Jack turns 6!

This was the first year Jack got to have a "friend birthday party". They went to an indoor bounce house gym here in Twin Falls called "Hop2It" So of course we had to make "hopping" frog cupcakes to take to school.

These guys had so much fun running from one thing to the next. It was fun to sit back a watch, and be glad the chaos and maheim was going on here and not at my house! It wore them out quicker than I thought though.

I love this "David and Goliath" match up. Sam could hold his own though.

It's great to be 6!!!!

So, here I am once again, catching up. The end of November thru Christmas were crazy busy! I have been enjoying the simple things yesterday and today; Such as mopping my floor and cleaning my fridge! And I am thoroughly enjoying it!!!! Think back, if you will, to Thanksgiving. We spent Thanksgiving weekend at my sister Sara's in Murray, Utah. Since Sara is a super duper party planner, our weekend was jam pack with fun things to do! First off we ran a 6k "turkey trot" in SLC. We started up by the Capital Bldg, and ran a beautiful course along a creek. The fall colors were still hanging on many of the bushes and trees, and we ended up in a beautiful park (immigration park???? I'm not sure if the name is right). It was a great run (forgetting by the end that the first half was all up hill).

After the race all the cousins were dying to see where HSM was filmed. So we went to the infamous East High in SL after the race. You would have thought everyone of those girls expected Troy or Gabrielle to poke their head out the door at any moment! Here is a picture out front that matched their excitement. Talk about cheap way to win brownie points with the kids!

After we took picture we went around back, and peaked thru the windows of the lunch room. Sooooo exciting! Here is Emily's best Shrapey pose!

Later that day, while the turkey was cooking, Sara set up horse rides on my Grandpa Kern's horses with my uncle Paul. The kids not getting a horse ride rode around in the tractor trailer while everyone got a turn. Again, lots of fun!

After a wonderful dinner, Sara brought out these great "animal tails" that clip around the waste, and everyone had fun playing tag while we cleaned up. I do have some really great video/pics of the late night Wii fit, Rockband marathon, but will file those under blackmail for now. Over all a very fun time. We also had family pictures taken this weekend which you can see on our side bar.

This one's for you, Jay and Sara!!!

Our Bishop and his wife are die-hard BYU fans. So much so that they have a bronze Cougar in their front yard. So, I dared myself a couple of months ago to put a red Utah shirt on it the weekend of the BYU/Utah game in support of my sister Sara and her husband Jay who is an assistant coach for the Utes. So Friday night rolled around and I had the shirt, but we were incharge of a ward dinner that night and didn't get home until late. So I almost said "forget it" and went to bed. But Blake wouldn't let me chicken out. So this is the end result. What a rebel!!

The funny part was that our Bishop didn't even suspect us. They thought it was another couple in the ward that had actually traveled to Utah to watch the game. So they put a big sign in their yard that said "We love the Cougars". I had to confess on Sunday though. Go Utes!!! Congratulations on the Big win. Just glad I could do my part in insuring the victory.

So, it's been alittle while since my last post. And even my last post was left with no explanation. If you are curious, The last post was of a very quick, and very last minute trip we took to go on a hike with my dad and sister Sara to Dananda Falls in the farthest Southwestern corner of Yellowstone Park. And it was worth every bit of effort to do so. One of those rare opportunities you just have to drop everything and do. Thank you to everyone who made it possible (Mainly cousin babysitters!). Anyway, as for the lack of blogging, it is mostly do to the fact that I went back to work in September. I am working in the Cancer Infusion Center at MSTI here in Twin Falls, and am loving every minute of it. I am just "flex", so after a very busy Fall getting oriented to the unit, I will now only be working 8 to 12 hours a week. It has been a crazy couple of months, but thanks to Blake's support, and N.C.'s willingness to watch the kids when I needed her, we made it through the orientation stage that is so time consuming. Anyway, now that we are back on a somewhat managable schedule I will try and keep up. As for the pictures...Emily celebrated her 9th birthday in October. She had a small birthday party with family, and then took friends to the HSM3 movie later in the month when it came out. She was very specific about what she wanted this year. She wanted a pink vest and an Easy Bake Oven. I think it is so interesting that with all her eating issues she had the first few years of her life she enjoys cooking and trying new food so much! Go figure! There was literally a time when I would be in tears trying to get that girl to eat ANYTHING, and thinking: " I am going to have to go to school with this child and feed her lunch everyday!!!! Thank goodness that is not the case. She is actually quite the chef!
We also had the big "apple pressing" party at our house in October. Blake's sister Becky and her family came to help in the fun. We estimated pressing about 500lbs of apples and got 47 gallons of juice! It was quite the production. But boy does it taste good!!!!Especially around February!
I got to go with Jack on his first Kindergarten field trip to the pumpkin patch (which was actually in the back parking lot of the Kimberly Nursery, but whatever). It was fun to see him interact with his friends at school.
Then there was Halloween. I ended up going out of town at the last minute for my Grandfather's funeral in Colorado. I got to send them to school in the morning, but Blake was brave enough and nice enough to take them to the ward party that night by himself. What a great dad! I thought Sam made the cutest clown, Emily had a ball as a BSU cheerleader (sorry Sara, it was a steal at DI), and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle was right up Jacks alley!

