O Christmas Tree

This year we decided to cut down our own Christmas tree for the first time. We headed up towards Mesa Falls to find our perfect tree. In the process we had a fun adventure. It hadn't snowed a ton, but enough that the road was rutted out. We ended up getting sucked off the shoulder and stuck. Lucky for us, there was a truck behind us to pull us out. The only problem was that we couldn't turn around. We thought about backing down the mountain but decided to press forward, staying in the tracks until we got to the turn around at the falls. Great idea until we got there and some super smart couple on a date decided to park their acura car right in the middle of the road while they took a hike to the falls. No one could get around them. So we parked and headed into the forest with the kids. Only there were no pretty trees to be found unless they were 40 feet high. So back to the car we went. After laying on the horn to try and get the attention of the car owners with no luck, we started backing down the mountain. The whole time poor Tyler was sitting in the back making comments about how this was the "worst idea we've ever had!" and "we're never gonna get home like this" and on and on. We made it back to lower Mesa and decided to turn around...and got stuck. By now it was about 4:00 and starting to get dark and NO ONE else was around. By now Tyler was having a full on heart attack that we were stranded, no one was going to find us, we were going to strave and die right there in our car. But using the mad skills we have, me and Eli managed to get us out...an inch at a time. Once we were turned around, Eli and the boys decided to head back out while I stayed in with the girls. Allie was frozen and Gracie was hungry, of course. After about 20 minutes the boys appeared dragging our perfect Christmas tree behind. It worked out perfect! We made it down from the mountain just in time to enjoy a beautiful Idaho sunset!

Into the forest we go!

Time out for playing!

Doesn't get any prettier than that.

Naughty Gracie

No words needed......toilet paper is just so much fun when you're almost one!

Thanksgiving in Moses Lake

This year for Thanksgiving we decided to get out of town and go visit Eli's brother, Andrew and his wife Britni up in Moses Lake, WA. It was so fun to get away and have a family adventure. We spent the night in Boise to break up the drive and give the kids a chance to swim. Me and Eli have come full circle as a couple. When we were dating (12 years ago) we stayed at a Hampton Inn in Boise with his family during one of his baseball tournaments. We took his 3 youngest brothers swimming and the hot tub was toxic. From youngest to oldest we all started coughing and choking and almost puking and our eyes were on fire. Since then we've always called it the "poison pool". Well, we pull in to our hotel and lo and behold it was the same hotel. We laughed and laughed....the memories. It was so weird to be swimming with our own kids (the boys are pretty much the same age his brothers were, so crazy)! Such a fun way to start our trip. The drive was pretty much uneventful until Tyler got car sick for the first time ever, 9 hours into the drive. Not cool. But 99% of the puke made it onto the outside of our car so we survived. It was so fun to see Andrew and Britni. They were the best hosts. We got to eat, sleep, talk, go to one of Andrew's games and bowl. It was just what we needed for our little getaway!

Tyler thought it was so cool that his name was on a sign. Too bad his last name isn't Cheney or it would have been extra cool.


Taking a break at the rest stop.


Gracie bugs helping in the kitchen.

Movie time! Gracie loves popcorn as much as her sister.

Um........do you think they come from the same gene pool or what???

Aunt Britni and her little helpers. They couldn't leave her alone in the kitchen.

Happy Birthday Allie (only 3 months late)

Well, here I am finally getting around to catching up. I panicked just a little when I started thinking to myself that after all the craziness tomorrow I should update the blog with our Christmas adventures and then I remembered that I am behind clear to Allie's birthday. So here are the highlights from her special day. She was SO much fun this year. She just gets so excited about everything. Her cheeks had to have hurt by the time it was all over. She loved her Dora cake, the millions of fingernail polishes, princess clothes, you name it. This little girly girl was one happy chiquita on her birthday this year. Happy Birthday our little 3 year old! (Now if we stay lucky and Christmas Eve stays as chill as it has been so far, I'll have Halloween and Thanksgiving on here before tomorrow...hahahaha)!

Catching up with our little Gracie Bug

I realize that it has been FOREVER since I've put anything on the blog. All of my pictures from August - September are on Eli's laptop. Since he has his computer with him all day at school I haven't been able to pull them off to update anything so I promise, from the first day of school to Allie's birthday will be on here soon. In the mean time though, I thought I'd post some cute little pictures of Gracie. She is getting so big. She points at everything. Pulls her self up on everything and is starting to walk along the furniture. She says "uh oh" and "oh wow". It is the cutest thing ever. She eats everything and wants to feed herself now. She is still so good and so, so chill. I love her so much and can't squeeze her enough. She got the flu a week ago and as sad as it was, I got to hold and rock her for a whole day, and I loved it. I just can't believe she is 10 months old! What! Almost a year, and I've been there enough to remember that once they can walk and once they have that first birthday they are all grown up. It seems like overnight they don't want to be babies anymore. I'm not ready for that. I've been trying so hard to hold onto her and keep her little but she's still growing up right under my nose....

That cute little tushy was toooo cute not to take a picture of. Don't you just want to pinch em?

So big standing on the piano bench while mom vacuums.

Giving her minnie mouse loves...or eating her. It started off as a kiss, but I'm not quite sure what it turned into.


And yes, she wears little piggie tales now.....too big and too cute!

Happy Halloweinie!

The crew

Halloween was tons of fun this year and super busy. I don't remember so much going on when I was a kid. Between 3 carnivals, 2 school parties and the actual holiday/trick or treating, I think we definitely had our fill of candy and games. The kids loved it. The boys are getting older and just want to be tough or gross. Ty loves to scare and be scared so he was in heaven all week long. The boys had a halloween piano recital over the weekend too that all the family came to. They did so awesome! It was a first for both of them and they played both of their pieces so great. We are so proud of them!
Ty loves being scary. All the kids at our ward and the school carnival loved the knife in his head. He thought he was so awesome!

Our little army/call of duty guy. The boys were so awesome with their face paint, and looked so big and tough and scary.

Allie couldn't wait to be "No Wipe" for Halloween. That is all we've heard about for months. I even ponied up and learned how to sew so I could make her dress instead of buy one. It's not perfect but it turned out pretty cute and she LOVES it.

And our little Gracie bug got to be a witch this year. She is so chill and did so good keeping her hat on. She hardly even played with her tutu either. She slept through most of trick or treating but was a trooper getting packed around in a fluffy skirt all week.

Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere!

To start off Halloween we had our anual family home evening pumpkin carving night with some good friends. The kids had a blast and the pumpkins turned out great. Tyler decided this year he wanted to do his all by himself. He picked out a pretty hard design but did awesome. His dad didn't have to help him until the very end.

The boys and their HUGE pumpkins that they grew out at Grandpa Kim's.

Our little princess and her witch. She was such a good helper, even getting out the goop.

Gracie pretty much wandered around on the floor trying to eat all the pumpkin seeds we were dropping, but she thought it was great. I sat her by Allie's pumpkin just to get her picture so she wasn't left out and she dug right in with her little fingers. Guess she wanted to carve one too.

And of course, it had to go in her mouth!