Over Our Hill

Maui, Hawaii

2011-02-22T13:39:00.000-08:00

Inside a cool cavern

On a hike to Twin Falls

Weldon and Gean

On a trip to see whales!

Shaun and Daisy on the beach near our hotel

Shaun and I were privileged to take a fabulous vacation to Hawaii. His parents had a room

available adjoining theirs in Maui, and invited us to go last minute. We happened to be able to right then, with overtime coming up for Shaun, and some use of miles and points on credit cards and airlines. Overall, we had a fabulous time! Thanks Weldon and Gean! We did have our kids stay at home with a most wonderful family, and took Daisy along since she is still nursing and just 8 months old. I maybe could've had another plan for her to stay, but I did want to come home to friends who still wanted to be around me:)

For anyone looking to get away with their loved one, I totally recommend this place! Yes, food is expensive, but where isn't it when you are going tropical? What beauty, what fun, and what a great time!

Lydia's 2nd Birthday!

2009-05-28T10:41:00.000-07:00

So our littlest lady has turned 2! She has been making sure that we know it as well! The day of she threw a huge fit at Tori's kindergarten orientation, and been sure to crush crackers into the carpet, dump out water all over Gabe's homework, and shred lettuce leaves I needed for dinner. Maybe that's just her too.

We threw a BBQ and invited friends and family. That was fun to do after 5 years of not being able to! With about 45 people, we had a great time. Even Lydia didn't want to open her gifts, she was enjoying everyone so much. We really appreciated everyone coming, even from great distances! It was a lot of fun!

I got a haircut

2009-05-17T14:46:00.000-07:00

At the Real Game! Who is that cute man I hooked up with? My stylist. J/K

As I was driving from the salon, and looking at the road of course.

Yep. I cut my hair. Actually, I hired someone. And it was a cool experience. My friend Kiersten Dewey, who is so awesome!, took the kids so I could go do that. She's so cool. It's shorter and quicker, and I like it. I did want it a little longer, but hair grows thank goodness!

ReAl Salt Lake Game!

2009-05-17T14:30:00.000-07:00

Our crew. I grabbed a guy with a kid to take it. He was nice to get us all in!

Gabe took this!

She only smiles for dad in pictures. She had fun!

Kansas' goalie Hartman.

This is, wait, this is Tori's soccer team! Go Mandarins.

We were front row! Awesome! Like I said, Aunt Sarah rocks!

Tori with her friend Courtney

Gabe and Dad having fun!

Sarah and Coby Jones with their sons

Leo the Lion came and said hello!

Last night we were able to go to our first soccer game played by the pros at the Real Salt Lake Center just a few miles from us. All I can say is that Aunt Sarah rocks! (she hooked us up with the awesome seats) That was fun! It was completely packed and our kids loved it. We also had dinner with some friends we made from Gabe's t-ball league named the Jones'. We all had fun, and after an hour, decided the wrestling match with the kids had been a good one, so we came home.

Thanks for a great time Sarahs and we should do that again! Go Real!

On Mother's Day

2009-05-17T14:07:00.000-07:00

My brother Nate
Rob's wife Jen

My sister Sarah and James

My sister Emily and Cory and baby Ella

My brother Rob

My sister Becky, Aarol, their daughter Grace, and son Max

My mom! and dad!

My sister Racheal and daughter Leah

My handsome honey and 3 reasons I love being a mom!

Mother's day barbecue at my brother Rob's house.

We also got to enjoy a fabulous dinner on Mother's Day at my brother Rob's house in Benjamin. Speaking of Benjamin, we also got to speak to him on his mission and he is in Manchester, New Hampshire right now! I was so close to him once upon last year. I am the only sister not pregnant and not to have had a child within the last 2 months. Maybe next year!

Mother's Day 2009

2009-05-17T13:45:00.001-07:00

The clan!

Love those cute cousins!

My crew (it stunk in this room! as shown by Tori)

Lovely Mindy and Abby!

Lydia's favorite: Isaac as he lifts her up to see monkeys (so cute!)

This giraffe was so close!

Me and the girls on the carousel. Thanks Mindy!

The man of my dreams.

My flowers.

I loved Mother's Day this year! Shaun is so awesome to make it special. He always does. On Thursday I came home to flowers, cute pictures from each kiddo, and a yummy chocolate cream pie! Oh so delicious! We celebrated from Thurs-Sun., so I felt extra special.

We also went to the zoo with Justin and Mindy Hill and their cute kiddos the Saturday before. We hadn't been to the Hogle Zoo for several years, so that was fun! We all wore t-shirts that got us free icecream treats, a craft for mom, and a massage, that was booked out before we had a chance to check it out. Oh well, Shaun covered that when we got home! Thanks sweetheart!

Lots of visits!

2009-04-27T13:23:00.000-07:00

So far this April, we are loving having a home to have lots of visitors! From Maine, we got our great friend Jamie Harris who came and said a quick hello as she passed through!

