Decorating gingerbread houses for FHE.

Thanksgiving at the Dunn's. Here is the kids table.

Emily hosted the annual Saguaro Canyon Boutique in November. It was a great success and we are all glad it is over once again. Her custom made aprons (as seen in the photo) were a hit. So much so that she sold out in the first day and had tons of custom orders. (She is now reluctantly fulfilling those orders.)

This is the final family photo for Christmas 2007. Finally...only 200 trys!

Here are the kids in their favorite outfits...nakies! It's kind of nice because our clothes budget is next to nothing!

Here is the USA team at the Davis Cup Finals 2007 at Portland, Oregon versus Russia. Pictured is Andy Roddick, James Blake, and the Bryan twins. They won 3-0 in a 2 day event. Dan flew down and had a great weekend watching nothing but great tennis!

Air show with dad and Grandpa Clark

The Nampa airport had an air show with all sorts of planes to see on the ground and in the sky. Dad, Grant, Ella, and Grandpa Clark took in the sights and sounds of mini planes, helicopters, and planes racing corvettes. Anything plane-oriented is always a highlight for Dad. One pilot even asked if Grant wanted to sit in the cockpit. He was a little hesitant, but finally caved. He loved it.

The Soccer Season 2007

Grant loved soccer...for about the first 5 minutes of the season. Then it was pumping the kid full of assorted treats to get him to cooperate. There were only 4 other kids on the team, 3 of which have to be on the field to play. It was a struggle but he says he liked it.

Annual Halloween Party 2007

We had our annual Halloween Party at the house this year. It was started by a starry night sky just above our house...how fitting.

We had about 5 families come over for homemade caramel apples, pumpkin carving, and appetizers and goodies. It was a jolly old time for all. There were some great pumpkins carved and lots of caramel apples with all the toppings you could fit.

Our little reader

Just had to add this cute photo of Grant reading one evening fireside. He loves his monthly subscription to "The Friend".

Jaunt to the Coast

Here are a few photos of our trip to the Oregon Coast this past month. We left Boise on Wednesday and stayed at Emily’s parent’s house that night. Then on Thursday we left in the morning for our first stop; the famous land of cheese…Tillamook!


From a sour past experience where they ran out of cheese curd (the ONLY reason I go to Tillamook) I entered the facility and made a bee-line to the curd isle. Success! I stocked up! Who knew you could freeze curd? We toured the factory and ate Tillamook lunch, ice cream, and plenty of cheese. It was heavenly. In one of the photos you’ll notice Grant all gooped up in orange sorbet. He couldn’t have gotten more of the stuff on him if it was poured over his head. Instead, the sorbet fell on the ground and he slipped and rolled in it. It was everywhere!


Then it was off to try the local seafood and fruit stands. They were a let down. All out of crab and their peaches stunk! Lori really fell for the peach sales pitch and bought a bag full. Then it was off to Lincoln City and Gleneden Beach. Of course along the way, we stopped in at the local stand for fresh homemade apple dumplings in Hemlock. We ordered 4 to go to enjoy at our condo that night. Lori tried the peach thing again, yet another downer, but she said it was getting better. We advised her that peaches are not in season and we should refrain from trying a peach at each stand we pass en route. She concurred. We made it to Gleneden Beach which is about 5 miles south of Lincoln City. We were a bit early for our check in at the Worldmark resort so we opted to check out the place and see the beach. It was kind of drizzly outside thus our beach tour lasted about 15 minutes before we headed back to the lodge for shelter. After we checked in to our massive 3 bedroom condo (thanks mom and dad), we all went swimming in the heated pools. Grant hadn’t been swimming since our neighborhood pool shut down for the season and really enjoyed getting back into the pool to show nana and papa that he could swim all by himself. We cleaned up and went out for a nice seafood feast at the local hot spot Mo’s. Their clam chowder is the best. There was a mix of orders ranging from chowder, clams, scallops, fish and chips, and….beef ribs. Who knew the Oregon Coast was famous for their ribs? (Their not.) It’s sacrilege, that’s what it is. Anyway, we headed home and picked up some Haagen-Dazs ice cream to top our dumplings. Ymmm! Friday, we went to the outlet mall in Lincoln City. Not very exciting, but a must do when on the coast apparently. They have these malls all along the coast. I wouldn’t call them outlets, as they are nothing different than the regular stores. From there we left Lincoln City and went further south to Newport. Our next lodging was in Depoe Bay, about 5 miles north of Newport. We found the famous bayside street of Newport. We saw the sea lions sleeping on the docks of the harbor and ate lunch overlooking them. We walked through the shops along the drive and got some salt water taffy and other unhealthy treats. By then, we were famished. We headed back to the condo, yet again a 3 bedroom unit facing the ocean. It was amazing how close the waves came to the rocks below our unit. That night the waves were very intense and if you had the patio doors open, it was quite loud and dramatic. At night, the resort has a spotlight so you can see the waves hitting the rocks. We decided to have dinner at the condo that night. On the way to Newport, we stopped at a roadside shack about 1 mile north of Taft which is basically the little area inside Silitz Bay where Mo’s is. A guy sells fresh seafood for a few hours a day and I picked up 2 huge Dungeness crabs, much to the dismay of the woman-folk. Apparently, this seafood stuff is for the birds. So we cooked up the crabs, BBQ’d some huge New York steaks and had baked potatoes. It was a great feast. Then on Saturday we ate a breakfast at the clubhouse and headed for home via Salem, Oregon. It started to rain that morning, so we picked the weather perfectly.






It was a lot of car time and we are glad to be done with that for a while. Enjoy the photos!

Welcome to Our Family Blog!

This is kind of an experiment for me--I've heard from many friends that having a blog has made it easier to keep up with friends and family and so I'm giving it a try myself. I haven't had much success with journals in the past, but I figured I'd at least give this a try.

So--on to my first post: We just got back from Utah for a Labor-Day weekend trip to Provo. Skippy (our now ex-chihuahua) has gone to live with Karin and her family. My feelings about this change? Yippy Skippy! (he he) As far as Grant is concerned, Skippy is on an extended sleep-over.

We spent time with the Clark family at Pam's house and Grant and Ella had a blast with their cousins. And Dan and I had a blast because Grant and Ella were out having a blast with their cousins. We also made a quick trip to BYU campus just to look around the new Alumni Center as well as other new buildings and changes on campus. People kept asking us for directions, I'm hoping because I still look like a student (?), and I'm ashamed to admit I really had to struggle to recall where specific buildings were. Sheesh--senior moments already? It's only been three years for cryin' out loud! It was a good trip and amazingly enough there were no major breakdowns--for the car, the kids, or myself.

This week Grant started preschool. He's growing so fast! Sniff. We are participating in a co-op preschool where each of the mothers rotate teaching responsibilities. We meet twice a week for 2 hours each. My goals for this year include teaching Grant to be nice, not hit, share, stand when asked, and leave without screaming. So far so good. He was very excited as we packed his new backpack with crayons, gluesticks, and safety scissors.

Ella is growing fast too. She becomes more communicative every day--especially when she does not get what she wants. She can have quite a little temper! She is also very sweet lately too, snuggling with me every so often (Definition: laying her head on my shoulder for .5 seconds). I am soaking this new phenomenon up because my kids generally move too fast to snuggle mom. She is also starting to sing to herself and she is quite a boogier when she hears music.

We have had a fun summer, but I'm ready to get back into the routine of things. Most of all, we are happy and healthy and doing well here in Boise.