy became great sisters! They play, wrestle, and sleep together. In the crate I have two beds but really only need one because they sleep together! Even Beans is loving Daisy, Pretty not so much! The kids just love her and it is fun to watch them together!

Easter 2011

2011-04-25T18:15:00.009-06:00

We had a wonderful Easter weekend this year. The weather was beautiful and we had close family and friends around us. We started Saturday out with an Easter Egg hunt at Cherry Springs. It is on Scout Mountain. I thought it would be fun to do an egg hunt in the mountains. Steve, Leslie, and Katherine came up to celebrate with us. The Byrd family was also with us for this hunt. Victoria and I hide a ton of eggs all down the trail and up the hill. The kids went wild and I think they got every last one of those eggs! Kaden found the golden egg with $5 and Anna found the silver egg with $1.

We then had a great lunch with homemade rolls from Victoria! I brought up a German Chocolate Cheesecake for the adults, everything was delicious!

After lunch Steve saw a moose and we all wanted to try to see it so we took off down a trail after it. Unfortunately we didn't find it but the kids had a great time rock climbing and we all did a little tree climbing! We finished out the trail and headed back to the cars!

Next the Hunter's and Rammell's went to the baseball field to hit some balls! It was a lot of fun and both Sean and I are still sore! The girls even hit some balls! That night Sean had a choir concert with the ISU orchestra, they were preforming "The Creation." It was pretty impressive.

Easter morning the girls got up and went outside to see what the Easter Bunny brought them. They found more filled eggs along with the eggs they colored the night before! That dang bunny even left the egg cartons on the lawn! They all found their baskets with each one having a different ball, soccer, basketball, and bouncy ball.

We then got ready for church. Aunt Cami had made the girls all skirts and hair bows,they wore them to church.

After learning about the resurrection we came home and had a wonderful ham dinner with the Hunter's,Camille and Adalyn, Sean's parents,and Dee and Roma! It was so nice. We then put on a slide show of all of our pictures from Disney World for everyone to see!

I am sure grateful for my family and friends and the blessings I have received, especially for the Atonement of Jesus Christ! I would be a lost soul without it.

Orlando, FL

2011-04-24T20:31:00.016-06:00

I recently went to a Case Management Conference in Orlando Florida at the Marriott World Center right by Disney World and I got to bring my family with me! They went to the parks all day while I was in conferences. The conference was really good and I learned a lot. The weather was perfect and the kids were great! You could not ask for anything more! I got to meet up with them in the evening a couple times!

Day 1: To start things off we flew out of SLC really early so we spent the night, the kids loved the hotel because it was a suite and had a kitchen, living room, and two bedrooms! We got up really early the next morning, had breakfast then headed to the airport! The kids were fabulous on the plane. Aubrie was a little scared to fly but she did fine!

Day 2: We flew to Denver where we had a short layover and then off to Orlando! We took a cab to the hotel and were awed at the fanciness of it! Aubrie's birthday was that day and she was so worried she wasn't going to get a cake because we wouldn't be home, but mom called the hotel ahead of time and ordered one for her. It was delivered as soon as we got there and she loved it! It was a delicious white cake with a cream filling and fresh strawberries! Then it was off to the pool!

Day 3: I started my conferences and Sean and the girls headed for the Magic Kingdom. They had a good time, I think they were a little disappointed starting out without me but they soon found their way and got the routine down of going to the parks without mom! (it didn't take long!) I met up with them that night for a few hours! It was lots of fun!

Day 4: It was off to the Wild Animal Park which everyone loved. Sean said it was his favorite out of all the parks! There were a lot of rides and things to see as well as animals! It closed at 7pm so I stayed at the hotel and waited for them. When everyone got home we went swimming for a while!

Day 5: The family headed to Hollywood Studios for the day! They saw lots of fun shows and rode more rides! The girls liked the roller coaster rides the best! Alyssa was scared of most of the rides at all of the parks so Sean did a lot of sitting out with her! We tried to get her on some of them and the ones she went on she loved. We also tried to get her to watch some of the shows and she did well on some and on some we had to get up and leave cause she was too scared!

That night I really wanted to go to Downtown Disney so we planned to meet up there after my conferences. It was pretty late so we didn't stay too long, just long enough to have dinner. We ate at the T-Rex Cafe. It is just like the Rain forest Cafe, complete with the whole place coming to life every half hour or so, but with dinosaurs! It was great and the girls loved it!

It was a long night and when we got back to the hotel Aubrie was so tired she put herself to bed! I couldn't resist these shots of her on her way to sleepy land! She was so cute in that big fluffy bed!

Day 6: My conference was done by noon, so we all went to Epcot! This was the one park I was the most excited to see! They were having a flower festival at the time and the whole park was decorated with beautiful flowers and Disney characters made up of flowers! It was incredible! We went to all the different countries and tried a different food from each country, it was delicious! After touring all the different countries we went on a couple of rides and then did some souvenir shopping while watching the fireworks!

Day 7: We had another early flight to catch so we got up and went straight to the airport and had breakfast, Aubrie caught up on some sleep while waiting for the flight! The rest of us slept on the plane while heading back to Denver. From Denver we flew to SLC and then drove home! We had such a great time and would not have been able to do this without my job, so thank you Bingham Memorial Hospital! I love what I do!

Anna and Aubrie's Birthdays!

2011-04-03T17:56:00.006-06:00

Today is Anna's 9th birthday! Wednesday is Aubrie's 7th birthday! We have been celebrating all week long! Sean and I told the girls we were not getting them any presents for their birthday, we are taking them to Disney World instead! They were totally happy with that! My brother, Clayton, came down this week and cooked up a great lasagna and french bread! He made a grasshopper pie, but that wasn't so good! He also got the girls each a dress and they loved it! Anna and Aubrie also got cash from their grandma Hunter and great grandparents Green! They are excited to take that to Orlando! It is hard for Alyssa when both of her sisters get presents and lots of attention. She seemed to handle it pretty well this year, but her grandma Hunter sent her a little bit of spending money for Orlando in a check. She was not quite sure how to take that when she saw it! We assured her it was like cash! Alyssa also got the girls each a new pair of flip flops!

Today, Anna's official birthday, it was conference weekend. First of all it was such a great conference and I was able to listen to all four sessions! I love the gospel and the great leaders we have in our church. This year's message focused a lot on service to others, how great is that! Anyway we just had a little lunch with the Byrd's and Scherer's and cake and ice cream for Anna! Scherer's got each of the girls sunglasses and a tote for Florida! They are all ready to go now!

Aubrie felt a little bad because she is worried that she will not get a birthday cake due to us flying to Orlando on her birthday! Little does she know that her mother has already made arrangements at the hotel to have a cake made and waiting in the hotel room when we arrive for her! Yes, I know, I out did my self! :)

We are going to have a fun week ahead! I love these girls and they are getting so big now! How grateful I am to be their mother!

Anna is such a joy and has so many new ideas and creations that she works on. She is very smart and loves to read. She is pretty obedient for the most part. She loves activities and has a great imagination. She also love to do mother daughter things together! She is 9 years old today, I can't believe she is one year away from double digits!

Aubrie is a free spirit. She has lots of energy! She loves gymnastics and it is rare to see her walk anywhere without flipping or tumbling! She is doing so good in school and has become a great reader! She loves to wrestle with her dad and our dog, Lily! I can't believe she is already 7 years old and one year away from being baptized!

Baby Blessings & Yurt trip

2011-03-28T19:14:00.006-06:00

This is a little late but I am trying to get caught up on big events that happened! Sean's sister, Becca, blessed their baby boy Levi the first week in February. It was a beautiful blessing, his dad did a great job. Afterwards we had a delicious lunch! Yes it was Super Bowl Sunday, and yes Sean about freaked, but thankfully the blessing was mid-morning and we had plenty of time to make it back to the Scherer's for the party and big game! It was a great day, great blessing and Green Bay won!!!! (I didn't have a camera at the time and I have not gotten any pictures yet of Levi in his blessing suit.)

The following weekend my sister, Camille, blessed her little baby Adalyn! Cody did a great job during the blessing. I never thought he would ever make me cry but that was proved wrong! We then came back to our house and had a delicious brunch! Baby's are so sweet and nothing brings the Spirit faster than these precious little babies!

A few weeks later I took Anna and Aubrie on a yurt trip. Grandpa Steve came with us and we went with Jason Byrd and his crew. I went and rented snow shoes for everyone and a sled (they have a fancy name for it, but I can't remember it!) We got all packed up and then went to the hill. The girls were so excited. Aubrie took off with the group ahead. I was a little behind due to needing to get some things from Sean that we forgot! I caught up to Steve and Anna. Anna pretty much whinned most of the way up.

Once we got there, the kids were loving it! It was a packed yurt then to top it off another family showed up and we had to make room for them. They thought they booked it the night we were there but they actually booked it the next night! You would think with all those people it would have been warm inside, nope! We played the werewolf game after dinner, then went to bed! The next morning after breakfast we packed up and headed home. The trip back to the car was cake compared to getting to the yurt. The kids took off and sledded the whole way down! It was great fun! (I will get bigger pics as soon as I can!)

Valentine's Day 2011

2011-02-14T20:17:00.005-07:00

I love Valentine's Day! Everything about it, the candy, the colors, the decor, the meaning, everything! Our Valentine's day started out with me making the girls heart shaped pink pancakes with chocolate chips in them with whip cream on top! The girls then got a stuffed animal. I then went and helped with Aubrie's school party, we decorated cookies! After work I came to find out that Sean had ordered me flowers and balloons to be delivered at work, but they didn't get them there before I left for work. At about 5:30pm I got a call from the hospital saying I had a delivery, oh well, it's the thought that counts, I will enjoy them tomorrow!

