The Pearson Crew

Philippines Grand Finale!

2010-07-06T16:05:00.018-06:00

Ok, this is finally it. The last of our trip to the Philippines. Wednesday we left the beautiful Bohol Beach Club and made our way back to Cebu.

One last walk and a few pics of the beach

A big yucky beetle

I think this is a banana tree, it was in the front of our hotel. I want one for my yard.

On the boat back to Cebu. We had front row right in front of the big screen.

The famous Jollibee's. Nels loved this place while he was on his mission. It was in the mall right next to the Marriot in Cebu. It's like the Filipino version of McDonald's. We ate here twice.

Nels and Ben got to golf at the Cebu Country Club on Thursday while Becky and I went to the spa and had a massage and facial.

They even had their own caddies.

Thursday afternoon, we met up with Rita Cuevas (on the far left) and she took us around one of Nels' old areas and also where she lived. This is her mom, dad, sister, and nephew.

In the house of another gal Nels baptized. She is the one next to Nels. She isn't active any longer.

Thursday afternoon we saw an older missionary couple in lobby of the hotel. He told us to go to the Temple that evening and he would get us into a VIP tour (the real open house didn't open until Friday morning). So that night we headed up to see the Temple. My Uncle is the Bishop of the new Temple President in Idaho Falls and they had heard we were coming. They invited us into their office and gave us our own personal tour. It is a beautiful Temple and was such a great experience for us.
Nels and I with Rita and Brother Gaso.

Nels and Ben crammed in the back of Brother Gaso's car on the way to dinner Thursday night.

Becky and I (Looks like I need a tan!)

Dinner at AA BBQ. It was kind of like Tucano's Filipino style. We didn't realize how much food we had ordered. Brother Gaso had his two sons come and eat with us and the bill for all 8 of us was only $58. We even sent bags of food home with Rita and Brother Gaso.

It was also the only place we found "Lift"(like MT Dew). Nels really liked this on his mission too.

Friday morning we went through a regular session of the open house.

The girls putting little white booties on our feet before we went in.

This girl was in our group going through the open house (Sister Florentes). She thought Nels looked really familiar. Turns out that she served in McKay's mission.

An American in a Filipino hat!

The kids are sooo cute!

Another crazy shot of their power lines.

Saturday we went up to the Taoist Temple.

Us acting like a dragon, it's in the picture up above.

Cebu tops, on a clear day you can see the whole city.

The "love bell". Hold hands and ring the bell. It was very loud!

Nels has a pic like this with him and all his mission buddies. I bet he never thought he would get one like it with his wife! (except he wasn't holding their hands) :)

Leaving Saturday night. Brother Gaso was kind enough to take us to the airport.

Almost home in the Seattle airport!

I will say this was the most incredible experience I have ever had. I feel so blessed that I was able to go back with Nels. Did I ever tell you the story of Elder Oaks personally telling me to go back with Nels? He came up in April of '09 for a Stake Conference. He stayed with my parents and we were lucky enough to have dinner with him before he flew out on Sunday. Elder Oaks had lived in the Philippines and my brother-in-law Jake expressed that I was really nervous to go over with Nels. He told me that I should go because it was apart of my husbands heritage. I am so grateful that I did! What a blessing this experience has been! I would love to go back and serve a mission there one day.

A huge thank you to all of those who made it possible for me to go! Monica, Quincy and especially Janis for taking the time off of work to come stay with the kids. I am truly grateful! Thank you!

Tuesday In the Philippines

2010-06-13T22:05:00.009-06:00

Tuesday we did some fun tourist things on Bohol.

Up with the sun again, you can't beat an early morning walk on the beach to a beautiful sunrise.

Breakfast with a beautiful view!

This was the path we walked to get to our room.

This is the Blood Compact Shrine. Filipino Chief Sikatuna and Legaspi from Spain back in the 1500's made a blood compact to not fight with each other.

Baclayon Church, this is the oldest catholic church in the Philippines.

Our first time in the confession box.

Chocolate Hills- There are 1,776 hills like this. They think that this used to be a coral reef under the ocean that has broken down and formed little domes.

The kids really wanted us to get a picture with a caribaw (water buffalo). It was kind of a nasty one, it was caked in mud, notice how Nels was trying not to get too close.

Nels and Ben waiting for our boat ride on the Loboc River.

This was hands down the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen.

So grateful that I live in America and don't have to wash clothes like this.

Along the river the filipino people performed some of their custom dances. This little boy was our favorite.

These are Tarsiers (the smallest monkey in the world). They have really big eyes, which will explain the next picture of me :).

We weren't supposed to hold them, but our tour guide asked if we could. So I got to hold the smallest monkey in the world. It was pretty cool.

Here's one with some genetic defects! LOL!

Philippines Day 2

2010-05-30T20:55:00.019-06:00

Monday was probably my favorite day. We woke up early, went for a walk on the beach, and had breakfast. At 8 am we met up with our driver and headed to Calape to try and find some of the people that Nels baptized. It was about an hour drive from our hotel and I really enjoyed seeing the countryside on the way there. Lots of rice fields and little huts scattered all over. There was still garbage, but not nearly as much as Cebu. We stopped in the town of Calape and walked around. It was so humbling to see how these people live and survive. My bedroom is bigger than most of there houses.

Sunrise Monday Morning

We found lots of shells for the kids on the beach. There was a little crab living in this one.

We found Nels' old apartment where he lived for 7 months. While we where taking pictures outside The people who lived there came out and invited us in for snacks (we had no idea who they were). I was a little nervous to go in, these were my exact thoughts, "oh crap, it's only our 2nd day and I'm going to get sick." We didn't want to be rude so we went in and luckily they fed us little muffins that they must of made for breakfast, watermelon, and coke. I was very relieved! It was fun to see where Nels lived and cool that he got to eat in his old apartment.

Nels outside his apt. 13 years ago.

Nels outside his old apt. 13 days ago. As you can see, they have done a lot of work to it. This was actually one of the nicer houses in town.

They took tons of pictures while we were there, they said we looked like movie stars (I liked that, LOL!)

We walked through the streets and through the market. The market was very unique. I almost threw up when we walked in, things got better when I started breathing through my mouth. Nels tells me that this market was pretty tame compared to others. I was grateful we went to one of the cleaner ones!

The little filipino kids are soo cute!

After the market we met up with our first python that swallowed a chicken in a lady's yard (notice the lump in its belly). The police where carrying it out as we walked by. It was like something you would see on animal planet. It was pretty crazy!We were too scared to ride in one of these. We figured since we had 4 kids back home we better stay alive!

I experienced my first BBQ banana, Nels really likes them, but they weren't my favorite.

This is how they move cows in the Philippines!

This is the church in Calape, the churches were really nice. It has doubled in size since Nels has been there.

This was a picnic area at high tide. Obviously it is the hot swimming spot also.

Nels playing ball with the filipino kids.

Nels and Ben with Bo Parker. Nels baptized him 13 years ago, he has served in the Branch Presidency for 11 years. He still has our wedding announcement from 10 years ago!

Nels in front of Lourdes Buzon's house. She was the one that we really wanted to see, but she had left to go visit her kids in another town before we got there. We were disappointed, but notice the picture of Christ above her door. She is still active and going to church. She has also moved into a lot nicer house.

Eating lunch at Joe's Chicken Inato. This was Nels' favorite while on the mission. It was REALLY good. The dip for the chicken was Awesome!

This is how they fix it it in the Philippines. This guy is in the middle of one of the busiest streets in Tagbilaran! His ladder is propped right up against the wires, but the little orange safety triangle should keep him safe!

Monday was an exhausting day. We got back to the hotel about 4:30, laid down for a sec, and totally fell asleep till the next morning!

Philippines!

2010-05-28T21:45:00.009-06:00

Well, the big anticipated trip to the Philippines has come and went. I will say, I was nervous to go, sad to leave my kids for 10 days, and the worry of what if something happens to us while we are 7,700 miles away from home in a 3rd world country entered my mind several times. Well, maybe I just worry too much because I had the trip of a lifetime! With experiences and memories that I will cherish forever. It was the best experience I have ever had. Before we went, we prayed and fasted that we would have a good time, be kept safe, and that things would turn out how we wanted and hoped that we would have a great experience. Our prayers were answered!

We left Friday May 14th at 6 am and flew into Seattle and met up with Ben and Becky Skinner. Ben served with Nels in Cebu and so we where excited to be able to get to go back over with them. We hung out at the Seattle airport for 6 hours and then flew out on our 11 and a half hour flight into South Korea. It was nice because we all got out own TV screen to watch movies or play games. Plus the food wasn't too bad either. (Different story on the way home). After landing in Korea we had another 5 hour flight into Cebu. We got into Cebu at 11 pm on Saturday night and stayed at a hotel close to the airport. It was nice getting in at night so we could get some rest and try to sleep off the jet lag.

Sunday morning we got up and went to the Cebu 5th ward where Nels served for about 4 months. I will say, on the way there it was a whole new world. The poverty, the garbage, the smells, and the absolute CRAZY driving was a shocker. The only rule on the road in the Philippines is if something bigger is coming, you better get out of the way. We put a lot of trust in our drivers!

Church was wonderful! I love how when you are half way around the world, you always feel at home when you step into the chapel. I also felt this way going to the Temple while we where there. What a comforting feeling! Many people recognized and remembered Nels and I was quite impressed with his Visayan speaking skills! The people are so warm and receptive. I think every one of them came up and shook my hand to welcome me. (So different from America!) It was nice too that most of them knew some English. I finally got to meet Rita Cuevas, Nels found her on Facebook, her family was one that Nels loved. One member in particular, Brother Gaso, took us under his wing and offered to take us to lunch and drive us to the pier so we could catch our boat over to Bohol. This was super nice considering that very few of them even have a car.

The boat ride to Bohol was about 2 hours. My tail bone was sure getting sore from all of the sitting we were doing from traveling!

Waiting for the boat, I think we look a little tired in this one.

It was so nice to be in Bohol. It was much cleaner and less populated than Cebu. It was also beautiful. We stayed at the Bohol Beach Club which was absolutely beautiful! We got there at low tide so we where able to walk out and find all kinds of cool things like star fish and sea urchins. I remember as a little kid, whenever my family took a trip to the beach, I would always want to find a star fish, but never did. Well, my wish finally came true, cause we found TONS of them! It reminded me of the starfish poem as the old man was walking down the beach throwing the starfish back into the water and someone asked him why are you throwing them back? There is too many to even make a difference. The man's reply, as he threw another one back was, "It made a difference to that one!" So I threw them back into the ocean. (haha :))

He looks right at home doesn't he?

First dinner in at the beach club with Ben and Becky. The restaurant was outdoors under a hut, off of the beach.

This was the best dinner I had. Pancit with chicken and shrimp.

Ending the day with an evening under the stars on the ocean. Perfect!

That sums up day one in the Philippines. Stay tuned for lots more to come!

Andrea's 30th Birthday

2010-05-01T20:36:00.000-06:00

This free slideshow design personalized with Smilebox

Why We Love Him...

2010-03-17T21:32:00.004-06:00

Dylan is now 15 months old. He has been such a joy in our lives. He is so fun and has such a sweet little countenance. I must say though, I have started to see a little mischievous look to him lately.

Like the bruise in the middle of his forehead? That was an accidental golf swing to the head by his big brother.

He absolutely LOVES to be outside. I have to drag him in kicking and screaming every day.

Annie's 9th Birthday

2010-03-17T21:09:00.004-06:00

Annie turned 9 on March 9th. Annie, Macee, and Carter have been taking ice skating lessons so she wanted to go there for her party the Saturday before her birthday.

The night of her actual birthday we stayed home and had a family dinner and opened presents. She got a bike helmet, church shoes, and Nels got her her first set of golf clubs.

Annie has always been such a sweetie! She is growing into such a beautiful young lady. She is such a great example to her little sister and brothers. We love her very much!

For Amanda and Kevin

2010-02-24T14:03:00.003-07:00

I even got them to do yoga with me!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-09T22:04:00.012-07:00

This year we packed up and headed up to Fairfield for Christmas. We got up there Wednesday night and hung out and relaxed most of Christmas Eve. Nels and I volunteered to cook Christmas Eve dinner to give Janis a break. We cooked Prime Rib, Fried Breaded Shrimp and made homemade fries. This was the first time we had ever done a prime rib, so with good directions from my dad it turned out great and was sooo easy to do! I was a little nervous, after all you don't want to be remembered for ruining Christmas Eve dinner :).

Nels and Tate hard at work frying the shrimp and fries in the garage. Thanks Tate for all your help!

Slicing the fries, check out the potato slicer! So handy!

