Daisy dukes, bikinis on top!

That's right, we took a little vaca to California. We did not sport any daisy dukes or bikinis but we did have a fabulous time! We booked this vacation back in April so we've been anxiously awaiting it's arrival. Not sure how, but we convinced our wonderful moms' to watch the boys for 3 days each, so we could take this trip without them! I'll try to keep it short, but here's our best memories from our trip, day by day.

Another photo slideshow by Smilebox

Day 1, Saturday: We drove to St. George, checked into our hotel, played a little 3D glow in the dark minigolf at a local arcarde, went to the St. George temple grounds, ate at the cute cafe, 25Main, did a little outlet shopping, went for a dip in the pool and called it a day!

Day 2, Sunday: Our day started with breakfast at a local place, The Bear Paw, which was recommended by tons of friends and was super yummy. We got on the road and left UT into Arizona, Nevad and finally California. After stopping for lunch at the first IN-N-OUT we saw (it was Doug's first time eating at one), we headed straight to El Segundo, where my cousin Amy Jo and her family live. She took us to the beach, where her hubby is a lifeguard, and we had a picnic, while Doug swam in the ocean. We went back to her place and visited for a while before heading to Anaheim. It was so fun to see Amy Jo and see where she lives and works, it's so different from little Blackfoot.

Day 3, Monday: We got up nice and early and hit the IHOP right across from the Disneyland entrance before getting in line for CA Adventure. We got our Fastpass for the World of Color water show and then went on all our favorite rides: California Screamin, Soarin Over California, Tower of Terror, Bugs Life 4D show, and Grizzly River Run. We also watch the Musical Spectacular: Aladdin, which we've seen before and was amazing as ever. That afternoon we went to Disneyland and went on all sorts of rides, our favorite's Indiana Jones and Space Mountain. We watched the Holiday Parade and the fireworks before heading to the World of Color show at CA Adventure, which was amazing. They spray water in the air from the lake and then project a movie on it. So cool, we didn't hardly blink during the 30 minute show! We went to Dowtown Disney and had a late dinner at Tortilla Joe's before heading back to the hotel.

Day 4, Tuesday: Exhausted from our first day at Disney, we took it easy, took a different route through Downtown Disney, grabbed some breakfast and headed to Disneyland. We hit some rides we had missed the day before (Nemo, Small World) and went on our favorites again. And again. And again. There were hardly any lines and if there were, we grabbed a fastpast and would come back later. We walked through the Innoventions building, and saw all sorts of cool things. Doug now thinks that if we build a house someday, the curtains should be controlled from the lightswitch panel. We hopped back over to CA Adventure, did a few more rides, and went to dinner at the ESPN zone, and then came back for the World of Color show again. Disneyland is always so much fun. I swear it's magic there. It was exhausting just watching all the moms push around their strollers with their little ones, but I can't wait to go another time and take our kids. I know they would love it, who's kid doesn't?

Day 5, Wednesday: We sorta kinda slept in and left the hotel at 8:15 to make it to the 9:30 session at the LA temple. Did we make it? Nope. We ended up getting there too late, so we went to the visitor center, met a sweet Sister missionary from Idaho and went to the 10:30 session. The LA temple is so big and very pretty. It totally stands out up on the hill in a city that is so busy. I loved the warth of California, but it was so nice not to have any traffic or chaos for a couple hours. We left LA and made our way to Vegas, stopping again at IN-N-OUT burger on our way. So yummy and so glad they have some in UT now! :) We walked around the strip a bit, ate at the Hardrock Cafe, and stayed at the NY NY hotel, which was very nice!

Day 6, Thursday: We were anxious to get outta Vegas and to get home, so we grabbed McD's and then headed for home. We stopped again in Brigham City to have dinner at Maddox, another place where Doug had never eaten. The boys were anxiously awaiting their gifts from Disneyland so we went out to Doug's parents to see them and give them their toys, got them in bed, and then headed to IF to see the midnight movie premier of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1! :) Becki scored some free tickets and invited us to tag along! Thanks Becki and Pablo for taking us! The 9 hour drive plus the midnight premier had us exhausted by Friday a.m. but was all worth it!

Of course, I can't talk about our trip without mentioning how thankful we are to our families for keeping the boys while we were gone. We never would have been able to go on this trip if it wasn't for them! They did all sorts of fun things with the kids while we were away and the boys were spoiled rotten, literally! :) Doug and I both agreed that when we do take the boys to Disney, we're bringing Grandmas and Grandpas to help! Thank you all!

Mr. Blake turns 4...

