Fall and winter

Fall is such a great time of the year. I love the cooler weather, all the amazing colors on the trees, and the kids going back to school. I started teaching my second year of early-morning seminary, and I was tired for months! Ha!
Freshman in the house!!!
Sharlie started middle school!
She's gonna' kick the school bullies straight up in the face!
Gemma, excited to start 2nd grade. She loves going to school!
Our adorable little Claire-bear is six months old!
Say what?!


Time to run the Hayden Lake Marathon! 43 degrees, rain, and hills everywhere. 2,800 feet of climbing. It was hard!


All done!
Thanks for the awesome signs, kids!



Maddie as "Glinda the Good Witch." I love watching Brooke's creations come to life!


Sharlie as "The White Witch" from Narnia.
Pretty cool design, Brooke. Get it? Cool? Not funny? Fine. Moving on.
Cameron was a fire-breathing dragon!!!
So ferocious!
I love the wings.
Gemma was a stylin' witch.



Napoleon, Deb and their pet liger.
Maddie and I at Young Women in Excellence. We got to do a choreographed waltz. Very fun!
Surprise road trip! Brooke's grandma Parkinson passed away, so we trekked to Rexburg for Thanksgiving.
Rest stop hijinks.
Mill Hollow. Yum!
Grandpa gave everyone backhoe rides. Yeehaw!


There's nothing more romantic than a backhoe ride in the snow with your beloved wife...and your father-in-law! LOL!
Grandma's funeral was wonderful. Brooke and I did a musical number "Goin' Home," but when it came time for the grave-site service it was about 0 degrees out, so I took the kids back to the hotel while Brooke went to the cemetery.
We loved staying in the hotel. I think that will become a new tradition!


Snuggly sleepy babies are the best.
Bold, cheerful, confident babies are pretty great too!


Maddie had her first dance recital!
We also got to make a 20-year dream come true for me. We saw The Aquabats in concert!

Showtime! I had a bunch of really fun Elf gigs this season. 
But the best of all was going to Salem Hospital with Jovie on Christmas Eve. We visited the children's ward and brought small gifts for the kids. It was both uplifting and heartbreaking. Next year I'm determined to visit the children's hospital in Portland. 



Christmas morning smiles!

Merry Christmas, Gemma!



Thanks for sitting on my box, baby!





Claire's first Christmas!







Merry Christmas, kids!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Go Ergo!

Image
After waiting for what felt like an eternity, March came along, and I finally was able to release my "Go Ergo!" music video to the world. It was so exciting! A week before we had a big viewing at work where we watched the music video and all the individual segments. Then the video was launched to the public, and we were really surprised to get a great news article, some radio play, and a bunch of Facebook and Twitter interaction. The video currently has 5,900 views, which is awesome for the workers comp industry! Here's the news article we received from the Statesman Journal:  http://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/money/business/2015/03/19/saif-films-rap-video-spread-word-office-ergonomics/25050341 Click HERE for the radio clip!  And here's the video: The rap video promotes the full office ergonomics series, which features 11 segments all about arranging workstations for comfort and safety. Brooke, Sharlie, and myself, can be seen in the openings ...
Read more

Cameron is born!!!

Image
The birth of a child is easily one of life's greatest joys. It always feels to me as if the windows of heaven open and we catch a glimpse of the eternities. With each child I am brought to tears, and they seem to come more frequently (and heartily) with the more children we have. And with that...here is the story of the day our precious Cameron arrived. But let me go back a few days. Brooke's physician had actually scheduled her to be induced on Friday, January 29th. There were no pressing health issues, but rather that was a day that worked well for the physician, and the doctor wanted to go for it! The day looked perfect, as the kids had no school, so all three girls could go to a family's house together for the day. We made our arrangements, and planned on checking into the hospital at 7:00 a.m. We were, however, required to call the hospital beforehand to make sure there was a room available for us. We called at 6:00 a.m., and no rooms were available. Long story short,...
Read more

Memorial Day Weekend!

Image
We had a fun Memorial Day weekend this year.  On Saturday we headed to a local school park and had a sweet picnic, complete with fried chicken, kettle chips, juice boxes, and cookies.  That is a recipe for awesomeness, if I do say so myself! Sharlie loves the swings Then on Monday we all headed to Coeur d'Alene to hike the Tubbs hill nature trail. It's a beautiful hike right along the edge of the lake. The kids absolutely loved it. After the hike we went to a cool new burger place called Scrud's. I ate a big burger and got to write my name on the wall!   After lunch we offered to take the kids to a play park, but they were so satisfied with their hike that they simply asked to go home. How rad is that?!!  Gemma's first hike, at two weeks.  She slept the whole time. Such sweet sisters! Brooke is looking good and feeling great!
Read more