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Holidays 2010

2011-01-18T13:30:00.002-07:00

We anticipated the holidays for months, they came, we had a blast and now we're back to boring January. It's cold, it's wet, and we're scrounging for reasons to party. That's right... we had some friends over to play games for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Have we ever celebrated that holiday before? Never. We're just still in party mode. Here's the fabulous details of our holiday season!

Thanksgiving was the day after Boston's birthday and the Campbell's were planning on heading to UT for the weekend, but the roads were horrible, and they decided not to make the drive, and it worked out great for Doug and I. We had some of both of our families over to Doug's parents. We combined dinner traditions and had a fun laid back Thanksgiving, with plenty of yummy food, games and the annual tradition of checking out the Black Friday ads.

Speaking of Black Friday... we left the boys at their Grandma and Grandpa Campbell's house overnight while we literally spent the WHOLE night shopping. We stood outside of Target for about 30 minutes in 6* weather waiting to get it. Are we crazy? Pretty much.

December was spent getting ready for Christmas, an early Christmas Party with each of our families, since we'd be traveling for the holidays and making lots of goodies to deliver to neighbors and friends. I always love the month of December and the preparations for Christmas.

We headed to UT on horrible roads on the 18th of December, spent the day hanging out with Mike and Sheila, taking the boys to Temple Square to see the lights and nativities, and then to Uncle Vic and Aunt Nyla's to stay for the weekend. We were able to attend the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Concert with David Archuleta sunday morning with Doug's parents and it was wonderful. So many talented people performing, and President Monson was also there. It was so neat, as always to be the presence of a prophet.

Sweet Uncle Vic drove us to the airport bright and early Monday morning, and we made our way across the country, arriving in Baltimore early evening. We finally arrived at Alan and Amber's house and then the fun began! We celebrated Doug's birthday, made gingerbread houses, went to Hershey World, baked too many cookies, and played game after game. We went to the movies on Christmas Eve, had a wonderful dinner, acted out the Nativity with the kids, then did the Lee Family Christmas Program, written by Amber's dad after the kids had gone to bed. We were reminded of the humble birth of our Savior and the perfect life he lived. It was a fabulous day, and we were so lucky to get to spend it with family far away!

Christmas morning was a blast. The boys all got everything they had wished for and just played non stop for hours. Santa brought Doug a Wii and so we got it set up and played non stop as well. We also got the game Ticket to Ride from Al and Amber, which was played many a time before be left Pennsylvania. The next week we did a little outlet shopping, hit up Five Guys for the first time and then packed our bags to come home. As Al and Amber live so far away, we don't get much one on one time with them, and we were so blessed to be able to take this trip to get to spend time with them. We always enjoy our time with them, talking, playing games, cooking, whatever. So fun! Thanks guys for letting us crash your Christmas, we had a blast!

Digital slideshow personalized with Smilebox

We arrived in SLC on the evening of the 30th and then made our way home on mostly clear roads. New Year's Eve was spent unpacking, doing laundry, picking up the house and helping Blake choose some toys to donate to DI, since he just got loaded up with new toys for Christmas. Becki and Pablo and Mom and Dad came over to play games and the wii. I'll admit, we were lame hosts and fell asleep a little after 11. Oops! My only excuse... we were still on the eastern time zone.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the word I should use to sum up the year 2010. I think the most fitting word to use is memorable. We will never forget sweet Boston's baby blessing, Doug's graduation from college, our family members that left us to return to our Heavenly Father, or the amazing vacations we took this year. Although we said goodbye to so many loved ones in 2010, we will never forget their sweet words and deeds, and our memories with them have helped us to try a little harder to be a little better in 2011, so that one day we might return to live with them, along with our Savior and our Father in Heaven. We live a life full of blessings and priviledges that we don't quite deserve. We are blessed with family, friends and most importantly faith. It's a wonderful life!

Happy Birthday, Boston!

2011-01-03T16:08:00.003-07:00

Having Boston last November was perfect timing.... harvest was wrapped up, Blake was potty trained, we had all winter to just enjoy our new baby. Little did we know, we'd have to schedule his next 18 birthday parties around blizzards and Thanksgiving plans. We had planned to have his party the day before, since my parents were headed out of town for Thanksgiving, but then due to the crazy blizzard, their plans changed and we rescheduled his party for his actual birthday, when the roads in Bingham County would be officially "open" again!

We had such a fun party with lots of grandparents and aunts and uncles. We ate pizza and then Boston opened presents to find toys, clothes, books, and his very own puppy blanket, which seemed to be his favorite. Boston got messy with his very own cake, while the rest of us enjoyed pumpkin roll. He wasn't too sure about the cake and mostly ate the frosting, but with his sensitive tummy, I wasn't disappointed that he didn't gobble it down!

And just as any other blogging mom would say when posting about their child's first birthday, "I can't believe my baby is one already." But, it's true. This year has flown by and it's been so fun to watch Bo grow and develop so quickly. His personality is definitely beginning to develop more and he is quite determined. Boston does the stairs like a pro and follows Blake wherever he goes. He's quick on his knees and likes to get into anything he's not supposed to, including the toilet, fridge, and the garbage. Troublemaker and all, we love him so much and enjoy his hugs and toothy grins more than anything. Happy Birthday, Boston! We love you!

Daisy dukes, bikinis on top!

2010-12-03T15:33:00.002-07:00

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...

2010-12-03T15:05:00.003-07:00

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

2010-10-02T12:58:00.003-06:00

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...

2010-09-21T19:49:00.002-06:00

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...

2010-09-20T15:53:00.003-06:00

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

2010-09-20T15:00:00.004-06:00

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

2010-09-02T17:41:00.003-06:00

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

2010-09-02T17:22:00.002-06:00

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

2010-09-02T16:48:00.002-06:00

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

2010-09-02T16:15:00.002-06:00

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...

2010-09-02T15:52:00.003-06:00

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....

2010-06-10T19:18:00.003-06:00

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...

2010-05-12T21:20:00.004-06:00

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

2010-05-12T20:37:00.003-06:00

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

2010-05-12T13:21:00.004-06:00

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

2010-05-12T11:55:00.006-06:00

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

2010-05-12T11:19:00.006-06:00

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...

2010-05-12T10:37:00.005-06:00

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

2010-04-13T21:22:00.006-06:00

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...

2010-01-26T18:59:00.003-07:00

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....

2010-01-21T07:56:00.004-07:00

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.

Boston's Newborn Photos

2009-12-15T11:08:00.005-07:00

I had arranged for Boston's newborn photos long before he arrived and when he was just 7 days old, we made a trip to Idaho Falls for his photo shoot. They were taken by Caralee Case Photography and she did a fabulous job! Check out her blog, http://caraleephotography.blogspot.com/ and enjoy these beautiful picutres of baby Boston! We love our sweet little man!

Blakeism...

2009-12-02T20:27:00.002-07:00

Isn't that the term blogging moms use to describe the cute things there kids say? I think so.... Here's a few hilarious things Blake has said the last few days. This kid makes me laugh out loud every day! We love him so much!

Blake (with his blanket around his head): Mom, do I look like a shepherd?
Laura: Yeah, you do look like a shepherd.
Blake: Well, I need some sheep to guide!

Laura: Blake, you're so smart.
Blake: Well, there's smart, and then there's Kmart smart.

Maybe this kid has been watching too many Christmas shows and commercials, but it sure makes some hilarious comments come outta him!

Introducing Boston Morgan VanOrden

2009-11-25T13:06:00.003-07:00

Here's the L&D story for those interested in all the details! ;) Monday night we finished packing bags and warmed up some leftovers for dinner. Mom and Dad stopped by on their way home from Rexburg to pick up Blake for the night, since we had instructions to be at the hospital at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday for the induction. Dad helped Doug give me a priesthood blessing, and Blake took off with Grandma and Grandpa. Doug and I seriously weren't sure what to do with ourselves. Where Boston was already overdue, everything under the sun was ready and waiting. No to do list of any sort. So we picked up the house a little and turned the TV on. Just before 9 p.m./Jay Leno, I started having contractions. They were about 8-10 minutes apart and very mild. We watched Jay, and turned in for the night. I slept until about 2 a.m., and at this time contractions were 4 mintues apart, but still very mild. I took a bath and went back to bed. Doug and I got up about quarter after 4 to shower and finish packing for the hospital. My contractions had slowed down to about 8 minutes apart, but slightly stronger than before. I didn't time them while getting ready, I figured when we got to the hospital, they would put me on monitors and see if they were even real or what. We got to the hospital about 5:30 a.m., checked in and they sent us upstairs.

The nurse had me change and get in bed, and then put the monitors on, asked a few questions and said they were about to do shift change, so my nurse for the day would be in in a few to check me and whatever else. We got settled in our room, and the nurse came in. It took us about an hour to get an IV (for antibiotics for Group B strep), and then she checked me. She said I was a good 5 and since I was contracting on my own, she'd call the Dr. to see what he wanted to do. Dr. came just before 8 a.m., checked me again and said I was a 7, and quickly broke my water. Pain was manageable, but figured if I was already a 7 and my water was broke, I better get the epidural before it was too late. They got there quickly and before I knew it, I was pain free. Thank heavens for modern medicine!

We made a few phone calls to update family, and then I turned on a movie and thought I'd relax, thinking we'd have a baby by 12 or 1. The nurse checked me again a few mintues before 10 a.m. and said I was fully dialated. I started laughing, and she laughed too cause she said everytime I did, she could feel the baby move down even farther. Dr. Larson walked in at 10 a.m. and got the last few things ready, along with the nurses and then it was time to push. The first push was a learning session (its been 3 years since i've done this, okay) and by the third, we had a baby!

It was so quick and effortless, I feel like I cheated at Labor and Delivery! We had a mirror set up in front of me, and I got to witness the coolest miracle ever. Delivery time was 10:17 a.m.

They got Boston cleaned up and started all the newborn testing, while I got stitched up. He weighed in at 7 lbs. 2 oz. and is 20 inches long. He swallowed a bunch of junk on his way out, and was having hard time keeping his oxygen up, so they took him to the nursery to put him on oxygen. He was there for about an hour and then he was all ours. He has the softest skin and beautiful brown hair. He feels like a little pug with all this extra skin on his head. Boston is a very good baby. Doug and I got lots of sleep last night and are grateful for the fabulous care we are getting here at the hospital.

We are checking out of the hospital this afternoon about 4 and then we're headed home so Blake can meet Boston! I can't wait to see this little reunion happen: it could be interesting!

Boston is such a beautiful baby and after being scared to death of the newborn stage, I'm loving every second I get to snuggle with him. He is so sweet and so fresh from Heaven. We love him so much already! We'll try and take a few more picutres the next few days and post them soon. Thanks to all our families who have helped us get ready for Boston's arrival and have helped keep Blake while we're at the hospital. We couldn't do it without your love support!

Here we sit like frogs on a lilypad...

2009-11-21T04:47:00.002-07:00

I guess I feel more like a whale than a frog, and i'm usually leaned up against an extra pillow and my corn bag, but you get the idea. Still waiting for baby Boston to make his arrival.

Not sure there's anything more depressing than visiting your own blog and see the floating fetus say you have 0 days left, and then look down to remember that he's not here yet. I might have to remove that soon.... Anyway, the clock is ticking for this baby to come on his own. If he doesn't make an appearance this weekend, we're still scheduled to be induced Tueday a.m., so watch for a more exciting post sometime next week!

As for due date plans: clean the church in the morning (this better put me into labor or Doug will be in big trouble for saying yes), rake the leaves off our lawn (if its not snowing) and then take Blake to Grandmas and try and get a little Christmas shopping done, since we know the odds of going Black Friday shopping are dwindling unless this little one comes out sooner than later. Hoping a busy day will result in something more than an extremely tired, grouchy, and sore mom to be!

Dear Boston,

2009-11-16T09:46:00.003-07:00

Dear Boston,

I think its time for you to make your arrival. Your brother is anxious, and your dad is so excited, and my stretch marks are stretching. Your crib set is finished and there are clean clothes and blankets folded and waiting for you. There are meals in the freezer, the car seat is installed, and your diaper bag is packed for the hospital. I've monogrammed your blankets and Aunt Jan has already started on your Christmas stocking. I've scheduled your newborn photos, and have arranged subs for Primary. We're ready when you are! We already love you so much and can't wait for you to come to our family. See you soon!

