The Gibbs Gang

First Day of School!

2011-11-16T13:46:00.004-07:00

It happened! My first little baby has grown up enough that he thinks he's old enough for school. So he started kindergarten in the fall, and he loves it! He even loves riding the bus! He is learning so fast, I am amazed at how quickly he is growing.

Carson on his first day of school.
Natalie

Parker

My three babies!

Taylor, Carson, and Lilli

Waiting for school to start.

Lilli, Caden, Carson, and Taylor

First day riding the bus

Fall 2011 Fun

2011-11-16T13:24:00.003-07:00

Here are some pictures of the produce from our garden. We got some huge zucchinis this year, and Carson got a few watermelons and Natalie got a couple cantaloupes, among other things.

Here are the kids holding our very first egg from the chickens!

Here's Parker dressed in Dean's old suit. Remind you of anybody?

Mike made the kids a catapult, which was a hit with all the neighbor kids as well! So much fun, even Parker loved it!

Yellowstone, August 2011

2011-11-16T11:32:00.008-07:00

We took a family vacation to Yellowstone before school started. We spent a few days camping, touring, and just having fun. Here are some of the pics from our vacation.

Parker's First Birthday

2011-11-15T19:09:00.004-07:00

In July, Parker turned 1. Here's a picture of him opening his birthday present.
Natalie decided to help.

Parker climbing on his new four wheeler.

He loves that thing!

Here's Parker's birthday cake. It's a carousel.

I used colorflow to make the horses.

And we did a little cake for Parker to eat.

Singing to Parker.

Making a mess with his cake.

Happy Birthday Parker!

July 2011

2011-11-15T15:24:00.010-07:00

Here are pictures from July. There's a different post for Parker's birthday, and one for the Lorimer Reunion, but here are the other pictures from July.

This is Natalie in a dress my mom made for me when I was a little girl.
Here's Parker brushing his teeth without help.

Here's Carson, Natalie, and Mike holding a snake he caught.

Natalie fishing at a little pond near Victor, ID.

Carson fishing.

Carson and Natalie with a fish we caught.

Natalie, Parker, and Michelle with a fish.

Natalie, Mike, and Parker.

Here's Mike and Parker taking some neighborhood kids for a ride behind Grandpa L's lawn mower that we borrowed. They loved it!

Carson, Carly, Caden, Dallin, Natalie, and Olivia.

Taylor, Parker, and Natalie swimming.

We met Grandma and Grandpa G, Becky, and her kids in Pinedale, Wy for a weekend visit. We had a good time with the kids while Mike and Dan went on a day fishing trip on the river, and then we all played and relaxed the rest of the weekend. It was fun to see everyone.

Natalie sitting in a saddle in the children's part of the Mountain Man Museum in Pinedale, WY.

Parker in the saddle.

Carson riding between two saddles.

Natalie in the TP at the museum.

Carson and Brady in the TP.

Kim and Ben exploring the TP outside the Mountain Man Museum.

Kim, Ben, and Natalie playing in the sprinklers .

Carson running in the sprinklers.

Becky and Parker at the hotel. Dan, mike, Natalie, Loyce, Ben, Becky, Carson, and Brady eating dinner.

My parents came to visit us at the end of July, and we had a fun time with them. we played a game called Beanboozled, which I highly recommend for entertainment purposes, if not for flavor. Here are some pictures of that game.

Carson

Grandpa

Mike

Natalie and Grandpa

Michelle

And my personal favorite, Grandma!

This was our trip to Craters of the Moon with my parents. We had a great time going through the caves and hiking and learning!

Grandma, Carson, Michelle, Natalie, Grandpa

Carson, Michelle, Natalie, Mike, and Parker

Natalie, Carson, and Michelle

Mike, Parker, Natalie, Grandpa, and Grandma

Carson and Grandpa

June 2011

2011-11-15T14:57:00.004-07:00

My sister's kids came to visit us for a few days at the end of June. We picked them up in Utah, and while we were there we met up with some cousins from Mike's side as well. We had a great afternoon together, and a busy crazy week with cousins at our house the following week. I was so busy I didn't have a chance to get any pictures while we were at our house!

Natalie, Mike, Parker, Jack, and Seryn

Abbey, Seryn, Layla, Carson, Natalie, Lylli, Jack, and Jason

Parker

Michelle, Melody, Laura, Zach, Sean, Jack, Parker, Cole, John, Abbey

Andrea, Carson, Abbey, Layla, Lylli, Seryn, Natalie

We bought 6 chicks this past spring, and Mike built them a neat chicken coop. The kids love the chickens, and we get all the eggs we could use! Of the 6, two were roosters, so we only have 4 left now.

Lorimer Reunion 2011

2011-07-13T14:09:00.007-06:00

Here are pictures from our Lorimer reunion in Wyoming. We had Rachel's girls over to visit us the week before, so they rode with us to Casper on Thursday, June 30th. On Friday morning, we drove to the Sixth Crossing Pioneer site. On our way, we stopped at Pathfinder Dam, which has more water this year than has ever been recorded, I think.
Grandma L, Carson, Lylli, Natalie, Parker, and Michelle in front of Pathfinder Dam

Here we are pulling handcarts near the Sixth Crossing. My mom made all the pioneer outfits. In front pulling are Seryn, Grandma, Lylli, and Layla. Leah and Dean are in the back.

Here are my boys riding. We strapped Parker's backpack to the cart so we wouldn't have to carry him.

And here's Natalie riding with the boys also, with Mike pulling them.

Crossing a shallow part of the Sweet Water River

Mike and I crossed the deep part, which was up passed my armpits, but I didn't get pictures of that. It was crazy fun though. Here's Mike and Carson walking back to camp after the river crossing.

Lylli pulling Natalie and Carson

Michelle and Parker, putting on bug spray, no doubt. I've never seen mosquitoes that thick!

Natalie, Lylli, and Carson inside an old school house at the Sixth Crossing.

Natalie and Carson

Mike, Natalie, Carson, Parker, and Michelle

All the girls. Michelle, Leah, and Rachel in back. Lylli, Layla, Seryn, Natalie, and Grandma in front.

The boys. Dean, Shane, Grandpa, Parker, Carson, and Mike

Here is a place where you can still see the actual ruts left by the pioneer wagons and handcarts.

On our drive home Sunday night, we saw a grizzly bear about 30 feet from the road on Togwotee Pass, between DuBois and Jackson.

About 15 minutes later, on the opposite side of the mountain, about the same elevation, we saw another grizzly, this time with a cub, and they were about 300 yards away.

And of course, there's always a beautiful view of the Grand Tetons.

We had a wonderful time, and we can't wait for the next one in a few years! Thanks for putting it together, Grandpa and Grandma!

July 4th

2011-07-13T13:57:00.004-06:00

Here are the kids cleaning the car on the 4th of July, after our trip to Wyoming. This is one of their favorite jobs.

We went to the river to watch the fireworks on the 4th of July, and they were absolutely AMAZING! I've never seen it's equal, and Mike agrees with me on that one. We also enjoyed a few fireworks at our own home, which the kids really enjoyed. Our neighbors came to watch with us.

Princess Dance Workshop

2011-07-13T13:39:00.004-06:00

Since I'm about 7 months behind on my blogging, I guess I'll start with current pics and try to catch up on the earlier ones later. Natalie went to a Princess Dance Workshop today. She's been excited to go for a couple of months now. She was up bright and early and wanting to get her hair, makeup, nails, etc. done for her party.
Here she is all ready to go an hour early:

With her friends Taylor and Sierra at the party:

Doing the splits:

Doing some floor rolls:

On tip toes at the bar:

Learning to do a princess pirouette:

And here she is looking so pretty:

Such a fun day, and she was very tired when we got home!

January 2011

2011-03-28T06:15:00.007-06:00

These are from January, not in chronological order or anything. This pic is of the kids at Grandma and Grandpa Gibbs' house. Here's Parker in Grandma's Christmas sled. We missed our Christmas visit, so we went in January instead.

Carson, Natalie, and Parker

Here's Carson and Mike on a snowmobile.

Natalie and Michelle snowmobiling.

Carson in the snow.

Natalie in the snow.

My favorite tree, near Rangely. I've always wanted to get a picture of it.

Grandpa Len with Parker.

All three kids with Grandpa Len.

Here's a picture of Natalie's big bed. Mike made it for her between Christmas and New Years.

Natalie with Parker in her new bed.

Carson with Parker in his bed.

Here are some swans we saw near Swan Valley on our way to Casper.

