2011 Wrap up

Well 2011 is officially over. We had some ups and downs but nothing major. We are all happy and healthy and that's all that really matters.

Kids are both growing like weeds.

Gavin still has his binkie (it's going to be a tough road getting ride of that thing!). He's definitly becoming his own little person. He'll repeat pretty much anything we ask him to say. It's starting to get easier to understand him even though he still ugg's at us a lot. But we are understand the difference uggs. LOL. His most used word right now... MOW. Which really means NO. And I'll tell you he sure uses it alot.

Zack is Zack. His biggest challenge right now is sleeping in his own bed. I know it's totally our fault for letting him sleep with us in the first place but we are working on getting him in his own bed... hopefully soon! Zack just makes us laugh. He's starting to use his imagination so he plays cops and robbers, builds forts and is always asking questions. He loves to play on the Ipad and computer (so does Gavin). It's so funny because when I get on the computer or Ipad he trys to give me a time limit because he only gets to be on them for a certain amount of time. Zack also started Soccer this year (more pictures and hopefully a post later). We aren't sure if we'll try Soccer again or just wait until T-ball.

Bob is still working at Crown and he's doing great. He's now a mentor for new employee's and has been given an Apprentice. He really enjoys his job and is doing well in it. Bob has a calling in our church as the Stake Men's Sports Coordinator, it's the perfect job for him because he loves being involved in sports and it's a great program for him. He is just in the process of trying to rebuild it. Slowly but surely.

I am still working at BB&B and loving it. It's a great company to work for and I love all my co-workers. It's the first retail job that I've worked for that you know everyone and have fun working together. The managers are awesome and I really just enjoy going to work. I've been given an opportunity to be the Trainer at my work. I will train new hires, give university classes to employees, I'll be in charge of Bridal Registry's and so much more. I'm excited for the new position. It's a full time position (35 hours) so I'll miss being home with the kids most of the day but Bob's parents will be with them so they will be with family. Bob's mom use to be a teacher and I can already see her working with Zack on his counting, spelling (or recognizing letters) and such. My hours will most likely be mid days so I will still have a few hours with them in the mornings and I'll be home for them to go to bed. I hope it works out for our family. The money will be much appreciated. I am also the 2nd Counselor for our Ward's Young Women. It's a fun position and I enjoy planning the activities for the girls that I am over.

We are excited for 2012 and whatever it will bring.

Some things that we are excited for:
Possibly getting a new(er) car. Trying to decided if it's worth fixing our car or getting a new(er) one.
Bob and I will celebrate our 10 year anniversary!
Planning a trip to California with the kids. Really want to go to Disneyland and possibly California Adventure.

The Great Pumpkin Hunt

Not sure why it's been so hard for me lately to update my blog but here goes a marathon post once again....

It's been a tradition for the kids and I to go with my Mom and Jolene to pick out a pumpkin from a homeowner that grows pumpkins in a field next to his house.  I really like the patch because the people there are really friendly, it's kid friendly and they usually have their yard decorated with cute little photo ops.  This year Bob was able to go with us.  It was fun and challenging all at the same time.  For the middle of October it was really warm.  Bob doesn't do to well in warm weather.  Poor Gavin missed his nap because we wanted to go around the time of his nap.  So we had two grumpy boys with us.  Luckily we got a wagon because it was pretty busy and at first we didn't have one.  But Jolene saved the day and found us a wagon to carry all our pumpkins.  I love the pumpkin patch because you get to search the field for the perfect  pumpkin. 

Zack wanted to find one that was just his size.  And he did find one that was small enough for him to carry.  He loved it!  Gavin was having fun just picking up pumpkins and moving them to a different location.  Surprising... not really that is just SO Gavin!

I loved watching Bob and Zack walk through the field looking for a pumpkin. I hope that Bob will come with us more often, the Boys needs these fun outing with both mommy and daddy.  The family that owns the pumpkin patch also has horses so Zack was very excited to go look at the horses (unfortunetly I didn't go with them because I was with Gavin and Jolene lost her memory card in the field... Boo hoo). 

We did find a great assortment of pumpkins and it only costed us $7!  It was a great deal and it helps a local farmer.

Sunday Hike/Walk

This past Sunday (beginnig of October) Bob and I took the kids up to the mountains to go for a little hike.  We went to Brighton Ski Resort where during the summer there is a beautiful lake circled by a boardwalk.  The lake is called Silver Lake.  It is an easy hike especially for children, and we can take our stroller so we don't have to carry the kids.  The boys loved running on the boardwalk.  Zack made sure to stop at each sign so we could talk about what was on the picture and to read about each animal.  We saw ducks which made the boys very excited.  Zack was disappointed that he didn't see any fish but it was hard without polorized sunglasses (which Mommy and Daddy had).  We also saw a lot of squirrel's so that was fun too.  Gavin would yell Duck or Squirrel everytime he's see an animal.  It was fun to get out with the kids and enjoy the beautiful mountains.  Sometimes we take the beauty that is around us for granted.  We get so caught up with work, church calling, and everything else that we have packed into our week.  It was nice just doing something with the family.

