Holt Family Newsletter

Moose in the Neighborhood

2012-02-13T20:58:00.000-08:00

On the way home from getting John's hard cast put on I found these guys. They have been hanging around the neighborhood lately, so they must live close by.

Here is the cute "little" guy. Even though he's still just a baby really, he is huge.

Here is the Momma on the other side of the trees snacking on some twigs.

Moose really are shy. She didn't like me following them in the car even though I was quite a ways away. She kept flipping her ears between me and the dogs that were barking down the street and kept her baby moving away.

Here's the baby licking it's nose

The baby trying to get up the snowbank. The momma just stepped right over it.

Over the bank and on the way into the neighborhood!

Here is one just for perspective. This is my friends Yukon XL. The moose is right up next to it, and with her head down she is the same height as the car. It really is amazing how big they get.

And here is one of them in the yard next to our house. Ours' is the first one on the end of the row.

2012-02-13T08:09:00.000-08:00

John fell and broke his arm on Saturday night. Look how cute that boy is! Even with the cast on he is as happy as can be. We took him in Sunday morning since his arm was still bugging him. The doctors really weren't sure anything was even wrong since he was using his arm and was so happy and calm about it. She bent his arm back and forth and moved it all around, but it wasn't until she squeezed it that he started saying Ow, ow, ow! X-rays were AWFUL, and I don't think he will ever want to be near that man again. I felt so bad for the technician. He goes to get a hard cast this week as soon as some of the swelling goes down.

Jacob had a birthday. We had cake with our friends the Brooks to celebrate.

John, of course, loved the cake.

This is both of the little guys having some fun with a leftover piece someone left on the table

And here is the cake. It was a very last minute job. The candy is a 32 and the kids picked out three and two candles for Papa. I don't have 32 candles on hand! Hope everyone is getting ready for Valentines Day tomorrow. Love you guys!

Yukon Quest

2012-02-04T22:33:00.000-08:00

We went to the start of the Yukon Quest on Saturday morning. It was -15 when we went, and it was 20 today. That's 70 degrees warmer than it was about a week ago!

Here's Simeon all bundled up waiting for the race to start.

Here's one of the mushers coming. It's the longest dog sled race in the world. It is 1000 miles long from Fairbanks to Whitehorse, Yukon Canada. LONG and COLD!

Uncle Ezra. He has his own gaiter...his beard. It's frozen :)

And here's Lizzie. She has pretty eyes. :)

Aaron is here!!!!!

2012-02-02T16:43:00.000-08:00

Aaron Oliveira Luz

February 2, 2012

9 pounds 4 oz.

22 inches

HAPPY HAPPY

BIRTHDAY! Proud

Grandparents!

Safari Park with Rachel and the Boys

2012-01-30T10:48:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from our visit to the Safari Park. At this point Rachel was 5 days past due.

A few catch up photos

2012-01-18T20:05:00.000-08:00

These two are such good friends :)

The Alaska Holt clan in our Christmas jammies

Our Martin Luther King Day cake.
It was soooo good!
Jacob made the cake, and I did the decorating. Three different chocolates for the icing and shavings, and Pirouettes all the way around the edges.
Mmmmmm goood!

Grama and Grampa Christmas

2012-01-03T18:39:00.001-08:00

Here are some assorted scenes from our Christmas. Back stage at the RB Chorale performance, at our getogether with the California branch of the family,

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Merry Christmas from Alaska!!

2012-01-03T10:47:00.000-08:00

Well, it was quite a surprise when the Kellers showed up at the Holt's home in Fairbanks just a couple days before Christmas!! We decided at about 4pm Wednesday that it would be hilarious and super exciting if we drove up to the Holt's for Christmas. They were absolutely tickled!! And so were we. Our kids were soooo excited!! Trayton had asked just a couple days before if we were going to go to the cousin's for Christmas. Sadly no, we had not planned to do that... but for the Kellers, it doesn't really matter if it was planned or not! :)

I do have pictures of Christmas Eve, but we'll begin here with Christmas morning! :) Jacob and Tiff opening up their stockings.

Travis and I opening our stockings. I let Travis go first, so he wouldn't see me open all the same stuff first. And I already knew what was in it.

Travis got all the boys an arrow. Can you say Dangerous???

Rebekah's happy face opening up her new bow!!

Trying to keep the kids under control while we take turns opening up presents.

Happy cousins!!

Tracker is the most frequent face in the pictures, with him smiling big like this! It's so cute.

So many pictures here, and I'm not sure how to comment below them. So you'll just have to figure out what the pictures are about. In there are included a picture of Jacob and his bb gun to practice and teach his kiddos about gun safety, etc, My kids and their airsoft guns (AHHHH), and several of the kids opening their presents that morning.
Here I am with my Ruger. Travis is so thoughtful, it's just what a wanted... can you hear the sarcasm?

Ezra and his "new" scriptures!

almost ALL of the guns and ammunition that was gifted on this day. Wow... that's quite a lot.

Jacob and his awesome DUCK BUTT. From dear Travis.

Tiff and her new broom. Travis can't help but mention their old broom every time we come up and how "worthless" it is, so he got her a new one. Tiffany is testing it out here, it works good!

Travis :)

Don't know how this one ended up in between, but just yesterday Travis and Naynay fell asleep on the couch together. Soooo cute!

Naomi got a stroller. She loves it!!!

Okay, on to life after Christmas. Naomi's hair fits into pigtails!! Isn't she just darling??? Oh I can't stand it!! She's sooo cute.

Tustin's attempt at making a snowflake. He was very proud.

Happy Trayton by our Christmas tree in my room. The safest place.

Christmas

2012-01-03T09:23:00.001-08:00

Samuel eating... PICKLES!!!!!!

All of us together on Christmas morning opening presents.

Sam is playing with his stocking stuffers.

Matthew on Christmas Eve tasting the meatballs.

Trying on our PJs at Gramma Nancy's house!!! Cute boys!

Santa Clause! And a New Camera

2011-12-10T21:34:00.000-08:00

Here is Santa Clause! Naomi LOVED him! It was so sweet! She had the biggest smile on her face the whole time she was on his lap.
We went to the annual Santa Clause appearance at the Soldotna firestation. The boys loved it. They had cookies, hot cocoa, games, prizes, goodie bags, and a hay ride! It was a ball. I love that they put this on for the public. What a fun tradition.

These pictures are a little out of order, so bare with me. We cooked Gertrude, our big white 25+ lb turkey. You may remember her, Little Holts, from the summer. She served us well. So far we've had a beautiful turkey roast dinner, turkey noodle soup, turkey casserole, turkey fajitas, and I canned 7 pints of turkey broth. Mmmm! I've still got more turkey to use up in something. Tomorrow we'll see what I decide to make.

The boys and I made paper chains so we could count the days until Christmas. Tustin made the big snowman, Trayton the tree on the left, and Tracker, the little tree. I had to remodel Tracker's, he got a little scissor happy.

Here's the wishbone from Gertrude. Trayton and Tustin pulled it, Trayton got the bigger piece.

Aw, here's the other Santa picture. All happy faces. And Naomi smiling at Santa. :) Cute girl. I asked Santa for a bigger house. He said he'd send the elves over, but they tend to make their houses only 4 ft high. Bummer.

Okay so here's the start of the pictures with our new camera, the Rebel T3i. So nice! These are just random pictures. I knew Mom would appreciate them, so the rest of you and skim over these. ;)

Travis took this picture in a dark room while Naomi was SLEEPING! I'm so glad she didn't wake up. Silly boy.

Another pic in the dark by Travis. Handsome Trayton.

Sweet Naomi, on the table. This is quite a common occurrence in our house! Makes things a little stressful. This picture captures her "realness."

Making turkey noodle soup with Gertrude and Tracker. ;) Mary Jo gave me this awesome noodle maker last year. I love it. We can make spaghetti and fetuccini noodles with it, leave it a couple inches wide and make raviolis or something. Tracker was my big helper that night. He helped me cut some Alaskan grown carrots (from the neighbors) and flatten the noodles, then put them in the pot too.

Here's Tracker's dark photo shot. Cute boys!

I had to get Tracker actually rolling the noodle maker. He's doing a good job.

The beautiful noodles. Mmmm! Naomi likes to eat them raw.

Finished product. Doesn't that look good? The camera did great! ;)

Happy tummies. They loved it.

Hope you are enjoying this wonderful Christmas season!! Love you all.

Moose

2011-12-06T21:57:00.000-08:00

We finally have seen a moose in our neighborhood! The kids have been pretty disappointed that we haven't seen them since moving to out house on post. This one here is a baby. It's at least as tall as I am.

Here is the pair of them. The poor mother had someone try to lasso her. Who is crazy enough to try to lasso a moose? She eventually made her way down to the school. They had a moose warning over the PA system before the kids left home that they needed to be careful. Only in Alaska!

Here is one more of the baby. They sure are cute, but I'd never want to be in the way of one that got mad!

Here is a little size perspective on the mother. She is taller than the truck, and a full sized trash can is almost able to fit under her belly. We grow things big here :)

Anchorage and some Halloween

2011-11-04T23:15:00.000-07:00

These pictures are a little out of order. The first ones are from our trip home a few weeks ago, and the rest are from our stay in Anchorage while Jacob had a week of training.

Rebekah was waiting on the side of the road on the trip home while Jacob cleaned up...