Here are some Casper pictures. We missed our Thanksgiving visit, so we went in January.

Dean with Parker. He has the magic touch with children...

Mike and the kids playing Wii.

More Wii.

Grandma L and Parker.

Carson and Natalie boxing on Wii.

Making rubber bugs with Dean's old kit.

Natalie got sick on the way home, and her suitcase was buried in the back, so she got to wear Daddy's shirt home.

Here's Parker at our house looking like a frog.

Natalie wasn't feeling well this day, so I put a movie on for her. All the kids were avidly watching, even Parker.

Natalie with her blanket from Aunt Michelle.

Carson with his blanket.

Parker and his blanket.

I still have pics of us playing in the snow in our yard, and pics form Carson's birthday, which I'll have to post later. I got a new camera for Christmas, and I've been taking more pictures than usual, so I'm behind more than usual.

Christmas Time is Near

2011-01-13T14:02:00.003-07:00

So these are a few pictures of our activities leading up to Christmas in 2010. We got our very own surprise visit from Santa on Christmas Eve, and the kids just loved him!
Here are the kids in their new PJ's that they got to open from us on Christmas Eve, a family tradition. They have dragons on them from the movie "How to Train Your Dragon," which is their new favorite.

Parker's new PJ's have Toy Story 3.

And here are the adorable new PJ's from Grandma G this year:

Notice Natalie's festive green and red toes!

Here's me and the kids making fudge.

Parker, with a bow artfully placed on his head by Carson:

Parker, with his stocking draped over his back:

Hair, Tree, and Sledding

2011-01-13T13:48:00.003-07:00

The day Mike flew home from Canada for the last time, we picked him up at the airport and then went to cut down a Christmas tree. We decided to try a new area this year, and it was a huge success! We hadn't walked far from our SUV when we found our perfect little tree! It's the best tree we've ever picked, I think, and we had it back to the vehicle in minutes! So, we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon sledding in the mountains. It was a great afternoon, made better by the fact that Mike was home from Canada, and we'd missed him so much!

Here's a picture of our tree all decorated:

Here's Mike and the kids dragging the tree back to the SUV:

Sledding:

Natalie sledding:

And here's Natalie's hair, my new way to fix it, because it's so cute and super easy:

This is Carson's attempt to fix her hair. A slightly different finished look, but it definitely has character, don't you think?

Projects

2010-12-19T20:37:00.004-07:00

Here are the houses I made for the kids for Christmas. They took a LOT of work, but I think they turned out so cute!

And here's my new washer and dryer, since my washer died last week! I love them, though Mike had a job getting them to fit!

Christmas Family Pictures

2010-12-19T20:24:00.004-07:00

These turned out pretty well. It gets harder to get good pictures with every kid we add to the mix, but we were able to get a few good ones I though.

Canada

2010-12-16T08:44:00.007-07:00

A few of you already know that Mike spent a good part of the fall in Canada. The first time he was gone for 9 weeks, working 7 days each week. Since he was unable to come home to visit us, the kids and I decided to be brave (or crazy) and take a road trip to see him. We spent 42 hours in the car by the time we returned home, but it was worth every minute! We got to spend Halloween with Mike in Canada, which was fun. He was able to come home for almost 2 weeks around Thanksgiving, and then he went back for 8 days. Now he's home for good, and we're so happy to have him! This experience made me grateful for Mike and all he is and does for me and our children. Here are some pictures from his time there, and also from our trip to see him.

Here's a picture he took of the tower they were working at, from the bucket as he was being taken down.

Some of the rebar they used. The stuff was seriously thick, though you can't really tell in the pictures.

Here's the tower, and the tall think going up to the windows? That's the concrete pump, which they used to get the concrete up into the the tower where they were pouring.

Working on the rebar.

And here's just a shot of the tower. To give you an idea of the size, that white box the crane is lifting to the top is actually their office trailer.

Now these pictures are from our trip to see Mike. Here are the kids playing at a nearby school playground. It was so cold there!

We saw this sign on our way to church Sunday, and I had to get a picture.

The kids went trick-or-treating to some of the guys Mike worked with, who were staying at the same hotel with their wives who were also visiting for the weekend. They were from Quebec, and mostly spoke French, but really nice people, and it was fun to meet them. This is a picture of the kids trick-or-treating to Marc Andre's room.

Here they are in the hall outside Norm's room.

Marc Andre, Norm, their "girls" and our kids.

Natalie dressed up like Cinderella, and Carson was Harry Potter.

And Parker was inducted into our family officially as the traditional baby chicken!

With their daddy.

Love my baby!

Our little family, getting bigger all the time.

Our family with Marc Andre. He loved Mike, saw something special in him, just like we do, and he also just loved our kids! He bought them toys, and TONS of candy! They were very spoiled by him and his wife.

Marc Andre and the kids.

We went swimming every day we were there, and I think it was the kids' favorite part. They love to swim, and we had the pool to ourselves every night. There was a water slide, and the kids loved going down it with us. Carson reached a milestone while we were there, in that he started actually swimming on his own for the first time! Even Parker liked the water. I guess we have three water bugs for kids.

We are so glad to have Mike home now! What a great Christmas present!

Birthday Princess

2010-12-03T15:48:00.005-07:00

Natalie turned 3 in November. She was so excited about it. She had her first friends' birthday party, which was new for me. A bunch of 3 year olds dressed up like princesses. But it was fun! Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures. But here are some from her birthday.
At our house, the birthday person chooses breakfast and dinner. For breakfast, Natalie chose Lucky Charms, which I thought was so silly that I had to get a pic.
Here she is opening her gifts.

She got Tinkerbell roller skates, and here she is trying them out.

All dressed for church on her birthday.

Here's a side shot of her hair.

And here's the cake. She wanted a castle and a mermaid, so here's what Mike and I came up with.

We were snowed in to Idaho for Thanksgiving. It was relaxing and fun, though we missed seeing my family. Here's a picture of our little feast.

Way Behind!

2010-12-03T14:42:00.006-07:00

I am so far behind on blogging! It might take me a while to catch up, but here's the oldest pics I have to post. These are pics of a mini tea party the kids had. Grandma G gave them this little dish set, which they love. The best part is that I was filling the kettle with milk ALL THE TIME since it only holds about 1 tsp of milk!

Here the kids are cleaning out their pumpkins.

This shot has become a tradition, and Carson wouldn't let me forget to take the pic.

Here are the kids in the first snow storm. Carson made this little snowman all by himself, with a little help from Natalie.

This is Natalie's hair. Carson decided to help me out by fixing it for me. He was all about the bows, and he even gave her a ponytail in the back.

This one is how I found Parker one day. Carson decided to pose him.

This is the part of our swing set that I didn't take into the garage after it fell down in a terrible windstorm. When I told Mike about it, he asked me, "Who engineered that?"

The kids at the ward Halloween party. Natalie is Cinderella, and Carson is Harry Potter.

Baby Blessing

2010-09-19T19:37:00.003-06:00

Things have been busy here lately, and I realized the other day that I haven't blogged in a while. Luckily I've been too busy to remember to get out the camera, so this shouldn't take too long to do. Mostly, these are pictures from Parker's blessing. Sorry to everyone else who came. I forgot to get out the camera after everybody arrived.
Here's Parker, 5 1/2 weeks old:

Here are my folks with the kids:

Natalie and Parker:

Carson and Parker:

Mike and Parker:

Our family:

Mike, me, and Parker:

And this is one I took of the kids a week or two before that. They just happened to all have matching shirts, courtesy of their grandma, so I decided to get a picture:

We also got to go to the first UW football game over labor day, but I forgot to take pics. If I ever get any from my brother or my mom I'll post them. And the kids have started gymnastics, so hopefully I'll remember to bring a camera soon and get pics of that as well.

Parker

2010-07-24T13:25:00.006-06:00

Well our new little addition is here! We named him Parker Dan Gibbs. He was born Wed morning at 1:57am, 30 minutes after we made it to the hospital. He was 2 weeks early, but he weighed 7lb 12oz and was 21 inches long. He was perfectly healthy, and everything went smoothly, with no issues for either him or me. We came home Friday morning, and since then we've been doing our best to adjust to our normal life. So far, it's going really well. Here are some pics.

Here's Carson holding Parker that first morning (the first several pics were taken Wed morning):
Natalie holding Parker:

Mike and Parker:

Me and Parker:

Me and my kids:

Proud parents (Carson did a great job taking this one):

The girls with Parker:

My boys:

Dad and Parker:

Okay, these next were taken on Friday before we took Parker home:

Me and Parker:

Mike and Parker:

My little group:

This last one I just took of Parker sleeping on the couch with Mike. Poor Mike's been so busy trying to help me with my normal "mom jobs" that he's exhausted as well!