Luke, Lacee, Kaden, Kolby, Ashley and McKay were all up there too.
All the girls: Ashley, Andrea, Janis, Macee, Annie, and Lacee
All the boys: Tate, Nels, Charles, Luke, Mckay, Dylan, Kaden, Kolby, and Carter

The kids spreading Reindeer Food so Santa would find us.

Kaden, Kolby, and Dylan are all one month apart. Lacee got these adorable PJ's for them all last year when they where born. I am glad we where together for Christmas. We may as well call them the "three musketeers" now! I see lots of mischief at future get togethers!

Dylan on Christmas morning

Inspecting his toys

Carter's loot from Santa

I could tell that Annie is really starting to grow up this year. She didn't want any toys from Santa, just clothes and an MP3 player.

Macee got her barn set

Dylan has found his nose!!

Making sure Carter's train table looked ok.

Christmas Day was so wonderful. We stayed in our PJ's and played with toys almost the whole day. We did venture out later on that afternoon to play some basketball at the church. Lots of late nights, game playing, and of course eating way too much good food! We sure had a great Christmas and am grateful that Charles and Janis let us come take over the house. I am so thankful for my family and that we can be together forever! We have been so blessed in our lives!

P.S. Thanks Lacee for taking all of these pics for me (my camera wasn't working).

Disneyland Cont....

2010-01-09T20:48:00.007-07:00

Here is our Disneyland trip continued, I know it's about time. I had to start with this picture of Macee. This was our last night there and we were soooo sick of park fried greasy food, we needed something good to eat. So we walked to the Cheesecake Factory and ate some gooood food. As you can see, Macee thouroghly enjoyed her ribs!

Day 2 we spent the day at Sea World. It was so nice not having to fight the crowds all day. I think the Shamu show was hands down our favorite.

Annie touching the "bat rays."

Waiting for Shamu. We sat in the soak zone first, but then chickened out and moved to higher ground.

All the kids getting ready to go shoot up Toy Story.

The big Christmas Tree in the entrance to Disneyland.

The whole crew!!

Happy Birthday Dylan!!

2009-12-12T13:22:00.003-07:00

I know I say this with each of my kids birthday posts, but I really can't believe that Dylan is already a year old! This has been such a busy year that time has literally flown by.

Why I Love My Sweet Little Boy:

1. He slept through the night after just a few months and will sleep 12 hours to this day every night. (I know this shouldn't be the top of my list, but I do love that he is a good sleeper).

2. He has a very sweet, calming spirit. He is so content and mild tempered (he must take after his mom :) lol).

3. He is a snuggle bug, which I absolutely love. My favorite thing to do is feed him his bottle in his rocking chair in his room. When he is done he lays on my chest and will snuggle until I lay him down.

4. He has a great little smile that can brighten anyone's day.

5. He can captivate an audience while just playing with toys.

6. He is very playful and is starting to get a little more rambunctious.

7. He crawls on his fists and is starting to scale the couches.

8. He loves to rub his mouth all over the front of the stove and wipe his hands all over the front of the dishwasher.

9. He is a fast learner, we haven't had to block the stairs with anything, he has fallen down 1/2 way once and now he stays away.

10. He is always happy to see anyone in his family and can make them happy by just flashing them his smile.

We have been so blessed this past year with a healthy baby and kids. We are so blessed to have Dylan as part of our family, we love him so much and can't wait for all of the adventures that await us with him!

Our Disneyland Adventures

2009-12-03T11:23:00.009-07:00

A few weeks ago we took Annie, Macee, and Carter to Disneyland, California Adventures and Seaworld. Dylan got left behind and partied with Grandma and Grandpa Griffin. We went with our neighbors who have kids pretty much the same age as ours. The first night we got there we went and walked around Downtown Disney and ate at the Rainforest Cafe. It had a very fun atmosphere with thunderstorms and the animals would periodically come alive.

All of the kids in front of the Christmas tree in Downtown Disney (minus Carter, he was not feeling photogenic)

Waiting for the gates to open for our first day of fun! We took pictures with Mickey in the "C" of California adventures.

Macee and Maddie meeting Ariel

Waiting for the parade in Calfornia Adventures to start. It was really neat. All my pictures turned out dark.

Everything was decorated for Christmas! It was beautiful!

This is the Castle.

Carter pigging out on Cotton Candy

Hang on tight! Notice Carter was not afraid of going first. He loved evey ride and wanted to do them multiple times.

I must say Carter did great, but this is how we took him back to the hotel every night. I think a half day would have been perfect for him. The first day we spent about 14 hours between Disneyland and California Adventures. We crammed in as much as we could between the rides, showes, and of course waiting in lines, just to wait in another. We thought going the weekend before Thanksgiving would not be so busy. Turns out everyone else was thinking the same thing! Stayed tuned for our second day in California.....

I hope they call me on a mission to...

2009-11-10T08:34:00.003-07:00

The other morning the boys and I were out for a walk. Carter and I were talking about where Nels served his mission and what you do on missions, etc. I told him that daddy went to the Philippine's and that you teach people about Jesus. I asked him where he wanted to go on a mission when he got older and he said, "McDonalds!"

Lovin It!!!

2009-11-06T11:02:00.002-07:00

In August I brought 2 of our old horses in from my dad's old ranch. I am boarding them at the place where I used to take lessons as a little girl. My girls are now taking lessons from the same people that taught me. We have sure been enjoying every minute of having them close to us!

Meet Stormy. He is 17 years old and totally kid proof! He is the babysitter and is very lazy!

This is Willie. We have had Willie for 21 years (ever since he was 2). He is 23 now and still has a little spunk left in him, yet Carter can ride him by himself in the inside arena. This horse has done it all, he has been in the mountains, drug calves, been showed in 4-H and everything else in between. He is definitely the favorite and the girls take their lessons on him because they can actually get him to go!

I have also been able to ride and exercise some of the horses that Gary and Linda have because my kids hog the horses the whole time and never let me ride! I do enjoy riding the younger horses and I have been able to sneak a lesson in for myself also. I grew up with horses and used to show in 4-H and did a lot of ranch work on them. I sold my childhood horse 4 years ago when I got pregnant with Carter. I was boarding him at this same place before I sold him. It has been so good for me to be able to share something that I love with my kids and so good for them to learn a new skill and hobby! I do need to get some more action photos of the kids because they really are staring to get good, especially Annie!

June

2009-10-22T12:42:00.005-06:00

In my desperate attempt to catch up on our blog from this summer, this is what we did in June. I want to someday get these all printed out into a hard bound book, so sorry these are so yesterday's news.

The first part of June my sister Amanda, her two kids Kasen and Addie along with nephews Quest, Koby, and Kylan were all in town. We decided to load into the Auction's two 15 passanger vans and make our way to Red Lodge. With coolers full of food, fishing poles, strollers, 15 kids, and 7 adults we piled in and were off to Wild Bill Lake. We got some crazy looks while we were walking around the lake trying to find a spot. We pretty much took it over.

Getting the fishing poles ready

Not the best pic of me, but everyone else looks good
Aunt Lauraleah, Addie, Andrea, Dylan, and Taylor

Here is half the group
Annie, Macee, Uncle Ben, Taylor, Spencer, Koby, Quest, Lauraleah, Addie, and Aunt Amanda

Trying their luck, I think we did end up catching a few

The end of June was also our ward campout. We went back up to Red Lodge to Greenough Lake.
I think we wore Dylan out. This was his second camping trip of his first 6 months of life.

Macee and Carter playing Bocce Ball (have no idea how that is spelled)

I think this picture captures Dylan's little personality. So happy, sweet, and always ready to play.

I think this is the biggest fish that Nels has ever caught! LOL!

Annie was reeling them in!

I love him in this hat. He is about 6 months old in this pic.

Garden Craziness!

2009-10-13T11:31:00.006-06:00

The Garden is where I spent most of my free time this summer. We had lots of picnics and dinners out at the garden while we were working. The kids loved it at first, but when it was time to pull weeds they weren't too excited. Dad and I planted 1/2 acre full of onions, tomatoes, green beans, peas, beets, brocolli, cauliflower, cabbage, squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, peppers, canteloupe, potatoes, zucchini, and of course 14 rows of corn! We canned, we froze and we had many home grown meals which included dad's own raised beef, pork, and chicken.

Our slave labor. All of the kids snapping beans. We canned 130 qts of green beans.

We found several little friends in the garden including potato bugs, frogs, and snakes.

Carter and Griffy helping dad plant potatoes.

Nels hard at work hoeing with Dylan

Macee, Grandpa, Carter, and Annie on the tractor

Everything is home grown!

Carter in with the pigs

Big time catch up!

2009-09-24T11:29:00.009-06:00

Where did the summer go?! Seriously with how busy we were it was like one long day dream. I don't even know where to start to catch up my blog. I guess we will go back to June and start there. We were so busy I know I will forget about half of the things we did, but hopefully my pictures will help me remember which I am just barely downloading on the computer today! So here we go starting with the last day of school. The kids had a field day the last part of the day so the boys and I walked down and snapped some pics.

Macee and her friend Katie pulling hard!

Annie and Zach (we are going to Disneyland with him and his family in November! We can't wait!)

Grandpa Griffin got chickens last spring. The kids sure thought they are cute. Now they are big and ugly but starting to lay eggs.

Hey mom...

2009-06-05T13:24:00.002-06:00

Carter: Hey mom, can I have another fruit snack?
Me: No, you just had one.
Carter: I will give you $100 bucks.
Me: Really, ok I will take $100 bucks.
Carter: Ok, one second...

He proceeds to go raid his sisters piggy bank and brings me a dollar. Needless to say I caved and gave him one because he is so darn cute!

Another Carter potty training story. We keep telling him that if he poops on the toilet we will go buy a toy (yes, sometimes we bribe, judge how you may:)). So the other day he asks for his diaper so he can go poop. So instead of cleaning it out of his underwear once again I put a diaper on him.

I sit down to feed Dylan and Carter goes and does his thing. He comes back and says can we go get a toy now. I say, "no, you have to go on the potty." So he goes back downstairs, takes off his diaper and dumps it in the toilet. Hmmm....sneaky right, well mom didn't fall for that one. Silly kid!!

Camping

2009-06-03T16:48:00.005-06:00

Nels and Carter went on their first father/son camping trip May 15-16. They went up by Red Lodge with the stake. Carter had a blast and felt pretty special that he was the only one that got to go. He keeps telling me now that girls can't go camping (I told him that girls can do whatever they want to :)). Here at home I had 2 upset girls because they didn't get to go. So we had a girls night out along with a cousin sleepover. I think that a Father/Daughter Camp out is needed here real soon.

Nels and Carter at the Waterfall

Carter on the hike (Nels said he did great) he even picked me a flower and brought it all the way home to me.

The next weekend we were out camping again. We met Charles, Janis, Tate, and McKay up at Indian Hill (half way between here and Great Falls). We had a great time and Uncle Tate and McKay were great at giving lots of 4-wheeler rides and entertaining the kids.

Tate teaching how to skip rocks

Dylan's first camping trip. He did great, we hope to go lots more!

Doing our favorite thing: Making Smores!

What do you do when...

2009-06-01T16:09:00.002-06:00

Your 3 year old, who is potty training, pees down your vent instead of in his toilet....

Happy Birthday Carter!

2009-05-11T15:53:00.007-06:00

Today Carter is 3 years old! It's kind of funny because the three older kids's birthdays are all about one month apart and all were on Mondays. We decided we needed to do something fun today so we went to the zoo with my sister and Carter's best buddy and cousin Griffy. We fed the horses, goats, and ducks. Then we finished off with a picnic and playing on the playground. Tonight we will have an ice cream Spider Man Cake and open presents.

Carter is such a sweet little guy, but can be mischeivious at the same time. Here are some of the top reason why I love my little guy:

1. He is my first baby boy. We were so excited to be getting a boy after 2 girls. We almost didn't believe the doctor when he told us he was a boy.
2. When I tell him I love him he always says, "Thanks Mom."
3. He always asks me to come play toys with him. I need to do it more often because my opportunities are slipping away.
4. He is fearless. My girls are scared of anything that moves, but not Carter. He is always in the middle of things. My dad has pigs and while the girls won't go near them, Carter will go stand in the pen and just watch them.
5. He is a wonderful little helper. He loves to help with dinner and stir things for me. When it is time to clean up, he is notorious for disappearing.
6. He has a little serious side to him. It is hard to get him to crack a smile when he doesn't want to, he will just ignore you. We were planting potatoes with my dad a few weeks ago and he was all business.
7. He is a sweet big brother to Dylan (most of the time). Dylan has gotten a few toys to the head lately.
8. When we go to the auction to visit Nels he raids everyone's desk for candy (especially Grandma's).
9. Every night when Nels comes home from work, he hears the garage door open up and runs to hide in the pantry or under the desk. When Nels comes in, he jumps out, hits him on the leg and then takes off.
10. He always has to give the girls a hug and kiss on the cheek before they go to school. If he doesn't get a chance to, he throws a big fit.

