11th Anniversary

First - Samuel took this picture - not to bad for a 3 yr. old
It was our 11th Anniversary this weekend. And Chuck knows me well by now, he got me a dozen cheap roses at the grocery store and a candy bar. I love chocolate and hate when he spends money on flowers so I love the cheap ones! We had our neighbor girl tend Samuel and Bella and then we took the baby with us to dinner. I was already stuffed from a yummy steak and then our waiter brought us out a huge piece of ice cream cake because I mentioned the fact that it was our anniversary. I then felt obligated to eat more and I just can't pass up ice cream so by the time we left I was so sick!

The past 11 years have brought us many blessings!

I set up the tripod and used my remote to take these family pictures of us before church today. I am finally going to get a family photo for my frame that'a been hanging empty for the past 6 months!

I decided I would use this shot since we look like we're having fun. And you can't help but have fun when you're trying to take a picture with three little ones!

Misc. Happenings

The past two weeks Samuel has been taking swiming lessons at SHAC. The semi-private lessons we did a couple of months ago were so much better, but I had already paid and decided that he could use a little extra practice. He actually really loved going and since it was in the evening, Chuck would take him and Bella. This was wonderful for me because I got to stay home with the baby! This is Samuel with his teacher - she was really cute, no wonder he loved it! I did take him the last day of lessons and when I got his completion certificate she had written that Samuel was her favorite.

Samuel pushing Bella at our Ward party. Saturday we had our Ward party and even though that was our actually anniversary we decided we better go since we don't really know that many people yet. It's hard to get to know too many people when we spend most of the time in the hallway with the baby. Chuck made his dutch oven dish to share. My curse of having things go wrong whenever I sign up to take a dish somewhere must have rubbed off on Chuck. He put the coals on top of a rock and this slowed down the cooking when we were already in a hurry. He ended putting the dutch oven in the oven to finish cooking. Luckily church activities never start on time!

Isaac turned 5 months old and so I finally decided I could move him from our bedroom into the guest room. Here he is in the pack and play. Bella still has the crib so Isaac's in here for now. He's still getting up at least twice a night to eat so having him down the hall is a pain, but we like having our room back. He also rolled from his back to his belly yesterday.

I'm still working on Samuel and Isaac's construction room. We have lots of guests coming during October so I'm trying to get several little projects done. One is to get pictures of the boys hung up in their room. This was one I took of Isaac to add to the wall. He's at a hard age for taking pictures since he can't sit by himself yet.

Jump N Jacks

Last Saturday we took the kids to Jump N Jacks. They have blow up bounce and slide toys. When we first went in the lights were turned down low with the disco balls turning and loud music blasting and both of the kids were not very happy. Luckily they soon realized it was a little early in the afternoon for this type of setting and turned the lights on and the music down. Then the kids absolutely loved the place! I had Isaac so Chuck was sliding and bouncing with the kids. He was worn out by the time we left.

The kids going down the giant slide together.

Samuel climbing up one of the big slides by himself. Bella couldn't climb up by herself so Chuck had to pack her each time. I was always a little nervous for the people climbing up behind Chuck because he looked a little wobbly when packing Bella. I just kept waiting for him to trip and cause a giant domino effect.



Bella found a nasty cracker on the ground that someone dropped and then had been smashed and walked over a few dozen times, but that didn't stop her from picking it up and shoving it in her mouth. We tried to stop her, but it was too late!

Kambree's Baby Blessing

This last Sunday Wes and Trina blessed Kambree. Here is the fam after the baby blessing.

Our three little ones.

Aunt Trina does not have any toys at her house to play with so Samuel decided to make his own fun in the bathroom sink.


Because Trina has no toys, the kids always want to go to Monica's house. She has lots of fun things for the kids to do!

Half Marathon

The guys were able to finish the lawn project on Friday night so Chuck decided to run the Half Marathon from Gunlock to Ivins on Saturday morning. He beat his time in the same race last year by a full 10 minutes!

