Our run up to Packsaddle Lake

So last Saturday we got out and went off-roading for probably the last run of the year. It was an interesting run. I've never been on a run where we've experienced much trouble and we got into a few ruts on this trip but it over all we had a good time. This run is one of my favorites. Last year when Paul was working for RMS he was asked to go to a training/fun day run up Green Canyon and later the next weekend Paul took me up the mountain in our 4Runner to see it for myself. It was gorgeous!!! We tried to get back a couple of times this year but things never ended up happening. When we heard the off-road group we tag along with was going on a run up the back side of Green Canyon we just had to jump inline. (I feel really bad because I turned a few friends down on some fun things because I wanted to go so bad.) We were going to take 2 cars so Amie and a few of her roommates could come and Paul was going to drive one and I was going to drive the other. Finals up here at BYU-I were starting the next week so a few had dropped out and so we ended up only needing one car. I'm SOOOO glad it worked out that way. We got out there and at the beginning of the trail it looked like I could probably handle driving but as we worked our way up the mountain you can see it got a little tougher.

We had a few tough spots in the trail but all-in-all our car did okay. We never made it to the lake because the snow was too deep but it was still worth the trip. There was one point where one of the cars in front of the pack blew out his clutch and that stopped the trip for about 2 hours while we tried to dig him out but it because of the delay we say the most beautiful sunset I've ever experienced!!!

I know I say this a lot but there are times when I'm not that grateful for everything I have. I get really home sick and there are times when I'm sure I'm hard to live with because I want nothing more to be out of Idaho and back in Washington. Then I have weekends like these where I get the see the magical surrounding we live in and it changes my perspective. This area was touched by God. When you look at how beautiful and blessed this corner of our state is you can't doubt that God is real and it's impossible to not feel the love He has for each and every one of his children. I'm not trying to preach but if you could only experience it first hand you would more than know that every word I've said is true. You can see God in the amazing landscape out here and we are so blessed to be able to access it so easily.

Here are the best pictures I have to show just how great this day was!!!

Amie having fun riding in the car. I think she was playing with Riann and looked up just at the right time for me to catch a smile. She's beautiful!!!

Before we really got up the mountain the group stopped to air down their tires. 

These are a few shots of almost everyone who was with us.

For a FORD this thing was pretty sweet!!! He had a blast plowing through the snow. You can see by his tires we got in some pretty deep stuff.

Frank's truck brought up the rear. I'm sooo glad it did. We were really focused on what was ahead of us the whole time and so we didn't take much time to look back and there was a moment when we got stopped because someone was stuck and we ran back to say hi to Frank and it was AMAZING seeing that view behind us!!! There are a few better pictures below but you really couldn't capture how amazing that view was with the Tetons in the background. 

As we were waiting to get the member of the group who broke down going again the clouds started to change and everything got a little cooler. 

One of the guys in the group playing around. If we weren't in the process of selling our rig I'm sure Paul would have been right behind him!!!

YES she was in her car seat the whole time we were moving but when we had our long pauses she needed to get out and stretch. She had a blast playing with Aunt Amie in the front of the car. I absolutely adore this child. She's is so wonderful to us!!!! I hope she still loves doing this stuff with us when she grows up!!!

This was a better shot of what we saw behind Frank's truck. It was amazing with the road in view but you kind of get the idea here. I'm telling ya... God really knows what he's doing!!!

We got a little further up the road after we had the 2 hour delay. The sun started to set and the sky started to change. It was amazing to be up there and see a sun set like this. It's still not as good on file as it was in person but as you can see it was AMAZING!!!

Coming down the mountain. Everything started to change so quick!!!

There were so many colors. You'd look out the widow one direction and see one thing and then look out the other and see more. Then you'd look back and it would all be different.

Beautiful!!! Doesn't it just feel peaceful?!?!!

One of the best evenings in Idaho. It was a long hard day but coming home to this was AMAZING!!! 

Our plan is to take a trip up this next summer and camp a few nights. There's no running water or toilets but if anyone wants to join us their welcome to. We want to camp up by the lake and watch a sunrise and sunset over the Tetons. There's TONS of room at the top so seriously if you want in on the plans let me know!!! I'm so excited to get back up there. There is so much to do in this area but I swear to you, this is the most beautiful spot in Idaho!!!