Love,

Mom

p.s. Don't forget Dad has tests this week, so he wants me to remind you that anytime after Thursday morning is a good time to come ;)

39 Weeks, 1 Day

Baby Update

2009-11-12T17:01:00.002-07:00

Went to the dr. today... and here is a little TMI for those that care:

Belly still measures 35 cm, but it seems to be growing in every direction as far as i'm concerned. I lost 2/10 of a pound this week, so my weight gain total is still at 17 pounds. My dr. predicted this would happen... he said months ago that i probably wouldn't gain much weight the last month, due to there being no room for food, and its very true. In fact, i'm wondering where exactly my stomach is right now? Hmmm....

Baby's heart rate was 147 ish, if i remember right. He is definetly head down and i'm dialated 2 cm. In two days (Saturday) i'll be 39 weeks, man time flies. Seems like just yesterday we told our families we were expecting!

Anyways, now down to business: the plan. We have scheduled to be induced Tuesday, the 24th, thats 3 days past my due date and just in time to check out of the hospital for the Thanksgiving holiday. That is, unless he chooses to come on his own before the 24th. I'm having mixed feelings about whether i want him to come before that or not. Doug has a crazy week at school next week and so i'm actually crossing my fingers that Boston will wait until his dad can get a big presentation and 2 exams out of the way first. Doug's already explained his class schedule to my belly (in plenty of detail) so we'll see how well this little one obeys right?

By the way, back/hip pain has gone away and i've been sleeping much better lately. (knock on wood, right?) Feeling great and trying to enjoy as much one on one time with Blake before i have to share my time with 2 boys. I better run, gotta get a few last minute things done, i'm hosting Girls Night tonight at my house! We're having a holiday feast recipe swap, so i'll pass along the best of the best recipes i try out tonight!

And my mom thinks I'm weird?

2009-11-07T09:00:00.004-07:00

So my mom is always making fun of me because I seem to have a song for everything. Well, this morning I was up at 4 a.m., taking a hot bath to relieve some miserable back pain and I get back in bed and asked Doug if he would put some icy hot on my back. Although he was hardly awake (pretty sure he hadn't opened his eyes yet), I told him sorry I had to wake him in the middle of the night. He suddenly bursts out in song "We're all in this together...." from High School Musical! I was laughing so hard, cause he was singing it just like they do in the movie. I'm not even sure if he realized he was singing, cause he was totally asleep again two minutes later. I might break out in song somtimes, but never in the middle of the night!

By the way, the bath/icy hot combo must have worked because I got back to sleep by 5 and slept for 2 1/2 hours! I really don't mean to whine, but I think I would rather be up in the night with a newborn than deal with this back/hip pain that seems to come from sleeping on my sides.

Speaking of baby, at my Dr. appt on Thursday, Doc says baby has dropped a little (which makes sense why this back/hip pain has recently come about) and is definetly head down. I've gained 17 pounds so far, and my belly was still 35 cm. Dr. says thats because he's dropped some, and didn't seem concerned at all. We don't plan on inducing to get him here early, so unless he comes early on his own, we probably won't meet him until at least his due date. I'm 38 weeks today, thats 14 days to go! Wahoo! The three of us can't wait to meet this little guy!

Happy Halloween

2009-11-02T08:06:00.005-07:00

We had a fun week and weekend and I can't wait to post these pictures of my adorable tiger! Thursday Blake got all dressed up in his costume and we headed to the SR Library for the costume parade at story time. Blake loved all the little halloween rhymes and songs and thought it was so cool that all the kids were in costumes.

Saturday we headed out to Sheila's to make applesauce! Curtis was fabulous help and ran the Victorio Strainer and we kept busy washing, chopping, cooking, taste testing, bottling, and steam canning 30 quarts of applesauce. We had yummy apples, some from the local Isom's Fruit Farm and others from Doug's parent's apple trees, and we hardly had to sweeten the applesauce at all. We wrapped up the applesauce project and headed home to get ready for the trunk or treat.

Blake dressed as a Tiger, I was a pirate, and Doug an egyptian. We handed out lots of candy and got to see lots of our friends and neighbors in their creative costumes. Then we went home, popped pizzas in the oven and played games for the rest of the night with our friends, Lloyd and Sunni, Travis and Angie, Nate, and Cole. I totally spaced taking pictures, but we had a great time catching up with all of them!

3 years for Blake

2009-10-26T10:11:00.003-06:00

Poor Blake... once a harvest baby, always a harvest birthday, which just happens to be the busiest time of year for our little family. Blake turned the big 3 on October 14th and we found a few spare moments to celebrate his day. Blake played with Grandma VO while I worked in the morning and then we headed home to bake a birthday cake and wait for Doug to get home from school. We had birthday dinner at McDonalds and then headed out to Grandma and Grandpas for a birthday party. Blake wanted a "pumpkin frosting cake" and thats we had. We lit 3 candles and when we started singing, he got up and started dancing. This kid always cracks me up! We opened presents and enjoyed cake and ice cream with all his Grandparents and some of his aunts and uncles that live close. Thanks to all of them for celebrating with us! He got a few clothes, puzzles, toys, a game and as always, he was spoiled like crazy. I lost the pictures of him blowing out candles so i'll have to track some down from Sheila and post them later, but here's one of him enjoying his happy meal. :)

I thought I would post just a few things we love about this little boy and his latest habits and favorite acitivites.

Blake loves animals and can't wait to be a Tiger for Halloween. He wears his costume every day and loved pretending to scare us as a tiger, lion, or t-rex.

He is learning to count objects and counts anything he can, from smarties to his fingers, and anything else. Puzzles are his latest favorite activity and his mechanical skills are always being challenged with getting the pieces all in the right spot.

Blake loves being my helper and is great to help with his simple chores like putting his own dishes in the sink, putting things in the garbage for me, or putting his own clothes away in his dresser.

His vocabulary seems to grow every day and my latest favorites are: seriously, actually, ingredients, and when he says that something is "freaking me out." He never ceases to make Doug and I laugh and we are so glad that harvest is over so that we can enjoy a little more one on one time with him. He is so grown up and we can hardly believe we have a 3 year old. We love you Blake, and are so glad you are in our family!

October Update

2009-10-14T17:19:00.002-06:00

Thought i'd give you all a quick update on things. Harvest is still in full swing, with all the potatoes out of the ground, we've moved on to sugar beets. We're hoping to be finished around the 26th, only a couple weeks to go.

Doug is staying very busy his classes and his new calling, and has been trying to fit in a few hours on the farm here and there as well. Blake is getting so big and is so stubborn. His latest hobby is arguing with everything we say, i love it! Haha! Today is his Birthday, and we're getting ready for a party with family later tonight. (I'll post more on his birthday another time.)

As for me, still driving truck and starting to feel like a whale! 5 1/2 weeks to go and i'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I went to the dr. last week and here's my stats, along with a belly shot. Enjoy! Dr. says i'm boring (i guess thats a good thing, right) and wants to see me back at 36 weeks.

34 Weeks
Belly measures: 33 cm
Total Weight Gain: 15 pounds

Some call it harvest, we call it chaos...

2009-09-21T09:37:00.003-06:00

Thats right... harvest is in full swing, and that means our lives have been turned upside down and anything relatively close to our "normal lives" has been tossed out the window! I'm driving truck again this year and am enjoying being a small part of the whole harvest operation. Blake gets dragged out of bed very early every day and gets to go play with one of his grandmas. Could life get any better for a 2 year old? I hop in the truck, drive all day, and sometimes I get a glimpse of Doug while I'm unloading at the cellar. Doug jumps back and forth between school and work, as he's in class 2 mornings and 2 afternoons a week. We eat out of coolers, and when we're home we switch laundry, and thats our choatic life, only 5 weeks to go!

As for other news, Doug was set apart in a new calling last sunday. He has been called as the new Elder's quorum president of our ward. We were both totally overwhelmed by the calling, but know he'll be able to accomplish what needs to be done with the help of our Heavenly Father.

I also had my 7 month check up last week. Here's my stats from the visit:

31 Weeks/ 7 months

Stomach Measures: 30 cm

Total weight gain: 12 lbs.

Heartbeat sounds good and Dr. says baby is head down and should stay there from here on out. Before we left, he told Blake and I not to forget to go get some ice cream, and said he wants me back in 3 weeks. Here's a belly shot, we took yesterday after church, 31 weeks!

Kinda Sorta, Not So Terrible 2's

2009-08-31T14:40:00.004-06:00

Blake must have known that I was extremely frustrated with him. After lunch, I told him to go downstairs and put himself down for a nap. For the first time today, he actually listed to me... he turned and headed for the stairs and its been silent for the last hour and a half! He has redeemed himself! And for that, I have to post just a few of my recent favorites about this 2 year old...

1. His favorite movie is Narnia: the lion, the witch and the wardrobe. Not even kidding.

2. He will eat raisin bran or oatmeal over captain crunch any morning.

3. He can turn anything into a sword: most often its the vacuum extension.

4. When telling stories, he speaks in run on sentences that include every detail he can remember.

I can't believe the 2's are coming to the end, but he's so ready to be 3! I think the potty training has boosted his self esteem. He tells me all the time that he's a big boy, I just don't want to believe it...

6 down, 3 to go...

2009-08-21T08:05:00.004-06:00

I had a check-up yesterday to end my 2nd trimester, which means we have exactly 3 months/1 trimester/ 13 weeks/ 92 days to go.... but who's counting right?

27 weeks/6 months

Stomach Measures: 26 cm (up 5 cm in 4 weeks)

Total Weight Gain: 7 lbs.

Dr. says everything looks great from the ultrasound we had a few weeks ago. Says baby is average size and my belly is growing nicely. I'll see him again in 4 weeks. Here's a few pics from the ultrasound we had a while back. I just bought some of the fabric for the crib set yesterday and I need to pick up a little today and i'll be set to get sewing. Pictures to come when it's finished!

On another note, I've been trying to help mom get Grandpa Tyler's house ready for him to come home from the hospital next Monday. We been working on wiping walls, cleaning carpets and today we'll pick up the new beds and get them set up and ready. We saw him yesterday and he looked great and was taking a stroll with his walker. He still has a long recovery ahead of him, but he's making great progress from his broken femur/hip replacement injury and surgery.

Doug has been busy on the farm the last few weeks cutting grain like crazy. They finished last night and he said they were the first to finish. He starts school next tuesday and things will get totally crazy when we start digging spuds in less than 3 weeks!

Potty Training

2009-08-17T12:01:00.003-06:00

Warning: This post may have too much information for some. Read at your own risk.... haha!

I'm afraid to say it outloud for fear that lightning will strike and all will be reversed but, BLAKE IS POTTY TRAINED! Wahoo! I blocked out my schedule for 2 weeks, hardly going anywhere so we could potty train. Our method...

Week 1: Blake ran around either totally naked or just in undies for most of the week. I confined him to the kitchen, living room and bathroom so we wouldn't have to deal with accidents on the carpet. I put him in diapers for naps and bedtime and we had a handful of accidents, but he was catching on. At the beginning of the week we switched the reward for going potty from 2 mike and ike candies to doing the potty dance. Every time he went, we would do the potty dance (simply Blake and I sing the word potty over and over and dancing all crazy :) ) Worked great! I still put him in a diaper for church though, and when we went to walmart....

Week 2: Since Blake did awesome the first week, I got him dressed in sweats and he could play anywhere upstairs. He wanted to wear undies for naptime and he stayed dry the week before during naptime, so I let him. Diapers were only for bedtime. He was in a diaper all day Tueday while we went school shopping with Curtis, but besides that, he was in undies all week and only had 2 accidents! By Sunday we had been to Walmart, Keslers, Hong Kong, Church and both Grandma's houses without any accidents. He is still in diapers at night, although the last 3 nights he has woken up totally dry in the morning. If this continues for the rest of the week, i'll probably let him wear undies to bed- he wants to so bad!

Thank heavens for cool dinosaur undies and the potty dance (got that idea from babycenter.com by the way)! We made it! Now let's just hope he doesn't regress when baby #2 shows up.... hmmm.....

Speaking of number 2, here's a belly shot from yesterday after church, 26 weeks/6 months along. Blake and Doug set up the crib on Satrday night while I was helping in the kitchen at a wedding for my newest step-cousin Melissa. Things are slowly starting to come together for the baby. Crib, dresser and clothes are ready to go. Still need to sew the crib set and get a few wall hangings done for his room. We're starting to dig spuds in less than 4 weeks, so the clock is ticking... I go back to the Dr. again on Thursday, so i'll have an update on the baby later this week!

Baby Update 23 Weeks

2009-07-23T19:51:00.002-06:00

I went to my 5 month check up this morning and thought i ought to update everyone of the little soccer player inside of me....

23 Weeks/5 months
Stomach Measures: 21 cm
Total Weight Gain: 4 pounds
Complaints: Heartburn, heatburn, heartburn...
Concerns: "I'm okay to go tanning, right?"

