October Fun

I cant believe that October is OVER!!! I think it went by so fast because we were so busy with all the parties and things that come with Halloween. I used to not be a big fan of Halloween but now that I have kids I love it. It is so fun to get them all dressed up and see how excited they get. Here they are after trick-or-treating. Looks like Carly has had enough of refereeing his big brother and sister!

Dallin was so excited that he got to be a football player. He would put his costume on everyday and practice playing football. After we got him all dressed up he didn't even want to go trick-or-treating. He just wanted to play football. Lilli ran around chasing him yelling "Go Dallin! Go Dallin!"

We had a dorm Halloween party Thursday night. Here they are getting ready for the 3-legged race. Lilli wasn't too excited about it.

For family night we carved pumpkins with our good friends, the Checketts.

At preschool it was Dallin's turn to take Curious George home with him. All the kids take turns taking George and a journal home with them overnight. In the journal they write/draw about all the things that they did with Curious George during the time he was at their house. Some of the kid's moms' wrote poems, did fancy art work, told stories about all these really fun and creative things that they did with George. Dallin was one of the last ones in the class to bring George home and as I was reading through all of the journal entries that went before him I began to find myself feeling a little competitive inside. I stayed up all night thinking about what we could do with Curious George so that Dal's journal entry would DOMINATE the other ones!

First, I taught Dallin how to sew and he sewed up the hole that George had on his bum from all the other kids' foolish activities that they did with him. Then, we made him a Halloween costume and Dal took him to the trunk-or-treat with him and Lilli. BEAT THAT MOMS!!! Dal got sick the next day and couldn't go to preschool but don't worry, I MADE SURE that I still went so I could turn in Curious George and the journal so they could all read it and weep. BRING IT ON MOMMIES!!!!!

J/K- i really wasn't that obsessive ;)

High School Tag

Here you go Michael!
High School Tag
1. Did you date someone from your school? In a town as small as Soda you date everyone in your grade and then move to other grades.
2. What kind of car did you drive? The "Snow Bird" (a jacked up Nissan pickup) Good times in that ol girl.
3. What was the most embarrassing moment of HS? Freshman year, going into the locker room in a rage after loosing a wrestle off and taking a quick, cold shower and thinking it was weird that none of the other wrestlers were there yet, I stepped out and realized that the Grace girls basketball team was using the locker room. For those of you who don't know, wrestlers don't wear towels. That is right, a full frontal in front of about six varsity girls. I didn't mind but I think it was their most embarrassing moment.
4. Were you a party animal? Only if you consider sneaking into girls camp 3 times a week to raise havoc.
5. Were you considered a flirt? If I am not mistaking I was voted biggest flirt. I think that is because everyone else had girlfriends. It was awarded to me out of default.
6. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? 8th grade I got kicked out of choir and never returned.
7. Were you a nerd? More than likely

That's me on the bottom right in case you couldn't tell.

8. Were you on any varsity teams? Football, Wrestling.

9. Did you get suspended/expelled? Spent some time in Lowry's office but it was more of a vacation because she hooked me up with some good food.
10. Can you still sing the fight song? You know I can.

11. Who were your favorite teachers? Bellnap, Worthington
12. Where did you sit during lunch? When I wasn't starving myself for wrestling I would go to random peoples houses, we called it sock hopping. It worked best if the family was out of town but if they were home that would not deture us from sneaking into their house and making a nice lunch. We were never detected!!!!
13. School mascot? Cardinals
14. Did you go to homecoming, and with who? Junior year went with Rikki Ayers. By my senior year I had learned that it was not a good dance to go to because we always got thumped in the game and Rikki will be the first to tell you that I was a poor looser. Sorry Rikki.
15. If you could go back and do it again, would you? Are you kidding, the glory days, bring it on.
16. What do you remember most about graduation? not much. People crying.

17. Where did you go senior skip day? Skip day at lagoon and senior trip to Vegas and Cali at the beach.

(Don't worry, I gave her the 4th discussion and she is now a member of the cloth)

18. Were you in any clubs? FHA. (yes future homemakers of America). With good reasoning. Girl to guy ratio like 700 to 1. My buddy and I got to know a lot of them.
19. Have you gained some weight since then? Pure fat.
20. Who was your prom date? Sophomore year me and the boys took the older women, I took Brooke Smith. Junior year I took Hayley Echoles. She was from Bear Lake and boy was I hated among the Soda girls. Apparently there were plenty of junior girls from Soda who hadn't been asked and I was treading in other waters. I just about lived it down by my senior year but again I was hated because I took a sophomore Rachael Call. I guess that wasn't a good decision either because the senior and junior girls hated me again.
21. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? It will be swell.
22. Looking back, what advice would you give yourself? Study more.