A few years ago I decided to make a decorated nice meal in our first house for Valentine's Day. We invited Sean's parents and it was a hit. Ever since I have made a nice decorated dinner. This year I decided to have friends come as well as Jeff and Leanne. Due to having to work and Valentine's Day falling on a Monday I didn't have all day to prepare so dinner was a little more simpler, but don't worry the decor was fabulous!! I made pizza bagels. Bret and Ashlee Scherer and their two girls, Ellie and Brylee, came over to celebrate along with Jeff and Leanne. Ashlee made a nice green salad. I also made some red jello in heart shaped containers with whip cream and a decorative heart on top! We had sparkling cider to drink. There was decorated table cloths, plates, napkins, and cups! The center piece was a crystal vase filled with assorted Valentine's candy and a chocolate rose for each child. Ashlee then made a scrumptious dessert, a chocolate molten lava cake for each of us, with whip cream, fresh strawberries and hot fudge! (and she thinks she can't bake!) Everything was just wonderful and we all enjoyed it! Can't wait for next year!

Thanksgiving, Baby, Birthday, Baby, Christmas, New Years, Job Interview, Birthday!

2011-01-14T20:10:00.039-07:00

This year for Thanksgiving we had it at our house. Mom, Clayton, Camille, and Cody were with us. We had a lot of delicious food! Mom also just got a new kitten and brought it. Well needless to say it left a gift that just keeps on giving! Ringworm, that has been fun! Lily got the worst of it!

Becca had her little baby boy, Levi, the day before Thanksgiving (November 24). We only got to see pictures of him due to them being in Cedar City. Then in January we went to St. George for a job interview for my mom and we stopped in and saw the Whytes. Levi was super cute and I got him to sleep for a short time. I also got him a cute little outfit that says, "My Aunt Rocks!" I had to buy it, price was no matter!

Alyssa turned five on December 1st! We had a family party for her. Tangled was the new Disney Princess movie that came out during her birthday so of course we had a Tangled party! We had lots of great family there at her party! She got lots of fun things. I can't believe she is five, she is still my baby!

Then on December 10 my sister Camille had her first baby. It was a girl they named Adalyn Camille Cooper. I got to be there during the delivery and lets just say her and I were not made for natural deliveries. She had a close call, but thankfully the doctor got things worked out, thank goodness for prayer! I am so grateful that she let me be such a big part of her pregnancy and delivery, i really appreciated it and love her for that! Adalyn is beautiful and the girls just adore her. Anna said she is the cutest baby in the whole world!

The girls had a Christmas Primary program at the church. Anna and Aubrie were choir girls and Alyssa was an angel. They all did so good, grandma's were both able to come and watch the girls and have dinner with our ward. It was such a special night! I love the kids being a part of learning about the true meaning of Christmas! They then had their Christmas Choir Concert at school, they both sang very well!!

We then celebrated Christmas at our home. We went and looked at Christmas lights then Uncle Clayton came down and Steve on Christmas Eve. We had a spiritual Christmas Eve where Aubrie was Mary, Anna was an angel, Alyssa was the star, Clayton was Joseph, and Ike was the donkey. The girls and I practiced really hard on "Away in the Manger", Anna also played the guitar and we all sang it in different parts and together. We had a nice Christmas Eve dinner, tenderloin and crab legs! The girls were up at seven and we opened presents. We all got lots of fun things! Then we started on Christmas dinner. Steve made a fancy cut of beef and we had yummy salads and desserts. Mom, Leslie, and Katherine came over for dinner. We had a great dinner and Christmas!

For New Years we had another party at our house. Mom, Katherine, Camille, Cody, and baby Adalyn were here for New Years Eve. Sean and I decided we are getting too old cause we were so happy to get to bed, it just wasn't as exciting as when we were younger, but the kids were happy to stay up late. We watched movies and played games. Anna was the only one that stayed awake the whole night. Aubrie and Alyssa took a quick nap but made it up in time to see the ball drop and blow horns! Then on New Years day we watched some football or foosball as Sean likes to call it with mom, Katherine, Camille, Cody and Adalyn. We then had a nice dinner, Camille's famous chicken pasta! Audrey, Chad, McKenna, and Hannah came for dinner as well as Jeff and Leanne. After dinner we went to Lava Hot Springs (or Hot Lava is what Alyssa calls it) and soaked in the pools. It was so beautiful being in the hot water and looking at the trees and mountains covered in snow! We then ended the night off with a creamy icecream, thanks dad!

My mother had a job interview in Littlefield Arizona this last week. Leslie, Alyssa, and I went down with her. She was soooo nervous but we helped her through it. We did a lot of mock interviews. It was a short trip but very worthwhile since she got the job!!! She will be moving to St. George or Mesquite in February. She is so excited! When I got home the girls said, "I hope grandma doesn't get the job, we don't want her moving that far away!" Sorry girls, but it will be fun to visit! This is her new place of employment, "Community Behavioral Health Services!"

We also celebrated Lily's one year old birthday! We made her Boston Cookies! She was a little scared of the candle but after the girls blew it out she gobbled the cookie up!

We have sure enjoyed these last few months with family and friends. We are also so great full for our families and friends and the love and support they show us! We love you! BRING ON 2011!!!!

Happy Holidays 2010

2010-12-12T22:36:00.001-07:00

Make your own free picture collage

Snow Day at Home!

2010-11-23T15:05:00.001-07:00

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School Snow Day!

2010-11-23T11:48:00.003-07:00

Since school was closed today the kids missed their Thanksgiving feast, so we had our own!

Shutterfly's Holiday Cards - Get 50 FREE!!!

2010-11-08T20:07:00.005-07:00

We lived in Japan for a year and during that time we used Shutterfly to send and print our memories of the beautiful country and all of our experiences. We then had them developed and sent to our parents through Shutterfly! The pictures were turned out beautiful! We love Shutterfly it was so easy to use!
It is that time of the year that everyone is getting their Holiday cards ready to send. Shutterfly has some really cool cards at a good price. Here is the link to the holiday cards.

Below are just some of my favorite holiday cards that Shutterfuly offers:

I love the ribbons that are just laying across the card.
All Wrapped Up

I really like the single tree on this card!
Bright Blooming Tree

I love the simplicity and glitter on this card!
Glitter Glamor Joy Christmas Card

I also really liked the baby announcements. It seems that right now there are many people having or getting ready to have a baby! Here is the link to see the baby announcements.

Here are some of my favorites!

This one is so precious!
Floral Contour Pink Birth Announcement

I really like the colors in this one!
Andante Dots Cerulean Baby Announcements

If you would like to get 50 free Holiday cards just go to Shutterfly for details!

Halloween 2010

2010-10-30T20:46:00.005-06:00

I don't like having Halloween on Sundays! We did trunk-or-treating at our church in the afternoon on Saturday and then took the kids out Saturday night for trick-or-treating. There were various people that told them, "Come back tomorrow when it is Halloween!" How could you say that to a kid? Mean, unhappy, people!

Anyways, this year Anna was a 60's girl, Aubrie was a witch, and Alyssa was a ballerina. Sean also had to dress up for his Pharmacy rotation in Fort Hall. He was Spider Man and loved every minute of it! (that is sarcasm if you don't know Sean!) I did not have to dress up, thank goodness! I am liking Halloween less and less every year! Now on the Thanksgiving and Christmas!!!!

Montana

2010-10-16T09:36:00.009-06:00

Last weekend we got to go to Belgrade Montana for our nieces baptism! Sean's sister, Audrey, oldest daughter, McKenna, was baptized. It was great fun and we got to see a lot of family we haven't seen for a long time. We also got to see the newest addition to the Rammell family, Roxy! Sean's brother, Dorian's daughter. She was very sweet and the kids loved holding her.

After the baptism us and the Higleys went to Island Park and saw Mesa Falls. It was so beautiful! The trees were all changing colors and fall was in the air. It was a great trip and so nice to be with family. Our kids loves playing with their cousins!

Alyssa's first day of Pre-School!

2010-09-09T08:14:00.002-06:00

Alyssa's first day at pre-school!

Mt. Borah!

2010-09-04T14:36:00.004-06:00

So we decided it would be a good and fun idea to climb Mt. Borah, the highest mountain in Idaho! We left the night before the hike and slept in our van. We threw a mattress in the back, it was great! We got up at 3:30am and started our hike a little after 4:00am. With in the first few mins. of the hike i got hot so I left my coat and hat on a tree branch, bad idea! When we got further up the mountain it was windy, snowing,and raining, and just plain cold. Sean, being the great husband that he is, gave me his jacket and froze! What a man! It was a really hard hike, something I know my muscles were not ready for, but they had no choice. We did it! We made it across chicken out ridge and to the summit. We hurry and ate our lunches and headed down. It was a beautiful sight! Coming down was pretty hard as well. Lets just say it took many days to recover from this expedition! Maybe we will do it again next year, maybe!

Our crew consisted of: Sean & Nichole Rammell, Bret & Ashlee Scherer, Steve Hunter, Jason Byrd,and some of Jason's friends.

Anna's first day of 3rd grade!

2010-09-02T07:32:00.002-06:00

anna's first day of 3rd grade!

Aubrie's first day of 1st grade!

