Christmas!!

We had a fun Christmas this year with Luke's family.  It was so fun to have his parents back from their mission, and to see so many of his family that we haven't seen for awhile.

Here is Ty and 3 of his cousins on Christmas morning--we are missing the other 4 cousins born this past year (8 new grand-babies in 2008).

Here is Ben and Alec with their cousins from Virginia reading Christmas stories with Grandpa before bed on Christmas Eve.

My sweet little shepherds in the Christmas Nativity.  

The wind in Idaho Falls left some fun snow drifts, and Luke helped the boys build a snow cave to play in.  It was nice to have a white Christmas.

HOLIDAY FUN!!

We had a fun month full of holiday fun. Here are a few of the fun things we did this Christmas. Seeing the Christmas Lights was a hit for the kids, even Ty didn't mind the cold. Decorating the tree was especially fun for the older boys, and Ty was our good little helper as you can see. He is getting so big these days and can blow kisses and clap now, which has been a lot of fun. We attempted to make a Gingerbread House this year that failed miserably, but the boys were okay settling for Gingerbread men. We got to see Santa a lot this year, and it was always interesting to hear what Alec wanted since in changed daily. What a fun time a year, and we have been especially grateful this year to be in our own home for the holidays.

Fall Fun

We have had a fun Halloween season!!!  My boys loved trick-or-treating around our little neighbor, and we had a good time watching their excitement.  Alec became quite the talker at each house, making sure he introduced everyone.

Alec-"Froggie", Ty-Spider, & Ben-Spiderman

We had a fun time carving pumpkins this year.  Ben will still have nothing to do with the insides of a pumpkin, but Alec, on the other hand, loved playing side the pumpkin goo.  We lined the pumpkins up when we were finished and had Ty crawl towards them as the judge--Alec was the winner.

Our two trees in the front yard gave us a lot of leaves to play in this fall.  We played in them almost everyday last week, and one day we had our fun cousins over to join the fun.

Even Ty loved playing in the leaves!!  Surprisingly enough he didn't mind when the boys surrounded him with leaves.  Our only problem was keeping the leaves on the ground and out of his mouth.  He is such a happy little guy!!

Swings

There is a fun park just a quarter of a mile from our house that we walked to yesterday.  Ben rode his bike while I pushed the other two boys, and we had a fun picnic.  Swings seemed to be the hit this visit to the park, and Ty was laughing most of the time.

Notice the drool--Yes, Ty is teething and is constantly sharing his drool with everything.

Alec is always trying to make every picture of himself unique.

Ben is learning to pump on the swings, but for some reason he still can't keep going.

Pumpkin Picking

Ben's preschool took a little field trip to Linder Farms, and I came along with Alec and Ty.  We got to go on a hayride, pick pumpkins, go on a straw and corn maze, and color.  The kids loved it, and now we will have some fun pumpkins to carve.  Ben loves his little preschool class he goes to 2 times a week.  He is getting so big too fast, I can hardly believe it.

Finally Settled

Old Rental

We moved into this rental planning to live there for 3 months--we ended up there for 6 months instead.  We were very happy to leave the weed patch that lined a busy road, but we were grateful to have it while we did.  It served it's purpose and it helped us wait for the house we wanted.  We are also really enjoying our new house since the rental was less than ideal.

New House

This is the home we closed on the end of September, and we love it.  It was a miracle that we were able to get in a home with the market the way it is.  Lets just say there was a lot of road blocks along the way, but with the Lord's help we were able to get into the perfect place.  It is so nice to live in a place that actually looks clean after you've cleaned it.  The boys have a fenced in yard that we love with grass!!  We've done a little painting since the boys couldn't sleep in a purple room, but other than that it is in really good condition.  It is nice to be home, and have all our stuff in one location. 

Fun Times in Idaho

My Buckeye Boys!!

     Yes, football season has officially started.  As you can see you don't have to live in Ohio to get excited about the buckeyes.  We hope the official season is more impressive then the last 2 games.  Either way, I'm sure we'll be keeping tabs.

     My sister Kara came to play for the weekend.  The boys love it when she comes to visit, and as you can see she is up for doing fun things with them.  I love it when she comes the most though!!  I am lucky to have so many great sisters.  She got me addicted to a train game, and we had to play until I won.

     Johnny and Ty

     This last weekend Luke's sister Bekah and her husband Matt came to visit with their little baby Johnny.  He is so cute!!  Him and Ty will eventually be good buddies, but for now sitting by each other is about as exciting as it gets.  Ty is already 7 months old.  He is a chunk!!  We were excited to find that he was in the 25% for his weight, which is good for my boys. Unfortunately like the rest of the boys he is only 10% for his height.  He is such a good little guy.

     

     This is my advertisement for Boise!!  We took the boys on a little hike overlooking Boise, and I was amazed that the desert could be so beautiful.  So here is my plug to everyone-move to Boise, it is a great place to live.  Plus you'll live by me!!