Everybody is doing great! Parker is sleeping well at night, and since it's summer the house is easier to keep clean. Meals are being brought to us for the next few days, and then my mom will be here to help. Thanks to everybody for the help and support! Isn't he adorable?

Bikes

2010-07-14T17:59:00.002-06:00

The kids have had a big week for bikes. Natalie has been doing so well potty training lately, that her daddy promised her she could get her own bike. She's doing well with it so far, though she needs to work on braking. As for Carson, he decided he wanted to learn to ride without training wheels, and within 20 minutes or less, he was a pro. He's doing even better now, a couple of days later, and we're so proud of him. I know his seat needs raised, but he's still working on his confidence, so I figure we'll give him a few more weeks before we raise the seat.

Craters of the Moon

2010-07-08T11:45:00.006-06:00

Mike didn't have to work on Monday, so we drove 90 miles to visit the Craters of the Moon National Monument. Carson has been interested in volcanoes lately, and this place is basically a bunch of cooled lava rock from several eruptions over the last several thousands of years. The kids loved it, especially Carson. He got to see a miniature volcano, lots of different lava rocks (I can't remember all their names), and of course the CAVES! The caves were created when lava on the surface cooled and liquid lava still flowed underneath it, forming "tubes." They were neat, and most of them were okay for me to go in as well. One was small and not deep, one was huge, with tall ceilings and holes in the ceiling often enough that it wasn't too dark for the most part. But it was a really long tunnel. There was one that was narrow at the opening, but we didn't go into that one. Mike and Carson want to the next time we visit. The last one was saw was still pretty tall, and I think large, though you're not allowed to go too far into it. But it was very dark, so the kids had to use their flashlights, which they thought was cool. It was a great activity, and I'm sure we'll go again sometime.
This was a large rock hill we climbed. It was a lot bigger and steeper than we originally thought, and I was pretty tired when we got to the top. This is Carson, Natalie, and Mike halfway up.
Carson, me and Natalie at what we first thought was the top, but it wasn't.

Here's us at the top. It was so windy there that the kids were nearly blowing over, literally. That's why my hair looks so funny. Oddly enough, neither kid complained about the wind. I guess there were too many other cool things to look at.

Here's a picture of the wasteland around, since very little grows with all that volcanic rock.

Natalie and Carson

Carson, Mike, and Natalie heading into the huge cave.

The family sitting outside the huge cave, once we finally made it through and out the other side.

Here's Carson with the butterfly that he caught. I was surprised, because I told him he wouldn't be able to catch it, since he didn't have a net or anything. But he did, so I ran and found a jar for it. He was so excited!

Natalie holding Carson's butterfly.

On Saturday, we went to check out the festivities by the river. The kids got their faces painted. Here's Carson's face:

And here's Natalie's face:

I was instructed by my doctor to take it easy over the weekend, so we opted not to go to the river to watch the fireworks. I really wanted to, but parking is awful, so we would have had to walk a couple of miles to get there, and again after they were over. Also, a neighbor got a bunch of fireworks from WY and invited us over the previous night to watch them. He had some cool ones, and the kids got their fireworks fix. So on Saturday, instead of watching the fireworks, we went to the drive-in and saw Toy Story 3 and Prince of Persia. Best date activity ever, because for $13 we get to see 2 movies. The first one is for the kids, and then they sleep in the back while Mike and I watch our movie. We bring our own popcorn, and we don't have to pay for a sitter. We do it at least once every summer.

Even though we missed the fireworks, we bought a few small ones to light with the kids. We forgot on Sunday, and on Monday I was having contractions, and Mike was really sick, so we did our fireworks on Tuesday evening. The kids had sparklers and pops, and then we lit a few small firecrackers. It was fun, even though it would have been more impressive in the dark. The kids didn't care, and I still got them to bed at a decent hour.
Here's everyone throwing pops:

Here are the kids with the sparklers:

My Secret Addiction...

2010-06-30T13:41:00.006-06:00

So I charged the camera battery and made sure to pack it on our Gibbs Reunion Campout in Wyoming last weekend, and I couldn't find it the whole trip! I found it yesterday, as I was unpacking the rest of our stuff. So unfortunately, no pictures from our camping trip until I get a copy of everyone else's pictures, which might take awhile. In the meantime, here are several pictures of what we've been doing lately, instead of blogging.

Here's Carson in swim lessons. I was disappointed that none of the pictures turned out, but Carson is attempting the side stroke while his teacher helps him.
He did great in lessons this year, and he loved his guy teacher! Next summer I get to put both kids in lessons, which will be nice. Poor Natalie couldn't stand to watch them and not be in the pool herself.

We went into the mountains a few weeks ago and cooked our dinner over the fire, roasted marshmallows, and went hiking. Here are the kids exploring.

Roasting marshmallows.

On our hike, Mike found an empty cave (just one room, nothing too huge) and he and the kids climbed in. I couldn't, since the opening required Mike to climb in on his belly, and that's obviously not an option for me now. Natalie didn't really like it, so we don't have a picture of her, but Carson loved it, and he and Mike had a good time in there.

Here's Carson pretending to be a lion or a bear or something.

Here's Natalie doing the same thing, but on the ground.

Boys in the cave. This shot shows how high up the cave was.

So ferocious!

The girls safe on the ground. Check out that belly!

Here's Mike carrying the kids at the end of the hike, when they got tired.

After dinner and a hike, we drove home and set up the tent in the living room. We'd planned on camping on the mountains, but it was still way to cold for that, what with our weird and freezing start to summer this year. This worked out well anyway, because Mike and I got to sleep in our own bed and let the kids sleep in the tent.

And here are some pictures of Dean and Leah's wedding.

Dean and Leah with all the nieces and the nephew.

Grandpa and Grandma with the grandkids.

The newlyweds.

Me and Natalie.

Five weeks until baby #3 is due, and I'm going crazy trying to get the house clean, I mean the super deep cleaning stuff that I won't get to do for awhile. Every pregnancy is different, but with this one I have a serious addiction problem. No, really. I'm addicted to mint, especially the Lifesavers Wintogreen Mints! I had no idea the word addiction could apply to something besides alcohol and drugs. I have my favorite foods that I would eat a ton of anytime, but this is beyond that. I have to convince myself not to drive to the store again when the bag runs out, which is about a day after I buy it. So I've been chewing LOTS of mint flavored gum to try not to buy so many mints, and secretly hiding the bags I buy so I don't have to share! (As a side note, this doesn't work, because the smell of these mints is so strong that everyone in my family can always find my secret stashes!)

T-Ball

2010-06-09T21:08:00.005-06:00

Carson started t-ball this month, as well as swim lessons. We are busy running him around all the time, but I think he's enjoying it, even if Natalie feels a bit left out. No swimming pics yet, but here are some t-ball ones that I took today. I'm still hoping to post Dean and Leah's wedding ones sometime, too.

Good News

2010-06-01T14:15:00.002-06:00

We found out today that Mike passed his PE Exam! We are so proud of him and his success! Thanks to all of you who have kept him in your prayers. What a relief to be done with that.
My brother Dean got married to Leah on Friday in the Bountiful Temple, so I'll post pictures of that soon. All kinds of great things in life these days. Count your blessings!

2010-04-26T14:32:00.001-06:00

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2010-04-26T14:27:00.001-06:00

Phoenix Fun

2010-04-26T14:00:00.002-06:00

Well, we had a great time on our family trip to AZ this month. A lot of driving time, but even that went well. We got to see Rachel's family and Jason's family during our travels, which was fun. Mike took his test in Phoenix, which he thinks went alright. We won't know the results for 12 weeks, so probably close to when our baby comes. The kids and I went to the Children's Museum while Mike tested all day. We also took them to Enchanted Island the next day. It's an amusement park for young kids. They had a great time there. We spent a lot of time swimming at the pool at the hotel, since that's one of the kids' favorite things to do and it's too cold here to swim outside yet. On the way home, we stopped and saw the Grand Canyon and also went to the Hogle Zoo. I've been desperately trying to catch up ever since we got back, so I'm just now looking through all the pictures we took. I couldn't choose just a few for the blog, and I figured a couple of Grandmas and Grandpas might want to see all the pics anyway, so I just decided to put them all in slide-show form. Next month we're off to Dean and Leah's wedding, then a Gibbs' Reunion in June, then we're just going to hang out here until baby #3 comes. Can't wait for all the fun!