I love my little guy and am so grateful for his fun personality in our home. He is my little buddy and helper, until dad comes home.

Flyin Kites

2009-05-05T17:20:00.004-06:00

We were bored over Easter Vacation so we went and got some kites. The wind was perfect and the kids kept their kites up really good, even Carter kept his up all by his self.

"Ballin' Mothas"

2009-04-25T21:22:00.005-06:00

Today I had the chance to play in a 3 on 3 basketball tourney up at MSU-Billings. Cressida Carrol (an old friend that I played with for a couple years in high school who is also a member of the church, she is just a few years older than me), and Libbie Oram (a girl from my ward who also played college ball in Colorado and in Great Falls) got together and decided to play in this tourney. We called ourselves the ballin' mothas because we have 8 kids between the 3 of us, me having half of them. I must say I was pretty nervous becuase it has been FOREVER since I have played in a tourney. We ended up taking second place to 4 former college players (2 who played for the Griz, one played for MSU-B and overseas, and the other played for Rocky). And they only beat us by 6 points. I must say I was pretty impressed with how we did. Nels was a good sport to bring all the kids to watch and cheer us on. It was super fun and we hope to do it again next year.

Us waiting for the next game (me, Libbie's husband and daughter, Libbie, and Cressida).

Chatting with the other team, yea we beat them! lol

Amazing!

2009-04-20T21:29:00.006-06:00

What an amazing experience we had on Sunday. Elder Oaks (one of the twelve apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) and Elder Renland came for our Stake Conference and stayed with my parents. We got to listen to him of Saturday night for the adult session and then again on Sunday. Sunday we had the opportunity to have a family dinner with him for about an hour and a half before he had to leave. It was such a privilege to meet an apostle of the Lord. Such amazing men that lead our church. We prepped the kids before we went over to be on their best behavior and they did great. Annie asked "Can we give him a hug?" and we told her she could, I'm not sure if she snuck it in but Macee told me she did give Elder Renland a high five. Today we asked the girls how they felt when they met Elder Oaks and Rendland and they replied,"Happy". We are truely blest to have the gospel in our lives and the ability to know the truth for ourselves.

All the grandkids with Elder Renland and Oaks.

While I Was Feeding Dylan...

2009-04-16T21:58:00.002-06:00

The Culprit...sooo innocent

Annie's Baptism

2009-04-15T09:04:00.009-06:00

We baptized Annie on March 14, 2009.

It was such a special day for her and for us. She was so excited and sweet. Her Baptism couldn't have gone any better. Grandma Pearson said the opening prayer, Grandpa Pearson spoke on Baptism, Grandpa Griffin spoke on the Holy Ghost, Nels baptized and confirmed her and Grandma Griffin gave the closing prayer. We also made a slide show of her that went along to the song "Three White Dresses." Nels worked super hard on it and Annie had no idea we had it until we showed it during her program. We have tried to download it from power point onto blogger and you tube but have had no luck (if anyone knows how to do that let me know). We had a lot of family and friends there and are so grateful for all the love and support of our friends and family. Thank you to all of those who came and helped out!

Annie and Nels

Nels, Andrea, Dylan, Macee, Carter, and Annie

Grandma and Granpa Pearson with the kids.

Annie and Grandma and Grandpa Pearson

Annie and Grandpa Griffin

Annie and Grandma Griffin

Annie's testimony (we put this on the inside of her program).

All the kids eating refreshments in the hall.

I just had to throw this one in too!

My Big Six Year Old!

2009-04-08T08:31:00.014-06:00

Isn't it crazy how time flies and how old you begin to feel as your kids start getting older and growing up.

Macee turned 6 on April 6th. She was such a wonderful easy, content baby and now she is our
little ball of fire and always keeps us on our toes! She is spunky and very witty with a little (ok maybe a lot) of drama mixed in. She is very enthusiastic with everything she decides to do and when her mind is made up good luck changing it. She is wonderful at arguing and we are waiting for her career as a lawyer. She is also very forgiving and a great friend to all of those around her.
She does have a very sweet side and is always good for a hug and kiss on the way out the door for school and when it's off to bed. She will often come snuggle up by me when I am feeding Dylan and when she gets up to leave she makes me promise I won't let anyone else take her spot.

Macee is doing great in school and is really taking off on her reading. She got 100% on all of her little midterm testing for Kindergarten. Her teacher told me at parent teacher conference that she is such a little angel. I was glad to hear that! Her teacher also told us a story when they were talking about Thanksgiving and being thankful for our blessings. She went around the room and asked each student what they were thankful for. Macee was the first to go and she said she was thankful for her Temple. Nels and I were both holding our breath a little worried about what the teacher was going to say, but we were pleasantly surprised and proud of her.
She did tell me yesterday that if was my fault she did bad on her math. I asked her why and she said, "because you forgot to say it in your prayer this morning!"

Even though both her and Annie have their own room, they have been sleeping together in Annie's bed every night for the past 6 weeks. It is sweet to hear them in there laughing and giggling with each other when they are supposed to be going to sleep (until I ruin their fun and tell them to be quiet :)).

She started her second season of soccer and has her first game tonight. She is aggressive and a go getter. I am excited to watch her play.

I have also noticed that she has one high level of pain tolerance. She did not complain once about her leg before or after her bone graft surgery. She has a spacer in the roof of her mouth to fix her cross bite where the wires have worked their way into the roof of her mouth and she did not complain once about it hurting. All she said yesterday when the dentist fixed it was "ohh, that feels better!"

Macee has been such a blessing to our home and lives. We love her spunky little style and her resilient strong personality! There isn't one thing I would change about my baby girl! She has all the qualities that a girl needs to survive!

Notice her very fancy cake! :)

Happy Birthday Annie!!!

2009-03-09T10:00:00.006-06:00

At 3:33 pm today my baby girl will be 8 years old! I can't believe how life has changed since she has come to bless our lives. Annie has been such a joy and peaceful little spirit in our home. I often tell Nels that she is our experimental child because she is our first to experience everything with our parenting skills. It's a wonder she has made it this far! :)

Annie is such a sweetheart, she is the peacemaker in our home. She often gives up her chair, treat, or toy to make her brother or sister happy. She is very sympathetic and is very aware of others feelings. Awhile back Macee got hurt and was crying. I walked into the room to find that Annie had pulled her up onto her lap and was giving her a big hug. She does amazingly well with Dylan. She can feed him bottles and hold him so good if I am trying to get things done.

Annie loves to make others happy and is always drawing pictures for us or doing kind things for others. She listens and does what I ask (most of the time :)) She often tells me that Macee is her BFF (Best Friend Forever). I hope that they will always be close and best friends. Sisters are such a blessing to have.

I can't tell you how much I love my little girl. My life has been so much more fullfilling since she came along. It did take getting over a few very hard months of colicky, acid reflux, an incredible amount of crying, and finally getting the hang of being a mom to realize what a joy having children can be:). It is a wonder how the three of us survived those first few months, but at least to look at the bright side every baby since them has been pretty easy, haha!

The girl also has a great sense of fashion. She loves to shop for clothes and kind of has her own little style. She is starting to like to fix her own hair and actually does a pretty good job. She also enjoys her alone time. I often find her down in her room just hanging out. She loves to watch cartoons and would watch them all day long if I would let her. She is doing so good in school and I am so proud of all of the hard work she has put into reading and homework this year.

We will be baptizing her this Saturday, which she is very excited about. Grandma Pearson made her a super cute white dress for her baptism so we took her up to the Temple and got some cute pictures of her in it.

I am so proud of my baby girl and the sweet beautiful girl she has grown into. She is such a blessing in our lives and to everyone she meets! Happy Birthday Annie!!!!

One for the Hubby

2009-03-03T13:24:00.006-07:00

Back in November my dad, 3 brothers (Jon, Ben, and Joe), Brother-in-law Jake and Nels took a guys trip to Winner, South Dakota to do some pheasant hunting. I have had these pics for awhile and have been meaning to do a post for a long time (4 months oops :)). They had a great time and want to make it an annual trip together.

In January of '06 dad sent all the girls on a girl get away to Cancun. (I think we got the better end of the deal!!). So the boys think that they need a few more trips of there own to make up for ours.

Front row: Jon, Joe, Jake, Nels
Standing: Ben and Dad

Full of Smiles!

2009-02-11T10:49:00.004-07:00

Can you believe that Dylan will be two months old tomorrow! He has been such a sweet, easy, content little guy. He has even slept through the night the last 4 nights!! I have been putting him in his car seat to sleep because he has been a bit congested and it turns out he likes it. We feel so blessed to have him in our lives. He seriously has been so easy (I hope I am not jinxing myself). He loves to snuggle and loves it when you talk to him. He coos and just smiles. He can get a little ornery at times, but for the most part he does really good. Annie, Macee, and Carter, still love him as well. The novelty is wearing off a little bit with Carter and I have to keep a closer watch watch when he is around Dylan.

P.S. If you look real close you can see his hair start to grow in. I think it's going to take about 5 years to get as much as his cousin Kaden though!

Unanswered Prayers

2009-01-18T21:46:00.002-07:00

Lately we have really been teaching the kids the importance of prayers and how you can pray anytime and anywhere. We always say a little prayer before they go to school and they ask me to pray that they can do good on their math. (Macee has not enjoyed Kindergarten math lately). We went to Fairfield this weekend to watch Tate play basketball (by the way good job Tate, we had fun watching you). On the way home last night we had some sour patch kids in the car and Macee really wanted some. I was trying to divert her by trying to get her to eat a granola bar or crackers. This is how our conversation went:

Macee: Mom can I have some sour patch kids?
Me: No, why don't you eat something else.

a few moments of silence follow

Macee: Mom can I please have some sour patch kids?
Me: No
Macee: GRRRR. You were supposed to say yes.
Me: Why is that?
Macee: Because I just said a prayer that you would give me some.
Me and Nels: Laughing to ourselves (I guess not all prayers are answered).

Dylan's Baby Blessing

2009-01-07T12:27:00.007-07:00

We blessed Dylan on the 28th of December. Most of our family was here so we decided to go ahead and bless him. My sister Amanda blessed their little girl Addy also. It was fun to get to do it together. Here are a few pics of the big event. I couldn't get Dylan to cooperate for the camera. He kept pulling funny faces on me. So here are a few of the better ones.

My four kids, can you believe it!

My sister Amanda and I with Addilyn and Dylan

Mom and dad with their 2 new grand babies.

These two don't look alike do they!?

After sacrament meeting we all came over to our house for some snacks. It was fun to be able to visit with everyone.

Just a few pics of Dylan's first bath awhile back. It is so nice when those umbilical cords fall off! He didn't seem to mind it too much.

Christmas 2008

2009-01-04T14:54:00.008-07:00

We had a great Christmas this year. We obviously stayed here in Billings and it seemed like one party after another. We were all here except Jon and Ashley (we really missed you guys!) To start things off, Tuesday before Christmas Nels brought the 15 passenger auto auction van home and we all went to look at lights. I must say they were a little disappointing. Nels and Ben were navigating and it was a little interesting at times. I stole these pictures off of my sister Amanda's blog (thanks manda :)).

Taylor and Annie out by the van

My sister-in law Lauraleah, Amanda, me, Mom

After lights we went back to mom and dad's to have hot chocolate and cookies. This is Amanda trying to contain all the kids by reading them Christmas books.

The next night on Christmas Eve we went back to mom and dad's for dinner and had a surprise visit from Santa. They were all on the good list so he gave each of the kids a little toy. Then we came home and read the Christmas story (it was too crazy at mom and dad's to do it together) and talked about why we celebrate Christmas. Then it was off to bed.

Christmas morning was great with the kids. Carter was especially cute this year, he really understood what was going on and kept telling us he wanted "bad guys" for Christmas. He is getting into the little action figures. I think the girls were pretty happy with what they got. Dylan pretty much slept through the whole ordeal, but was happy with his diapers and formula :).