Can you believe my Mr. Blake is already 4? His birthday was October 14th (I realize I'm a bit behind) and we had a fabulous time celebrating! We hosted Blake's first friend party and he requested a Star Wars theme. We made fabulous Star Wars invitations, ate Comet Cupcakes and Yoda Soda, opened presents, and played lots of games with the lightsabers (pool noodles with some fancy tape work)! The weather was beautiful and the kids completed their Jedi Training obstacle course outside and then had lightsaber wars for almost an hour! Blake has great friends and they were all so excited to come party! We walked the neighbor kids around the block to their houses and then had dinner at Hong Kong, per Blake's request. We had a little family party at Grandma Campbell's house and she even made pumpkin pie. He got loaded with presents all perfect for a preschooler, and told everyone all about his Star Wars party. Thanks to all those who celebrated with us, it wouldn't have been near the fun without you!

And to Blake- thanks for being the most awesome 4 year old! You are so polite, so creative, so articulate, and so much fun! We love you, Blake and love watching you grow up.

The Prophet said to plant a garden

So that's what we'll do,
For God has given rich brown soil,
And rain and sunshine too.
And if Doug plants those plants just right,
And tends them carefully,
Before you know, Tomatoes will grow......
And drive me CRAZY!!!

We like to call it Doug's garden at our house, cause that's exactly what it is. He plants it, tends it, waters it, weeds it, fertilizes it with who knows what he got from the farm, and then I cook it.

Doug had full intentions this spring of growing a full salsa garden so that I could can all harvest long, since i'm not driving truck. Well, he stuck with it and has been keeping me busy for the last few weeks.

We picked up some beautiful peaches from my mom's cousin in Utah and canned like crazy one day and had plenty of peaches for my family, Becki and Pablo, and Mom and Dad. The next day: Salsa. 12 pints for now. Yum!

Today, while I listed to the first wonderful session of General Conference, I got the spaghetti sauce on to cook. One hour down, 2 more to go. And then to fill the jars and steam can them to get the lids to seal. Whew! Cannings a lot of work, I'll tell ya what!

Is it worth it? Oh yeah...

Teething bites...

Yep, the pun was intended. Just a few thoughts on teething for all my blogging mom friends. I'd love to hear any amazing remedies.

*First of all, teething of any sort should be outlawed during harvest. It's just not fair that Doug has to miss out on all this fun.

*Why in the world does teething have to come with fever and diaper rash? Isn't aching teeth enough?

*Boston was crying from his teeth hurting until he started chewing on my house slipper... while I was wearing it. Did I stop him? No way.

*On the bright side of things, the more teeth he gets now, the less he'll have to get later right?

*Current tooth count: 8, working on 2 more. I think he's trying to hit double digits before his birthday. He told me he doesn't want birthday cake for his birthday, he wants steak.

Boston gets his own post...

Let's go back a a few months ago, when Bo was six months old. He was perfectly healthy, and weighed in a 13 lbs. 14 oz. and had just 2 teeth. And thats when the fun began. He starting crawling, spitting up, getting more and more teeth, spitting up some more, crawling through his spit up, and getting smaller and skinnier. Right around 8 months, I took him in to see his Dr., mostly concerned about his spitting, but the scale told us the truth, 13 lbs. 8 oz. He had lots 6 oz in 2 months. And two weeks later, he'd lost another 2 ounces. The weirdest part of it all, Boston didn't seem to be bothered by the spitting up at all. He never acted like his tummy hurt, never refused food, and continued to develop normally, crawling and starting to jabber and whatever else. But his tummy was not handling food at all. We tried a couple of med to help with the reflux but it just wasn't enough.

We've put him on zantac, switched him to soy formula, and gona completely back to the basics. We started with just rice cereal, and then added in everything else one at a time, just like we did a few months ago, so figure out what his tummy can handle and what it can't. His diet pretty much consists of soy formula with instant breakfast to add calories, cheerios, wheat bread, crackers, mashed potatoes, bananas, applesauce, and anything neutral colored. His tummy does not handle any bright colored veggies yet, but hopefully soon. I can imagine the kid will hate all vegetables, but he'll get through it. At 9 1/2 months, he weighed 15bs. Wahoo! He has outgrown some of his 6-9 months clothes and looks slightly chubby. I love it! I'm so glad he's keeping food down. We get a lot of "he's really small for his age" comments and in the back of my head I'm thinking "Oh, really, I must have failed to notice, since I was too busy scrubbing and scrubbing and scrubbing the baby puke out of my carpet. Thanks for informing me." But I know people only mean well. Blake wasn't a big baby, and I don't expect Boston to be either, especially with this little weight set back.

Okay, now a little about Boston himself, and not just his puke and his weigh ins. This baby is too cute. His hair is filling in and right on top of his head, it sticks straight up. He has a full mouth with 8 teeth and I think he could be getting more.

