October

This month Drew and I celebrated our 10th anniversary. We celebrated by going to the temple. Drew's cousin Cassie got married, and she took out her endowments that day. So, I skipped Young Womens and we went. We even decided to get a baby sitter that night, so that we didn't have to rush home. It was so nice to spend some time with my sweetheart in the very place where our lives together started. We have been through some ups and downs since our last anniversary. And, there was a time when I wasn't sure if we would see our next anniversary together. I can say with certainty that I love him more than I did 10 years ago. I love how great of a Dad he his. I love how hard he works to provide for us and to better himself. I love his crazy sense of humor. I love how he leaves me notes, and e-mails. I love what a great teacher he is. I love that he loves the gospel. I love that he loves me complete with my many flaws.

PS. Drew, sorry for posting this sappy kissy picture. When we took it, he said, "this isn't going to go up in our house is it?"



For Family Home Evening before Halloween we always carve pumpkins. The kids are starting to get more into it, and where it doesn't gross them out too much.

We told the boys to make a scary pumpkin face.


My kids love Halloween. They love dressing up, they love Trick or Treating, and they love decorating for it. I have a few Halloween decorations, but Davis insisted that we get some more to make our house "Spookier." After everything we put up he'd say "Oh, Mom that looks good. It looks so Spooky."

The boys are obsessed with Star Wars. So of course that is what they picked to be for Halloween. Davis was a Jedi, Marcus was Darth Vader and Phoenix was Yoda. Marcus loves Darth Vader. He goes around and says "I'm choking you!!", in a deep, raspy voice, and imitates the hand gesture that Darth Vader does. A commercial just came out, and when my sister sent me the link, she asked "How did Marcus get on TV!?!"


For Marcus' 4th Birthday this year, we had a Halloween Costume Party. He still talks about it. I tried to think of food that was creepy looking, so we had spaghetti and I made breadsticks in the shape of bones. I also put dry ice in the punch to make it look like some sort of potion.

We told people to dress up, and most people were such good sports about it. We all agree that my Dad's costume was the best. I love my Dad!!

Because Halloween was on a Sunday, the wards in our building had a Trunk or Treat. It was such a great idea. We only spent 30 minutes collecting candy, and they got a ton. Plus, it was really fun to see all the kids and all their cute costumes.

My Star Wars Crew

The kids got so much candy!! As soon as we got home, they sorted it into categories, and then Drew and I let them pick out a few to eat. Our living room was covered with their piles of candy. We still have Halloween Candy left. I haven't gotten around to throwing the rest of it out.

Family Pictures

In the summer my friend Erin entered a contest where you had to nominate a family that deserved to win a photo shoot with a very talented photographer, Tammy Thomsen, and she won!! I was excited because we had never had professional pictures done. They turned out so great. Tammy was fantastic. She had such a great way with kids.

September

Davis started Grade 1 this year. He was so excited to go. Not only did he get to go to school all day, but he was excited that he got to ride the bus to school and home from school. I admit, that I love that he is able to ride the bus. It is very nice. It helps that his bus drivers have always been fantastic. He also has great teachers. From September to the end of January he had Mrs. Fleming, but she went on maternity leave, so he now has Mrs. Finnie.

Marcus got to start Preschool. I was a little worried about him because he is so shy and so cautious, but he is doing great. He also has really great teachers. He has Mrs. Wik (Wickenheiser), Miss Deb, Miss Tanya and Miss Lila. He is also taking speech therapy, which we already have noticed that has helped a lot. He has turned from a very quiet boy, to a little chatter-box. In mid-January, I bumped him into 4 days of Preschool because he loved it so much, and was ready for more.


For Labor Day Long weekend, we went camping in Kalispell with some of Drew's family. We stayed in a little cabin at the Rocky Mountain Hi Campground. We didn't have the nicest weather, but he had a great time.

While we were there, we went out to the Wallace's cabin at Ashley Lake. They were nice enough to take us out to play in the water, and feed us a really great dinner.

What is going to Kalispell without feeding the ducks and playing at the park?

After school started I took Davis to the eye doctor, for a routine eye appointment. I figured that since he was in school now it was a good idea for him to get his eyes tested. I had no idea that he really did need glasses. It turned out that he was significantly far-sighted in his left eye and that his right eye was being strained to over-compensate for it. I noticed that when we did give him work to do, towards the end he had a hard time concentrating. I thought that is was just because he was a typical 6 year old, and not because he was having trouble seeing. It took a little while for him to adjust to his glasses, and to want to wear them. But, once we got over a few speed bumps, he doesn't have any trouble wearing them. And, his work habits have greatly improved. As a side note, Davis is doing really well in school. He needs to work on being a bit neater, but his reading and math skills are above grade level. I am so proud of him.

Drew celebrated his 33rd Birthday this year. To celebrate we went out on a date on the weekend, and I made him Lemon Meringue Birthday Tarts. Drew's brother-in-law Geoff made him a Birthday Pinata, full of all sorts of essentials for an "Old Fart."

August

I have to admit that parts of August were a bit crappy. I was so nauseous for a lot of the time, and it was a cold month. Honestly, all that I wanted to do was lay on the couch and not move. When we did have nice weather we spent our time swimming, and we made a few trips out to Park Lake.

I turned the big 3-0 this year. To celebrate my friend Erin and I decided that we should go to Vegas. Jo came with us, and Lynn and her family drove up and spent a couple of days with us. We had a lot of fun eating, shopping, and seeing the sights.

After Lynn went home, people kept asking us if we were all sisters. In fact, Dave told us that Erin looked more like one of our sisters than Lynn does.

We stayed at the Imperial Palace.

On our last night we decided that we needed to do something really "Vegas-y", so we went and saw the Drag Queens. This is us with Frank, the star of the show. We made one of Jo's life-long dreams come true.

This is one of the ways Drew spent his summer. If he wasn't studying, he was either doing class prep for next semester, or spending the 6 hours a week it took to mow the lawn (and he even mowed way less than what Doug did).

Davis, being...well...Davis.


After Drew finished his test, we decided to go camping at Writing-On-Stone. I went there for YW Camp in July, and the whole time I thought that the kids would love it there. And they did. They had so much fun climbing the hoodoo's, playing at the park, playing at the beach, and building fires. My parents were nice enough to bring their trailer down so we could stay it in. I can't wait to go back next year. In fact, Marcus keeps telling us that it was the funnest place he has ever been to, and he thinks it is more fun than Disneyland would be.


The boys always look forward to Whoop-Up Days, and their Dad taking them to the fair. It is always lots more fun when their cousins can come too.

It is time I updated this puppy- July

Okay, I know I have been horrible about updating my blog lately. My last post was in July, and it is now February. Terrible. I have a good excuse or two. Mainly it is because we keep our pictures on our computer in the basement, and I'm not down there much. Mostly because it is smelly. We live in an old house, with mice and septic tank problems. You do the math. So let's begin, where I ended.

July

We built crazy forts in our living room

We went for adventures in our backyard.

We had picnics at Henderson Park

We played with our new kitties, Milo and Freddy.We spent every sunny day out in the pool. Davis is such a good swimmer. He can touch the bottom of the pool (it is 8 or 9 feet deep) and touch the bottom, and he can swim almost the whole length of the pool underwater. He is better at swimming under water than above the water. Marcus was starting to get really brave as well. He actually went in the pool this year.
We hosted the 2nd Annual "Doug and Nola Clark Memorial Swimming Party." It was really rainy that day, but once it cleared off, everyone was jumping in, and off the roof.

And, I finally figured out why I had been feeling so nauseous.