Christmas day we hung out for awhile and played with the kids. Then we went to mom and dad to exchange our gifts with them. We stopped out at Jim and Marjie's and played games and visited with the Stott fam. Thanks guys for letting us crash your party! :)

Friday we went all over town to find a sleds and Nels took the kids sledding across the street on a super fun hill. Saturday we went to mall and returned some Christmas stuff and Charles and Janis came over for pizza and to see Dylan. Tate brought his wii and got Nels hooked on it so after listening to him beg for one for a week I gave in and surprised him with one the other night (I must say, I don't like video games, but the wii is totally fun). Sunday we blessed Dylan because everyone was here (next post). Monday we had a costume party for my little nephew Griffin. He insisted we all dress up so my kids wore their Halloween costumes, Nels was Kung Fu cow (I forgot to take a picture of him, but I will get one from Chelsie), mom was princess Leiagh (sp?). Griffy really wanted dad to be Darth Vader so dad went all over town and found a costume. It was a really cute party and fun to see everyone dress up for Griffy. Tuesday night (the 30th) we celebrated my other nephew Quests birthday at GodFathers Pizza. Wednesday night we went out to Em and Kelly's for New Years Eve and partied with them until about 8 (I know we are really lame, but these last few weeks of no sleep has really caught up with us.) New Year's Day we took the kids to "Bedtime Stories." Then last night we took the kids to Applebees for dinner and went and watched Nels's cousin Dallin play basketball. So as you can see, it has been a busy few weeks and literally one party after another. I am sad that the kids have to go back to school tomorrow. We have had a great Christmas vacation!

A Few More With the Eyes Open

2008-12-19T20:28:00.006-07:00

Dylan is doing great and doing everything a baby should, especially sleeping all day and awake all night. :) Thank goodness for a wonderful husband who is so willing to help out with the night feedings (thanks hun!) All the kids are adjusting well. Carter has really surprised me with how well he has done. He loves to hold Dylan and wake him up, but is pretty soft (usually). Annie has been great help and loves to help hold and feed him. Macee had a few rough days in the beginning, but has been doing better the last few days. She also loves to hold him and we have had some fights over who gets to hold him first. So far he has been really content and an easy going baby.

As for me, I am on the mend. Labor and delivery went really well. I went to my doctor last Friday feeling crappy with sporadic contractions. I was just curious to see if something was going on so my doctor told me to come in. He checked me and I was almost at a 5 so he sent me up to the hospital. Long story short I got to the hospital and hooked up by about 3:30 in the afternoon and after some pitocin to get my contractions regular my doctor came up after work to deliver the baby (he wasn't even on call, through my whole pregnancy he said he would be there to deliver this baby he almost missed his wife's Christmas party just so he could deliver Dylan, nice guy) He came up at 5:30 and I was a 7 he broke my water and immediately I was wishing I had gotten an epideral. So within 20 minutes and a quick entrithecal I was ready to push. Thank goodness they let the entrithecal start working before they made me push. So Dylan was born at 6:21 P.M.

We came home on Sunday and have been staying in the house all week. Tuesday we did go out for his first doctor appt., but other than that it is too darn cold to go out. I did get to go to the girls Christmas program this morning. Chelsie came and sat with Dylan and Carter so I could run down to the school real quick. The pictures I took didn't turn out very good, but the girls both sang great. We could hear Macee in the back row and Annie was a little more reserved with her singing.

Thank you to everyone who has totally spoiled us with dinners and taking the kids this week. I don't know what we would do without such great family and friends. We love you all! Thanks a ton!

Dylan Spencer Pearson

2008-12-13T15:26:00.007-07:00

Here are a few more pictures of the new addition to our family. Enjoy!

Our Early Christmas Present!

2008-12-12T22:24:00.004-07:00

We just wanted to share some pictures of our early christmas present with everyone. He was born 12/12/08 at 6:21 p.m. 7 lbs 11 ozs 20 inches long. Mother and baby are doing great. His sisters and brother were excited for the new arrival also. Name is to be determined, we will let you know as soon as it is finalized with mom & dad. Enjoy!

Lots Going on!

2008-12-03T09:31:00.005-07:00

We decorated for Christmas for Family Home Evening on Monday night. I always love this time of year. We were jamming to Christmas music and the kids had a good time decorating the tree.

We had a great Thanksgiving! My Grandma and Grandpa Griffin, Uncle Steve and Aunt Cheri with their 7 kids plus 2 grandkids, and their Grandma Mitton all came up to visit. Then my sister's in-laws also came. Thanksgiving Day we all went to the Auction to eat. When you have almost 50 people, 4 Turkeys, 2 Hams, 10 dozen rolls, and everything in between, the auction kitchen works great to get everything done.

This is my Grandma Griffin and cousin Katlin working hard in the kitchen. Grandma was in charge of the rolls and pies.

My sweet Grandma and Grandpa Griffin

Nels and my cousin Chase hard at work in the kitchen

Dad and Uncle Steve. Steve is Dad's little brother. Sometimes I look at Steve and for a brief second think he is my dad. I think they look a TON a like.

Dad and Grandpa Griffin

My cousin Laura, Katlin, Grandma Griffin, and Aunt Cheri

We had a great day! Lots of food and later on we all went swimming at the Billings Hotel and Convention Center with the water slides. I of course forgot my camera. Nels and the kids had fun in the pool and I decided to spare everyone the view of my 9 month pregnant belly. Friday we all went and watched Bolt, then on Saturday it was bowling. I stayed home with Carter and Macee during bowling. They both were having melt downs and I needed to work on my Relief Society lesson and get groceries for dinner on Sunday. I had to make dinner for a lady in our ward who just had an emergency C-Section and major open heart surgery in the same day. That is an amazing story in itself. We had a full house with 7-8 people here every night. We had a great time and I was able to get to know my adopted cousin, his wife and kids a little bit better.

Monday and Tuesday Carter and I worked hard to get everything cleaned so today we are chilling all day. I am still in my pj's and hope to get all the ironing and Christmas wrapping done. After that I think that this baby can come any time. I am not due until the 18th, but a little wishful thinking can't hurt right? I am getting a little anxious and nervous. It will be sad to see my one-on-one time with Carter come to an end. I think he has really enjoyed having me all too himself. Till next time!

Yet Another Fish Funeral

2008-11-20T15:28:00.006-07:00

We lost fish #2 last week. Macee's fish got stuck in between some rocks and a plant. We had a few tears at first, but she got over it pretty quick. This was the fish she got for here birthday last April. I wasn't too heart broken over it either since I am the only one that ever feeds the darn things. I don't think she would have ever known it was dead until she tried to look for it that night. So we buried it next to Annie's fish and called it good. As you can see she wasn't too broken up over it.

Carter being a good helper and trying to dig it up later. What a good little brother.

Carter had a good time digging out in the flower bed. All I had to do to check one him was to look for his floating balloon that was tied to his wrist.

Just a little update on us. Not much new has been going on. Just a lot of cleaning and nesting for me as well as finishing up Christmas shopping. Yesterday I cleaned like crazy and today I got my carpets shampooed. I am hoping that in three weeks or so the new little guy will be here. But at the same time, I am a little nervous about all of those sleepless nights. I can handle pretty much everything else, but no sleep just isn't very fun.

Kid Pics

2008-10-28T21:58:00.003-06:00

We had pictures taken of the kids on Saturday. We are waiting for updated family pics until spring after the new little guy comes. Go to www.heathermosser.blogspot.com to check out a few. Heather did our family pics a few years ago and always does such a great job. Thanks Heather!

Snow, Snow, Snow!!!

2008-10-14T17:30:00.004-06:00

Over the weekend, we got 22 inches of snow. We woke up Saturday morning to this out our bedroom door. The kids were in their snow clothes and out the door just before 8 AM. Obviously soccer games were cancelled and we were able to hang out for most of the day. Nels cleaned and organized the storage room for me while I went to help a friend clean her house for a few hours because she was moving. The kids where in and out of the house about 50 times with lots of hot chocolate breaks. Nels was the snow man maker and we all got into a snow ball fight. We had a great day together and lots of fun being able to play with the kids outside. Hopefully it will do this again over Christmas Vacation!

Nels and Carter shoveling the snow before it got too deep. The snow kept falling and on Sunday morning we had 22 inches. We only had Sacrament meeting because half of the ward (including us was without power and some others were snowed in up at Rehberg Ranch). We had to go to mom and dad's to shower and get ready for church.

Working on the snowman.

Sledding down our little hill in the back yard.

I love snowy days and hope we will have lots more this winter!!! Just a little update on me, I am 31 weeks along and will maybe post a belly picture someday (maybe). I was just released from Young Womens on Sunday after more than 4 years. I am a little sad, but also relieved to have some more free time before and after the baby is born. My new calling is Relief Society teacher once a month (my dream calling). I start going to the doctor every two weeks now, which has me feeling a little nervous. I have started Christmas shopping, but have a long ways to go!!

Gardens, Football, and Aunt Lacee

2008-10-12T15:49:00.006-06:00

My dad grew a big garden again this year. He has always loved to garden and since they sold the ranch and moved, it has been a few years since he has been able to grow one. He has made this garden out front of the Auto Auction and has been trying to get the soil good enough to plant. This year he worked real hard and had a great garden. I actually feel kind of guilty reaping all the benefits from his hard work. So I got to freeze some corn, beans, and make spaghetti sauce with fresh tomatoes. The little boys sure had a good time helping too. Too bad the girls where in school and had to miss out on all the fun.
.
We also got to go to Fairfield a few weekends ago just for a visit and to watch Uncle Tate play football. He is #11 and is by far the best player on the team! The last two games he has scored a touchdown in each game! GO UNCLE TATE!! The kids had fun watching the game and playing under the bleachers. We also had a good time just hanging out and visiting.

We also got a visit by the funnest Aunt ever last weekend. Aunt Lacee came all the way up from Texas just to come visit everyone here in Billings. She stayed with us last Saturday night and brought lots of fun things to do with her. She came to the girls soccer games, we drug her around Cost Co for awhile and then while the boys where at Priesthood we decorated Halloween cookies and Lacee showed the girls some sweet cheerleading moves. I thought I had pics on my camera but can't find them for some reason. Annie and Macee where in heaven with her around and she was voted by far the best funnest aunt ever. She is not afraid to get down and dirty with the kids!

Please Help!

2008-09-12T15:08:00.010-06:00

So it has been a few weeks since the girls have started back to school. Annie is in 2nd grade and Macee is in Kindergarten. I thought things would slow down a bit since Carter would be the only one I have home. Boy I was mistaken. Since school has started Macee and Carter have both had the flu. Soccer has started for both Annie and Macee with practices and games 3-4 times per week. Not only do I hardly get anything accomplished during the day with my sweet little Carter glued to my leg every second wanting me to entertain him. But it seems that he feels the need to throw a huge tantrum when I won't give him what he wants. This morning he came and climbed in bed with me about 6:20. Macee wasn't in too long after that and once she saw Carter was already in bed with me World War 3 begun. She was upset because she wanted Carter out of the bed and that she was the only one who could get in my bed in the morning. So between the hitting, kicking, trying to keep her off of Carter, and her yelling at me to take him back to his own bed I kept thinking to myself, "Where did I go wrong?" Oh, by the way she still comes upstairs in the middle of the night and wants to sleep on our floor. So we have again compromised with letting her sleep on the couch. BIG MISTAKE on our part. I seriously don't know what to do with her sleeping habits and tantrums. So I get her settled down and we proceed to start to get ready for school. (Oh, another thing, full time Kindergarten is hard on little kids. She told me after the first week that school is not the place for her and that she doesn't belong there. So with a little chat that everyone has to go to school and trying to ask her questions to see if something had happened that day at school, we agreed that she could bring her favorite blanket with her in her backpack in a pocket where no one would see it. That has seemed to help a little bit.) So anyways I get them off to school and I pick up after the hurricane of the morning and then I jump in the shower. While I was in there Carter had gotten into my vitamins and gotten the lid off of them and got a good taste of them. He came in and told me he threw up and I am thinking "oh crap" because he had the flu on Monday. So I get out, clean him up and ask him where he threw up. He leads me to the open bottle of vitamins with a few chewed up on the chair. So long story short after a call to poison control they said he should be ok. This has been the story of my life the last few weeks and something needs to change or I am going to go crazy!
So the last few days I have done a lot of praying for patience and wondering where did I go wrong? Baby #4 comes in 3 months and I can't seem to keep control of my two youngest ones! We have to figure out what to do with Macee's sleeping habits and tantrums. I also need to figure out how to make Carter happy during the day. We have tried to have play dates, going to the park, walks, and just staying out of the house because he likes to be on the go. This afternoon he actually came downstairs to play and I am thinking, "Oh good, I can get dinner going." Well this is what he was up too....

So this is what he had to do...

Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas for me? I know that this phase shall pass and I keep trying to tell myself they are only young once and to choose my battles.

On a happier note Annie is doing great in school and I really like both of the girls teachers. Annie is a great big sister and does her best to help me out. I love all of my kids very much and I do feel very blessed to be able to stay home with them. Some days are just better than others. I am learning and trying to figure out what works for each of them because they are all so different. Anyways, tonight I decided that we needed to have a good family night so we made homemade pizzas and mini carmel apples for dinner. Now we are watching a movie with the kids and will soon get them to bed and then Nels and I can watch our movie and RELAX!