And what's a post without pictures...

On the boardwalk to the lake

They love to run

Looking for the duck and trying to see fish

I love our little family!

Playing in the water on one of the docks



I took this picture!!  Beautiful Panarama of Silver Lake if I do say so myself!

PS... this post was actually written a week after our drive but because Blogger hates me and it was so hard to get pictures uploaded it's been sitting on the back burner for over a month.  I'll try harder to get more things posted

Oh and one last picture, as we were leaving Brighton I saw these trees and made Bob go around the loop again and stop so I could get a picture.  It was a perfect example of the changing colors.







Can you see all the different colors...Green, Yellow, Orange and Red.



Family Reunion - Montana

This past week we were able to go to my family reunion in Montana.  I'm not from Montana nor is anyone in my family from Montana, but my dad is from Canada which is near Montana :).  It was nice having the reunion in Montana because it was far enough away that everyone had to drive to get there.  You couldn't just hang out for the day and go back home to sleep.  The camping reunions are such a bonding experience.  I just love sitting around the campfire, laughing at silly things that happened that day and hearing about other people's lives.

Both our kids did really well.  Bob gets stressed not knowing where the boys were every minute, but I kept my eye on them.  And there was a lot of Adults that knew where the kids were at all time as well.

It was a little stressful being near a river and the lake but for the most part the boys stayed nearby.  There was the few times we'd catch Zack sneaking over to the river to throw rocks or Gavin following people who were heading down to the lake.  But they are boys!

The beautiful lake we were near (picture by Janae Smith)

We tried to leave Thursday afternoon/Evening.  Bob got home about 2:30-3:00.  By the time we got everything packed, rearranged and picked up my dad; I think it was close to 5 or 5:30 before we were on the road.  We stopped at a Rest Stop near Brigham City because Zack said he had to go potty.  False Alarm.  When we headed back out on the road our car started to act up.  It would loose power but not die completely.  But by the time we made it to Tremonton, UT it was doing it on a regular basis.  We made the decision to head home and borrow someone's car.  We finally decided to borrow my Mom's car and had her meet us in Roy, UT.  When we got off the off ramp our car completely died at the light.  We barely made it to Arby's.  It just kept dying.  My mom met us and our car was finally not dying every time we turned it on.  But we had a roof rack on our car and it didn't fit on my Mom's car.  So it didn't work to use her car right then.  We made the decision just to head all the way home and get things so we could put the rack on my mom's car and unload everything and reload into her car.  And it was a good decision because our car would not hold the power.  Bob figured it out so when it did die we were able to get it started quickly and finally got home.  So we didn't leave for Montana until 3:00AM the next morning.

It was a good drive.  The boys slept most of the morning.  We stopped in Butte, MT to let the kids out of the car for little bit and have breakfast.  We then drove to Lakeside, MT and had lunch.  FYI, Flathead Lake is Beautiful!

We got to Whitefish about 4 or 5:00.  We quickly found a spot to set up camp and unloaded.  The day was spent catching up with family, and just hanging out.  My Dad and Kelly got lost trying to get back to camp when they went into Whitefish, MT.  Deanna and I were starting to freak out a bit.  Plus they had all the food for dinner and we were getting hungry.  Luckily they made it back safe and sound.  Our dinner may have been late, but it was yummy!  And we feed a lot of people.  And Deanna made Cobbler which was delicious!

Saturday was a very busy day.  We started the day with Breakfast. 
Volleyball Tournament
Lunch
Amazing Race
Swimming at the Lake
Dinner
Minute to Win it Game (which Deanna and I did)
and Campfire fun.

Everyone joining together to watch the Volleyball Tournament

2 of the Teams that played each other.  I think Bob was on the other side of the net
(Picture from Janae Smith's facebook album)

Minute To Win it Games - Chocolate Unicorn

Minute to Win it Game - Hanky Panky

It was so much fun watching Zack playing with his cousins.  They all got a long so well.  Of course there was never enough Volleyballs or spray guns for everyone but as a whole they did really well together.  Gavin also did well with his cousins, he just mostly watched.  But a few times he had to fight for the ball he was playing with. 