Dad Time

2010-04-05T13:17:00.009-06:00

The kids got to spend a little time with Mike this weekend, mostly on Sunday. He's been studying a ton for the PE coming up in less than two weeks, but since he doesn't study on Sundays, we got to do some fun family stuff. Mike took an hour off of studying on Friday night to decorate Easter eggs, and the kids had a pillow fight with him when the eggs were done.

Easter was also fun, since we had Daddy all day! The Easter bunny hid the kids' baskets as usual, and left a huge mess of candy on the floor. The kids found their baskets and then got to pick up all the candy. We had to do an Easter egg hunt in the house, because of the extreme cold, snow, and WIND we had here. Miserable outside! Normally we do the Easter bunny stuff on Saturday, and the more spiritual aspects of Easter on Sunday, but this year we had to do it all on Sunday, to accommodate Mike's insane study schedule. Luckily it was Conference weekend, so that ended up working out okay.

Here are the kids in the Easter outfits from us.

This is the first picture I've gotten with both kids looking (and smiling) at the camera in the longest time! Of course, they both have that silly smile, but beggars can't be choosers, right?

We are leaving for AZ next week for Mike's test, so just over a week more of intense studying and praying. Hopefully everything goes well, and we'll have our very own Professional Engineer Daddy soon!

Easter Outfits

2010-03-28T17:12:00.004-06:00

Got these outfits in the mail yesterday from Grandma G and they are adorable! I let the kids wear them today, since Easter is on Conference weekend, so they won't get to wear them to church next week.

P.S. Mom, you've created a monster. Ever since your visit, Natalie thinks she should wear stick-on earrings every day. Good thing they're cheap!

Spring, or at least not quite Winter

2010-03-24T14:02:00.004-06:00

In case you hadn't heard yet, we're having another boy! Both kids are excited about this, as are Mike and I. Here are a few pictures of the kids lately. Here they're enjoying the last of the snow, which has FINALLY melted!

Out flying kites in the backyard with Mike. Carson is very good at it-he was doing better than anyone else was!

Carson dressed as Batman. He's chosen various super heroes to dress like every day of late.

The kids playing on a neighbor's trampoline.

Taking Guesses

2010-03-03T13:26:00.003-07:00

My next ultrasound is next Friday, and with a little luck we'll be able to determine the gender of our new little Gibbs. So if you want to take a guess, now would be a good time. There's only one, so it's either a boy, a girl, or (as Natalie constantly tells me) a Cinderella. What do you think?

Not Short Enough

2010-02-17T13:53:00.003-07:00

I cut Natalie's hair Monday night. She'd been wanting it cut for awhile, so I thought I'd give it a try. She loves it, but she was a little disappointed at first. See, when I asked her how short she wanted it, she said, "Just like Carson's" and I obviously wasn't willing to do that. So she had to settle for "Just like Mommy's" and she's okay with that now, though it was her second choice.

Birthday Boy!

2010-02-15T13:35:00.006-07:00

Carson turned 4 a few weeks ago. He wanted a Herbie cake, but I couldn't get an actual Herbie car in time. So he happily settled for a cake with lots of VW Bug cars instead.

Mike helped me decorate the cake, as usual, since he's so much better at it than I am.

And here are some pictures of Carson opening his presents. This one was from Natalie:

One of the Sunday outfits from Grandma and Grandpa L.

Tractors from Grandma and Grandpa G.

Race track from Mike and me.

Remote control car from us as well.

And here are some pictures of preschool here at the house the week after his birthday. We did an hour of preschool first, and then we had a few extra friends come over and spent the last hour having a birthday party. These pictures are during the preschool part. We learned about trains, so the kids are being a train. Carson is in the green camo, and Natalie is in the pink and brown sweater.

Here's the arrangement of cupcakes for his party. He had a Bumblebee Transformer theme, so we put one in the middle.

All in all, it was a fun party, and the kids had a great time. He got several transformers as gifts, due to the theme idea, and that was perfect. He's been into them a bunch lately, so now he has a few to play with.

Okay, well most of the kids had fun most of the time...

And here's a picture of the kids on Valentine's Day, doing our annual cookie bake party. Carson rolled out, cut, and baked all the cookies on his little black cookie sheet by himself. And you can see on the silver sheet the ones that Natalie cut out by herself.

Not Much New...

2010-01-20T14:08:00.004-07:00

No new pics of my two kids to post this week. Mike's studying for the PE in April, so that takes a lot of his time. I'm working on getting my kids more independent and efficient at more household chores, and that's going fairly well. Reading old posts of Amy's, I get how she feels about never getting comments on posts about her kids, and let's face it: that's all I post about. I won't put on pictures of Twilight movie stars for you, but I do think I've finally come up with something that might elicit comments out of at least a few. I'm 12 weeks pregnant with our third child, due on August 3rd. We're all super excited, especially the kids. I don't like telling people too early, because I always worry about something going wrong. But since it's on my mom's blog page now, I figured I'd better announce. Not to mention the fact that I'm already looking big, as Carson so kindly informed me the other day. Those of you who see me regularly will notice any day now anyway. Tomorrow is Carson's birthday, so I'll be posting those pics soon. In the meantime, here's a picture of the newest Gibbs kid (laying on it's stomach, head on right, butt on left):

Sledding Videos

2010-01-11T12:18:00.006-07:00

Here are some videos of the kids sledding in Wyoming. Never mind my voice, since I was in the process of losing it at the time.
And here's a video of Mike and the kids at our house.

Winter Snow Fun

2010-01-11T11:49:00.003-07:00

After we got back from our holiday travels, we got a bunch of snow, and Carson and Natalie talked us into building a snowman. It was mostly Mike, of course, but I did convince him to make it smaller this year. We got to use our new snowman kit from John and Melody:

Here's a picture of a big horn sheep we saw on our way back through Wyoming: We spent a few days after Christmas in Wyoming with my parents. Here are the kids and Mike sledding in my parents' yard. It was the perfect size hill for the little kids.

Here's Mike and Natalie:

Carson:

Mike and Seryn

Layla and Natalie tipped over, Carson in the background:

Carson:

We also had Mike's parents visit us last week so Mike and his dad could wire our basement. Of course I didn't get any pictures, just like I didn't get any of my parents over Christmas break. But we had a great time with everyone! we are now trying to get back into some sort of a routine, though we haven't had luck with that yet. Maybe this week...

Christmas Toys and Fun

2009-12-25T18:16:00.006-07:00

Merry Christmas to all! We have had a great day at home with the kids, playing with new toys and just relaxing. Santa worked extra hours making the kids cool new toys. Carson got a work bench and Natalie got a kitchen. They really love them and have been playing with them all day.

The kids got some costumes from Grandma L ( I helped a little), so above is Carson in an Indian outfit, and below is Natalie in her Indian dress.

Here's Carson as a pirate. He's even got the mean look down.

Here's Natalie as a fairy, with various costume pieces on. She loves her new dress up shoes, and she's been wearing them all day.

Here's Carson while we were opening presents, in his new pj's.

Here's Natalie opening presents:

The kids in their new pj's that they got to open Christmas Eve.

Here they are dressed up for our Back to Bethlehem dinner and skit.

Grandma G gave them costumes as well, which they love and have been wearing around everywhere. Natalie is a ballerina, though according to her she is actually a princess. Carson is a puppy.

Lastly, here's Mike and the kids doing a gingerbread foam project from Grandma and Grandpa G. The kids had a great time.

We hope everyone had a great Christmas and wish you all a Happy New Year. Safe travels to all this holiday season.

Oh What Fun

2009-12-17T10:10:00.005-07:00

It's been a busy few weeks here, as I'm sure it has been for everyone. We had our week of preschool at our house a while ago, and here are the kids decorating cookies.
Above: The girls in his class.
Below: Carson is on the right.

And here's Natalie on the right. She thinks she's big enough for preschool too.

Mike's birthday was fun. The kids loved having him open presents.

And of course we had to sing to him and help blow out the candles (the kids, not me).

Mike put lights on our house, and we tried to get a picture, but our camera doesn't take good night pictures. Here's the best one we got.

Carson was part of the skit for our ward Christmas party. He was a wise man. The entire cast was made up of little kids, who stood in place while the story was read from the bible. He was so cute, and had a great time!

Of course Santa came to visit the party. Carson was amazed that Santa knew we were at the church. Both kids were excited to sit on his lap this year, so that was fun.

Here's Mike and the kids playing in the snow outside once it warmed up enough to go out. They had a great time throwing snowballs at the photographer!