2010-09-02T07:18:00.002-06:00

aubrie's first day of 1st grade!

Lake Cleveland

2010-08-29T21:08:00.005-06:00

We made it up to Lake Cleveland again this year, it has been a few years since the last time we were here. We were planing on going to Stanley Lake, but Sean had to work and we had to cut our trip short. Clayton came with us even though he ruptured his Achilles tendon. He just fought off the chipmunks and birds! The girls enjoyed themselves and it was Lily's first camping trip! We hiked to the top of the mountain, Anna turned back before the top. Aubrie was the first to make it to the top! Then Sean took the girls fishing, they got lots of bites but no luck! We had good food and the weather worked with us well. My mom came up for tin foil dinners one night. The first night was pretty chilly but thank goodness for hot chocolate! The flowers were all over, I have never seen them like this before! The birds and chipmunks kept stealing Lily's dog food! It was a fun family trip!

Sean in Costa Rica

2010-08-06T20:08:00.004-06:00

They had a Catholic holiday celebration down in Costa Rica on day. Everyone in Costa Rica comes to this old Catholic Church ruins. There is a long story behind it but Sean said it was too long to tell me and wanted to wait until he could in person. So we will have to wait. Sean went down to the church with the lady he is living with and her daughter. They toured the ruins and then went to the new church. He said it was pretty impressive. I also included a picture of Sean with Michael (the pharmacist), and his dad at the pharmacy in Costa Rica that he has been doing his rotation. We are going to get him and bring him home tomorrow! We are so excited to have him back home and he will no longer be allowed to leave us for that long ever again!!!!

Costa Rica

2010-07-31T19:56:00.007-06:00

I went down to visit Sean while he has been in Costa Rica. We stayed at the Tabacon resort in La Fortuna. We stayed at the base of an active volcano, Arenal. It was just beautiful. The first day we got there early and had to wait to check into our room. So we walked around the resort and then drove through part of the rain forest. We then got our room, we had the best view. You could see the volcano perfectly. There were two restaurants at our resort. We ate dinner the first night at the restaurant by the hot springs. We were pretty tired from traveling that day so we hit the sack pretty early.

The next day we got up early and headed for the rain forest. We hiked around the rain forest for a few hours. It was beautiful, pictures and words do not give the justice it deserves! We saw toucans, wood peckers, lizards, another animal that ran across our path that we didn't know what it was, and other beautiful birds, flowers, and trees. I loved the vines and knew I needed to swing on one! I found the perfect one and swung away, Sean was a little nervous for me, but hey when would I get this opportunity again?! It was so fun!

We then went and got in the thermal hot springs that are heated from the volcano. They all had different temperature levels. Some were super hot and some were just right! It was so beautiful! That night there was a really bad rain storm and I heard thunder I had only heard on T.V. It was scary.

Saturday we went on a jungle raft tour. It was amazing. We saw crocodiles, sloths (both two toed and three toed), Howler monkeys, bats, iguana, all different kinds of birds. It was about two hours of just floating down the river. Very cool. We had started to go into town for our meals due to the prices being less expensive than our resort. Our resorts food was wonderful, just really expensive. Nothing in Costa Rica was cheap anywhere, just cheaper in town. We also did a little souvenir shopping! We then went back and got in the hot springs again.

On Sunday we headed back into San Jose. I was not very impressed with this city. It is really big and there are no street signs, also parts were pretty dirty. Sean wanted me to see where he is doing his rotation at the pharmacy as well as meet the people he lives with. Needless to say we drove around San Jose for 2 hrs. being lost. We about gave up, but we found our way. The people Sean works with are very nice as well as the people he lives with. He also feels a lot more comfortable with this Spanish.

I was suppose to fly home Monday morning, but there were also issues then and I ended up getting home Tuesday. That is all I will say about that! Costa Rica's countryside is amazing and a great place to visit. But once again every time I travel out of the country I am so happy to come home to the United States of America. I really think people take where we live for granted and should be more grateful.

What a Man, What a Mighty Good Man!

2010-07-17T21:46:00.004-06:00

When my man is gone I call the next best thing, ASHLEE! So the kids found this thing, we weren't quite sure what it was, in Anna's window well. After much research and many opinions I think we narrowed it down to a pocket gopher. Thank you internet! Ashlee said we needed to kill it due to holes in our yard. I wasn't about to do that, so Ashlee took over and came to my rescue, she didn't even hesitate before she offed it!

Chesterfield Reservoir

2010-07-15T21:38:00.004-06:00

We decided to take a little afternoon/evening fishing trip. I got on-line and looked for a close place to go. I found Chesterfield Reservoir just outside of Lava. So we packed up and took off. We found the perfect spot on the reservoir and sat up camp. As soon as we got the girls fishing poles ready and cast the wind starting blowing. So fishing was over. We then roasted marshmallows to make s'mores. The kids played in the water for a while and went exploring. Alyssa actually found a toy horse she called Oreo. Then we cooked our tin foil dinners! They were exceptionally perfect! The kids then went swimming with Katherine in the reservoir, they had a blast. Then we packed up and headed home. It was a nice adventure. The kids want to take their dad back there when he gets home!

Sean Zip-Lining!

2010-07-10T23:43:00.005-06:00

So Sean is in Costa Rica doing a rotation. While he was there he went zip-lining (I hope I said that right!). This is what he e-mailed me about his experience:

Anyway...here is my day. Got up early about 6:30 and got showered..ate some breakfast of fried eggs and bread and juice. Then I went over to play doctor and gave the guy his shot for today before we left. We caught the bus into San Jose to get to the bus terminal and bought our tickets then off we went. The drive was so cool..up through the mountains on a windy road..you can see out over the valley and the whole thing is just rain forest as far as you can see...mist hanging over..little waterfalls everywhere...suuuper cool. You would love to see it. We then got to the park entrance. It is in a huuuuge national park called Braulio Carillos. You get off the bus at the entrance and then paid for what you wanted to do...they have lots of different things like a cable car that takes you up the mountain...or white water rafting, hiking, bird watching, etc. we paid and then a little bus takes you down into the park to the station that you are going to. When we got out a bunch of people were staring up into the trees so we went to see whats up and there and it was a baby sloth hanging in the tree..awesome..then the ranger was like oh..look here and there was a little red poisoned frog hoping around..then he was like look and there was a white faced monkey swinging through the trees so we watched that for a while..then he showed us some spiders and stuff...butterflies everywhere all different colors. It was an amazing place..so after checking out the wildlife we got harnessed up and ready to go. It was super cool. 14 different platforms that we went to..walked across a suspension bridge over a river to get to the starting point. there were 11 different cables that we got to do. Some of them were sooo long and soo high off the ground. It was amazing. I want you to see it so bad. They have little eco lodges there that you can stay in ..middle of the jungle..so cool. There were a couple other people with us, from New York. You go on the tour with two rangers..one goes first to wait for you and the other hooks you up and sends you. After the tour we ate some sandwiches that we brought and caught the bus back home. I felt a little sick to my stomach when we got back and i went to lay down for a bit.

Island Park

2010-07-07T21:49:00.007-06:00

We took a little vacation over the fourth of July weekend to Uncle Bill's cabin in Island Park. We had so much fun and saw a lot of beautiful scenery. We started out with dinner at a nice Mexican restaurant in Ashton. Then we headed to the cabin and got settled in. The next morning we went back to Ashton for a pancake breakfast and then headed to the parade! After the parade we went back to the park and the kids played games and had treats. It was such a cute little community celebration.

Then we went to the river, Henry's Fork, and feed the Rainbow Trout. Bill got the girls fishing poles ready and we went fishing. Anna caught the first fish. Clayton was casting her line out and ended up catching another one. Aubrie helped him reel it in but they lost it. Then Alyssa and I caught a fish, it was so big it took the worm and the hook with it! Aubrie then caught a fish and reeled it in. It was big! The girls absoultely loved it!

After fishing we went to Mesa Falls. We have never been there before, it was amazing! Idaho is truley beautiful! We then headed back to the cabin where Clayton cooked us up some smokehouse hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill! The girls and I then went for a drive through Harriman Park. We saw so many pretty flowers in bloom and took a ton of pictures! After that we headed further on to Island Park and watch the fireworks!

The next day, Sunday, we went to the Coffee Pot park and tried to fish again. We didn't have any luck, Clayton caught a few branches! Then we went to the start of the Henry Fork. The water was crystal clear. We saw a muskrat in the water! We then walked to Johnny Sack's cabin. It was pretty cool and the kids loved looking in and around it. Bill was a great tour guide these few days and we are very appreciative!

We then went back to the cabin for another great dinner by Clayton, steak! Then we packed up and traveled to Blackfoot to light off our own fireworks with Grandma and Grandpa Rammell. We had such a good weekend!

It's a Girl Thing!

2010-07-05T21:36:00.003-06:00

While driving to the gym one morning with the girls we were deciding on what to do for the day. I was planning on going to the zoo with them. Well Anna saw a new nail salon opened and wanted to go there to get her nails done. We went over and checked it out and made an appointment after I worked out. They traded the zoo for the nail salon! That's my girls! They got their finger nails and toe nails done! I just got my toes! It was fun and they were pretty excited!