Happy - belated- Thanksgiving!!!

So I'm a little late on this one but I still wanted to get it up for family so they know were didn't lack this Thanksgiving. We really had a lot of fun. We really wanted to make sure that no one was home alone for the holiday this year and because we were stuck in Rexburg the whole time we decided to invite everyone who was stuck with us that wanted to come over to come have Thanksgiving at our place.

It was pretty fun. In all we had 9 people at our place. We had Maryanne, Mike and Derek (I work with Mike and Maryanne - Derek is Mike's brother). We also had Amie and her roommate Chrissy, Amie and Paul's cousin Kyle and then out three some - Paul, Riann and me. It was really neat having that many people there and really having to do it all on our own.

Maryanne took care of all of the side, Amie and Chrissy took care of the smooshed potatoes - as Paul calls them, and we did the meats and desserts. I went a little over board with the desserts but Paul let me buy some spring form pans and I REALLY wanted to use them!!!!

Over all it was lots of fun!!!! We had a good time!!! We really wish everyone could have stayed longer but this really was one of my most favorite Thanksgivings!!! It's been a long time since we've gotten to share one with friends and even though the rest of our family was pretty far away, it was still okay because we had so much fun!!!

Here are some pictures from the great day!!!

This is Kyle out on the dunes. Paul was really aching to get out of the house so I kicked the boys out and had them go play while I cleaned and finished dinner.

Kyle is from Hawaii but is going to school out in Utah, at University of Utah, and he - like most people - couldn't believe something like this was in Idaho. It's pretty po-dunk out here but you can't EVER thank God enough for the beautiful land He created. This place is AMAZING!!!

Paul has been working REALLY hard on his truck over the last few weeks and has been trying to get a few kinks worked out. He was really excited to get it out on the sand. He's been doing a lot of research of the area too and has found some quicker routes to some of the more fun places to play out on the dunes.

This is (left to right) Derek, Maryanne, and Mike. They (Mike and Maryanne) just had their little boy on 11/30. I think our turkey worked some magic on her. It was sooooo good and got her so relaxed she went into labor... 3 days later!!! I told her the turkey would do it!!!

One of Riann's new games is Peek-a-Boo with the chairs. She loves to look under them and often gets stuck trying to crawl through them. I think she was playing with Kyle here. She loved him the minute he walked into the house. She really has a thing for him and Mike and often Derek, the few times she's seen him. It's cute!!! I think she's going to be a handful when she's old enough to date!!!

I swear there's no alcohol in the eggnog. Paul is just showing how much he LOVES it!!! I'm sure Paul wouldn't want me to post this but it was the only picture I had of him that day. He's still the cutest guy I know!!!

Kyle relaxing with a belly full of turkey... and ham!!!

Maryanne, Riann and I eating up our dinner. It was really good. We all (mostly just Maryanne and I) even decided we were going to try a little bit of EVERYTHING this year. There was a lot I think I'll eat again for years to come!!! Riann did a really good job too. She had mashed potatoes, turkey and sweet potato baby food, and she LOVED Maryanne's rolls!!!

Mike and Derek in their matching sweaters. They seemed to have a good time joking in the corner. They are definitely brothers.

Amie and Chrissy. We were SOOOO glad they came this year!!! It was a blast having them with us for most of the long weekend!!!

The turkey and ham all served up!!! It was GOOD!!!

Our dinner!!! Doesn't it look WONDERFUL?!?!?!!! 

Here is everything we had and who made what:

Riann, Paul and I made:
turkey
ham
cranberry sauce
cranberry/strawberry jello

Also... I got really excited about deserts so we also threw together:
plain cheesecake
chocolate cream pie
dutch apple pie
pumpkin pie

Amie and Chrissy made: 
mashed potatoes

Maryanne and her family made:
green bean casserole
yams with marshmallows
Mom's rolls
stuffing
homemade punch<>

I've been tagged!!!

I don't normally do these but I though it might be fun because a friend from work just tagged me. I kind of figured that if I use this to journal doing one of these might help me remember what I was into around this point in my life. Here we go!!!