Our First Pet Funeral

2008-08-21T13:41:00.005-06:00

Annie's Beta Fish died on Monday so we had to hold our first pet funeral. I felt pretty bad for her, this is the first thing she has had die. So for family home evening and to cheer Annie up we went and got her a new one. So needless to say everything is ok now.

We buried the fish out front in the flower bed and Annie said a few nice words and that was that. Hopefully this fish will do a little better.
This is just a random picture from girls camp last month. My little Young Women has been wanting to braid my hair for a long time and I told her she could do it at girls camp. So as soon as I got up there she corn-rowed my hair. She did a great job, but I felt totally bald with it being braided so tight.

It's a.....

2008-08-19T09:11:00.002-06:00

So most of you have probably heard that we are expecting another little BOY!!!!! We had the ultrasound last Friday and everything looks great. We took the kids with us so they could see the baby and understand what was going on a little more with mom's growing waistline. The girls thought it was pretty neat, especially the 3D where you can really see the baby's features. Macee wondered why he looked yellow and why he was smelling his feet. Annie knew it was a boy, Dad and Macee thought it was a girl and I kind of thought it could be a boy, but wasn't for sure. Annie has been right with every baby we have had. With her around we don't need ultrasounds!

I have always wanted 2 boys and 2 girls and having them grouped together is even better. We are so excited and ready to get ready for this little guy.

He's a Big Boy!

2008-08-19T09:04:00.003-06:00

We moved Carter into a big boy bed the other night. It was hard for me to move him out of his crib because he wasn't able to climb out of it. But to make room for the new baby we had to make some changes.

He has done great and looks like such a big boy sleeping at night. It is sad how fast they grow up!
He has also become interested in going potty on the toilet. I may try that obstacle when the girls go back to school next week.

Happy 9th Anniversary!!

2008-08-11T11:32:00.005-06:00

Can you believe it! Nels and I have been married for 9 years today! As Grandma Beverly says 9 years ago the Tornado hit Salt Lake. Good thing we were married in Logan Temple, but we did get some aftermath of the storm there (thank goodness it was after pictures).

As I look back on that day I can't believe it has already been 9 years. It's crazy to think how much has happened these last years. Baby #4 is on the way, Nels made it through school with a Masters, we have been blessed with a wonderful job, great kids, a loving family who are such a great support, and most of all I really still don't understand what I did to deserve Nels. Each day I realize more and more how perfect he is for me. He balances me out and has such a great sense of humor it's hard to stay mad at him for too long.

Here are some of the reasons why I fell in love with him. On our first date he gave me goosebumps the first time he touched me. I knew he was someone pretty special. I was sure hoping he would give me a call the next day and he did. From our first date, we saw each other every day until I came home for the summer in April (our 1st date was Jan. 9th, 1999). I grew up knowing most of his family and knew what great people they were so I thought if he looked like a Stott he must have some of the same qualities they did. He opened every door for me and payed for every date (this I was not used too). The first time I met his mom she came down to visit him and he even opened her car door to let her out, I was very impressed by this and knew that he had a great love for his mom to treat her so well. He has such a great sense of humor and I never felt awkward around him. He was very creative and came up with some fun dates. He stood up for me when his roommate said he could date someone better (needless to say I didn't like this roommate very much, I still don't to this day). Oh yea, we can't leave out that I thought he was HOT (don't worry honey, I still do)!!

On a side note, my girls just came up the stairs talking to each other saying, "Love is Crazy" where they got that, I don't know.

To sum it up, Nels is the perfect guy for me and I love him so much. These last 9 years have been wonderful and I couldn't ask for anything more. Nels balances me out in every way, he is ambitious and takes great care of us. He is gentle, kind, patient, has a strong testimony, and he still loves to take me out on dates. He likes to hold hands when we go for walks, he watches chick flicks with me, he encourages me to pursue the things I love to do, he is compassionate when I am pregnant and eats with me late at night so I don't feel like a pig. He is honest and we can have "heart to heart" conversations. He is great to help me when I need it and he calls me several times a day just to see how I am doing. He also gives me foot and back rubs almost every night. He makes me want to be a better person and always has encouraging words when I get discouraged. I could keep going, but these are just a few reasons why I love him so much.

So here's to you hun, Happy Anniversary! Thank you for all that you do, you make my life truly wonderful!! I love you!!

The Deer Whisperer

2008-07-27T18:48:00.002-06:00

Friday night at the "Unofficial" Stott family reunion we had an unexpected guest to dinner, luckily we had the Wyoming "deer whisperer" in camp with us. After a little potatoes and chicken the deer went on it merry way! The kids thought that was pretty cool!

The syndicated show will be coming to animal planet soon!!

The Unofficial Stott Family Reunion 2008

2008-07-27T18:03:00.018-06:00

Uncle Jack's family and us would like to share a little with everyone else all the great times that we had in Wyoming! We arrived at West Ten Sleep Lake on Thursday afternoon and hit the fishing running, well we threw some bait into the water anyways.

We had dinner and then tried to get the kids to bed, which is rather difficult in a small trailer, they finally went to sleep after playing musical beds for a good 2 hours. The next morning we got up again and while we were making breakfast Annie came into camp and informed us she saw an animal and she didn't think that it was a squirrel and wasn't sure if it was a bear. This peaked our interest and we went out to the lake, lo and behold it was a Moose with a calf.

(The Moose is that black spot behind Macee)

Uncle Jack, Aunt Julie, and Tanner came later that afternoon and showed us how to catch the Wyoming whoppers! The kids and parents had a great time landing the big ones. Friday night we had a very exciting dinner (for another blog) and sung around the campfire.

(That is the Fish not the bait!)

Saturday we got up and went fishing again and went on a little hike to some waterfalls. The kids did really well on the way up, and on the way back Annie and Carter (he got carried) did really well Macee (nickname "bear bait") struggled, but we all did make it back to camp. We really did have a great time, thanks to Uncle Jack, Aunt Julie, and Tanner for inviting us down to Wyoming!

The Big Reveal!!!

2008-06-26T19:53:00.006-06:00

Last week my sister Chelsie and I decided to take on the job of getting the girls moved downstairs. So to get them excited about the move I let them pick what color they wanted to paint one accent wall, pick out their own new bedding and decorate how they want. Annie's room is up first , she chose pink for her wall color and some grown up bedding. I did try to talk her into the cutsie little girl bedding but she wasn't having it. My baby is growing up! Chelsie did an awesome job with the flowers and vines coming up her wall to match the bedding. She free-handed all of it! What a talented sister I have (thank goodness too, she was really the mastermind of coordinating Annie's room together). (P.S. it's not really painted, she has her own little vinyl business). We had a heck of a time trying to find curtains and a bed skirt that matched the hot pink and brown so we decided on the cream instead. I think it fits quite nicely together.
Notice the nightstand on the side of her bed, Joel and Robbin gave this to us several years ago so Nels and I spent all day Saturday stripping this and Macee's little dresser and re-finishing them. I am very happy with how they turned out. It was a lot of work, but saved us a lot of money too!
Next up is Macee's room. Her room was a little easier for me. She chose purple for her wall color and picked bedding that had lots of things to go with it, including curtains and wall stickers.
There is the little dresser we also re-finished.

My Grandparents made this little kitchen set for Chelsie, Amanda, and I when we were little. My grandma is an amazing toll painter and has made us some really cute things over the years. I am glad that my girls have the chance to enjoy it also. Get ready Manda this is coming to you when you have that little girl! P.S. Since the girls first night down here on Friday Macee has slept through the night 5 out of the 6 nights. Monday night she came up and slept on the couch. I think we can claim a VICTORY in this fight against her sleeping in an actual bed! It has been WONDERFUL!!
Here is my hubby hard at work tonight fixing a few sprinklers. I saw him walking out of the garage with a pick axe and a saw (a little scary) and was wondering what in the world he was going to do. He promised me he wouldn't tear up the yard to much. Thanks Nels for being such a good handy man! What would I do without you!

Go Dr. Jonathan Griffin!!!

2008-06-09T10:04:00.009-06:00

We were able to fly to Seattle this weekend for my brother Jon's graduation from Medical School. We are soooo proud of him and Ashley for enduring the long road and overcoming all of the trials that come along with medical school. Jon will be starting his residency in Boise, ID in Family Medicine. We know they will do great and fit right in down there.

I would like to tell you a little bit about these guys who I love so much. Jon is my oldest brother who is 4 years older than I. He and Ashley have been married for almost 13 years. They have 3 beautiful boys Quest, Koby, and Kylan. We were able to go and visit them last summer and had the funnest family trip we have been on. Jon and Ashley are motivated, strong, kind, loving, and always willing to lend a helping hand to anyone. There is no doubt that with Jon's fun loving personality, commitment, and genuine concern for everyone around him that he is going to be an AMAZING Doctor. Jon is also a great listener. I love these guys so much and hope that they will be able to move a little closer to home someday. So here's to you Jon and Ashley for making it through!!!

On a side note, Nels and I had a great weekend together getting away and being able to hang out together. We got to Seattle at 7:30 pm on Friday night and me, Nels, mom, dad, Chelsie, and Jon (he flew in from Boise at 7:30 also so we got to hook up at the airport) we all went to eat at Bennihauna's (not sure if I spelled that right). If anyone ever has a chance to eat there it is sooo yummy and very entertaining. The chef cooks your food right in front of you. Then on Saturday we had Jon's graduation at 10 and then Ashley put on a really nice reception/going away party for him from 1-3. After that Nels, mom, Chelsie and I went to do a little shopping and we met up with Ben and Lauraleah and their kids and went to the Cheesecake factory for dinner. It was dad's birthday on Saturday so my little neice Taylor told our waiter that it was her grandpa's birthday (we were all threatened with our life if we told anyone it was his birthday, but you can't get mad at the granddaughter right?). Ashley's family was also in town so we ran back to Jon and Ashley's to visit and say goodbye and flew home Sunday morning. It was a quick trip, but well worth it. We had fun and I am so glad we could be there to support Jon.

P.S. Thank you Chase and Krista for staying with the kids. I know they had a great time partying with you!!!

Mom, You Have 4 Options...

2008-05-31T19:58:00.003-06:00

Since Macee has graduated from pre-school she is really bored and drives me crazy all day until Annie gets home from school. It seems like she is always asking for a friend to come over or if we can go do something fun. So the other day, I was trying to get a few things done and she had been asking me all day if she could have someone come play. I was giving her every excuse I could think of when finally she said, "Ok Mom, you have 4 options." A little surprised by this I asked her what my options were and this is what she told me:

1. You take me to Exotic Pets (a fun little pet store here in town).
2. You take me to the park.
3. You let me have a friend come over.
4. You let me go over to someone else's house.

I was pretty impressed with her giving me "options." So we did end up going to Chelsie's and she got to play there for awhile.

Mommy Carter

2008-05-26T20:43:00.003-06:00

Carter obviously got way too much sleep during his nap today. We tried to lay him down but he just cried for a half an hour so being the kind loving mother I got him up. Now he is running wild into the girls bedroom and yelling at them telling them to go to sleep. Like he is tormenting them because is gets to stay up. He is really starting to talk and tells us "No Mom" and "No Dad" all of the time. Now he is trying to change the channel on the TV and type right along with me. Let me tell ya, this little boy has sure brought a lot of energy into our home!

He is really sweet though. Lately I have been laying on the couch every chance I get (especially in the afternoon). He will bring me a blanket and snuggle up next to me for a few seconds until he decides to go play. It would be nice if he could get a little brother to hang out with, someone who wouldn't drag him out of their room and lock him out. I was just thinking how grateful I am for my little boy tonight and his little personality and I thought I would share.

Our month of May

2008-05-22T10:15:00.015-06:00

So it has been forever since I did a real blog and a lot has happened since then so this will be a make up blog over the last month. So get ready here we go...

First of all, I think the news has spread to most everyone that we are expecting our fourth baby December 18th. I am 10 weeks along today and am feeling ok, just really tired and nauseous. I haven't thrown up yet which has been soooo nice! I am ready to stop laying on the couch every chance I get and to get moving and start getting things done. Hopefully in a few weeks. Thank goodness for my wonderful husband who is very understanding and helps me with everything when he gets home.

