A Quick Photo

Here is a quick photo of the front of our home. We are so glad to be in and (Almost) settled for the New Year.

This one is of the kids spelling out a New Year wish for all of you! HA!

We miss high speed internet.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We love and miss everyone but are adjusting to Clinton, MO. The home is beautiful and wonderful. However... we are currently to far out to enjoy the little perks like a close Target and high speed internet. (If anyone knows me... they know that these two little perks are a huge deal to me.) The internet is becoming a major problem. I am still praying that they powers that be will soon let us into the high speed club... until then I will make do with dial up.

I loved the many Christmas cards that we recieved. It is truly my favorite thing to get a Christmas card with an accompaning photo.

I hope to post more soon.. until then...

We are moved... but not settled

The last time I posted was the day that we moved into our new home... YAY!!! However... I have spent the last 2 weeks trying to convince high speed internet providers that a) our address does exist and b) that we have neighbors that get internet service... therefore we should be able to get it as well. So far it has not worked out. So I am now trying a wireless connection. It is way to slow, so I will continue to search for other options. So excuse the lack of blogging as I try to find better service.
Love and Miss you all!!!!

Happy Birthday Jackson!!

We are so lucky to have won Jackson in the baby lottery. He is an amazing addition to our family. Right now as I type he is dancing to the Backyardigans. He really takes care of himself... he will grab his blankets and walks himself up to bed, he can play with cars for hours, and he is just so delightful in every way!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Jackson!!!

Park Fun

What happens at your local park on weekends? Culture (or lack there of) Shock happens daily here. I should be used to it... but I am not!

We had an end of the season soccer party at the park this weekend. Rich coached Hannah's team and assistant coached Mia and Whitney's team so we had a couple of teams and their parents there. Across the park (yet still within rock throwing distance) was an intense game of geriatric bingo. In the middle of the soccer kids and the bingo players was... this

It was some sort of pseudo "wrestling". Who has a ring set-up like this? Do you see the guy with the bedazzled lacy robe? Some poor grandma is missing her nice bathrobe. What about glitter and gold lame fabric says macho? It was such a surreal thing. You would hear screaming "Boo... get him....B- 9..." Hysterical.

=w=eezer!!!!!

How great was my weekend? So great!! I got to see all but one of my siblings (Miss you Tia!), my mom, my beautiful nieces and even a pretty fun bro. in -law. Jackson and I flew to Utah to go see everyone and attend a fairly awesome Weezer concert.

It was SO MUCH FUN! Phil and I even made wicked cool tees for the concert. The first band was complete crap. It was supposed to be The Tokyo Police Club... it wasn't. Then Angels and Airwaves took the stage to open. The music was good... Tom Delonge, the lead singer, was a total dirtbag. He was cheesy and lame all at the same time. Although the guys in front of us were absurdly into it. A crazy Hippie chic danced WAY to close to Phil. Oh and Weezer was FANTASTIC!!!

Rivers was eccentric (what's new) and they played most of our favorites (No Good Life or Only in Dreams). I sang/ screamed along to it all and am still hoarse. I love my family so much... it says something that they still hung out with me after the concert started and I was crazy. Grandma Nina stayed at Maggie's and watched the babies... she is THE BEST!

Jackson was a champ on the airplane. I just had to sing Popcorn popping constantly and he was just fine.

The Outside is Finished

It is not totally finished... we need to landscape, we need to paint the door... but it is all but finished. The inside is getting there. The trim is going in, and now we wait on the finish paint.

Tour de Missouri

It was a huge event here in Clinton. The Tour de Missouri just came through. Cyclists from 22 countries racing their way through Missouri. There was a big bash the night before... there was a fun little band, baked sale goodies, barbecue, popcorn, sno-cones and lots of bike stuff. They gave away free bike helmets, bike licences (complete with photo), and blinking lights for your bike. It was fun to watch the kids dance to the band and just enjoy the small town festivities.

The next day the cyclists came into town, signed autographs, and raced on out. All of the schools got out to watch and cheer on the racers. The girls all commented that the support cars took all the time and the cyclists went really fast. Maybe Lance Armstrong will be here next year after coming out of retirement.

Here Jackson rings the bell to cheer on the racers. So... some fun things here in small town, MO.

A Little Update

I was determined to get some photos of the house up today. It rained all day yesterday but I got some photos anyway.

As you can see they are finishing the brick and stone work on the front of the house. They are painting and putting in the trim on the inside. The flooring and finish work will be next. All the utilities are in and running... so it is just a matter of weeks before we get to move in. YAY!!!

This is the left side of the house with a little bit of the back. We are pretty excited about getting everything finished. I am a little tired of living out of boxes. Soon......

First Day of School

Yesterday was the first day of school. The girls were ready! They had all the supplies and were set. I think that I was the only one that was nervous.

Hannah has started middle school!!! Ready or not... here it is! She is thrilled. She thinks she is so big. She forgets that she will forever be my little 3 lb. baby. It was a great first day... she made a friend with a girl that is new as well and they have all of thier classes together on the "red" days. Yay!!! I am so glad. She cannot wait to join all of the clubs she can.

Whitney and Mia started the Third and First grades, respectively. They were equally excited and they had really good days too. All third graders and up get lockers... so Whitney felt relaly special. Mia had a good time and said the it was "EASY"!