We actually almost missed seeing him come across the finish line because he was running so much faster than he usually does. I was getting the baby out of his carseat and looked up to see Chuck coming down the last stretch. I took of running with Isaac and my dad was running with Samuel to the finish line. I got there just in time to snap a couple of photos as he ran by. And being in the older age division has really improved his finishes - he got 2nd in his category and 11th overall! Way to go!

We Have Lawn!

Thanks Dad and Wes for coming to help us lay our lawn!
We are sooooo excited that we finally have a little patch of lawn! I can't even tell you how glad I am to at least get a little bit of the red dirt covered up. We are doing our lot in stages since we aren't quite sure what to do in all the areas, and some areas we just don't agree on, but at least this part is done.

We all laugh everytime Chuck and Dad get together to work on a project. Dad is a perfectionist and Chuck's not. They like to discuss how every project should be done while Wes just stays out of it and keeps working.

Samuel kept telling us he was a good worker and he really was working hard. He liked to roll out the sod most times before it was in quite the right place.

Chuck and the kids working on putting together a cabinet for our locker area. They were having a great time, until Samuel was hammering and hit Chuck's finger.

Chuck got a bag of ice for his finger that still has a little blood blister on the end of it and then the kids all needed their bag of ice too. Bella now brings me a baggy everyday and wants ice in it.

The Dollar Store

Samuel loves when Grandma comes for a visit because she always takes him and Bella to the Dollar Store and they get to pick out whatever toys they want. Samuel has no problem deciding what he wants and he makes sure Bella gets what he wants too! Thanks Grandma!!

Playing with the bubbles they got from the Dollar Store.

Misc. Happenings

Yes we had another unwanted guest at our home, but at least this time it was just in the garage.Chuck found this snake while he was working in the garage and rushed in to tell me to get the camera (we photograph everything in this household!). Before I rushed to the scene, I asked if it was a rattlesnake and he said he didn't know it might be. Not really what you want to hear, but it was tiny enough that it couldn't do to much harm.

Crazy kids - they fight a lot, but they also have so much fun playing together. Just loved Bella's crazy hair in this picture. And is this really how daddy gets them ready for bed!

The ear pull!

Kambree's already beating up on Issac. She had such a tight hold of his ear and just kept pulling and pulling. It didn't even phase the poor guy - Bella and Samuel have made him into one tough baby!

Janice came over and helped me make whole wheat bread. I finally was able to use the grinder and Bosche Chuck's mom got me a few months. And the bread turned out yummy! I've actually started my food storage - okay so I only have 50 lbs. of wheat, but it's a start!

Little Miss Bella

Bella's 2nd birthday is still a month away, but I love planning the parties early especially since this year I'm not sick and pregnant like I was for her 1st birthday. This year we're having a Nursery Rhyme party so I borrowed Grandma Jerri Lynn's wedding hat and took Bella to the Brigham Young House to get some really cute pictures of her to put on the birthday invitation.

I was worried about taking pictures of her since she hates getting her picture taken, but after the successful pictures I took while in Snow Canyon I decided it may be possible. We did have to bribe her with ice cream. Up to this point, no amount of bribery has worked but for some reason she was willing to sit still for a couple of shots once we promised her the ice cream.

Bella Girl

I finally was able to get a few cute pictures of Bella! It helped to have Aunt Trina making her laugh while I snapped away. Her hair was a little wild, but that's just her, I can't keep it looking good.

Labor Day Tin Foil Dinners

Trina and Wes joined us in Snow Canyon on Labor Day for tin foil dinners. Trina and I were a little worried that Chuck's plan for cooking our food wasn't going to work, but he suprised us and they turned out great. What a yummy meal!

The fam after eating dinner.

Uncle Wes playing with Samuel. Wes would throw the tennis ball to Samuel and he would try to hit it. Poor Isaac was sitting in his car seat and got hit in the stomach by one of Samuel's successful hits.

Crazy kids had so much fun running wild.



Kambree and Isaac