One giant Simi puke mess. I let the kids all pick out a soda or gatorade for the drive home. Can I just tell you that was a HUGE mistake! We usually just have water or a little juice. No, this was full sized bottles for each kid. Did you know everyone but Rebekah gets car sick? Well, Simi puked blue, Sariah puked red, Lizzie puked pink, Bekah's was orange, and John puked when it was too dark to see it. At that point we were a half hour from home, and we were SOOO not stopping! I announced to the back seat at that point that every bag end every box was currently full of puke, so if anyone had the need to puke again they had better catch it with their blanket and then they would have to hold it until we got home. There would be NO MORE STOPPING! Poor Simeon made the ride home in just his underwear because he got so dirty. Memories right?!

Halloween trick or treating. It's cold here already, so snowsuits are a must to go out. Costumes go on over the snowsuits and under the jackets. Half way through the first round Jacob called to let me know Simi went out without his boots on and his feet were completely soaked. I took him home because he was crying, and when we got there he started sobbing that he wanted to go back out and finish with Papa. Oh, it was pathetic, so out he went!

And he ended up like this when it was all over.

Now back to the Anchorage pictures.

love these kids!

All of the kids last month at the Anchorage temple. It was wet while we were there. We had waited for weeks for the snow to come, and just after we left home the snow started. We got stuck with rain instead during our week down there. It was beautiful when we got home though!

The Anchorage Temple

Simeon had his 3rd birthday while we were there. He got these stuffed Mario toys, and I don't think they left his hands for very long the next few weeks. He is still sleeping with them.

Almost Halloween!

2011-10-28T07:42:00.000-07:00

We have a tupperware theif.

These are all lids that do not have containers! arg!

Henry's first pumkin of the Season!

Made it for Helen's work.

Apparently they really liked it!

Henry trying out his old monster costume,
to make sure its ready for Nathan to borrow!
I was trying to upload a video but it was taking forever,
I'll try again tomorrow!

The Blackhawks

2011-10-05T06:27:00.001-07:00

Jacob had to leave us for a week while Nettie was here with the boys and Travis was out hunting. I am so grateful that she was here! I ended up in the ER twice that week, and in the hospital again for testing another day. When I was home, I felt awful. Nettie took care of all ten kids that week for the most part. She even did school with my kids too! She's pretty fabulous. At the end of the week we all went down to the airfield to see the helicopters fly in with Papa on board. They are SO LOUD when you are up close. After they were all in and everyone went home Jacob was able to let us get in one of the helicopters in the hangar.

Here we are waiting in the rain. Thankfully it had mostly stopped while we were waiting

Jacob is in the second helicopter back. He wasn't the one flying on the way home though. He was working on his "cockpit management" skills evidently.

Lizzie is rather attached to Ezra. She likes to show him everything and tries to get him to play all the time. In fact, she just told me, "I love Uncle Ezra the most!"

Waiting for Papa (and Uncle Jacob) to land.

There's Jacob after all three helicopters landed. They are putting the aircraft to "sleep"

Here's Simi hanging onto the ropes used to tie the rotor blades down. All the kids kept trying to do it even though we told them not to. I guess ropes hanging at eye level are just too tempting.

Tracker sitting in the cockpit. All the kids got a turn, and Jacob got to tell them how stuff works. How many of you know what a cyclic and a collective are? Well, now the Holt and Keller kids do. Well, the did for about 2 minutes until something else caught their attention. :)

Here is one of our pilots in training. He looks ready to take it up already!

These boys are good friends. They are always coming up with something crazy to do. Joseph dreams it up and Tustin carries it out. They are quite the pair!

In the back of the blackhawk where all the seats are. There is another section in front of this, and then the cockpit is in front of that.

All the cousins together. They are lots of fun!

2011-09-24T19:12:00.000-07:00

We went to Creamers Field to take pictures of all the kids. We wanted to do it while we were down at Nettie's last month, but I'm happy we waited because now I have an awesome camera! I like the Black and White of all the kids and Nettie likes the color. Which one do you guys like best?

We did all the kids and then individual shots on Monday. When we got home we realized we forgot to take pictures of just my kids and just the Kellers we had to go back again. The leaves were already almost off the trees. Fall is nearly over here! The second day Nettie and I were ready to pull our hair out. It was soooo HARD! The kids didn't want to cooperate AT ALL. Out of 260 some pictures we took the second day there were maybe 5 that were good, and 15-20 that were ok, or just plain funny.

The Holt Kids

The Keller Kids

And then we have everyone's individual shots. According to Nettie this is everyone's favorite girl...Of Course! She says I can quote her on that.

I realized after we got home and looked at all the pictures that I didn't take any portraits of John. But I got this one in between other kids!

Ballet and the Aurora

2011-09-22T15:36:00.000-07:00

I love watching the northern lights. It is truly a beautiful sight. I got a new camera that I am able to take pictures of it with. These are the first ones, so they aren't great. Now I know how to take clearer pictures of the aurora without camera shake, so the next ones will be better! Now I just have to wait for a clear night so we can see them again. :) It's my winter time addiction.

Green is the most common color to see, so having the pink in there was pretty neat.

The girls are back in ballet again for the fall. Rebekah truly loves it. I love how serious she is and how hard she concentrates on doing everything right while she is there. They all love to play classical music and dance to it at home. Lizzie was pretty excited to be joining them this time. Two classes = 3 hours straight every Friday for us. If all the girls do ballet in the spring it will be 3 separate classes...oh boy!

2011-08-27T18:07:00.001-07:00

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August with the Little Holts

2011-08-24T14:03:00.000-07:00

Wow, this took a LONG time to upload, but it's well worth it, to let all you see your grandchildren/cousins/neices & nephews, etc.

First off I'd like to say, congratulations to Rachel & Henry on finding out they'll be having another boy!! How awesome! You'll be happy with 3 little boys. They'll be great buddies.

So Tiffany, Ezra & the kiddos came down to visit while Jacob is training in California/Washington. And a great way to spend the summer. While they were here we did lots of fun stuff, including visiting the beach!! I never really liked going previous to this, because it always seemed so cold and windy. But the day we went was absolutely gorgeous, sunny, and warm. The kids all got soaked and muddy, but the water was warm! Granted the tide was out, and the little pools of muddy water were able to warm up.

Here's Lizzy and a great view of Mt Redoubt. You can see how far out the tide is. We also got to witness the tide come in, which it did in a matter of 5-10 min! Icredible. It was fun to see the change right before our eyes. It was also scary, trying to make sure the kids weren't out too far and maybe getting stuck in the muck, with the water over them.

Here's Joseph & Simeon. Such fun! We decided as we walked through this squishy, slimy, suctiony mud that Mom would LOVE it! Your own personal foot massage mud. :) You've got to come up to experience it, Mom! But it's gotta be July/August, when it's warm.

Tracker Paul.

Trayton, Tustin. These boys were COVERED in slimy sticky muck!! Sariah & Rebeckah too.

Naomi enjoying the warm water. Everyone was mucky, wet mess. Which equals naked & perhaps cold (depending on the child's preference).

Rebekah in the mucky mud, with dark gloves on.

Kids playing equals good excuse to read. Which we took advantage of.

John standing up on his own! This boy'll be walking real soon!

And here we are beginning our fishng trip in Seward. In the boat parked in the harbor looking at the beautiful scenery. In between those mountains the Mount Marathon race takes place every 4th of July. Brutal race.

In the boat, the Holt kiddos minus John, all suited up and ready to drive 2+ hours in the boat to our fishing destination.

Keller boy's life jackets, check.

People who can drive the boat and bait our hooks, check! Travis & Ben happy as can be. :) Ben took one for the team and got a hook stuck in his finger. Travis as surgeon had to break the hook in order to get it out. OUCH!! Poor guy.

All the kiddos watching the sea lions on their favorite rock. They're always there everytime we go by. Must be warm.

Tustin caught the first Silver Salmon. Look at that grin!!

Lots of wildlife viewing that day, including Orca whales! Awesome bonus.

Simeon took to fishing like he was naturally born to it. He wouldn't quit reeling up fish the whole time. Even when he was tired and sucking his fingers, he was still reeling. Now, thanks to Uncle Travis, Simi has a new love. :)

Going at it like there's no tomorrow!

Tiff has quickly become a true Alaskan-fishing mom. John-john in the back pack and reeling at the same time.

Ezra couldn't get enough, 2 at a time! Duh- Winning! j/k.

Trayton's silver.

Joseph really enjoyed the boat while it was moving and creating wakes. Happy as a lark. Oh, and NO ONE got sick! Is that amazing? Tiff, Ezra & I wore the patch and the kiddos got bonine, a motion sickness pill, and some essential oils that help with motion sickness as well. I did get a little sick, but everytime I felt like a puke was coming on, it would immediately go away, weird!

So sweet! Uncle Ezra & Simi taking a nap. :)
I'm glad you came Ezra.

Trayton driving us home, or somewhere. Following in his father's footsteps.

Third wildlife spotted! Mountain goat on a stinking steep mountain side. Crazy! This is really zoomed in on Tiff's camera.

Filling up with gas, so we're all in cab so the tank will fill up as much as possible.

Kiddos watching a movie on the couch, plus Codi, a neighbor girl.

The babies. So cute together. Getting into mischief. Their favorite spot, the bathroom, just hanging out.

Getting ready for Sariah's birthday. This is how we all fit around the kitchen table. Except John-john or Simi would be taking my place, or sit beside Trayton. They're actually being still here! Amazing.

The cake Tiff made! Gorgeous. And the blue frosting was actually purple in real life. Not sure what happened there.