He loves his teddy bear, his brother, his pacifier, a bottle of formula, being read to, seeing animals or even just puppets. Boston spends his time following Blake around, getting into things he's not supposed to, slobbering on everything, making a mess of the whole kitchen from his highchair, and napping. He is a little dare devil and has climbed up our two porch steps a few times. He googoo's and gaga's all the time and will say "dada" but not "mama." Of course. He loves his dad, but is a mama's boy. Hopefully when harvest is over and things settle down, he'll have more time with Doug and will give me a break. Bo's smile and laugh can get him out of any trouble and he knows it. Boston doesn't mind strangers and totally "goes with the flow" of our crazy life. Puke and all, it was worth it. This little guy is so handsome and I love rocking with him, singing or reading stories, it makes it all worth it. I think we're gonna keep him. :)

A Blake Update

It's been a while since I gave an update on these two little boys, so I thought I'd share the latest happenings. We'll start with Blake.

Blake is so smart. He talks like an adult and articulates all of his words. He speaks very well. Blake loves learning and reviewing his letters. He knows all the letters and we're working on numbers now. He loves to sound out words or have us tell him a word and then he'll spell it on the fridge with his magnet letters. He'll spell words like elephant and cantalope. Okay, just kidding. More like mom, dad, cat, dog, cow, and his name. Blake loves to write his name and only likes to write in capital letters. Blake will be going to a little preschool at Blackfoot High starting in November and he's so excited to go to "school." Now that uncle Pablo is here, he loves learning words in Spanish. He can count to about five, and will say please and thank you in Spanish sometimes. He loves playing games like uno moo, jenga, memory, and his most recent favorite "primary song freeze dance" where Doug and I sing and he dances.

Blake loves his little brother and looks to be "in charge" of Bo when I ask for his help. He makes sure Boston doesn't go down the stairs and will even pack him around the house to keep Boston out of trouble. He doesn't mind his jobs of keeping his room clean, picking up toys upstairs, taking diapers to the garbage, and simply cleaning up after himself. These two will get the giggles and just laugh back and forth at eachother. Sharing isn't his favorite thing to do, but he's getting the hang of it. Blake loves going to grandma's houses', storytime, and to a friend's house. He sings all the time at home, but won't make hardly a peep in Primary. Blake never lets us forget to read scriptures, say prayers, and give him a gummi vitamin before bed. His is such great kid, we're so lucky.

If I can get my videos to upload, there may be some soon, so cross your fingers and check back soon!

Sondra Beth Tyler

Sondra Beth Tyler, 67, of Idaho Falls, dies August 2, 2010, at her home.

Sondra was born Deceber 17, 1942, in Idaho Falls, Idaho to Stuart C. Tyler and Rhoda Marie Stucki Tyler. She grew up in Terreton, Arco, and Rigby and graduated from Rigby High School in 1961. She lived in Terreton for 28 years and moved to Idaho Falls 18 years ago.

Sondra married Gerald Messerli August 23, 1963, in Idaho Falls and they were later divorced. She worked in the Security Department of the INL for 35 years and retired four years ago. She was a member of the American Business Women Association and served on the board on her condominium association.

An active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Sondra served in many capacities over the years, most recently as Relief Society Compassionate Service Leader and Visiting teaching Coordinator. Sondra loves making crafts with seashells, readying, and serving her friends, family and loved ones. She had an unconditional love for everyone she came in contact with and freely shared that love. Her faith in the gospel was unwavering, and she lived her life as a disiple of Christ.

Surviving are her father, Stuart Tyler of Blackfoot, ID, Sister, Janet (Dale) Armstong on Zephyrhills, FL, a brother, Victor (Nyla) Tyler of Sandy, UT, sister Cindy (Scott) Campbell of Blackfoot, ID, adopted sister Linda (Ed) Andersen of Blackfoot, ID, 19 nieces and nephews, countless adopted kids, grandkids, and neighbors. She was preceded id death by her mother, Rhoda Tyler and a brother, Stuart Stucki Tyler.

Funeral Services will be held at 2 p.m., Saturday, August 7, 2010 at the Idaho Falls, LDS Mountain View Ward 1450 Mountain View Lane, with Bishop Michael Hays officiating. The family will visit with friends Friday from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Wood Funeral Home, 273 N. Ridge, and Saturday from 1 to 1:45 p.m. at the church. Burial will be in the Ucon cemetary under the direction of Wood Funeral Home.

August 2010

August came and went and I don't even think we blinked...