Saturday - Sunday night a wicked thunder/lighting storm rolled in.  It was amazing at how quickly it started and how fast it moved on.  At one point the lightning and thunder went at the exact same time.  Which means it was pretty close.  My Uncle Reed actually was watching the storm and said the lightning hit the mountain we were pretty close to.  SCARY!

Sunday we had a meeting with the family since we weren't able to make it to church.  We had most of the past missionaries share a missionary moment they had.  It was fun to hear all the places people in our family have served and a memory that stood out to them.  After our meeting a few people had to leave.  We had quite a few goodbyes.  But there was still a good amount of people who stuck around.  We had potluck lunch and Dinner.  It was nice knowing we had gotten ride of a lot of food!  We played/watched Kubb and  then sat around the fire and roasted marshmellows.  Again it was a wonderful night to just relax and hang out with family. 

The next morning we pack up camp and was on the road by 10:00.  We got home about 10:30pm.

The boys did amazing there and back.  I was really worried about them, but they were troopers.  We had so much fun at the reunion and can't wait until the next one in 2 years.  I loved that so many family members were able to attend.  I'm not sure on the exact numbers of people there but I think it was more then 150 people (I could be way off).  Oh yeah Gavin won a quilt in the Raffle.  It was so cute because when they called his name I took him up to get his quilt and he grabbed it right away.  He totally knew that it was his blanket.  And got mad if anyone tried using it.

Thanks to my Aunt Andrea for her hard work in putting together such a great reunion.  It was so much fun!  The place was beautiful even if we got eaten by misquito's.

Camping

This past weekend we went camping with a group of friends in our neighborhood/ward. It's been kind of a tradition for the past few years with us (minus 1-2 years because of babies being born). This year our group headed to Flaming Gorge Resevouir. It's about a 4 hour drive for us. The boys did very well on the ride there and back. They both slept for a little bit. Our next big road trip (to Montana) we will definitly be bringing car activities for the boys. Guess I'll have to get started on a activity bag for young kids, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

I'm sad to say I only really got pictures of the 2nd day of our camping trip.  But to be fair the first day we got there, set up camp, then Marie and I started cooking dutch oven pizza's.  Which took a whole lot longer then what we planned.

Picture taken off Facebook by Michael Powers

With our group of friends we try to split up the cooking between families.

Friday Dinner  - Williams and Us

Saturday Breakfast - Powers

Saturday Lunch - Waldrons

Saturday Dinner - Thompson's and Hadfields

Sunday Breakfast - Pot luck style (we all pitch in)

Zack didn't want to sleep in the tent the first night, he wanted to go home.  We tried to explain that home was far away and he said that it was okay we could go home.  He finally calmed down enough to realize that camping was fun.  Even though we had to let him sleep inbetween us.  Gavin didn't sleep very well and ended up sleeping with us as well (imagine 4 people on a queen blow up mattress...not fun). 

Luckily for us Saturday was a beautiful day!  We pretty much hung out at our little corner of the lake all day.  I got a little sunburn on my back but I kept sunscreen on the boys!  Zack loved the water.  He was so excited to wear the life jacket that Grandma and Grandpa Visser let him borrow.  He didn't even mind the cold water.  And he was so daring.  He went out furthest then a lot of the older kids did.  Gavin he didn't like it AT ALL.  I couldn't even get him to dip a toe in the water.  He pretty much just hung out on the shore near me and played in the dirt.  That boy LOVED playing in the dirt. 

Zack venturing further in to the water

Hanging out in our little corner of Flaming Gorge

Bob and a few of the other men went fishing early in the morning on Saturday.  One of our friends had bought a boat so they went fishing in that.  Then around 8 they got the boat that they rented for the other guys.  They came back just in time to eat Breakfast then headed back out fishing.  We didn't see them again until almost 3. 

I took the boys out on the Jet ski seperatley.  Zack was fine on the jet ski until I used the throttle.  He was a bit scared when I went fast (which wasn't fast at all).  Gavin on the other hand didn't have a problem with me going fast.  In fact it made him fall asleep.  So there I was ridding around Flaming Gorge with a sleeping baby.  LOL.  He needed the nap!  Later that Day Bob and I took both boys for a little ride in one of the fishing boats. 

Sleeping the second night wasn't so bad.  Both boys fell asleep as we were sitting around the fire.  Gavin slept through the night and didn't have a problem in the play pen.  It was a much warmer night as well. 

Sunday we packed up rather quickly because of the rain storm that started about 6 am.  There was no stopping in sight, so we quickly took down camp, made sure everyone was packed so no one was left behind to clean up anyone's mess and headed home.  We were one the road by 11. 

We had a great time with great friends! 

