Wii are funny

Nothing too terribly exciting to report, but please enjoy this video of Coulter and Maycie playing the Wii.

A Bazillion New Things

Here is a short and sweet overview of what has been keeping us busy this past little bit:

Cody drives the patrol car for the Veterans Day parade, the kids ride with him and throw out old halloween candy to the crowd. The only thing visible from Maycie are her patriotic hairbows in the barred windows of the backseat. I sit like a loser by myself and watch the parade trying to take video and pics at the same time.

P.S. No one parties like Page for Veterans day, school was cancelled, there were parades and canivals, it was awesome.

Riley has been in a running program for about 12 weeks and on Saturday completed a 5k in Flagstaff. Cody was her running buddy and they finished in about 35 minutes. Out of 184 girls they came in with the first 15-20 girls. Riley was so proud she wore her medal to church the next day and then to school on Monday.

While in Flagstaff we went to "Bearizona" (pretty sweet name). Here are the little darlings posing, this was about the only time that one of them wasnt throwing a fit.

Look at the look on Nolan's face, once that bottom lip sticks out you have about 5 seconds until all hell breaks loose.

Check out this obese bear, it was so unbelievably fat. I'm surprised it could even walk. We drove the loop around it about 5 times.....we were fascinated.

We take a ride on the Polar Express Nolan cries THE WHOLE TIME, sorry people in train car I. Maycie has her whole speech to Santa planned out, then panics when the big moment arrives and stands silent. I do my best to tell Santa what she wants. Then when we leave the room Maycie gets mad at me for not mentioning everything on her list. Apparently she will take one of everything at Toys R Us.

We also shopped til we dropped , the best part was when the air outside Old Navy smelled like dog food causing Maycie to gag uncontrollably, causing me to laugh uncontrollably.

After all that I am Tired.

Hot Air Balloon Regatta

This weekend was the Hot Air Balloon Regatta in Page. It was spectacular. 53 Balloons took off just below our house on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. On Sunday the wind took the balloons right over our house.
This Balloon crash landed on the next street over, we were almost late for church because we were running back and forth from front yard to back yard waiting for it to crash. It did not disappoint.

The girls watching the balloons on sunday morning.

Our drivew around town on Saturday. We unepectantly ended up at Denny's for breakfast in pajamas, with crazy hair and Maycie had no shoes. But isn't that what Denny's is for?

Saturday Morning.

On Saturday night they blocked off the street and put up the ballons in the street and lit up the fires to make the ballons glow in the dark. It was an awesome weekend.

Hopefully the video will work, if not I will fix it or post pics of the event.

Beach Bums

Dear Lone Rock Beach,

Thank you for a summer full of annoying splashing by a certain annoying someone (even though that person has been warned not to mess up my hair.) Swimming in you water has made our Coulter's muscles grow to infinite porportions.

You have given us sandy bum cheeks.

we cant wait to see you next summer,

Love, Us

P.S. we may drop in for an occasional winter bon fire.

3 weeks

The baby is now three weeks old. He's cute, we're tired, and a good poopy diaper has never been so exciting. This kid has some crazy hair, notice no hair in the front, then a full head of LONG hair in the back.
Then a little poof of hair at the top of his head. I was going to cut it, but couldn't bring myself to do it. So instead we shape it into a little Jack-Jack inspired do.

All four kids are still alive and acounted for, wish us luck.

Baby Nolan

Our sweet Baby Nolan finally came on Thursday September 23rd. He was 7lbs 12 oz and 19 inches long, our second smallest baby. Hair color and eye color are yet to be determined, since they keep changing everyday. He is very small and very cute. His head is always covered in vanilla chap stick from Maycie kissing him all the time. More pictures to come when I have the time.

The Day Maycie Grew Up

Maycie had a big day last week. Her first day of preschool AND first day of dance on the same day. Were a little worried because Maycie absolutely refuses to go to nursery. After Cody and I substituted in nursery last week we dont blame her. She is much older than all the other kids and the only one who is potty trained. I wouldnt want to sit in a hot room with a bunch of poopy crying kids either. She is way too cool for that. Dance went well, you could tell by the look on her face that she was finally among people who understood her and her three year old dancing desires.

And finally the moment she has been waiting for: 1st day of preschool. I signed her up when we first moved to Page, then when we moved we moved into her teachers ward, then we found out the Cody and her teacher Jill grew up in the same small small town. Its a small world. Now says Maycie refuses to wear anything but a dress, good thing we were smart and bought all dresses for school clothes. Every day she is Fancy pants for school.

Good luck Maycie.

Coulter Turns seven

Coulter went ahead and decided to turn seven. Dang kids, can't keep them young.
To celebrate the event I did a seven question interview with the little fella:

1. Is it better to be six or seven? "Seven because that is my favorite number."

2. What is the best part about being seven? "Being older than every number smaller than seven."

3. What do you want to be when you grow up? "A Police officer" (Cody will be proud)

4. What is your favorite thing about yourself? "Everything"

5. What is your favorite food? "Tacos and corn chowder soup from MiMi's"

6. What is your favorite thing to do? "Play sports, especially basketball and soccer"

7. Who is your favorite Mom? "You". (I thought so)

There you have it folks, a brief glimpse into the mind of our beloved Coulter.

Happy Birthday Buddy!!!!!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

We are so glad to have school back in session. A little early in my opinion, but when it's so hot outside, there is not much else to do. Riley decided to be the most colorfully dressed person in the third grade.
Coulter went with a lovely green ensemble that would compliment his hair for his first day of second grade.
Congratulations to both kids who were placed in the advanced class for their grade.