We only had 3 candles, so Sariah got sung to 3 times (each time we had to re-light the candles). Glad I was there, nobody else knew that rule and she wouldn't really have turned 7!

Her last candle to blow out on her cupcake.

So the last day the cousins were here Trayton & I took a trip to the ER. Nothing too serious, just a broken wrist. We decided to let the cousins have a sleepover in the boy's bedroom. Of course they were rowdy and up late. But it all ended with Trayton getting pushed off the top bunk after a pillow fight comensed (by his brother). He was screaming! Tiff ran in there as fast she could as Rebekah jumped off the bed to check on Trayton herself. Collision!! Rebekah jumped right onto Tiff, and now she has a black eye, and Rebekah has a big knot on her head.

The cousins did this to Tustin. :) Nice.

So to continue with the story, Trayton woke up in pain that night, so we decided to set up an appointment with the doctor. Trayton woke up and decided to play on the trampoleen with cousins and neighbors. 10 min later he was screaming again. Except this time he wouldn't stop and I knew he was in a lot of pain. I called our doctor, but no app. available until tomorrow. So they directed me to a walk-in clinic. But they didn't have an opening for 4 hours, too long. So that's why we ended up going to the ER. He'll wear this splint for a week, then we'll x-ray again and see where he's at.

It's funny, as soon as we got to the waiting room in the ER and he saw a video game, it was as if he had no pain whatsoever. Crazy kid! For the first broken bone of my children, it went very smoothly. :) Trayton was tough.

What am I having?

2011-08-23T16:19:00.000-07:00

I am having a Boy!!!

long time no Blog...

2011-08-12T16:17:00.000-07:00

too cute, with Matt peeking through the arm hole.

Who doesn't love a free visit to Legoland!?! Sam is so cute making faces with the lego man.

Sam driving at legoland.

Matt just sitting on the couch smiling!

Sam and me having our first mommy and me date, making cookies. It was pretty painful and the picture was forced, but I think we'll continue.

The boys at the park. Aren't they soo big?

Slides and Smiles.

Handsome men before church!

Grape vine and box gardens

2011-08-05T14:01:00.000-07:00

Our Lush grape vine!

tomatoes on a trellis

Squash ...onions....cucumbers... jalapenos..bell papers....YUMMY

My blue dress....made over. Sunday was visitor friendly Sunday ..NOT.. that we aren't usually friendly to visitors. We were all to bring a non-member friend. Both our neighbors we invited couldn't come. I was the only Primary presidency member in attendance. I conducted and did sharing time. As 3 year old Kai and his father stood at the podium I slipped behind them to get the plaque of the scripture for them ..my dress brushed against the back wall made of decorative slate stone and tore a big hole. My slip was now exposed to everyone but I carried on being the only one and focused on the doctrine being taught and that is what everyone else in the room focused on as well. I learned if you act natural and don't make a big fuss your personal disaster can 'almost' go totally unnoticed. After sharing time I sneaked into the ward library where two sisters taped me back together while I stood with my dress held above my waist. I then did the senior sharing time and when I got home I took my favorite dress apart and made a pattern. I also learned to make darts without a pattern is REALLY hard.

2011-07-14T23:57:00.001-07:00

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Biking and stuff

2011-06-25T22:17:00.000-07:00

Uncle Ezra making faces with John boy.

Up close and personal.

Lizzie wanted her picture taken while laying her face on the table too. They are a silly pair those two.

Rebekah wanted the trailer hooked up to her bike, so I let her. She did a great job. Simi is in the trailer, and for a little bit she pulled around Simi and Lizzie together. She did the full circle of the track around the field behind our house. It's just short of .7 miles. She wants us to let her pull it on our bike rides. I'm not quite up for that yet!

We got the coolest bike ever! It's a trailer bike. It's makes my bike into a tandem for Joseph and Lizzie. We were doing a 30-45 minute mile with Lizze and Joseph on their bikes with training wheels, and we had to ride on pavement because the would get stuck in the ditches and soft dirt. With this we were making 8 minute miles! Soooo awesome!

I love Joseph's face in this one! John loves his seat too. He fell asleep in it on the way home from the activity at church today. We are definitely going to get another front seat for Simi and another trailer bike at some point. We can go so far now!

2011-06-20T08:29:00.001-07:00

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Running

2011-06-19T01:37:00.000-07:00

I'm putting the pictures up later, but I just had to say that Nettie did a half marathon in Anchorage and did AWESOME today, and Jacob and I did the Midnight Sun Run here (10k). Jacob did about a 7 1/2 minute mile and me...well, I walked. There is no running associated with my body! First 10k ever for both Jacob and me!

Snowflakes

2011-06-15T14:00:00.001-07:00

This is a song that Rebekah composed herself. She named it snowflakes. She is loving piano lessons.

Recently...

2011-06-14T23:13:00.000-07:00

Travis really got into the freezer meals idea, and bought me a full body sized freezer, either that or he needs to store a whole moose in it next time he goes hunting. j/k.

Can you believe this thing? Travis got a great deal, and couldn't pass it up. Well, he's been looking for one to store down in Deep Creek for his bait, so he just switched this one for the little one we have. Wow, I'll deff have space for more freezer meals. No excuses!
This is what I was up to today. Mowing the lawn, then Naomi started throwing a fit, so when I couldn't handle listening to her screaming (over the lawn mower), I put her in the wrap on my back. I've gotten pretty good at wrapping her to fit on my back. So nice!

She loved it. Just hanging out.

Here's the progress of the hightunnel! Except, even now as I type this, it is completely covered in the plastic stuff!

Travis, hard at work. Every extra hour he has he's been here putting this together.

Trayton and our chives. The first thing that comes up every year. The boys always come in the house smelling like yummy chives. Mmmmm! They love them.

Me and the little girl. She's has changed so much in just the past few days! She's started mimicking what I do, and it is sooo precious!! Her favorite is looking at us and while nodding her head, saying "ya, ya." Or something close to it. I realized later that she's copying me, reassuring her at the end of telling her what we're doing like: "Lets go in the kitchen, okay? Sounds good?" I love it!

This is another new thing she's started. The boys made some beaded necklaces at the KRfestival (previous post), and Naomi has taken over them! She's been wearing them for the past 3 days! TAking them off, putting it on again and walking around. She's so silly!

The other day I was helping Travis tighten some bolts on the hightunnel with a wrench. Naomi found an extra one, picked it up and put it up against the bolt. So precious. :)

Since I'm mentioning cute stuff, Tracker says "I've got spiders!" whenever he itches, and asks me to get them off. :)

Kenai River Festival

2011-06-11T19:12:00.001-07:00

Today was the annual Kenai River Festival here in Soldotna. Lots of fun free kid stuff to do, plus live music, expensive food, and locally made stuff to buy. Here is Tustin sporting his face painting and rocket he made. He chose a rainbow for his cheek. The rocket will be shot up into the air with an air pumper thingy they've got.

Trayton and his rocket, he has a spider on his cheek. You can see the guy with the pump working there on the bottom left.
Naynay has a pink butterfly on her cheek. :)

Tracker has his rocket and a dragonfly on his cheek.

Fish faces!! This was at the entrance of the festival.

So, this morning I ran the "Run for the River" 10 miler. I thought I'd run a 9:15 min/mile pace or slower, but I came in at 1 hour and 23 min!! That means it was 8:30min/mile pace!! Woohoo!! Thanks to Travis' Aunt Alydia for giving me some training pointers, I was able to strengthen my pace. Getting ready for my 1/2 marathon next week!

These are some friends of mine who ran today also. Gina, the girl next to me, ran the 10 miler (she also took our family photos a couple years ago), and Jamie, her sister, ran the 5k. Jamie is also my visiting teaching partner, and the beehive counselor (I'm the beehive advisor).

Cute Tracker on the tramp. This kid is so cute, and I forget sometimes. He's always getting into mischief and doing messy things, that I forget how sweet and cute he is! It won't be long and he'll be out of the cute stage, I better stop overlooking the cuteness.

Tustin riding his bike!!

Naomi and Tracker ready to go on a bike ride.

Trayton riding his bike with the handlebars backwards. He was pretty excited about that.

This is the before picture, when our bike trailer was busted. Completely snapped apart in 4 places. Travis got a "holt" of it, drilled some holes, and bolted it back together. He's so amazing!! I love him.

And here's the hightunnel. It still looks like this. He's almost ready to put the board around it.

And a special thanks to Gramma Kathy who came with us and helped watch the kiddos. I couldn't have done it without her. Or, we couldn't have had a stress-free, fun time, without her. :)

Fridge Orginization

2011-06-06T10:30:00.001-07:00

Here is a picture of our fridge that we talked about at PLASR last Saturday. Hope this helps you guys like it has helped me! I don't have all that many leftovers anymore since I freeze whatever I don't think we will use for lunches in the next couple of days, so that is less space taken up in the fridge. Sorry for the cruddy photos. My batteries in the camera are dead, and I haven't found the rechargeables since we moved.

This is the center section. Each tub holds a group of things: lunch meats and hot dogs, cheeses, and sandwich condiments. All I have to do is pull out the tub I need, and when lunch is over I pile it all in and shove it back in the fridge. No more searching!

Bottom shelf is big containers that are bulky or seldom used. All our lettuce is chopped up and in the green container on the right. If we don't eat all the salad at dinner I put it in a ziplock and put it back in the container. Then it gets used for lunch the next day.