Here are the rules:
1. Post the rules on your blog
2. Answer the six "8" items.
3. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

8 Favorite TV Shows:
1. Eli Stone
2. The Office
3. The Big Bang Theory
4. LOST
5. Myth Busters
6. Dirty Jobs
7. Law and Order
8. How I met your mother

8 Things I Did Yesterday:
1. Woke up
2. Showered
3. Worked
4. Ate
5. Played with Riann
6. Watched a Christmas movie
7. Visited a friend
8. Slept

8 Things I Look Forward To:
1. Going to Amanda's graduation
2. Jake and Amanda's baby
3. Going home for Christmas
4. Riann walking
5. Spending time with family
6. Seeing Paul at the end of my day
7. Bed time... for ALL of us
8. Hopefully selling our 4Runner

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1. Red Robin
2. Fong's
3. The Olive Garden
4. Applebee's
5. Subway
6. Dairy Queen (for their ice cream and kids meals)
7. Craigo's
8. Long Horn BBQ

8 Things On My Wish List:
1. Having another baby or two
2. Getting a new job
3. Having our business earn more money
4. Getting a treadmill or an elliptical (mostly having a home gym)
5. Moving closer to family
6. Getting our house finished
7. Losing LOTS of weight
8. Selling our car to pay off debt

8 People I Tag:

The first 8 people who read this and think it might be fun!!!!

Riann's getting around!!!

Here is a video of our little active terror. She's a pill but she's getting better and better at getting around on her own each day. It's so amazing to watch her grow. I don't know what I'll do with myself when she's actually walking on her own!!!! It's going to be a completely different life isn't it?! Listen closely at the end because she actually talks to Paul. It's pretty much adorable!!!

Happy HAPPY Halloween!!!!

Yea!!! So we've just gotten done with my second favorite holiday and I think it's only going to be getting better from here. We didn't do as much and I would have liked to this year but we did enough that I think everyone still had a blast!!! We don't have a safe area for little kids to truck around in because there isn't much lighting at night out where we live so we don't ever get Trick-or-Treaters. For that reason each year the wards that meet in our building get together early and to a Trunk-er-Treat. I didn't realize how big it was. I got off work a little late and on my home I have to pass the church and couldn't believe how many people were there. It was insane!!! I think more people go to this then to church!!! Well I get home and we get packed into the car with some of our friends and try to shoot up to the church to catch the tail end of the festivities. We got there a little late but the kids seemed to have fun with the little we got.

We went with some friends of our who we used to live by when we were living up on campus. They have a little 2 year old named Frankie. He was a monkey and wasn't too excited about being in public in his costume. It was cute. He was so frustrated that he had to wear it he wouldn't let me take any pictures in the beginning. Then he started to realize that he was getting candy for being dressed up and warmed up to the idea. He was pretty cute!!!

Riann seemed to enjoy the day too. She had a bucket of her own that she liked a lot. We got started at the church and with a little help I got the bucket into her hand. From that point on I think she carried it the whole night except for at the VERY end when she started to get a little tired. She even only dropped it once and that was before there was really any candy in in.

Here we are at the church and she's got her bucket tight in hand.

She liked it tons!!! Like everything these days else she couldn't keep it out of her mouth!!!

After we did the church stuff we wanted to do a little more with Frankie now that he had warmed up to his costume. We didn't know where to go out here because this was our first Halloween really participating in the festivities so we drove around the neighborhoods in Rexburg looking for groups of kids that we could follow along. We finally noticed a neighborhood up by the Temple that had a few good groups so we jumped out and got to work. Making the rounds we put Riann back in her carrier and started knocking on doors.

This was a few doors into the night. She still had her basket tight!!!

She was so cute!!! On a few doors when they would hand out the candy for me to pick, I would let Riann grab something from the bowel. She would hit the pile of candy a few times and eventually get her fingers wrapped around a piece and pull it up to her mouth. When she finally "caught" her candy I would stick it in her bucket for her. I wish I could have gotten pictures of this but it was hard to fit a lot of us up on the front steps so we couldn't get any good ones. I loved watching her participate though. I know she cant do much but it's great to let her try when she can. She amazes me every day how much she's doing and how better she's getting at daily tasks.