Carson staged this picture and requested that I put it on the blog today. It is him sharing his carseat with Natalie's baby Shelly.

So far we've had a great season and look forward to the coming weeks as well. Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

Thanks Giving

2009-11-30T13:52:00.002-07:00

We went to Colorado for Thanksgiving this year and had a great time! I didn't get a lot of pictures (I never seem to) but here are a few. This first one is of Becky and Natalie holding one of the twins, Kim.
Natalie and Carson shopping for the Food Bank. This was Grandpa and Grandma G's idea. They had the kids each pick out a few of their favorite food items that Grandpa bought and then we took them to the local food bank. It was a great experience for everyone. I know my kids had the best time. What a great idea! They loved it! A great way to give to others and teach the kids the importance of giving.

We had a great time! Thanks to Dan and Loyce for a great and relaxing weekend together.

Christmas Tree Hunt

2009-11-30T13:44:00.004-07:00

We cut down our own Christmas tree again this year, on Natalie's birthday (it was her birthday request). It didn't take us too long to find one, maybe an hour to search, cut it down, and drag it back to the truck. I think the kids started to get cold and tired by the end, but we had hot chocolate in the car afterwards, and that got their energy level right back up.

Here's Mike cutting our tree down.
Here's Carson:

And Natalie:

The kids climbing the ladder to decorate the tree once we got it home:

I'll have to take a picture of the finished tree sometime to post. It was a fun day, and now our home is almost ready for Christmas!

Birthday Weekend

2009-11-30T13:23:00.004-07:00

Natalie just turned two, and the day after was my birthday! It was a birthday weekend for us, and we had a great time. Here's Natalie in her new princess outfit from Grandma G.
Natalie's present from Carson. He helped her open all her gifts.

Dresses from Grandma L. She loved them, and gave them a big hug!

Kitchen stuff from Mom and Dad.

Natalie's breakfast request: pink waffles with pink ice cream!

All Natalie wanted for her birthday was hot dogs and a Christmas tree. So we let her have hot dogs for dinner, and we made her a Christmas tree cake. So easy, and the kids loved putting on the "decorations."

Happy Birthday Natalie!

And here are a couple of pictures from my birthday. I got to pick breakfast and dinner (of course, I always do that), and Mike fixed them for me. No birthday cake, because we still had a ton from the day before, and we were leaving for Colorado in three days. Still, it was a good day.

What a fun weekend! This week, it's Mike's turn!

Private Pool Party Anyone?

2009-11-16T20:08:00.003-07:00

We told the kids we'd take them swimming at the pool here for FHE this week. Everybody got swimsuits on under warm clothes, and we grabbed our towels and drove across town. Only to find out the pool is closed for the next couple of weeks for cleaning. So we loaded two crying children back into the car and drove home. Mike suggested swimming in our bathtub, and the kids decided this would be an acceptable substitution. As you can see, it was a bit of a tight fit for all four of us, but the kids had a blast, and Mike and I were able to save an otherwise doomed evening. At least the water was warmer this way. I can't help but notice that this seems to happen to us frequently. Maybe we're unlucky. Or maybe they see us coming and shout, "Quick, it's the crazy family! Put the closed sign in the window!"

What Goes with a Calculator?

2009-11-01T19:11:00.005-07:00

We had a lot of Halloween fun last week. Some friends had a family costume party, so Mike and I even came up with costumes this year. At the party, we realized that a lot of couples had matching costumes, which never even occurred to us. I suppose next year we ought to try that. Of course, Mike mentioned being a calculator, so I'm not sure how I'm supposed to coordinate with that? A friend of mine suggested being a nerd, but we'll see.

Carson found his costume and loved it, even though he's never seen the Transformer movies or anything. Somehow he knows they are awesome, and he loves them. He was cute, talking in his best "Bumblebee" voice. Natalie was a witch, and she was very good at cackling like one. I had her hair in little braids for Thursday and Friday festivities, and on Saturday, we took them out for a frizzy fro (no pictures, sorry).
Natalie as a witch and Carson as the Autobot Bumblebee.

Here's our little family before a Halloween party on Thursday night. We had a party on Thursday, trick-or-treating at Mike's work on Friday, and trunk-or-treating at the church on Saturday. The kids loved spreading it out like that. On Saturday, Carson told us, "Today is the last day of Halloween!"

Mike, as a crazy Indian.

Me, as Little Red Riding Hood.

Mike and Carson cleaning out pumpkins. Unfortunately, we didn't take pictures of the finished ones, but they were fun to do with the kids!

Carson cleaning out his pumpkin.

Natalie cleaning out the insides of her pumpkin.

Carson now thinks this is a tradition, pretending to eat pumpkin goop for a picture.

Here's what I found Natalie doing the other day; talking on a shoe "phone."

Pigs and Purple Potatoes

2009-10-28T13:40:00.005-06:00

Rolie Polie Olie, a.k.a. Rolie
Okay, so it's a Guinea Pig, but if you ask my daughter, it's just a pig.
Yep, we went shopping with my last bread money check and bought ourselves a new pet. Since I don't like the dog, and he's too big for Natalie and completely ignores Carson, we thought maybe a smaller pet would be good for the kids (and me). We arrived at the pet store with the intent of purchasing a small hamster. However, the girl working there convinced us that with small, loud, energetic children, hamsters were not the best choice, as they bite. I asked about birds, thinking a parakeet would be fun. She told us that parakeets really don't like people. Mike and I thought she was being a little hard on these two kinds of animals (Mike had hamsters growing up, and I'd had a parakeet), but we decided to take her seriously. We asked for suggestions, and she said mice (ewe! Thankfully, they were all out of mice that evening, so it wasn't even an option) or guinea pigs. Supposedly guinea pigs are calmer and don't bite. We finally decided to look at the guinea pigs. Carson was very upset, as he'd been promised a hamster. But when the gal took out the first guinea pig for us to see, he changed his mind pretty fast! They had a whole new shipment of guinea pigs in the back that hadn't been brought to the front yet, so we got a lot of different ones to choose from. Some were pretty crazy looking, but we ended up with a pretty classic looking one, partly because he was cute, but mostly because he was amazingly calm! Carson named him Rolie Polie Olie, but we just call him Rolie for short.

Unbelievable! I mean, how many young pets (we've had him less than a week) can sit calmly on a nearly 2- and nearly 4-year-old's lap like that?

Carson really likes Rolie, but he's nothing to Natalie! She is practically obsessed with him! The first thing she does every morning is check on Rolie. And she loves to hold him. She doesn't really like large animals from the front, but this little guy is just her size. No fear with this one.

I couldn't be happier with our choice of pet. No bites yet, and believe me, he's had the time and the motivation. See how she's holding him below? He's great for young kids.

Also, my mom came to visit us last week. We had a great time visiting with her, and can't wait until we get to visit at Christmas. After she left, I told Carson she had to go because Grandpa missed her. He told me, "We both miss her. Grandpa misses her and I miss her. Next time, Grandpa should come too." Carson thinks this is the perfect solution, and that way she never has to leave! My mom celebrated her birthday here, and that was fun! Here's her cake:

We gave her 4 candles, at Carson's request.

Unfortunately, I didn't think to get the camera out again during her visit. But here's a picture of Mike and the kids outside with our football. We've been listening to our favorite team's football games online, and so the kids like to go outside to play football with Daddy during halftime.

And last of all, here are some awesome pictures of the coolest potatoes I've ever seen! Our neighbor grew them in his garden, and he gave a few to us. They are such a deep, vibrant color of purple! Has anyone else ever seen such a thing?

And they're even purple in the middle. I'm going to see if we can grow some next year, too. They taste really good as well!

P.S. Mike's lab results came back negative for Celiac! Now if we could just pinpoint exactly what IS wrong with Mike, and especially Carson...

Chili Snow

2009-10-08T08:40:00.003-06:00

We took all the red peppers from our garden before the first hard frost and Carson helped me sew them onto a string which we hung in the kitchen to dry. He was surprising good at it, and he didn't poke either of us with the needle! Now that they're dried, I can throw them in my food processor for garden-grown crushed red pepper!

Here are the kids playing outside in the first snow of the season. Not much, but Carson was so excited about it that he had to go out as soon as he ate breakfast. It was 8am, and very cold, so they only lasted about 10 minutes out there, but they had a great time. Carson's favorite was the slide, which was fast since it was wet with snow.

