Everyday Adventures..

These are from a family reunioun we had at Bear Lake. We had so much fun. The water was a little cold for us, so we stuck to just walking along the beach!

Cute cousins playing in the dirt

My Adorable Nephew. He is the cutest little thing EVER!

Us!

A couple of months ago I found this blog www.simplemodernmom.com and wandered over to her Project 52: Date nights. I started reading about it and decided that Nate and I were going to try it. We each take turns on a monthly basis, planning one date night a week. Obviously we can't go OUT every week, so most of our dates are at home, after the girls go to bed. Since I was the one dragging him into it, and told him I would plan the first two months. We have done things like a puzzle and fondue night, pedicures and smoothies, I made up my own version of Deal or No Deal, and we even had a "slumber party" where we blew up our air mattress, snacked on some popcorn and licorice, played games and watched Avatar. The rules are that we can't do the same thing twice in one month. We have had so much fun doing this and have become closer and come to know each other even better.
Nate has the date nights for the month of May, so on Saturday this is what we did. He took me out to Pier 49 in Springville, which is where we went out to eat on our first date. We haven't eaten there in forever, so I was really excited. It brought back a lot of memories...





After dinner we went home and did some light painting. We had never done this before, it was actually quite fun and we laughed a lot. I was so proud of him for getting so creative!









Pretty cool, huh?

Any of you who feel like you want to focus a little bit more on your marriage, TRY it!! It is so fun! Check out her site! There are lots of ideas for dates on there, too. Other people post their dates to her page, too (I chose not to). HAPPY DATING!

The other day Addi had a traumatic experience when Nate told her she couldn't go home with her Grandma who had just spent several hours at our house. She threw a huge temper tantrum (aren't 4 year olds too old for that?) so Nate sent her to her bedroom. After about five minutes, he went upstairs to talk to her, and this is how he found her.....


OBVIOUSLY very tired.....



So, after he shot these pictures of her, he walks downstairs into the kitchen and finds our SWEET little Paisley doing this...



Yep, that's right. She got into my cupboard and found the bag of chocolate chips. She had them scattered everywhere, but, of course making sure that she scattered them mostly into her mouth. (I am sure she was trying to share a few with Kobi, because most of them were right by the back door.) The love of chocolate starts so young!!

Where to begin?? Well, the last time I posted a blog, Nate was still unemployed. THANKFULLY, after 6 very long months of unemployment, he was able to get his old job back. Of course, we are starting over at square ONE...again, but I am not about to complain about that...he has a job...which is a huge blessing that we too often take for granted. While he wasn't working, a job opportunity kind of jumped out in front of me, and as much as I didn't want to look into it, I felt like it was an answer to our prayers, so I went to the interview, was offered the job, and I came home CRYING!!! It was one of those bitter-sweet blessings. I am so grateful, though because I couldn't have asked for a more flexible place to work. I feel like it hasn't taken away from my number one role of being a mom to my beautiful girls. We have definitely been watched over, and I feel incredibly blessed.
We added a member to our family. NEVER in a million years was I going to let Nate and Addi talk me into getting a dog. Then one day during a cold winter storm a kitty came calling on our door step. We decided to let him in for a can of tuna fish and a little drink. BIG MISTAKE! It took about 2 seconds for Addi to become attached to that thing, and when we had to put it back outside, (pretty sure it belonged to someone close by) Addi broke down into tears, and of course that broke my heart. So, I decided it was time for a pet. After weeks of searching, we found the cutest little puppy and Santa dropped him on our doorstep on Christmas morning.



Here is Kobi. He is a Weimeraner. This was on Christmas morning. And Now here is a picture taken of him about a month ago...



He is getting HUGE! he is 6 months old now, and we love him...when he is not jumping on us, or chewing on us, or anything else in sight...or being a clumsy puppy and knocking Paisley to the ground!



Here are just a couple pictures of our girls...





They are getting so big and teaching us so much! They make our lives SO HAPPY!

One of my new favorite quotes (not even sure who it is by): "While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about." I love that quote...and it is so true!

I have NEVER understood the love of canning......until now!! My Dad has 2 apple trees, and got about a million apples this year and when he showed up at my door with a HUGE box that was over flowing...I had no choice but to dive in, and now I am a huge fan! We now have enough apple butter and apple pie filling to last us through the winter. All of you canners would probably agree that there is a great feeling of excitement and satisfaction that comes from hearing the lids pop!! (CRAZY, but so true!) So I am here to encourage everyone to try it. I would be happy to help :)

As always...Halloween was such a crazy day!! Addi had a blast dressing up and Paisley was not so happy about it (poor little thing)! When I started asking Addi what she wanted to dress up as, she immediately told me she wanted to be a Deer. A Deer? REALLY? I tried and tried to talk her into being a Witch or a Princess (What 4 year old doesn't want to be a princess?), but every time, she said she was going to be a Deer (way to make dad proud, Addi! You are awesome!). Finally I gave in and my mom made this ADORABLE Deer costume...

Paisley had no choice! We had a bunny costume so that is what she got to be. She was so mad at me for putting her in the costume, and she had a hard time crawling in it...I think it threw off her balance! She was so funny! So I guess you could say they went as Bambi and Thumper! Her cousin was also a bunny...they looked so cute :)

And here is the Family.....

Hope you all a great Halloween!!

I guess its been a while since I posted!! Life has been so crazy and full of surprises lately. Most of you probably know by now that one of the biggest changes in our lives since my last post is that Nate got laid off the first part of September. His company laid off about 56 out of the 70 people that worked there...so it was kind of hard to escape that. So we have joined many other people in the hunt for a new job! SO EXCITING!! (NOT!!) We are looking all over Utah, willing to move to wherever we can find work. We know that the Lord is watching out for us though, and we are so grateful for those who have helped us out in any way they can.