Now Jackson and I are going to have to get hobbies!!! What will we do without the girls?

Summer fun!

We had so much fun during our trip to Idaho... here are a few more photos to share.

Here we are enjoying the Lava pool with Phil, Alli, and Leigh. Whitney and Hannah both went off the platforms!

Cousin's camp with the Woodland side is always a highlight for the year. They get

to spend time with the many cousins that they rarely see as well as riding horses, camping out and an evening talent show.
After Cousin's Camp we drove to Boise to visit Grandpa Craig and we barbecued, and did a lot of playing around. We already miss everyone like crazy! We cannot wait to see you all again!

What a Month!

We are so happy to be connected to the modern world! It has been a hard week and a half! NO internet and no TV. It was very trying... for all of us. It is one thing to move to a new town it is an entire other thing to move to a new town you know nothing about and have nothing to do at home either!! Lots of fun stories to follow... but I just wanted to add a few photos from July. We were able to spend lots of time with family. We miss them like crazy already!

The first stop was to visit Maggie and her wonderful family. I was able to celebrate my shared birthday with my neice Abby... Maggie made a beautiful cake. Hannah spent her week at BYU Gymnastic camp.

Lagoon was our next stop. We had such a great time with Grandpa Craig and Shauna, Phil, Alli, Leigh and Derek, Mag and Fam, plus all of us.

We then left to visit Grandma Nina, Leigh and Allison! We had so much fun!

More update to come... but I must go get some other things accomplished today!

Wonderful Vacation

I have been having a lovely vacation visiting family.  I will have lots of photos to post as soon as I get to a computer that I can download them on.   Hannah had an awesome time at gymnastic camp and is having a blast with all of her cousins.  Whitney is making up dances and using phrases like "Ghetto, YO!", proving that we are in fact from St. Louis.  Mia is still crazy... singing and saying inappropriate things, she also decided to chew off chunks of her hair.. so I took that as a cue to get her hair cut.  Jackson is a SAINT!  He has been so amazing, he is the nicest little baby I have ever seen.  I am so glad that I have the children I do.  They are so great!

It is also nice to not have to worry about a house sale in St. Louis that will be closing in 2 weeks. I am equally thrilled that do not have to worry to much about the house in Clinton because this time we are not the general contractors!  

We are looking forward to going home in a couple of weeks and getting back to the real world.  Until then we will enjoy the leisure here!

House Update

Here are a few new photos of the home.  We are getting so excited as it progresses.  

The Best For Last

It is my last post from St. Louis! The very best thing about St. Louis is....

Our Friends!

Hannah, Whitney and Mia all made great friends and we will miss them all! I am sure they will all keep in touch in some way or another!

My good friends from the gym have been so amazing! They have always treated us like family and we were all lucky to have them in our lives!

Now for My Girls! I have made lifelong friends and I am still not sure how I will survive without them. However... I know that I will never be without them. This is the amazing thing about them all. We will still find ways to get together and share all the things that our lives have in store for us. They have been a support system and a family to me here. They threw me birthday parties, baby showers, attended baptisms and were at every important function! I am eternally grateful to them and the things that they taught me. Missing them just does not cover it!!

I have to send special love to the best friend in the whole entire world... you never let me down, you uplifted me when I needed it and you were the big sister/ auntie to my children. Whenever they needed a "special friend" You were thier go to girl. Always first on the list to be invited to birthday parties and the life lessons that you taught were priceless! You will always be the first I call when the important things go down!

I Love and will miss you all!!!

Running out of time!

There are really awesome things to do here. So To make this shorter... because I am moving in 3 days (AARRGHH)! I am going to pimp out the rest of St. Louis family destinations here. My favorite and final things that we will miss about St. Louis will come later.

So the Magic House, we love it! The three story slide, the play city, the water works area, the full body "pinpression", little Rock climbing wall, and of course the magnetic ball that makes your hair stand on end. It is really the go to activity for a St. Louis family. Plus it is free at least once a month (once a week in the summer).



The St Louis Zoo... Best zoo in the nation! So great.. iti s always free and it's fabulous! My favorites are the penguins, Rhinos, Hippos, and Elephants. The primates smell and amphibians are creepy... but still cool.





Also in Forrest Park (So much there alone... can't go into it all)... is the Science Center. It is wicked cool. It has so many experiments that you can try and learn from, Dinosaur exibhits, lifesize hamster wheel, it is incredible. A must see if you ever make it... plus it is free too!



Grant's Farm. A free good time! Shuttle around the huge property and see the cage free animals, finish up with a free beer (It's owned by Anhieser-Busch of course, this is St. Louis)! The Clydesdale horses are magnificent. The harmonica playing and painting elephant isn't too bad. The Bald Eagles are majestic and goat feeding is pretty great too. Also on the property is a Ulysses S. Grant museum.



Free concerts under the Arch... So much fun! This one was a Lifehouse/ Goo Goo Dolls concert with my amazing friends.









And we cannot forget the Gateway Arch. It is really cool to see. Located right on the mighty Mississippi. It is an amazing sight to see. We actually rode up to the top this last week and the view was awesome! Here are a few shots from/ at the top.



So that is my brief love fest of St. Louis. A wonderful town that we had the privilege to live in for the last five years. We will miss it!