From Wyoming we had Kris and Celeste Cluff and their sons Jaxon and Shaun. We love Shaun's sister and her husband and sons and totally welcomed them into our home. The only sad part is that they had to leave. We loved having them here. The kids checked on them every morning.
And we also enjoyed some aunts showing off their sweet new babies! Becky with her new little Max and Emily with Ella. We loved having them at our home! It's great to be close again!

Valentine Knight

2009-02-19T09:58:00.000-08:00

For Valentine's we got to sign on our house and get the paperwork all done. I was stressed from the kids, even though they are good. I just had so much on my mind and to do! As soon I got done downloading to Shaun, I looked around the room we were in at the title company, and saw this huge bouquet of flowers! I just thought they looked pretty, until I saw my name on the card! And a box of chocolate covered strawberries just for me!

Shaun got some serious brownie points for this! Wow, what a great surprise. And everyone in the room just kept commenting and smelling them! Great job honey!

The kids and I also made some sugar cookies which we consumed rapidly. They were delish. This was a wonderful Valentine's though. Shaun is so great at making each one special! I sure think he's so hot and wonderful!

We Got The House

2009-01-29T15:57:00.000-08:00

Yes, we finally got the official contract on this house we had made an offer on about a month ago. It is banked owned, so we were lucky we got the bid and heard back in a shorter time.

Victoria Florence

2009-01-21T07:14:00.000-08:00

At the Portland Head Light in June 2008.

Our first week exploring our neighborhood in Maine.

Her 5th birthday party with a gorgeous cake and dress with crown!

With Gabe at the temple lights.

Our oldest daughter, Victoria Florence, just turned 5. She is such a sparkly one for us. She loves dancing and singing, playing games and winning against me, eating yummy foods, and helping out with her younger sister. We just love having her as our daughter!

Most of the time now, she is always holding Gabe's hand telling him he is her best friend. She also has such a tender heart and admits when she does something wrong to me, because "Mom, it is hard to be a good kid all the time". I think I am too hard on her. She is such a help to me and I can explain things and where they go to her really easily. She gets that.

Tori, as we call her, has a special place in her heart for the gospel. She tears up watching "The Testaments" because people get healed by Christ. I told her about going to the temple and that they play music inside. Last weekend we got to go, (Shaun and I), and I told her I heard "I love to see the Temple". She was so excited! "Mom, can't I go now?". Then she said, "I am going to go on a mission, just so I can go to the temple. I don't want to get married and leave you guys." She loves things like that.

I love my little Tori. I love that she loves pink, ponies, princesses, and playing. She is just so funny and sassy, it is great fun to have her. I hope I show that to her enough. She deserves the best in this life, as all my kids do. I just am so happy to be her mother.

Our Move

2009-01-21T06:56:00.000-08:00

On our way through the Rockies. There is the moving truck.

Shaun and Andy(on left).

Our cabin.

We were so excited to get to Utah after 5 days of 14 hour driving. We had snowstorms on our tail, and we tried to dodge them (it was snowing all day the day we moved and the day we loaded up). We felt like we did a good job starting out, but the largest snowstorms were just ahead and we caught one after a minor mishap early one day. On the freeway we ended up doing about 25 MPH. It was awful! It felt like no progress.

Towards the middle, I was feeling so worn out and tired of driving, so it was great to see Andy and Sara Griner in Kansas to break up the routine. We hadn't seen them in years, so it was more fun than we had time for. We tried to get some sleep, and did with their great accommadations! Thanks Andy and Sara and family.

The last day was quite a day knowing we planned on getting there, but also getting to Shaun's parents (the final resting until we get a house), at 11:30 PM. It was excruciating for me! I was so tired at 7 PM. But once we got out of the Spanish Fork Canyon, I saw light... literally. It was great to see cities again.

The next day we still had to unload and get somewhat settled, but I am so glad for the holidays and more especially for family that makes it so special!

What's Going On-

2009-01-21T06:26:00.001-08:00

Wow, this is what I looked like on the last day of driving. Fabulous. I think I'll go throw up.
We got to spend the night with Andy and Sara Griner in Kansas! That was such a highlight. It made the trip more tolerable and broke up the redundency.
Here is a last look at the road in Maine on which we lived. Miss you!

Lobstah and Loading

2008-12-11T06:29:00.000-08:00

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So we leave next weekend! We're staying at Shaun's parent's home in Layton, until we can find our own place to leave. We'll act fast as we do have kids that need to be in school too.

Because we are leaving so fast, we are trying to get in everything we can and getting in all the activities we can. I know we'll miss this place, as we already do. It's been so fun and so different than anyplace we've lived before. I love it!

Here we are cooking our own lobstah, as they call it here. Everyone drops their "r"s. Except our friends here Leah and Jim Danala and Nick and Janelle Baser. We've loved getting to know them here! Great friends for life!

Oh, and the lobster, was Awesome!

Juicy Details

2008-11-24T17:25:00.000-08:00

Wow, we must have a few prayers our way because things are really starting to roll and we have gotten more info over the last few hours than would be normal for the next few weeks.

A.) We know we are going to be stationed in Salt Lake City. Officially.
B.) We know we have to be there either by Dec. 21st or Jan. 4th.
C.) We get to have what's left of our money we had to move here, to move there. Huge miracle!

