Comin at ya a little late....

Not the typical vacation spot!

Don't ya just love free trips? Quinn is in the process of building a new dental office and the headquarters for some of the equipment that he has to purchase is in Portland. So the first week of December we were able to fly out to the coast, mainly for the purpose of choosing dental equipment, but we decided to make a little mini-vacation out of it. When I think of taking a trip, Oregon is not typically the first place that comes to mind...but I was surprised at how beautiful it was! Here are some of the highlights of our quick trip.


We decided to take a drive out to the coast one of the days, and on the way we found this cool Air and Space Museum. Inside this building is the actual Spruce Goose built by Howard Hughes. It is huge!! On the lawn in front of this building they have another huge 747 that they are planning on turning into a water park...with 4 water slides based off the airplane itself. Way cool.

This is as close as I have ever been to the pacific ocean. It's so beautiful. The waves were roaring this particular day and I found myself awed at the amazing creations that make up this world we live in.

I love this guy.

We were driving up the coast and found this cool place to stop and watch the sun fade into the endless expanse of ocean. What an awesome sunset!

We drove out to this place on Sunday after we visited a ward in Portland (which is always very interesting). It's called Multnomah Falls and is located just outside of Portland. Very cool waterfall. I love the bridge connecting the two canyon walls.

Somewhere in the middle of all this we actually did pick out some dental equipment!!

I LOVE it when:

Quinn helps Morgan with her math....


...I am quickly realizing that I am NOT smarter than a 5th grader!

Happy Halloween!

Don't we all just LOVE Halloween?? The ultimate kid fantasy holiday. Here are the kids on the big day, just before heading out to claim their loot...

Morgan, a.k.a Hermione Granger. "Swish and flick"

Layton a.k.a Indiana Jones...Kate lovingly calls him "IndYIana Jones."

Allie, my darling 50's girl...caught her mid-spin on this pic.

Cute Kate...little Tinkerbell. Sometimes referred to as "Stinkerbell". (Only when she's being a stinker of course.)

One holiday down, two to go...Christmas is just around the corner folks! Ready or not...

Yeahhhh! I can SEE!!

Little Miss Rigby

Every year the Rigby High School dance team holds a fundraiser called Little Miss Rigby. Now before I continue, I need to add the disclaimer that I am sooo not a pageant mom and I don't believe in exploiting little girls in that way. That being said, this particular program is kind of like a Junior Miss for little girls. There is no talent portion, they just learn a little physical fitness routine, followed by a poise and interview segment. This is Morgan's second year participating and she has really enjoyed it. They assign each girl a "big sister" from the dance team to help them learn their routines and cheer them on. I think this is Morgan's favorite part. At the end, each girl recieves a rose, and a special award from their "big sister". Morgan's award was Little Miss Hard-Worker. Can't ask for a better award than that! We love you and we're proud of you Morg!

All the girls on stage at the end of the program. There were 42 participants this year!

Morgan after the show...barefoot because her shoes were hurting her feet!

Mom and Morg

Her faithful supporters

Blast from the Past, part duex

While we were on our trip to Boise a few weeks ago, we stopped off for a moment in a little town that has a big place in my heart. In fact, I still like to call it my "hometown" because so much of my growing up happened there. I will always consider myself a blessed person for having the opportunites and friendships that were cultivated there. Here are a few pics of my old stompin' ground.

My old house on Juniper Street. When we lived there it was brown with yellow trim. It has unfortunately fallen into disrepair, but so many good memories remain!

North Elementary where I attended 5th and 6th grade.

Mountain Home Junior High School -- Home of the Patriots

Mountain Home High School -- Home of the Tigers
I took this picture from the back of the school... my friend Forrest and I RAN up this sidewalk nearly every day because we were late...most often it was HIS fault!! :)

Mountain Home High School was unique in the fact that they allowed the art students to paint big murals on the walls of the school. Nearly every wall in the school was covered with some kind of cool painting. Some of them became "landmarks" to me, helping me remember exactly where my classes were. (Chemistry was right next to the Beetles) I heard that soon after we moved from Mountain Home, they painted over all the murals and were no longer allowed to paint on the walls of the school. This is one of the only murals left, painted on the concession stand just outside the school, and happens to be the one my older brother, Mike, painted. Way to go, Mike!

The Seminary building...Brother Roberts was one of the best seminary teachers ever!

Mountain Home City Pool where I worked as a lifeguard and taught swimming lessons for two summers in High School.

Mountain Home Stake Center where I attended church and had some of the most amazing leaders. Not to mention super-fun stake dances!