There's the whole thing. Not anywhere as neat as the photos Mom sent us this morning! Top shelf on the left is leftovers and the right is everything else. Milk containers are in the door along with any salad dressings and sauces that don't go in the bins. Fruits and veggies generally go in the bottom drawers. Eggs stay out on the counter. I don't waste the fridge space with those since they don't have to be refrigerated.

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Just Us

2011-06-03T10:27:00.000-07:00

Simi always makes this face when the camera is pointed at him. It's his "cheese" face.

Uncle Ezra usually has a child or two on his lap. They like him. We do too.

Lizzie Lou Who

I love this girl

Bekah and Sariah are both doing so good on the piano

This is one of John's favorite places to hang out. Standing on top of the bench.
And there is Simi trying to shove him out of the way as usual. He finally has someone he can be in control of, and he takes full advantage of that.

Love this cute boy. He always has a smile for everyone. And he's able to turn his head to the right pretty far now. That's a major improvement. :)

Midnight Sun

2011-05-28T15:56:00.000-07:00

Look who learned how to climb the stairs today!

He's a cute boy :)

Me and Jacob. Terrible picture of us, but there we are.

Jacob in the play room.

Why these pictures? They are all taken at 1am. We have to have curtains along with our blinds because it is light 24 hours a day now. The room on the left is the girls and the one on the right is the play room. It's pretty crazy.
We love life in Alaska!

Happy Faces

2011-05-24T08:53:00.000-07:00

These were taken when Nettie and Travis were here. I have a bunch more from that trip, but I just had to put these up this morning. Happy faces for a happy day!

Just ignore the fact he is in a diaper. A saggy cloth diaper at that. It's bad when cloth diapers are saggy! At least his diaper matches his shirt :)

Train Depot

2011-05-20T10:41:00.000-07:00

Fairbanks is an awesome place. Last Saturday they had free plane rides at the airport and free train rides at the depot. We decided to just go to the depot. 1 - because Simi is a train lover, and 2 - it seemed like it would be so much easier on Jacob and I, and 3 - less waiting in line and all of us could go at once. Anyway, it was lots of fun as you will see, and the weather was beautiful. The trees hadn't bloomed yet then, but this week everything has turned green. It makes me smile every time I drive somewhere or look outside. There is green everywhere, and it's t-shirt and shorts weather for us now. 65 degrees is beautiful! Joseph is so happy we have let him have his shorts back. We had to take them away during the winter because he tried to wear them every day even when we would go out. He's like Jacob was...he does not like pants at all!

Jacob and the kids walking down to the depot.

Climbing up steps to see the engine

They had a train sitting that we could walk through. There was the engine (which is HUGE) and a double decker passenger car. The passenger cars all had windows that curved up and met in the center at the top. It was neat, but I imagine on hot days it would be like an oven in there if there was no air turned on.

Waiting for our turn on the train...

and waiting some more...

The train pulling into the station. This is the one we got to ride on.

Did you know Simi LOVES trains? Can you tell? Hahaha! This was his reaction when the train pulled in right next to us. He's played with his trains even more since we went to the depot.

I'm in a picture. That is simply amazing! We had to wait about 20 minutes for the train to come back. John had fun smacking the balloon over and over. Lizzie thought it was hilarious.

I love these boys! They are both always so happy. I think it's a genetic thing, because all my boys are happy and have big smiles.

Bekah waiting in line for the train

Joseph didn't like how loud the train was when it pulled into the station

One of John's favorite games right now. NOT one of my favorites.

Watching out the window

Everyone got a balloon. Something on the ceiling of the train kept popping kid's balloons.
Sariah asked me to take this picture of her balloon and her pin. The pin is on her shirt. They got that from the drivers of the engine we walked through.

Happy John

Simi was exhausted by the end. He fell asleep in the car before we had gotten very far.

A real live train conductor. Can you tell he's still blissfully happy about the day's outing?

Watching out the train window.

Spring

2011-05-18T00:24:00.000-07:00

Spring has finally arrived in Fairbanks! Hooray!
We have been waiting for a while for it to get here. It actually got up to 73 degrees today. Can you believe that is more than 120 degrees hotter than it was this winter? Did you guys know that Fairbanks has the largest temperature swing in the US?

In an effort to control the strep we have going around everyone has their own water bottle and it's the only thing we are allowed to drink out of. NO SHARING! See that cute little whale on the faucet? It's a drinking fountain so the kids can get a drink whenever they want. They love it. It's actually hot enough that they come back frequently to drink. Haven't had that happen for at least 8 months...lets see...that would be about the time we lived in Alabama.

Jacob and John watching a late night movie after the other kids are in bed. Does this count as bonding time?

Sariah has learned how to ride without her training wheels finally. Hooray! We have a big bike path that loops around the field behind our house. It's a little over .6 miles around, and the kids like it. Yesterday Rebekah ran it, and today she walked and ran with me for my morning walk.

The growing season in Alaska is short, but it is amazing. Everyone told us how fast Spring arrives once it warms up. They weren't kidding! These leaves all came out yesterday.

Alaska gives us beautiful midnight sunsets.

Two days ago it got up to 60+ and has stayed there. Two days ago this hill was brown. It is amazing what 20 hours of sunlight will do for plants! There was a strip of green down the hill and a few patches when I took my walk in the morning, and by afternoon it looked like this. I can't wait for what another week of this will bring!

The Little Holts

2011-05-13T17:09:00.000-07:00

Well, we had an absolutely wonderful time with Jacob, Tiffany and the cousins. It's soooo nice to have family up here!! The baptism went wonderfully, unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any photos of Rebekah's beautiful Mom-made baptism dress. My camera ran out of batteries. :( We were able to get out and enjoy Fairbanks. We attempted to fish, but Fairbanks isn't the greatest place to find them. But we found fun lakes and rivers to visit (and the kids don't really care about fishing, anyhow!)

I'm gonna start here with Naomi's birthday pictures. Her birthday was on Easter, actually, and so she is wearing a pretty purple dress, with the bow Gramma Nancy gave her a year ago- it still fits! :) She's so pretty!!

Tiff and I enjoyed our shopping trips together. Leaving all 10 kids together with Travis & Jacob. One of the trips was from 10am-5pm at the homeschool curriculum fair, it was very therapuetic and relaxing! We love our hubby's soooo much! ;) They should be given Alaska's best Dad awards. On one of our escapades we purchased kites for all the kids because it was so windy.

More kite pictures. Tiffany, you will have to post the pictures you took, too. I didn't get a whole lot of the cousins. :(

Jacob and Trayton.

We went on a super fun walk over at Creamer's Field. They had some really good trails on wooden walkway/bridge thingys. Over looking the river.

All the kids, everyone. Tracker in a backpack, John in the Mai Tai on Tiff's back, Jacob pushing the double stroller w/Naomi and Smi? in it, there's Youhoo, Elizabeth, Rebekah, then Joseph, Tustin, Trayton and Sariah somewhere behind getting "encouraged" to hurry up. :)

On the lookout tower. Cute Jacob & Simi!

Cute smile, Tracker! I love this face!

At one of the lakes we visited trying to find fish. These two are so precious! John has the happiest smile!

Playing on the icy lake. We were very cautious at the first. Then we consented to allow them on the ice, but only by us, right by the shore!

I almost didn't come because this little boy here. Tracker was sick, throwing up. But what better way to spend your sick day, than lying in the warm sun out in the fresh air??? He slept pretty much the whole time. Poor kid.

Playing on the ice lake. It's like a foot thick.

Tracker fell asleep at the river we visited next, while drinking out of his sippy. Unfortunately, this is the last and only picture I took here by this river. It was so warm and beautiful, I even got a little nap.

Helping Hands at last!

2011-05-07T14:49:00.001-07:00

A great day at the community center and live oak park! Lovely weather and good friends to work with. Lunch at the park catered by the Stake. So fun to reconnect with old friends and new. See Gary we really DID 'Helping Hands' in our stake.

The Sat. before Easter!!

2011-05-02T07:07:00.000-07:00

Yes, those are not easter eggs, they're marshmallow guns!! It made a big mess, because marshmallows got on the floor and then people were stepping on them. Sticky icky fun!!!

The first thing Parley said was, "Could I use this for spit wadds?" Funny thing is when I gave one to Lincoln who's about the same age, he said the same thing. Aren't little boys so cute!...lol

Horray for Easter Egg coloring.

Funny story about Easter egg coloring. Lincoln was begging Guacy to let him eat one of the colored eggs they made, but she wouldn't let him, because she thought they were toxic???!!!! lol

Preparing for the Hunt!

It took Ezra and Tim like a half an hour to hide the Eggs or at least it seemed that long. A lot of the Chacolate filled eggs were melting! I like melted chacolate the best, but not with children.

Craziness!

Very Cute!

All the kids, small and big, trying to fit in this little space that Mary uses for blanckets...i think. What do you call this spot mary(built in shelf)? It's the one in the family room.

$75 at a garage sale!!!

2011-05-01T07:48:00.001-07:00

So Awesome!!!!!!!!

Our Brick Project

2011-05-01T07:10:00.000-07:00

Alright so here are the pictures you have all been waiting for! My back yard!

Here it is still full of so much dirt we can't see straight. Pretty much all that dirt went to mom's house.