A little ways into the night my back started to hurt so Paul took over carrying her. I'm really glad that he was with us. He seemed to have lots of fun with it too. I love watching the 2 of them together. They are adorable!!!

We got to a point where Frank, Christi, and Frankie went one way and I walked the other and Paul and Riann watch us both go off in different direction. I like this picture because they are both so focused on one of the 2 groups.

This picture was from a little later in the night. Frankie finally let me take a few pictures of him. He was pretty happy that all of these people were giving out candy and calling him cute. He really started getting into it. It was cute to watch. I can't wait until Riann really gets what's going on. Next year is going to be a blast!!!

After we got done we came back to our place and played for a little bit. We didn't get a chance to get pictures of Riann before we left so we tried to get a few once we were home. I wish I had had time to do more with her costume but I didn't work out. I think she still looks cute. Here she is... you wouldn't have been able to tell all night because she had her coat on and was bundled up for the whole night but she was wearing her costume ALL day!!!

Here are a few pictures of her playing in it...

I have vampire teeth from another costume that I picked up and she has been loving having them around the house. She'll crawl around with them in her had and she chews on them all day. I think she'll use them as soon as her mouth is big enough!!!

It took a bit but I finally got her to hold still and look at the camera. I just wish she wasn't on her tummy so you could see her shirt.

Her "bones" glow in the dark and we tried to get a good picture of that but she wanted to hold the flashlight we were using to make them glow better and so every time we tried to take a picture it ended up blurry. I figured you would get the effect from these. She was cute!!! Very frustrated that we were pinning her down in the dark but cute all the same.

So all-in-all we had a pretty good night. We got just enough candy. Not anything more than we need... not like how things where when I was growing up. I'm really glad we participated in things this year. It was fun having Frank and Christi here too. They recently moved to Pocatello, ID (about an hour and fifteen minutes away) and so they surprised us by coming into town. We were so glad they did. We really had fun. I can't wait until next year when Riann is older and she'll be more excited to be out and about and hopefully she'll want to dress up!!! We wish she would have gotten to go out with Grandma's and Grandpa's but because they're sooo far away, we're glad she got to go out for a little bit last night!!!

Happy Halloween!!! We hope everyone had a great time!!!!

I want to post something else but I don't know what to say.....

So here are some new pictures of Riann!!! 

How is it not easy to have the BEST DAY EVER when she's around?!

We love her soooo very much!!!

Going Private???? - I need some advice!!!!

So I've been thinking a lot about going private. I watched a "Law and Order" episode this last week about child predators and it really freaked me out. I didn't realize that there was no way to protect children from these people if they are stealing photos of children and the children are not indecent in any way. I've tried to be really careful to not post pictures of Riann that would be tempting to someone just browsing but didn't think twice about someone thinking she was "pretty" when she was a little older and taking a photo to keep with them for heaven knows what. It made me sick. It makes me sick that because of the vastness if the internet I have to go above and beyond to protect her from things like that.  

So here's the dilemma. I started using this because I wanted to update my family on what was going on with us in a manner that didn't require a password or an account to view, like Facebook or Myspace. It was perfect!!! Now I have this fear that I'm putting my child in danger because I'm posting pictures of her online for anyone to view. I can keep doing what I'm doing and just make sure that I'm not putting anything up that might be questionable or I can go private and not have to worry so much. If I go private though I don't think my family will view my blog because some of those I'm updating aren't all that computer savvy and they're the main reason I'm doing this. 

What kind of advice does everyone have? Have you who have gone private liked the security of doing so? Is there a way to invite my family members so they don't need a blog to sign in? Did anyone run into this problem? 

I'm going to try to make a decision by next week so if you can please help me with some advice or experience that would be awesome!!!

Hope to hear from you soon!!! 

Thanks!!!

The adventures of Riann

Here are some fun shots of Riann's most recent adventures. She's an busy little tike!!!

She's learning to climb. This is the first time she got on top of something and yes she did it all on her own!!!

Getting stuck in all of her stuff.