Father's Day 2010

2010-06-23T21:57:00.003-06:00

What a good father's day we had. I got up and with some help from the girls we made German pancake's with blueberries, strawberries, and whip cream along with sausage and apple juice. It was a lovely day so we ate out on our deck! I decide to make and frame Sean's Line of Priesthood Authority for him. It was quite a project to get it and put it all together. I also did the same for Jeff and Steve. It was just perfect! Sean took the girls to church. I had to stay home with Alyssa she was running a fever and didn't feel very good. After church we went to Jeff and Leanne's house for dinner and I made a homemade banana cream pie. Sean's sister, Audrey was there with her girls, so we had a good visit. Sean is a great dad and I was happy to celebrate this great holiday with him!

Gym performance, Vegas Style!

2010-06-20T13:29:00.004-06:00

This year Mrs. Paunie decided to have a Vegas style theme for the end of the year performance. Aubrie's group were little clowns for the circus part of the show. they did all kind of tricks, round offs, cart-wheels, back hand springs, walk overs, and more. Aubrie got hurt doing a back hand spring so she has shied away from them since. She worked really hard on this show, there were many long hours of rehearsals and practices. She was great through all of them, better than her mom! She is the youngest in her group, due to her excelling in her age group they moved her up! We see her on her hands more than her feet! She did amazing!

10 Year Anniversary!!

2010-06-11T21:44:00.004-06:00

June 10, 2010 marks Sean and I's 10 year anniversary! Sean is still in school and I just started a new job and we have been very busy, especially with Anna getting her tonsils out. I will admit that I did not put much thought into how we would celebrate our big 10 year anniversary. Sean on the other hand has been planning this for about 2 years! So we went to dinner at the Sandpiper (our favorite restaurant). We then went to a movie, Prince of Persia, it was good! Then Sean blind folded me and drove me to a mystery location. He led me into a building and sat me down and handed me a piece of paper. Then I took my blindfold off. To my surprise he was on a stage with lights and a PA system hooked up. A familiar song from my childhood started to play. It was "I'll be Loving You" by the N.K.O.T.B. (My favorite song sung by Jordan Knight!) Sean was dressed in his rocker pants and shirt! Then he started to sing! Now this song is very high and I have never heard Sean sing that high before, he did amazing, totally gave Jordan a run for his money! The paper in my hand was a ticket for a private concert for me!

It said: Rockstar Production Presents
SEAN RAMMELL in concert
For the one and only love of my life: Nichole
SPECIAL ANNIVERSARY 10TH EDITION
I'll be loving you forever tour
Row 1 Seat 1.

How stinking cute is that!!! He did so good I had him sing it again! I felt a little bad by just getting him a card and a swim suit for his trip to Costa Rica. But it is all about the wife, right!?! Anyway I will never forget this night. It felt just like old times while we were dating! What a great guy and how important it is to rekindle sparks in relationships. Bring on 10 more!

Anna's tonsil's

2010-06-07T21:29:00.002-06:00

Anna's surgery to get her tonsils out got bumped up by 10 days. Let's just say she was anything but thrilled. These first two photos are of her before she got them out. She was not to happy with me. She kept telling me that she was okay with taking medicine for the rest of her life. I will admit part of me just wanted to take her home and I knew that once she was gone I would not be able to get her back and stop her from all of the pain she was going to go through the next couple of weeks!

After the surgery Dr. Donaldson came in and said everything went well. Her left tonsil was defiantly bigger than her right but there was no abscess. He did say that he was surprised how big her adenoids were, they were blocking 50% of her breathing! He burnt them off. So I guess it was a good thing we decided to have them out. Look at her sad little face!
She wanted to take her tonsils home but they would not let her, they have to sent them off for test. We did get them to bring them in so we could get a picture of them, pretty huh!

Anna didn't do so well with the anesthetics. She threw up twice in the recovery room. Then she was getting up to go to the bathroom so she could go home and when she was done she threw up again. Every time she got up she got very dizzy. So 8 hours later we finally got to go home. They had to watch her and give her some more medicine for her stomach. Now we are just trying to keep her hydrated. She is so hungry but can't eat anything! Poor thing. This is when you wish you could just take the pain for them!

Boise-Memorial Day 2010

2010-05-31T22:27:00.012-06:00

On a last minute whim we decided that we wanted to go on a good hike for the long weekend. We haven't been to Boise for a while and the weather is usually better so we headed up there! We stayed with Clayton the first night!

Clayton said he found us a good hike to go on. Before we went he took us to the Boise Co-op. It was a pretty cool store. Very granola and tree-huggy! Nothing you would see in Pocatello. We loved it! Then we met my mom and sister Katherine and set off for our hike. We got the cars situated so we would have one at the end of the trail to pick us up in. The trail we took was in the foothills of Boise close to Bogus Basin. Clayton said that this trail was a pretty flat easy hike. Well, 3 hrs. and 3.5 miles later (it could've been longer) and lots of sweat we made it. It was not flat and easy with three kids, but I was so proud of them, they did great! They were the only kids on the hiking trail. There were a lot of mountain bikers, I don't know how they did it!

We had a picnic and that seemed to rejuvenate everyone and we were ready to press forward. This was also Lily's first hike. She has all her shots and is ready to get out and about. She did so good, ran most of the time and listened very well. There were a few times she wanted to be carried, good thing she is still little! I think we gave her too much to eat at lunch cause she threw up everything at the end of the hike.

After the hike we checked into our hotel, Oxford Suites, very nice, we loved it and got a good price as well! We went and ate dinner and then we went swimming in the hotel pool for the rest of the night! The kids were in heaven!

The next morning after our buffet breakfast the kids went swimming again. We checked out and headed to the outlet mall to get Sean some work clothes and kids summer clothes. Then we headed back to Clayton's where he got up at 3am to start roasting a pig in his roaster outside! He used hickory wood chunks, it was delicious! We topped it off with strawberry short-cake.

We took a drive to Eagle to see what it was all about. Nice place but not impressed enough to move there. We had a great long weekend! I will start my new job tomorrow! Back to the real world!

Endurance Festival

2010-05-16T15:12:00.005-06:00

This weekend was so fun. First of all my brother, Clint and his family showed up and stayed the night and played the next day with us. Clayton came down for the endurance festival. He participated in the 35K bike and run! Anna and Aubrie were signed up for the kids bike race. Anna ended up getting strep throat again so Teigha, her cousin, took her spot. Ellie also biked with them. Teigha ended up wining a tee-shirt! Aubrie did so good, she biked two laps! Then Alyssa, Brylee, Aubrie, and Teigha ran in the kids run. They all did so great! They ran the whole way! Poor Brylee wiped out at the end, but her mama helped her get across the finish line! Aubrie ran two laps, she is such an athlete!

Clayton then was off for a 30K bike ride and then a 5K run. I was really surprised to see all the bikes. Clayton was a little nervous, this being his first race. But of course he did great! When he ended the bike race he was in 4th place, but after the run he ended up in 3rd place with a time of 1:01 mins! We were so proud!

After the race we went to the farmers market and looked around. We then came home an BBQ with everyone. Our cousin Tadd also came over. Shortly after we at Clint and his family headed back to Montana. We have been working on the landscape in the front yard all weekend as well. So it was nice to have Clayton and Tadd around! It was a really great weekend. The weather was perfect as well!

Nichole's Graduation

2010-05-12T22:30:00.008-06:00

So the day has finally come, my graduation! I know it was only a year, advanced standing program, that I had to go back to college for my masters in social work, but let me tell you, it was quite a year. I drove back and forth to Twin Falls every week. My classes were all day Monday and Tuesday. Then I had my practicum at Bingham Memorial Hospital and Portneuf Medical Center ER on Thursday's and Friday's. Sean is still in school and three daughters to juggle as well as school! So it was a crazy year! Thank goodness for having such a good family to help me through all of this. I really can't take all the credit, without my in-laws and family I could have never gotten through this! Also thank you to my husband who kind of threw me into it!

My hooding ceremony was nice. Will Rainford gave a good speech. I was not too impressed with the director of social works speech. While we were being hooded they read a note we wrote for thank you's to people. After the ceremony we all went to Tomatoes for dinner! We had our own little room and the food was served family style, it was delicious!

Mother's Day 2010

2010-05-09T19:36:00.004-06:00

This was a great mother's day. It started off with me getting to sleep in!! whoot, whoot! Then I was awakened by my kids and husband coming in yelling, "Happy Mother's Day!" It scared Lily and she stared barking at them. Then I went out on the deck to a table set up with a breakfast of Sean's famous scrambled cheese eggs, orange rolls, cinnamon rolls, and juice. I also received homemade cards and the movie, "The Blind Side." We then went to church and the girls sang with the primary during sacrament meeting and Sean sang in a quartet as well. It was just beautiful! We then ate dinner with the Scherer's and ended it with cheesecake! What a great day!

All about Aubrie!

2010-05-01T17:24:00.004-06:00

Aubrie has had a pretty busy few months also. She went on the yurt trip and had a blast. That is her funny face in the yurt. Then she turned 6 years old in April! She has out grown her bike and needed a new one! She also had to get glasses while she is reading or working on the computer. We are hoping she grows out of that! She had a great Easter at her Grandma Hunter's. She got a dress from her Aunt Cami for her birthday and would not take it off! She even wanted to sleep in it. She also has lost her top two teeth and bottom two teeth. We took her to the dentist for a cleaning and asked for a discount due to not very many teeth! She is now getting ready for her gymnastic show in June. She is such a good little gymnast. Watching her makes me hurt. We sure do love her!

All about Anna!

2010-04-24T20:53:00.006-06:00

Anna has been very busy this last little while. She won 1st and 2nd at the reflections program at her school. She also got student of the month and pulled all A's on her report card. We are so proud of her. She also got strep throat again. She was on her way to getting scarlet fever again. I got her to the doctor and she got on stronger medicine than the penicillin shot. If she gets strep two more time within the next few months her tonsils will be coming out!