Henry and Jeremy removing dirt so they can replace it with the gravel mixture.

here is the back yard relatively dirt free, and tampered. You can notice the foundation for the brick wall in the back. We weren't expecting that to be there or to be so close to the surface.
Theres Sam. Isn't he cute!? Also you can see that Henry put down the black non grow paper, or whatever it's called... and than cover it with gravel. Than he put the rest of the gravel against the wall behind Sam.
Isn't he so cute! He is trying to figure out the pattern I chose. At first he wasn't too happy. I guess that's always how it is on day one of brick laying.
This is a picture after day 3. Leveling is something that takes time to figure out, and Henry is a perfectionist. Sorry I forgot to take a picture of day 2.

Yeah the bricks are done, more or less...we have a little more work to go, but the kids are finally allowed back there!

This is from the sliding door angle. Yes that is how big or I should small our back yard is.

Ballet

2011-04-26T10:53:00.000-07:00

The girls have been taking ballet since early February. Rebekah has been asking since she was three or four to take lessons. I finally have gotten them in, and they love it. We go at 12 on Fridays, so everyone there is from a homeschool family. It makes it fun for me too since I get to talk to other moms about what curriculum they use and fun things for homeschool families to do around town. The recital is coming up on May 7. It's the evening of Rebekah's baptism. Talk about a busy day!

I love it when all the little girls are lined up at the barre. They look so cute with their toes pointed and matching leotards!

Here she is watching herself in the mirror while she waits her turn.

Yes, it's a happy thing to go to ballet!

Isn't she cute with her little pointed feet. She always looks so serious when she is at the barre. That is some hardcore concentration going on!

Easter and Break Up

2011-04-25T00:08:00.001-07:00

Break up has arrived.
Nettie knows how awesome that is.
It brings a lot of happiness to my life, and my children. We spent time today just sitting on the porch watching the snow melt. Life is exciting in Alaska I tell ya! Hahaha...really though we did sit there checking out all the bare spots that have appeared in the last two days. Last week the snow in our back yard was above my knees. Today you can see dirt. 15 hours of sunlight at 50 degrees will do that. :) I took this picture at 10:45 at night with no flash. How cool is that?! I can't wait until summer really arrives. On a side note I also saw the first mosquito of the season. I might need to invest in DEET.
That was a huge mosquito.

We have had some crazy sickness since the end of February. Sariah got strep then, and when Jacob left at the beginning of March all six kids and I came down with it. Lucky Jacob missed it! Then John had to go to the hospital, and he had pneumonia to go along with the strep. Evidently Sariah and Lizzie both still have strep. I think I should get tested to. Lizzie ended up in the ER last week. She had strep tonsillitis, a stomach/intestine virus, and bronchitis, and dehydration due to puking and diarrhea and being unable to eat. Fun stuff. Then Joseph got the stomach virus and started in on all that, I have it (not as bad though, whew!), Simi had it, and John has another sickness again, and he had roseola last week. We have never had to take a child to the hospital before we moved here, and have been three times in the last six months. Twice in the last month and a half. I guess it's our turn. We're trying to get over all this before Nettie and the family come next week!

We spent Easter at home since John is still snotty and we are trying to STOP THE SPREAD OF SICKNESS! Jacob spent Easter at work, but was able to come home for lunch and dinner.

Look at that cutie slobbering into his Easter egg! He finally has enough chub on his body that his cheeks are pudgy

We missed the egg hunt at play group on Thursday due to sick kids, so we had our own hunt at home on Saturday afternoon. Can you tell how much fun Simi had?

Lining up in anticipation of the hunt. I think I need to put some kind of decoration on all these white walls in our house. :)

"Look at my eggs!"

Look at that cute little face!

I love this girl!
Happy Easter Everyone

Catching Up

2011-04-20T08:07:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in several months. Our internet connection was so slow that it would take literally hours to get a few pictures up, so I took a break. So here it is Mom: pictures of the Little Holts! :) This may take a few posts to cover the last four months. If I repeat any pictures I'm sorry!

The kids started skating lessons in January or February. There was a whole lot of falling down at first. Now the older three can skate. Well, Lizzie can too, but she doesn't want to give up the cones!

After a big snow fall Rebekah dug herself a tunnel on the side of the driveway while Jacob shoveled.

Jacob shoveling out his car so he can get out the next day. This was one of the largest snowfalls in a two day period in Fairbanks. We get 2" a day on average, so the 18"-2' we got was pretty awesome.

The girls at skating with their friend they met there, Isabella.

Simi was making so pretty weird faces, so I just had to take a picture. He is such a ham lately.

Bekah is ice skating on the street to our old house. The snow and ice has finally started melting this last week. It is soooooo nice to see pavement again. When I took this the snow had melted the week before on our street until it was down to the 2" layer of ice that we got at Thanksgiving.

The big kids helping to move things in at the new house. They all LOVE the stairs. They spent the first few days sliding down them in their sleeping bags.

Our first blue egg from the Americana chicken

2011-04-16T14:16:00.000-07:00

Today we got five eggs a first for that many and bestest of all one was blue ...Just in time for Easter!

Happy April Fools!

2011-04-01T20:13:00.000-07:00

Yes, we made yummy delicious mini hamburgers for lunch! ;) Mom's special recipe. They tasted pretty good. And I got to eat as many as I wanted. I remember being little and wanting to eat them, but Mom was always making them for something else, and we didn't get very much. :) Doesn't it look good?

Something from school. Comparing longer and shorter. The boys had fun. Travis just before I cut it all off. I guess I'll have to take a picture to see the comparison.

In his favorite wool suit, in his special Travis stance.

Naomi's owie. Tustin ran over her hand with our vacuum and it looks like a major burn! Poor girl. She was pretty tough about it.

I made the boys quickie capes. No sewing involved, just hot glue for the velcro. My underwear superboys.

Happy April Fools Day.

Our first Egg!!!!

2011-03-24T15:44:00.000-07:00

We have 8 chickens that will lay brown eggs and 3 that will lay blue. Today March 24 our first egg was layed. We will cook it and let everyone know how it tastes.

Naomi Can Walk!!

2011-03-09T15:17:00.000-08:00

That's right, little Naomi is walking around like she owns the place. She will get up and walk till she falls over, which is a lot. She's getting better everyday, and we love watching her! She's so cute.

Here's a couple more ice sculptures we missed on our FHE night. Some moose with a surf board in front of the radio station.
And a martini glass in front of, you guessed it, a bar.

Classic Travis pic, doing the Alaskan thing.

Travis bought me strawberries for Valentines, and I covered them in chocolate. Really good.

I let the boys dip their own and this is what happens.

Naomi loving on Yoohoo. She LOVES to cuddle with that dog, HAIRY!!

Nomi standing up by the couch.

We were given this beautiful dress from a friend of ours. So cute!

This one is a funny faced Naomi!! So cute, I love the pose.

WOW IT WORKED!

2011-02-20T08:37:00.000-08:00

The cut cake from the Blue and Gold dinner. It tasted good too!

Blue and Gold Cake

2011-02-18T14:05:00.000-08:00

My first attempt at a rainbow cake. Worked on it all morning Friday. 3 cake mixes 6 blue and gold layers, four butter cubes, about 3 or 4 pounds of powdered sugar. I hope it holds together till tomorrow nights party. Happy Birthday Cubs!!!!!

February Fun

2011-02-13T10:38:00.000-08:00

Well, it's cold again, so we had ice crystals hanging in the air all day. It's neat to walk around and the air looks like there is glitter suspended in it. When the sun started going down on Saturday there was a halo around it that made a rainbow. It's hard to see all the colors in the picture, but how cool is a rainbow circling the sun?!

Check out this guy. We have seen moose in our yard several time this last month. This one was in front of the next house over. They are HUGE! It's hard to tell, but it is. It's shoulders are even with the top of that truck it's next to. Not only that, the truck is up on a drive way packed with snow, and the moose is about a foot and a half lower down. They just stand there and eat even with all the traffic going by. I sat there in my truck and watched it, and people were driving by without even noticing that it was standing there!

It's February. Yay.
All you Californians are enjoying sun and warm weather. We are still wearing boots and trudging through the snow anywhere we go. Someday we will get to wear flip flops again. I'm hopeful that day will be before June. Might not happen though.
That's ok though. We are learning to ice skate and reveling in the sun that actually shines and makes us feel like we are warm if we stand in front of a window with our eyes shut. In a few months we will have to pretend that it actually gets dark when we shut our eyes! haha...I do love it here. :)

Here are the girls playing out in the snow. The last two weeks have been great. The temperature has gotten above zero for a while, and the kids were able to play outside for a few hours at a time. It was so nice! Now the temperature is back down to the negatives. It was -41 this morning, so they canceled all the meetings at church except sacrament.

Aren't the snowflakes so pretty? We get those perfect flakes a lot here. We don't get the big, fat, heavy flakes very often. When the flakes are perfect like this and light shines on them at night it looks like there is glitter covering all the houses and the ground. It's beautiful.

Lizzie likes to try to shovel the snow.

Poor Simi was sick, so I wouldn't let him come out and play. He just stood there with his face smashed against the door, watching us all run around.

Sariah having fun while the snow falls

Ice Sculpture FHE

2011-02-10T09:24:00.000-08:00

Last night we did Family HOme Evening (we couldn't do it the last 2 nights). We raced around town and got pictures in front of ALL the ice sculptures. Ya, I think we hit them all. At least the ones in Soldotna. Some of the businesses here put these ice sculptures in front of their place of business. I guess they pick whatever they want. Interesting choices. So here they are!

Penguin surfer guy in front of a clinic, I think chiropractor.

The Cheshire Cat in front of a dental clinic. :) I like this one a lot.
ACS Alaska (phone service here), with a marmot? on top.