Doc says everything appears normal, and we scheduled the big ultrasound at the hospital for Monday. I'm excited to have another look, hopefully we can get a good picture or two this time. Its so weird to have so many ultrasounds, I only have two with Blake and this will be the fourth with this pregnancy. I guess all Dr.'s do things differently, and I don't mind taking a look at him again and again. Here's a few approximations from my favorite website, babycenter.com.

Height/Length: 11 inches
Weight: around 1 pound
They also say that he can hear loud noises (louder than my heart beat) and his lungs are developing, preparing to breathe on their own. I only feel him kick first thing in the morning and then again when i settle down at night. I assume i'm just too active during the day to notice. I don't feel "active" but i'm always ready to crash with Blake with he goes down for an afternoon nap. Let's just say i'm enjoying the peace and quiet before it disappears in a few months! :)

I'd post a belly shot, but i'd really rather wait until I look like I have a cantalope under my shirt. Right now it just looks like i have a bunch on butter attached to my front :( Hope you enjoy the update. If we get some good pics on Monday, i'll post them next week!

There's No Place Like Home...

2009-07-22T17:21:00.004-06:00

Since July started, we've been on the go, always packing clothes, coolers, diaper bags, etc. Blake and I have been hanging at home the last few days and it feels so nice to just stay home, clean up the house, run errands, and be back to "normal" life. We have had a fabulous month and are trying to convince ourselves that its okay summer is about over and harvest is about to arrive. Here's an update of the last three weeks! WARNING: this post does contain all the details, and may seem to go on forever, enjoy! :)

Thursday, July 2nd we headed to Island Park with my parents and Becki. We had a little dinner at the cabin and headed to West Yellowstone. We did a little shopping and went to see "Footloose" at the Playmill Theatre. It was so fun and the actors there are so full of energy. We always love going to the Playmill! Friday, we all packed in Dad's truck and drove the upper loop of Yellowstone Park. We only saw a few Buffalo, but Blake enjoyed every minute of the park. Back at the cabin, we ate some yummy dutch oven potatoes, roasted marshmallows, and played games. Saturday was the 4th and we packed up, cleaned up the cabin and drove to Idaho Falls. We all went to the movies and Blake and I saw Up. It was a cute show. We caught up with more family to have a late lunch at Carinos, and to wish Tim a Happy Birthday! After dinner we headed to sit and wait for the Melaleuca Freedom Celebration. We had staked out a spot earlier and when we got there we played a few rounds of Phase 10 to pass the time. The weather was so beautiful outside and we loved the fireworks as always!The next weekend was our VO Family Vacation. We finally got away Friday just after lunch and headed to Salt Lake. We went to a fabric store that my Aunt Jan introduced us to and i found some cute minky to make a blanket for the baby, similar to the one Blake packs around everywhere. We also hit the Carter's Outlet and i found some cute clothes for him as well. We headed to the Hotel (i pricelined us rooms at the hilton) and met up with the rest of the family. Doug went to see Hello Dolly with Sheila and Curtis at the Hale Centre Theatre, and Blake and I headed to the Gateway to do a little shopping with the rest of the crew. Saturday we headed to Hogle Zoo first thing in the morning and Blake absolutely loved all the animals. I think i enjoyed the giraffes and elephants the most, i hadn't been to a zoo in so many years. After checking out ALL the animals, we grabbed lunch and went to Raging Waters. It was the first time we'd been swimming all summer and it was so much fun! I loved the wave pool and even rode a few slides. All three of us were exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel that evening. It was a fabulous weekend! Thanks Mom and Dad for a fun family vacation!

The next Monday and Tuesday were booked with last minute girls camp to do's. We packed everything Tuesday night and pulled out first thing Wednesday morning for Pasa La Coma. We took eight girls and had the most fabulous time. I was literally so busy having fun i only took one picture, so i'll have to post more when i get some from the YW Presidency. We hardly got any sleep, played Curses a few too many times, ate some totally yummy food, pulled a few pranks (not me, just the girls ;)) and loved every minute of it. It was so nice to be back at Pasa La Coma, enjoying the outdoors and getting to know the YW of our ward, they are great! Doug was a huge help and let's be honest, we never would have made it to camp without him. Thanks babe for being my "assistant camp director!" By the way- we finally got to use our sleeping bags that Mom and Dad gave us for Christmas. :)

We got home Saturday and I finally got the house put back together yesterday. Don't get me wrong, i always love a mini vaca here and there and especially love girls camp more than anything, but i'm so glad my calender is blank for a little while.

Blake's Prayer

2009-06-30T10:55:00.002-06:00

We were saying our family prayers the other night before we tucked Blake in for bed and it was his turn to say prayers. It was my turn to help him, so I whispered and he started repeating... for the most part:

Laura: Please bless our little brother
Blake: Please bless our little brother (in his little innocent voice)
Laura: That he will grow healthy and strong
Blake: That he will grow healthy and strong, and that he will be a monkey...

Doug and I were busting up laughing, I couldn't control myself. Doug finally took over and helped Blake quickly end the prayer. He must watch Curious George to much, probably thinks a monkey would be a lot more fun than a baby! Gotta love this kid for making me laugh every day!

So we had an ultrasound today...

2009-06-25T17:34:00.002-06:00

Thats right! Doug, Blake and I headed to the Dr.'s office today to have my 19 week ultrasound, and the results are: IT'S A BOY!

Now all the fun can begin! I was sure it was a boy, and I'm relieved to know I was right! We have so many boys clothes and things already, but I am planning on making a few blankets, quilts, burb rags, and new bedding for the crib. And the name game is just beginning...

I would post pictures from the ultrasound, but the only ones they printed out seemed slightly inappropriate for our family blog. :) This ultrasound was performed by my Dr. and a month from now, I'll have the "real" ultrasound at the hospital with a tech, where they will measure the baby, and look for anything out of the ordinary. The second ultrasound will definately confirm that its a boy, but I agree with the Dr. when he said "I don't think they're gonna argue this one." Everything looked great today, we could see his brain, arms, legs, hands, feet, and a bit of his face. He wouldn't show his profile, so we didn't get any great pictures. He seemed to move around like crazy though, possibly posing for the camera. He must be photogenic like Blake. :)

Blake is so excited to have a brother, but he informed me today that "its not gonna be a little brother, its gonna be a BIG brother." I didn't want to tell him that that's never gonna happen.

Other than our exciting ultrasound today, we've been taking it easy when we can. We had a fabulous time at the Relay for Life (more to come on that later) and I painted my soon to be sewing/craft room in the basement. Once we get the craft room set up, the living room is next and last on our list of remodel projects. We've picked out new flooring, and we'll be texturing, painting, and replacing a couple doors and the trim work. We're hoping to have it all put together by the time harvest starts and things get crazy! We'll keep you updated....

Summer is getting busy for us now... the farm is a little busier now that its not raining so much. And we have a couple mini vacations planned. Next weekend we head to Island Park and Yellowstone for a little get-away, and then its off to SLC for the VO Family Vacation. We're going to Hogle Zoo and Raging Waters, it should be a blast! And then we're off to Girls Camp! Hope you're all having a fabulous summer!

Highlights from March, April, May, June...

2009-06-11T11:22:00.002-06:00

So there are about a million things I haven't blogged about and at this point, I'll never be able to go back and catch up..... so, here are a few things worth mentioning for those of you that missed out!

March
*Miss Makenzie Kahilu VanOrden was born on the 19th, 7 lbs. 8 oz. to her wonderful parents Shane and Jessica. We are so glad she is here and healthy! She is gorgeous and is getting to big! We love her and are so glad to have her in our big family!

*Doug and I had our third anniversary! I was in SLC picking up Amber and the boys so my friend Sasha took me to dinner to celebrate! How romantic, right?

*Amber and the boys arrived from PA! We're always glad to have the PA Campbell's come for a visit!

April
*Enjoyed Easter Sunday at Dayton's baby blessing. We had lots of easter egg hunts and got to decorate eggs over the holiday weekend. The easter bunny also found our house and brought us all of our easter favorites! Imagine that, right?

*Blake and I flew out on tax day with Amber, Jackson, and Marcus and headed back to PA with them to help paint their new house! We have 2 1/2 weeks of crazy painting and moving fun! I enjoyed every minute I got to spend with Al and Amber! I couldn't ask for a better brother and sister! Thanks to Doug for being a bachelor so I could visit their family!

May
*Returned home from PA and didn't know what to do with myself.... you mean I don't have to paint for 14 hours today? What should I do with all my spare time?

*Doug finished his Junior year of college, and was so glad to have this semester over with.

* Doug was also inducted into the Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society, an honor that is only offered to the top 5% of the College of Business Junior Class. He was 1 of 5 out of the College of Business Juniors that recieved this invitation. We got to attend a nice dinner in Pocatello where he was recognized and we'll also get to go again next year. I also got to meet a handful of his professors and they all told me how great of a student he is. He finished the semester with nothing but A's! He has worked so hard the last three years and holds a 3.91 GPA!

* May flew by as we spent time in yard and got our gardens ready to go and planted. We had beautiful weather and made lots of plans for the summer months ahead.

June
*And now its already JUNE! Can you believe it? Last Sunday was Miss Makenzie's baby blessing, she is so sweet and we love her so much!

*Tonight our friend Jake gets home from his mission and Doug and Blake are heading to the airport to greet him, while I stay home to host Girls Night!

*I had another Pre-natal appointment today, thats right, my blogging friends are the last to hear that We're having a BABY! I am about 17 weeks along and our due date is November 21st. We find our BOY or GIRL on June 25th, just two weeks from today! Take a guess, boy or girl and maybe you'll get a prize if you're right!

May Update and Upcoming Events..

2009-05-15T17:09:00.006-06:00

Blake and I traveled home safely from our trip to PA and now, two weeks later, we're almost used to life at home! We painted like crazy while at Al and Ambers and enjoyed spending time with their family. Blake especially enjoyed playing with his cousins. We've been busy since we got home with yard work, garden, the house, girls camp and RELAY FOR LIFE!

Last year, i was on my mom's relay team and even though they invited me back this year... Who wants to relay with a bunch of old ladies? Just teasing mom, well kinda. I am the captain of my own Relay for Life Team this year and have gathered 11 other young chicks to be on my team. We set a goal to raise at least $1000.00 and are doing so well! We are at least half way to our goal and we have a few fundraisers left (such as selling delicious dutch over dessert on the night of relay: June 19th) to help us bring in more cash for the American Cancer Society.

For those of you that have never heard of the RELAY FOR LIFE, here's the 411. It is the signature event and fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. The relay is not only to raise money but to honor those who have suffered from cancer, whether they are with us still or not. If you want to honor a family member or friend who has been through cancer, you can purchase a luminaria for $10.00 and decorate a bag in their honor. Each bag will hold a candle that will be lit during the Luminaria Ceremony on the night of Relay. The bags line the track in honor of those who have suffered. You forget how many we have lost to cancer, and this ceremony is a great reminder of why we are researching so much.

Now that you are so excited to be on my team next year at Relay, click HERE to make a small donation and help our team raise $1,000.00! And then the next step is to send your friends there too! :) Let me know if you would like to buy a luminaria in honor of a loved one!

p.s. thanks for not giving up on our log... updates coming soon, like maybe uh august! enjoy your summer!

I'm leavin' on a jet plane...

2009-04-13T13:41:00.002-06:00

Nope, our family didn't fall off the face of the earth... just been having to much fun to take time to blog! We have enjoyed a wonderful visit from Amber, Jackson and Marcus! Between celebrating a wedding, baby blessing, Easter, general conference, we haven't even had time to sit down and have a break! Blake and I drive down with Amber and the boys tomorrow and we fly out Wednesday a.m. to Lancaster, PA. We are so excited to help them with their new house and are looking forward to spending some time with Uncle Al, since he didn't get to come to Idaho this time. We'll be back May 2nd, just in time for Miss Makenzie's baby blessing. Seriously not sure what Doug is going to do without us for almost 3 weeks. I'm sure he'll enjoy the peace and quiet and I'm sure his mom will feed him well! Thanks Doug for letting us spend some time with Al and Amber, we will miss you lots! And thanks to Sheila for babysitting my garden (currently in a started box) while i'm gone! I have tons to blog about... check back in May!

