Almost Christmas

We have had an exciting couple of weeks. We finally got to move into our new house and it is really great! It's so nice to have more room to spread out, except all of our stuff looks smaller. I think my favorite thing is the dishwasher. I moved into my new classroom at school today, so I should be a moving expert by now. Last week we had our FFA Christmas party on Tuesday and Molly's Christmas program on Thursday. She sang songs with her class and the kindergarten class and then Santa came to school. Molly was very serious with Santa and she told him exactly what she wants. Austin is completely back to his old self after being so sick. He's starting to talk more and he can say "Molly" now. We decorated our house this past weekend and the kids are very excited for Christmas. We all are, really.

Home again!

We made it home from the hospital in Salt Lake City on Thanksgiving Day. We got home around 2:30 and it is definitely good to be home. Both of the kids are feeling great. Austin slept until 7:30 this morning and he's happy and running around like nothing ever happened. Steve and I are still feeling a little worn out, though.

We had alot of fun carving pumpkins and dressing up for halloween. We went to the Lions Club Halloween party last night. Kids from the high school read and act out Halloween stories. Molly had fun, but all of the candy they give out makes it stressful for us with her peanut allergy. Austin didn't seem to enjoy being a chicken as much as I liked dressing him up. It was tough to get a good picture, but he really liked the pumpkin carving! We're dressing up again today and going to another party and then trick-or-treating!!

Austin has decided that he loves our animals and he can't seem to get enough of them! Jake, our big black dog, is the only one who will hold still for Austin to pet him and climb on him. The cats and the other dogs are pretty quick to run away, though.

Her Baby

The other day, we got a lot of vegetables from Leslie's parents. Molly really loves zucchini. She picked up a big one and started to pack it around. She called it her baby. She would take it to bed with her and rock it to sleep. Then one day before dinner, she told us that she was hungry, and she started to take bites out of her baby. We said to her, "wasn't that your baby?" and like Molly always seems to point out the most obvious things to us, she said, "You guys, that can't be a baby, it is a zucchini." Duh!

First Day of School

Hello everyone,

I am sorry about the big gap between posts, we have been so busy. Molly is now going to school, and she loves it. She was so cute on her first day. Both Leslie and I took her to her class, and she was a bit scared. She met some really nice cute little girls who welcomed her in, and she now talks about them all of the time. She loves to go to PE, Computers, and Music. She told me about one day when she was playing on the merry-go-round with her friends, and it started to go really fast. Molly and all of her little buddies started to say "Holy Shit." It was really hard for me to not bust out laughing when she told me that. She now knows that she should not say words like that, but it was very funny.

Great Basin is pretty great

We went to Great Basin National Park earlier this week for some camping. It was really nice to get away from some of the stress that our new house is giving us. First, Leslie got pretty scared on the narrow road up to our campground as it wound around the mountains for a while, finally ending up at an elevation of almost 10,000 ft.

We set up camp, had some hot dogs, made some smores, and had a great night of star watching.

When we woke up the next morning, we went on a tour of Lehman Caves. Molly and Austin liked it mostly. They both clung on pretty tight when the tour guide wanted to show us how dark the inside of a cave really is. She only shut the lights off for a second so there was no crying...... me or the kids.

We took some pictures, but they really do not do it justice. That place is absolutely amazing. From there we climbed back up to our campground for some lunch then some butterfly catching for about an hour. Then we all geared up for a hike that would lead us around 2 mountain lakes. The hike was around 3 miles, and we stopped quite a few times to take some pictures, admire the views, and rest a bit. Molly only wanted to be carried the last couple of tenths of the hike. She is in really great shape. 3 miles is a long way for 4 year-old legs to go. After it started to rain on us, we decided to just head home instead of stay another night. It is pretty nice that we live relatively close.

Happy Birthday .... Tiger

Austin turned 1 year old on July 10. We had his favorites (he told us) for dinner- Tri-tip, potatoes, and squash. After dinner, we sang "Happy Birthday" to him. He didn't know what to think about the whole candle thing. His big sister helped him blow it out. Leslie also made the coolest tiger cake.

It was very cute and very delicious. Austin got to get all messy with his cake and ice cream. He got so messy that we had to change his outfit before he got to open his presents. He wasn't too sure about how to tear into that wrapping paper, but his big sister showed him how to do it.

4th of July Weekend

We had such a blast over the 4th of July weekend. The parade in Eureka was excellent as you can tell by the candy bowl that Molly has. She also had a great time in the foot races where she came in just out of the money for her age group. She also got 37 nickels in the nickel scramble. It was also great for us as we got to go mullet watching. Check out the Mississippi Mudflaps, Camaro Hair, Kentucky Waterfall, Shorty Longback. Well, that one was the best one of the bunch. I tried to imitate it later as we all dressed up, I just ended up looking like the lead singer from Alabama. If you could not tell, Molly looked just like Hannah Montana. Molly also had a blast as she played on Dirt Mountain (A bunch of dirt that had been moved in preparation for our foundation for our new house). Check out how dirty she was. She would roll down the little hill, and dust would just fly everywhere. The fourth of July in Eureka really is the best celebration around.

Vacation

Over the last week, we went on vacation to Boise. We had such a great time going to the Discovery Center, the mall (for pictures and shopping), swimming at the hotel pool, and the zoo. The highlight of our week of vacation came at the end when we got to see almost all of Molly's and Austin's cousins. They all had such a great time playing. Well, Austin just kinda sat there, but he really smiled a lot at his big cousin Katy. It was really great that we could all get together like that. Thanks so much to Matt and Kelsey for having us.