January

For those who think I have dropped off of the planet, I probably have. I have just been enjoying everyday now that baby is here. I will try to update photos and such, but it might be awhile as I will have to relearn how to post things once again. I shouldn't let it go so long so I forget, but coordinating everything is still a challenge for me and some days I am still in jammies til lunch or even later. We are as slow as molasses round here, but I will get better. We appreciate keeping updated through everyone else's posts so we will try to return the favor.

A quick glance

It has been forever since I last posted, and I really don't have a lot of time now, either, but I want you all to know we are alive and well. We spent all summer doing as many fun things as possible. We even went camping more than once this year. Now, that school is in session, we are still adjusting to schedules and trying to fit fun in. Don is particularly busy with officiating, but we are planning a little trip soon and hopefully it will happen. It seems either his calling or mine always seems to get in the way of trips that last more than one day. Emma and Ethan started piano with a new teacher and doing awesome. It is nice to have music in the house once again even if we have to travel beyond cross town to have it happen. Emma is not doing dance this year and I am still looking for something to involve her in besides reading. At this pace she will have read the entire library by the end of the year. Ainsley is enjoying kindergarten and would like to stay the whole day, but Linay is grateful she doesn't stay that long and enjoys meeting big sis at the bus each day. Soon she will have a little brother to bug and give her attention to. One day I'll take the time to give more of a detailed update. Til then, know we are alive and well and still going.

Finally

After trying to figure out how to fix Ethan's slideshow, I think I finally did it. I was hoping to change the pictures out an update, but as I lost my most recent pictures and time has been short, it will have to wait. Our latest update involves Ethan playing Cal Ripken baseball, Emma's DARE graduation, and her buckle fracture in her wrist. That makes it so Linay is the last to not have had a broken/bent bone. Hopefully she is too close to the ground that she will be protected...at least for awhile.

What? How?

I was looking at the blog and noticed a baseball picture included in the slide show of Ethan on the right. That is not one of my pictures. Then as I watched other random pictures have jumped in there. I am not sure what is going on or how as none of these are in my albums anywhere. Also, it is only on Ethan's. Weird. I will probably pull the slide shows in a day or two.

A sad tale

I have been meaning to post more pictures of our life and update everyone, so this morning I sat down and began to transfer pictures from camera to computer. When the transfer was complete, something happened to the picture software and I couldn't access anything. Also, the pictures were deleted from the camera during transfer so no backup and I can't redo it. So, my apologies, but any update will be delayed as I try to re-create some of the pictures...some unfortunately can't be recreated (Emma's dance recital). So, when you see pictures of Linay you can just pretend they were from her birthday...even if they are a week later. And Ethan's pictures will be of his 4th or 5th game, not the first one like originally planned. It is just one of those things you just laugh and move on cause there is nothing else to do.

Spring

I know we live in Idaho, and I am used to crazy weather. I must admit the snow this morning was beautiful and this afternoon most of it is already gone. I am getting ready to plant grass and finish cleaning up the leaves. I know Ainsley and Linay look forward to being outside as well.

Morning

So, tag we are it. This morning Don went out to the garage to go to work and noticed it was halfway open. Then he noticed that both vehicles had been "rifled through" and they had attempted to force open the glove box on the van which has been locked to keep my kiddos out of it. Normally we keep the van locked, but I guess Don forgot after his evening meeting. Nothing was taken that we can tell either from the cars or the garage. I guess they didn't want the lone polly pocket doll sitting on the seat. Good thing we don't have much of value.

End of February randomness

The end of February saw lots of craziness...2 birthdays, a dance performance, swimming, basketball, and more. I was able to attend 2 meetings with Sis. Julie B. Beck, Relief Society General President, on Feb 26th, thanks to Ethan being flexible with birthday plans. To say it was amazing is an understatement. We were with about 10,000 sisters in the new BYU - Center and then later with about 300 or so in the Hart Auditorium for leadership training. Emma was able to do a mini-performance of one of her dances at an assisted living center. She also joined the polar swim team. Ainsley began swim lessons again. Ethan finished up basketball, received more awards for scouting and began Webelos. Linay is talking up a storm with pathetic, but adorable phrases...."I know, I'm sorry" "I need a yummy" "Where did my binkie go?"

With a few days off of school coming this month of March, we should have more craziness to report. We already celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday and are planning on parties for Barbie's birthday (Mar 9th) and of course, St. Patrick's Day. And who could forget the glorious spring break at the end of the month? A trip just may be in order.....Don, Emma, and Ainsley have already made 2 trips to MT (one in Jan,and one in Feb), but due to Ethan's basketball schedule, Ethan, Linay, and I stayed behind. I am a little stir crazy and Linay is just plain crazy so who knows what will happen... I guess it depends on gas prices and timing. Til then, enjoy the randomness.

more pictures

I am still learning

Surprise

My goal for keeping more up to date isn't going to well. There is just to much to keep up to date on. But, I know I enjoy checking your blogs and my kiddos enjoy the cousins so I will try to return the favor, even if it is only every now and again. Yesterday we were able to go to a wildlife refuge close by and we even saw wildlife. I was overjoyed. Anyway, here are some random pictures. Enjoy.