Second, we went just got home from Salt Lake Tuesday night from Macee's follow up appt. on her leg. Everything looks good, except there is a cyst down by her growth plate which the doctor said was normal and he said that it should go away on its own. YEA!! We go back
November for another check up, if the cyst gets any bigger they will have to go in and remove it.
We are so glad to be home in our own beds. We left Friday morning went to Rexburg for Monica and Quincy's wedding and then headed to IF to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Hobbs. Long story short, we all got colds along the way, Carter threw up a few times and we had some major fights in the car on the way home. It was nice though because we were able to spend a few days with my Grandma and Grandpa Griffin in Ogden also. But a total of a 620 mile drive home on Tuesday did us all in (we had to drive to Salt Lake from Ogden and then all the way home from there, YUCK!).

Third, Macee had her pre-school graduation last night which was super cute. I can't believe she will be in Kindergarten all day next year!

Annie, Macee, me, my mom, Chelsie, and Adria did the Women's Run also on May 10th. We walked the 2 mile and had a really fun time. (I really didn't ride in the stroller the whole time :)).

May 11th was Carter's Birthday and Mother's Day. Then May 12th was my Birthday. So we did a 3 in 1 party at our house on Sunday. Carter and I both got really spoiled. Nels and I went out on a date the weekend before and did a little shopping.

Well that is about it, if I think of anything else I will do another post, but this gives you the overall events of this month. I think it took me an hour and a half to do this post and now I can't figure how to get rid of the underlining. So hope everyone is having a great month of May!!

P.S. Happy Birthday to my little sister Amanda in Kentucky!! She is the big 24!!

Happy 28th Birthday!

2008-05-12T06:53:00.002-06:00

I just wanted to wish Andrea a happy birthday today and I thought I would do it by doing my own top ten list of why I love her!
10. Her right eye always squints when she smiles!
9. She is a great mother to Annie, Macee, and Carter
8. I have never met a harder worker
7. Our home is always clean, you can ask her sisters and sister-in-laws
6. She is very easy to talk to and is genuinely cares for everyone she knows
5. Her competitive spirit never her lets her do anything second rate, you can ask her sisters on that one also.
4. Andrea is very honest and always tells me what she really thinks
3. She is beautiful
2. Humble, I am sure she will be thoroughly embarrassed when she reads this
1. Andrea has been the greatest blessing in my life, the best things in my life (children, family, work, and church) have been strengthened or made better since Andrea has been a part of my life.

Happy birthday, I love you! Nels

The Billings Biker Gang

2008-05-06T20:49:00.006-06:00

As you can see we have started our own little biker gang here in Billings. Drea and I have felt like big "FAT" couch potatoes this last winter, well I have at least. Since I hurt my back in November the only time I have broken a sweat was going up the stairs to get some potatoe chips, so to say the least I needed to get out and do something.

Macee and Carter love the kid carrier rides and as you can tell by the pics Annie wasn't too happy about not being able to hitch a ride behind dad. Also, this being our first time out since last summer Annie was a little unsure about her bike riding skills. After alot of prodding and whining she finally got on and did great. When we finally got back home she reminded us that we were going on a family bike ride the next night.

Bedtime Routine

2008-04-27T20:48:00.005-06:00

Annie is such a good big sister. Carter loves to rock before he goes to bed and read books. So tonight she volunteered to read to him so I could read with Macee. I don't know about anyone else, but our bedtime routine is quite drawn out every night. The girls love chocolate milk (Regular milk with a little Carnation sprinkled in it, that's not that bad is it :)? and a bowl of cereal or toast for a bedtime snack. Then we brush teeth, say family prayers, read a book, and then it is to bed (sort of). This is followed by about an hour of mommy will you lay with me or I have to go to the bathroom, I have something to tell you. We breath a sigh of relief when they are all finally asleep. Except for little Macee always has to fall asleep downstairs in the spare bed because she is too scared upstairs and then I carry her up to her own bed, then we have to lay out a blanket and a pillow on the floor because we know she will soon be in to sleep on the side of our bed. When we will be able to break her of that habit I am not sure. Hopefully really soon.
The kids love to look out of the front widow and watch the deer on the hill across the street at night. For the longest time Macee was really concerned that we did not have a pet for her to take to pet day at pre-school. So she came up with her own solution and started calling the deer across the street her pets. Hey, that works for me! As you will see below, we did break in and get her a fish for her b-day.
Busted! Carter got into Annie's lip stick and had quite the time with it the other day. I had to hold him down to get a good picture of him. Silly Boy! He is such a good little brother always terrorizing his sisters.
Here are the new family pets. I am not sure how much longer we can hold them off on a puppy, but hopefully these will do for now. I am surprised they are still alive. Carter has dumped about half the thing of food into Annie's tank twice, while I grabbed the net and scooped out as much as I could. I heard Betas were hardy little fish, we will see!

Garbage Man and Sisters

2008-04-14T21:34:00.006-06:00

Here are just a few random pics of the kids lately.
Today the girls had the day off of school so we went of a picnic to Riverfront Park with some friends and to feed the ducks. We went for a little nature hike Carter kept chasing the ducks into the water (I think he would have jumped in to if I let him). Of course I forgot my camera!
We came home and the girls were out on the deck eating ice cream bars. They looked so cute talking and hanging out with each other and I couldn't help but think what a blessing sisters are in our lives. I am so glad that these two get along
and are such good friends. But to make my happy
moment soon come to an end they came in
and started fighting with each other. That is
sister's for ya!

Of course not to forget our little Carter/garbage man. I think that that is his calling in life. Maybe for his birthday we will get him a garbage truck.
At least I can get one of the men in the house
to take out the garbage!

Pearson Crew

2008-04-03T14:46:00.001-06:00

Create your own visitor map!

Future Super Stars!!

2008-03-29T21:09:00.007-06:00

Our little hooper!! Carter got this little hoop for Christmas and has loved it the last few days. Every time he comes into the kitchen he shoots a few hoops. Watch out LeBron!!

Here is the next American Idol!! She is singing Hannah Montana's "I Got Nerve."

Bye Bye Un Kay!

2008-03-25T13:15:00.005-06:00

These last 6 weeks have flown by! Uncle McKay left us this afternoon to go home and work on the farm for the summer. I told him that if he was going through withdrawls from hanging out with his FAVORITE sister in law that he can always come back. We had a fun time with him here. We will miss him and our nights are going to be back to the usual boring routine. We will miss him getting the kids all wound up before bedtime and Carter especially adores him and calls him "Un Kay." When he hears McKay come in he starts yelling "Un Kay" "Un Kay!!" He would also cry when McKay would leave to hang out with his student ward friends :). I think Nels especially enjoyed it because I cooked just a little bit more and bought better food (junk food).

Bye McKay! We will miss you!! You are welcome to come back and visit as much as you would like. For that matter, anyone can come visit as much as they would like! Thanks for being such a great help with the kids and keeping them entertained for me! You are awesome and we hope to see you soon!! LOVE YA!!!!

P.S. One more funny conversation that Annie had with McKay a while back:
Annie, "Hey Uncle McKay, what grade are you in?"
McKay, "I am a freshMAN in college."
Annie, "Are there any freshGIRLS in college?"

P.S.S. I know I have been a slacker lately with my posts, but I lost the cord to the camera to hook it into the computer. I will have lots of fun, entertaining posts as soon as I can find it.

Happy Birthday Annie!!!

2008-03-09T21:01:00.004-06:00

Our little Annie turned 7 today!!
I can't believe next year we will
be baptizing her! We took her out
to dinner on Friday and then today
all of our family came over for dinner.
We are so grateful for her and the sweet
little girl that she is. Happy Birthday Annie!!
WE LOVE YOU!!

Kain Tayo!!

2008-03-09T20:48:00.007-06:00

McKay cooked us some Filipino Pork Adobo last night
and it was really good. The kids even liked it!!
It's definitely going to go in the cook book.

Oh Carter!!!

2008-02-28T21:42:00.005-07:00

Yum! My sister' gum sure is good! I know mom loves me up on the counter so I will climb up just one more time. Cereal is so yummy! Especially the ones with all of the marshmellows in it! I will be a good little helper and sharpen all of mom's pencils for her!

Hey Uncle McKay!

2008-02-17T16:41:00.006-07:00

The last week and a half the girls and Carter have been in heaven with Uncle McKay around. Not to mention me also! He is such a great helper and has kept the kids entertained the minute he got here. He does dishes, helps me fold laundry, he has even given Carter a bath and got him to bed while I was gone (Nels still can't lift him up), and he changed his first poopy diaper on Carter today. What a guy!!Poor McKay doesn't get a moments rest from the kids fighting for his attention. Here are some of the funny things the girls have said the last week:

1) "Hey Uncle McKay, Let's go play house."
2) "Hey Uncle McKay, Come play restaurant with me."
3) "Hey Uncle McKay, I need a horsey ride."
4) "Hey Uncle McKay, Let's go play outside."
5) "Hey Uncle McKay, Adria fed a deer watermelon and it died."
6) "Hey Uncle McKay, Look at this!"
7) "Hey Annie, Let's go scare Uncle McKay!"
8) "Hey Uncle McKay, Guess what I did"
9) "Hey mom, Is Uncle McKay still here?"

You get the idea! He has been the center of attention and we are sure glad he gets to stay with us for awhile! We love you Uncle McKay!!

Story Time

2008-02-15T09:59:00.004-07:00

Annie and I were in the paper today in the Heights section. It was fun for Annie to have her picture in the paper. She is pretty excited.

Annie 6, reads to her mother, Andrea, and other classmates, Corren, left and Savannah, both 6. Classes at the school are working on a Bookworm project where parents come in and are read to by the students.

Check out our new bloggin buddy

2008-02-11T22:23:00.001-07:00

McKay is joining the blogging world, check it out. http://supermario10.blogspot.com

It is finally done!!!

2008-02-10T11:29:00.000-07:00

Well, after a year we have finally finished our basement and not with too bad of results either. I hope you enjoy the tour. Oh, and you are welcome to donate to the furniture, game room, and BIG screen TV fund.

Nels & Andrea's Personality Tests

2008-02-05T21:18:00.000-07:00

Andrea

The Duty Fulfiller

You are responsible, reliable, and hardworking - you get the job done.
You prefer productive hobbies, like woodworking or knittings.
Quiet and serious, you are well prepared for whatever life hands you.
Conservative and down-to-earth, you hardly ever do anything crazy.
In love, you are loyal and honest. If you commit yourself to someone, then you're fully committed.
For you, love is something that happens naturally. And you don't need romantic gestures to feel loved.
At work, you remember details well and are happy to take on any responsibility.
You would make a great business executive, accountant, or lawyer.
How you see yourself: Decisive, stable, and dependable
When other people don't get you, they see you as: Boring, conservative, and egotistical

Nels

The Nurturer

You have a strong need to belong, and you are very loyal.
A good listener, you excel at helping others in practical ways.
In your spare time, you enjoy engaging your senses through art, cooking, and music.
You find it easy to be devoted to one person, who you do special things for.
In love, you express your emotions through actions.
Taking care of someone is how you love them. And you do it well!
At work, you do well in a structured environment. You complete tasks well and on time.
You would make a good interior designer, chef, or child psychologist.
How you see yourself: Competent, dependable, and detail oriented
When other people don't get you, they see you as: Boring, dominant, and stuck in a rut

What's Your Personality Type?

Girls Night Out!!

2008-02-01T21:51:00.001-07:00

Tonight was our big girls night out to the Hannah Montana
3-D Concert! My sister Chelsie, sister-in-law Lauraleah, good friend Sherry and all of our girls went to dinner at Applebee's and then went to the concert at the movie theater.

The girls absolutely loved it! They sang along and even stood up and busted a few moves. It was so fun being able to spend the night out with just the girls!

Note the sweet 3-D glasses! My camera batteries died at the theater so we had to take a pic when we got home.

P.s. Thanks Misti for the cute Valentine!!

Pearson Look-alike Meter

2008-01-29T15:35:00.001-07:00

Thanks Michelle for the fun idea! It is fun to see who looks like who. Too bad only one of my children looks more like me!

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family tree charts - Free genealogy

Pearson Look-alike Meter

2008-01-29T15:31:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family tree chart - Familytree

Pearson Look-alike Meter

2008-01-29T15:22:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebs - Collage - Morph

Everything you wanted to know about me...