Along with August came the shocking and sad news that my dear Aunt Sandy passed away. We had no idea it was coming and our hearts broke when we heard the news. We didn't get to say goodbye to this wonderful lady who was so supportive and giving, and lived to serve those around her. The weekend before she passed, she had spent working in my Grandpa's yard and running his errands. The seashells magnets on my fridge are worth so much more to me than they ever were before. I already miss her so much and have a hard time believeing she is gone. We will miss her Aunt Sandy hugs and her "sure do love you"s. It was hard to say a belated goodbye, but knowing she was welcomed by Grandma Tyler and Uncle Stu made it easier to say goodbye. I will post her obituary in another post. Along with our sad news, the same day came the news that Jeff and Lyndsey's baby Emma May had arrived, and four weeks early! We have waited years for them to have this baby and she is so beautiful and also loves to cuddle with her Aunt Lar.

Now, I couldn't post about August without saying thanks to my awesome second mom Sheila, who helped me with the boys, while I had the honor of making funeral arrangements for Aunt Sandy. She had a crazy week with two new grandbabies and yet she still bent over backwards to help me with my kids. Thank you so much!

We also said goodbye to sweet little Aunt Myrtle, who turned 100 in June. Myrtle was a sister to my great grandma Ardela Parkinson (my grandma campbell's mom). We were honored to be asked to sing at both funerals.

The rest of August was busy with grain harvest (which they finished up today) and lots of wedding receptions, birthday parties for friends and of course I can't go without mentioning that my brother in law Pablo finally made it to the states! It made me smile to see them together again! They have been to patient and we're so glad they get to finally be together after 8 months of newlyweds apart from eachother. We had a fabulous belated Birthday Party for Pablo and its fun to have him here. Everything is so exciting to him, its fun to watch!

Keep watching for an update on the boys soon!

July 2010

Geez, I should never get behind on blogging during the summer, there's just too many events that I can't leave out. Sad news though, my camera got stepped on at girls camp and I didn't get one till the end of August, so no pics from July or August, sorry!

July started out with a great 4th of July weekend, including our ward pancake breakfast, a matinee of Toy Story 3, and of course a few games of Phase 10, while we camped out for the Melaleuca Freedom Celebration. The fireworks were great, as always, and thank heavens for the double stroller when both boys were fast asleep by the end of the show.

The next weekend was the Campbell Family Reunion at Buffalo Campground in Island Park. We enjoyed camping, visiting with cousins, pulling the kids in the bike trailer around the campground, and my mom's wonderfully put together redition of "The Amazing Race!" We painted prayer rocks with the little kids and ate so much wonderful dutch oven food. My dad always says, "If you starve at the Campbell Reunion, its your own fault" because the food is always great!

We then came home to unpack and get ready for the Mike and Sheila VO Family Party. Doug and I were "in charge" of planning this year's activities and we had big plans of going camping to Jackson, but with two pregnant sister in laws, that's just gonna have to wait for another year. So we comprimised and planned a scavenger hunt for Tuesday night which included doing service, finding words, and gathering objects. Everyone seemed to have fun and then on Wednesday, most of us headed to Lava for the day to swim. They have some new slides since I've been there and it was great! That following weekend we headed to Island Park again to see a few shows at the Playmill Theatre. We saw Beauty and the Beast and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. I had never seen Seven Brides and thought it was great! The cast there always does an amazing job and its always a fun experience.

The last two weekends brought 2 showers, one bridal shower for my friends Juliette from high school and a baby shower for my sister in law Lyndsey, who got decked out with tons of girly goodies. We had both of them in Mike and Sheila's yard and it was fun to catch up with old friends and watch them be showered with gifts!

And the most exciting part of July was the arrival of our nephew, Layne Michael VanOrden on the 27th. He is so sweet and he loves cuddling with aunt Lar. We are so glad to have little Layne in our big family!

Ooo, and before I forget... My friend Misti and I were invited to be the judges for the county fair's 4-H Style Review. We got to watch all the kids model the clothes they had sewn and it was too fun. Being a judge is hard...

Well, thats it for July!

June 2010

Okay, I'm gonna have to take this a month at a time, or I might never catch up. Let's go back to June. June was busy. Crazy busy! The month consisted of three fabulous events: Keralyn's baby shower, Relay for Life, and Girls Camp. And a few other fun days, including a train ride from Blackfoot to Shelley on the Life Saver Train with some of Blake's friends, and Aunt Myrtle's 100th Birthday Party. Betcha never been to one of those huh?

Relay for Life was the weekend before Girls Camp, so that week was pretty much mure chaos. But oh so fun. Who wouldn't want to stay out all night with your friends, walking, playing games (my mom and I's teams teamed up and won the Quest game at Relay), and chatting, all while raising money for such a wonderful cause. This year, I relayed for my Grandpa Campbell and Uncle Jed, who are both fighting cancer right now. My team raised about $1500 and the Bingham County total was over $100,000! Year after year, we'll keep Relaying for Life, until they find a cure.

