Update

Last Saturday we had someone hit us in the Baskin Robins parking lot. Their hitch hit our back bumper and put a nice hole right through it. They don't make bumpers like they use to! Anyways, she was really nice about the whole thing. She came into the store to find out who she hit instead of hitting us and running. So right now we are trying to get estimates and get the whole insurance thing figured out. Lots of fun! I will be very happy when it is all taken care of. At least we are still able to drive the car around.

At the moment we are trying to find either a house or some property to buy. It's a lot of fun to go house shopping. Some days it gets a little frustrating because you have to look at a lot of dumps before you find something decent. What we are finding a lot of are modular homes on really nice pieces of property. All of the houses are on these little lots. At least time is on our side. We are in no huge hurry so we will just keep on looking until we find that good deal. It will be really nice when we get into our own place. Our apartment is pretty nice and is just fine for our little family, but we would really like to be putting our money into something rather than keep giving it away in rent. I also can't wait for the day that I have a washer and dryer in my own house! Five loads of laundry and a 20 pound baby isn't the easiest thing to haul around the apartment complex and down a steep flight of stairs to the laundry facility. I use to say that cleaning showers was my "least" favorite thing to do on my cleaning list. Now I would have to say that laundry tops it! Hey look at the bright side, I always get my arm work out in on those days!

Funny things!

Anyone who has been around Michael knows that he LOVES his pacifier! The funny thing is that he not only likes to suck it but he loves to treat it as a chewing toy. I don't have the heart to take it away from him. I figure that there is no way that he will be able to swallow it so why not! (It is really funny when he has it shoved into his mouth and then gives you that big famous "Michael smile"!)



A girl in our ward gave this warm little outfit to us for Michael. Doesn't it make you want to just squeeze him! As nice as this is it is impossible to buckle him into his car seat with this on, not to mention that he HATES it, so we only put it on when we are going to be outside for a while.

Grandpa's Funeral

A little over a week ago my Grandpa West passed away at age 82. We will all miss him dearly. Towards the end there he had a very poor quality of life so I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we are glad that he is no longer in pain and is able to get around again. I know that he is now in a beautiful place surrounded by many loved ones!

It has been I think around eight years since all of my Dad's siblings have ALL been together at one time. The back row are the six brothers and the front row are my Dad's seven sisters. I don't know how my Grandma was able to have 13 kids. She is definitely a very strong giving lady! I sure look up to her.

That weekend was the first time My Dad was able to meet my son Michael. It was also the first time my sister Laurie (who also lives in Alaska) got to meet Michael. That was the high light of the whole trip for me. I sure love my family!

This is a picture taken of some of my first cousins. It was towards the end of the lunch-in so there are a number of them that were there that are missing from this picture. My sister Laurie is two people to the left of me trying to get Michael to stop crying (he had his feel of pictures taking!) and my oldest sister Amy is the third girl from my right. My Mom, my sister Katie, and my brothers Mike and Luke couldn't be there. I sure did miss them but was so.... glad to see the rest of my family even if it was for a funeral.

Michael's New Favorite Things!

I have to apologize for all of the pictures but I am kind of camera happy these days. Every new little thing that Michael does I think is so ... cute that I HAVE to take a picture of it. His new latest things are to play with his feet and to eat plastic. I just can't help but love this little boy!

I thought Michael looked so cute in his little overalls that I took a picture of him. He has been growing out of things so quickly these days that if I don't take advantage of the moment he doesn't fit into it by the next time I remember that I wanted to take a picture.

Look at how happy he is!!! All you have to do is look at him and he will smile. He definitely loves people.

A Day at the Park

A couple of weeks ago we went down to the park as a family to play around a little bit. The weather has been so nice lately that we wanted to take advantage of it before it gets really cold. I am afraid to say that we still have not seen snow yet! We are going to Ashton Idaho for Christmas so at least we have a better chance of having a white Christmas.

Vlad's off

Last weekend we went to Ashton Idaho to spend a little more time with Vlad (Al's brother) before he left for his mission. While we were there Alan bought a chain saw and convinced everyone to go cut some lumber for his parents wood burning stove. Alan loved every minute of it!

Michael slept in a suitcase until my sister-in-law brought her other pack and play up there with her. Thanks Tiff!

Well the trip was a lot of fun but really quick. It was hard with Michael. He has slept through the night ever since he was 2 months old. When we got there he woke up between 2 to 5 times a night! Ucky! I think the long drive, the time change, and sleeping in a unfamiliar place with Me and Al in the same room could of had a lot to do with it. Now that we are home he has been waking up once during the night. He will cry for a couple of minutes and then fall right back to sleep. All I can say is weird!

Halloween Party

A little over a week ago I threw a Halloween Dinner/Party. It was a lot of work but it turned out really good. We had some gross looking food, games and a ghost story! Everyone had a great time. Here are just a couple pictures of the food we ate.

Here were our two waitresses for the evening, Iona Ax & Mira Mains.