Christmas time at Rock Creek

As a yearly tradition we as a family go look at the Christmas light display at Rock Creek Canyon (near Twin Falls, Idaho). The kids have been so excited to see the "pretties" especially Kaerli who is just getting into the beauty of Christmas lights. Last year she could care less.



Kaerli was so excited by the lights and Santa who was there to hand out candycanes. They even had a guy dressed up as a reindeer and one as an elf. She was just amazed! She was less excited to feed the camel when we finally got up to it.


Mikaeli has always loved the lights. This year was no exception. Every little thing she pointed out to us and just got really excited about it all.


Kaleb was really excited to go, and then fell asleep somewhere during the 45 minute drive up to Rock Creek. Nothing could wake him up. He was completely out for the count. Although he did wake up once we got back to the car, therefore we drove through the second time and let him get out and feed the camel.


As I stated before, before we got to the camel Kaerli was so excited to see it... and then she saw how BIG it was. After about 15 minutes she was ok to feed the camel a carrot... unfortunately, the camel surpassed the carrot in her hand and decided to give her a kiss instead. This picture was right before the camel gave her a kiss. BOY WAS IT SLOPPY!

Mikaeli's Dance Recital!

Mikaeli's Christmas Recital was on December 15th. She did AWESOME!!! She was the best one out there... No prejiduce at all... haha..
She really did a great job. I am very proud of her.


This Christmas Mikaeli did Tap and Ballet. She loves to dance. In January she will start with Jazz again.

The first couple pictures are at her first floor show at Highland Estates.

Every Spring and Winter recital each of the dancing groups dance at the different Assisted Living Centers around the community.

Isn't she SOOOOO CUTE!!!

Halloween!

Today was so much fun. Mikaeli got to go to school dressed up in her Halloween costume. They had a parade of the Kindergarteners, where all of the morning Kindergarten classes were able to parade around the gym showing the parents. Mikaeli dressed up as Catwitch. Catwitch by Una Woodruff, is her favorite book, she loves it because I gave it to her. It was my favorite book when I was her age. She was going to be a rain cloud for Halloween but I didn't want to make that costume more than once given we had to use balloons. Also she wouldn't have been able to sit down in the car, let alone in class. So she was going to be a rain cloud to Trick-or-Treat and be Catwitch for school, but we (THANKFULLY) simplified things.
Kaleb was a Wild West Sheriff with his trusty horse "Fluffy" (he named it himself). For the 2 weeks leading to Halloween he wouldn't take the horse off... when we got to the church to go Trunk-or-Treating he didn't want to wear it anymore... so I made up a story that he couldn't get any candy if he didn't wear his costume.... He put it on. haha
Kaerli was a teddy bear. She loves it. She still begs me to put it on her! After Trick or treating was over she didn't want to take it off. She fell asleep with it on, where we then took it off. She was so sweet.
I was a Tornado. It was an interesting costume, but I had fun doing it. I got lots of comments on it. It was fun.
Dan unfortunately wasn't able to come with us, he had class... so for Halloween he was a nursing student!
After Trick-or-Treating Mikaeli wanted to go to a Haunted House. Yeah I know what you are thinking, she doesn't know what she was getting herself into. We went to one West of Burley. We told Mikaeli that if she gets scared, or if people try to scare her to turn it around and say "BOO" to them. It worked the first 2 times... but then she really got scared and started crying andwouldn't move. Thankfully one of Dan's previous co-workers (was one of the workers at the Haunted House) saw us and yelled "Code Pink" (which means that basically you walk through without anyone doing anything). Some of the workers listened... Others didn't they went all out and scared her even more. When we got downstairs she was screaming and crying so bad that one of the workers grabbed a flashlight and took us the rest of the way. Not that that worked either, people still tried to scare her. I ended up having to carry her out of the Haunted House because she was so terrified she couldn't walk. Needless to say that when we got out... I had a few, not very nice things to yell at the people.
She is ok... on the way home we sang children's songs, and she got to talk to daddy and he made things all better... I think it helped watching mommy chew out the workers. I know that is what they are there for, but come on! When someone yells Code Pink because a child is scared to death, you gotta honor it!
All in all, Halloween was really fun.

Mikaeli's Birthday Party

I can't believe that my baby is 6!! I know she isn't a baby but... SHE'S MY BABY!


For her birthday Mikaeli wanted to go BOWLING! She got to invite friends and she had a blast! This was her first birthday party where she was allowed to invite friends. She was so excited. The little girl (other than Kaerli) in the picture is her friend Jenna Blacker.


She did so well in her bowling game. She actually bowled 300!!! I have proof... true she had bumpers, but that is beside the point. Even with bumpers I have never bowled better than a 118!


Mikaeli had such a blast. In her words she won the Jackpot! Haha. She got to have a party at school, and she got to have a party with the family. Boy was she excited.


It is so hard to believe that Mikaeli is 6 years old. She has begun to tell people when asked her age, "I am almost 7" AAAHHHH and so the age lying begins... Hahaha.

The flood before- New kitchen after

We were kind of forced into this. We got to remodel/redo our kitchen floor. The pipes behind the sink and dish washer decided that they wanted blow and the floor right in front of the sink decided it wanted to cave in. YEAH FOR US!!!