Happy New Year

No pictures just yet. I am still trying to catch up. The kids go back to school tomorrow unfortunately. I always have big plans that never come to fruition. We will just have to carry some of the fun over into this next year. We spent Christmas in Montana mostly with the Ostler side as this is the last Christmas with the ranch. Alan and Nathan and families will be moving to Wyoming this spring/summer. Jennie will stay and keep a few acres. We did manage a quick trip into Butte to drop off presents. Believe it or not, but my side of the family is more mobile or at least come to visit more often so, though it was disappointing in terms of my visit with my family, I was consoled with knowing I get to visit more in the future. Don is just out of luck.

We rang the new year in by ourselves watching movies. Linay didn't make it. Ainsley did, but was angry we didn't watch ice skating instead of the ball dropping. Emma was with her friend just a few houses away playing board games and barbies.

Now we are back to getting in our school routine. Maybe now I can remember to send the kids to piano.

Hooray!

 

 

You can finally count your blessings that I made an excrutiating effort to get a little caught up with blogging. After many hours and much relearning, here are a few glances of what we have been up to this year.

Don't Give up

First, thankyou to all who dutifully keep up their posts so that my kids can keep connected with beloved family. Second, don't give up on my efforts. I have just been focused in other areas right now, but will try to do better about posting. i think I will have to relearn how to do pictures as soon as I relearn how to get them off the camera, the few I have taken.

Huckleberries!!!!

So, the state fruit of Idaho is the huckleberry. Growing up in MT and going to the Huckleberry festival for many years in Trout Creek made Huckleberries a treasured novelty. Well, now that I am in Idaho, I kept hearing people all around talk about going out for huckleberries here and there and I wanted to give it a try. Of course, not so many are willing to divulge "their spots", but after a little prodding we were given the general direction of where to try. After doing a little research on-line, I thought I might be able to identify some given the chance. So, we went out over the weekend, and low and behold, I think we found some. They are small for the most part, but they smell like huckleberries, and we had fun picking them anyway. So, another life long desire fulfilled. We might even try again. There aren't pictures of the picking because it was during a rainstorm.

A first: aren't you proud?

So, believe it or not, our family purchased furniture this past week. While this furniture is still second hand, it is actually something you will find in a furniture store today. We had gone shopping at furniture stores, but found the exact thing for 1/2 price on craigslist. The pictures are of our new set as posted on craigslist, not at our house.

When Don and I first married, we got two pieces of furniture from thrift stores for about $50 and have used them for close to 13 years now. When we moved into our house, I just couldn't bring myself to bring in the couch partly because I was afraid the bottom would demolish the wood floors, as I had seen what it did to carpet. We did use the love seat and a broken recliner.

Now we actually have a full set (couch, chair, and love seat) and they all match. They are really comfortable and make the house so homey. We love them. We feel so blessed to have a house and furniture, too. The Lord has really been blessing us lately. Also, thanks needs to go to our "counting mutant"(Mr. Magorium's wonder Emporium), who does such a wonderful job on our taxes making some of these purchases possible. Thanks Toni!!! Thanks also for the love from all of you. Mom, I knew you would be happy. Though I do get attached, it has been nice to move on.

Life continues

We are still unpacking and settling in, but life is moving on. We were blessed to have Toni come spend the weekend. It was a little like going home as I provided a basement room to sleep in, piles to wade through, etc. Jill, Justin, and Katie were able to come hang out, as well. We had a good time and the weather was gorgeous. Today, everything is rainy and wet, but that is fine, as I need to spend a day working on piles. I am getting a little tired of digging in boxes to find everything. Also, I almost have the yard all raked. After no one taking care of the grass and leaves(we have 4 maple trees out front), things needed a bit of attention. We are truly blessed and are enjoying life.

We are here!

Well, we finally closed and moved into our new house in a whirlwind. I had envisioned this move as taking a week to 10 days to complete and having it be so organized. Yeah, right. We closed on late Monday afternoon, didn't get a key til Tuesday afternoon, and were completely out by Wednesday 3pm. I had to take a couple of days to recover, but now we are going strong. We still don't have a phone and won't for a little while as it is an electrical problem involving some chewed wire. Anyway, as we get a little bit more settled, I'll keep you posted.

Still waiting

For those patiently waiting, no, we haven't closed yet. It should be any day now. Linay is waiting for more teeth to come in and the rest of the bunch are waiting for Spring Break and Easter. It seems as if we are all waiting for something. This means that you will have to keep waiting for updates.

March

It has been a while since I last did this, so I decided to do a quick update. Late in January, early February, the stars aligned and things just fell into place for us to buy a house. We will close at the end of this month. Our new house is at the end of our block so we won't have to go through major changes in our routine.

Butt scooter

No, I haven't invented a new mode of transportation. For those of you who were around when Ainsley was a baby, you'll know what I am talking about. Well, Linay has reached the 9 month mark and we have been anticipating her crawling any day.......trouble is she has learned to scoot on her butt first. I vowed not to have a repeat of Ainsley because it is just too weird.....but I might be fighting a loosing battle. There is hope she'll do both because she is so close to crawling. I'll keep you updated.