Weddings are mini reunions

I love any reason to get together as a family and have fun. I love weddings! Two people getting married and starting a family is a wonderful event.

A few weekends ago my cousin Cortney married her soulmate Derek.

We weren't able to make it for the acutal wedding but we did make it to the reception. They were married in the Idaho Falls temple so it's about a 3 1/2 hour drive for us. My mom was kind enough to watch Zack for the weekend. So it was just Jeanette, Gavin and I that drove up for the evening. My dad came later, which I was glad he could because he wasn't sure if he was going to make it. Bob didn't go because he couldn't get off work in time, and I figured it would be a great weekend for him to work on re-building our fence. (which is why my mom watched Zack for the weekend).

This wasn't Zack's first sleepover at my mom's house, just the first one he remembered. We packed him a backpack and got his sleeping bag. He was very excited!

So Jeanette and I made the drive to Idaho. Gavin did really well until we got to Pocatello, then he was done. We took a quick break then hit the road again since we were so close. We made it to the reception about 20 minutes before it started! I love seeing my aunts and uncles and cousins from Idaho and Canada.

We had so much fun hanging out and just goofing off. My grandpa even joined in the fun by the end of the night. Gavin isn't a big fan of people or large groups so he stuck near my most of the night. He did start to warm up to other people though and I was able to sneak away to get things out to of the car a few times.

 

  



Katie caught the bouquet.  You go girl!

After the reception we went back to my Aunt and Uncle's house and just hung out and ate pizza. It was so much fun being around everyone. Makes me super excited about the upcoming family reunion!

We left the next afternoon. On the way home Jeanette and I stopped at the firestation that Raymond was working at. It was fun to get some pictures of Gavin on Ogden's newest firetruck. He did a lot better on the way home, the Ogden stop definitly helped.

 

 

It was a wonderful quick trip.

Pumpkin Patch

Last week my family went to the pumpkin patch. My family being My mom, aunt Jolene, Jeantte and Tyler, Deanna, Kelly and Kairi, myself and the two boys. Bob was at a Football game. It was a lot of fun. Unfortunetly we waited a little later in the month to go and wouldn't you know rain was in the forecast. We planned on meeting at 2:00 at the patch. That morning we woke to rain. I was crossing my fingers and toes that it would clear up. Luck was with us and by two it was better weather. So off to the pumpkin patch we all went. It was fun wondering the field. Zack had a blast picking up pumpkins and adding them to our wheelbarrow. He of course doesn't get the concept that we actually have to buy the pumpkins. All he knew was there was a field full of pumpkins and he could get whatever he wanted. So when he wasn't looking I put some of the pumpkins back into the field. He also didn't understand that you couldn't throw pumpkins. Luckily most of the pumpkins were squishy all ready so I didn't feel too bad if he bruised one or two of them. I was able to get some fun pictures of the kids.



These are two of the pumpkins that we ended up going home with (no charge of course). He's such a silly boy!


Gavin of course just wanted to eat the dirt, hay and vines that were in the pumpkin patch.

This is my favorite picture because it's all the cousins. Tyler who is 15, Zack who is 2, Gavin who is 7 months and Kairi who is 3 months.

Just as we were leaving the pumpkin patch it started to rain. By the time we got home it was a downpour. We definitly were there at the right time. The boys has such cute shirts on, it's too bad they were hidden by their jackets. This is one reason I'm not a fan of cold weather. Cute clothes are hidden beneath layers!

About a month or two ago I won 4 tickets to the Circus. I love the circus. It usually is in town right around Jeanette and my birthday. I was so excited to take Zack and Gavin to see the cirucus even though I knew they wouldn't really understand what was going on. We went the weekend for my birthday so it was a great start to a my birthday week!

As always the circus did not cease to amaze me. There was so much going on in the rings that you couldn't keep up with everything. I loved it though. 40 minutes into the circus both our kids were asleep. Yup that's how we roll.

They did both wake up after a short siesta and seemed to be pretty entertained by the entire thing. Gavin loved the excitement and was pretty much jumping on my lap the entire time. Zack... he liked the $10 cotton candy... LOL.

Things that we saw at the circus:
Tight Rope walkers
7 motorcycles in a small little sphere
Dancing horses
People jumping on a trampoline
Acrobats
A very stong man that lifted over 1000 lbs
People that could bend EVERY which way
Tigers
Elephants
The newest member of Ringling Barnum Circus... a baby elephant. And already he was putting on a show.
Motorcycle on a tight rope
Lady being swung/spinning by her hair
of cours the clowns
And I'm sure much more... like I said there was a lot to see!

And now for some pictures... some of the quality aren't so good but you get the idea.