Christmas this year was great. It was Averee's 2nd Christmas, last year she was only 6 months old so she didn't care much, but this year she was 18 months and was soo fun to watch. She loved to rip the paper off and was even excited about the stuff inside. She got a little horse that stands and has a saddle from Santa and Christopher got a 22 magna, as he calls it! Plus they each got a tun of other presents from all their grandparents. They were pretty much spoiled this year!

We spent the day going to all the grandparents houses and later that evening we had Christmas dinner in Paris at my grandparents! Christopher was with his mom for Christmas this year, so he came on the 26th to spend his Christmas vacation up here. We spent that day opening presents and playing with all the cool toys! It really was a great Christmas and I am so thankful that we live close enough to share the holidays with the ones we love!

Time Does Fly!!

I can't believe that winter is here. This fall went by so fast! October was a busy month for us. Quinn and I are both big hunters so most of the month was spent hunting. Then of course at the end of the month was Halloween and all the fun things that go along with that! I also went back to work in October. I work at the Hospital here in Montpelier. Before Averee was born I worked in the Nursing Home, but now I am on a two week rotation where I work two weeks at the Nursing Home and two weeks on the Med Surg floor, (the hospital end). I really enjoy working there and next fall I plan on going through the LPN program. So wish me luck!

Here is my brother and Chris just playin!

Here is Chris and Averee on Halloween!

They were pretty dang excited to go trick or treating!

Carving the pumpkins, Aves hair looks crazy I know!

My kids are growing up so fast I really can't believe it!

Chris with Dad's deer this fall!

Me and Jenni one night after a really really cold day of hunting!

Even Averee goes hunting, here she is all bundled up to go on a wheeler ride to look for deer!

This is one of my favorite pictures ever. We all had to squish on one four wheeler for some reason I can't remember, but that was a really fun day, Calder is even smiling!!

My brother Calder and I went out to Nounan a lot this fall to go hunting with our good friends the Bartschi's! We had a great time every time we went!! Good times for sure!

A long Journey Finished

Quinn and I embarked on the long journey of building our house before we were even married! We had started the paper work the spring before we were married. We poured the foundation in October 2007. However we didn't start construction until Feb. 08. Yeah right in the middle of a Bear Lake winter we know! It wasn't our idea and it was kinda a rough start, but we plunged in anyway and got going! I was a little over 6 months pregnant and didn't do much of the actual building, I was there for the moral support, when it wasn't freezing. However Quinn was there no matter what. He was out here day in and day out working as much as he could. I really don't know how we got through that year without going crazy. Quinn would get up and go to work, whatever shift he was on, and then as soon as he got home it was out to the house until dark or until it was time to go home and sleep to get up and do it all over again. He was such a trooper. Day in and out he stuck with it. I'm so lucky to have a husband who didn't mind devoting so much of his time to better his family.

Our parents and brothers would come help us out quite a bit, and we were so thankful for their help! In the fall I was able to come out to the house more and help with the finishing work. Finally right before Christmas the house was finished! We were so excited and couldn't wait to move in. We decided to spend Christmas in our rental house just because our tree and everything was set up there. A few days after Christmas was over and cleaned up we were ready to move in or were we?

Literally the day before we planned to move in the electrical inspector came and said that our house didn't pass!! Quinn and I were furious. We then had to track down the electrician and have him come back and fix his stupid mistakes! After that the inspector had to come back and check everything again. We were grateful that the inspector did his job and found the mistake, but we were so ready to move in. So so ready! By the time he was able to come back and check everything it was January the new year had came and went ahh. It was 2009 and we had started the project back in 2007! Finally Jan. 7th we were able to move in!!!

We moved in and have enjoyed every minute of it! I realise how blessed I truly am to have a bran new home in a safe neighbor hood, with a healthy family living in it! Thank you to everyone who helped us along the way!

Here are some pictures of our journey!

Here is Chris in his bedroom before the walls were even framed. I remember telling him that's where his room would be and he would just look at me like I was crazy! He sure does love his room now!

This is in mid March. Those were some cold months of framing!

This is early summer when we started the long process of siding. That was something that took a lot of time.

This picture was taken at the end of April, the snow was melting and I was wishing I had some grass. Towards the end of May we got our grass seed planted, and the first part of July it actually looked like we has a lawn. It took another month for the grass to grow in full and thick!

The kids finally have grass under their swing set!

Here is the front view at the end of August, with grass :)

And the back view! I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful palce to live! I couldn't be happier!

Zoo Adventure

Earlier this summer my cousin Beau and I decided we needed to take a weekend and take our kids down to Hogle Zoo. He has two girls right about Christopher's age, Harli 6, and Kayli 5. So this last weekend we loaded up and headed to Salt Lake. We stayed on the 10th floor of the downtown Marriott. The kids thought the elevator was a great ride, and when we looked out our window they couldn't believe their eyes. They were amazed how far up we were.


Chris and Kayli

Averee, Harli, Kayli and Chris.

After we checked in and got all squared away we headed out to Cabela's. We met my aunt Jen, her husband Tyrel and their son Holden there. They had made plans to come up to the zoo the same weekend and I had know idea, so we did make time to get together and go to Cabela's. They were all pretty excited to see each other.

The kids checken out the deer!

The "giant" elk

After Cabela's we drove out to Beau and my uncle Stan's house for dinner. The kids were amazed by his motorcycle, but Chris was the only one who would sit on it. He told Chris next time he would take him for a ride! Christopher was pretty excited about that.

We ordered pizza for dinner. The kids had a blast and played in his pond, it was empty but they were pretending they were rock climbers it was cute. Here is Ave sitting in the stroller enjoying a drink of milk. After our pizza we went back to the hotel to let the kids swim. They had a blast.

The next morning we headed out to the zoo. This is right as we were walking in the gate. The kids all had their sun glasses on and wanted a picture with them.

She never really kept hers on.

This is about half way through our zoo adventure. It was so dang hot and the kids were tired of walking. So we decided to hit the gift shop. I let the kids pick out one thing each. Chris picked a long stuffed snake and he played with it pretty much the whole way home. Ave grabbed a stuffed alligator and wouldn't let that thing go for anything. So that's what she got!

By the time we were getting ready to leave the zoo Averee was out cold. She was so tired she didn't even wake up while I was putting her in the car. The kids had a blast and they really liked the zoo, I'm glad we decided to take the time to go!

Lovin' Summer

Summers in Bear Lake are the best! I absolutely love them, I don't even mind the surviving the winter just for a few months of glory! The kids have been enjoying this summer as well as myself. We are finally heading out for a real vacation, I will post pics of that I'm sure, but in the mean time here are some of the kids just playin the summer away! :)

Averee's Birthday!

Christopher's Birthday!