She Talks!

Emily surprised us today with her first real two word combination. It's a good one!!

She Sings!

Elizabeth's first choir concert of her High School career was last night. She was chosen to sing a solo and did such a terrific job! I hope that someday I'll be able to clearly see her sing, because as it is, there are always tears in my eyes!

The blur I guess could be your opportunity to see as I do ~ though I do apologize. The camera just didn't want to focus on the most important thing we were taping (of course!). Thanks to Melissa for her fine videoing skills. And to Emily, who made it possible for Melissa to be the one doing the videoing.

Liz looked so pretty in her choir dress. Not that a gunny sack wouldn't look good on this girl!

The concert consisted of the six high school choirs. It was fun to see what might be in Liz's future, should she choose to pursue singing further. That said, she has just turned in her first audition tape for All-State Choir. We'll keep you posted!

She Walks!

Bring It On, October!

While I am in shock that October is here already (where did September go? August and the entire summer for that matter...), so much good has come and is coming, that I can't help but think

"Bring It On"!

We've enjoyed a FABULOUS weekend in UT, our first trip there since the blessing of our adorable niece, Olivia. That was two years ago!

(Elizabeth Grace and Olivia Grace)

We were so sure that moving back would make it so much easier to visit everyone we'd been forced to see only every-great-once-in-a-while....not quite what reality has brought!

Nevertheless, if going not-so-often means the trips are as great as this one was, then I think we'll take it.

I'm anxious to hear more details about Elizabeth's trip. She traveled down with us, but met up with our YM and YW, who got to experience the very best of the Salt Lake area. She even got to attend the Saturday Afternoon session of General Conference, which she described as

"better than awesome".

What I do know so far is that she took pictures while she was at Temple Square. Pictures like this one:

I am planning to enlarge this and get it hanging on the wall ASAP. **update: an 11x14 is now being processed at Costco. Frame is ready here at home. Can't wait!

Our trip was not just to have a fabulous time. We (ha! I say that like I did anything but look out the sliding door at Kurt working....) got to help BIL David rebuild their deck. Here he is, getting it all put together:

The end result looked AMAZING!! Good job Dave, Kurt and Brad!
We were continually spoiled by the Orton's all weekend. Sure hope to return the favor sometime!

We got to listen and watch General Conference from the comforts of the Orton's home. While I know that every conference is wonderful, and the latest one is always the very best, I think this one outdid itself as far as how perfect and timelythe messages were.

Go HERE to listen/watch any part for yourself.

I was especially impressed by Elder Holland's address Sunday afternoon. He is not one to pull any punches and often addresses those who have vehemently disagreed or tried to discredit any given aspect of the Restored Gospel. His words were punctuated with power ~ each and every one of them. I knew, because of how I felt while I listened, that he spoke truth. I also knew that he felt strongly about each word he spoke, and that each word was carefully chosen.

How fortunate (blessed! lucky!) we are to live during a time when there is a living Prophet on the earth. A Prophet just like Moses and Abraham were prophets in biblical times. A time when Apostles minister and act as Special Witnesses of Jesus Christ. Apostles just like Peter, James and John of the New Testament. The authority is the same, and has been restored to us now. Hooray!!
The things we heard in Conference have caused an increased desire for personal reflection and like all conferences, lessons, sacrament talks, experiences and personal study, is providing motivation to examine and improve. What a blessing the process of life is for us all ~ that we can become and discover who we really are and why we are here little by little.
Onward and Upward!

One of the fun things we did in addition to watching and listening to General Conference was to decorate the delicious cookies and cupcakes Kurt's sister Wendy made. Ah-mayze-ing!! Nathan was sure impressed:

(he smiled ON PURPOSE and without prompting, which feels like a big step in the right direction for this family of cheesy grinners.) :D

I got to help buy the food for the youth for the weekend. As we shopped, I couldn't help but think of the 17 young men we were buying for. 17 hungry TEENAGE boys (as well as the 30-ish Young Women and bunch of leaders....69 people in all!).
I think we did pretty well.

(that's my friend Liz K behind all our purchases)

So much good to come in October.

Can't wait for Elizabeth to share her experiences.

Stay Tuned!

xoxo

Emily's First Birthday

Emily is a year old. Already. In big ways I'm happy that we're a year in ~ having two as close together as we did was really really hard there at first. I realize we don't hold any records for babies being born close together, but for us, this is as close as we've gotten and with my extended recovery, there were a lot of challenges at the beginning. These days we're healthy and a year for a 2-ish year old brings a lot of maturity and more understanding to how things work in the world. All good things!

At the same time of course we're sentimental to the time that's gone by, not wishing away too quickly.

When you get to bring home this:
of course there is a specialness to having a new little life at home!

Today she looks like this:
There is so much that is wonderful about being one. Personality starts emerging (she laughs spontaneously and shakes her head no with fervor), language develops (her new word ~ we are SO proud ~ is p-o-o-p), and mobility increases (she is climbing stairs, crawling long distances and cruising the furniture).

We celebrated Emily's birthday with the traditional night-before picture, to celebrate saying good-bye to being 11-months old:

Family and some friends came over that night to help us celebrate. A last minute catastrophic failure of the crown-shaped cake meant a quick run to CostCo... and while it was sad to not have things go just as we'd planned/hoped, we chose to be grateful for things working out alright in the end.

We interrupted Emily's PT to take a picture next to clock on the minute ~ 10:33am ~ she was born. Another tradition!

Later, the table was set and ready to party!

We now have to question the sanity of parents who put FIRE in front of any (and every) one year old...what are any of us thinking?

Thankfully, she was fine ~ the wax from the candle ended up on her fingers, but she didn't get burned.

