Christmas 2009

This year when putting up the tree, we noticed that it doesn't quite stand up straight. I told the kids that the tree was on it's "last leg" and they all looked under the tree and then said that "trees don't have legs, mom you're crazy! I really felt old!

Our new friend

Our three fish, Fred, Stue and Ralph




We bought some Koi for our pond and have been having a great time watching them this year. James and I were out watching them when I noticed a snake. Of course I screamed and ran up onto the porch, I know silly me. After that the kids thought that it was the best thing in the world. I am still freaked out by it. We tried to get him out, but he slithered away and we lost him. I just hope that he stays outside where he belongs!

First Day of Kindergarten

Jace was excited to start school. Now he is a big kid like the rest of his siblings. The boys in his class are pretty lucky, they are out numbered by the girls! Jace's two buddies are even girls, Addison and Abby.

First Day of School

So I know I'm a little late for this since my kids started school back in July, but here are the pictures of their first day of school.

Brett started the 4th grade, he is in the ALPS class. The first two weeks of school he did nothing but complain about how hard it is and how stupid he is. We finally worked through all of that and now he loves it. He told me the other day "I'm glad that I'm in this class, because the other 4th grade class doesn't even have any homework." Only my son would be excited to have homework.

The girls are in 2nd grade this year. They are having a great year, no big news about there class, they just LOVE it!

Hanging out with Darren and Dakota

Darren and Dakota came down to Orderville on Wednesday night. We went down to the barracks to ride the quads and did a little hiking too. The kids had fun playing in the sand and climbing up rocks. The picture of the Mt. goats, the kids and I saw them Monday night on our way back from Hurricane. It was amazing to watch how quickly they made it down the side of that rock!

Our visit to Hurricane, UT

The kids outside of Grandpa and Grandma Redding's house.


Grandpa's volcanoe. It's right behind his house.


The kids with their Great-Grandparents.



The week of the 24th of July, we went down to Southern Utah. The kids and I went down a few days early so that we could visit with my Grandparents. We surprised them, they had no idea we were coming. We had a great visit, the kids loved running back and forth. Grandpa took us around and showed us all of the sites around his house. He showed the kids "his volcanoe". The kids thought that only Hawaii had volcanoes, it was fun for them to learn something new. While we were down there we couldn't resist going to In and Out. It was well worth it!

My kids rooms

For the last week or so I have been busy painting my kids rooms. We let them pick out the colors that they wanted. Some of the colors are a little crazy, but each color that they picked fits their personality. I'll have to post Jace's room another day it isn't quite finished yet, in fact it isn't even started.

This is Kyra's room. She wanted purple with green stripes. She wanted the stripes to go around the entire room. I had nightmares about it looking like a circus tent, so we agreed that just one wall with stripes was much better. She loves her new room.


Next we have Kyzleigh's room. She wanted pink and green. I wanted them to have similar rooms (they are twins after all), but I didn't want them to be the same. So she decided that she wanted her stripe along the ceiling. I think it turned out really cute.



Now for Brett. He chose colors that made his dad think that he was a little crazy. His favorite colors are blue and orange. James thinks they're an odd combination, but Brett loves them. I think that it turned out really good.



In 2007, we had a flood in the basement. We had to take up some of the carpet, and the bottom part of the walls and most of the wood floor that we had put in. At the time it was a BIG blessing, we still trying to fix up our other house and we were paying the mortgage on it too (thank goodness for insurance). After my parents moved last month we decided that we could no longer put off taking care of the basement. So this has been our lives for the last few weeks. I'll add some more pictures as we go.