Family Picture Time...

A few weekends ago we took some family pictures in the back yard at my mom's house. They turned out pretty well for only taking 15 minutes or so! (Thanks Michael for taking the Family Pic!)

Jen started talking about getting a family picture of their family before Thanksgiving, but the weekends weren't working out to get it done. When she thought all hope was lost for a picture in her Christmas cards we found a weekend!
Jen and Tim were having a hard time thinking of something for Grandma Geri for Christmas so we took these pictures for her. (don't worry...she doesn't have a computer, let alone access to the internet!) Although I didn't think I would be able to figure out photoshop in time to put something like this together for her so she bought a 3-window frame.

A big thank you to Kara for helping with photoshop on this one with our mini email lessons!

Say Hello to Stella...

Here she is--Stella, our English Bulldog puppy--

After Tim brought home Sadie on Thanksgiving I couldn't wait any longer, we started the search for a puppy. It only took two and half weeks (we picked her up yesterday)

She's so tiny next to Lucy!

Faith loves puppies...all puppies...she walked around the dining room kissing each dog, even Lucy.

How can you not love these wrinkles!

Justin and Tim and their puppies! Sadie is 12 weeks, Stella is 6 weeks.

Happy Early Birthday...

Sunday we had an early birthday party for Jen. Her Birthday isn't until next weekend but this weekend was her turn with the boys. We ordered pizza unwrapped presents and ate cake! What more do you need?

The boys always have to help their mama unwrap presents!
We were a few candles short...and she still missed one ;)

Happy Birthday Jen!

We Love Portland...

What do we love about Portland? The one hour flight to get there. The MAX that takes you anywhere you want to go for one low price. The Biggest Christmas Craft Bazaar with over 1500 vendors. IKEA. All together with a fantastic friend...

and my awesome mom!
We flew over Saturday morning (December 5th) and spent the day walking and shopping through the Expo Center. We even finished with some Christmas presents (and a few things for ourselves!) After the Christmas Craft Bazaar we took the MAX to IKEA. My mom and Jacque hadn't ever been, so we had fun looking at EVERYTHING. When we got done at IKEA we weren't looking forward to taking the MAX back to the airport to call the hotel for our shuttle so we took a chance and called to see if the shuttle would pick us up at IKEA. Not only did they do that, but he stoped at a frozen yogurt shop for us so we could get some dessert! We will definitely stay there again! Sunday morning we got up and had probably the best continental breakfast I have ever had with great waffles. We got to the airport in time for the 1150am flight home...the only problem...I was the only one who made the flight. So we stayed together and sought alternate routes home. We took a 2p flight to Spokane and had a few hours to kill there. (by the way, there is nothing to do in the Horizon terminal in Spokane!) We spent our free time in Spokane eating pizza and playing 10,000 Aces. Finally getting home at 9p. It was a great weekend!

Can't wait until next year!

Thanksgiving...

Our first dinner of the day was at Justin's Grandparent's house. We had fun playing with the kids until dinner was ready. Timmy was showing off how he could go down the slide on his belly.

Sarah told Justin to back up or she was going to kick him. He said it was hard to stand that close and not flinch...and when her feet were coming right at him...it definitely felt closer than it was! :)

It's always hard to sneak a shot of Jerry! Too bad I missed the fantastic face he was making just moments before!

When we got to my mom's house for dinner number two we had to check out Tim's new puppy Sadie. Faith liked her a lot! The boys didn't get to see Sadie until they came home from their dad's house on Sunday.

I have finally discovered how to get a picture of Justin and Michael...pretend you're taking a picture of Faith!

Thanks everyone for sharing Thanksgiving with us! What a great day!

Mans Best Friend...

I never realized just how much a dog becomes a part of your family until we had Abby. Not just a part of our little family (Justin & I) but our whole family, my mom, Tim, Josh, Janeen, everyone. Tuesday afternoon my mom called to let me know my brother, Tim, had lost two of his dogs, Gus & Cooper. They had been out hunting and were both hit by a train, sitting on the tracks side by side, refusing to move. I was a little glad I was standing in the middle of Sephora at JCPenny when she called or I might have lost it. I just couldn't help but think how helpless Tim must have felt as he called to them, begging them to come. It made me think how helpless I felt after finding Abby and knowing no one had been here to help her. Its amazing how these guys have nestled themselves so deep in our hearts that we mourn for them just like we would a person. The unconditional love they bring to us is unlike any other relationship. So today I am grateful for Mans Best Friend. (As un-traditional as that sounds for Thanksgiving!) For my best friend, Abby. For Mason's best friend, Gus. For Tim's best friend, Cooper. And for the ones we still get to love- My mom's best friend, Lucy. Kaden & Jen's best friend, Daisy. Maddie & Braden's best friend, Doc. The Law's best friend, Buck. And Tim's new best friend, Sadie.