Banana Nut Bread

2009-03-17T20:57:00.003-06:00

Believe it or not, I made Banana Bread for the first time this week! I don't remember eating this a lot growing up, but its a regular at Sheila's house. I tried out the recipe she uses and it was easy. I used my mixer and used the wisk for all the ingredients, and then switched to the dough triangle when I added the flour. Here's the recipe:

3/4 cup margarine

2 1/4 cup sugar

3 eggs

3 bananas (ripe or bruised)

1/3 cup sour cream

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/8 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

dash cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

3 cups Flour

Mix ingredients and pour into bundt pan or 2 loaf pans that have been greased (pam) and sprinkled with sugar. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes or until done. Top will by medium brown and toothpick will come out clean. You can use small loaf pans as well, adjust the cooking time in half. Give it a try and tell me how yours turned out! Enjoy!

Tag of 8

2009-03-17T20:32:00.002-06:00

8 things tag rules are: post rules on your blog, answer the 6 '8' items, let each person know they are tagged by leaving them a 'comment' here goes

8 favorite TV Shows
1. Biggest Loser
2. Friends
3. Gilmore Girls
4. The Bachelor
5. Today Show (dumb i know)
6. Everybody Loves Raymond
7. Jon and Kate plus 8
8. The Office

8 things I did today
1. Watched little Keaton
2. Texted Jessica
3. Made Banana bread
4. Sat through a Primerica presentation
5. Vaccuumed the living room rug
6. Changed out some Scentsy scents
7. Finished the laundry from yesterday
8. Finished up my Jr. Miss errands

8 things i am looking forward to
1. Finishing "spring cleaning" my house and garage
2. A trip to Al and Amber's in April
3. Refinishing the floors in my living room (and trim and texture)
4. My 21st birthday
5. Doug's graduation in May 2010
6. Blake being potty trained
7. Girls Camp (i'm the camp director wahoo!)
8. Becki and Pablo's wedding

8 favorite restaurants
1. Roadhouse
2. Melinas
3. Hong Kong
4. Rupes
5. Chilis
6. Carinos
7. Red Robin
8. Quiznos Subs

8 things on my wish list
1. A beautiful yard
2. Another kiddo
3. Baskets for my entry table
4. A roomba vaccuum ( it think it would be great)
5. A walk in closet
6. A smaller waistline
7. A storage room
8. A Maid to clean my house!

I won't tag anyone this time, if you want to participate, consider yourself tagged!

Just a few pics of our NEW CAR!

2009-03-10T15:29:00.003-06:00

So obviously, our car isn't brand new, just new to us! Thought i'd post a few pics for you all to see my new "baby." I am loving driving it! This week is crazy with jr miss practices/dress rehearsals, tuesday, wednesday and thursday night and then the program is on saturday. Wish all my girls good luck!

We're getting a new CAR!

2009-03-06T14:39:00.003-07:00

So we sold our car on craigslist in less than a week, resulting in a new car that we can pick up tomorrow! Here's the dish on our new SWEEEEET ride! haha!

2004 Honda Accord EX
Graphite Pearl Exterior (a pretty name for gray)
Gray Leather Interior with heated seats
6 Disc CD Player
Tinted Windows
Sun/Moon Roof (tilts and opens)
Dual Heat (his and hers, as i like to call it)
Auto lock, windows, and seat
Keyless entry (the feature i wanted the most)

It's beautiful and so fun to drive! The dealer offered us (not us offered to him) $1400 less than he was asking, simply because we said we were looking at another similar car and he wanted our business. We ended up getting the car for $2600 less than Kelly Blue Book price (its like our online bible when car shopping)! We're so excited! We'll post a picture sometime!

Quick! Limited Offer!

2009-03-03T14:39:00.001-07:00

Another fun blog game!The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make! (Though I hope you will!)
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It'll be done this year. {might be a little while}
4. You have no clue what it's going to be. I don't even have a clue what it's going to be.
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did, win a homemade gift! It may not be great, but it will be fun!!* * *Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!* * *

Mr. Blake

2009-02-21T14:35:00.006-07:00

My neighbor Heather is a photographer and she took some adorable pics of my Blakester yesterday. The light was great, it was beautiful outside and she did a wonderful job! I can't imagine its easy taking pictures of a 2 year old, either. Click HERE to check out her photography blog! Here are a few of my favorite of Blake!

All photos taken by Heather Sellers Photography http://hsellersphoto.blogspot.com

I Heart Valentine's Day

2009-02-21T14:04:00.003-07:00

So, maybe this is old news cause Valentine's Day was a whole week ago, but I thought share our fun day with you! First of all, the three of us went to visit Tim, Abby and Dayton in Rigby. Uncle Doug got to see Dayton for the first time and I enjoyed holding him and thanks to Tim, I was allowed the priviledge of changing his diaper too! (Whatever it takes to get favorite aunt status, right?) And his chubby cheeks and beauiful eyes make my heart melt, so i'd do anything for this sweet little guy! He was so alert and it was fun to see a little more personality!Now, it only took us a year and a half in this house to realize that our kitchen table was better off in the kitchen, instead of in the dining/living room. But after moving our table there we realized that it just wasn't working out to well, and a new table was the only solution. We looked at a few and found this table at Oak Express/Furniture Row. It came with 4 barstools/chair and its counter height. We went and picked it up on Valentine's day, and so therefore, this is my gift from my valentine (i'm so spoiled i know).

After putting the new table together (you would think its came from IKEA seriously) and loading up the older one for Shane and Jess, we cooked a yummy dinner of steak, coconut shrimp, and mashed potatoes! We bought the shrimp frozen, all it had to do was bake for a few minutes and it was ready. I found a recipe for the pina colada sauce like they have at red lobster and it was all great! (and much cheaper than red lobster too)

And just in case any of you love coconut shrimp too, the brand was called SeaPak and we got it at Walmart and here's the sauce recipe: 1/3 cup sour cream, 1/3 cup pina colada drink mix, and crushed pineapple with a little bit of pineapple juice. Super easy, try it out!

Dayton Timothy Campbell

2009-02-11T13:48:00.005-07:00

Our family is so excited that Dayton finally made his arrival! Blake and I got to meet him today and he is so beautiful and so sweet! Its amazing how perfect little ones can be! We love him so much already. It will be fun for Blake to have a cousin close by! He weighed in at 8 lbs. 11 oz. and is 21 inches long. Dayton has lots of dark hair and his skin is so soft! Congrats to Tim and Abby! We love you baby Dayton!

Man, they're getting old.....

2009-02-07T14:03:00.004-07:00

This week my mom, Cindy and Doug's dad, Mike both had birthdays. We were totally kidding about them being old, they are both young, vibrant, and make great grandmas and grandpas.

My dad and I planned a surprise birthday party for mom since she turned 50. Shhhh! Don't tell her I posted her age online. She was totally surprsied (since everyone parked at the neighbors and trudged through the snow to get to our house) and we had lots of her friends and neighbors over to have cake and ice cream! Thanks to Tim and Abby for your help, too! Mom's birthday was actually the day after her party, and she and dad had plans to go watch SR wrestle Blackfoot. We went too and got to see some good matches. We also had our friend Ryan, the announcer wish Mom a Happy 50th Birthday over the mic! It's very hard to embarrass my mom. She just waved to the crowd like a beauty queen when they said it was her birthday! And then last night we got to go to dinner with Mom and Dad and Tim and Abby. (For some reason, turning 50 requires a 3 day celebration.) Here's why my mom rocks:

1. She loves all her extended family very much, especially the grandkids. She always knows whats going on with all her neices and nephews their families as well!

2. She always helps me when I ask! (And I always ask for help when I'm painting)

3. She used to take me and my friends toilet papering before I had my license.

4. She helps me accomplish any sewing project I have at hand. And usually let me make my sewing mess at her house too. :)

5. She's a great babysitter... and for free too!

Love you Mom! Happy Birthday!

Mike turns, well lets just say he's slighty older than my mom, and we get to celebrate his birthday tonight at dinner and then tomorrow for dessert! Blake always loves being around Grandpa VanOrden! Here's why we all love Mike!

1.He always gives good gifts, especially to Blake. He even gives gifts when there is no occasion.

2.He is a good boss and forgives Laura's tardiness on a regular basis.

3.He has a hidden sense of humor that most don't get to see, but we get to enjoy often!

4.He spoils his daughter-in-laws because he never had daughters.

5.He has lots to teach us about life, the gospel, and raising a family.

Happy Birthday Dad! We love you!

Two, Two, Too Funny

2009-02-06T13:57:00.003-07:00

Since Blake's birthday in October, his vocabulary has been growing like crazy and he talks in complete sentences. My neighbor says that he probably talks so well because we talk to him a lot and we talk to him like he's a grown up, instead of like a baby. Blake has been cracking me up lately with the things he says. This is what he said the other day when he was in the bath tub and I was doing my makeup.

Blake: "Uh, Laura?"

Me: "Yes?"

Blake: "What's your name?"

Me: "You said it right, its Laura."

Blake : "Oh........... thats a nice name."

And then the other day all three of us are in the car on the way home at night. I think Blake was trying to fall asleep and Doug and I were carrying on a conversation a little too loudly I guess. From the back seat we hear "GUUUUUYYYYS! Sut up!" We both bust up in laughter (we're not the best examples obviously). But we couldn't help it.

Okay, one more. Mom and I were at Porters and she bought some fake flowers for her house. Blake has holding the silk flowers and stand up in the cart, holds the flowers right in front of him and says, "Gramma, I'm married." He must have noticed the wedding picture I just put up.....

Point is, Blake is talking like a mad man and growing up so fast! I totally enjoying carrying on conversations with him, he is hilarious! :)

My First Baby

2009-01-16T11:53:00.002-07:00

My friends Stephanie tagged me! Here goes!

1. Were you married at the time? Yes.
2. What were your reactions when you found out you were pregnant? I "had a feeling" before taking the test, so I wasn't too surprised by the results.
3. How old were you? I was 18 when Blake was born.
4. How did you find out you were pregnant? Like I said, I kind of just knew, but I did take a test on Valentine's Day!
5. Who did you tell first? Doug
6. Did you want to find out the sex? Oh, yes! I was sure it was a girl though. Doug guessed right!
7. Due date? Oct. 18, 2006
8. Did you deliver early or late? 4 Days early, on the 14th.
9. Were you sick? Once in a while, but nothing too bad!
10. What did you crave? Ice cream and mexican food!
11. Who irritated you the most? There wasn't a person, just the stretch marks irritated me...
12. What was your first child's sex? Boy. All boy.
13. How many pounds did you gain throughout the pregnancy? 28 pounds
14. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? Nope.
15. Where did you give birth? The Birthing Center in Blackfoot.. i think it was called Mountain River or something like that.
16. How many hours were you in labor? 12 hours ish.
17. Who drove you to the hospital? Doug. Twice. We got there and they sent us home "to labor." Within an hour we were back there. Such mean nurses!
18. How much did your child weigh? 7 lbs. 7 oz.
19. Did your child have any complications? We used the vaccuum to get him out because my contractions slowed down so much.
20. What did you name him/her? Blake Douglas VanOrden
21. How old is your first born today? 2 years, 3 months
22. Who does your child look like? He has a lot of Campbell and a little VanOrden!

If you want to do this post, consider yourself tagged!

Family Pictures

2009-01-12T18:12:00.006-07:00

Besides 3 weddings, the V.O.'s haven't had family pictures taken since Blake, Lyndsey, Jessica and I joined the family so we all decided it was time and we had them taken a few weeks ago. Michelle Bowen took the pictures and she did a great job! Thanks, Michelle!

Year in Review: 2008

2009-01-05T18:30:00.007-07:00

January: Major Kitchen Remodel including cabinets, countertops, tile backsplash and floor, paint, trim, etc. February: Helped with Blackfoot Jr. Miss Self Expression - Masquerade

March: Spring Break and Easter in Lancaster, PA with Al, Amber, Jackson, and Marcus. We visited Hershey, Washington D.C., and Philidelphia while we were there.

April: Blake went to Nursery, officially

May: Big Birthday Bash for Grandpa Tyler's 90th

June: Relay for Life and a new roof over our heads

July: Campbell Family Reunion, a visit from Alan and Amber

August, September, October: Grain, Potato, Beet Harvest. Lots of long hours in the tractor and 10 wheeler. Blake moved to a new bed and a new room downstairs. November: Bedroom and Office Remodel, New Carpet, Trim, Doors, and Paint.

December: Big 12 Championship Game in Kansas City, Planned and pulled off the ward Christmas party program, Painted our family room, Entry way and downstairs landing.

We had a great year and accomplished a lot of projects on our house, thus shortening the list of home projects for 2009. We are looking forward to a nephew in February and a neice in April and Becki's and Pablo's wedding all in 2009. On a less exciting note, we are hoping for recessed lighting, refinished hardwood floors, textured walls, new paint, a few new interior doors and new trim in the living room this year. A garden is also on our wishlist....wish us luck! Hope you all have a great 2009!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2009-01-05T13:38:00.004-07:00

Christmas vacation included way to much yummy food, lots of Phase 10 Twist, a few blizzards, 4 seasons of Gilmore Girls (and counting) and plenty of presents! Here are the details!

