They are laughing together again...

I wish I could have seen it - the reunion.

What a wonderful man. What a legacy he has left.

He will be missed so very much,
but I feel a sense of peace.

My Wicked Thoughts...

Have you ever enjoyed something so much that you just can't stop thinking about it for days and days and most likely weeks and months and years?!? Me too! Last weekend, I saw Wicked with some of my most favorite people in the world - my mom and four sisters. I have never had the desire to memorize the words to every single song of a musical since Miss Saigon. I am already so close to memorizing all of the Wicked music. I just love, love, love it! The musical made me laugh - a lot - and it made me cry. The ending was just incredible - what a surprise!

It was so much fun to see mom so "into" something other than the Katella Knights, or Gone With the Wind! She had read all the websites that had anything to do with Wicked, and knew all the spoilers. I love it. Thank you mom, for arranging such an incredible evening to be remembered forever!

I hear it will still be playing in June when we are there for Kelley's wedding.... let's see..... if it starts in LA at 8:00 - and the reception ends at 5:00........ hmmmmmm.....

DON'T EAT PETE!!!

Have you ever played this game?

Each square has a different face on it - with an m&m (my personal fave) on top. One person leaves the room and the others secretly choose one of the squares. The person then comes in and begins eating the candies, one by one. If they pick up the one on the chosen square, everyone yells, "Don't eat Pete!" It's fun to see how many you get to eat! This is always a favorite with the kids. It's super easy and you always have everything you need (since you can always use cereal - just not nearly as fun as m&ms or skittles.)

We had lots of fun playing this on New Years Eve with the Roberts and Makaafi's. Kendall cried every time everyone yelled "DON'T EAT PETE!!" because it was just too loud. We tried to have the kids "yell" quietly - but everyone just got way too excited when the secret square was chosen! Poor Kendall.

Do We Look Alike?

So, practically everyone we run into here says we look SOOOOO much alike, what do you think?

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

They say it's been atleast 10 years since Boise has seen a white Christmas... we are crossing all fingers and toes that it stays!

cause it is just way too fun...

(I love to look at it... they love to play in it)

Let it snow!

Let it snow!

Let it snow!

SNOW! SNOW! SNOW!

What an exciting morning we had last week! A couple of days before Thanksgiving, I heard squeals around 6:00am. It sounded no different than Christmas morning. The best part, was the biggest squealer was my brother in law - Fo'ou! He went in and woke up his kids - ran across the street (barefoot) - and put the kids new snow boots on so they could do it too! Better yet, he peeked out at 3:00am - no snow. To wake up to a beautiful white world three hours later was perfect!

Everyone had been talking about when it might snow - Ilai and Eden were ready in September!

That fresh top layer of snow tastes so good!

Beth took a quick driving lesson around the block offered by Chip - she was a little nervous.

What a fun walk to school the kids had together - testing out their boots and throwing snowballs along the way...

Anela is scared of the snow.... won't touch it, walk on it, nothin! She as adopted Hannah's hat that Gramma made though - she loves it!

Buried in Leaves

There's just not anything more fun I can think of for the kids to do while they wait for the others to get home from school...

Halloween 2007

I love how the memories and feelings all come back on Halloween night as we experience it again with our children.

It was a very fun year indeed!

Thank Goodness for Ellen!

ELLEN!! Check it out - finally, you are getting your very own post!

My sister, Ellen, flew to Boise to take the road trip with the kids and me to California. She was so excited to possibly be part of "the blog" but unfortunately, our camera was with Chip, so I couldn't take any pictures of our fun trip. I did snag the Makaafi's camera and got this picture though, just minutes before we left.

I don't know what I would have done without Ellen with me. She brought all of her patience with her, and calmly took care of all of the following while I drove...

"Can we have a drink out of the cooler?"

"I dropped my crayon."

"Why is the police man flashing his lights behind us?"

"How many more seconds (not hours) till we get to California?" (Ellen even did the math!)

"When is it my turn with Ellen's Ipod?"

"I have to pee..... again" (that was me)

"I lost my shoe, again!"

"The dvd player keeps falling!"

"Can you pass back a snack?"

"Let's sing another camp song!"

"NOW how many more seconds?"

"Shoot, which on-ramp is it?" (me, again.)

The biggest life saver for me, was that Ellen bought two pair of headphones for the portable DVD player for the trip! I am still thanking you for that one, Ell!

Ellen is awesome! She brought all of her "homemade" Cds and we totally rocked out. (She has great taste in music!)

I know that if Ellen heard the word, "mom" one more time, she would have put her head through her window. Thank you for dealing so well with it Ellen, so I didn't have to put my head through mine!

We love you Aunt Ellen!

Time Well Spent

Besides getting Chip back, catching up with loved ones really summed up our trip. We met 3 new nephews/cousins, and spent cherished time with family and friends.

Some of our wonderful California friends.....

who are missed very much....

some of them unfortunately, we weren't able to see.

And one more nephew I haven't introduced that we couldn't wait to meet...

Ethan - Eric and Leanna's little one!

Isn't he cute?!

I wish we had gotten more pictures of everyone hanging out at Mom's house!

We had a great visit and a yummy lunch with Gramps and Grammy, I always enjoy walking through Vicky's garden. And of course Rocky and Beau are always a hit!

Oh, and who knew that mom's Student ID card maker at school would be such a big hit?! The kids think their own ID cards are SO cool! She even made a second one for Aubrey because Aubrey thought hair didn't look quite right in the first one. Thanks, Gramma!

We couldn't get enough of Ryan, Beck, and Ethan - all born within just 3 weeks of each other!

What a fun time we had in CA. It was the first time we had been back in 3 years! It was so strange to drive around and visit where I had lived for 30 years! Although it was fun to see all the familiar sights and ooh and aah at the kid's old school and good ol' Katella High where Chip and I fell in love, and our home(s) - etc., it's oddly comforting to say that it just didn't feel like home anymore. Soon after moving to Idaho, I worried about when I went back to CA to visit because I was afraid I would feel homesick and miss it too much. I know our family belongs where we are, because while I was having fun visitng there, I DID yearn for home, but it was our home now, right here is Boise.

And to finalize,


a super slobbery kiss from Beck...


and Ethan's final thoughts...