McCall...

Last Weekend (November 13-15) my mom and I spent the weekend in McCall scrapbooking with some of our friends. As always, it was a lot of fun and we got a lot done! Mom finished 18 pages and I finished 37 pages!

the Lunch Bunch...

(lame title, I know, it's the best I could do!) With the new shift bid that started in October we had some changes at work with some of us working from home and some switching from night shifts to day shifts. This could only mean one thing....LUNCH DATE!! Saturday, November 7th we all got together to celebrate DeVonna's birthday and have some fantastic food and laughs at Red Robin. I forgot to take a picture while everyone was there, so here's a couple of who was left by the time I remembered I had my camera!

Sherri, Marci, Caroline, MaryLou

Stacey, DeVonna, Me, Char
Thank you everyone for coming! I'm looking forward to next month and OLIVE GARDEN! Yum!

Halloween...

We spent Halloween at my mom's house, had dinner with the kids and took some fun Halloween pictures before they went trick-or-treating. Faith was a little pink lady bug, Mason was a "scary guy with no face" (that's what he called it!) and Kaden was Batman! We had left our pumpkins in the garage all week so we brought them with us to my mom's so they could be out on Halloween! The beagle and bulldog pumpkins Justin and Michael carved while we were watching the BSU game that afternoon.

Faith got into some candy before they even got started

I love this picture of Mason's totally disgusted face...apparently he didn't like one of the candies mom put in his bag!

Pumpkins...

Saturday we held our annual pumpkin carving night with the Barclays. I love that once they're kids are in bed we can do whatever we want and turn the movie up as high as we can and they still sleep through it! Halloween movie of choice this year--Hocus Pocus--Can't beat a classic!! the mess:

Michael won best pumpkin for 2009...and he should because, well it was pretty cool, and took the longest.
and in no particular order:
Pluto (Jamie)
Ursela (Justin)
BSU (Michael)
Jack-O-Lantern (Jared)
Cinderella (Jacque)

Happy Halloween!!

Abby Moo...

Yesterday we lost our 4-year-old Beagle, Abby. We left her out back, like we always did, while we went to town. Abby layed down on the back deck and the tags on her collar got stuck between the boards. She twisted herself up trying to get out and strangled herself. Knowing we may not be in our house much longer, we decided to take her up to Justin's parents house to rest in peace. This is quite possibly one of the hardest things I've ever done. I was telling Justin yesterday that I always thought people who cried over their pets were dumb...well count me as one of them now! I was really looking forward to working from home and having her here with me all the time. Since we don't have kids, loosing Abby was like loosing a child for us. Thank you, everyone for your thoughts, prayers and messages. We know this had to happen for a reason, we're just waiting to find out why.

Meet Auto...

He's the newest addition to our zoo. (pretty soon I'm going to start charging admission!) He will be prettier in a few more months after he grows the rest of his feathers back. He was a rescue bird and had been plucking his feathers due to stress. This picture was a month or so after we got him and he's already made a huge improvement on picking at his feathers. I'll have to start posting more often you can see what a pretty bird he's growing up to be!

A Happy Birthday...

I took my birthday off from work and spent the day with Justin. He had the day all planned out, but with two different plans. So he made me choose 1 or 2 all day long, and whatever he had assigned to that number, that's what we did. It was kind of like those Choose Your Own Adventure books we read in grade school...you remember those right??!! We went out to lunch (Olive Garden) and to a movie (UP in 3D) and to Coldstone for some ice cream. Then had dinner at my mom's house with the whole family. And what did I pick for my birthday dinner you ask? HOT WINGS!! YUM!!

Mason helped me open all of my presents. I have been telling Justin all summer that I want a pink 22 for my birthday...but we had already discussed that I wouldn't be getting it. So, even knowing that was the case, I got a little excited to open the last present...which was an empty gun case to go with my gun cleaning kit and ear muffs, so that I have everything I need when he DOES get me my pink 22 someday...SOON!!
Thank you everyone for another WONDERFUL birthday!