Let's start with Doug's super birthday! Doug turned 21 on the 21st. His birthday was on Sunday and so we celebrated all weekend! We went to see the movie Seven Pounds on Saturday and then enjoyed a great dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Mom and Dad had Blake that night and it was great to have a date, just the two of us! Doug's parents were out of town that weekend, so Mom fixed Doug's birthday dinner: missionary chicken and mashed potatoes. Yum! We had birthday cake and a few of Doug's friends came over to visit. He got a few clothes and movies for his birthday.

We kept up the tradition of going to the movies on the 24th and we saw Madagascar 2. It was pretty funny and Blake enjoyed all the animals. We hosted Christmas Eve at our house and both families came. Blake had all four of his grandparents there along with 4 great grandparents. We ate dinner and then we had a special Christmas program that we adopted from my sister in law Amber's family. Her dad wrote the program and it was a great addition to our usual traditions! Blake also opened his Christmas p.j.'s for Grandma Campbell!

Blake falling asleep with a chicken nugget in each hand in the way to the movie!

We spent the night at mom and dad's house and opened up our presents there the next morning with Mom and Dad, Tim and Abby, Grandpa and Syble, and Sandy. Santa brought Blake a parking garage, dinosaurs, playdoh, a baby horsey (thats what he asked for), clothes and a winter coat. Doug got a new 120 GB ipod classic and has been uploading music like crazy. And I got a sewing machine! Its a Brother and has like 60 stitches! I love using it and have started a few projects for Abby and Jessica. Mom and Dad got us sleeping bags and a few dutch oven accessories and we are excited to use them next summer!

After opening presents, we headed over to V.O.'s for breakfast and more presents. They gave us the illustrated Hymnbook, the same gift we gave them and a gift card to Sams Club. We have been working hard to get out 72 hour kit and food storage put together and both of our parents helped us out a lot. We played games played his Blake's toys and then Mike, Sheila and Curtis came with us to Christmas Dinner at the Campbell's house. It was a crazy blizzard outside and we got the tractor stuck at Mom and Dad's house... Only in Idaho do you drive a tractor to Christmas Dinner at the neighbors!

The day after Christmas we decided to get busy and start painting. We painted the family room, downstairs landing, and back entry way over the course of the next week. We had a quiet New Years with a few games and movies and have enjoyed just hanging out the last few days. New Year's Eve also brought the exciting news of Becki and Pablo getting engaged! Wahoo! New Year's day was the Perkes Party and we enjoyed seeing lots of Doug's aunts, uncles, and cousins. Doug went back to work today and I think its about time we got back to our normal schedule. We are sad to leave 2008 behind but we have lots to look forward to in 2009!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town....

2008-12-23T21:59:00.004-07:00

Blake knows only three Christmas songs and has been singing them non-stop for the past month. Other than singing, Blake's other preparations have consisted of attempting to unwrap his Christmas Eve jammies.

Doug on the other hand has been a little busier preparing for the holiday. He's been working some, shoveling a lot of snow, and helping me drop divinity when i need an extra hand. We celebrated his birthday on sunday... and i'll have to post more on that later!

I decided to host Christmas Eve dinner at my house, since both sets of parents were going to be empty nesters and we didn't want anyone to be alone. We moved a few things around and there should be just enough room to squeeze everyone in! Now if you know me at all, you know that i'm all about the yummy food on holidays. Needless to say, Doug and I have been cooking all afternoon and will finish the final preparations tomorrow morning before hitting the movie theatres. We are all looking forward to a great holiday, and hope you all have great Christmas too!

Trampoline + Yummy Food +Presents = Awesome Family Parties!

2008-12-20T08:23:00.009-07:00

Sorry this post is so late... I was waiting for the pictures to complete the post! Enjoy!

Last month we had a few family parties on the calender. The a.m. of the 13th was the big VanOrden party. They held it down in Pocatello at the Youth Training Center, where Doug's cousin Lisa practices all of her gym routines. She is an amazing gymnast and we had way too much fun watching her perform a little for us and also playing on the trampolines and in the foam pit. We even got Mike and Sheila up on the tramps! Blake had a great time running around and playing in the foam as well! We got to see most of Doug's cousins and aunts and uncles and had a great time! Thanks to Julie and Garth for planning such a fun afternoon!

Doug thinking of a new career as a gymnast! Haha! I crossed my fingers that we wouldn't have to stop at the hospital on our way home!
Lisa showing off her awesome moves! This girl is so talented! Thanks Lisa!

Then we headed to the Willows where both Grandma V.O. and Grandpa Perkes live. Our family put on a small musical program for the residents as our Christmas gift to the Grandmas. We have done this before and will make it a tradition for years to come.

Saturday night we had a small party with just Doug's immediate family. Shane and Jess headed home to SC for Christmas so we wanted to party with them and exchange gifts before they left. We had so much yummy food and played games until we were all exhausted! They also gave us a few of our gifts early... Doug got new work boots and I got a shark hand vaccuum. Exactly what I asked for... seriously. Mike also got Lyndsey, Jessica and I the complete series of Gilmore Girls and I am loving it! There's nothing better than being spoiled by two dads! Blake got a Ball Bopper and it held his attention the rest of the evening! Thanks Dad and Mom for a great party!

Sunday after church we went out to Ed and Linda's for another family party. It was fun to see Grandma and Grandpa Campbell and Joni and Adam. Katy and Eric were there too and I got to see baby Eliza. She is too precious! I didn't get any pcitures, sorry!

I think our muscles are still recovering from jumping on the tramps, but we had a great weekend with our families!

Santa's Sleigh

2008-12-09T14:29:00.003-07:00

We have been trying to introduce potty training to Blake and he hasn't been the slightest bit interested. But he did find another use for his "potty seat." Yesterday he had me look at "santa's sleigh and the reindeer." Blake has quite the imagination! He's been draggin this around the house for hours at a time. I'm glad he at least found a use for the potty seat!

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

2008-12-04T22:37:00.003-07:00

This one is for you, Becki:

After bringing out the tree and decorations, we decided one tree just wasn't enough... so Blake and I headed out and bought another tree. We have one in the new office with our decorations from last year. And the tree in the living room is traditionally red, green and white. It seems like I got the tree put up so late this year, I can't believe the holiday is only three weeks away!

Doug is headed to Kansas City in the a.m. with Dad and Tim, where they will meet up with Al for the Big 12 Championship Game: Missouri vs. Oklahoma on Saturday. Knowing Dad and Al, they will probably see everything there is to see in the area and drag Doug and Tim around with them until they are all exhausted! I'm sure they are going to have a great time.

Friday night is our ward Christmas party, and Doug and I were put in charge of the entertainment. Since Doug won't be here, I guess its up to me to make sure everything goes smooothly... wish me luck!

Okay, this family picture is actually from Thanksgiving. I just put it up so Amber and Becki can see my new hair color. Its barely long enough for a ponytail... we're making progress!

Yep, stocking are already hung. We are ready and waiting for Santa!

And this is the tree in the office, nothing fancy. Its really just the room lit up with lights that makes it wonderful!

2 Remodeled Rooms!

2008-12-04T22:12:00.004-07:00

I finally convinced Doug to hang up my pictures in my bedroom so i could take pictures to put on our blog. This monday we had our carpet installed and we have fallen in love.... with our new carpet! We are both enjoying having carpet in our bedroom, where their used to be hardwood floors. We textured, painted, replaced doors and closet doors and updated the trim in both our bedroom and Blake's old room upstairs, which is now the office. I did most of the painting and prep work and Doug installed the doors and did the trim work. We have learned a lot from just doing these two rooms that will help with the rest of the house and in future houses as well. Although being under construction can be stressful at times, we are always so happy with the finished product and are glad we learned how to do the project by ourselves. Here are a few pics of our updated rooms! For those of you who have been to my house before, you may notice that I got a new bedspread as well! :)

These are the new doors that we installed. They are about a million times better looking than the orange colored wood doors that were there before.

Thanksgiving and Black Friday

2008-11-29T18:38:00.002-07:00

We spent this Thanksgiving with both sides of our family. Our day included: 3 turkeys, 5 kinds of pie, and looking through the friday adds about a million times. A few of the Perkes aunts and uncles came for dinner at the V.O.'s and all the regulars were there for dinner at the Campbell's. We enjoyed seeing lots of family on Thanksgiving, along with great food!

We left the house at 5:00 a.m. on Friday to kick off our holiday shopping. We went to Circuit City, Target, Old Navy and lots of other stores at the mall all before 9:00 a.m. We got everything we wanted, and just need a few more small things and we'll be done. I know there are 26 days until Christmas, plenty of time for shopping, but its nice to be done!

We finished all the touch ups today and are ready for carpet on monday morning. We'll try to post pics of our two newly remodeled bedrooms on monday night or tuesday. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday! Here are just a few things we are looking forward to before Christmas!

1. Making candies for the neighbors
2. Family Christmas parties
3. Christmas Movies and Music
4. Putting up the tree and decorating the house
5. Doug's birthday
6. Going skiing... we wish!
7. Doug finishing up this semester
8. The magic of Christmas morning!

Say 8 Tag

2008-11-26T01:16:00.003-07:00

My sister in law Jessica tagged me... i thought this looked fun! Carpet is here on Monday and I will post pics from this weekend soon!

8 Favorite TV Shows
1. Friends
2. Biggest Loser
3. 24
4. Gilmore Girls.... and that's about all i have time for!

8 Favorite Restaurants
1. Texas Roadhouse
2. Red Robin
3. Olive Garden
4. Melina's
5. Rupe's Burgers
6. Applebee's
7. Hong Kong
8. Quizno's Subs

8 Things That Happened Yesterday
1. Painted at Rachel's
2. Grocery Shopped for Thanksgiving
3. Helped Doug with Trim and closet shelves
4. Picked up Pizza for Dinner
5. Decided to make Lemon Meringue Pie for T-day
6. Checked my facebook
7. Cuddled with Blake and watched Biggest Loser Families
8. Loaded and Unloaded the Washer, Dryer and Dishwasher a few times!

8 Things That I Look Forward to
1. Christmas Shopping and Decorating
2. A ponytail
3. New Carpet... in less than a week!
4. Getting together w/the girls on Saturday!
5. Doug Graduating from College
6. Blake being potty trained
7. Losing 5 pounds....during the holidays yeah right!
8. Christmas Caroling

8 Things I Love about Fall/Winter
1. Hot Cocoa and Apple Cider
2. Thanksgiving Pies...who cares about turkey?
3. Skiing.... love it but it hardly happens.
4. Doug's month vacation from school
5. Not having to mow the lawn and do yard work
6. Its a great time to remodel!
7. Staying home because its so cold out!
8. Spinning cookies in a frozen parking lot- a little immature i know!

8 Things On My Wishlist
1. Exercise Capris (they are on their way)
2. New necklace
3. Blue/Teal Pillow cases and throw pillows
4. Refinished hardwood floors
5. a larger food storage
6. House Slippers
7. A nephew and a neice
8. Lindor Truffles

8 Friends I Tag:
Amber C., Becki C., Lyndsey V.O., Stephanie K.,Whitney A., Amanda F., Emily H., Katy R.

We Are Grateful

2008-11-25T23:49:00.003-07:00

5 Things Doug is Grateful for:
1. Laura and Blake
2. Turkey and Pumpkin Pie
3. Low Gas Prices
4. School
5. My father in laws Power tools: chop saw and nail gun

5 Things Laura is Grateful for:
1. Doug and all his hard work
2. Christmas Music
3. Internet, Cell Phones and Skype :)
4. Awesome Neighbors and Friends
5. Thanksgiving Pies!

5 Things Blake is Grateful for:
1. Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Oatmeal with Raisins
2. Jack, Spencer, Cooper and all my friends
3. Grandmas and Grandpas
4. Cindarella
5. my new bed and room

I almost titled this post "Its Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas" but i thought i better wait till Thanksgiving is over. Even though Thanksgiving is just around the corner, we are already planning lots for Christmas and the whole month of December. I am looking forward to some Black Friday shopping and am hoping to have almost all of my shopping done by friday afternoon! They asked us to put the entertainment/program together for the Ward Christmas party on the 5th so we have been busy working on that as well. Our December list also includes taking treats to neighbors, Doug's birthday, and a few extended family parties! Our family is good at being busy and we are looking forward to a busy, fun filled holiday season! But for now, Happy Thanksgiving!