I'm not sure what this bear is supposed to be doing, but I think he has a pile of presents under one arm. It's in front of a mini indoor mall.

Ice cream banana split in front of Dairy Queen.

This is in front of the Visitor's Center by the river. I think it's supposed to be you frozen in ice. We all took a picture in there, except Naomi.

I had to put this one in here.

This was in front of the Soldotna Sports center where lots of ice hockey and our skating lessons take place. A dog sled carrying a bear.

By the road in front of Sports Center. It says "Peninsula Winter Games" underneath Conoco Philips. They fund a lot of things around here.

In front of Sweeney's Working Man store. The owner is Irish, can you tell? It's a leprachaun holding a 4 leaf clover and some coins. That's a penguin watching him. OH, and there's Travis falling asleep as he drives us all over town. He was excited... Well he drove to and from Anchorage just before we did this. A wolf in front of Blazy Construction. I think they've built quite a few things in Soldotna.

A little moose in front of a clinic area. It says "Open Imaging" on the ice sign the moose is next to.

And last, well actually this is the first pic we took, a walrus that lost it's tusks, and one of it's fin things. But I love the blue.

Love you all!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACOB!!!!!

2011-02-09T09:37:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACOB

2011-02-09T09:23:00.000-08:00

Jacob our first born son; born on this day 31 years ago. A handsome man, wonderful husband and father; a brave soldier. We love you jacob and wish you a HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

Lately...

2011-02-07T15:00:00.000-08:00

Mom wanted me to add a shot of me & Naomi, she needs to know we're still here! :)

Here's what we've been up to lately: The boys & I made a snow tunnel. We got quite a bit of it last week, so beautiful and fluffy. So after Travis plowed it, we made a tunnel through the snow pile he made. So cool! I went through, but very quickly, cause I was a little costraphobic. Yikes. The boys love it anyway.

The successful loaf of bread I made the other day. I've made another successful batch since, so looks like I've figured it out! :) Thanks to Mom's recipe! Delish.

Travis piled the kids and dog on the sled. The dog jumped out on the way down though.

Travis teaching the boys how to brush their teeth without spilling it out their mouths. So cute, I had to get a pic!

Pictures of the boys

2011-02-07T05:53:00.000-08:00

I tried to get Samuel to stand up, but he insisted on putting his arm around his brother. So Cute!

I know what you're all thinking. I should have ironed the sheet before using it as a background! Don't worry. I'll be taking more pictures soon.

Saturday's Mission

2011-01-31T11:04:00.000-08:00

Saturday's mission after choir practice was to find some ice sculptures in town. The trumpet sculpture has been up since before Thanksgiving. I'm not sure if I posted a picture of it though, so here it is.

City hall's ice sculpture

It's warmed up here to above zero for a little while. It's still cold though!

This picture is really blurry, but I had to add it. We were out around 12:00. See how low the sun is? We are so happy it's up above all the buildings now. Hooray!

One side of the ice sculpture in front of City Hall

Lizzie and the totem pole.

In front of City Hall. We drove by when they were making this one. It was pretty neat to watch them chopping away at the ice.

I love this one. It's so pretty at night when it is lit up.

The face looks a little funny since the snow is on it, but it still is neat.

Luz Family Pic 2010

2011-01-23T17:42:00.000-08:00

Mom this is for you!

January

2011-01-20T06:02:00.000-08:00

So Samuel has learned how to buzz. So Cute!
The boys. Matthew's face is so hilarious!!

outside the other day. It was pretty hot. yep I love Cali.

Henry and I playing around with the camera. I told to take some pics of me.

Silly, Silly, Silly.

Purse Making

2011-01-17T14:55:00.000-08:00

I told Mom Bekah and I made purses together on Saturday and she requested pictures, so here they are. I chose orange. The pattern is from made-by-rae.com. It's a free pattern. Very easy to make, and it is all done with two fat quarters. That would be $4 for the whole thing. It's an hour project. Rebeka's is the same bag, just without the pleats. Here they are:

Bekah's is pink, of course, and she can fit all kinds of toys in there.

We both chose fun prints for the inside.

Here she is proud of her creation. She is already thinking of ways she would like to improve the next one. Sariah is asking to sew things now to. Lizzie just wants a bag!

Christmas Morning & Date Night

2011-01-15T11:44:00.000-08:00

I forgot to post pictures of Christmas morning. Here is Trayton opening his stocking which had a big bag of marshmallows. The marshmallows were for the bow & mallow bow that he opened later. Ya baby! He wore this spider man costume the whole time. Except when it was put in the laundry.

Tustin, happy as can be.
Me & Tracker.

And here's a picture of the Holts opening their stockings.

And here is the most delicious thing EVER! Yes, I made this meal, all by myself (with a little help from Travis who was more than willing!!) . Thanks to the inspiration of Jacob & Tiff. While we were at their house we did date night, as you know, and we ate chimichangas, homemade, with all the trimmings. So I called Tiff up and got the recipe and made them for Travis & I. We put the kids to bed early (they did pretty good) after feeding them some left over soup. We turned on our netflix movie "Date Night" and settled in. WAY more fun than going out to eat, actually, I think. Although you can't beat not having to cook or clean it up.

This is deffinitely gonna happen again! Except maybe I'll make some other "delicacy" that we really love like deep fried halibut, or steak. :) Happy date nights, everyone!!

some pictures from december!

2011-01-14T07:59:00.000-08:00

Samuel on Christmas Morning! my handsome Man. in his new Jammies! I love them on him!

Gramma Nancy's on Christmas day.

Our christmas Celebration. Mrs. Claus was with us at our feast. We had a great time.

Samuel and Matt at the Christmas tree

Tammy and James Meiners

A year in pictures

2011-01-12T22:10:00.000-08:00

Mom challenged me to take a picture a day this year. I started doing it, and the next to pictures are from Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. I'll have to send today's picture from my cell phone. We had a marshmallow fight for FHE. The kids got marshmallow blowguns in their stockings. They love to take them apart and make new configurations out of them. LOTS of fun! During FHE Sariah decided to pack her's as full as she could. She was going for the buckshot effect.
(Monday January10th)

Sariah is reading! This is a major accomplishment for us. MAJOR. She learns in a very different manner than I do, and it has been really hard for us to find a way for her to understand reading. There have been a lot of tears and frustration on both sides during this process. We took a break since just before we moved from our reading lessons and I changed some things when we got here. It has made all the difference for both of us. She realized Monday morning that she is able to read on her own! Hooray! She hasn't stopped reading since. I love to see the excitement in my children when the accomplish something new, especially things they really thought they couldn't manage.

(Tuesday January 11th)

I love how Simeon squints his eyes shut whenever I take his picture. It's his "cheese" face. This boy was in serious need of a haircut! Shaggy hair all the way down into his collar on Sunday. Ewww!!!
(Sunday January 9th)

Now that is one clean cut handsome boy!

Christmas Pajamas

2011-01-12T12:04:00.000-08:00

Well, it's definitely been an eventful holiday season for us, even though we just stayed in the house, it was wonderful! I couldn't have asked for anything better to do while getting our car fixed. As soon as we got to Fairbanks, our vehicle wouldn't start. Travis worked, mechanict (what is the spelling for that???), and worked some more, but couldn't figure it out. So we tried to find a mechanic, none to be found during the Christmas holiday. Travis phoned a friend and Rob took our car to his shop. Wow, So glad he knew someone who was a mechanic, in Fairbanks!! So they found out what part we needed and ordered it. The company sent the wrong part! We waited for the new part. Still didn't start, we needed another part. A local junkyard had it, success!! All this fun stuff happened while we waited, and boy was it worth it!! :)

Cute Nay,nay and John john taking a bath in the sink again.
Sweet Lizzie & Simeon.

This would have been an adorable picture, but Jacob had to pull this face! :)

I got Naomi the cutest little bathing suit EVER! I had a really hard time deciding whether to get it or not because it's a tankini. But it's gonna be just fine!

This will be perfect for when we go to the indoor pool this winter.

Tracker & Simi were one of the sets of twins. We couldn't get enough of how different they're bodies are! Little Simi has thunder-thighs, which makes Tracker look like a bean pole.

There they are, the cuties! They were the hardest to deal with because they could out-whine 100 hungry dogs. They tag teamed us in the kitchen, every day. They were sent to their rooms A LOT.

The older kids enjoying the comic pages in the newspaper. These kids played nice most everyday! One day they played leggos at the table for at least 6 hours straight, with a lunch break in between.

Here's the huge pile of food I've been talking about. This has a dent in it though. The piles Trayton is standing on were as tall as the piles behind them. Plus there were boxes sitting in the kitchen of dried apples, carrots, & onions. We've just got the wheat and white beans left to seal in mylar bags. That's mostly wheat stacked there.

And finally, the kids in their pajamas. This is for you Mom! They look pretty cute, huh? I made Tracker & Naomi wear theirs stinky because they already got them dirty, but I wanted to get the pictures done.

Trayton inspired his brothers to take a silly picture. My boys. :)

Christmas with the Kellers

2011-01-09T22:37:00.000-08:00

Having the Kellers here for Christmas was fun. They were supposed to stay for five days, but the van died and they ended up staying for two and a half weeks. The cousins had lots of fun, and the adults all stayed up late every night talking after the little people were in bed. We got to have date night with Nettie and Travis, which was fun. We make chimichungas on Friday nights and watch a movie usually. Jacob and I decided though that next time we all get together we are making most of the food ahead of time and freezing it. We spent a whole lot of time in the kitchen cooking and cleaning! We can't wait to see them again. Nettie left her Christmas present here (a BB gun from Travis), so now we have to go deliver it to her. :) Hope you guys all had a wonderful Holiday with your families. I have tons of pictures, so I'll be posting a lot this week.