Catching Up: September

Backward pictures again!!! I can tell I haven't updated for a while, I almost forgot how! Anyway, I will get on with it. Sam turned 4 this month. He didn't ask for much, but he knew he wanted a pinata', Elmo cupcakes, and a Little Einstein's spaceship for sure.
This face says it all about how he felt the day of his party. Like I said, he didn't have crazy expectation, just excited to be 4! I love this kid!
I can't believe my baby is so old. But not too old for Elmo! These are the cupcakes he took to pre-school. I thought they turned out quite cute.
The Cake was not quite the success that the cupcakes were, but he didn't care. He thought it was great!

We also started school the Tuesday after Labor Day. Emily is in 3rd grade and loving it. Jack is so excited to be in kindergarten, and loves going to school everyday, instead of just MWF. Sam gets to join everyone else in the world of school, going to Pre-school with Ms. Kim. He is loving it, and does "homework" like the rest of the kids, after school.

Catching Up: August

I did these pictures out of order. But I thought I would attempt to catch up on all the happenings since I have been away from the blog thing for a while. This first picture is of Jack. We were having a hard time getting him to even "try" taking his training wheels off. So, I decided a bribe was in order. I have learned that just the right bribe can work wonders. I just didn't know how well. The new "Star Wars: Clone Wars" movie was coming out in 10 days, So I told Jack if he learned to ride his bike without training wheels we would go see the movie. I thought 10 days was a big enough window to accomplish this task. Well, talk about just needing the right motivation. The kid learned to ride his bike without training wheels in 1 DAY!!! What can I say, the kid LOVES Star Wars!!! He spent the next 9 days asking if the movie was in theaters yet, and perfecting his new talent. He is now showing me all the tricks he knows. Things like "mom look no fingers". "Mom, watch me do this jump!" I wonder sometimes why I was pushing him to learn this dangerous skill in the first place, but it is also fun to see him so proud if his accomplishment.

I ran another 1/2 marathon with my sisters, Sara and Emily in Logan, Utah. It was a beautiful run through a canyon. It was downhill for the first 6 miles or so. I thought this might work in my favor, but I would be wrong! As soon as a hit the flat part of the race I began to feel all the muscles you use to run down hill, and it hit me hard! I didn't do as good as I wanted to, but it was still a beautiful race, and fun to do with my sisters. I just need to train harder for St. George!!!
Blake was so thoughtful and asked what I wanted to do for our 12th anniversary this year. He may have regretted that when I told him that I really wanted to go to the Idaho Shakespeare Festival in Boise. But he got tickets anyway, and we went and saw "MacBeth" in a really cool outdoor amphitheater along the Boise River. I made a picnic and we sat on the grass and ate it during the play. I thought it was really well done, but we were both wishing we had at least read the "cliff notes" before we came. The second half of the play was much better, partly because we finally knew what was going on in the story (sort of) and we rented the lawn chairs they had. It sounds so romantic to sit on the grass and watch a play, but not very comfy the second hour! We got to spend the night in Boise, and it was a quick, but fun getaway. I think next year we will need to go to a car show, or 4 wheeling in the mountains for Blake.