November Update

2008-11-12T23:18:00.003-07:00

I've been slacking on our blog, mostly because there hasn't been much other than the ordinary going on. Doug is super busy with school and is working hard to keep his grades up. He goes to school two hours before class to study and then comes home from work, swallows a little dinner and then he's back working on another paper or project. We will all be glad to have this semester over with.

I have been busy finished up projects that i started before harvest. I finished Blake's tractor quilt and pillow case and his room it totally put together except for curtains over the closet. His room is also storing our desk for now, so i will take pics when its totally finished. This is his third night sleeping downstairs and he's not moving back to his crib, since i took it down today and put it away for a while. Blake seems to adjust to change so well. He has done so great moving from crib to twin size bed, upstairs to downstairs. We are trying to introduce potty training, but switching everything else might be enough for him for now.

Don't worry though, his horse named "Cup" is already potty trained. The other day i was fixing my hair in the bathroom and Blake comes running in telling me his "Cup horse needs to go pee." He puts the lid up and puts the potty seat on and hold the horse over the toilet while he kind of sings the word "Peeeeeee." Oh this kid cracks me up all the time! He has the best imagination.

We also had a new front door put on our house. Not only was our last door real ugly, we had a horrible draft coming through last winter. We will need to paint it next summer, but we are glad to have it put in before winter.

Our next project is the Office (blake's old room upstairs) and our bedroom. We are priming, texturing, painting, replacing interior doors and baseboard trim, and having new carpet installed. We have been aching for an office for a while now and have just been waiting for Blake to be old enough to move downstairs. Our kitchen table seems to collect everything: Cub Scouts, Primary, text books, computer, holiday decor, bills, purses, backpacks, and everything else that doesn't a spot in our house. We are looking forward to having an office to hold all of this randow stuff lying around, so we can use the table for family dinner! We are also excited about the change from hardwood floors to carpet in our bedroom!

We are hoping to have the carpet layed the monday after thanksgiving and then move everything back into the 2 bedrooms upstairs. Oh, and let's throw a couple of Modbe Parties, Enrichment and a Primary Talent Show in before Thanksgiving too! Call me if you want to help paint!

A Cowboy Says: Yeehaw!

2008-11-12T22:57:00.003-07:00

I know there are a few of you that have been waiting 2 weeks for these pictures... Sorry it took me so long to get them put on our blog. Halloween was fun for all three of us. Because of Blake's love for horses, get got to dress up as a Cowboy! He looked so grown up and so handsome on Halloween. Doug dressed up as a pirate and I was a witch, just like last year. :)

We stopped by the Willows to say hi to Grandma Perkes and Grandma VanOrden and then we headed to our ward trunk or treat. Blake wasn't sure about trick or treating. He got sick of saying trick or treat, please, and thank you, but he loved seeing everyone in their costumes. His friend Spencer was a ghost and you can tell Blake is a little scared of him in the picture below. There was a Mickey Mouse there as well and lots of other cool costumes. Blake learned the word scary the week before Halloween so he kept saying, "Whoa, Mickey Mouse is scary."

After the trunk of treat we went to our neighbors the Nelsons, who live just on the other side of the park from us. We played Settlers with them while Blake watched Aladdin. He also got a phone call from Becki! Here's a few pics of us at the Willows and at the trunk or treat!

Husband Tag

2008-11-04T23:56:00.002-07:00

WHAT IS YOUR HUSBAND'S NAME? Doug VanOrden
HOW LONG HAVE YOU GUYS BEEN MARRIED? 2 1/2 Years
HOW LONG DID YOU DATE? 2 1/2 Years
HOW OLD IS HE? Doug will be 21 on Dec. 21st
WHO IS TALLER? It's a tie.
WHO CAN SING BEST? This one is not a tie- Doug sings better!
WHO IS SMARTER? Are we talking ACT scores or do it yourself projects, oh wait- Doug is definately smarter in every aspect.
WHO DOES THE LAUNDRY? I generally do, except for during harvest when he is home more than i am.
WHO PAYS THE BILLS? He makes the money, i spend the money. It works well. :)
WHO SLEEPS ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BED? Me.
WHO MOWS THE LAWN? Doug does, but i do my fair share of yardwork as well.
WHO COOKS DINNER? Usually me, but Doug is great to help when he gets home from work or with the dishes.
WHO'S THE FIRST TO ADMIT THEY ARE WRONG? Neither. We are both always right.
WHO KISSED WHO FIRST? Doug kissed me.
WHO WEARS THE PANTS? We both enjoy wearing pants!

What now?

2008-10-24T10:56:00.003-06:00

We lifted the last sugar beets on Tuesday afternoon and now that harvest is over, Blake and I are not quite sure what to do with ourselves. Blake and i made a huge batch of Grandma Tyler's Raisin Cookies this week and Blake is a big fan of cookie dough. This morning i asked him what he wanted for breakfast and he told me cookie dough! We have been trying to clean up the house after a few months of neglect and we are hoping to get back to normal life soon! This sunday is our ward's primary program and then we are looking forward to a huge Modbe party, Halloween and Election Day. I threw in a few random photos that i wanted to share too- hope you don't mind!
Here is our to do list for the next couple of months, in no particular order:

1. Finish the trim in Blake's downstairs room

2. Finish Blake's tractor quilt for his big bed

3. Move Blake's room downstairs

4. Tear out the den: trim, doors, carpet

5. Texture and paint the new den, trim work, carpet, doors, etc.

6. Paint the back entry way white and finish trim work

7. Sew a "masculine" church bag for Blake's chuch stuff

8. Move desk, chair, bookcase and whatever else into the new den!

Hopefully we can finish our to do list/honey do list before Doug starts his spring semester in January. Wish us luck!

Blake Turns Two!

2008-10-24T10:16:00.003-06:00

Blake turned two on the 14th and I can't believe it came and went so fast! I took the day off from driving truck and stayed home with Blake to clean up the house, bake a birthday cake, wrap presents (while Blake was napping of course) and get ready for the big birthday party! Both Grandmas and Grandpas were there along with Jeff, Lyndsey and Curtis. Thanks everyone for coming to celebrate with us!

Blake got a Fridge Farm, a big barn with lots of animals, a Viewmaster with lots of slides, an adorable church sweater, a potty seat and even a potty book! He loved all of his gifts and had the hardest time telling them goodnight and falling asleep after his big birthday party!

Here are a just a few things that we love about Blake:

1. Blake is very polite. He usually says "please" and "thank you" without being promted to. He also loves to compliment people. The other day I was changing his diaper and he looks up at me and says "Pretty Hair, mom." I couldn't belive he would think to even say something like that. He cracks me up all the time.

2. He is a very clean little boy. Blake always likes to have his hands clean (just like his mom) and he is always willing to clean up his toys when mom says its time to put them away.

3. Blake has quite the imagination. The other day he was walking around with some ipod headphones up to his ear talking to his Grandpa on the phone, i guess. He kept saying " Hi Grandpa, ya, i know, i know, okay, goodbye." I hear that he has pretend tea parties with Marcus at Grandma's house too.

4.He dances like a maniac! If there is music, Blake is dancing. It doesn't matter if its the opening hymn in church or the radio, he is always dancing around. He loves to sing, too. He will sing "hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, Cindarelli."

5. Blake loves to learn. He came to ride in the truck with me and loved seeing the beets being loaded in the big trucks. While we would drive he would point out every horse, cow, big truck, choo choo train, sugar beet, and even his new friends Janice and Tamera.

6. My favorite time with Blake is right before he goes to bed. Not only because I love the silence after a day of Blake's non stop talking but because he settles down so easily and he uses his cute wisper voice. He wispers goodnight and that he loves me and usually a few comments about horses before he goes to bed.

We love Blake and are so glad that he is in our family. He makes us smile and laugh everyday and i'm not sure what we would do without him. We love you, Blake! Enjoy being two!

Harvest Time

2008-09-28T16:08:00.007-06:00

Yesterday, Sheila stopped by the cellar with Blake and we decided to take pictures. Blake got to sit on my lap while we drove around the cellar and backed up to the stinger to unload. He also got to see Dad, Grandpa, Curtis, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Lyndsey and Curtis all at the cellar. And you can't forget the spuds rolling by on the belts. He would watch them go by for minutes at a time! Here are a few pics- don't mind that everyone is covered in dirt!

For some reason...

2008-09-22T22:52:00.002-06:00

This morning our family woke up to the news that Wayne Richards, long time DJ for KLCE Classy 97, passed away last night. For some reason, this news was very hard to take and I am still so shocked. Because my car doesn't have a CD player, I listed to KLCE quite often and even for hours at a time during harvest. I have never met Wayne, but as I was thinking about all the ways " I know him" and I have come to understand why I will miss him. When I was little it was his voice that would tell me that school was cancelled due to a snow storm. And I have only heard his voice annouce about a million times that Odells is once again having another sale. :) But I think the one event that will change the most for me is the 4th of July fireworks. Wayne's amazing voice was an essential part of the freedom celebration and I will especially miss his voice next summer as we watch the fireworks.

Even though I did not know Wayne personally at all, I will miss his humble personality on the radio even morning. This man took a simple gift, his voice, and his talent to know what to say and when to say it. His voice will forever be remembered in this Southeast Idaho community.

Everything you need to know you can learn in Primary

2008-09-14T21:37:00.002-06:00

As I am the primary chorister in our ward, I get the oppurtunity to sit back and watch sharing time while I catch my breath for senior primary singing time. Junior primary is my favorite because the things they say just make me grin! Here is what I have learned in primary while we were talking about prayer the last two sundays.

Sis. Primary Leader: Do you think if I prayed for a million dollars Heavenly Father would give it to me?

Visitor: No.

Sis. Primary Leader: Why not?

Visitor: Because all rich people get greedy within 10 days of getting rich!

Sis. Primary Leader: Okay.......... so Heavenly Father doesn't always give us the answer we want, but he always answers our prayers, doesn't he?

WHAT? My friend Rachel, the primary pianist, and I were laughing out loud at this comment! And then today the kids were brainstorming places they can pray and times they can pray. The list was taking up the whole chalk board and some of the places you can pray were pluto, the bathroom, and Disneyland. The following conversation took place:

Sis. Primary Leader: Do you think this is all of the places you can pray or do you think there are more?

5 year old: No. There are at least 3,000 more.

Sis. Primary Leader: That's right. There's at least 3,000 more.

Oh the things these kids say just crack me up sometime and make me enjoy my calling so much more. You might not think these things are funny- maybe you just had to be there but I learned so much this week in primary.

September is Here Already?

2008-09-03T18:12:00.003-06:00

Our family is struggling with the fact that summer is pretty much over- we actually had to turn on the furnace last night. No more sleeping with the windows open when there is frost on your windsheild! There is one thing that helps us say goodbye to summer and hello to autumn, and that is the Easter Idaho State Fair! Not everyone loves the fair, but for Doug and I, it just might be the highlight of September!

Blake and I went to the parade on Saturday morning to see my cute Blackfoot Jr. Miss girls and then we went home (to change into shorts- it was so hot) and went to the fair with Doug, Mom and Becki. We saw about everything there is to see and ate almost all of my favorite fair food. Blake enjoyed seeing the big animals and his balloon at the fair and also loved the parade with all the fire trucks and the awesome people just walking around handing him candy.

We are headed back this weekend to go to the Demolition Derby- who doesn't love loud noises and watching old cars ram into each other... and to eat some more yummy food! I can't let the fair pass by without eating a Tiger Ear.... and a cheesecake on a stick, and a teriyaki bowl, and ice cream, and frozen lemonade... oh i could go on and on! Anyways- Happy Fair Week- its practically a holiday at our house!

Laura and Blake at the parade

Its not the fair without a balloon and a Culligan hat.

Had to take a picture with this huge horse to show Jackson!

Long hours + dirt + grain = harvest!

2008-08-21T19:42:00.008-06:00

So I wasn't planning on driving truck until the first of Sept. when we started spud harvest, but they needed some extra help, so i've been driving truck for a few weeks now. I really don't mind the work- its good pay, Sheila keeps Blake for us (what a saint!), I get to see Doug in the field, and the worst part is that sometimes it gets boring.... I have been entertaining myself by singing along with the radio (notice the updated playlist of my recent favorites) and I just finished reading Twilight. We enjoy the company of the stars as we do laundry and dishes and it seems like we just crash every night, but knowing its only a few months provides light at the end of the tunnel!