She had her 8th birthday. That is a big birthday for us. That is the age she gets to be baptized in our church! First thing, she just had a little family birthday party in Buhl. Her grandma took her and her sister, Aubrie (her birthday is three days after Anna's) to Hop to It in Twin. It is a play place for kids. Then they had pizza. The next day the rest of us came down and we had Easter, Anna did find the golden egg, and then we celebrated Anna and Aubrie's birthday! It was a little gathering but very nice.

Anna, then a week later on April 10th, was baptized. She was a little worried to get dunked all the way under the water. She did just fine, but came pretty close to having to be baptized again due to her foot popping up! We had a great program. All of her cousins and their families were there. The only one we were missing was uncle Clayton. We are very proud of her and she is a great girl!

Yurt Trip 2010

2010-03-22T11:51:00.002-06:00

Sean, Clayton, Steve, Jason, and some friends went up in the mountains above Pebble with their snow shoes and packs and headed for a Yurt. They all enjoyed themselves, only a few minor injuries. Steve did a face plant in the snow with his snowshoes and scratched up his nose, lip and arm. Jason went sledding on his bottom straight for a tree and thank goodness he only hit his head off the tree, so nothing major was hurt! ;)

The next day Victoria and I drove Anna, Aubrie, Kaden, and Jase up the mountain to meet the boys. They went hiking up to another yurt with the kids. Let's just say going up the mountain was a little more challenging than coming down. On the way down the kids hopped in the sleds and slid down. I can't believe how fast they made it home. Good times, maybe next year the older girls will go!

Lots of fun stuff!

2010-03-10T19:47:00.001-07:00

So many exciting things have been going on! First of all Victoria and I went to see Colbie Caillat in concert! It was awesome, better than I thought it would be, and yes, I now own all her CD's!

Anna's school had a Reflections contest. The theme was "Beauty Is..." There were a few different categories the kids could enter, one of them was art work. There were 67 kids that entered. Anna got 1st and 2nd. The judge was a professional photographer. He did not know the names of the kids that entered. He picked both of her pictures with out knowing who drew them! She got a candy bar, art pad, colored pencils, and markers! I was so proud of her!

This weekend we got our puppy, Lily. She is so sweet! We stayed at Steve's house with her and everyone fell in love with her. Ike really wanted nothing to do with her, but I think she warmed up to her by the time we left!

While we were at Steve's I decided the kids need to get the kids out of the house to burn some fuel! It was so nice outside! We went to Niagara Springs outside of Buhl. It was so fun and such a beautiful day!

Strep and Scarlet Fever

2010-02-21T12:00:00.003-07:00

So about two weeks ago little Alyssa ended up with step throat. Her whole mouth and tongue was covered in white spots. We took her to urgent care in Blackfoot and they tested her and sure enough it was positive for strep. They sent us home with a 10 day anti-biotic she had to take 2 times a day. She perked right up.

So following that Anna was complaining about her neck and legs hurting. We just thought it was no big deal and gave her some Motrin. Well Friday, Feb. 19th she came home from school and was complaining of her whole body hurting, throat, neck, legs, stomach, everything. So we gave her more Motrin. She slept through the night. Saturday she was still sick and having a hard time walking. I rented movies for her to watch during the day so she could rest. She took a nap and when she woke up she was burning up. Her face was bright red and her lips were maroon. I thought she must have put lipstick on, I have never seen them like that before. So I decide to take her into the ER. She was crying cause her whole body hurt as well as her head pounding and her eyes. I had to help her walk.

She had a fever of 102.2 degrees. They did a strep test and it came out positive. I was a little shocked because I looked in her mouth and didn't see any white spots. When the doc. shown the light in her mouth on her throat it was all red and one side looked like it was bleeding. He said she may have an abscess tonsil. If that is the cause she will have to go to a specialist and have it drained.

We decided to go with the penicillin shot. The doc thought it would work faster and better than an anti-biotic for 10 days. He said she has a really serious case of strep throat that has pretty much turned into Scarlet Fever. He found a rash on her chest and as well as her joint pain were all a factor in it. So then I think to myself, "what kind of mother am I to let it get this bad?" It just happened so fast!

Anna is terrified of shots. She was begging me, "please mom don't let them give me a shot." She was crying and everything. So what was I to do? Yes, I bribed her. I told her she could get a milkshake after and whatever she wanted. Well she started to think and there was this journal she has been wanting at the mall. She threw that option out there and yes, she got it. She was so brave. She pulled her sweats up and laid there calmly. The nurse even told her it was going to hurt, which I was not happy with! She did so well and yes it did hurt but she took the pain, all for a journal! It was worth it.

She is feeling much better! Her neck and legs still hurt a little bit. She will take it easy today. She is excited that she doesn't have to go to church, little stinker! Thank goodness for modern medicine. When we got home I looked up Scarlet Fever and it can lead to a lot of serious problems. It made me ponder about the pioneers and them losing their children due to these illness that we so commonly get and one little shot now a days will take care of them! I thank my Heavenly Father for modern medicine and the days that my family and I live in!

2010-02-21T11:58:00.002-07:00

anna in the ER with strep that turned to scarlet fever.

FWD:

2010-02-21T11:55:00.002-07:00

Alyssa with strep throat.

Valentine's Dinner 2010

2010-02-17T18:53:00.001-07:00

So this year for Valentine's Day we celebrated it on the 13th instead of the 14th. I had to go to Boise for Advocacy Day's at the capitol. I decided to do another nice formal dinner. It took me all day and I am proud to say it was a hit! We invited Sean's parents, Jeff & Leanne, and my great aunt and uncle, Dee & Roma. We set the table really fancy and the girls served the courses. We started out with Alyssa serving the salads. Then Aubrie served the heart shape jello. Anna served the Prime Rib (yes, I cooked it, I really studied up on how to and made lots of phone calls!) and baked potato. Then I served the Key Lime Cheesecake! It was really nice and fun, but I am sure glad I only do this once a years!

Lily

2010-02-10T18:59:00.001-07:00

So I have been wanting a dog for a while now, I always assumed we would get one when Sean was done with school. BUT a friend's dog had puppies and got me thinking. I did a lot of research on these dogs. I decided that we had to have a Boston Terrier! They seemed like the perfect dog for our family. So I went back and forth on where to find one, what I should look for in the owner and the pup, the price, to breed or not to breed. I was a mess. I was on the phone with my brother and Steve daily worrying about this as well as on my knees! I even had some pet therapy from my vet! But this little girl was presented to us and she is in Jerome with the best owner one could ask for. She is only four weeks in these pictures. She just curled up to me and feel asleep. Every time I put her down she would try to get back on me. We will be bringing her home at nine weeks. We can not wait, and yes Sean has finally made it a reality! What a good husband!

Lily's Dad

Lily's Mom

Lily

New Years, Arizona, & Fiesta Bowl!

2010-01-16T21:48:00.002-07:00

We decided to go and visit my Aunt Debbie and her family during our Christmas break. BSU also made it to the Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix, since we would only be 2 hrs. away, why not go! We went to Flagstaff the day before New Year's Eve. Alyssa stayed home with Grandpa Hunter. She is not very happy in the car that long! Clayton, Camille and Cody also came with us. We had a good New Year's Eve, a turkey dinner and then games! While we were there we also went sledding! The kids had a blast! Me, not so much, I cracked my head off Sean's back and ended up with a bloody nose and concussion! We also shopped, went to a movie, and ate way too much while we were there. It was fun to see Debbie, Tom, Amanda, and Bill.

Sean, I, Camille, and Cody headed for Phoenix for the Fiesta Bowl! It was sooo fun, and such a good game! It was a quick trip down and back, but way worth it! Thanks to Uncle Clayton and Aunt Debbie for watching the girls! Before we left, our little Aubrie lost her first tooth! They are growing up so fast!

Christmas 2009!

2010-01-07T23:39:00.002-07:00

Merry Christmas! This year we had Christmas at our home. We had lots of fun visitors come see us and stay with us. We started out Christmas Eve with a visit from my brother, Clint, and his family. They were driving through and stopped for a while, it has been years since some of my siblings have seen him.

On Christmas Eve night I try to do something spiritual, since Christmas day is crazy. We made a seafood chowder and corn chowder soup with lots of goodies. Jeff, Leanne, Steve, Clayton, Leslie, Katherine, and mom were all there. So this year I decided to do a nativity. Clayton was Joseph, Anna was Mary, Alyssa was the star, and Aubrie was the Angle. Sean played guitar. We started out with Sean playing and singing "Oh Holy Night". During the song the star appeared and then followed Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus and then the angle! After the song, Jeff, Sean's dad read Luke 2. Then Aubrie sang, "Away in the Manger", she did wonderful! Anna then played "Joy to the World" on her guitar. Then I read a story. Everything went just perfect, the kids took their role very seriously, maybe because I threatened them.

Christmas morning was fun, we actually had to wake the kids up. We started at about 7:30am. Alyssa took her sweet time to be social and open her presents. Anna and Aubrie could not wait. They had a hard time waiting for everyone to get up and out in the living room. We all enjoyed the presents and just being together. Camille and Cody arrived that morning before we opened present and brought over a light breakfast. Then the kids played with their toys and we got a great feast ready to eat!

