ahhhh, home

Can you believe it?! It's been TWO YEARS since we moved to our little house here! How blessed we are that we found such a wonderful house, incredible landlords and a good ward. It's hard to believe that it's been two years and we're only two sememsters away from graduating. I remember moving in and sitting down admist all the boxes and thinking, "Three years is going to be a very long time." But it hasn't been!

And I thought that I absolutely, positively could NOT live without a 24-hour Walmart!


*Moscow, Idaho is located in northern Idaho, nestled between Moscow mountain and the beautiful undulating hills of the Palouse.

*Population 21,291 (in October 2003...I'm sure it's grown since then)

*Elevation 2,583 ft.

*Points of Interest in Moscow; Moscow Hotel, Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre, Moscow Carnegie Library, Nu Art Theater, Skattaboe Block, Appaloosa Horse Museum, McConnell Mansion Museum, and University of Idaho.

*Local Festivals; Latah County Fair, Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, Moscow Mardi Gras, Moscow Renaissance Fair, Rendezvous In the Park.

*The Farmer's Market is from April-October every Saturday morning. (which we love)

(Moscow isn't THAT big, and yet I've only been to TWO places mentioned above. I gotta get crackin'!)

coming in november!

Yippee! The movie is coming on November 21 instead of December! Who wants to go?

(I'm opening a can with this next sentence...Nicky, I'm making you go...ha ha just kidding)

first grade vs. preschool

This morning we got up, braved Walmart and bought the kids' school supplies. Ryanna was just BOUNCING off the walls from wanting to buy everything she saw. $100 later...

In addition to her school-supply-list she begged me for the following, and claimed that "I'll NEED this in first grade, Mom!"

-a child-size umbrella
-a new DVD of Nim's Island (which we already OWN I should add)
-a candy bar
-a new bath toy

She's definitely her mother's child, she can make up a perfectly good excuse why we should buy whatever pops into her head.

What we needed for Ryanna:

What we needed for Dawson:

He was so thrilled for his new lunchbox (which he won't need, they'll feed him at school) and I had to talk him into buying him new undies. Silly boy!



Didn't need anything for Carter:
Whenever that one curl falls onto Carter's forehead like this, it's his Link-Hairdo. What a cutie!


What I needed:
The kids got fun stuff and I bought myself something fun too! Aren't these snazzy? I should have bought Ryan his OWN pair, because I KNOW he'll steal mine!

commencing today

"Roses are RED

Violets are BLUE

Graduation is here

And your feet smell like stink!"

~Barbara Park (taken from a Junie B. Jones book)

To my sweet sister Ashley,
Congratulations on walking the line today! Sorry we can't be there to support you, but we're there in spirit and couldn't be more proud. I need you to fly up and stay at my house for a weekend so you can help decorate it with all of your good ideas and your interior decorating degree! We're so thrilled for you, you ROCK sista!

this time last summer

One year ago Carter was just a little peanut!

xie xie, arigato, danke, mahalo

My emotions are very close to the surface right now, I blame my family as I just put them on a plane, headed in the direction AWAY from my house. Thanks a lot.

I wanted to tell my family (the Holdaways and Christensens) thank you so much for the past few weeks of fun and memories that we'll look back on with fondness. It was delightful as we played games, ate yummy food, went on very LONG roadtrips, had new experiences and got sunburned together. I love each and every member of my family and I'm so grateful for them. It was fun to see my cousins on both sides of extended families, and to meet their new children. We are blessed indeed to rub shoulders with such tremendous examples of faith, devotion and love.

Thank you for your support this summer. Thank you for the many prayers and phone calls. Thank you for my fun birthday parties (turning 27 rocks!) and everything else you all did to make our summer possible.

to kristin and jeremy

Happy Anniversary to our sweet friends! Hope you have a great day!

(I need some bigger pictures than this, don't I?)

don't worry, it's not a habit

My Aunt Susan has a very HIGH toliet, it's higher than a regular-sized one. Having said that...

This is the conversation I overheard between her and Dawson:

S- "Dawson, are you okay?" (as he comes sauntering out of the bathroom, shoulders drooped)
D- "Yeah, I am."
S- "What's the matter?"
D- "Well, I couldn't reach the toliet, so I peed on the floor instead."
S- "Ahhhh, that's okay."

Me- (as it finally registers exactly what happened and what the mess entails) -"WHAT?!?!"

