Inauguration

Today marked a historical day for the United States. Today Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. Today we begin a new page and a new chapter in our history as we bid farewell to George Bush as leaves for Texas and we say hello to our new President. It is a moving day in every sense of the word.

All of my children (the ones who are aware of what is going on around them) got to see the inauguration today. Kaleb and Kaerli got to watch it at home on the computer with me, and Mikaeli got to watch it at school. I am pleased that Mikaeli's school felt that it was important enough to let the kids experience that.

For those who watched the Inauguration you know that Obama botched the Oath of Office. He wouldn't say his full name and he couldn't recite the Oath without the Chief Justice repeating it three times. How embarrassing! I think they should have him redo the Oath. I would completely agree if they had him do it again.

Last night I watched a program (while trying to lull myself to sleep) about what happens to the White House during the inauguration of a new president. The "lame duck president" has 25 movers come in and they have 1 hour to pack all of their belongings, because the next hour is dedicated to the in coming presidents' movers to redecorate the living quarters how they want it. It isn't only limited to the president and his family's living quarters, it is for all of the "lame duck presidents" as well. The new president has their own staff coming in and their belongings are moved in as well. Amazing really.

Mikaeli's Dance Recital!!!

As I am sure that I have mentioned before Mikaeli is doing Irish Dance. This is from her Christmas Recital. I am so proud of her, she did such a great job! She is a very talented girl. Kaleb has decided that this next year he also wants to do Irish Dance. Kaerli as well would love to do it. They have to be 5. Kaleb the next year could, Kaerli has to wait a few years. Her recital was December 19th and she had so much fun. She is learning a new dance now that she gets to do for competition later this spring. She is very excited. They have only been back from Christmas vacation for 2 weeks (she has had 2 classes) and she already knows half of the dance and just performs for us. She was never this confident at the other dance studio we had her in. Her teacher Stephanie Jeffs is amazing.
Mikaeli wants to take ballet again, and the Ballet Conservatory where she takes Irish dance is really good. I guess we will have to see how things go. We don't want her to be too overwhelmed.

What the New Year brings!!!

At the beginning of the coming new year brings Dan and I to the end of our seventh year and into our eighth with things looking better than last year.
Although our last year brought us some very special and exciting experiences, (the open house of the Twin Falls Temple and the tour of the temple, Baeli's birth, a new horse for the children... I will get to that later...etc) as well as some sad experiences (our family pet, and friend Samuel our dog died) we are very lucky and blessed to have each other.
Today marked the eighth anniversary of Dan's and my sealing. Yes 8 years ago today we were married in the Bountiful temple. While at dinner Dan and I did our annual evaluation of how we felt this year went for us and for things that we wanted to improve on for this coming year. We have found that this has been a great help in our relationship. Not only that it helps us become better friends.
For Christmas our children were surprised by my parents neighbor who presented them with with a cute little Appoloosa horse who is very friendly to children. Yes my children (it stays at my moms house) have a horse. His name is Lucky Boy and they will be able to start riding him this spring. He is a very sweet horse, and he loves to be petted by the kids. We had a good Christmas, and a very wonderful New Year. We were able to see my Uncle Mark and Aunt Melissa and their children and spend New Years with them. That was a blast! The kids were very sad to see the cousins leave, in both my family and in Dan's family.
We went to Salt Lake to pick up Dan's brother Jeff, and we spent some quality time with him. Mikaeli, Kaleb, and Kaerli were so excited to spend time with their Uncle Jeff they had so much fun. While in Salt Lake we went to Temple Square and saw the lights. That was a big hit for the kids. I wish that I were able to get some good pictures, but they didn't turn out so well. I think Becky took some pictures of us with their camera, I will ask and hopefully we will be able to post them.
We hope that you have a wonderful new year, and that you had a wonderful holiday season. We are looking forward to this coming year. I will be more dilegent in my posts. We have a lot of events that need to be posted.
Happy New Year!

All My Children!!

It is a rare occasion that I can get all of my children to sit down for a picture. I love these two pictures, this first one because all three of my girls are in one picture. This is such a precious picture. I caught Mikaeli and Kaerli a little too soon. Just after this was taken they both kissed Baeli, it was so sweet!

Again this was a rare occasion, yes this is a posed picture but it is still so sweet. They get along so well together. Especially Mikaeli. She loves Baeli. She comes into my room if Baeli is crying, and she tells me that she will take care of her. Mikaeli changes her diaper and sings her songs. She does very well to calm Baeli down when she cries. I am very proud of her.

Kaleb and Kaerli are still learning when it comes to handling Baeli. Softness is something we have to work on EVERY day. But it is a work in progress. Right now the main thing we are working on is how to hold her properly.

Having Baeli is an adjustment. She still has her days and nights mixed up, although we are getting better at sleeping a good part of the night.

I am very thankful that she is loved by her brother and sisters. I had my concerns at first, but my older children are amazing with her.

Halloween BOO!!!

The kids had a blast this Halloween! Mikaeli went as a Nurse/Raggidy Ann, Kaleb was Spiderman, and Kaerli was a Tiger.

Baeli was a pumpkin, she actually wore the same pumpkin outfit that my mom made for Mikaeli (we left it at my in-laws house, and therefore didn't have it when we took the picture... I will get one of her in it and post it). This is a costume that all 4 of my children have worn for their first Halloween.

Kaleb had a blast being Spiderman. He didn't like the hood, so Dan painted Kaleb's nose to make it so he was Spiderman turning into the Venom monster. He thought that was a cool idea.

Kaerli we had a difficult time with in terms of her costume. We have had this tiger costume since Mikaeli was Kaerli's age. Kaerli is the first one to use it. At the last minute Kaerli decided that she wanted to be a princess. I didn't have a princess dress for her to wear, so we made up a story that a tiger was the only thing that could beat up Spiderman... She thought that was AWESOME so she agreed to be a tiger...

Mikaeli was so cute. My mom made the scrubs for Mikaeli, out of fabric that I picked. She has worn them to bed ever since she got them. Mikaeli is already picking out what she wants to be for next year. She is debating on Pippi Longstocking or a Ghost.

In this picture the kids are having a doughnut eating contest with their cousin Emma. I think that Mikaeli was the only one who fully grasped the idea that you were supposed to eat the doughnut off the string WITHOUT using hands... I think Mikaeli won.

Mikaeli's Birthday Party!!!

MY BABY JUST TURNED 7!!!! Mikaeli's birthday was on October 19th. And yes she is 7 years old. I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!! Where has the time gone!?!?!

This year Mikaeli got to have her first Co-Ed party (with boy/friends from school) aside from Ryan and Keagan. We went to Storybook park. They had so much fun. We had relay races and the kids had a blast!

We also had a family birthday party, where the kids bobbed for apples. They had never bobbed for apples before and thought it was AWESOME!!!

So I thought that I would share these pictures. Kaleb and Kaerli had a little bit of a hard time because the bowl was kindof deep for them.

Kaleb and Kaerli thought that it was cool because they got to get wet and no one yelled at them.

Our First Snow Storm!!!

Who would have thought that on October 11, we would have a huge snow storm. A storm that was only supposed to give us 1-2 inches has already yielded 5-7, and it is still coming!!!

The kids were so excited to wake up and have snow on the ground that they couldn't wait to play in it. The same with the neighbor kids.

The kids wanted to make a snow man, then realized it would take more than just them, so they decided to have a snowball fight and make snow angels instead.

I can not believe that it is October and we are already having a snow storm. Ya gotta love Idaho. Luckily by Wednesday it will be in the 60's again, but not for long. Poor Danno is refing a foot ball game out in this mess. My poor baby!