My family stayed with me for a couple extra days after Christmas and it was so nice to hang out and have time to do fun things. We put together two 500 piece puzzles, shopped, and made crafts. We made bracelets and hair clips. It was so fun. We all stayed up way too late! Audrey and Chad came up and we got to go out with them one evening. Then a good friend, Jenna, and her family came over for a while. I got to see so many people during this week. This was probably one of my favorite Christmas'. I really enjoyed everything this year and everything went smoothly, minus a few minor bumps, but they were not my issues.

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My Beautiful Girls!

2009-12-20T21:47:00.002-07:00

I got the girls all dressed up for the last Sunday before Christmas. I enjoy getting them all prettied up every now and then. They actually were really good about letting me. They are beautiful and we love them!

Here Anna is playing "Joy to the World"

2009-12-13T22:28:00.001-07:00

Make a Smilebox greeting

Anna's Guitar Recital

2009-12-13T21:20:00.001-07:00

Anna has been practicing for five weeks for her guitar recital this past Saturday. She had to play "Joy to the World" memorized. She freaked out when she first learned this, but with much practice and help from her father she conquered it! I am so proud of her!

Alyssa's Birthday

2009-12-08T20:52:00.002-07:00

Alyssa just turned 4!!! She had a birthday party with her family and some friends! She wanted a Tinker Bell Birthday Party so that is what she got. She had a lot of fun!

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-12-03T14:39:00.002-07:00

This year for Thanksgiving we went to the Rammell's for Thanksgiving. All of Sean's siblings were there along with his Aunts Carol and Janet and his grandparents. His cousin, Jodi, and her family was also there. It was nice to see everyone. The food was great. After dinner we listened to Janet tell the first Thanksgiving story. Then Leanne had Thanksgiving stickers for the grand kids to make their own Thanksgiving dinner. Then all the grand kids got to do a special talent for the end of the program. Anna played "Joy to the World" on her guitar with her dad. Aubrie was suppose to sing "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" but she chicken out. Alyssa was not about to do anything. Anna and Aubrie then put on a short play they have been working on for weeks. All three of the girls decorated the cardboard and wrote what they were thankful for. It was pretty impressive! We had a great Thanksgiving!

New Moon Party

2009-11-29T19:35:00.001-07:00

It's that time of year again that we attended the "New Moon" party from the Twilight Series. Ashlee Scherer, Jenna Almond, Kristi Himmerich, Stacey Scherer, and myself went together this year. We started at a new funeral home where we got our gift bags that includes a shirt, mug, book light, book mark, movie tickets, discount coupons,stickers, and other little things! It was so cute. Then we went and toured the "New Moon" store. They had lots of cute things. We then went to the "Werewolf Cafe" and enjoyed a little dinner. We then went and got 'vamped'. That included make-up, Bella perfume, and vampire bites on our necks as well as werewolf paw prints. There were some Indians that came and did some dancing for us. We then attended an action for "Make a Wish Foundation." That was a blast! We then were off to the movie! We ended up close to the front row of the theater, but our seats were better than we thought! We were settled in with our drinks and popcorn and ready for the movie! We LOVED the movie! Yes there were a few tears, (Jenna)! Jodi and Meccina threw a great party!! Afterwards we went to Denny's, the only thing open that late in Pocatello, and had some hot chocolate! Yes, we are party animals! We are defiantly excited for "Eclipse" in July!

Boise State Game

2009-11-22T17:01:00.001-07:00

We went to the BSU vs. USU game on Friday the 20th of Nov. in Logan, Ut. It was pretty cold, but way fun. Sean, Bret, Steve, and I cuddled and had hot chocolate! BSU won by 30pts., but they sure had a hard time starting the game off, we were pretty worried!

Halloween

2009-11-01T01:02:00.001-06:00

Here are my two Go-Go girls and a witch!! We got a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Rammell, they came to trick-or-treat us in a different way! They brought us candy! I then took the girls to the church for trunker- treat and then they went with Aunt Cami and Uncle Cody for trick-or-treating for the rest of the night. We ended it with dinner at the Scherer's. Thanks for a great night everyone involved!

Pumpkin Carving!

2009-10-24T13:41:00.001-06:00

The girls wanted to get their pumpkins carved that their Uncle Clayton brought from his friend Drew! Thanks boys! They had fun carving them. At first they didn't want to get their hands messy while cleaning out the guts (such girls)! They got over that pretty fast and dug in!

Tragedy

2009-10-20T23:21:00.001-06:00

This is my cousin. This event has put a lot of things into perspective for me. We all need to be grateful for life and each other. We all have our battles and challenges, but at least we are here with each other to battle them. Anna came home with a minor case of head lice. I panicked and thought I was going to lose it, that was on Thursday. On Saturday morning I received the news about Stephanie. I now am thankful that I have Anna here with me to get the lice.

Stephanie will be missed and loved. I will always remember her as the cute little girl with the blonde curls! To those of you who have been a part of my life and still are, I want to thank you for your love and friendship. I am indeed grateful for you. I often do not express my emotions and you will rarely see me cry, so to those of you who have supported me and loved me please know that I love you and am so thankful for you. Life is too short to hold grudges and be angry. Enjoy the short time we have together and please take care of one another!!

Stephanie Hunter Johnson (1988 — 2009)
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Stephanie Lynn Hunter Johnson, age 21, passed away Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009, due to an automobile accident. Stephanie was born on July 22, 1988, in Brigham City, Utah, to James David Hunter and Debra Ann Gardner.
She graduated from Box Elder High School in 2006 where she participated in girls soccer and cheerleading. She married her junior high crush, John V. Johnson, on Aug. 5, 2008, in the Salt Lake City LDS Temple. They moved to Logan while Stephanie attended Bridgerland Applied Technology Center and John attended USU. She had just recently completed her board certifications for dental assisting. She was interning with Sutton Dental in Brigham City and with Aspen Dental in Logan.
From an early age, Stephanie was outgoing, happy and gregarious. She had a fun, adventuresome personality and liked to laugh and play games. Stephanie had a big and tender heart. She was very compassionate and did not like to see anyone or anything hurt. She enjoyed people and cherished her relationships with many friends and her and John's families.
Stephanie also enjoyed snowboarding, wakeboarding, fishing, camping and travel. She was thrilled to travel to Hawaii two years ago, where she learned to surf.
Stephanie was to become a mother in February. She was excited to add a granddaughter to her families and wanted to name her Aspen Lynn. She was amazing with kids and loved them so much. She dearly loved spending time with her little nephews and nieces.
Stephanie and John were presently teaching primary in their Logan Ward.
Stephanie was preceded in death by her grandparents, Myron Gardner, Blaine Hunter and Winnifred Hunter.
She is survived by her husband John V. Johnson; parents James and Debra Hunter; siblings Jennifer (Derek) Kennedy of Plain City; Chris of Provo; Shawn of Provo; and Kendra Hunter; father- and mother-in-law, Chad and Michele Johnson; brother and sister in-laws, Joel and Marci, Jacob and Katie, Joseph and Stephanie, Jarom and Nicci, James and Shawn, and Joanna Johnson.
An account is set up in John V. Johnson's account at Members First Credit Union.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009, at Brigham City 20th Ward Chapel, 650 Anderson Dr., Brigham City.
Friends may call on Tuesday from 6 to 8 p.m. at Myers Mortuary, 205 S. 100 East, Brigham City and on Wednesday from 10 to 10:40 a.m. at the church.
Interment will be in the Brigham City Cemetery.

St. George

2009-10-11T21:46:00.001-06:00

This weekend we went to St. George for my sister, Camille and her husband's sealing in the temple. It was beautiful. The kids had a blast. I will admit the drive down and back was loooooong! We got to see lots of family while we were there. Sean had to stay home and work. Going ended up being a last minute decision.

The begining of the School Year

2009-09-19T21:40:00.001-06:00

First off, since we have gotten Beans, our tabby cat, we have had nothing but problems with him peeing everywhere. I decided to take him into the vet early to get him neutered to see if that would fix things. Well the vet called and this is what he said, "In all of my 20 years working I have never seen anything like this. Your cat is a hermaphrodite." Just our luck, we have a he/she cat. Of course we would pick out the problem cat of the whole pound! So we learned that these kinds of animals/people have problems going to the bathroom. Beans had a surgery to help him and had to wear a cone so he wouldn't chew the stitches. He got out of the cone and chewed the stitches. So we had to re-do the surgery. All said and done, he is doing much better and can make it to the litter box. I guess there is a reason he came home with us, I don't know many people that would invest that much time and money into a stray cat!

So now that school has started our fun activities have been limited. Below are pictures of Anna and Aubrie's first day of school. Anna is in 2nd grade at Greenacers in Pocatello and her teacher is Mrs. Randklev. Aubrie is in kindergarten at Irving Kindergarten Center in Blackfoot and her teacher is Ms. Hall. They are both doing very well.

We also went to the Eastern Idaho State Fair with Grandma Hunter and then Camille and Cody also showed up. The kids loved the rides and we loved the food! Good times!

Sean is working on his last year of classes. Then he will only have his rotations left!! yippee!!! I am going to Twin every week for my graduate classes. I ended up quiting my job. Way to much stress! I feel a lot better!

We went to Jenna Day's wedding luncheon today in Salt Lake. It was at the Tuscono Brazilian restaurant, way good food! Jenna was beautiful!!! Congrats to her and Nate!

Our Newest Addition & Summer Happenings!

