Memorial Day at the Cabin

Whitney ready to Ride.

Dan, Pa, and Nana-- Hanging out at the Cabin

Pa and Nana.

Macie playing checkers with Sammy.

Scott and Kenzie after a way MUDDY ride on "THE HULK"

It was cold.

They got splashed with mud!

McKenzie Loved It!!

While shopping in West, Scott found a finger-puppet-glove.

He thought it was so funny/awesome that the middle puppet was "The Bird"--look how proud he is of his discovery! He even dragged me back to the store for a picture. Boys.

Sam and I wearing hats while shopping in West.

Me- modeling for Scott.

Me working it! The Mom version of "Working it" anyway.

Go Cowgirl!

Sam, Kenz, and Whit wanting to feed the fish!

Me and Whit ready to ride. This is our new 4-wheeler! We named it "THE HULK" because it is big and mean and GREEN. We have enjoyed having a 4-wheeler of our own. Scott even bought me my own helmet and goggles! My helmet is super cute--it is black and pink and white--Scott said he wanted to get me a cute helmet so that I would wear it (helmets and my hair do not mix). He was right. I think it is so cute I totally love wearing it. Thanks Scotty!

Me and the girls trying to feed the fish. NO luck. When I was a kid there were TONS of fish below this bridge and it was so fun to feed them, but now there are usually only a few and they are fat and not interested in pancakes, animal crackers, or bread. But it was a beautiful day.

Dad. Pa.

Mom. Nana. Who drove the 4-wheeler for maybe the second time in her whole life. We were all very impressed. Especially since we went on like a 20 mile ride that day! Way to go Nana!!

The Girls. Ready to go! Helmets and all! I thought they looked so cute in their gear!

Smile.


This Memorial Day weekend we went to my Grandparent's cabin in Island Park! My mom, Dad, Me, & the girls headed up on Friday evening and then Scott joined us Sat. and Macie and Dan joined us Sun. We had a great time riding 4-wheelers, cooking tin foil dinners, shopping in West, watching movies, and playing games! I always love going to the cabin. It smells like my childhood. It is beautiful there. Peaceful. Scott and I took a 4-wheeler ride down to the river and sat and watched the sun going down and the fish jumping and ducks swimming. It was so quiet. I wanted to stay there forever in the stillness. God exists.

Sisterly Love

The other day I was making dinner and I heard Kenzie "Reading" to Whitney and I peaked around the corner to find them cuddled-up together on the couch. It was so sweet and so cute I just had to catch it with the camera. Sometimes our sweet and tender moments are few and far between.

Officially a Family of Six!!!!

Yes, that's right a family of six!! Meet Dodger. The newest member of our family.

He is 7 weeks old (Yes, "HE" we had to balance the family dynamics somehow). My new baby. Seriously. Just like having a newborn. Complete with sleepless nights and round the clock feeding and potty-outings. I love it!!! :) Dodger is the sweetest, spunkiest little puppy!! He is so much fun! Dodger is a Miniature Schnauzer (for those of you how know me, just like Abby-our family dog growing-up). Dodger is going to be a full-time indoor dog. And I am way into house-training him. So far he is wonderful! I take him out every 2 hours and he "Does his business" on command. I am sure we will have mis-haps, but I plan on being very diligent (MY CARPET).

All 4 of my babies!

Easter and Kites

This is also a little out dated, but I still wanted to post about it . . . We do not "DO" the Easter bunny at our house. Ever since I was a little kid, I found the concept of a giant-mutated bunny, (who lays eggs, or steals them from lots of chickens . . .) quite creepy. So instead we just get the kids a little something and we paint eggs and just sort of skim over the whole Easter bunny thing . . . Anyway, this year they got kites! Scott picked them out, so there are not princesses :( We had an eagle, that flapped its wings; a whinny the pooh; and a buzzlight year that also doubled as a sort of balloon--that you blow-up. The kids had a great time flying their kites in the field, and of course here . . . there is NEVER a shortage of WIND!!! Kites are great.

Udate from Valentines Day

I know this is like months behind, but I always meant to post about our special Valentines day surprise from Samantha. She spend weeks planning a breakfast for Scott and I. The night before Valentines she kept sighing and I asked her what was wrong and she said, " I'm just stressed out, I just have so much to do. " I had to silently laugh---those are words I know she has heard me say-- I offered to help her, but she insisted that it was a surprise and that she was going to do it all on her own. She even told Scott at one point, "Dad, you don't have to worry about Valentines Day, I have got it all planned." So at 6:00 a.m. she comes into our room and has set up a "scavenger hunt" for me. She leads me on it and I read all her clues and they lead me to my present. Hand-made earrings, BY: Samantha. She had even gotten real earring hooks from her school teacher. Sam had crafted the rest of the jewelry from an old, but colorful coupon to Maurices.

I wore them to whole day, of course. Scott and I had even gone shopping to I.F. that day & I got quite a lot of attention from people in the stores. The earrings are fairly large, but very light. I got a lot of smiles and knowing looks from other Mom's, who have donned kid-made jewelry!! I felt very special. Thanks Sam. You are the sweetest.

Then at 6:45 a.m. Scott and I found ourselves sitting downstairs in the T.V. room for breakfast and a show! Sam put on "Wall-E" for us to watch while she made us breakfast! We even had a menu of options to choose from. Drinks: milk, water, strawberry milk, chocolate milk, and pop; then we could choose from: fruit loops, raisin bran, or rice crispies; then there was even dessert offered: candy, suckers, (one I can't read or remember what she said it was) and then a "Special Mystery"---which ended up being warm bread with honey on it!

We ordered, and she made all the food by herself and carried down the stairs to us. Which made me a little nervous (My carpet) but she did fine. We ate breakfast together EARLY that Valentines morning and we truly felt LOVE.

McKenzie's Graduation

McKenzie and her friend Sara!

More Friends! Jill, Hayley, and Kenz

Kenz and wonderful Mrs. Doggett!

Kenz with her photo album of all the fun stuff they did this year and her certificate!

McKenzie graduated from Pre-School last week! She has been going to Mrs. Doggett's Pre-School for 2 years now. We love and adore Mrs. Doggett! She is simply the best teacher! I can tell how much she really loves her students and they learn alot from her becuase she teaches them with love. Kenzie was so cute, the morning after she graduated she woke up and asked me, "Mom, do I have Kindergarten today?" It just shows me that she is now ready for Kindergarten! I am so proud of all that she has learned and of her desire to write and read. She is excited for Kindergarten. She will have a brand new teacher for K, her name is Miss Hepworth. We hope that it will be a good experience for Kenz.

The fish cake

For Kenzie's last day of pre-school they had a cake walk. All the kids brought a 1/2 of a cake to swap. Well we have this "kids cookbook" that has all these neat ideas for making a cake and McKenzie has been eyeing up this fish cake ever since we got the book. So we made it. It was actually one of the easier cakes in the book . . . which is good because it was a stretch on my ability. It only required some blue food coloring and gum drops. We just cut the gum drops into different fish and crabs and squids and such. She was very pleased. And had a fun time at her cake walk!