Tomatoes and Toilet Paper

2009-09-20T21:19:00.002-06:00

We saw Rachel's post of Layla with toilet paper curlers, and we decided to try it with Natalie (we used Kleenex though). All I can say is, so cute, and not that much work! We'll definitely have to do this one again.

The before picture:
The after picture:

And here are the kids helping me can. Carson was awesome at peeling the skins off the tomatoes and peaches. I figured he'd get bored after a few minutes, but he never did! He peeled almost the whole box of tomatoes in one sitting, and he could peel them faster than I could cut them up. Definitely more help than I could ever have hoped for! And of course Natalie wanted to help too, though I think she ate more than she peeled. We had a great time canning, and now we have a bunch of peaches, pears, pie cherries, salsa, and spaghetti sauce! Yummy...

Goodbye Rice, Hello PIZZA!

2009-09-16T12:10:00.002-06:00

Okay, I'm being dramatic. We're not getting rid of rice, but we ARE adding pizza and other gluten foods! Carson's blood work came back negative for celiac, so we're going to slowly add gluten back into our diets! Mike will have to get in to get his blood work done, but until then he's going back on gluten as well. I am going to monitor Carson's other foods so that we can hopefully get a better idea what causes him to vomit every 6-8 weeks. Or it could be cyclic vomiting, which is like migraines for children, but vomiting instead. Anyway, we don't regret our 8 months of gluten free, because we've learned a ton about the things that really do upset Mike, and we'd never have figured them out otherwise. Carson is thrilled, and so am I. I'm going to have so much time on my hands, now that I don't have to make EVERYTHING from scratch!

Old and Sick

2009-09-08T07:56:00.000-06:00

Here's Carson on his third day of preschool! The first two days were at our house, so I didn't have the time to do a proper first day for him, so we did it today. He's so excited to go that he's been wearing his backpack all morning. Natalie got Carson's little backpack when he got his bigger school one, and they're both happy now. They're getting so old, it's hard to believe.

As I said, last week was preschool here, and it was a crazy week. We had preschool Tuesday, then on Wednesday Carson had his vomit-every-fifteen-minutes-all-day routine, and then preschool again on Thursday. Now, don't judged me yet for getting all the other kids sick, because he doesn't have a virus or anything that does this to him. It's a reaction of some kind, and we're still in the process of figuring out if it is to gluten or something else. It is a very frustrating thing for all of us here, and we'd sure love to figure out exactly what it is that causes him to get sick. I'm taking him to the doctor tomorrow to see what we can do about figuring this out, so in the meantime, any prayers are appreciated, and if you have any ideas, we're open to those as well.

Here are the kids and Mike making sculptures out of clay. Carson is such a little artist, it's crazy. Sometime I'll have to write a post and show pictures of all the artsy things he does as a three year old. He can make better clay sculptures without any help than I can! He gets that talent from his dad! Natalie always wants to do what her brother is doing, so here she is playing with play-doh.

Las Vegas/A Month of Happenings

2009-08-27T22:02:00.000-06:00

Here are pictures of our first family vacation! We took the kids to Las Vegas, and what an experience! So many cool things to see, though it is mixed in with the worst of the carnal world. We stayed in Excalibur, took the kids to the Tournament of Kings, saw the sharks at Mandalay Bay, toured the M&M store, saw some sweet cars and motorcycles and animals, went swimming, and got to ride a tram, which Carson thought was almost like a train. All in all, it was a fun, relaxing trip that we all enjoyed. It was relaxing to take a trip to someplace where nothing and nobody was waiting at the destination. We're hoping to take more of these independent vacations in the years to come.

Last week, we went to the local zoo with a friend from our college days in Laramie. She has two girls, and the kids had a good time together checking out all the different animals. Keeping with tradition, we had to get a picture taken on top of the tiger statue, since tigers are one of Carson's favorites. Thanks for inviting us to go with you, Tonya!

These are pictures from our camping trip in mid-August. We camped near Kelly Canyon, and it was a nice place to camp. The kids loved every minute of it, and they even slept well that night. we made hobo dinners that night and had dutch oven peach cobbler and smores (all gluten free, of course). The next morning, to help the kids warm up, Mike instigated a game of tag, and both kids loved it. It was so entertaining. Then we went over to the Snake river so Mike could fish a little, and the kids played in the water. Despite the cool air, they had a great time in the water, which was warmer than I thought it would be.

Below are pictures from our day at the river for the duck race. We didn't actually watch the duck race, but we had lots of fun doing other things. Oddly enough, it was a really cold day for July/August. We all wore jackets, and even then I was still cool. Carson and Mike made car race tracks at a Home Depot booth. We also saw a lot of neat cars at the car show. There were also motorcycles, and a couple of helicopters, which Carson loved since they were orange. we saw several booths, too. And perhaps most exciting were the boat races. They were racing boats, so they were small and so loud! They did drag racing on the river, and it was a lot of fun to watch. After the activities at the river, we went over to Reed's Dairy Farm for their annual family day, and it was fun to see how milk is processed. There was also a petting zoo, cheap ice cream, and free horse rides for children. This was Carson's favorite part, though Natalie wouldn't get on one.

Swimming Pro

2009-08-03T11:39:00.000-06:00

This summer we signed Carson up for swimming lessons. He had a great time there and was so sad when it was over. He learned things like kicking, paddling, jumping in alone, etc. I think he might have had a little crush on his teacher, who was an awesome teacher. I had so much fun watching him!

(Carson is the one with the brown swimsuit with stripes.)

(In this one he's the one jumping.)

(Carson is at the top, to the teacher's right.)

(Carson is holding on the to handrail.)

Wild Hair

2009-08-03T11:32:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago I braided Natalie's hair into little braids before she went to bed.

In the morning I took them out and here was the result. A little wild perhaps, but still cute in my opinion.

Here are the kids in their masks that the kids got at the library as one of their prizes for the summer reading program. They love them and wear them all over the house!

Pioneer Train Day

2009-08-03T11:23:00.000-06:00

Mike's brother and his family came to visit us on Pioneer Day weekend. We went to a little community activity on Saturday. There was a little train there that the kids could ride for free. Carson loved it! He and his Andrea rode it 3 times each I think. I didn't get pictures of Natalie or the twins, but here are the pictures of the train rides.

Daredevils

2009-07-16T13:23:00.000-06:00

Well, after being gone for what seemed like a long time, we're home, and I'm finally starting to catch up on stuff a little. We had a great time and did all sorts of fun stuff. First, we celebrated my Grandparents' 50th Anniversary, which was fun. Almost everyone was there, and some of them I haven't seen in years. The kids and I stayed with my parents for a few days, and then we all went to a reunion on my dad's side. It's been even longer since I've seen some of those guys, and it was fun, too. We camped at the Heber Valley Camp, and there were challenge courses, among other things. The first day, we put harnesses on and were pulled up about 20ft or so and dropped, swinging in the air back and forth for awhile. I was brave and tried it, and it was fun! Carson got to do it as well, but he didn't go all the way up. The next day, Mike arrived, and we went on paddle boats on the lake. That afternoon, we went to another challenge course. First of all, you climb up a 25ft pole with notches, which is hanging from above, so it swings a little. Next, walk across a cable suspended 25ft in the air while holding onto a rope. Last, repel back down to the ground. I decided there was NO WAY I'd try it. Of course, Mike never even asked me, knowing that I don't respond well to pressure. In the end, I decided I could do it, and I'd prove it to myself and everyone. It was scary, but I did it! Mike did too, and he was so fast! Carson really wanted to, but he was a bit too small. Who's kid is he, anyway?

No Dogs!

2009-06-29T20:25:00.000-06:00

After more than a month of being restricted to the side yard while our baby grass started growing, Roscoe is back in the yard and playing with the kids. The older he gets, the better he is with them, and they love him. Of course, who knew how much I don't like dogs, since I'd never had one. We figured out pretty quickly that dogs do NOT come in my house. No matter whose dog, how large or small, how "well trained" they are, they do not come in!! It makes me so angry and grumpy, even though I try not to be that way. we've had people bring dogs to our house before, and I spent the whole time trying to pretend that I was happy through gritted teeth. Not cool. So we have a strict NO DOG policy in my house, NO EXCEPTIONS! I figure my house, my rules. At any rate, Carson has decided once again that he's a puppy, and he's been very insistent that he is the one exception to my NO DOG rule. And lately Natalie is crawling around after him like another little puppy, so now I have two dogs in my house! But at least they don't lick, pee, bark, shed, or jump on furniture, right? Ha, ha, ha, I wish.

Family Pictures!