2009-08-09T22:00:00.001-06:00

So one night Cocoa, our black cat, wanted to go outside and was meowing and meowing. Sean was still up playing some music with some friends so I let him out. That was the last time we saw him. There have been rumors that a fox runs around here at night. We also have badgers and a huge hawk. We are so sad to lose him. We are just hoping that he got lost and a good family found him and took him in. Pretty, his sister, did not know what to do. She would just stare out the window looking for him. So we decided to go to the animal shelter and get her a friend. We brought home a 2 month old Tabby kitten, he has the same birthday as Cocoa and Pretty. Pretty hates him. She still can't stand him. He tries to play with her and she just bats and hisses at him. We like him, we would like him better if he would figure out where the litter box is!

Just a little summary of our summer. I went back to school and just completed my first semester. I got an A in social statistics!!! I am still waiting on my Human Diversity class, but pretty good chance it is an A. Sean has just been working and taking care of the kids. The kids have been going to swimming lessons and playing a lot. They have spend some time with their grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. We went to an Alberthsen family reunion. We also spent a day in Jackson Hole playing.

We just got back from Stanley lake. We were going to go from Wednesday to Saturday. We ended coming home Friday night due to rain. We had fun though. We took a good hike around the lake and got pretty wet! Now we are getting ready to start back to school. Anna will be starting 2nd grade, Aubrie will be starting kindergarten and Alyssa will still be playing! Sean will be starting his 3rd year in Pharmacy school, his last year of classes!!! I will be starting my second semester of my Master's Degree. So we are going to be busy, busy!

Stanley Lake 2009

2009-08-08T17:26:00.002-06:00

Make a Smilebox photobook

Update from the past month

2009-06-16T19:44:00.002-06:00

We have been pretty busy. We had gymnastic recitals, end of school parties (Aubrie got straight S's) (Anna also got straight O's) they both got straight A's in our language, adjusting to summer schedules. We decided to plant a garden. I wish I would have know that for the past three weeks we would have rain, wind, and hail every day. We attempted to plant corn, peas, beets, tomatoes, pumpkin, and watermelons. I am just hoping that half of it survived. We have also discovered, while it is our first summer living in our new house, that we have friends that share our area. We have seen several Bull snakes, big ones and little ones, one that are in Anna's window screen. Sean and Aubrie have been bitten by one already. It got scared while Aubrie was holding it and starting bitting her over and over, Sean grabbed it and it started bitting him. We got it cleaned and it was just a little guy so no big damage done. We also have lots of lizards!I decided that it would be fun to run a 5K during Blackfoot's Pride Days. So I had a friend I work with run it with me. I really enjoyed it. We got 18th and 19th out of 50. So not too shabby for first timers! Sean said he would run one with me so I registered us up for this weekend in Idaho Falls. I have also signed up for a few others. Who would have thought!!

Anna has been wanting to take guitar lessons, so we finally convinced her dad that she would not quit and bought her a guitar. She has has two lessons so far and she has done very well.Anna and Aubrie have been going to swimming lessons and kids programs like karate, hip hop, and sports conditioning at Gold's Gym. Alyssa is still a big chicken of everything so she just likes to watch. Sean has been working more and playing. He just got back from Zions park with some friends on a lottery drawing hike. I will do another post on that one when I get some pictures. It is beautiful. I start school on Monday so things are going to get pretty hectic!!!

Aubrie's Pre-school graduation

2009-05-21T13:29:00.002-06:00

Little Aubrie graduated from Bright Beginnings Pre-school today. We were so proud of her. She got up there and sang her songs so well and did her part in the program nicely. She has made a lot of friends. Her teachers, Mrs. Doggett and Mrs. Hendricks, said that they never had a problem with her and she is such an angel. I asked them if they new I was talking about Aubrie?! Just kidding, I know she's a great kid when she wants to be. She has had a lot of fun at pre-school and she has learned so much. I feel bad that I can't take any credit for teaching her how to spell her name or her ABC's, but she picked right up on it. We love you Aubrie!!

Bruneau Sand Dunes!!

2009-05-19T20:37:00.002-06:00

This past weekend Steve decided that he wanted to go to the Bruneau Sand Dunes. He's been hinting around about it for a while. So we decide to head down to his house late Friday night. My brother was there for a wedding and couldn't go with us so him and a friend, Drew, came over that morning and cooked us a dutch oven breakfast burritos!! They were so good!

Then we were headed off to Bruneau! The kids were so excited to go camping, even if it was only one night. We got there and set up camp. The camp grounds were pretty full. This is so not like Steve to camp any where remotely around another human, but he did take 8 girls so he figured we better have a bathroom close by!

After we got camp set up we headed to the Dunes. We hiked up one and played for a while. We decided to leave our shoes at the bottom of the hill, big mistake!! At first Alyssa was scared of all the sand, but grandpa stayed back with her and slowly convinced her there was nothing to be scared of. They were the smart ones, they left their shoes on. The sand got so hot it was burning our feet! We would have to run a bit then sit down and let our feet rest. The girls handled it pretty well. Sean decided to be a show off and did cartwheels all they way down the hill! We got a kick out of that! Then we went to the river and cooled off.

We headed back to camp and made dutch oven roast and potatoes. Some of us also had a nap. By the way my sisters, Camille, Leslie, and Katherine were also there. Katherine's friend Tegan also came. Then the sun was going down and we hit the dunes again.

This time we wanted to climb the big hill! I couldn't believe how cool the sand was when the sun went down. I thought for sure it was still going to be hot. We had a long hike. On the way Ike found a porcupine and got a quill in is nose. When we got to the top of the large hill we found someones cell phone covered in sand. We spent time jumping off the top of the hill and doing flips, ok just Sean. We were up pretty high it was scary to look at. Sean went to do a flip and got a ton of sand in Anna's eye. I had to dig that out and she was ready to go home. By the time we headed back it was dark. We used the light of our cell phones to find the way. We had a hard time finding the right passage through the trees, but we made it. Alyssa and Aubrie had to be piggy backed.

The next day we had a good breakfast, packed up camp, then went to the river and looked at the fish on our way out. The kids also caught a snake and played with it for a bit. It was a lot of fun. Our kids loved it. It made me realize how much I like to camp!

School News

2009-04-24T19:09:00.001-06:00

So this past week was an eventful one! Anna had her first research report. She has been learning about animals in their habitat. She had to chose an animal and do a report on it. She was planing on doing it on the Jack Rabbit because we have some that run around where we live. BUT, when she came home from school she decided that she wanted to do it on a Gila Monster. So we started our research. We learned lots of fun things about the Gila Monster and we made a poster of different Gila Monsters. I really enjoyed doing this with Anna, it was a lot of fun. It did make me feel old, for the fact that I have a daughter old enough to do these kind of things at school! Sean and I went and watched her presentation. She did great!!!

Sean is starting to wrap one more semester up! Only two years left! (Sounds like forever!) This is him ready for his last Camarada Choir Concert of the year.

Sean and I also decided that now would be a good time for me to go back to school and get my Masters in Social Work. It was kind of a quick decision and I was lucky the school was still accepting applications for this next school year. I applied to BSU. BSU has a program through CSI in Twin Falls. There were 10 spots left when I applied and I got one of them!! We were happy, it will only take me a year, I will be in the advanced standing program. It is two days a week, so not too bad. We have one crazy year a head of us, but anyone that knows us we wouldn't have it any other way!!!

Anna & Aubrie's Birthday's

2009-04-08T21:44:00.002-06:00

Anna turned 7 the third of April. She had a little birthday party with her family and close friends, Ellie and Lily, after school.

For the past couple of months Anna has been fascinated with earrings and getting her ears pierced. She picks my earrings out and puts them in for me. We finally convinced her dad that she could get them pierced on her birthday. The morning of her birthday she came upstairs holding her ears and said, "Say good bye to the last day of my ears with out holes!" Her good friend Ellie decided she was actually going to do it with Anna also.

They have been so excited to get their ears pierced, UNTIL, we actually got there to do it. Anna was wanting to be the first one to go so she could get it over with but she started singing another tune. They decided to have the girls go at the same time. The girls were still scared, Anna more so. It took some time and threats of just leaving and going home, but they did. Ellie got one of hers done first. Then Anna went. She said it was not so bad and was not so worried about the second one. She got her diamond birthstone earrings, then she still had some left over birthday money and she had to go to Claire's and buy some new earings. She just loves them. She sits looking in the mirror at herself saying she looks so good in earrings. She actually looks older with them. Where did my little girl go?

That evening Anna and Aubrie went down to Buhl to spend the weekend with Grandma Hunter. Grandma found a place in Twin Falls that has a bunch of different indoor toys to play on. There were blow up slides and a ball pit. They played there all day and had pizza, and then went back to grandmas and went to the park and played some more while they ate strawberries and chocolate! That night they were worn out. Good work Grandma. They had a lot of fun doing that for their birthday. Mom ended up having the flu that weekend, luckily Grandpa Hunter, Katherine and Leslie came over and kept Alyssa entertained! Sean had to work.

Monday the 6th was little Aubrie's birthday. She's the big 5! She had to go to Grandma Rammell's that day and she was pretty excited about having french toast with a candle in it! She had a few calls that day from people wishing her happy birthday. That made her feel so special and she loved the attention. It was absolutely precious watching her face light up when someone told her happy birthday.

She has been wanting the new Barbie movie that just came out, "Thumbelina," so I decided to make her a cake after it. She thought it was pretty and she was so excited for it. We went and had a little party with our family and the Scherer's that evening. She got the Barbie movie and doll along with another Tattoo Barbie and a webkinz. After she opened her presents and ate cake she watched the movie.

