Kinda Catch-Up

Since Halloween we have been very busy.
We decided to sell our house, so RIGHT after Halloween we began packing (had to be out by the 19th of Nov). We packed up the mudroom and office, things that we wouldn't need for the next 2 1/2 weeks and then Jared and I left.
Where?!?! On Nov 7 we headed off to wonderful Cancun, Mexico. This was planned way before we decided to move. My older sister came to stay with the kids and entertain them while we were gone. It was a much needed vacation with all the excitement we decided to add to our lives. We snorkeled, got certified in Scuba diving, zip lined, rode on a speed boat, ate lots, and laid by the pool. It was hard to come home to more packing but.....we missed the kids so it had to happen.
The next week and a half was spend packing and cleaning, cleaning and packing. I never knew I had so much crap. I even dejunked a month before. The day came and it all fell apart a bit. We hired movers, just to move everything. They didn't have to do anything but load and unload. All the boxes were in the garage, the only thing in the house was the furniture. They showed up over 3 hours late, didn't want to work more than 2 hours that day, and were slower than snails. It was ridiculous!!! I lost it a bit. Finally the NEXT day, with Jared and I (and some wonderful friends that showed up, Jeff & Chrissy) doing more than half of the work, we finished by 3 pm. It was crazy. I've decided that Jared and I could and did do more work than the 4 of these BIG men. I guess being paid by the hour changes how quickly you move through things.
We are here, everything is unpacked but wall decorations and a few boxes in the kids rooms.
We traveled to Idaho for Thanksgiving (this was a week after we moved). It was nice to visit family. We went to the gun range and shot some 22's and shot guns with my nephews, sister, and bro in law. Did a little early morning shopping. Why?!?! I really don't know. That Sunday morning we left for home.
December has zoomed by with barely enough time to get Christmas together. We had our first official professional family pictures taken. They look wonderful and we are so excited to get them and get them hung on the walls.
Christmas came and it was wonderful. My brother John came up and Jared's sister Amanda and bro in law Taylor, not to mention Johns 2 and Amanda's 2 dogs. We loved having them all here. It was great. We were awoken at 5 am to open presents. The kids must have been not too bad this year. They all got what they asked for from Santa. Who'd of thought. :)
Now here we are, a few days before New Years. I will post pictures soon, I hope.

Halloween 2009

Halloween was very busy for us this year. We decided to sell our house ( I guess be a bit, okay a lot spontaneous). We have been VERY busy packing and getting ready for this since we have 2 weeks to get it done. This brought us to deciding whether or not to decorate the house for Halloween. We started that tradition 2 years ago. The neighbor kids expect it and we couldn't let them down so on Friday afternoon we started half the set up and finished the other half on Halloween.
Halloween was great. Jared's sister and brother in-law came down and our friends, the Amparans, came over that night. We had a little homemade rootbeer, hot dogs, and chili, then got the kids ready for a night in the neighborhood. Bailey was a witch, Tayler a princess, Makenna a chubby tourist, and Berek was a monster. They were spoiled with chocolate, lots and lots of it. It was fun having family and friends here to celebrate one of my favorite holidays.

Bailey's Halloween party at school
Singing Halloween songs

Our monsters

A little bit of the house. I wish I would have gotten the whole

thing in :(

What's new

So I have been really bad about keeping up on my blog lately and posting what the kids have been up to. So starting back the first part of September, Berek and Makenna had a joint birthday party. We rented a swimming pool at a hotel for 3 hours and they just swam, ate pizza, and had cake. It was one of the easiest parties I've ever done for them.
We also attempted a camping weekend over labor day on the Oregon coast. which only lasted one night. It rained the first night and then come the second night the wind was blowing so hard it broke 2 poles on our tent and blew it down. We quickly packed up and headed to a hotel ( 1 1/2 hours away).
Last but not least, Bailey started preschool. She loves it. It is only 2 days a week which is not enough for her. It has been good for her to have some fun time with friends.
Now hopefully I will be better from now on but I'm not promising anything. Maybe I will just assign it to Jared :)

Prayers please

My sister and brother in law have a friend they met while in school. He recently found out and is fighting cancer. I was talking with her today and she was filling me in on things going on with him. It breaks my heart. She asked me to keep him in our prayers so I thought I would pass this on to anyone else willing to do so. Please, go on and read his blog, you will find out a little more about Ryan. Also there are ways any Federal employee can help by donating their vacation to help this family while he is in the hospital and trying to fight this. Spread the word. The more thoughts and prayers the better. His blog is : http://www.teamryanhess.blogspot.com/ THANKS

What we've been up to

So far September has been pretty busy and we've only started! Here is a little of what we've been up to...... (WARNING..CONTAINS WAY TOO MANY PICTURES)

1. Going to the fair and watching the motorcross. Way cool!

picture of Berek and Cowboy Kenny

2. Makenna riding her dirt bike Michael gave her. What an awesome cousin!

3. First day of School, August 31

and Berek's first day of football practice, doesn't he look happy

4. Berek turned 12 on September 1st

Happiness is Berek getting an airsoft gun

5. Makenna turns 10 September 3

She is my crafty one. She loves her new sewing machine

5. Camping over Labor Day on the Oregon Coast

What a studly boy

6. Going to Tillamook and sampling the cheese then enjoying

some fresh yummy ice cream.

Bailey's snap shot of us

Our rafting trip in August

We went on a rafting trip in the middle of August with a friend of ours on the Dechutes rivier in Oregon. It was just the three of us on the raft, which at first made me a bit nervous but in the end was a BLAST!! Here are a few pictures of our excitement. Can't wait till our next one!!!