2009-06-15T20:11:00.000-06:00

While we were visiting Mike's family, we got our family pictures taken. It was a Christmas present from Mike's parents, and it was so much fun! We love the way the pictures turned out! Thanks for such a great gift! Here are some of my favorites.

Our Family:
Natalie and Carson:

Mike and Michelle:

Carson and Mom:

Natalie and Mom:

Natalie and Dad:

Carson and Dad:

Dad and the kids:

Mom and the kids:

Mike:

Michelle:

Natalie:

Carson:

Relaxing Weekend

2009-06-15T20:02:00.000-06:00

We went to visit Mike's parents last weekend, and it was so nice and relaxing! Carson went with Grandma and Grandpa on Wednesday night, and Mike and I took Natalie on Friday. Carson had a great time, but I sure missed him. I forgot my camera!!! Loyce took a few pictures of the kids at the dinosaur museum, but of course I didn't get any of Grandma and Grandpa with the kids. Next time...

Here are Carson and Natalie outside the museum.
Carson, Natalie, and Me next to a wooly mammoth. The thing was huge!

Carson and Natalie

Carson and Natalie digging for dinosaur bones!

Carson and Natalie with Grandpa Len.

Mommy's Helpers

2009-06-07T20:31:00.000-06:00

Here are my little grocery shoppers. They each have to make a menu and then a grocery list, which we then take to the store so they can cross off items we buy. Oh, and sometimes Carson puts things on the list that I don't want to get, but he really thinks we should, because they're on HIS list. Kids are the cutest!

New Friends

2009-06-01T13:27:00.000-06:00

Carson has recently made some new friends that have moved into a couple of houses up the street. He loves this, and it seems like every day he asks to go out riding bikes with Dallin. I love it! Natalie usually tags along, so my house is relatively quiet for a short time. Last week we had some hotter days, so the kids played on the slip-n-slide on day (no pictures!) and the next day, we filled up our little swimming pool. Here are a few pictures of them swimming.

Carson, Dallin, Lily, and Natalie

Five Years!

2009-05-26T14:21:00.000-06:00

Mike and I celebrated five years of marriage last weekend. So much has changed in my life during that time! My parents came to stay with the kids. Mike and I went on a nearly 14 mile hike and then out to dinner, and then we stayed at a wonderful hotel here called Destinations Inn. If you are ever anywhere close, consider staying there. We stayed in the Rio De Janeiro room, and it was awesome! The kids went to the zoo with Grandma and Grandpa, so I don't have those pics. Then my parents spent the rest of the weekend with us, which was great. We walked around the temple, did yard work, tried to race monster trucks, and just had a good time relaxing. Thanks for coming, Mom and Dad! Here are a few pictures from our weekend.

Our family at the temple:
Grandpa, Grandma, Mike, Carson, and Natalie:

Our family:

Grandma and Grandpa at the temple:

Natalie at the temple:

The boys playing with monster trucks:

Carson and Grandpa flying a kite:

Carson and Mike flying a kite:

Baby ducks at the river:

Baby geese at the river. Apparently we didn't take any pictures with people in them at the river.

Wii Love It!

2009-05-07T09:01:00.000-06:00

This was fun! I just realized that Grandma is in most of these, so sorry Mom. But they sure are entertaining to watch.

Carson and Grandma boxing on Wii.

Carson and Grandma boxing again.

Mike and Dean boxing

Grandma and Grandpa boxing

Grandma and Grandpa boxing again

2009-05-07T08:56:00.001-06:00

Fun with Family

2009-05-07T08:00:00.000-06:00

We took an overdue trip to see my family last weekend. It had been nearly six months since I'd seen my dad or my sister and her family, so it was great to visit. Dean even stopped by for the weekend. on Saturday, Rachel had a book signing for her new novel By Love or By Sea, so Dad, Dean, Mike, and I took her kids and mine swimming. We had a great time! Too many pictures to choose from, and my camera's not so great at taking pictures anyway, but here they all are anyway. After swimming, we stopped by some sort of kid safety fair the rec center was having, and we saw Spiderman. Carson was so excited to get his picture taken with him, though you can't really tell from this picture.

Tonight's Show

2009-04-28T11:33:00.000-06:00

"Mommy, we need a stage because we're going to have a show tonight!" Carson told me, so I put a stool by a little red chair, by my piano bench, so he had steps up to a little stage. He climbed up the stairs and performed his "show."

Naturally, Natalie insisted on having her turn.

All I can say is, I hope my recital this week goes half as well as this little show did!

Outdoor Bug

2009-04-28T11:17:00.000-06:00

As you can see, my little one LOVES to be outside! I can't keep her in anymore, no matter what the weather is like outside. Here she is in the sand box, which she also loves.

This One's For Dean

2009-04-18T09:46:00.000-06:00

This morning Carson found Natalie's barbie, and where do you think it ended up? Dean, it brought back memories from our childhood, so I just had to take a picture and post it for you. We had some good times together, huh?

P.S. Carson now picks out all his own clothes and dresses himself, so don't look at me and wonder because he's wearing grey, black, and brown at the same time. I'm just happy I don't have to dress him anymore!

I'm the New Gluten Taste Tester

2009-04-16T08:24:00.001-06:00

I made Natalie's Easter dress this year, and it was pretty cute. Carson got an organge shirt, which he loved! It's a good thing I got this picture before church, because Carson threw up when we got to church and had to come home to change. I guess with all the unmonitered candy he got from the egg hunt in the park, he got some gluten in his system on Saturday. I felt pretty bad about it. I'll have to be more careful next time. Now Carson makes me try EVERYTHING before he'll eat it, so I can make sure it doesn't have any gluten in it!

2009-04-15T14:17:00.001-06:00

Stroller Poll

2009-04-08T08:10:00.000-06:00

My sister-in-law is expecting twins, and she was asking me about double strollers. I figured my opinion wouldn't be worth as much as the opinion of several moms, so I'm setting up a poll. Leave a comment with your opinion of the best stroller. What are the pros and cons of a double stroller? Are double strollers too bulky? Any favorite or least favorite brands? What about the ones that can be used with car seats? Let me know, and I'll pass along the info. Thanks for the help!

Spring???

2009-04-03T08:37:00.000-06:00

Well, our average high right now should be around 53 degrees, but I look out the window and what do I see?

A great big blizzard staring back at me! So much for early morning runs and Easter egg hunts outside. Maybe by next weekend our weather will improve. My camera isn't good enough to do the storm justice, but many of you will be experiencing this same storm in a day or so, so you'll see what I mean.

Summer PJ's

2009-03-29T19:57:00.000-06:00

Apparently I'm not the only one wishing for spring here. Carson was so insistent that he should wear his summer pj's that Mike finally had to compromise with the kid to get him to put on warm ones. Here's how he looked once he was all dressed:
At least he'll be warm tonight!

Here are some pics of the kids helping Mommy with her chores.

Cars, Visitors, and BEDROOM!

2009-03-22T18:33:00.000-06:00

John and Mel came to visit last weekend with Abbey and Jack, and the kids had a good time playing together. Unfortunately, we didn't think to take any pictures! Then, Grandma L and Dean came to visit during the week, and of course I only thought to take pictures on the last morning, but I'll post a couple.
Natalie and Uncle Dean

Carson and Grandma L

Dean with the kids

Here are the pictures of our room all done! I still have a few more pictures to hang, and Mike is still going to make some bookshelves, but otherwise, we're done. It turned out great, and we love it.

Our new bedroom moulding up close

At a distance

Saturday, we drove 50 miles to a nearby car show, and it was a hit! They did single racing outside, which we watched for a while, and then we went in and saw all the cars. Carson took his own camera (a hand-me-down from Grandpa and Grandma) and had a great time taking pictures of all his favorite cars. And a nice older gentleman let Carson and Natalie sit inside an old roadster, and they loved that. It was a fun and WARM weekend for us.

This is a custom 2007 Expedition. It was pretty cool!

Mike's favorite, a Mustang

Michelle and kids by a Vet, which are always my favorite

Mike by another Mustang, 2009, 427 Cobra

Carson and Natalie inside a hot-rod roadster

The Decision

2009-03-09T08:24:00.000-06:00

Well, we decided to add gluten to our diet for one week to see how everyone felt. We started Friday night, and by Sunday evening, Mike was done being sick and tired, so he cut our week short by about five days. Today we're back to the whole gluten-free thing, and this time we don't have plans of quitting any time soon. Part of me is glad. I want my family to be healthy. Part of me is sad, because I'll miss some things, like Craigo's Pizza, girl scout cookies, etc, just to name a couple. I suppose I could still have them, but I don't think that's really fair, and I'd feel bad that nobody else could, so I guess it's goodbye to all those things. I suppose I'll just have to find a few more really good recipes to replace the things I miss!
I haven't really taken pictures lately (we've been busy trying to put up crown moulding in our bedroom), but here are two I took of the kids just for fun. Natalie is showing off her upper lip, where she face-planted it on our front porch. I'll be sure to post pictures of our bedroom later this week, when it is all done! It's going to look awesome!