Simeon helping to zip up the Kellers suitcase before they put it in the van. Jacob calls Simi the superman baby. He has that wavy blond hair and he's built like a truck.

The kids got to sit and have a picture taken with Santa at his house in North Pole. Very fun. There was a big nativity set there that Mom would have liked.

Aunt Nettie and Rebekah in Santa's sleigh. It was neat to see all the ice sculptures they had at Santa's house. They had a ton there, but we were to late that day to see them, and when we got around to taking all the kids it was closed for the year already. We will have to go next year. There were slides and different things for the kids to play on.

YFM's Rebekah Apron

2011-01-07T08:59:00.000-08:00

I'm wearing my Apron that Rebekah made me. I love aprons and this one is an original created and hand embroidered by little seven year old Rebekah. WOW is she good!

Alaska cousins

2010-12-31T03:11:00.001-08:00

We've been having Nettie's family here for Christmas, and its been so nice having them here. The kids love having cousins to play with. Their car isn't working, so they are here for quite a bit longer than planned. Not such a good Christmas present for them. :( But they will be here for new years and it's above zero! Jacob and Nettie took the big kids sledding this evening since it is finally warmer. It's been at least a month, possibly longer since we've seen temps above zero. John and Naomi are so cute. That girl is everywhere! Tustin and Tracker went to town licking up sugar that was spilled during a marshmallow fight the adults had. And Tracker likes John's swing. He fell asleep in it! Happy holidays everyone! Hope all is well with you guys.

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Just like Grampa

2010-12-22T22:03:00.001-08:00

Grampa Jack can sympathise with Simon. He didn't want to eat his peas. It was a rather traumatic dinner for Simi. No seconds for him! Sunday Jacob and Bekah sang with the choir for Christmas. It was cute to see Bekah up there, and she did well.

Happy Christmas cookie making everyone!

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Adrea Bocelli Dec 10th

2010-12-22T07:59:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of Henry and I during intermission. I wish I had taken a better picture of my hair. I had it in an updo. I was wearing my full length Green dress. The one from Nettie's wedding. With a Christmas sweater, and a white shawl(which Teresa insisted I wear). I didn't really use the shawl though, because there was a warm breeze that night.
This is a picture of me in front of the beautiful decoration at Nokia Plaza in LA also next to the Ritz Carlton Hotel. We took a walk through the lobby. It was really nice, they even had a live band playing!!!

I don't know if you can see the train they have set up in the planter behind us? and around the normal shrubbery they filled the planter full of Poinsettias. It was so beautiful!

These are my boys...need I say more?

Temple Trip

2010-12-22T07:40:00.000-08:00

Samuel asks to go to the temple all the time. So the day after Thanksgiving Henry, Helen, Sam, Matt, and I all headed to the temple to walk the grounds. Of Course samuel ran straight for the door as soon as we reach the side walk, so Henry carried him around the lobby and should him the pictures. Samuel was so happy. We had wanted to get a family picture that night but Matthew was sleeping, and we didn't want to get him out of his warm carseat.

I know where Samuel got his smile!!!

2010 family pictures

2010-12-13T11:09:00.000-08:00

We wrestled Dad to the ground to get this picture, but he is still smiling. HEE HEE HEE

2010-12-11T23:59:00.001-08:00

Don't know why the pictures didn't post. Oh, and the same day Lucy had her run-in with the chain at school Sariah lost her first tooth. She realized it was loose just before dinner and Jacob took it out at bedtime without Sariah feeling it. Crazy! Rebekah has loose teeth for 6 to 8 months before she can get hers out, and she has to put major effort into yanking hers out.

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girls night out

2010-12-11T23:50:00.001-08:00

Today we took the kids to the slough (creek) to try out their ice skates. It was a fiasco. Completely. Simi started crying, then Lizzie started sobbing, then John's face was too cold, so Jacob took them home five minutes after we got there. I walked down the hill when he left and Joseph was having a freak out fest. Sariah had to go to the bathroom. Jacob came back for the two of them and Bekah and I stayed to play. We stayed till our hands and feet were frozen, then we walked home. It's warmed up 20 degrees...to -10. It's seven hours later and my fingertips still hurt. Then we had girls night out and Sariah had her ears pierced. She was so excited. She saved up her money for it too. She didn't even flinch when they did it. She says it didn't even hurt. From the look on her face I believe her! The picture of her in the chair was the before. We told her that is was going to hurt, so she was nervous.

Fiasco and fun all in one day!

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Naomi Can Pull Herself up to Stand!!

2010-12-09T17:53:00.000-08:00

Yes, Naomi can officially pull herself up to a standing position. The first time it happened, she was in her crib when the side bar was always down for easy access. I walked in to find her holding onto the top bar standing up! I thought, oh I better put that bar up now, or she'll be falling out!!

Then the dishwasher the other day (pictures below) she was helping unload, tho they were dirty, I didn't complain. I took pictures instead.

And here she is on the box. I just took this box down from the attic the other day to get out more 2yr old boy clothes. I left it there, not sure if I was ready to put it away. Well, she found it, and it's her favorite form of entertainment right now! I'm thinking it's gonna stay for a while. In this picture she is just getting up.

The dishwasher picture. She was enjoying getting silverware out. She's stealing some here, see her stretching her little arm! It's sooo cute!

Smiles, on her knees. She's been doing the knee thing for a while.

Trayton always wants to get in on the pictures.

Tracker & Naomi, sooo cute!

Her baby spoon and good smiles. She doesn't smile much, not for pictures anyway. But she's always happy and content. I figured it out when someone mentioned it to me. With the boys they would get frustrated at this age when sometimes they saw something they wanted, but they couldn't get it because they weren't mobile. The only reason Naomi cries is when she's fallen down from the step or standing up. She's ALL OVER the place!!

Winter days

2010-12-06T17:30:00.000-08:00

Jacob...with 50 extra pounds. Hehe...this is his super -60 snow suit the Army issued him. We went down to the creek the other day, and he was sweating like crazy by the time we got home. Whatever it's made out of works really well.

Our Service Jar.

We are trying to focus on being more service minded here at our house. Every time someone does an act of service they get to put a puff ball in the jar. I decorated it with a nativity scene to remind us of the reason we celebrate this season. The kids have really responded well to this project. Sariah has made Lizzie's bed almost every day for over a month now. It really is the little acts of service day to day that makes a home a happy one!

Cookie pizza. YUM! Simeon made his and then when he was done he picked off every little piece of candy and left the cookie behind.

We had freezing rain for three days before thanksgiving. It gave us the opportunity to make snowmen here. Usually we can't because it is so dry that the snow won't pack together. Here is my snow Mommy! I'll load up the pictures of the other snow men soon.

My Rolling Pin

2010-12-05T15:15:00.001-08:00

Travis made me this HUGE rolling pin. I mean HUGE. He'd been working on it since before we left for vacation, but was waiting for some parts before he could give it to me. I couldn't figure out what it could be, mostly because I didn't think a rolling pin of that size would be practical or manueverable. Anyway, he gave it to me, and I just smiled and said, "wow, that's huge!" Then I used it on sugar cookie dough and I was sold! It's self-rolling I tell you! It's so heavy, it just presses down on the dough for you! I also was able to roll out pizza dough with it, it worked wonderfully! I did have to aply a little more pressure to the pizza dough, but it was great. It takes a lot less effort to roll my dough out now.

The one thing Travis didn't account for was where I would keep it... minor detail. But it's found a spot up really high, where it's handle (that sticks out a foot) won't hit anyone as they walk by.

Here I am rolling out the pizza dough. With my awesome apron.

The boys started ice skating. They can go really fast when they hold on to the bars.

Travis at Thanksgiving dinner at our friends, The Thomas' house.

Tracker holding the flag for school.

Making some figures with pattern blocks. They really enjoyed that.

Look Below to Find Pictures of Naomi

2010-11-22T09:16:00.000-08:00

Well, I actually put pictures in the post from a few days ago, but you may not realize it because I just edited the post. So here I am letting you know that there are now pictures and things written. Enjoy.

Snow Day

2010-11-21T01:42:00.000-08:00

Today was Joseph's birthday, and I have pictures of that, but it takes a long time to load videos, so maybe I will get around to that tomorrow. In the mean time, here is a really cute one of Lizzie playing at the park in the snow today.

And one of Simeon. After we played at the park we took them down the street and let them sled down the hill to the river, and then they played on the ice. They really liked playing on the ice. It was neat to see down to the bottom and be able to see where everything froze at different depths. The river is only about a foot deep, so it was frozen solid to the bottom. Lots of people use it as the "street" for their snow machines now. It's awesome that people drive those and four wheelers around. Ahhh....I love Alaska!
Poor Simeon, the snow was hip deep on him, so he was exhausted by the time we got home. Wading through all that snow wore him out. He slept for three hours, and he doesn't usually take naps now.

Home Again

2010-11-19T20:57:00.000-08:00

Trayton had his 6th birthday on the 12th. What a big boy. We didn't do much, but he did get a cake and a couple presents. His friends came over and played all day, so that was enough for him. Here he is with Abraham. Some things he does right now: He can make a toy out of anything. He grabs a plastic wrapper and it's an instant slithering snake. He's passed off Articles of Faith 1-4 in the bishop's office- he memorizes really well. His favorite meal is pasta salad (he asked for that on his birthday). He loves dragons and dinosaurs.

