Let It Snow!!

We woke up this morning and to find that it was snowing. It continued to snow off and on throughout the day. Church and the Christmas concert were canceled and the kids spent the day in the snow with little breaks in between to warm up. It was a quiet day and included lots of family time. There is probably 6 inches of snow and that doesn't happen very often in Portland. School has already been canceled for tomorrow and we get to sleep in and enjoy another snow day. Yeahhhhhh!

Gingerbread Houses and Santa Claus!!

Saturday the kids made their annual gingerbread house and had a great time doing it. I don't know where more candy went, in their tummies or on the house. I helped them build the house and then the decorating was done by them. They did a great job. Saturday evening was our ward Christmas party and Santa Claus was there and so I got a few Santa Claus pictures and thought I would share. When the kids were younger they were never really excited about sitting on Santa's lap and so these pictures rare.

Give Thanks!!

We went to Richland and Mattawa for the Thanksgiving break. We spent Thanksgiving and the day after with the Jeppsons then went to Mattawa for the remaining few days. There were over 50 people at Thanksgiving dinner and we had it at the church. Trent's Aunt Jeanne and Uncle David were in charge this year and did a wonderful job. Talia and Tucker loved playing with cousins and there was even a foos ball table. Thursday evening I went to the TWILIGHT movie with my mom, sisters Janet, Nancy, Stephanie and my sister-in-law Brooke. We all loved the movie and thought that Edward and Bella were perfect. We are looking forward to watching it again at Christmas. Friday morning I went shopping with Jodi, Trent's sister and we were up bright and early at Kohls at 4:00 a.m. We shopped until 9:00 and then came home. We found some great deals and survived the crowds. It was great fun. Talia and Tucker went to the Bolt movie with their cousins and Trent helped his dad paint some beadboard. We had Thanksgiving leftovers which meant another big dinner on Friday night with Trent's Aunt LaRee and her family. Saturday we headed to Mattawa. Four of my sisters were there and Talia and Tucker got to play with their cousin Ella. We brought our puppy, Tate with us and he was very good. He loved my parent's big back yard and their dog Angie. He got to go on a couple of long walks in the apple orchard and loved it. My sister Stephanie and her husband Michael brought their x-box wth rock band and Talia and Tucker got to play with that and really enjoyed it. Trent got to shoot clay pigeons with my dad and brother-in-laws and Tucker played with the clay pigeons and shot gun shells. Trent went back with Brooke on Sunday afternoon and the kids and I went back on Monday. It had a awhile since we had visited our family and it was lots of fun. When we got home Tucker walked in the house and said it is good to be home and he was right after a long weekend it was good to be home. I love Thanksgiving and am so grateful for the many blessings that I have been given. I hope that I can always have gratitude for my many blessings.

GO BYU!!!

Talia and Tucker got to wear their BYU shirts to school and even wear a hat to show support for their favorite college. They were probably the only ones wearing BYU shirts among all of the Duck and Beaver fans but they were excited!

Playing Dress-Up

Talia and Tucker were playing one night and came downstairs dressed up in each others clothes. Then they came down dressed in Trent and my clothes. We just had to take pictures and share them.

I've Been Tagged

My sister Nancy tagged me and this is the first picture in my first folder on my computer. This is a picture of our old house and isn't the most exciting picture. Trent wanted me to put a different picture but I followed the directions. I am going to tag Tauni, Jodi, and Rebecca and they need to post the 5th picture of the 3rd folder on their computer. Enjoy!

Soccer Season

Soccer just ended last week and the kids are bummed. They really had a lot of fun this season. It was very busy, but I loved how much exercise they got. They both had a great coach and were able to make new friends and play with their old friends. Talia and Tucker improved quite a bit and they are already talking about playing next year. Talia's favorite position was defender and the goalies on her team really liked having her around. Tucker never wanted to be subbed out during the games and everytime the coach asked him to come out he would tell her he wanted to stay in. I even had a conversation about this with him and told him to just quietly come out but he didn't listen (in one ear and out the other). He always listened to his coach when she asked him to come out of the game but he was just always vocal about not wanting to come out. I didn't take hardly any pictures of kids playing soccer but there are a few. I guess that is all I really need. I have a picture of them with their trophies. Tucker was so excited to get another trophy.