I didn't mention this so much last blog, but we are so excited! Our kids cannot wait to see cousins and be around family (neither can we), we are so excited to have a normal shift for dad so he can sleep regular hours and mom can have her schedule back too, and we get weekends off!! Shaun wants to finish school in a degree that will use all of his Border Patrol schooling and prior schooling and boost his possibility to move along better in this career path. This is a huge blessing for us!

So thank you to everyone. We do know you have kept us in your thoughts and prayers. We have a few more hurdles, but we know we can get through them. This is one crazy ride I tell ya!

Little Lydi Lou Who Makes us Laugh

2008-11-22T08:58:00.000-08:00

Lydia is such a crack up! She is learning to speak and her first word was "Cherries". Now she says "me, mom, dad, please(pees), thank you (date due), Tori(Tuuree), Gabe(Day), baby, bye-bye, eyes, nose, no, this, and here it is."

Lydi loves babies and has attached herself to one she found in the nursery. She loves to push it around in a stroller and is such a crack up while doing so. She will rock her babies, pat their back, sing to them, dance with them, bathe them, rub their bellies, and talk all sweetly to them while tucking them in. Where does she get this? It is so so so cute! We eat it up! We are also hoping Santa is able to find the cute little selection of strollers, carseat and crib for her and a new clean baby for her for Christmas.

She is also a tease. She comes and pinches Gabe because she gets a reaction, almost daily. When I pick him up from school, and as he passes her carseat, she will grab him. Not so nicely sometimes, but then she just smiles as he complains.

A constant I hear from her is, "Momma, that." and she will point out something funny or unusual to me. She will also come to the fridge and say, "momma" and wait until I come and open it so she will point out what she is hungry or thirsty for.

She waits until dad is home and runs (or tries to), to him so she can also tell him her stories of the day as she is always talking and babbling away!

We have lots of laughs with her and just love her so much! We are so glad she is in our family! What great entertainment!

Moving to Utah!

2008-11-22T07:46:00.000-08:00

So at 1:30 yesterday morning I got woken up by Shaun. "Honey, you have to get up and read this!" I asked him if he seriously wanted me to get out of bed after just waking me up to read something.

It turns out to be the official selection to work for ICE or IEA (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement I think). We are to move to Salt Lake City Utah. For now we have no idea when or where we'll live, or how it is all going to work. A billion things are going through our heads. All we know is that we are going to where we would have a regular shift with regular hours and plenty of work, and family nearby. We are excited!

So we will keep you posted on what happens next.

Snowing Season

2008-11-22T07:39:00.000-08:00

We are now getting snow everyday, but none is really sticking to the ground. It is about 15 degrees here daily, and very cold! It's okay to get in and out in, but the other night we had to load our groceries which involves putting it in coolers since we are an hour away, and we were so cold! Needless to say we are investing into warm weather clothes for the first time in 5 years. Our kids just don't believe us when we have told them that it will snow enough for sledding time. We are looking forward to skiing season too.

Our Trick-or-Treaters

2008-11-22T07:29:00.000-08:00

We participated in the Scarecrow Ball here where I got volunteered to create Scooby-Doo by the 1st grade class. All the parents are supposed to participate, but they wanted to make me feel welcome and had me design and make it. We did have the kids stuff it though. It turned out pretty neat.

Halloween Sweets

2008-11-13T10:35:00.000-08:00

Here we all are just about to go out and about in the cold to trick for treats. As most of you know, we live in this cute little, and I mean tiny, village of Rangeley Maine. There are about 1,000 people here year round and everyone knows one another.

I happened upon this new family, pictured with us, and they also were new. It worked great for us, and we became instant friends. It was also perfect that they had a son Gabriel's age and a daughter Victoria's age. I get along great with their mom. So here we are all together in our cabin with Lydia as a bag of 100% Pure Sugar and a bucket that says, "Spice and Everything Nice", because that's what little girls are made of; Gabe as the infamous Harry Potter; Tori as a mermaid princess; AJ as a speedracer; and gorgeous little Cadence as Sleeping Beauty. I'm on the left and Kristy is on the right. Our kids ended up with coughs as it had snowed and melted the day before and was pretty cold! We had a great night though and ended at our friends' the Danalas passing out candy and enjoying friends.

And So It Begins

2008-11-13T10:08:00.000-08:00

After reading and seeing all sorts of super cute blogs from pretty much everyone, I am anticipating joining the blogger world with my little knowledge of it all.

So welcome, and hopefully I can get this to look okay and keep it updated as often as I can. I am learning, so be patient, but I will put some cute videos and photos on there.

We'll start with this one from us going to Connecticut and enjoying a Professional Bull Riding rodeo while my handsome honey manned the Border Patrol booth. I went just a little crazy with the kids, but they had a blast! I had to get a shot of this all and managed to talk someone into helping me take a picture.

This was over the weekend of October 17-20th. We also enjoyed our 7th wedding anniversary and had a lovely dinner with our 3 kids. We're still working out the babysitter stuff as we are an hour away from most anything.