Burley Alumni Baseball Team 2007

Dan played in the second annual Burley Alumni Baseball game held this past June. He had so much fun. The game ended (well it didn't end the umpires just got tired) 4-4.

Kaerli's Stitches

Kaerli is my accident prone child. She had the longest delivery out of all three of my kids (27 hours) and she is the one with the most problems. She had to be under the bili-blanket for almost 2 weeks because her bilireuben was up to level 19 (that is bad) she looked like a pumpkin. Well she is also the only one of my kids who has had to get stitches. She got her pinky finger stuck in a swinging door. (poor baby!) She had to get 4 stitches.

Fair

This was at the Twin Falls County Fair in September. Man this was a big cow. But boy did Kaleb really like her. The funny thing is, he wouldn't touch or go near her unless I went with him. The rollercoster that Mikaeli was on (with me and two other people) is called The Tornado. It was the first "big kid" rollercoster she has ever been on. She was just barely tall enough this year to ride. She was so excited!

Kaerli, Mikaeli, Ryan, Keagan, and Kaleb.
Man oh Man did they get dirty at the party.

Kaleb's Birthday

Kaleb turned 3 on October 7th. He had so much fun. My nephews Ryan and Keagan came over and partied with us. He had a "Cars" birthday cake, and mostly tractor presents. He loves hooking things up to anything and having a trailer. Don't ask me why... maybe it is a boy thing... who knows?

First day of school

Mikaeli was so excited to get to class her first day of school. I embarrassed her by taking pictures. The teacher with the class is her new teacher Mrs. Bedke. The teacher with the umbrella is her old teacher Mrs. Gomez. Mikaeli had to switch from the afternoon class (Mrs. Gomez's class) to the morning class (Mrs. Bedke's class) because there were too many kids.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch on Wednesday and had a blast! This was Kaerli's second time going, but only first time remembering. It was so much fun watching Kaerli associate the word pumpkin (which she just learned to say) with the object. She found so many that she wanted to take home... she just couldn't pick them up. HAHA. They were usually the ones that were as big or bigger than her. All of the kids had so much fun. Going to the pumpkin patch is a family tradition we have had ever since Mikaeli turned 1. It reminds me of "Its the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown." The kids love it.

Kindergarten!!!

I can't believe it! Mikaeli is in Kindergarten!!! She loves school, and loves learning. She has been in school for almost 2 months and has read her first book... I am talking about a real book not "See Jane run."! It took her a few minutes to sound it out, but she did it herself. Ok I will admit. I helped her on the big words like... England and terrorize. Her first teacher was Mrs Gomez. She then had to be switched to a different class because Mrs Gomez's class was too big. Her new teacher is Mrs. Bedke.
She is getting so big! She is excited because she will turn 6 on Friday. Man I feel old!

About Us

Dan and I were married January 12, 2001 in the Bountiful Utah LDS Temple. We also have 3 children. Mikaeli who was born October 19, 2001, will be 6, Kaleb who was born October 7, 2004, turned 3, and Kaerli who was born March 10, 2006 will be 2.
Dan just finished Nursing school and is currently working towards his bachelors degree online at South University. He is working on the Medical/Surgical floor at Cassia Regional (our local hospital). He also is a referee for Football, Basketball, and Baseball in his spare time. This summer Dan had the opportunity to play in the 2nd Annual Burley Alumni Baseball game. He had a lot of fun. I will probably add some pictures from it. It was so much fun!

Erin (me) will be starting again with the college thing in January.. This time I am going to be smart about it and take classes online at the same school that Dan is taking his classes. I am involved in Mikaelis school PTO and I am in charge of the book fair which is at the end of this month (two days before Halloween UGH!) I will also be in charge of several other events during the year in which I will find out after the book fair is over.

Mikaeli as I said before will be 6 at the end of this week. She is also in Kindergarten. She is taking dance, plays sports (baseball and soccer) is starting to get the hang of reading. She was so proud of herself because she read in its entirity her first book. She loves drama, anything that has to do with dressing up, AKA Halloween. She is planning on being a "Little Black Rain Cloud" for Halloween this year. Mainly what that means for me is a lot of creativity.

Kaleb just turned 3, and he just finished getting potty trained. Although he has yet to get the hang of pulling his pants up after going potty, (which means when we are in restaraunts and he goes by himself he usually comes out completely BUCK NAKED!) Oh yes it has happened more than once. Very embarrassing. I never had to worry about that with Mikaeli, she was always self consious. Not Kaleb, Oh no! He is into cars, trucks and tractors. He gets really excited when he sees a tractor or some kind of truck. Kaleb is my tornado #1! I can never keep my house clean due to this guy running around.

Kaerli will be 2 in March, and is starting to talk up a storm. She still uses sign language the majority of the time, but her verbal skills are going through the roof. A lot of people ask me if she is deaf when they see me signing to her. I just tell them that I would rather her sign what she wants rather than screaming. I wish that I had figured that out sooner with Kaleb, that would have saved me so many headaches. Kaerli is starting to figure things out, word association. Her favorite words are "button, kitty, pumpkin and movie". She is my second tornado, her and Kaleb don't like it when Mommy cleans, because it means that all of their toys get put away. Man I can't wait until I get a bigger house where I have a room specifically designated for toys!