"Crawling" through the tunnel.

Uh'Oh!!! She got caught by the camera!!!

Peek-a-boo... One of  her new favorite games.

Cheese!!!! And papa's toes... She loves those!!!

FINALLY someone said it!!!!

"If you don't vote, you're a moron"

Clip from CBS via YouTube.com, "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" Aired 9/10/09

"Do me the honor of being my fellow Americans and vote"

Clip from CBS via YouTube.com, "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" Aired 9/10/09

Paul and I have been struggling lately with the coverage of the presidential election. We've felt like we've been watching nothing other than the next installment of High School Musical - The Student Body Election. It's been frustrating because we understand how serious the position of the president is and we are counting on the media to give us the best information possible because they are supposed to help us all make informed decisions on who would best fill that seat. However, they are too busy pointing out who said what and what it supposedly meant by their comment. They did it in the primaries with the various supporters and religious leaders for all who were running and now they are doing it with both of our candidates. For starters IT'S NOT IMPORTANT!!! Second... only the person who said it is able to tell us what it was intended to mean and we have to get over the "secret" intended meanings because once again... IT'S NOT IMPORTANT!!!! We have asked those people what they meant by it, they have given us their reasoning, and even if we don't agree we can't keep taking it for anything more than face value. Lets get to what IS IMPORTANT... The fact that we have less than 2 months to make a decision that effects everyone's future and we don't even know what these people stand for!!!

Right now I see this.... We don't have one candidate that has enough experience to run this country. That's what I honestly believe. We have two people who have great ideas and the determination to fill those shoes but NO ONE is telling us how they'd do it. I think McCain is a great guy. He sacrificed a great deal in the name of our country but that doesn't qualify him automatically to lead our nation. It gives him great insight on how to handle the war but the war is only half the experience needed to be our leader. Obama is also a good guy. He's got some plans that just might work but some that just don't fit right. He is new and he might be able to bring a fresh perspective to the White House but I don't feel like he's going to be great at listening to what the people want and that doesn't make him a great candidate to stand as a spokes person to our nation.

I feel that this election is important because I don't feel strongly towards one side or the other right now and I don't feel many other Americans do either. When Kerry ran against Bush in our last election I had a strong impression on which candidate was going to run this nation the way God intended it to be ran. We have been given this land as a gift as long as we are a righteous people and the freedoms we hold because of that righteousness should never be taken for granted. I felt that if one of those two men were to become president we surely would have seen the start of the second coming. I'm so torn because I don't see the black and white with these new candidates and I want to learn more. I want to learn about their platforms. I want to know about their ideas. I want to know what kind of choices I can expect them to make for me and for my children. BUT... so far I haven't heard any of that!!!! All we've been told is that "Obama doesn't have enough experience" and "McCain is more of the same".

Right now the only thing that is leaning my vote one way or the other is the fact that there are 2 open seats to be filled by the next president on the supreme court and those seats will determine things like laws on abortion and gay rights. I'm only tempted to vote one way or the other because I want those seats filled by people who hold and value similar beliefs.

I'm a fan of Craig Freguson because I find his humor enjoyable. He's not for everyone but when he speaks about being a citizen of the US he speaks from his heart. He is so proud to have recently received citizenship into our great country and you can see how important it is to him whenever he mentions it on his show. It seems almost sacred to him. Why isn't that we don't value that blessing just as much?! Is it because we haven't had to apply for it? Or know what it's like to not have it? That's not good enough!!! I'm so proud to be an American. I'm proud to know that I can write this message here for others to read and not have to worry about the repercussions. I'm so sad however that my right to do this is being paid for by brave men and women - AND their families - over seas fighting for me and so many others. There as so many who have died for me and for you and we seem to forget how important that is. God died so man might be and right now thousands of soldiers are prepared to give a similar sacrifice to help this country remain free. Listen to these videos with pride and understand that what we have here should NEVER EVER be taken for granted. We need to expect more from our media and even more from our leaders.

Let us honor our sacred duty and never forget what its taken to be blessed with the freedoms we have today!!!

Okay... here it goes...