Here's a little ditty to highlite our recent looong trip to Utah. I'm too lazy to write much about the details so I will do what I will do best and summarize all the events.

• FOUR parades
• Bags of parade candy that the kids just had to dash into the streets for.....they never ate the candy, I ate all the chocolate and threw the rest away. Along with all the hats, balloons, frisbees and other junk that was thrown out.
• One industrial roll of plastic+ 1 liter of dish soap+ scoops of laundry soap+Uncle Justiin= gigantic slip and slide......which then=Coulter falling flat on his back 500 times.
• Illegal fireworks
• Seeing FOUR new neices and Nephews
• One trip to urgent care
• 10 days on antibiotics
• One giant family reunion...of which I did not take any pics, again too lazy.
• One tired family who came home and had to move to a new house when we got back, which then equals one very happy family in their new awesome snake free home...more details to come.
• THE END

Teeth, Tee Ball, and Puppies.

Meet Marley, the newest edition to our family. While at work Cody was asked to pick up a box of newborn puppies abandoned on the side of the road. He bought them home to show the kids and in a moment of brief stupidity we agreed to let the kids pick one out to keep. He was in pretty rough shape, covered in poop, starving, and very young, not walking, eyes just barely opened. We gave him a bath, and had to feed him puppy formula with a tiny bottle. We better keep this little guy alive because Riley has already proclaimed this to be the best thing to happen to her in her life. Although when I have to get up in the middle of the night to feed it, the thought of it not making it doesn't break my heart.
After a few days we are proud to report he is doing much better, learning to walk and finally drinking from a dish. Riley wants to keep him so badly she has been so good about taking care of him, cleaning up after him and walking around all day with him wrapped up in a dish towell like a baby. Her behavior has improved so much too. No more back talk or being sent to her room. Apparently to get your kids to behave you just have to give them a puppy the threaten to take it away. Awesome. In other news Coutler just finished up a very successful tee-ball season. Cody and I were very surprised with him this year. Usually he is not very agressive in sports, he just lets the bigger kids do everything. This time he was awesome, running past kids to field balls, and hopefully will be old enough to be in coach pitch next year. And finally the most exciting news of all: Coulter finally lost his front teeth!!! After losing one in an embarrasing incident on a trampoline at a pot luck where he screamed like a maniac and we had to leave quickly, the remaining tooth decided to move to the middle and stick straight out. Then I had to perform weeks of late night dentistry to try to pull it out while he was asleep. Finally it fell out yesterday while he was eating a granola bar. We plan on framing the wrapper.

Speedy

Today was the Page Track meet where first graders from both schools compete to see who is the fastest. Our little man Coulter A.K.A "the blur" was scheduled for two events: the 400 meter relay and the long jump. He took first place in both events. I was so proud. He was so fast infact that he was too fast for the camera to catch him on film....well actually I was a spaz and couldnt get the camera to work. But trust me, he was impressive. I was also pretty great as lemonade passer outer if I do say so myself. Then after hours at Coulter's track meet I had a tiny break then had to go to Riley's track meet. She was also scheduled for the long jump and she scored third place for the second grade. Also very impressive. Note Maycie trying to steal a lick of that popsicle while Riley poses for a picture.

Dam Fun

This weekend we set out to see the best that our new town had to offer. Our first stop, the dam we took the official tour and went down inside. Riley hit her head on the railing twice trying to get a better look. After 45 minutes with a tour guide explaining why the dam was made and movie at the end that also explained everything, Coulter asks on the way home why they made the dam.

Then today we headed to the beach, just a few minutes from our house. Even though it was not beach weather (65 degrees and windy) this did not stop the kids from stripping down and getting wet and sandy.

These husband and wife ducks came looking for food, we provided granola bars. Then another male came and started fighting with the other for the girl, very entertaining. Husband duck won.

We can hardly wait for summer.

Location, Location, Location

We have moved again. And I recently realized that many of our friends and family thought we had moved to Idaho because we forgot to tell them the change in plan (sorry about that grandma). We actually moved to Page, AZ. We were all packed to move to McCall Idaho, but two days before Cody was to sign the contract for the P.D. there DPS asked us to move to Page to fill an emergency position. We had twenty minutes to decide...tough decision. We decided to take the position in Page so Cody could stay with his department and not mess up his retirement. We had just a couple weeks to find a house and move. The move was a success thanks to all those who helped us. We are loving it here. The kids are back in school (thank goodness) And Cody loves his new squad. and me, well, I just enjoy civilization again. Here are the sweet view from our new backyard that backs up to the rim and the golf course, we can see the lake, the dam, and all the way to Cody's field office.
Here is what is right out our back gate. We have already had a snake, a coyote who was sizing up the dog for breakfast, and a dead bobcat down the way. We hear there are also cougars and racoons.

Dam Maycie. Or rather Maycie at the Dam. It is about 5 miles from our house.

Cody's sweet new ride. Watch out for this baby on your way to Powell.

We are now waiting for family and friends to come and visit. We charge a lot less than the hotels around here.

Cedar Hill Ranch

Just before we moved we went to our good friends' ranch near Kingman. They have set up a old west town out there with lots of activities and animals. The kids love to go there. This time Jim and Lynda went all out and the kids got to make candles, wash clothes the old fashioned way, saw logs, rope, ride horses, make butter, and all sorts of other things. Thanks Jim and Lynda, we miss you already. Maycie had a great time at the Saloon

Check out this giant dog, this is Maycie's best friend

Ropin' Riley