As for Girls Camp, a little stressful, I won't lie. But I had a wonderful assistant, Marci, and the YW Presidency was great to help with whatever they could. The theme was "Stand Strong and of a Good Courage." We camped at Pasa la Coma and took 12 girls to camp with us. The stake had us going every minute we were there, so we got to do lots of great activites, and then stayed up late to enjoy eachother's company and the outdoors. We did an amazing activity called the Lifeline. Going into it, I knew it would be a ropes course, but I had no idea it would be such a spiritual experience. After I went through the lifeline, I was able to be a leader and help our girls and the other leaders from our ward go through the lifeline. I won't give it all away, in case you get to go through the Lifeline sometime when you're at girl's camp, but know it was by far the coolest thing I've ever done at a girls's camp. It put my life in perspective and has taught me to keep those things that are most important to me close to my heart.

What a busy, but great month!

Let's start at the very beginning...

A very good place to start. When we read we begin with ABC. When we blog, we go back to May?

Boy, when I let me blog go for a few months I always wonder... Do I pick up where we are or go back and catch up. I guess since this is the most faithful "journal" I keep right now, I better catch up. I'll start back in May and tell about our Memorial Day weekend trip to the cabin, as promised in an ealier blog post.

We took our awesome friends Misti and Chad and their girls, Bostyn and Kamree. We made it to the cabin in time to send the boys out to cook hotdogs, and then after the sprinkling, and before the snow, we had time to roast marshmallows.

We spent Saturday in West Yellowstone, we went to the IMAX and walked around town. Picked up some fudge and taffy, had a picnic at the local park and headed back to the cabin. We played games, ate way too much food and enjoyed a nice quiet weekend away (and great company of course) before the choas of summer began.

Man time flies when you're....

Busier than heck! I swear I just updated my blog yesterday. I clicked on it, and it was.... yep. A month ago! Where is this year going? Time: please slow down so I can snuggle with my baby more! Okay, now that you've read my thought process and you're thinking I'm wacko, I'll continue on with my post. Be warned that it just might be the most random post ever! :)

Let's start with Boston's recent 6 month well child visit to the Dr. Bo weighed in at 13 lbs. 14 oz. and was 23 1/2 ish ( i can't remember, let's be honest) inches long. At that appointment, he had 2 bottom teeth and doc said he was looking great and they giggled at eachother for a few minutes and then proceeded with the check up. Dr. Soucie is so great with the boys. He told us a few things to try on the little rash behind his knees and now-(ta da) it's cleared up! He now has 4 bottom teeth and is working on two top teeth. Not the two in the middle on the top, I think they are his kanines. The poor kid might look like a vampire for a bit. Quick teeth story: All of Doug's siblings and parents had a little Memorial Day bbq at Mike and Sheila's. I was helping fix dinner and my brother in law Jeff was keeping an eye on Boston. (Blake and Boston have so many great uncles!) and Jeff says "So he only has the 3 teeth then?" And I answer, "No, he only has 2."Jeff says "No, he has 3!" What? My baby got his third tooth and my brother in law notices before I do? What kind of a mother am I? Don't answer that... I'm just going to say that I'm sure Jeff is just becoming more observant of babies since their own little one is on its way! :) Maybe if new teeth smelled as bad as dirty diapers, I would notice them sooner.

As for other updates with the boys, Boston loves watching Blake and giggles at him when they're in the car or at home. Blake pokes him in the face and Boston laughs. Brothers. So sweet to eachother. And let's see, Blake was assigned to give the scripture and prayer in primary the other day. Guess who praticed all week and then chickened out in primary? Blake. Who said the scripture and prayer? Doug. On the same sunday, as I was subsituting in Primary I noticed Blake on all fours being a Tiger on his way to get a drink. :) I couldn't help but laugh out loud. This kid is hilarious!

Other than keeping these cute kiddos in line, we've been busy getting ready for Girls Camp, Relay for Life and Keralyn's Shower, which was yesterday. Our awesome friends Mike and Keralyn are adopting a baby boy due the end of this month. They have been waiting so long for a baby of their own and we were thrilled to throw this shower for her! You can read all about it HERE, on their blog. I'm sure her rendition is much better than mine could ever be. And... she has pictures! It was such a fun night and I'm so excited for her to be a mom!

I'll have to make another post of our Memorial weekend trip to Island Park with our friends Misti and Chad another time, after the pictures are uploaded to the computer. It probably deserves a post of its own anyways.

Wish us luck in the next few weeks as we "Find a Cure" and "Stand Strong and of a Good Courage." There may not be another post till the end of June, I know you're all VERY surprised. Hoping you're having a crazy and fun summer, too!