So here's my attempt at updating on what's been happening in life the last little bit. I don't know why but I go through these spits where I have a ton of motivation and then into long stretches where I just have none. I guess this is why I don't do well with journals. I'm going to have to break this up in to 2 or 3 different posts because we've actually done a LOT recently. I don't think we did one really interesting thing all summer and just these last few weeks alone we've been more busy than we've been since the baby was born. I think I'm also going to have to work backwards on a lot of this because I don't have all of my pictures on my computer just yet and I know if I wait to get those on it will be next year before I write this post!!! 

So this last week is where I'm going to start. WE HAVE OUR WINDOWS IN!!!! I'm soooo excited!!! We have had a lot of company in town this late month and the last to arrive was Paul's parents. They came into town to bring Paul's sister Amie back to school. They decided to stay a full week to help us put in the window we purchased in April. We've had them since then but we haven't been able to put some time together to get them in because of work, finances, and life. With the holiday that gave us some extra time to get things together and really work hard. Unfortunately Monday, the actual holiday, the worst day of the week and we couldn't get any work done. It was pretty lame. But Paul and his dad made up for lost time and buckled down and got a ton of work done Tuesday while I was at work. Our first glitch came Wednesday when Paul had to get his wisdom teeth out. He's been having problems with one of them for the greater part of last month and so we had to schedule to get them out as soon as possible. Unfortunately it needed to be done the same week all of this was happening. It was a blessing that they were in town because I was having a hard time getting time off from work and so it was great to have family here that could help Paul take care of the baby while he was down. He's still not feeling that great but is slowly making improvements each day. I hope he's feeling much better tomorrow because it's going to just be him and the little one and I don't know how he's going to do if he's still in as much pain as he has been. 

So Wednesday we get his teeth out and get him back to bed and work on the windows. Being a man down it kind of slowed the work but Thursday I ended up staying home to help take care of Paul and do what I could around the house. We made some progress but it was a little slow because there was still a lot going on with trying to get everything else settled. We still had to move Amie in and get her all set up for classes. Friday I had to be back at work so everyone was here helping at the house. Paul wasn't able to do a ton of work but he did get some painting in when he was feeling up to it. By Friday we finally had all of the old windows out and frames and the new windows in as snug as possible. Saturday we spent the rest of our time together finalizing the setup and getting everything put back together. 

The front of the house looks totally different and it's a little weird to think it's all done. It is such a relief to have all of the nasty bug infested windows out of the house. It's been a worry of mine to have the baby around some of the old disgusting things the house had before we moved in here. The carpet was a big thing but the windows really worried me. Now we don't have to worry about leaking air in or out and we don't have the extra critters roaming around the house. It's amazing!!! We can even open our windows now and cool down on hot days!!! It's wonderful!!! 

Now it's time to move onto the next project.... Goodness it never ends!!! Here are some pictures of the process...

This is the window in the living room. Dave and Paul got this in Tuesday. It was so great to have all of them here because with just my help this window would have been near impossible!!
This is the window in our bedroom from the inside. It was so weird to have a gaping hole in our wall it is was amazing to see how dingy the view from inside was. The new windows are so clear they look just like this with a white boarder. It's amazing how different it all is!!
Here's Dave in front of the hole on the outside. He did so much work. I can't believe how blessed we are to have such a wonderful family!!!

This is the back of the house... I don't have any finished pictures yet. I need to go get some a soon as we do the final touch ups with paint and everything.
This is the only before picture I could find. We took this the summer we moved in. I think it was August of 2006. It's a MUCH different place now. I need to get some from the same angle but here is what it kind of looks like now...
It's' all so different!!! I think we're going to paint next year but don't they look GREAT!!! We love all of the changes. It's so nice to have those pesky trees out of the way!!! 

It's so great to finally see things happen here on the house. We're hoping to get enough saved up here soon to get more done on the inside. We're getting close. We still have a lot to do but we're getting there. It's going to be fun to see all of the changes when it's complete. 

If you want to see what we've actually done so far with the whole house, check out these facebook albums. They've got pictures of it all!!! Inside and out!!!

The Window Project

Carpet, Kitchen and Fireplace Project 

Carpet, Kitchen and Fireplace Project #2

Backyard Project