Aunt Susan was as calm as can be and just about flipped my lid! I ran into the bathroom and cleaned it up as fast as I could. (giggling hard while I did) It was hilarious and so embarassing! It's definitely a FIRST for him.

two-thousand miles, five states, two bunkbeds and one couch later...

Grab some popcorn and enjoy the longest post in the history of my blog!



July 25-31... I drove down with the kids alI BY MYSELF! I had to stop only a few times. The kids were so good for me. It's tradition for us to stop in Grangeville and touch the rocks. I also stopped in Midvale to let the kids play on the playset to help get their wiggles out.












At the Holdaway Reunion, we ate a lot of good food, swam in the Hansen's pool, threw Tena a surprise Baby Shower, watched movies, and had a blast! All the kids came home and all the grandkids were together for the first time in a few years. I got to see where Ryan has spent the past few months while working in Boise.

Oh yeah, we also got to spend one night at the Anniversary Inn while we were in Boise. It was so nice and quiet. A HUGE THANK YOU to the Holdaways for taking care of the kids while we got to do that! (especially you, Tiff!)

















July 31-August 4...we were in Utah! We visited Ashley and Donny's apartment, had a birthday party for me, read Breaking Dawn (and loved it), went to Seven Peaks, painted Aimee's classroom (I'll post pictures of that when I get them from my mom), played the Wii (first time, thank you very much), had loads of giggles with my cousins, and did tons of laundry.

Ryan actually got to spend THREE WHOLE DAYS WITH me and the kids! He came down to Utah with us and then had to fly back up from SLC to Boise because he had to go back to work. It was fun to spend 72 hours with him


Visited Spanish Fork, where Ryan has fond memories from his childhood. Here is 'his' mountain he remembers seeing every day.
Ryanna actually MADE everyone pancakes, she did it all. Her very first meal where she did EVERYTHING! She poured the batter, flipped them when they were done (sometimes TOO done!) and then hopped down off of her stool to serve her creations.
The house where Ryan grew up.
His family's favorite place to eat in Spanish Fork
Dawson at Seven Peaks going down his favorite slide

Ryanna hugging the Shark

August 4-7...we drove up to Rexburg to see the other side of the family. I haven't seen these sights since Ryan and I were newlyweds! We saw lots of cousins and their kids (I've never met most of them) and got to see my old college stomping grounds.

Our very first apartment as a married couple back in early 2001.
Ryan's first job in Rexburg

Ashley and Donny in front of the new goregous Rexburg Temple.
My very first apartment at Ricks College! I moved in with Summer (Carringer) in July 1999. Talk about a blast from the past! It's now a Boy's Dorm and no longer called Harmony House.

While we were in Rexburg, we also ran over to Yellowstone Park! I went as a baby and don't remember it, so I count this as my first time! We saw TWO Buffalo and a handful of elk, that's it! It wasn't a good day for wildlife, but it was a tremendous day to see the sights.

We stopped on the way up to Yellowstone at this spring and enjoyed a refreshing dip of our feet and little swig of water. It was ice cold and delicious!




Dawson liked the boiling mud pots, he giggled when they sounded like they were burping!




"I just wanted to see what it felt like!" Ewwwwwww, Uncle Donny!

Old Faithful! I've never seen it before, and now I can cross this off my list of "Things-To-See-Before-I-Die" and it was actually pretty cool. The kids really enjoyed it.








August 7...drove from Rexburg through Montana and arrived in Hayden Lake. Drove 500 miles in 10 hours. My poor kids! They did great though.

August 8-9...Hayden Lake, Idaho at Grandmother Velta and Papa's house. Ate delicious home-cooked meals and picked Raspberries from their garden. I drove home last night with the kiddies so they could be in their own beds. WHEW! I'm home now, and can't wait to unpack! What a trip it was, saw both sets of grandparents in one day, lots of cousins (and new cousins) and ate good food and made loads of wonderful memories. Thanks to all that made it happen! I wish I could have had more time in every location to visit more friends, it was a rushed vacation and I'm sorry I couldn't see all who I wanted to see!!


MILEAGE SUMMARY:
-Moscow to Boise: 332 miles
-While in Boise: 93 miles
-Boise to Highland: 381 miles
-While in Utah: 150 miles
-Highland to Rexburg: 273 miles
-While in Rexburg: 300 miles
-Rexburg to Hayden Lake: 500 miles
-While in Hayden Lake: 0 miles
-Hayden Lake to Moscow: 93 miles

TOTAL miles in 16 days: 2,122!