Twin Falls Temple Open House

We met my parents and my sister with her family in Twin Falls to go through the new temple.  It was beautiful!!  We loved feeling the spirit of the Lord's house, and it was nice to share it with our families.  Everything was immaculate, clean, and amazing.  There was a fun display in the gym in the church next door that followed the open house.  It was fun to see the things set up to help teach to plan of happiness.  What a blessing to be apart of something so eternal!!  There were so many volunteers that helped everyone through, everywhere you turned there was a happy face leading you in the right direction.  I am so grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  I love the blessings that come from the temples, and it gives me great peace to know that my marriage goes beyond death.  I can be with my family forever!!

This is me with my mom, my sister Polly (we look so much a like), and her daughter Megan.  We decided to take advantage of the day and went to the Shoshone Falls.  It was incredible!!  I had no idea that Twin Falls had so much to offer.  We had a fun day, and I'm glad my parents and sister made the effort to join us.

Good Old Home Fun!!

We finally found a use for our tub that we don't have enough hot water to fill for its real purpose, it's the reading zone.  The kids love to fill it with books, pillows, and blankets.  We had to stop using it as a race track, because there were too many injuries to the tub and the boys.

Ty is already 6 months!!  He is starting to sit up and we love making him smile and laugh.  Here is a picture of his lizard tongue, yes we think he'll have a long tongue like is brother Ben.

Here is Ben and his new bike.  He worked hard for it, earning money back from his whining cup that he had lost for whining.  He loves it and tries to ride it around our little cement block between the house and garage.  Alec has taken over his trike, and he thinks petaling with one foot is more effective than using both.

The fun new ride at our house!!  I started putting Ty in the laundry basket while I do laundry to help him sit up.  The boys picked up on that idea fast, and figured Ty shouldn't be the only one having fun.

Julia Davis Park

I found a piece of home today when we went to a park in downtown Boise. It reminded me of Ohio, and helped relieve some of my homesickness. It had a beautiful rose garden in full bloom, and I wish I could have brought the smell home (my house could definitely use it). There was a fun trail along the river, I believe it's called the "Green Belt", that we really enjoyed. The big trees were awesome!! We'll be going there again soon.

The 4th of July

We had fun with our cousins getting our faces painted.  

The boys loved the parade!!.
We spent the rest of the day swimming with the cousins and sliding on the slip-n-slide.  We roasted hot dogs and smores, and Luke made the favorite Peppermint Ice Cream.  The home fireworks were really fun!!  The biggest firework was created by the neighbors who started the hillside on fire.  The boys enjoyed watching fire trucks in action, and luckily no real damage was done.

Rolling TY!!

Ty starting rolling over today.  He is getting so big in more ways than one.  We are really enjoying him, especially since he has slept through the night the last couple of nights-Hooray!  He is really easy to make smile and his brothers are the best at making him laugh.

Ty always has lots of good help with everything!!

We're Back!!

We're are finally back to the internet world! We have had a busy last couple of months, but the most fun times were the three weeks after Luke was done with school. We went to St. George for a little family vacation, went back to Ohio for Graduation, and got to see most of our families at reunions. We had a great time, but we are glad to be home. Here are a few pictures we took on our a little adventures. The most rewarding time was graduation. Hooray!! Luke is now an official optometrist. It was so fun going back for graduation--I am so proud of him!!

Relocating Again!!

We have moved once again, but are finally settled. Thanks to our friends, Drostan and Jen, we have a large home to rent that is affordable for a three month lease (yes we will be relocating again in 3 months). You are all going to want to rent it after we leave. It is a double wide manufactured home, and we like to call it the swimming pool house. Not to many homes have green/blue carpet with swirls and is over 2,000 sqare feet. The wall paper is gorgeous, let me know if any of you want it when we are through. After all, how many rentals can your kids have room to ride their bikes indoors. Luke's internship is going great, and he is learning a lot. He is a little stressed trying to find a job and get ready for boards, but there is an end it site which makes it tolerable.
We are going back in time however, and will have no internet for the next three months. Here is our quick update. Feel free to call anytime.

Our Sweet Baby!!

Here are some fun pictures of our precious new addition!!

Baby Ty Has Arrived!!

Ty Charles was born on Feb. 12th at 10:09 am.  He weighed 6# 10 oz. and was 20 inches long.  We had a c-section scheduled for 7:30 that morning but thankfully she was able to start into labor after the Dr. broke her water at 4:30 am.  Both Jill and the baby are doing great and we were actually able to bring them home just a few hours ago.  As you can see from the pictures he has blonde hair like his brother Alec and so far he has been a very pleasant baby.  Yesterday I had the chance to spend some one on one time with Ty while his mom was sleeping and as I looked down on that little miracle all the cares and troubles of this world seemed to melt away.  His sweet little spirit talked with mine and we had a nice daddy to son chat.  Jill and I feel so blessed to have this new baby in our home and we thank all of you that have shown so much love and support.