Anyone from Mountain Home recognizes this iconic landmark just outside of town! Nuff said.

Blast From the Past, Part 1

Every once in a while, you find yourself part of something really special. You may not realize it at the time, and it may even be years down the road before you do, but eventually memories will come and take root in your heart and maybe even in your tear ducts, and you will realize that you are a blessed person because of one such experience in your life. When I was about 14, I had a friend who was 3 years older than me... yes three years. She was a Laurel and I was barely a Mia Maid. She was the one that everyone wanted to be friends with because of her dynamic, positive, magnetic personality. This amazing person would call me on the phone and offer to come pick me up so we could hang out. A lot of the time we would play softball, or go to the lake and swim, or just hang out with her and her friends. They (she, and all her cool friends) even threw me a birthday party when I turned 15! This proved to be a pivitol time in my life when all around me were girls my age trying to figure out who they were and what direction they were going to go...myself included. So you can only imagine the impact this friendship had on me. From then on and to this day, she has been one of my greatest friends. I am so thankful for her reaching out to me and taking me under her wing. I had the privelege this weekend to attend her wedding reception in Boise, and oh, what a welcome reunion. She looked beautiful and soooo happy! Rebecca, I'm so happy for you, and I wish you all the very best!!!


I was so happy that my husband and kids got to meet Rebecca, and got to see first hand, the crazy, bubbly, fun person that she is. In the middle of Rebecca's "thankyou" speech, she broke into a pre-choreographed lip-sink of "I will survive"! Just LOVE this girl!

Morgan and Layton took a little bit to break out of their shells on the dancefloor, but once they did, there was no holding back!

They were both so excited to dance with Mom and Dad, and Layton even had me twirling under his arm! What a leader that boy is!

Super Mega Summer/Fall Post (brace yourselves)

It's hard to believe that summer is over and fall is right around the corner! We had one heck of a summer, and it doesn't seem to be slowing any time soon. Here are a few things we've been up to in no particular order....okay, so there is some order...

In late August we were able to have a short reunion with some of our best friends from Dental School. I love these pics of Allie and Ellie. They were only 1 year old when we moved from Kentucky. But they play as if they've known eachother their whole lives!

Allie and Ellie deep in conversation. (how cute is that?)

Isaac, Kate, Morgan, and Allie

Layton and Lauren

Nothing like a day spent with good friends. We love you guys!

Brenda talked me into running the Top of Utah 1/2 marathon with her. She must know I'll do anything to see her! It really was fun though, and a good goal to keep me focused all summer.

Note to self: next time wear a shirt that doesn't change color when you sweat! Good grief! I promise I'm not lactating!

My cousin Darci lives in Logan and my brother Ryan was there supporting his wife who was also in the race (a few miles ahead of me!)


One Sunday night a couple of weeks ago, after dinner and in the middle of putting kids to bed, we discovered that our sump pump decided to quit working in the basement and there was water all over the storage room floor. (and a little on the carpet surrounding the storage room) So what I was hoping to be a relaxing Sunday evening, turned out to be spent vaccuuming water and emptying a much-too-full-of-junk storage room. Sounds fun huh?

The upside to this story is that since the storage room was now empty, it was the perfect opportunity to build long-overdue shelves and get organized! So over the next few days Quinn and his dad (Thanks Wayne!) worked to build shelves for me and I am LOVING my new storage room!



Who can forget the Eastern Idaho State Fair? Here are Quinn and Kate outside my Grandma's house waiting for the parade to start.

And all the kids standing with their candy bags at attention!

Allie with my cousin Darci's kids, Jada and Brecka

All the kids sitting on the curb in front of my grandma's house. The cool thing is that somewhere there is a picture taken about 20 years ago with me and all my siblings and cousins sitting in front of the exact same house on the same curb. My grandpa said this was the 39th year they have watched the parade in front of thier house!


In mid-September I participated in my last race of the year, the DuExtreme Road Duathlon in Pocatello. This one was extra special though, because I had two of my favorite people in the world participating as well.. They also hold a kids bike race, and Morgan and Layton couldn't wait!

Layton getting all "pumped up" before the race!

They both did great, but Layton's chain came off his bike half-way through, so he had to wait for someone to come help him put it back on. Tough break, bud. He said he can't wait for next year though.

Morgan coming in to the finish line

The kids with their medals and a really proud grandma!

..Not to mention the proud Mom!

Morgan snapping pics as I finished the bike leg.

Transitioning to the run

Coming across the finish line...4th overall! Not a bad way to end the season.

Whew!!! Is this post done yet???