2008-01-28T10:53:00.000-07:00

1. What time did you get up this morning? 6:55 a.m.
2. What do you usually have for breakfast? wheat toast and eggs
3. What is your favorite CD at the moment? I have 2. An acoustic guitar version of the church hymns and a CD we burned off of I-tunes with of course Hannah Montana, Rascal Flatts, and some other good songs I can't remember the names of.
4. What kind of car do you drive? '02 Limited Ford Windstar
5. Favorite sandwich? Toasted Ham and Cheese
6. Favorite item of clothing? T-shirt and jeans
7. If you could go anywhere in the world for a vacation, where would you go? A get-away with Nels to Europe.
8. What color is your bathroom? Nomadic Desert
9. Where would you retire? I think I would stay here in Billings, with lots of winter trips to Hawaii or the Caribbean.
10. Most memorable birthday? In '06 when Carter was born. He was born the day before my b-day and Nels and the girls brought me doughnuts in the hospital.
11. Favorite sport to watch? Basketball
12. Are you a morning person or a night person? Night
13. What is your shoe size? 9-91/2
14. Pets? Not right now. I would love to have a horse again.
15. What did you want to be when you were little? Other than a mom, I wanted to be a vet.
16. What are you today? As Misti says, I am a professional homemaker.
17. What is your favorite candy? Peanut Butter M&M's
18. Your favorite flower? Tulip
19. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? Feb. 14th Valentines Day
20. What are you listening to right now? Carter play Annie's Barbie guitar
21. What is the last thing you ate? French Toast
22. Do you wish on stars? When I was little I loved to wish of stars
23. What faith are you? I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
24. Who was the last person you spoke with on the phone? My sister Amanda, she lives in Louisville
25. Hair Color? Trying to get back to my natural brown
26. Name of your favorite school teacher? Mrs. Pomroy
27. Chocolate or vanilla? Chocolate
28. When was the last time you cried? Probably last night.
29. What is under your bed? A tote full of all my gift wrapping stuff.
30. What did you do last night? Went over to my parents for dinner
31. Favorite smell? Scotch Tape (I know its weird)
32. What are you afraid of? Losing a family member
33. How many towns have you lived in? 2- Billings and Provo
34. Do you make friends easily? Yea, I think so

Ok, now you know all about me. I want to tag Betsey Hawkins, Amanda Tracy, Amanda Smith, and Chelsie Gertsch.

On the Mend

2008-01-22T21:21:00.000-07:00

Boy, I don't know what it is about hospitals and doctors lately, but we just can't seem to stay away. Nels hurt his back really bad 2 months ago and has had muscle weakness in his right calf. The MRI showed that he herniated his L5 again (he had surgery on this 9 years ago when we were dating). He had surgery today and it went fairly well. It took longer than anticipated because of the scar tissue from his previous surgery. The nerve was a little frayed. So I guess only time will tell if he will regain that strength. I am optimistic that everything will be ok. He is tough and not much can keep him down. (Although the basketball career may have come to an end which I am sad for because we all know his love for the game). We are also very disappointed that we won't be heading for Fairfield on Thursday to see McKay come home.

He is staying over night in the hospital tonight and we sure miss him at home. I am so grateful for this wonderful man I married. He is so amazing and caring. He is such a hard worker and does so much for me. He has been joking that he is heading straight to work after he is released tomorrow. I don't think that will be happening. He has a great sense of humor even through the tough times. Macee did think it was pretty cool that her dad was having surgery like she did. So hopefully, things will turn around and Macee and Nels will both recover soon. It has been busy around here with 3 surgeries, 3 trips to Salt Lake, 2 MRI's and 15 trips to the doctor between all of us in the last 3 months. Things could be worse, and I am so grateful that everything has been fixable, but I think I am ready to take a break from the stress and worry!

Nels after his first surgery with his cousin
Amanda.

3 truths no lies.....

2008-01-15T19:49:00.000-07:00

Here it is 2 truths and 1 lie (for Nels), see how well you can guess.
1) I flew half way across the world with only $5 in my pocket.
2) I won $5,000 in a business plan competition while working on my MBA degree.
3) I have gone to the Western School for Auctioneering so I can start auctioneering at the auto auction.
I want to tag: Chase, Chad, Luke, and Kelly A.

Here is the truth....
1) Was true, coming back from my mission I flew all the way from the Philippines with only $5 in my pocket. Love those airline meals.
2) Also true. Me and my teammates put together a business plan and won the U of M business plan competition. That helped pay for Drea's and my trip to Hawaii.
3) Not true. I will never be an auctioneer at the auto auction I will leave that to someone else.

Almost!!!!

2008-01-13T20:51:00.000-07:00

We have been slowly working on the basement the last year and we are almost done! All we have to do is hang doors and put up trim. The carpet comes Feb. 5th! I can hardly wait!!!!

Flying Bliss (not really)

2008-01-09T14:07:00.000-07:00

So yesterday Macee and I made our way down to Salt Lake for her 6 week post-op follow up. We flew down through Denver and then back up to Salt Lake (the tickets were 1/2 the price flying through Denver). We arrived in Salt Lake at noon and Amanda (bless her heart) came and picked us up. We had a quick bite to eat and headed up to Primary Children's. They took off her cast and x-rayed. The bone graft is not quite as far along as the doctor would like, but it looks like the cyst has not started to come back. So she is back in a walking boot for 6 more weeks. We go to our doctor here in Billings in 6 weeks, then back to Salt Lake in April. It wasn't quite the news I was looking for, but we will live with what we got. I was also able to see my Grandpa and Grandma Hobbs for a few hours. Grandpa was diagnosed with prostate cancer awhile back and had his radiation in Salt Lake while we were down there. Yes, it was kind of a depressing day, but it was good to see grandma and grandpa. We made it home about 10:30 last night, it was a long day and glad it's over!

Thank you Amanda for spending your day being my taxi!!!

Lots of Fun!!!

2008-01-02T11:48:00.000-07:00

We had such a great Christmas this year and have so much to be thankful for! Here are just some random pictures of our fun times. We saw most of blogging friends and fam over the hoidays. It was so good to see everyone.

We spent Christmas Eve at Grandma & Grandpa Stott's. We ate lots of food and had a great time. Anyways, we had a great Christmas and partied at my brother Ben's for New Years. We couldn't have had a better time. It was painful getting the kids up school this morning.

Here you go Misti, our 2007 family re-cap. We went to Seattle to visit Jon and Ashley for our first annual family trip. Did lots of landscaping and have been slowly working on the basement (we hope to be done with that in 2 months, YEAA!!) Nels and I had a blast going to Chicago. Had a big scare with Macee in October. Had lots of family prayers and fasts. She is doing great. We go back to Salt Lake next week for her 6 week follow up. Annie loved playing soccer and swimming. Carter loves clogging toilets, chewing gum, and taking out the garbage. Macee is so happy to be able to walk again after crawling around for a month. Overall, this has been a year of laughs, tears, learning, and fun times. We have been blessed so much with a great family, friends, kids, job, and on and on....

I am so grateful for the chance I have to stay home with the kids. I am grateful for Nels for all of his hard work and a good job. We are so blessed to have the gospel in our lives. As well as the priesthood and the comfort and blessings we have felt from it. Seriously, we couldn't ask for anymore! Nels and I are looking forward to another great year full of surprises and fun times!!!

I Didn't Do It....

2007-12-23T20:12:00.001-07:00

So we usually always go to mom and dad's for dinner on Sunday evening. Tonight Carter went missing. This is what he was working on. He was even trying to fix the clog. That's our little boy!! He always keeps us on our toes.

Getting to Know Nels and Andrea

2007-12-12T21:36:00.000-07:00

How long have you been together? Jan. 9th will be 9 years(that was our first date). We dated 5 months and engaged for 2. We were married Aug. 11, 1999.
How old is he? 31 (old man) I am 27
Who eats more? Nels, except when it comes to chocolate
Who said I love you first? Nels-he keeps telling me he was way more in-tune with the spirit than I was.
Who is taller? Nels
Who sings better? Nels, I only lip-sync
Who is smarter? I think Nels is pretty darn smart. We can't play Cranium against each other any more because he knows everything and it makes me mad.
Who does the laundry? me, all the time (the only load he did was when he threw in a black sock with my favorite kahkis, he has been banned ever since. He does help me put it away though.
Who does the dishes? both of us
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? looking at the bed Nels does
Who pays the bills? Me- he brings home the check and I have no problem spending it
Who mows the lawn? ME-ok fine, me 75% Nels 25%
Who cooks dinner? Me, when Nels cooks its take out
Who drives when you are together? Usually Nels
Who is more stubborn? Me, Nels is pretty mild
Who kissed who first? Nels kissed me first
Who asked who out? Nels- Amanda, his cousin introduced us
Who proposed? Nels, after our wedding was already in planning mode
Who is more sensitive? Me
Who has more friends? about the same
Who has more siblings? Nels, he has 6 and I have 5
Who wears the pants in the family? Totally me :)

Happy Birthday Chad!

2007-12-02T10:09:00.000-07:00

Here is a little something from the girls and I. We might just take our show on the road.

Nothing tooo exciting....

2007-12-02T08:56:00.000-07:00

Until Wednesday at 1:00 everything was going
just fine. I was babysitting my little nephew Kasen for Amanda and was doing a little laundry and cleaning. At 1:00 our nurse from down at the Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake called and informed me they had had a cancellation for surgery and that if we could get down there they could get Macee in. So I called Nels and after a fast and furious packing job, with a few clothes drying on the back seat of the car we were on the road 2 hours later. We pulled into my Grandma and Grandpa Griffin's house just before midnight. Grandma fed Macee mac-n-cheese and toast because she had to fast starting at midnight. So Thurs. morning we are getting on the freeway and we hear a little
crunching in the backseat. Macee was eating
crackers by her car seat from the night before!!
We made her spit them out (long story short they almost cancelled her surgery because of that). Anyways while waiting for her surgery at
1:45 Macee got her own little nurse to come and
make snow men, dolls, and play with all the
doctors stuff. I was very impressed with how
friendly and helpful all of the nurses were. Her
surgery went really good. But waking up out of the anesthesia was not such a fun time for her.
She was telling all of the nurses to "go away" and to "get out of my face". She was not a very happy camper and if you know our little Macee, she tells it how it is and will let you know exactly what is
up. We had to stay over night with her and she was
not too impressed with our sleeping arrangement. The room was "too small" and it looked like a "baby room". Keep in mind she was super mad at this point and was hating everything about the whole deal (which I do not blame her)!
After a very sleepless night, she demanded us to
leave at 5 AM and to get out of there in her wagon. So we left to make her happy (I was
sure ready to leave also). Nels threw up when
we got back to Grandma's. I think it was a
combo of all of the nerves and lack of sleep
to the point of exhaustion.
That afternoon Macee started to run a fever of 104 degrees, so we were back to the ER.
Everything was ok with her 3-4 inch incision
so they thought she had just caught a bug.
We went back to grandma's and thankfully
her fever broke during the night. We came
home yesterday and it was so nice to get some
sleep in our own bed!

Macee is doing great and has to be in her
splint for 2 weeks and not put any weight
on it for at least 2 weeks and possibly 6.
I am not sure how we are going to do with
that. We have a follow up with our doctor
here in Billings in 2 weeks and he will
either cast it or keep her in the
walking boot. Then we are back off to Salt
Lake Jan. 8th. I am so glad this is over
and have felt very blessed to have
her leg fixed. I pray that we don't ever
have to do it again! We are so grateful for
Amanda and her taking such good care of
Carter and Annie! She is a Lifesaver!! Thanks
everyone for all of your support, prayers, and
love!!! We have such a great family!! Also,
thanks mom and dad for coming down with us!!!

Happy Birthday Lacee!!!

2007-11-21T16:12:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Lacee!!! We love you!! Have a great Thanksgiving! I hope you didn't paint all day! Take some time and relax and take a nice bath in that jetted tub!! We love ya!!

Pearson "Day Spa"

2007-11-12T20:05:00.001-07:00

After many years of using the famous back rubber up in Fairfield. Nels and I decided to invest in one of our own. Carter has sure enjoyed this new toy also. Whenever we pull it out, he lays down on the floor waiting for his turn. He has also learned how to turn it on by himself. He turns it on and either sticks it in his mouth and tries to talk, or he watches it bounce all over the floor. I especially enjoy it, I let Nels watch sports center and I get back rubs (I got that idea from Aunt Robbin).

Old McDonald's Farm (or Zoo)

2007-11-12T19:21:00.000-07:00

It was such a nice day on Saturday, we decided to

go to the zoo and pack a picnic. As you can see, Nels had just as much fun as the kids. We had a great time, but the best part of all was the Tiger "Prince" and playing on the playground. Then we all came home and took naps. Atleast Nels, Carter, and I.

Who Dialed 911!!!!

2007-11-01T20:12:00.000-06:00

So tonight we were just hanging out and getting the kids ready for bed. When the doorbell rang and there was a police officer standing on the porch. He said we had an open line on with the 911 dispatch. He pointed to the phone on the floor and said I bet that is the one. So I picked up the phone and sure enough it had been on for 25 minutes with a 911 dispatch lady on the other end. I am sure she heard all the kids running around and us telling them to clean up and brush teeth (at least we weren't yelling, I don't think). So I apologized to her and the officer just laughed and left. At least he had a sense of humor about it. After he left we were like darn it, we should have taken a picture with him and blogged it.