Alyssa and Brylee were partying pretty hard!

We had a fun week. I think I am cupcaked out though. I have made a lot of cupcakes and cakes last week(thanks for the help Ashlee) for school, pre-school, and daycare, and then ones for each of their birthdays the night of. This coming weekend we are going to the Rodeo and are having a little family get together before hand and I have to make another birthday cake for that. I will admit the cupcakes turned out pretty cute!

Parties!!

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Steve, Chris (Steve's sister), and Bob (Chris'husband)

We couldn't get enough candles!!!

We have been pretty busy lately. We threw Steve a surprise 60th birthday party on March 21st. We made Indian Tacos, frog eye salad, german chocolate cake and strawberry pie! That was fun! Then that day we went for a hike behind our house. It was a nice day, a bit windy, but nice. We found a cat head on our hike, the kids were freaked out. Our cousins Chris and Cindy and their kids were with us for most of the day, they were fun to spend time with. Chris and his kids, James and Megan, came on the hike with me, Anna, Alyssa, Leslie, Katherine,Ellie, and Steve. Oh ya, Ike also came we don't want to forget him! Aubrie stayed back with Aunt Cami and Cindy playing school with the school desks that Dee and Roma brought over for the kids.

Princess Aubrie and Princess Taylor!

Princess Aubrie with The guest Princess Lauren of Snake River!

The following weekend Aubrie got invited to a birthday party for a girl in her ballet class, Taylor. I also work with her mother. It was princess dress up party. She loved it, they made crowns and a really princess came and read a story to them and gave them gifts. It is fun for her now that she is getting old enough to have her own friends and her own parties.

Valentine's Dinner!

2009-02-16T20:28:00.002-07:00

So this year for Valentine's Day we decided to spend it together as a family. Sean had to work all day. So I spent all day cooking. I made one of his favorite dishes he had on his mission. Brazilian Feijoada. It is basically black beans and sausage over rice. We had fruit salad and yes I made homemade cinnamon rolls! The kids also made a craft of painting wooden hearts and writing their names on them. They loved that.

The kids and I got the kitchen decorated and ready for Sean to come home. We used our crystal that we got for our wedding. The kids said, "We have never had a fancy dinner like this before!" So They had fun.

When Sean got home he was surprised and very happy! I think it has been years since I have made this dinner for him. He brought me a dozen red roses with one white rose and some Lillie's. They were beautiful. Our friend Bret Scherer also joined us. His family was out of town for the weekend.

We had a great Valentine's day!

Sean's Yurt trip!

2009-02-07T21:32:00.002-07:00

Sean has a friend, Jason Byrd, that loves to do outdoor things. It is great for Sean because living with all girls he rarely gets a chance to do these manly things. He always looks forward to his yearly wood cutting trip with Steve to get a part of his manliness back. So Jason invited him to go hike to the Yurt.

Let me explain to those of you what a Yurt is. It is like a heavy duty tent that the forest service puts up in the winter. There is a stove and fire pit inside of it. You have to snow shoe to get to it. This Yurt was 3 1/2 miles up the mountain outside of Inkom.

So Sean, Jason, and Bret got everything they need to go snowshoeing up to the Yurt. Sean was not to excited about this due to the fact that he hates the cold! But he was willing to give it a try.

He loved it. He said it was beautiful up there in the snow with the trees. He had a great time with Bret and Jason. They cooked Salmon and Shrimp for dinner. He said it was the best Salmon he has every had! They hiked around when they got up there. He didn't give me too many details about what they did that night, guy stuff I guess! That next morning they slept in and had to get up and book it 3 1/2 miles back due to Sean having to be at work at noon!

When he got home he stunk like crazy. The campfire smell. Even the cats were a little worried. He really enjoyed himself.

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Relaxing!

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Rugged Sean!

Our Cats!

2009-01-17T17:04:00.001-07:00

We have not been up to too much lately. Just getting back into the old grind of kids back to school, husband back to school, and mom going to a full week of work. We loved the holidays and are having a hard time recovering. So i haven't taken pictures of much. I thought I would use this time to show you our cats that we love. They have the funniest personalities. The black cat is Cocoa and the grey cat is Pretty.

Cocoa loves to jump into things, boxes, fridges, the usual! He also lays on his back on the couch. it's the craziest thing. He also loves Sean! He follows him around everywhere. He sleeps on him at night. Sean also is very fond of Cocoa. I never thought I would see the day when Sean liked cats. But it is here!!

Pretty is a more gentle cat. She puts up with a lot of abuse from the kids. We all know that if the kids get scratched or bitten they deserved it. Cocoa runs from them, but Pretty lets them hold her. She loves laying in front of the heat vent and sleeping under blankets. She loves to be warm. She is a moody cat though. At times she will be a lover and other times she wants nothing to do with anyone. Couldn't be her sex could it?!

The Holidays

2008-12-25T21:07:00.001-07:00

The day after Thanksgiving with the Rammell's

Alyssa's birthday party with her friends, Hope and Brylee!

Uncle Clayton with Aubrie and Alyssa after getting done with the gingerbread house!

Christmas Morning!!

Christmas Chef's!!

It has been a while since I've blogged. We have been very busy. Lots of Holiday fun. We spent Thanksgiving with Sean's family. Steve came with us. Then we celebrated Alyssa's 3rd birthday! She had a little friend party then a family one. She's so Big!

It is Christmas night right now. We have had a ton of snow! Thank goodness for neighbors with snow blowers and 4 wheelers. Our house is positioned that the wind takes the snow right to our drive way. It is beautiful with the snow and trees.

We have had a full house and have loved it. We have been working hard to get our basement finished for Christmas and we did pull it off. We have had great contractors that have worked extra hard to help up meet this goal. Our plumber even came on Christmas Eve to get our bathroom going!!

My family, Mom, Leslie, Katherine, Clayton, and Steve came up Christmas Eve. Then Sean's family, Audrey, Chad, Mckennah, Hannah, Jeff and Leanne. All came Christmas Eve. The Higleys stayed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We have had a lot of fun. We still have not stopped eating.

The day before Christmas Eve the girls and I made fudge, almond Rocha, jello, and Carmel's. It was so fun. Aubrie and Anna had chairs at the stove and they were my stirrers. Alyssa was stirring the jello at the counter. It was definitely a mother daughter bonding moment.

Uncle Clayton came that night and the next day he and the girls made ginger bread houses and cookies for Santa!

We tried to hit the movies tonight but only half of us got in. We wanted to see Marley and Me. But it was sold out. A few stayed and went to Valkyrie. We will catch Marley and Me tomorrow! We even might try to sled if the wind stops for a little while.

We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and we are so glad our family came to our house to spend Christmas with us!!

Twilight Party!

2008-11-23T17:21:00.001-07:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

So the Twilight movie party was this weekend. We had a blast. We started it out with meeting some friend at Chilies for appetizers and drinks. Then we headed over to catch our limo to the party where we met my other friends. We had a pre party with more appetizers and drinks. We got gift bags that included, and umbrella, a hot chocolate mug with Twilight on it, Twilight special addition trading cards, high lighter, Biology 101 note book, and Twilight coupons. We also got tee-shirts for the night to wear.

We then got vampire bits tatooed on our necks. They had finger nail painting also. There was a silent auction to benefit a local charity we went and bid on. Then we headed back to the limo and to the theater where we got red carpet treatment! We got our popcorn and we were ready for the show. We knew the show would not be as good as the book, but it was still great. We went with an opened mind!! Edward sure was hot!!

After the movie we caught our limo back to the after party and had more food and socilaized. Edward, Bella and Jacob then showed up. How cool! Yes, I had Edward bite me, and I started a chain reaction. Everone wanted to be bit! They announced the winners of the silent Auction and then we took the limo back to our cars. We wanted to continue to party but we couldn't think of anything to do, so we called it and went to bed. Can't wait until next year for "The New Moon!" Thanks Mecinna Price and family for a great night!

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK!!!!

2008-11-16T23:18:00.001-07:00

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK!!!

2008-11-16T22:45:00.001-07:00

So Sean and I went to the New Kids on the Block (NKOTB) concert this weekend in Utah. I was a little sceptical about them getting back together, boy was I wrong. They definitely had the Right Stuff! They aged very well. We had floor seats only 22 rows from the stage, so we could see them perfectly. It was so fun. It brought back my childhood memories to me. They were such a big part of my life back in the day. I've got a great husband taking me. He actually was really impressed with the concert. The New Kids could still sing and dance.

They would talk and show clips back from the late 80's and early 90's. A lot of the girls there, me including, were in elementary school when they were big. They sang a lot of their old stuff and some of their new stuff. It was about 2 1/2 hours. I screamed the whole time. I even got Sean to yell, "I love you New Kids!" It was great! Yes, I will admit I yelled, "I love you Jordan!" Just like old times. The show was amazing, fire works, lights, props, lots of clothes changes. During one song a girl threw a t-shirt on stage and Donnie picked it up and came back on stage and held it up. It said, "I (heart) Mormon Girls!" Everyone cheered and of course he said he did!

I was ginning the whole time and haven't stopped. I felt like a young school girl again. It was amazing how far back that took me, it was a trip. I called and texted some of my girlfriend from grade school during the concert. One of them I actually went to my first New Kids concert with back in 5th grade!!!

Ok I will stop with the New Kids, but it was really good!! I am excited to get ready for the Twilight movie viewing coming up. I will post that experience next weekend. I am sure it will be great!!