Carving pumpkins with Grandma and Grandpa. (McKay digging out the seeds.) 

Sisters! Notice the holding hands. This was when we stayed the weekend for Hester's wedding.  

More fun in the park

Cruz enjoyed the swings. Also there are more pictures of the girls playing on the slide in leaves.

Fun at the Park

We let the kids exhaust the etra energy at the park. McKay loves the monkey bars and they both loved the slides.

A new cousin

This is McKay and her cousin Elizabeth.

Pumpkinland

While in Utah last weekend, we went to Pumpkinland. The kids enjoyed the corn maze (which we actually got lost in, considering it's small), the cut-out faces and all the rest of the stuff.

Two genies and a king

These are the pictures we had done at the mall. I liked the second one the best but Jake didn't. I think it shows their personalities the best. We ended up getting the first though. I swore after I made their Princess dresses two years ago that I would never sew costumes again. Well.... I got bored when Jake was designing the plans at night in September. I am proud to say that I did every stitch by myself and it only took me a week. I am in the process of another project though.

As you can tell we got our new computer. So I posted quite a few pictures from September and the first of October. McKay is counting down the days of when she will see Aspen. I am counting down the days that I get a break from school. I am not a morning person and neither is McKay. I don't help the fact that I stay up past midnight. Jake and I both need a better schedule. We have tried to set a 'bedtime' rule but it doesn't work because we aren't tired. It doesn't help that there is a TV in the room either. Oh well, I guess we both learn the hard way. Love ya all!

Tautphaus Zoo

The kids really enjoyed this zoo. It's in Idaho Falls and it's pretty small. It doesn't have elephants or rhinos or giraffes (or hippos, as Kirsten reminded me) but the kids didn't really care. They spent at least 30 minutes watching the monkeys. It still has a lot of the other animals, like lions and tigers and giraffes and all that. It's also small enough you can walk it in about two hours and see everything. (Bonus for the parents). Anyway the first picture is infront of the camels and the second is in the petting zoo.

Happy Birthday Cruz! "1"

Cruz turned one on September 10th. We had Sarah over and had our own little family party. He loves riding on any type of automobile toy.

Labor Day Weekend

This is Kirsten and Cruz playing at Erika's over labor day. They enjoy dressing up.

Funny things 2

Kirsten said one today that caught me off guard. Jake came home from work and buzzed his head. We went to leave for a church activity and in the van Kirsten asks her dad if he got a hair cut. Jake says "yes." Then Kirsten says, "When we get home you better put it back on, okay dad?"

Are you prepared?

We finally have our internet hooked up again. Although we don't have our regular computer working yet so I can't post any pictures.

Anyway I have a little story for everyone to think about with the hurricanes hitting and all the diseasters going on in the world. In our old stake, a neighboring ward's bishoped got up after sacrament meeting and made a challenge. It goes as this, "As of today (they started on the 18th), he challenged everyone in the ward not to buy anything from the stores for 30 days, with the exemption of gas. He challenged them to live off of their food storage and live as if a disaster had happened." This meant they had no time to plan or prepare for it. It was just what was in their house. They couldn't buy milk or bread or the 'neceessities' that we take for granted. They could trade with neighbors and anyone they wanted to but they couldn't buy anything.

IF YOU WERE TO DO THIS, WOULD YOU MAKE IT?

Yesterday in church they had a 'bartering' table set up infront of Relief Society. The ward had taken the challenge. I came home and told Jake about this and we talked together about what we had. I would dare say (knock on wood) that we could make it. It would be hard drinking powdered milk or not having my soda or anything that is a 'luxury'. But we do have a food storage started that we would make it by. What about you guys. It's something to think about with everything happening in the southeast.

Long time

Hi everyone. Okay the reason we haven't blogged lately is that Jacob decided move everything onto an external hard drive and wipe at our laptop. Now it's broke! So I have been without a computer and without the internet. The only reason I am typing is I am at Erika's. Anyway Jake did it at an awful moment. Now our plans our stuck on an external hard drive and they are waiting for them for our construction loan. AAAAHHHH! Anyway the problem is the partioner (?). He can't reinstall the programs or window xp. Any help from anyone? It's soooo frustrating

On another note. We moved Thursday. We are renting a small (emphasis on small) townhouse on the outskirts (country) if IF. It's only for 6 to 8 months til our house is finished. I keep telling myself that. I miss the yard and the location of our old house. I miss the quiet atmosphere of the country. However I don't miss the old house at all. Or all of it's problems!!! It's also during the winter months so the kids won't be outside to miss it that much. I don't handle moving either. Jacob has A LOT of stuff. I get overwhelmed too easily. Fortunately we boxed up a lot and put in it storage and we kept the shop at the old house. We also went thru everything and threw away probably half of the stuff we had. We downsized tons. I only had one bad day as Jake would say. He keeps saying he would send me and the kids on vacation when we move (he said that when we moved to Idaho and then again this time) but I realize that might be even worse. I am grateful for my friend who watched the kids all day Friday and now my house is all unpacked. I only have the pics to hang now. :)

Well Cruz's birthday was last week and we had Sarah over for dinner and cake. My kids are getting to know her and really like her. I will have to post pics later when my computer is back up. We will see you all later. Bye

New link on blog list

Just in case any of you are wondering who Spencer is, it's Hester's fiance. We added his blog to the links on our page. He is soon to be the newest member of the family. I just thought I would add that so there would be no confusion. Anyway same old stuff, not much new happening. For those of you that don't know, Jake and I (and fam) will be moving in a couple weeks to a new townhouse just outside of town. It's cheaper in rent, heating oil (I hate cost of gas by the way!) , closer to Jake's work and our new lot, and of course it's new! I will forward the address when I find out. We will be dropping our home line and only have our two cell numbers. Love and miss ya!

Busy, Busy!

This week has been busy but fun. Mckay started school yesterday and she loves the whole day thing. She was even more excited to ride the bus. It's nice because the busstop is right infront of our house so we just have to watch for the bus to come. I don't have to wake the kids up to take her to school anymore. Yeah!

Grandma and Grandpa also came up yesterday. We enjoyed visiting and showing them around. Aunt Leslie and Tom were also in the area to drop off Sarah at BYU Idaho. They came over for the afternoon and ate dinner with us. It's always nice to have family come visit. We enjoy the company! It's also nice to know that there is a little more family around and we will have Sarah over more often.

Another thing is a little over a week ago we closed on our lot (property). It's in Rigby (about 10 minutes from here). It's only 5-10 minutes from Idaho Falls, and 10 minutes from Rexsburg. It's an acre and we are excited to build a house. We are just in the planning phase still. We have a house plan it's just getting everything finalized. McKay went to Rigby last year for Kindergarten. She had to go to a different school this year because of the district lines. We will be right by her school when we move. It is a really pretty area. The land here just keeps going up in price. It's crazy. If we would have bought when we moved out here it would have only been 5 thousand an acre. It's all the way up to 20 - 30 thousand now. (I know that sounds cheap compared to other places like Utah and California). But hindsight is always 20/20 right? We are excited though. Jake is going to be the general and do some work himself but sub-out a lot. He is going to be really busy!

Well we will see everyone in October for Hester's wedding! It was good to see everyone last week! Love and miss you all!

Dad standing infront of our property. 

Grandma, Grandpa, and the grandkids. 

Sarah, Kirsten, McKay. and me. 

Grandma and Leslie. When Dale and Alice came up yesterday, Leslie and Tom were dropping off Sarah at BYU Idaho. They all came over and talked and ate dinner with us.

Grandpa and Cruz. They look quite a bit alike (I think).