We have also enjoyed visits from some of my cousins, Melissa and Jared and their two boys, Eric and Danny from Texas. Their kids are so smart and adorable. And another visit from my amazing cousin Lisa, her hilarious husband Wayne, and their super cool kids, Emily, Johnny, Carrie, and Benny, who live in Missouri. Blake loved playing with the boys (see the pics below)!

Doug's little brother, Curtis turned 16 a couple weeks ago and he had to spend the whole day in the tractor working. I threw him a surprise party and invited all his friends, mostly girls- what a ladies man, and he seemed to enjoy it. I hope he enjoyed his Sweet 16!

The only bad news to share is that I have had a tooth hurting and got in to the dentist today to find that I have to have a root canal next week. :( Whatever they did today was just a preview of what's going down next week, and I walked out of the office in tears today from the pain!

Besides the discouraging root canal, we are doing fine. We are looking forward to our friends Sherise and Nate getting married tomorrow and then Doug starting school on Monday.

Here are just a few pics of Blake riding in the tractor and combine with Doug and Shane, and having a fun with his cousins -enjoy!

Blake, Danny and Eric ganging up on my dad in a major pillow fight!

Blake applying what he learned in summer swimming lessons.

Any uncle that takes Blake for a ride in the BIG combine is an instant hero!

Shane letting Blake drive the combine. Thanks uncle Shane, you're great!

On the mend...

2008-08-01T10:01:00.003-06:00

We went back to Dr. Matsuuras office yesterday and the intern that was working there removed two more pieces of metal. The assistant that has worked there for 16 years said she has never seen so many "foreign objects" in a single eye before. Doug went back to work today and the dialation is almost gone. Now he just has to worrry about antibiotic/steriod drops for the next few days. His eye is looking so much better and the swelling has gone down as well. He should be ready to work a busy 75 hour week starting Monday! We are grateful that everything has turned out okay and we will consider this the first of many "Harvest Blessings."

Right Eye Update

2008-07-30T14:07:00.002-06:00

Monday at noon Doug was working on some metal with Curtis at the shop and he got some tiny metal shavings in his eye. Now Doug's eyes are used to dirt, grime, oil and grain dust, but it was hurting real bad so they took him to the clinic in town. The Dr and I both looked at his eye with the dye, black light, and magnified glass and we could see multiple scratches and "foreign objects" in there. The Dr assumed that they had worked their way out and he has fine. He taped his eye shut and sent him home saying it should be 100% better with in 24 hours.

Next day... still red and irritated, but Doug wouldn't agree and he went to work. This morning, it was still hurting so we headed back into the clinic and saw a different doctor. We looked at it again and the Dr said he didn't feel comfortable working on his eye and sent us to an eyedoctor in town. Dr. Matsura took out 5 foreign objects, not just the one we could see and he wants Doug to come back in tomorrow to see if the last one will work itself out a little more.

Poor Doug got gouged in the eye like 8 times at the eye doctor and then they dialated his eye and put a contact in to help it heal, all of which is totally new to Doug since he's only been to the eye doctor once in his life. He's at home resting now, his eye looks pretty bad and he is milking this for all that its worth!

I won't post pics, since his eyes look scary (one dialated and one not) but just think about how Will Smith looks on the movie Hitch after he has the alergic reaction! haha- there's a visual for ya! Other than Doug's eye, we are doing great! They started cutting grain yesterday and we are looking forward to a busy couple of months.

10 Things To Look Forward To

2008-07-17T13:50:00.004-06:00

Just a few things our family is looking forward to this next week:

1. Al coming to Idaho
2. Dutch Oven
3. A visit with Angie and Mike (hopefully!)
4. Lloyd's welcome home
5. The Cabin in Island Park
6. The Playmill Theatre
7. Rafting
8. Playing with Cousins
9. The Rexburg Temple
10. More yummy Dutch Oven Food!

Busy Weekend

2008-07-14T19:28:00.007-06:00

Don't let me fool you- I enjoy being busy, but these last few days have been out of control and all three of us are exhausted. Amber and the boys arrived late Wednesday night and Blake and I enjoyed a good visit and a relaxing day out at mom's house on Thursday. That eveing i attended Enrichment and a Bridal Shower. Friday Blake and I headed up to Rexburg to help Shane and Jess pack up to move home later that day. They had a crazy week and their place was out of control (no offense Jessica- i love you). After packing up their apartment we headed to Ashton for the Campbell family renunion. Doug arrived a few hours after us and enjoyed golfing with Dad, Tim and Joni. It's always fun to catch up with everyone and the boys had so much fun. Blake and Jackson spent almost the whole day in the bike trailer. (see the pics below) The Scott and Cindy Family cooked dinner- and I must admit that the dutch oven food is one of my favorite parts of the reunion. Dad always says "If you starve at the Campbell Family Reunion its your own fault."

We were exhausted by the time we got home and crashed. Saturday Doug took Blake to work with him and i headed to Sandy, UT for my cousin Katrina's shower with Mom, Sandy, Becki, and Amber. It was fun to catch up with more cousins and I'm glad we could all go.

Sunday was pretty much normal, consisting of singing time (the kids were off the walls for some reason) and then dinner with the Campbell Fam. Sunday evening was the viewing for Doug's Grandpa Perkes. Today was Grandpa's funeral and we had the honor of singing in a few musical numbers. It was interesting to lean more about his childhood and the great life that he led. It was also fun to see Sheila with her brothers. They all take great care of eachother and it was neat to see this experience bring them closer together. Grandpa Perkes has been a great example to us and it is an honor to be his grandchildren. We will miss you Grandpa Perkes!

Memory Game

2008-07-10T16:49:00.000-06:00

Here is a fun little game... leave a comment on my blog of a memory that you and I have had together. It doesn't matter if you've known me for a short time or a long time, anything that you remember! Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It is pretty funny to read the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you are playing and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. On your mark... get set... blog those memories!

4th of July

2008-07-05T13:58:00.005-06:00

I must admit that the 4th of July just might be my favorite holiday.... We don't have to buy gifts, wrap them, drive on snowy roads or anything like that to enjoy the 4th!

Yesterday was a beautiful day and we started it out with our ward breakfast at the church. Mom, Dad, and Becki came with Blake and I while Doug did a little work on the farm. After breakfast Doug and I went to visit Aunt Myrtle. We had a great visit and we wnjoyed catching up with her. Aunt Myrtle turned 98 last week and is still going strong. It's fun to live in her ward and get to know her better.

We then headed up to I.F. and staked out our spot for the fireworks. It's not like our spot is secret (it was crowded for sure) but i must admit that i think its the best! We had lunch with the Campbell Family for Tim's birthday and then headed to see Wall-E, the movie. I slept through part of it, but i think Blake enjoyed it!

After a little shopping, we made our way to our nice patch of weeds that we had chosen to watch the fireworks from. Doug and I walked around the greenbelt towards the Liberty Festival, as they call it. There was a band playing, a few carival games and lots of yummy food- we enjoyed a funnel cake and shaved ice.

We enjoyed waiting for the fireworks with Shane Jessica, Curtis, Mom, Dad, Becki, and Sandy. Tim and Abby came to see the show as well. The fireworks were awesome and even bigger and better than last year! I forgot how much i loved fireworks! Blake got scared and had Doug cover his hears because he wasn't too sure about all the loud bangs. He fell asleep half way through the show, just like last year....

Relay For Life

2008-06-23T13:09:00.004-06:00

This past friday night was the Bingham County Relay for Life, the main fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. The event was held at the Blackfoot High School football field and track, where we camped on the field and walked all night long. The Relay began friday evening with a lap around the track by Cancer Survivors and then caregivers join in for the second lap and then all the teams join in for the third lap. From that point on, our team had at least one member walking the track until 7 a.m. Around 10 at night, they turned off all the tights and we lit our luminaria bags with candles glowing inside, each representing a person that has either survived or passes away from cancer. As we walked around the track in silence, there were luminarias on the bleachers spelling out the word HOPE. As we reached our campground, we turned to notice hope had been changed to CURE. That's when i realized what a great event for such a great cause- to find a CURE for Cancer. They had all kinds of fundraisers going on prior to the event along with a silent auction. There were around 60 teams walking and I didn't hear the final total, but I know our little city of Blackfoot and surrounding area raised at least $85,000! Although we all crashed Saturday morning, I am definately looking forward to walking next year. I'm so glad I had the chance to be a part of such an awesome event that helps out so many people. Thanks mom for all your hard work for our Relay team!

The group of Cancer Survivors beginning the Relay for Life!

Mom ready and waiting for the Relay to begin!

Isn't Aunt Linda the Best! She took Blake for a walk to see the fire engine hoisting the flag!

Becki and I getting ready to walk and walk and walk and walk!

ABC's of ME

2008-06-23T10:23:00.002-06:00

Thanks Shelb for the tag!
ABC's of ME
A-Attached or Single? Attached. Definately.
B-Best Friend? Doug, Sherise, Angie, Rachel, Tessa, and Alana
C-Cake or Pie? Pie- apple, cherry, pumpkin, anything really.
D-Day of Choice? Saturdays in the winter when Doug doesn't have to work.
E-Essential Item? Cell Phone and Digital Camera
F-Favorite Color? Teal is my new fav!
G-Gummy bears or worms? Neither- watermelon sour patch
H-Hometown? Blackfoot, Iaho
I-Favorite Indulgence? Caramel Popcorn
J-January or July? July
K-Kids? Only one so far- Blake, 20 months
L-Life isn't complete without? Family, Friends, and let's face it- Food!
M-Marriage date? March 31, 2006
N-Number of brothers and sister? 2 brothers, 1 sister, 3 brother in laws, 3 sister in laws.
O-Oranges or apples? Apples... as in apple dumplings, caramel apples, apple pie. etc.
P-Phobias? Being along, rodents, natural running water.
Q-Quote? "Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured."
R-Reason to smile? Doug and Blake!
S-Season of choice? As a farmer's wife, we have winter, planting, summer, and harvest. I enjoy them all, but i'm enjoying summer and being about to work outside in the yard.
T-Tag 3 people: Stephanie Kreger, Ashley Olsen, Alysia Cook
U-Unknown facts about me? I pick up Blake's toys every few hours of every day. I can't stand the clutter and things not being in their correct place. I'm a little obsessive compulsive, and i make list after list after list to help me accomplish what needs to be done.
V-Vegetable? Love Corn on the Cob! Mmmmm!
W-Worst habit? Let's see... complaining, worrying, and i'm a little OCD, like Shelby.
X-X-ray or ultrasound? Only had 2 untrasounds, never had an x-ray.
Y-Your favorite food? Always up for steak and mashed potatoes from Roadhouse!
Z-Zodiac sign? Aries

Husband Tag

2008-06-23T09:38:00.002-06:00

What is his name? Doug VanOrden
How long have you been together? We've been married for over 2 years.
How long did you date? All through High School.
How old is he? Doug will be 21 in December.
Who eats more? Definately Doug, but i make good competition in this area.
Who said I love you first? Doug.
Who is taller? Honestly, me... by about a half inch or so.
Who can sing better? For sure Doug.
Who is smarter? Well, let's see... i'm not the one with the college scholarship.
Who does the laundry? Me Me Me. Doug + Laundry = Disaster. I would love for his help in this division, but he's just so bad at it!
Who pays the bills? Doug makes the money, Laura spends the money- we make a great team! haha!
Who sleeps on the right side? Right now- me. But we switch it up every once in a while.
Who mows the lawn? For sure this is Doug's job. There is nothing about yard work i hate more than mowing. I have even weeded the lawn by hand but still hate mowing.
Who cooks dinner? Oh, is someone supposed to do that in a marriage? I guess it should be my job... No, i really do cook dinner every now and then. I will be honest and admit that we do share a frozen $0.93 pizza once in a while and call that "dinner."
Who drives? I would like to think that we share responsibility here. I know if i drive, i don't have to buckle Blake in because that is the passenger's job.
Who is more stubborn?Hmmmm..... Doug.

Who is more sensitive? Me

Who kissed who first? Doug kissed and i kissed back.

Who proposed? Doug.
Who has more friends? Probably me.
Who has more siblings? We both have three siblings.
Who wears the pants? Doug generally makes the final decisions, but generally we are both wearing pants or jeans of some sort.
I tag: Amber Campbell, Katy Rawlins, Tessa Barrow, Natalie Styer

Lucky Charms

2008-06-20T14:24:00.002-06:00

This is how i found Blake after letting him eat his lucky charms on my bed while i got ready this morning. Gotta love those lucky charms!