Happy Halloween!!!!

Talia and Tucker were so excited to go trick or treating last night. It was a 3 day Halloween Celebration thanks to our Ward Party on Wednesday, School Parties on Thursday and Trick or Treating on Friday. If you are not a Star Wars fan you are probably wondering what Tucker's costume is. Tucker is Boba Fett (I hope I spelled that right) from Star Wars and Talia was a red spider witch. They went trick or treating with their friends from the neighborhood and with their dad. Tucker was dripping with sweat by the time he was done. He felt that he should trick or treat as fast as he could and sprinted from house to house. We also went over to our old culdesac and met up with our old neighbors and the kids were very excited to see them. After trick or treating Talia and Tucker went to the neighbors for a sleepover so Trent and I went to a late movie. We went and saw Eagle Eye thanks to a recommendation from Nancy and we thoroughly enjoyed it. There is also a picture of Tate in his Halloween costume. The kids talked me into getting him a skeleton costume. I never thought that I buy a dog a costume. Talia and Tucker were very excited about it and had to show their friends. I do have to admit he looks pretty cute.

A New Puppy!

After much begging and pleading from our children, Trent and I bought a puppy on Tuesday. We have been looking at breeds that are allergy friendly and found a cute little yorky apso mix. He is very cute and adorable. His name is Tate and the kids picked out his name from many suggestions. He has done very well on the potty training and sleeps well at night. It is like having a baby in the house again and Talia and Tucker LOVE playing with him. I am reading lots of dog training books so that hopefully we can train him well. Wish us luck.

Pumpkin Patch

Talia and Tucker had Thursday and Friday off for Parent Teacher Conferences this week and so we went to the pumpkin patch. I thought that Talia might not want to go and that she might be getting to old but she was very excited. We go to Baggenstos Farms and it is our tradition to go every year at least once sometimes it has been twice for field trips. Talia, Tucker and I went on a hay ride to the pumpkin patch and we picked out the perfect pumpkins. I almost had Tucker talked into a smaller pumpkin but no luck. All I told him is that the bigger the pumpkin the more slimy guts it had but he couldn't resist getting a BIG pumpkin. After we got our pumpkins the kids played in the hay maze, took silly pictures, ran around on big hay bales, and checked out the few farm animals that were there. It was a very fun afternoon and I don't know who had more fun the kids or I.

Pictures of our New House

My sister Sally has requested pictures of our new house and I finally am getting around to taking pictures. We have been working on our yard all summer and have the first phase done. Next summer there are more plans. These pictures are of the first floor. When the Talia's and Tucker's bedrooms are somewhat clean I will post more pictures.

This is the view when you first walk in the front door. Unfortunately you can see the kitchen sink. Luckily the sink is deep so that I can hide the dirty dishes pretty well.


















This the living room and I love having a room in the house that stays somewhat clean for when company visits. My Halloween Decorations are up! Fall is definitely here!










This is the formal dining room. We don't eat in here very much because there is carpet and I am afraid to ruin the carpet. We are hoping to put hardwoods in eventually. I love having my piano is my living room/dining room. It will be better for piano lessons. I am going to start teaching again next week. With soccer and school starting none of my students returned but I have 3 new ones starting next week.















The kitchen is bigger but the amount of cupboard space decreased. I should probably just get rid of some kitchen stuff.



The 2 pictures below are of the family room and notice Trent's favorite thing the room - the big screen TV. Actually it is probably Tucker's and Talia's favorite thing also.






Here are pictures of the backyard. Our yard is quite a bit smaller but we do back to green space which is quite nice. We have no neighbors in the back and it is beautiful!