She was back shortly to enjoy her cake: That's a happy birthday girl!
After doing as much damage to her dive-in cake as she could, she got whisked away to the tub. The smiles continue!

Then it was time for presents! For just a little thing, she sure was spoiled!

A cute and instantly loved Care Bears Penguin from the Mitchell's

Big bucks from Grandma and Grandpa Freeman

A talking purse from Grandma and Grandpa Evans

Outfits from Chris and Jennie

Overall, a good day!

We love you, Emily Dear, and are so glad to have you with us in our family!

Summer Comes To A Close

We've awakened to a crispy-fallness in the air, so posting about summer activities has seemed to take on a new urgency. Today is the day!!

First on my mind today is that in August Melissa got to have lunch with the Mayor of Nampa, Tom Dale.

Melissa was one of two kids chosen ~ the only one from Caldwell. She got to talk with the Mayor about school and her favorite class (Reading). His Assistant, Adam, was also nice.

They had lunch at the 2nd Street Diner. Melissa ordered a grilled cheese. It came with a pickle that she was happy to save and bring home to her dad.

Melissa came home from her cousin's birthday party in August saying that it was "THE BEST PARTY EVER!!". Aunt Jennie knows how to throw a party!! They got to have a fashion show ~ complete with make-up and hair-do's. We're STILL finding glitter in Melissa's hair! :)

Here's Missa with her cousin and another friend.

The City sponsors an event every couple of years where they rent the Zoo and serve dinner to all the city employees. This year we got to see the Zoo's new Africa exhibit, complete with Lions and Zebra and Giraffe's.

Here's a picture of our "pride" of beasts:

Emily is on the move these days, and loves to climb the stairs! She's cruising the furniture, and will let go sometimes if she's interested in something that takes both hands. Our homework is to get her walking while just holding one hand, and she's getting better at that. She isn't "stair certified" yet (meaning she doesn't know how to come back down on her own), but it won't be long...

Gratuitous cruise pic:

We made it to the last Tuesday home game for the Hawks, using the tickets the kids had earned through their summer reading program. The crowd was small, and the Hawks lost pretty miserably, but we had a good time singing and chanting with the rest of the fans.

The field from where we were sitting.

We bought five of these little hackey sacks (the money went to charity) and had the chance, after the game, to throw them out onto a bulls-eye laid on home plate. If one hit the bulls-eye, you had the chance to win half of all the money collected. The person closest to the bulls-eye got a $10 gift certificate to Wendy's restaurant.



We threw, but won not one thing. Oh well!








Emily decided one night not too long ago to DUMP her dinner on her head.... she thought she was pretty funny! (no judging on the Christmas bib ~ it was one of those days for laundry, and we were at the bottom of the drawer)

Kathryn reunited with her soccer team from last season to play in an indoor tournament in August. It was her first time playing indoors ~ the rules are interestingly different! (There are no out-of-bounds, for instance, unless the ball flies up into the net around the arena. You can also throw your arms around, as long as its the part between your shoulder and your elbow.)

Here are some shots of her warming up:

At the beginning of the summer our goal was to MAKE SURE we would all have really good answers for that "What did you do over the summer" question. I think we accomplished that. whew!

NOT About Cruising or Coupons!

We've been home for a little over a month, and I think are adjusting to real life again. Though it's really hard to go out to eat and then have to PAY for your meal when it's through.... we went for seafood recently and realized just how much all we ate on the cruise would have cost if we'd have been paying. yikes!

sorry ~ I know I said this post WASN'T about our cruise....

and, I'm in the middle of a debate with Albertson's Corporate office over a serious coupon issue. More on that to come when it is resolved and they are shown the error or their ways! (this is how sure I'm right about this. Please keep in mind how much I HATE confrontation!)

apologies again for mentioning something I already said was not part of this post...

There have been some wonderful things to take our minds off the cruise (or lack of cruise) these past couple of weeks. I thought I'd share a few.

First off ~ this is what happens when you're two and you're trying to figure out how this getting dressed thing works.... sometimes things don't go on as easily as when someone bigger helps you... the important thing is to remember to SMILE.

My friend had a mother/daughter crop for moms and daughters ages 10 and up. Liz and Kathryn got to come! We had a great time and, between handfulls of M&M's, actually got a few pages done.

Elizabeth attended her FIRST STAKE DANCE on August 16th. She was so excited and came home talking about "Jeremy". She said she didn't think a first dance could have gone any better. Here's to many more to come!

The girls are back in school already. How the summer flew by! We have three at three schools this year ~ Elizabeth is a Freshman at the High School, Kathryn a 6th grader at the Middle School, and Melissa a 5th grader at the Elementary School. Just for grins we did the math to see when we'd be in that "all of our kids are in school all day" club, and it will be when Melissa is a Sophomore! That will be when Emily starts first grade. So, a ways to go yet. But I had a year of an empty house between the time Melissa started first grade to when Nathan was born, so I guess I know what we have to look forward to! I'm not sure if that makes it better or worse...

We discovered on one of our trips out to the church orchard that we (ok, I) had no idea where the end of Ustick was. Maybe it went on forever! So one night when the peaches weren't quite ready for picking, we decided to find out where the road ends. And we found out it does end, but sort of in a curve right into Fish.... now we know!

We want to see where the other end takes us. Having mentioned that to someone though, it was spoiled and we heard it ends at Curtis in Boise. Well, I guess we still have to prove that for ourselves, right??

We are harvesting cucumbers and canning applesauce and peaches. We are running to soccer practice and mutual. Choir starts next week.

The weather is feeling very fall-ish and we are starting to talk about Halloween costumes. And Christmas presents.

Emily has turned one and Kurt has turned...well, a few more than one!

HAPPY EVERYTHING!!