For your viewing pleasure...

We all know that when we look at blog, we scan the pictures, and then read if we're interested. Well, i'm sure its true for those viewing my blog as well. It's okay, don't feel bad. The words are just for my kids, grandkids and so on. You don't have to read them, I won't be offended. With that being said, he's a bundle of pictures from the last few months that didn't fit into any of the other posts. And can I just say... Is Boston the cutest thing ever or what? His smile is ear to ear and so contagious. We just love this little guy!

Living Room Remodel

For the 3rd year in a row, the day after Chirstmas consisted of taking down Christmas decor and getting ready for another remodeling project. This time (the last time for this house) it was the living room, finally! Our poor living room had these not so beauiful wood floors, dinged up walls trim and mis matching doors. We installed the last few doors and textured and painted the walls. We had the new floors installed just after New Year's and then Doug finished up the trim work and we touched up and moved back into the living room.

I picked up that beautiful window pane "The Secret to having it all, is believing that you already do" at Traditions in Rigby (love love love Traditions) and found this cute fabric up in I.F. to put together some pillows. Don't worry, I didn't piece it together, it came looking like that. :) I still need to get some curtains hemmed and convince Doug to hang up a sign that I made at Super Saturday, but for now, here's the latest pics of the living room. (And yes, I did pick upws2x all the toys and cleaned up before taking pics, there's no way my house is this clean on any given day!) Do you love the new floors? I do!

Doug's Graduation

This is one of the last posts to get me all caught up and I've been most excited to write this post! Doug graduated from Idaho State University on Friday, May 7th 2010 with Bachelor's of Business Administration in Finance. The College of Business held their own seperate Graduation ceremony in Frazier Hall and the boys and I attended along with my mom and Doug's parents. It was a nice, short ceremony, and after snapping a few pictures we headed to a BBQ at Mike and Sheila's with our families to celebrate Doug's achievements. Doug will never brag about himself, and because of that... I must do it for him.

Four years ago, Doug was accepted to ISU and was offered a full ride scholarship because of his scholastic achievments in high school. He was also awarded other scholarhsips from businesses that put money towards College of Business students.

At the end of Doug's junior year, he was invited to be a member of Beta Gamma Sigma because he was in the top 5% of his College of Business class. In the fall of 2009, the beginning of his senior year, he was invited to a "College of Business Fellow," which consists of 12 students chosen by the college's executive committee to represent the very best of undergraduate business majors based on academics, leadership and attitude. Of 1200 business majors at ISU, the 12 fellows represent the best one percent of undergraduates.

Doug was one of six College of Business graduates with High Honors, a 3.90 GPA or higher. And just a few weeks before Graduation, he recieved a letter from the Dean of the College of Business stating that he had been chosen as the Department of Finance Outstanding Student of the Year! He was given a nice plaque at Graduation, and we can't wait to hang it on the wall along with his diploma when it arrives soon!

I am so proud of Doug and all he has accomplished the last four years. He has put his best effort into his classes and has worked hard to keep up his grades. Not all college students raise familes and carry on full time jobs while excelling in school. He is intelligent, hardworking, and always has a great attitude. We are so excited that he is finished with school and Doug is excited to use what he's studied to good work on the farm. Thanks Doug for all you do for Blake, Boston and I. We love you so much and appreciate all you do for us! Congratulations babe!

April 2010

The first weekend in April brought Easter and all the festivities that go with it. We colored eggs. Did an easter egg hunt and had a yummy Easter dinner, complete with an bunny carrot cake. I got the recipe from my friend Kaylynn a while back and had been dying to try it. It has applesause instead of oil and no other fat. So with the applesauce and the fresh shredded carrots, I'm pretty sure you could count it as a serving of fruits and vegetables instead of dessert if you wanted! We enjoyed listening to General Conference and I was glad to get the Ensign in the mail yesterday so I can read through the talks again.

Back in January, Doug was asked to be a soloist for the Snake River Community Orchestra concert. He went to practices here and there on Wednesday nights and performed with the Orchestra and the other soloists on April 24th. He sang "Toreador" from Carmen, as his solo and he also sang in a number of other songs as the chorus. His song was amazing as always, and guess who remembered to take the video camera, but forgot the memory card.... me. Bummer, I know. I'm working on finding a video of it and if I come across it, I'll post it. But here's a few pictures from the night of the performance as well as the poster with all the details. If you live in the area and didn't attend, you really missed out!

