100 posts!

This marks my 100th post!  I didn't think that I would blog this much when I first started this.  But it has actually been pretty fun.  It has been kind of like an open journal since I am not very good about keeping my own.  Well, since this is the 100th post you would think I would have some profound words or something terriffically exciting, but I don't really.  Oh, one exciting thing... we have been trying to get Preston excited again about using the potty so I got some books at the library the other day.  We were reading it tonight and Mikalya must have been listening from the hall because she came into the room pulling at her pajamas and wanted Ryan to follow her.  She led him into the bathroom and pointed to the toilet.  Ryan put her on, and voila!  She went!  Who would have thought our 16 month old would be more interested than our 2 1/2 year old?!  Maybe we can get them both potty trained at the same time and then no more diapers!  Yeah, yeah... I know.  Keep on dreaming.  

Just maybe...

Today we met a couple of our neighbors.  A cute old couple right next door to us and a young couple with a baby down the street.  We also watched an old friend's (he grew up right down the street from me in Texas) little girl and chatted with him for a while.  The weather was so nice: 55 degrees and sunny!  It was clear and you could see the beautiful mountains to the East of us (ha, look at me Ryan and Dad G.!  I am finally starting to figure out these directions!).  And I was able to dry some apples in my dehydrator (yummy!  Thanks Mom and Dad G. for our Christmas present!).  Just maybe, I will like it here and maybe we can meet some friends.  Church on Sunday did not prove to be all that encouraging in this department.  Not many people came up to us to introduce themselves (maybe it was because of Ward Conference?).  But then, I remember what my Dad told me before we left... sometimes, YOU will have to be the one to go up to people and go out of your comfort zone to make new friends.  YOU will have to work at it.  So thanks Dad.  Always something I need reminding of.  Love you!

Discoveries

We had a "snow storm" here last week that was great because the kids played in the snow in the backyard for an hour or so and then it was pretty much gone by about lunch time.  That is MY kind of snow storm!  Preston had fun driving one of his trucks in the snow and had to make sure every square inch of the backyard had toy tire tracks on it.  He also realized that putting snow on the screen door of the porch was fun to watch as it melted to the floor after being thrown on the door.  Screen doors are also good for face prints!  Mikayla loved eating the snow, and I discovered that we have an apple tree!  We will see if we can get some good apples off of it before we move out of this house.  And Dad G., my new boots were great out in the snow!

A future chef?!

Preston lately has been interested in helping me bake, cook, do dishes, etc.  I think we might have a future chef on our hands.  He is still so much of a little boy and pretends to be a frog and says  "ribbit" and jumps all over the place and is loving having a backyard where he can dig in the dirt ( and throw it on his sister!).

Growing like a weed

Here is a recent picture of Mikayla.  She is NOT much of a girlie girl, so I have to take pictures of her when her hair is done when I can.  She hates anything in her hair and will pull chunks of her hair out just to get a rubber band out of it.  What a stinker!  

Our New Place

Well, here is our new place.  We are renting this home for 6 months and hopefully in the meantime, we can find a house we can afford to buy, depending on how well the business is doing.  Ryan is getting everything set up for his business, just about 1/2 a mile down the road from us.  He hopes to have his doors open by the beginning of April or earlier.  The weather has been beautiful here in Boise and thankfully, no snow until today.  Watching the snow come down, I am realizing that Boise snow storms have nothing on Idaho Falls, or Utah storms, but if you know me at all, you know that is a great thing!  The kids are handling the move very well.  They are a little more clingy than normal, but that is to be expected.  They are loving having a backyard, which we enjoyed the other day, sitting outside in the warm sun eating pretzels as Preston is showing here.  The first day we moved in, I heard banging and laughing and went and found them in the playroom closet with the door closed.  They had to test out the closet to see how well their cars worked in there.  Preston is in a big bed now and is doing really well with it too.  And even though it is cooler weather here than in Texas, my kids still love running around the house in just a diaper!  I am loving having some extra room (we have 2 extra rooms, hooray!), a backyard to let the kids play in, a nice view of mountains down the street, a kids room that has space in between their two beds that they can't touch each other, a garage, which makes bringing groceries in, so much easier than a long walk to our old upstairs apartment, and a nice, open kitchen with great appliances (that cook chocolate chip peanut butter cookies very well - Preston had fun helping me make them)!!  Overall, it is nice here.  We have some exploring to do, but we will get the hang of things eventually.  We took a drive to Bogus Basin (the ski hill here) last night in which Mikayla was able to get acquainted with the icy, muddy parking lot (she took a nose dive and had mud on her forehead covering her eye and all down her pant leg!).  PLEASE feel free to come visit anytime!  :)    Thank you to all who helped us these past few months with places to live, money, clothes for the kids, help moving out and in and listening ears and hugs.  We couldn't have done it without you all!!  Miss you all and love you!

IDAHO!

After arriving in Idaho Falls to visit Ryan's family, we awoke to our car being covered in snow and a nice new 5 inches on the ground with single digit temperatures.  We went with Grandpa to feed the cows and the kids had fun looking at the horses, cows, and riding in the tractor with Uncle Sid.  If I am not careful, they might start liking this kind       of stuff :)  We also had fun sledding and playing with the 4 wheelers with cousins and Grandpa, and feeding the ducks by the temple.

The trip North

Here are some pictures of our trip heading to Utah/Idaho. In Utah, we were able to see Great Grandparents, play in the snow with cousins, and I was able to get together with a couple of my roomies from College. So glad we could get together you two!

Old Pictures

Since moving, I have pictures that have needed to be posted, but have not gotten around to it.  So sorry they are older, but I still like them, so here they are...