New Bedroom

2009-02-27T10:08:00.000-07:00

Mike has been busy making me new bedroom furniture, and then we also painted the room. It looks great. All that is missing is some crown molding around the top. I'll post pictures when it is all done, but for now here's a sneak peak.

Cookies and Rings

2009-02-23T14:57:00.000-07:00

The other night I noticed that my ring was broken on the back where the two are soldered together. I took it to a local ring shop and asked to get it fixed. The guy tried to tell me I also needed to get it refurbished, but that was an additional $30 on top of the $20 I was already paying to get it fixed. He promised it would look like it did when Mike gave it to me, but I decided that I couldn't fork over $50 at once. I asked to only have it fixed, planning to get it refurbished some other time. Well, the goldsmith must have taken one look at my sad-looking ring and decided to refurbish it anyway, because when I picked it up the next day, this is what I got! It looks bran new! How wonderful, and I didn't even end up having to pay for it. What a wonderful surprise. So my advise for the day: get your ring refurbished. It's amazing how it sparkles when it's clean and dent-free. Thanks again, Mike, for the perfect ring! I love you!
Of course, my camera doesn't do it justice.
For Valentine's Day we skyped Grandma and Grandpa L and joined their cookie bake via the Internet. It was fun, though as Grandma says, not quite the same as being there. But our GF cookies turned out amazing! I modified our favorite sugar cookie recipe, and it worked! They were perhaps a tiny bit more crumbly than usual, but I think I'll add more zanthan gum next time to fix that. They tasted great! Soooooooooo yummy! And the kids had a great time doing them. As you can see, Natalie mostly ate the frosting!

Rosy Cheek Test

2009-02-10T10:25:00.000-07:00

Pictures of the kids coloring. Both of them LOVE to color.

We are all starting to get a little cabin fever. I even opened our bedroom window for a few minutes to let in some fresh air, before I realized it was FREEZING and shut the window. We are still undecided about the whole gluten diet permanence in our home, but I can't help but think we'll do it for at least a few more months. Carson is eating 2 to 3 times as much food as he used to! And Natalie is eating better as well. Mike thinks that Carson is gaining a little weight, too. But to me the real test of this diet is in his cheeks. They are rosy! He's always been really pale looking, but in the last month, he has developed a case of rosy cheeks, and he just looks healthier. So for the time being, we'll be sticking to the diet to see what long term results we have for Carson, Mike, and Natalie, too.

Go Probiotics!

2009-01-28T20:28:00.000-07:00

After 2 weeks gluten free, Mike was feeling better, but not great. So his sister suggested probiotics to help his small intestines heal. He's been taking them for three days, and he says he feels great! So we're really excited that he's feeling well.

Here's Natalie reading in a corner.
Carson asked me if he could take a snowball inside and watch it melt. So we did a little science experiment. This is an 8oz snowball, which took about 4.25 hours to completely melt at 68 degrees F.

Of course, here it is melted. Carson was pretty excited about that.

This is our family snowman. Mike was the one rolling the snowballs, so of course they were huge. We had to knock off a lot of snow before we could stack them, and even then we had to use a board for a ramp and roll the snowballs up the ramp to get them on the snowman!

Natalie in the snow!

Mike, Natalie, and Carson with our very tall snowman.

Michelle, Natalie, and Carson with the snowman. Notice the ramp leaning against the house in the background.

And lastly, here are my adorable kids, sitting in the washing machine!

Learning To Ride

2009-01-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

Carson Is 3!

2009-01-22T13:52:00.000-07:00

First of all, the gluten-free diet is going well. Mike feels moderately better now, though he's still not 100%. From what I hear, it takes a couple of months for the small intestines to heal, if he really does have celiac, so we're still waiting to see. The diet is easier to live with than I feared, and we even got to have pizza last week! Carson's cake was gluten free, and it was so good! You'd never know it was gluten-free, and it was so moist. Anyway, I want to thank everyone for the huge amount of support as we started this diet. I honestly don't know what outcome we'll decide, but it means a lot to me to know that you all care. A special thanks to my mom, who I know will have to make the most changes if we stick with the diet. She has been our biggest supporter, and she's already planning on totally changing her cooking for us when we visit. So thanks, Mom.

And now, about Carson's birthday. Mike and I decided he was old enough for a bike, and I guess it was the right choice, because he's been riding that thing every minute he can. I have let him keep it in the kitchen for now, so he can practice (it's too cold outside), and he's always on it. He can already pedal, brake, and steer like a pro. I'm amazed at how quickly he's learned. He loves to get Grandma and Grandpa on the web cam and ride back and forth for them to watch. I made him a Lightning McQueen cake (gluten-free) for his birthday, and then he had his friends come over this morning for a party, and they had an orange sherbet ice cream cake. Needless to say, it went over better than cake usually does with kids. Caron's been waiting for his birthday since Natalie's in November, so he was thrilled to finally have his turn. He came into my room first thing in the morning and said, "Mom, it's my birthday!" We love having Carson in our home!

Update on Mike

2009-01-11T20:55:00.001-07:00

Life is busy for us once again with the new year, though it's not quite as carefree as last January was. We are doing a series of dietary experiments to help Mike's health. His sister recently learned she has Celiac, and the more we learned the more Mike's own health seems very similar to Celiac symptoms. He saw a doctor about it, and the doc suggested we try a few different diets and see if something helps. We could get him tested, but man is that expensive! So we're conducting our own experiment instead. Last week we were lactose free, which produced a slight improvement, but definitely not the whole problem. So this week we are going gluten free. What a pain, let me tell you. You'd never realize how much wheat you really eat until you try to TOTALLY cut it from your diet. It is going to be an interesting week. If it turns out Mike feels much better, then I'll be completely redoing our meals to fit his needs. Since it's genetic, there's a chance that my kids have it too. Hopefully nobody does, but time will tell. So wish me luck with this whole gluten-free thing. I'm going to need all the help I can get!

Here are a few pictures of the kids and their activities lately. We made a gingerbread house together. Mike insisted that it would be a simple one, since he didn't want to get too involved. So here is an engineer's idea of simple! If it had been me, it would be 4 square walls with a flat roof!

This is the kids in an attempt at playing twister. They had a great time, but I finally concluded they are still a little young for actually playing the game.

Bear Lake

2009-01-02T11:21:00.000-07:00

We had a good time at Bear Lake with Mike's family after Christmas. They rented a large house there, and we filled it with 13 adults and 9 children. We went snowmobiling, skiing, sledding, and we even threw an early surprise birthday party for Mike's grandpa who turned 92 (or was it 93?). Several of Mike's cousins came from close by to party with us, so the house was really full on Sunday afternoon. Thanks again for doing this for us, Loyce! We had so much fun!

Carson sledding

Carson, Andrea, and Abbey sledding

Carson and Mike snowmobiling Mike and a beautiful view of the lake

Michelle and that same gorgeous view

This is the Paris Tabernacle, that we passed on our way to and from the Lake. It was a neat structure, and since my husband is into that kind of thing (go figure), we stopped for a picture.

Christmas Day

2009-01-02T11:11:00.000-07:00

Okay, these are from Christmas Morning. Carson got a Monster Truck Jeep with a remote control from Santa, and Mack Truck from mom and dad, and he was so excited! Natalie got a little people doll house (somehow we didn't get a picture of that one) from Santa, and a new xylophone from mom and dad. She was pretty happy about her new toys, too.

All in all, it was a great Christmas. The kids got more toys and candy than they need, as did Mike and I. We really enjoyed our first Christmas in our own home, and we're looking forward to doing it that way many more times. What a joy!

Christmas Eve

2008-12-29T21:41:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of our Christmas Eve. Mike got home from work a couple of hours early, so we all went sledding in the backyard. Then we got dressed in "authentic" clothing worn when Jesus was born. We had our "Back to Bethlehem" dinner, followed by our very own skit of the Christmas story and sang Christmas songs. We had a great time! Of course when I uploaded my pictures, I did them backwards, so here they are in reverse order. More pictures of Christmas Day and our trip to Bear Lake coming soon!