The last weekend in May was the Concert for the ISU Camerata Singers. Doug has been part of this community choir this semester to pick up an extra credit for school. They practice on Tuesday nights from 7:30-9:30 p.m., which meant late night Tuesdays for Doug this semester. They did the concert 2 nights, and were accompanied by the symphony. They performed a 70 minute requim by Brahms, in German. Quite impressive! This first picture is of Doug in his tux starting a pivot on our way to Pocatello for the concert. He's obviously a farmer at heart. And the next is a picture of the orchestra, soloists, conductor and choir. Can you see Doug? He's on the right hand side of the picture about half way up. In all honesty, this was the only elective class Doug has taken in all of his college. He's always been filled to the brim with business classes, so it was fun to see him make some time for something else.

March 2010

March consisted of only a few things, but oddly enough took up a large amount of time. I was on the Blackfoot Jr. Miss committee again this year and was in charge of the Self Expression routine (not just me, my friend Misti helped choreograph it too) and Ticket Sales, along with a bunch of other last minute things that seemed to come up. I helped the girls at their early a.m. practices, Monday- Thursday from 6- 7 a.m. They also put together a "Jr. Mister" competition this year, which Doug and I attended and helped a little with, and a "Little Miss Day Camp." The theme was "The Streets of Italy" and the program took place on April 10th. It was great group of girls and they all worked hard. I always enjoy getting to know the girls and not only working with them, but having fun with them, as well as the other committee members. Here's a group shot of the girls:

And I couldn't talk about March, without mentioning St. Patty's Day. That silly leprechaun turned our potty water and our milk green that morning and Blake couldn't stop talking about him all day. Our friends the Pearsons came over for a green dinner, which consisted of green wraps, green jigglers, green chip dip, green cupcakes and green frape! Yum! I'll admit, some food just isn't as appitizing when its colored green, but once you get over the food coloring, its just as yummy!

March also brought the 2nd Ward Pine Wood Derby, hosted by the Elder's Quorum. This is when I learned that there are callings in the church that you aren't set apart for. My calling was "Elder's Quorum President's Wife" and my duties consisted of making sure everyone had invites, a food assignment, and putting together the main course: BBQ pulled pork sandwiches. Don't worry, I had the meat catered. :) Anyway, we had almost 60 people there and everyone seemed to have a good time, especially those there to race their cars. Doug's car didn't get put together until the night before and then he ended up dropping out after the first round anyway, so another car could take his spot. That's okay... there's always next year!

Doug and I also celebrated our 4th Anniversary on the 31st of March. Boy, time flies when you're having kids, remodeling a house, going to school, working on the farm and having fun! Becki watched the boys for us the weekend before and we got to go out to dinner and then headed down to Lava Hot Springs to sit in the hot tubs to celebrate. It was a great date and I think we both enjoyed a few hours without the kids!

Let's Back Up a Little...

Boy, when you let your blog go for almost 4 months, it almost seems impossible to catch up. I thought about just skipping the last few months and picking up starting today, but then I'd miss blogging about a whole slew of events! Let's back up to January.

Boston Morgan VanOrden was given a name and a blessing on January 3, 2010 by his father, Doug, in the Blackfoot 2nd Ward. His unlces, grandpas and great grandpa all stood in the circle. He was given a beautiful blessing and looked so handsome. After church, we had a nice family dinner out at my parent's house to celebrate Boston's day. Boston started smiling when he was about 6 weeks old and hasn't stopped yet. He has such a sweet spirit and is such a calm baby. We are so blessed to have little Boston in our family.

January and February also consisted of a little thing we like to call Church Ball. Doug put his counselor Chad in charge of getting our ward's team together and mentioned "if you can't find enough players, call me and I could probably come." Well, putting a team together was a little harder than they thought it might be and Doug became a regular. Thursday nights after dinner, we would load up the boys and take them over to the stake center to watch a little church ball. Doug's comment after their first game: "I thought I was gonna puke!" and after the last "I know we lost, but that was fun tonight." I enjoyed watching Doug pretend to take the game seriously, so he wouldn't disappoint those that really were serious, and chatting with the other church ball wives. Sorry, no church ball pictures this year, maybe next winter.

And let's see... another big change in January. After 2 1/2 years, I was released as the Primary Chorister and they called me to be the Ward Choir Director. I wasn't extremely happy about the calling at first, but its not near as bad as I thought it would be. The only difference between the two callings is the level of music i'm conducting and my choir members listen to me and don't pick their noses while we're singing! We have a choir made up of 8ish faithful members and then there are those that read music well and practice with us once before we sing and help us sound beautiful. I attended a stake conducting class in April and I'm starting to feel like I know what I'm supposed to be doing. I'll learn from experience, right?

I'll post about the living room in another post, but I think that's it for January and February!