Anyways, my vote for Christmas is drawing families and making a gift basket for them. I am good with a $20 limit. What do you all think...

Trunk or Treat, Haircuts, and a little Bling

2007-10-28T15:39:00.000-06:00

Little Carter after 17 months finally needed his first haricut. I don't think I would have trusted anyone but Aunt Marjie to cut it. She used to cut my hair as a little girl and she has given all of our kids thier first haircuts. We love her!! Thanks Marjie!!

Ok, I know this looks pathetic, but Macee calls this her bling on her boot. It did have more flowers and butterflies on it, but the girls have been picking it off and wearing them as ear rings. The pink fabric thing didn't go over so well, mostly because I didn't even try. I think most of you have heard that we head down to Salt Lake on Nov. 6th to meet with the doctor that will do her surgery. It is on the right foot this time!!

Trunk or Treat was friday night for our ward. We had a Supergirl, a Witch, and a little Scarecrow. Since we did trunk or treat do you think that gets us out of trick or treating?

Andrea's Quirky Quirks

2007-10-24T21:25:00.000-06:00

1. I am a clean freak. My sisters and sister-in-laws leave messes around and make bets on how long it will take me to start cleaning it up. They call me Cinderella. P.S. My house is not always clean contrary to popular belief.
2. My dream is to have a few acres with a sweet horse barn and arena. I want to have a horse for each member of our family. I want our kids to have animals to take care of and I want to make them clean stalls like I had too. :) (Nels will have a Kawasaki horse)
3. My right eye squints whenever I smile really big, whether I want it to or not. I think that it make me look like a dork in pictures, but Nels tells me it looks cute.
4. The most annoying sound in the world is listening to muffled TV noises coming through the wall. For example, my room was right below my parents growing up. I would pre-set there volume and bang on the ceiling when they would turn it up. I would tell them that I couldn't get up for seminary if they wouldn't let me sleep. (Annie has strangely inherited this same quirk).
5. I used to feed my horse Doc Oreo ice cream and spend hours out in the barn cleaning and rearranging things. I was kind of a loner, I liked to hang out by myself. I just sold Doc 2 years ago when I got pregnant with Carter, he was my childhood horse.
6. The only time I have ever had stitches is when I was trying to be tough and was kicked in the forehead by a calf when we were branding.

I tag Amy Barlow, Krista P., Emilee A, Lisa Hanson, Michelle Smith, and Amanda Smith (Chelsie, you have already been tagged so get on it!) Now you all have to write 6 quirky things about you and then tag 6 more people.

Christmas!!!

2007-10-24T16:38:00.000-06:00

Ok, Pearson Family I was just thinking that Christmas is getting closer and was wondering who was going to do the drawing. Or, I really like the idea of what Krista's family does with giving everyone a scrapbook page. We did it last year with my family and it was really fun. What do you all think...

I'm IT!

2007-10-22T22:25:00.000-06:00

Six random facts about Nels:
1) I am a notary of the public for the state of Montana
2) I chew my ice cream and it drives Andrea crazy.
3) Misti and I both like to leave a little bite of food on our plates when eat. (weird, huh)
4) I clean my running & basketball shoes more than I clean my church shoes. (2 bottles of shoe cleaner a month Andrea said.)
5) The highlight of my college career was creating a business plan, entering it in a contest, and winning $5,000 for 1st place.
6) I have only missed emailing Mckay on his mission 1 week when we were in Fairfield and the computer was not working.

I am going to tag Josh, Kyle T, Chase, Cody W, Kevin Smith, and Luke N (I will see if I can get some more of the guys blogging). Now you have to post 6 random facts about yourselves and then tag 6 other people.

GGGOOOOOOAAAALLLLLLL!!!!

2007-10-21T20:36:00.000-06:00

Hey Everyone-

I hope you all enjoyed the bedtime song from u-tube. This is my sister-in-law Ashley's favorite bedtime song. They emailed it to us awhile back and I thought we would share.

This week went really well with Macee's procedure on her leg. The doctor went in and drained the cyst and gave her the cortisone shot. They sent the fluid in for some testing and we go in for a follow up on Thursday. I think everything is going to be just fine. (P.S. I hope none of you noticed that I put the boot on her left foot in the picture and her hurt foot is really on the right. Way to go Mom, I know!) It will be all of my fault if she breaks it. The doctor will ask how it happened and I will have to tell him I am retarded!!!

Annie had her last soccer game yesterday. She did really good. She really hustles and goes after the ball. She was on a team with a bunch of girls from her school and primary class so she had a really good time. We tried to download a little film of her off of the video camera, but we couldn't get it to work. If anyone knows how let us know.

Here is the Shark Attack!!!
(Annie's team was the Sharks)

P.S. Charles and Janis, thanks so much for coming up a day early to stay with Annie and Carter. We appreciate it so much. We love ya and had a good time visiting with you!!

A Huge Blessing!!

2007-10-15T14:42:00.001-06:00

I think everyone has heard about Macee having a bone cyst in her lower tibia on her right leg. We had x-rays done last Thursday and found the cyst. Then we had an MRI on Friday and they determined that there wasn't any cancer. Thank Goodness!! The cyst is about the size of her whole Tibia bone with a little wall of bone on one side. We are shocked she hasn't broken her leg yet! We went into see the pediatric orthopedic surgeon this morning and got some great news. Her cyst is a unicameral cyst which means it is filled with fluid and not blood. He also said that we probably don't need to do a bone graft like we thought. He is going to go in on Wednesday
morning and drain some of the fluid out and give her a cortisone shot. He thinks that the bone will be able to heal and grow in by itself. Let me tell ya, HUGE Relief!! She has to wear a boot for 6 weeks, then we will go back in for more x-rays to make sure the bone is healing.

I just want to thank everyone for their prayer and fasts. Our prayers were sure answered!! We feel so blessed to have so much support and love from our families. I get choked up and have a hard time talking when I think about what everyone has done for us. Thank you all!! We will keep you posted on the surgery and recovery.

Annie and Adria are taking great care of Macee and
Macee is catching on quick on how to milk things all
she can. We went and got some stickers to put on her
boot and some pretty pink stretchy fabric. I don't know
how well that will turn out since I am an awesome sewer
and all!

Our Beautiful Babies!!

2007-10-09T14:33:00.000-06:00

Our little Annie Kay is 6 years old and started 1st grade this year. She loves school and has a really great teacher that she totally adores. She is really starting to take off in her reading and is even excited to do her homework. We were a little worried about her desire to learn last year, but she has really picked things up and is even reading to Macee. I am so proud of her and how far she has come. She also enjoys soccer and chasing the boys at recess. Hopefully the boys will start having cooties here soon, or we might have some problems :). She is doing good in soccer, and wants to maybe try karate after soccer season is over. She has a sweet sensative spirit, but can be rowdy also. She is a great big sister and a huge helper to her mom. This is Annie on the first day of school in her favorite Hannah Montana shirt. We seem to have all of the Hannah Montana songs memorized and thats all they want to jam to in the car.

Macee is 4 and has started pre-school with Robbin. She really likes school and is like a little spong, absorbing all she can. She has a mind of her own and keeps us on our toes. She has been known to be a little sassy at times and can talk her way out of pretty much anything. Sometimes I don't know what to do with her. She loves to play with cousins and hang out with Annie. Actually tonight her cousins are spending the night because Chelsie just had their 3rd baby today. It's a little boy 6lbs 15 oz (both mom and baby are doing good). She is in love with Hannah Montana just as much as Annie. I want to put them both in a lip-sync contest.
Like father like son. I bet you can't guess who this little boy's daddy is!
Carter is almost 17 months and let me tell you boys and girls are totally different! He has already conquered opening doors and sneaking out down the road, climbing on the desk and playing on the compter, and my centerpiece on the table had to go becuase he kept throwing it off. He is super busy and never stops. Last week he had a fever for a few days and it's sad to say but it was almost nice because he finally slowed down and snuggled with me. He is starting to say a few words like thank you, hi, bye, uh-oh, ball, and ba-ba. He calls Nels and I both mamma and Annie and Macee both Macee. He has a good arm on him, we know he is done eating when he starts launching his food across the kitchen (unfortunately he has also shown off this skill in sacrament meeting with his toys hitting unsuspecting church goers). This is the kids at the pictograph caves. We missed you Chase and Krista!!

Men (&Women) at Work

2007-10-07T11:16:00.000-06:00

Drea and I have been hard at work on our basement. It has been a work in progress over the past 9 months, maybe we will be done in another 9. Drea and I have done all of the framing and sheet rocking. We did hire the electrical, fireplace, and plumbing done by the professionals. I do really enjoy working on the basement when I leave to work and after I return home the work has been done and all we have to do is write a check. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen too often. The sheet rocking has gone pretty well for the most part, it is much more challenging than framing (that is my opinion). Chad is probably getting sick of me calling him about every other day and asking him how to do stuff or if someone else will be able to fix what I messed up. It has been very rewarding working on the basement though, it is just fun to see that we can actually build something. Well, enjoy the little tour and tell me what you think.

Our first Prom!

2007-09-22T15:52:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone!! Nels and I just got back from CHICAGO!!! We went to the National Auto Auction Association Conference. We had an awesome time, Nels had to go to a few meetings during the day, but mostly we got to hang out. On Thursday we went and walked the magnificent mile (shopping stores and found Pearson Street), had lunch at a hole in the wall hot dog place where Nels totally fell in love with his yummy hot dog. Personally, if you saw how these yummy hot dogs were made it would make you think twice. We also went to the top of the John Hancock Building and they made us wash the windows. (not really, but it was a cool photo op). That night we had a member reception which was in the Conrad Suite (the top of the Hilton Towers Hotel where we were staying). It was beautiful!! The view on the balcony was looking out over Lake Michigan (Krista I now understand why they call it the beach because it truly is) was incredible. After that there was a Ford Reception where we bailed early and went to the Broadway Play "Wicked." Yes, I know what you are thinking by the title, but it was awesome. It is about how the wicked witches on the "Wizard of Oz" came to be. If anyone has the chance to go, I highly recommend it.

Friday, Nels had a morning meeting. Then we walked over to the (ginormous) Field Museum. I know I am saying the everything was incredible, but this museum you probably would have to spend a week there to see everything. We had a Chrysler Luncheon that afternoon where the Mayor of Chicago came and the guy that the movie "Catch Me if You Can" was based off of. He had a very inspiring message on why not to do what he did. It was pretty neat to hear about his life. That afternoon we walked over to the Navy Pier and rode a 150 ft. high Ferris wheel. Friday night was the big formal reception. We got to get all dressed up (I even wore heels which is a huge feat for me). This reception was super boring, they gave out awards and we just heard a bunch of blah for over an hour. The food was good though:) and we were in the ball room where they filmed the last part of "The Fugitive". Then this morning we had to get up at 3:30 a.m. and head home.

The best part of the trip was getting to hang out with Nels, we had such a good time and I will post some pictures.

Why not, everyone else is doing it!

2007-09-13T20:46:00.003-06:00

Well, I figured everyone else is doing this blog thing, so we might as well give it a try. I told Andrea she would be in charge of doing the blog and she just laughed so this could be really short lived. It is fun seeing what everyone else is doing, just a little glimpse into everyone's lives. We are up here in Billings, MT and getting further away from everybody. At least Em & Kelly are still in Laurel, but they are moving towards Park City (way out in the boonies). Chase & Krista in Cleveland, Chad & Misti in Atascadero (is that right?), Luke & Lacee on their way to Borger, TX. Mckay in the Philippines. At least Tate is still in good ol' Fairfield, we know Mom and Dad aren't going anywhere too soon. Annie has started the 1st grade and is playing soccer, Macee started preschool and is Annie's biggest fan. In fact Annie is Macee's "teacher", she helps Macee learn her letters and sounds. Carter is 16 months old and climbing on top of and getting into everything. We love all of them and they have all been great blessings in our lives. Andrea keeps the house of chaos in order at all times, between running to school, soccer practice, young women at church, and everything else I couldn't ask for anything else. As for me, I just try to keep busy at work. Andrea's family is up here in Billings, I call my father-in-law (Spencer) boss, stake president, and whatever else he tells me to call him (ha ha). I also work with Jeannie at the auto auction, so it is family time all the time. John & Ashley are doing great in Seattle, Ben & Lauraleah are in Billings along with Jake & Chelsie. Amanda & Kyle are in Louisville (pronounced Looooville for all you westerners) and Joey is keeping busy between hunting and the detail shop. Well, I think I have reached my yearly quota on the blog so we'll see if I can come up with anything else later down the road.