I got down 6 month sized clothes for Naomi as soon as we got home from vacation. So this is the first dress (out of 8) that I picked for her to wear last Sunday.
She is happy almost ALL the time. She is such a wonderful little girl.

And here she is with her brothers. Isn't this soooooo cute??? Trayton really wanted to be in the picture, I'm glad he did.

Naomi can now officially crawl. She isn't super fast yet, but she gets around. She's fallen off our little step several times already. This is a new experience for all of us. The soonest the other boys crawled was 10 months! She actually "crawls" too. No army crawl or butt scooting, it's the real deal.

pictures of Matt!

2010-11-16T12:48:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I went to a wedding of my friend PJ Shumway(high school band and girls camp buddy) If was a very small wedding. My other good friend Erica Clodig was there. She had agreed to take the wedding pictures for PJ as a favor, without any back ground in photography. That being the case, half way through the reception I stole the camera, and started taking pictures! needless to say these are some of the pictures I took! yea... lol

Cuteness and Cooking

2010-11-15T07:06:00.000-08:00

John boy. Cute as can be and he milks that smile for all it's worth!

I love it when the kids are still small enough to take a bath in the sink.

Cute little John. I like how the window behind him shows how cold it is here. They are calling for -17 tomorrow for the high. December and January are going to be interesting!

Look at those cute little hands making dinner!

Sariah make chicken noodle soup for her dinner last week. I was so proud of her. She cut everything for it all by herself. She had to work slow, but she kept at it until it was all done, and dinner tasted wonderful.

The Boys

2010-11-10T15:59:00.000-08:00

Simi was teaching John how to play with trains. However, John was not allowed to touch them. He was only allowed to have the helicopter.

My boys.
Simi kept making weird faces, and this was the best we could get. Some interesting facts about Simeon: his shoulders are as wide as Joseph's, his thighs are as big as Rebekah's, and he and John wear the same diapers. They are only one size different in disposables. Sometime next year he'll probably be able to take Joseph in a wrestling match. Actually, I've already seen him lay on top of Joseph and have Joseph crying to get up. I keep telling the kids to quit picking on him or they will regret it when he gets bigger!

He always plays with his ear when he sucks his fingers. He can be full of energy, and then as soon as he sticks those fingers in and holds his ear his eyes start to droop and he looks like he is ready to go to sleep.

Man, I love this boy! Slobber and all.

bobby from daycare!

2010-11-10T15:20:00.000-08:00

I found these pictures of Bobby on facebook! I had to post them for you all to see! so crazy how big he has gotten!

Our baby chicks

2010-11-06T13:35:00.000-07:00

Travis built me an awesome chicken coop while they were vacationing here in CA. We have finished painting it and putting on the flashing and attaching the caged yard. We went and picked out 12 chickens. We have 3-Buff orpington 3-Bard Rock 3-Black Australorp and 3-Ameraucana. There are three nesting boxes and 4 hens will lay in one box. They said at the store we could come and trade them back if we find we have a rooster instead of a hen. They all lay brown, pinkish brown or blue eggs. so COOL!!!

Family Photos 2010

2010-11-03T08:50:00.000-07:00

Here's the family 2010. Didn't these pix turn out great?

San Diego Temple

2010-11-01T09:45:00.000-07:00

This is my new canvas picture of the temple. The picture was originally taken by Tiffany ( my favorite photographer). I had it put onto canvas and it is hanging in our living room on the wall.

This is Halloween!

2010-11-01T05:17:00.000-07:00

Henry's Pumpkin

Sorry Samuel decided to mumble.

Snow and More Snow

2010-10-29T15:48:00.000-07:00

Rebekah and I took a walk a while back, and we took a look at a creek just down the road. It's totally frozen now. Jacob said there are bicycle tracks down the center of it now. It's snowing right now as I type this. It's great! Last night we fell asleep watching the northern lights out our bedroom window. Pretty neat! Someone told me recently that it's not so bad in Fairbanks. It snows just once a year....it starts in October and doesn't stop until May. Hahaa...only six more months to go!

Everything is pretty with the snow everywhere.

I love these little dead flowers. Sounds great doesn't it?! They are teeny tiny. The top is no bigger than the tip of my pinkie, but the snow still collects in them. It makes little round snow "flowers."

Who needs flocking when you have the real thing? It's beautiful here!

Child Labor

2010-10-29T15:23:00.000-07:00

We don't believe in child labor laws here at our house. Just kidding...sort of. We have been implementing more chores for the children. The more they work, and the better they do it the happier they are and the less they fight. Amazing. We set up a challenge for the kids. If they can improve their manners at dinner we will take them out to a sit down nice dinner at the end of November. It is amazing what a difference that challenge has made for the kids. The amount of food on the floor and table after we eat has decreased significantly! Hooray! They also have to help clean the entire kitchen and dining room as soon as dinner is over and their jammies are on. It has turned out so well, and the kitchen is clean when I wake up.

Rebekah is learning to cook. She made two pans of cornbread all by herself except for putting it in the oven. I'm not willing to let her do that yet. Too much of the klutz gene in our family! I love that she is learning to cook (all the bigger kids are) and loving it. I love my little Missionary and Mommies in Training. Go MITs!

Each night during the week one of the kids sets the table. They are allowed to use any dishes they want. They put the silverware and cups in the right place, and they decorate the table with whatever they would like. Then when dinner is ready they escort each person to their seat, and Joseph has learned to pull out the chairs for his sisters and Mom!

And here is the after dinner dance party!

Happy dining everyone!

Tammy is Engaged!

2010-10-27T20:22:00.001-07:00

The pictures say it all! too cute!

Dec 23 2010

sealing-2 pm, san diego temple

reception-Bobier building 7pm

and yes that is the same day as Mary and Gary

princess dress

2010-10-27T16:45:00.001-07:00

Here is a picture of the dress I am making for Sariah for Halloween. Yes, me and last minute projects. I'm an expert at that! The cool part about the dress is that it belonged to my sister.

Here is Sariah trying it on sometime last spring. It was a size 22 spaghetti strap dress. I just have to cut the bottom off and hem it. Only three more costumes to go after this one!

Cake and Snow.

2010-10-24T21:14:00.000-07:00

Simi's birthday cake. It turned out cute, and it had a train. Perfect for a two year old train fanatic.

Just thought I would share why Simeon was driving his train on the cake. It was on the cake before we sang to him, but he was so mad at me for putting his new train on the cake that we took it off before we sang to him. He carries Percy (the train) everywhere now. The way he says "Percy" is so cute!
Jacob so lovingly pointed out to me that the tunnel is in the sky. Thank you honey...at least it had jelly bean rocks that are super tasty.
In my defense I just copied a cake I found online without paying serious attention to the tunnel in the sky. But hey, the grass icing looks awesome. I think I'll just find a way to put grass on all the kids cakes. It turns out so cool, and I like the way it feels when I eat it!

Here is Rebekah showing me the mini snowman they made a while back. It has snowed again since then and now everything is covered, and it isn't melting. The crazy people of Fairbanks don't plow the roads until it is "bad." Our road is packed snow and ice. All the parking lots in town are solid ice. They also don't salt the roads here. They use gravel instead. Sooo....lots of people get cracked windshields during winter and spring. Awesome. We also learned that they sell little spike things you strap onto your shoes so you can walk on the ice that is everywhere without worrying about falling. Now, you may be thinking, "That sooo does not sound like fun." Well, it's different, but I'm loving it, and so is the rest of the family. AND it's not hot! Now that is nice!

Here is Sariah showing me the snowman too. She didn't have on gloves either. Silly girl! Now all the kids have gloves for playing in the snow, and they have learned through experience that you

REALLY want those gloves! They just had cotton stretch gloves we got for the trip up. Those are not good for playing in snow, so they refused to wear them.

Simeon is 2!

2010-10-21T12:29:00.000-07:00

John has learned to sit up now, and the kids love to see it. They cheer him on each time he learns something new. Rebekah really likes to take care of him right now. She will get him out of bed and carry him around everywhere. She has decided she wants three kids. Anything more than three is too hard she says! She's like her mother, if it cuts into reading time it is a major sacrifice!

We put up the train table in the boys' room when we got here. Simeon especially loves it. I always find him sitting on it with tracks around himself. He will turn in circles over and over for a LONG time. If he has a train in hand all is well with the world!

He loves trains so much. Especially Thomas the train and all his friends, but really any train will do for this boy. We live across the street from the train depot here in Fairbanks. We are going to have to take a little trip there for him to see the big trains.

Halloween decor

2010-10-20T13:34:00.001-07:00

I found this fun idea online for fun Halloween decorations that weren't bloody gory. The kids love it and I put the extras in their bedrooms. I can't believe the holiday season is already here!

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October 19, 2010

2010-10-19T17:30:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Travis we have a working tub again. Dad finished up the tileing and jumped right in. I begged him to let me take a picture, of course he said NO! I snuck in with his phone/camera and took the picture any how. Isn't he soooooo cute!!!!!

Blow up the ballon and Ring around the rosies

2010-10-17T16:52:00.000-07:00

Tustin got his head stuck in the rails on our balcony....Lucky for him Grampa and Travis were able to pull the bars apart far enough to pull his head out.

Having fun, making personal pan pizzas...YUM!

Hoppy children having fun!!!!