Primary Talent Show- January 2010

I know, I know, I'm way behind on blogging, please forgive me! I've been wanting to post these videos for a while and i'm finally getting around to it. Every year, our ward holds a Primary Talent Show for the kids to perform their talents. They held that talent show in January. Since Blake is officially in Primary, he got to be in the Talent Show as well. Doug and I have been trying to memorize the family proclamation ever since we were challenged to last fall by Elder Clark at our stake conference. We figured Blake was awfully young to work on the family proclamation, so we started to help him memorize the Articles of Faith. So for his talent, he planned to recite the First Article of Faith. He got up on the stage, got so scared and wouldn't say it. We settled for trying it again later and here's how it went the second time around:

Besides working on memorizing his Articles of Faith, he enjoys going to Primary and has had a great Sunbeam teacher, Heather Sellers. He looks so cute all dresses up in his white shirt and tie and he always takes his scripture bag with his Book of Mormon with him to church. Blake loves learning about Jesus and tells us about Him all the time. He will spit out a sentence like... "Ya, because we needa be nice like Jesus."

Two months old...

I can't believe my baby Boston bear is already two months old. He's graduated from newborn diapers and clothes and seems to be growing up so much already. Boston has discovered his smile. There is nothing better in the morning than a huge smile from him. He's also just barely starting to "coo" and use his voice. We carry on the smallest of conversations, and he loves the attention and eye contact. I took him to the Dr. yesterday for his 2 month check up and immunizations and he weighed in at 9 lbs. 2 oz. Thats two pounds in two months. We couldn't ask for a healthier little man. He sleeps from about 10 p.m. until 6:30 a.m. most nights, and we feel so spoiled that his sleep schedule is so good. We love Boston and the sweet spirit he brings into our home, and look forward to the milestones to come in the next few months. Here's a few pictures we took today and a video from a few weeks ago. Enjoy :)

Oh there's no place like Home for the Holidays....

I know, i've been slacking on the blog a little lately. Who wants to put down a sweet little baby to blog? Not me! But I thought I'd better catch up before I forgot all the fun details. So here goes...

December seemed to fly by. The boys and I stayed at home a lot while Doug finished up the semester. We had a few Dr. appointments to finish up, but other than that and a little Christmas shopping, we enjoyed our time at home getting to know Boston. Doug's birthday was on a Monday, the 21st, so we spent the whole weekend celebrating. Blake got to spend Saturday with Grandma and Grandpa VO while we did our Christmas Shopping, went to dinner and saw Avatar. And then Monday, Doug and Blake went over to the Willows to help Curtis with his eagle scout project, and then the whole VO family headed to Rupes for a little dinner and back to our house for pumpkin roll, so yummy!

On Christmas Eve, he headed to Poci to see a movie, The Princess and the Frog. What a fabulous movie, Blake loved it. Going to the movies is a fun tradition that the Campbells always did, and we enjoy keeping up the tradition every year. We stopped at home and packed an overnight bag and headed out to Doug's parent's house. We ate yummy food, read through the Christmas story, sang hymns, opened a few gifts and watched White Christmas. Doug and I took the hide a bed, Boston slept in his bouncer next to us, and Blake slept downstairs in the bunkbed in Curtis's room. Santa came down the chimney, ate some cookies and left some presents.

We woke Blake about 6:30 a.m. and we all went in to see what Santa left us. He brought Doug and I a video camera, Blake got a train table, and Boston got a teddy bear (just what Blake told Santa Boston wanted) and a few toys. The gifts were opened in a matter of minutes and Blake made "breakfast" with his pretend food (thanks Jackson and Marcus) for all the uncles while they played on the Wii, while some of us fixed some real food. We played games and took naps while we waited to skype with Mom, Dad, Becki and Pablo. We got to webcam with them for an hour and enjoyed hearing about all their wedding preparations they'd been doing in Chile.

We headed home that evening and unloaded all the toys and gifts. I didn't hesitate to sort through toys and that night a picked a few that Blake doesn't play with anymore and added them to the donate pile. The 26th was Saturday and we spent the day taking down Christmas decorations and preparing the living room for the upcoming remodel. We spent the next week tearing out trim, priming, texturing, priming again, painting, and getting ready for the new floors. Don't worry, we did take a break to celebrate the New Year. All of us stayed up late at our friend's the Pearson's playing games and Rockband. New Year's day we spent at my parents house and Saturday the 2nd we went out to my cousin's wedding reception and had a great time with family. The next day was Boston's blessing, i'll post more pictures about him and the blessing later. And the new floors went in on Monday. We finished up the trim work, touch up paint and got our living room back together in no time. Oh yes, somewhere in there we squoze in painting the bathroom, too! :) It was a busy holiday and we enjoyed every minute we got to spend with Doug while he was on vacation from the farm. More pictures to come fromt he baby blessing and of our recently finished rooms.