Mom and Tot Swim Class

2008-06-20T14:03:00.002-06:00

Blake and I finished our Mom and Tot Swim Class today. We have had five classes over the last two weeks where we played games, sang "swimming" songs, and other activites. Our two neighbors and their boys, Blake's nursery friends, were in the same class and we had lots of fun! Thanks to our class, Blake feels very comfortable floating on his back and his tummy (with help of course) and loves jumping off the ledge into my arms. Blake didn't quite get to the point of blowing bubbles in the water, but i don't blame him- i hate water in my nose and mouth! Maybe next year we will both be brave and learn how to blow bubbles! Blake was so proud of himself when he would kick his legs or jump into the pool- it was so fun to watch him enjoy the water so much!
Blake, Mom.... and Spencer!

Just a June Update

2008-06-16T15:47:00.011-06:00

June has turned out to be busy busy busy and I have to admit that I am loving summer and everything it has to offer, especially the warmer temperatures. Last weekend we started tearing the roof off and by Thursday night we had a whole new roof. Thanks to all the family, friends, and awesome neighbors that helped us with the hard work. We really appreciate your help! Blake loved being outside and watching all the guys working. He kinda of got ignored all week, we're just glad he enjoys watching the "fun" from the pickup!We are also looking forward to cleaning out our garage so we can finally use it!

This last Saturday, we went to Lagoon with the the VanOrdens. I didn't take any pictures, so i will have to get a few from Jessica to post later, but we had a lot of fun. They have a few new rides and we especially liked Wicked and playing at Lagoon A Beach. We were planning on riding the Sky Coaster later in the afternoon but the power went out and the whole park was down. :( We enjoyed a nice dinner at Red Robin instead and can't wait for the one in Idaho Falls to open up! Thanks mom for keeping Blake so we could enjoy a fun day together!

This weekend Blake got to play in the sandbox at VanOrden's and he got to pet Grandpa Campbell's horses! Blake is all boy and loves being outside, getting dirty and any kind of animal, especially the horses!

Now I have to admit that I didn't plan anything exciting for Father's Day. Sorry Doug.... our new grill was intended for mothers/fathers day so Doug only got a new tie for Sunday. Blake colored a paper tie with yarn for his Dad in nursery and Doug wore it all day long! Blake loves his Dad so much and enjoys every moment he gets to spend with him. Thanks Doug for being such a great dad and husband. We love you and appreciate all you do for our family! This last picture is Blake watching Doug get dressed on Father's Day.... "i wanna be just like dad!"

Let Them Be Little

2008-06-11T14:02:00.003-06:00

I was holding Rachel's new baby LaRee the other day and all these memories of when Blake was born just came flooding into my mind. There are so many details that I don't want to forget. Then today when we were at our Mom and Tot swim class, Blake was having so much fun and was so proud of himself for "kicking" and "swimming." I try everyday to engrain theses wonderful moments into my memory to never be forgotten. I love little Blake and the time we get to spend together just the two of us, reading, playing, and sometimes even a little cuddling. I'm so grateful I can be home with him because I know these are years I will never be able to replace. Life seems to go by so fast, I can't believe how grown up Blake is getting. Just like the song says, I just wish Blake would stay little forever!

Summer Fun is Here!

2008-06-02T13:12:00.005-06:00

So let's be honest, our lives are getting busier as the summer begins, but not a lot worthy of its own blog post, so i thought i would leave a short update of our busy lives!

5 Exciting Things (to us anyways)

1. Today we ordered new windows for Blake's downstairs room and a new front door! Yay!

2. We got a new grill for Mother's Day/Father's Day!

3. Sheila taught Blake to say "please." He forget overnight...

4. We finally hung our red star up on our garage! So exciting, I know...haha!

5. We are looking at carpet and paint samples for our future office-yes blake is getting booted downstairs as soon as he is 2!

5 Things We Did This Last Week

1. Had a fun Modbe Party at Lyndsey's new house!

2. Helped with Elections for our precint last Tuesday

3. Blake got to go "farm" with Dad on Saturday

4. Had a nice visit with Amanda and Tyra Fullmer

5. Weeded a nice section of our dandelion filled lawn- not exactly fun, but rewarding i guess.

5 Things to Look Forward To In June

1. A New Roof- if its warm this weekend! Cross your fingers for us!

2. The V.O. Family "Reunion" at Lagoon on the 14th

3. Cooking all kinds of yummy food on our grill!

4. Mom and Tot swim classes at the Blackfoot Pool!

5. Participating in the Relay for Life

Here is Blake walking under to voting booths after "helping" mom set them all up before elections!

This is the Star I got at Real Deals almost 2 months ago! I finally got Doug to bring the ladder home to hang it up!

Doug and Blake "farming." Blake gets to ride in the front (with the air bag turned off of course) and look at the tractors, pivots, and anything else Doug makes look exciting!

This is our new Grill! I was too lazy to go outside and take the cover off ours to take a pic, so i stole this from the Walmart website!

And Here's a Pic of Jeff and Lyndsey's new house! We went to pic up my Modbe stuff and i just had to take a pic!

American Idol: Battle of the Davids

2008-05-21T19:05:00.002-06:00

So Blake and I are watching the beginning of the Americal Idol Finale. Blake is dancing along as well- haha! Anyways- i must admit that this is the first season in American Idol that i have actually picked up the phone and voted. Same for Doug. We have both been voting for David Archuleta, he's our favorite! Maybe its cause he's mormon, maybe cause he can actually sing, or maybe cause you just wanna pinch his cheeks cause he's so naive. As we anxiously await the announcement of the winner we will be spraying and pulling weeds. We seriously can't be sitting here to two hours just to find out the last name of the winner! Anyways, I guess this post is just to annouce that if Achuleta doesn't walk away with the title, we will never watch American Idol again!

90 Years Young

2008-05-20T15:36:00.003-06:00

Satuday was Grandpa Tyler's 90th Birthday and we all got to celebrate! Mom threw a party for Grandpa and we had a good visit with lots of family and neighbors. Grandpa looked sharp in his new tie and he looked like he enjoyed every minute of his birthday! He told me before the party that he likes to think of him self as 90 years young! The glass is always half full with Grandpa Tyler! Here are a couple of shots from Saturday afternoon!

boys + dirt = fun

2008-05-20T15:28:00.003-06:00

Our neighbors and good friends are installing a sprinkler system and will be laying sod soon. Doug went to help, along with a few other neighbors and I left Blake with Doug while i went walking with some other moms (as we do every week). Blake got to stay up late and "help" with the nieghbor's yard. He played in the dirt for three hours straight and he loved every minute of it. When i got back from my walk i went to check on Blake and he was just covered in dirt. Doug was dirty as well, but he came from work... The picture doesn't do the dirt justice, Blake's face was so dirty, especially his nose. He looked like a little scare crow!

Dandelions

2008-05-20T15:00:00.005-06:00

Our front lawn was looking great until dandelions started popping up everywhere, the back lawn was much worse than the front. We decided we would try a little weed killer where you walk around with a little spray bottle and spray the dandelions. After two applications of a small area of the front lawn, the bottle was half gone and the dandelions were barely starting to look sick. For family home evening, Doug and Blake worked in the flowers beds working in the manure and then they also potted the flower bed where our lovely bush used to reside. My job, self appointed of course, was to use the garden tool to dig up the dandelions in our front yard. After two hours i had a blister and my thighs were killing me. The front lawn is shaping up, but knowing the back lawn is much worse makes me want to cry thinking about hand weeding all those dandelions! Here's a few pics of our new flower bed, my potted gerbs, and my cute door hanging i got for mother's day!Some day there will hopefully be curbing and grass in that lovely dirt patch!

Try not to notice the siding that is practically falling off of our house! haha!

670 Curtis St.

2008-05-13T18:16:00.006-06:00

So i decided that home ownership is worthy of blogging about. As i was mowing our back yard, a.k.a. our dandelion field, i noticed about a million projects that need to be updated, replaced, fixed, or removed. Then i got thinking about what our house looked like last August when we moved in. I found our home inspection with pictures of our house when be bought it and i didn't realize how much better our house is looking just from keeping the lawn green and removing that overgrown bush! I decided to take a step back and take a look at the big picture (like from our sidewalk)! Here are pictures from before-august 2007 and then now-may 2008! If you can't tell which picture is before and which is after, just call me, i will explain it, and then cry!

Blake Douglas VanOrden

2008-05-12T17:52:00.005-06:00

So Gracie tagged Blake and I guess I am supposed to put 10 interest things about Blake!

1. Blake has looked like his dad from day one. Well, except for the hair obviously. Eveyone thinks he is a miniature Doug, but I would like to think that he got some of his good looks from his Mom!

2. He loves being outside, just like his Dad! Blake would run around in shorts in the snow if i would let him. Every time i open the front door to get the mail he thinks we are going outside and gets so excited. Good thing the park is in our front yard!

3. Blake loves Cars and Finding Nemo. He will sit down and watch the whole movie without hardly blinking. I can always count on Lightning McQueen when i need to get some work done.

4. Blake's vocabulary is limited to just a few words including mom, dad, grandma, ouch and uh-oh. He talks all the time, to himself sometimes, we just can't understand his language.

5. For some reason he hates nursery. We sent him to nursery a few months early because he didn't want him in primary or elders quorum. He used to love it and now when i come down to do singing time he freaks and starts crying. He did learn how to do a "thumbs up" in nursery tho.

6. He has a favorite blanket that he hardly ever sleeps without. Its minky and all we have to do is hand him his blanket and he goes to bed just fine! We have drug that blanket on the plane to SC and PA and we don't go out of town without it!

7. Blake gets more haircuts than doug and i combined. For some reason his hair grows so fast and it seems like we have Sheila cut his hair every month!

8. Blake loves to color. Not only in his coloring book but also on the walls, fridge and anywhere else he probably shouldn't be coloring.

9. Grandpa Campbell thinks he is ambidextrous, but probably not. He writes and eats with his right, but throws a ball with his left. Maybe he is just right handed and has a left dominant eye like his mom!

10. Blake has the world's coolest parents- okay so i'm running out of interesting things- but Blake is an awesome kid and we'd like to think that it comes from his awesome parents!

High School Musical

2008-05-12T17:46:00.002-06:00

So after hearing so much about this movie, Doug and I decided to sit down and watch it one night. Doug's brother Curtis about freaked when he saw we were watching it because he hates it, but we loved every moment of it! We were entertained enough we even rented the second one (its not as catchy as the first) and put our favorite song as the first on your blog playlist! If you're looking for a easy going hilarious movie, check High School Musical out! I'll warn you that its probably funnier if you aren't in high school!

TAG, You're it!

2008-05-12T14:42:00.002-06:00

Two Names You Go By: Lar and Mamama

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now: My favorite kswiss summer sandals and my work in the yard shirt from old navy

Two Of Your Favorite Things To Do: Let's be honest- i love to eat and i love to sleep

Two Things You Want To Do Very Badly At This Moment: Be Outside and See Doug

Two Favorite Pets: Northshadow and KC

Two People Who Will Fill This Out: I don't know.

Two Things You Did Last Night: Played card games and ate strawberry shortcake!

Two Things You Ate Today: Mac and Cheese and a Capri Sun

Two People You Talked To: Blake and Doug

Two Longest Car Rides: Family Trip to Disney Land when i was 8 and a trip to St. George and back in 24 Hours

Two Favorite Holidays: Thanksgiving and 4th of July

Two Favorite Drinks: Dr. Pepper with Vanilla and Orange Julius

I tag..... Jessica, Shelby, and Stephanie and anyone else who want to be tagged!

Just An Update...

2008-05-07T12:09:00.002-06:00

Here's what we have been doing the last few weeks...

1. Blake got his 18 month pictures taken with his big tractor!

2. Doug is finishing up his finals tomorrow. Yay!

3. Laura is recovering from an extraction infection and strep throat. yuck!

4. After long hours, all the spuds are in the ground!

5. Spring cleaning is underway, we started under the bed!

6. Yard work is just beginning to start! We removed the big bush by our house!

7. Doug got a new calling as the ward Cubmaster!

8. Blake learned to say "uh-oh" and "ouch."

Lunch at the Park

2008-04-17T14:20:00.002-06:00

As most of you know, we live right across the street from a little park with swing sets and other toys. Well, we have only been there a few times since we moved in right before harvest and its been winter up until last week! Today was "lunch at the park" day where some of the moms in our ward meet at the park and have lunch and talk while the kids get to play. Let's just say Blake was the only kid remotely interested in food over the slides, and his activities were limited to going down the slide once (with my help of course) and he spent the next 45 minutes putting sand on the bottom of the slide so when the bigger kids came down they would get all dirty. He loves to be outside and play in the grass and the sandbox! I enjoyed visiting with some of the other young moms in our ward and I think we both enjoyed just being out in the sunshine! Sorry, no pix this week, maybe next!