The Boys, Hardings, Elisa, Chad, Ife, Dustin, Marty, Cynthia, Ray you have been TAGGED~

An unforgetable evening...

Yesterday evening I decided to pack up our dinner and take the kids to Mesa Falls to have a pick nick. It was... incredible! The weather was cool, the air was crisp and the forest was on fire with beautiful fall colors. I could have stayed there forever listening to the crashing sound of the waterfall while watching my 3 precious children laughing and playing together. I realized that I need to do things like this more often. It is so easy to get caught up in our busy schedules of everyday life. I was so overcome with the beauty of 2 of God's magnificent creations: nature's masterpieces and even more, His perfect little children. How blessed we are for such a beautiful world we live in and for our families. I came home feeling so rejuvenated.
This was only 30 minutes away from where we live. Idaho really is a wonderful place.

The majestic Grand Tetons.

On our way home the sun was setting and the miles and miles of grain fields were just glowing! It was incredible!

The only thing that would have made this magical evening complete was Cody. We missed you Hun!

Husband vs. Wild

Cody is obsessed with the show, "Man vs Wild." Its about this guy named, Bear Grylls who jumps out of a helicopter into the middle of nowhere with only a knife (or something like that) and tries to survive off of the land while finding his way back to civilization. Well, Cody has taken 10 days off of work to go and do the same thing! OK, not exactly but he is hiking, with only his back pack and bow and arrow, deep into some unfamiliar, rugged, mountain range where there are no trails or roads or fire pits or camp grounds. Only wolves, bears, steep cliffs, freezing temps, stormy weather, poisonous plants, mountain lions, and more bears. He and his friend have been planning this for quite a while and were so excited about the challenge. I, if you can't tell, am a little nervous!

We're Back!

I know its been a while so I thought I'd give a little re-cap on what we have been up to lately...

We feel empty inside now that the Olympics are over... This is us trying to keep the Olympic dream ALIVE!!! As soon as Cody gets home from work we all put on our swimming gear and act out replays of Michael Phelps breaking world record after world record. Michael Phelps' next big compitition.

Lilli likes acting out how Michael Phelps would have looked like if he would have lost the relay. Dal giving Carly a ride on his motorcycle. He is such a good big brother.
Lilli showing off her mad skills. Lilli turned TWO on August 11th! STOP GROWING UP!!!!
Carly just started eating solid food and LOVES it! Its quite the work out for her though!
Yet another hunting season has begun! What a good husband to sacrifice his weekends to go out in the cold and provide food for his family. ;) This was taken on the archery opener the first week of September! SNOW?!?!?!

Fun in the yard with dad.
Cody teaching Dallin some of the most important skills in life such as boxing...
and wrestling. I couldn't have asked for a better father for my children. I LOVE that man!
The happiest little girl I know. I CANT GET ENOUGH OF MY KIDS!! They truly are the JOY of my life!

Tribute

To all of you who know my big sister Elisa, take a look at her blog. She has a WONDERFUL surprize for you! http://www.beardallfamily.blogspot.com

Walters Family Reunion

We just got back from a week full of fun at the Walters family reunion in McCall, Idaho. If you have never been there before, I STRONGLY recommend visiting there. It is right on a beautiful lake up in the Payette National Forest. All 10 of Cody's siblings were able to be there and most of the in-laws and grand kids. We went water skiing, hiking, swimming, horseback riding, fishing, four wheeling, bike riding, but mostly we ate. Cody and Carly feeding the horses

Kayden, Scott, Dallin, and Payden. The 4 boys all born within 6 months of each other.
Hope made matching shirts for each family. Can you guess who picked out the Camo for our family shirts?
Ron and Lourene's 10 children.
Almost all 34 grand kids. Only 3 of them couldn't be there. Dallin was a little annoyed with all the photo taking. If you click on the photo to make it bigger you can see some of the bad manners that Cody has taught him. ;) Lilli trying to get Carly to sleep at the Condo.

salmon fishing

Those of you who know Cody know that he is true blue Idahoian. I don't think there is anything in the world that could get him to leave this place. This is one of the reasons why...Cody and his brother Bret just finished another great Salmon season. We have more salmon than we know what to do with! Its a good thing that I love eating Salmon.