Living in Wyoming and Loving It!

We have successfully hauled all of our stuff to Wyoming and have fallen into place here! I LOVE it! Of course, as I've said before, "I'll always be a Wyoming girl!" So I'm in my element. The girls are hardly home since they have friends up and down the road and with their elementary school just down the block, they have many reasons to roam about the neighborhood. A lot has happened since we moved, so I'll try to update with pictures!

Our New Home with the girls out front acting silly!


The first week here we took a walk along the Green Belt path that follows the Green River. The girl's were excited that their cousin Ciera decided to stay with us over a weekend. The river was overflowing and the girls LOVED splashing in it.










Bill has enjoyed having some projects to work on in our fun backyard.



What a huge difference Bill made in just a few hours!

Just a couple of weeks after moving in, our girls were able to enjoy their first Flaming Gorge Days. The parade was not like any that they had been to before. Every kid came to the parade with a plastic grocery bag, in anticipation of all the candy that they would collect. The girls were not disappointed, I have never seen so much candy, more than Halloween!



There is a great Splash Park at Expedition Island for kids. The girls had a great time at our ward activity that was at the park. It's open all summer and FREE. I'm hoping to take them there a few more times before school starts.





There are many fun rock formations around here! I loved showing the girls Castle Rock, which has become their favorite.


This one is Mansface, can you see him?

One of the first things we made together in our new kitchen was Daddies favorite cake. We were suppose to make it for Father's Day, but we did it a few days late. He still loved it anyway! The girls were so cute in their matching aprons. We all three have matching aprons, made by one of my student's Mom. She is very talented! I will miss working with her, she was a great Room Mom!
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Here are my blue-eyed beauties ready for their first Sunday in our new (well, my old) ward, Green River 5th Ward!

Another great thing about Wyoming, is that you can buy REAL fireworks! We went just outside of the city limits to shoot of some fun fireworks for the 4th of July. It was great fun, until Acacia was startled by a bottle rocket. She was so hysterical that we could not light off anymore without her completely freaking out. It was still fun, it reminded me of playing outside of our old apartment when I was a kid on Texas Way. The rocks and lack of green plant life brought back lots of memories of hunting for horny toads!

They wanted to go higher. . .





The sunset was gorgeous that night, as it is most nights out here!



While I was in Chicago for my annual trip for The Pampered Chef's National Conference, Bill took the girls to audition for a play. It was put on by the Academy of Ballet out of Utah. They have a wonderful ballet, that they have performed for 9 years, called "Pioneer Legacy" by Lynne Thompson. They are a very talented bunch! The play is based on a book that tells the story of a pioneer family and their trek West. The mother of the family has a very trying time when her baby dies and she is lost along the Green River! This was the first year they brought the play here, to perform it where the story takes place. They asked for local children to participate. So, both of our girls (and somehow myself, for one performance) played the part of pioneer children (me a school teacher). Here are some pictures and video of the girls.





It's been a fun filled and whirlwind of two months since we moved! I will upload videos another time.

Last Day at Harvest Elementary School

Paula Richins, Diane Penrod, Emily Eliason, Me, Kindra Ried, Rachel Hill, Marianne Cowley, Winnie Winward, Paula Jorgenson - 1st Grade Team at Harvest Elementary School

Now that we are all moved in and settled somewhat in our new place, I thought I could take some time to update my blog. This post is dedicated to the wonderful 8 first grade teachers and all of the staff at Harvest Elementary School! I am so grateful I had the opportunity to work there and with everyone that made it the best Elementary School and 1st grade experience EVER! Love you! Most of these pictures are from our last day of school dinner at Chuck-a-Rama!

Leave it to our team to go out of the way to recognize those of us on our team that are leaving - in a very, "creative" way! They put together a puzzle with all the different "pieces" representing all that Annette did as part of the Reading Recovery program for 1st grade. She did wonderful things with our special little readers! I'll miss working with her! You'll notice each time we said "piece" Jorgenson made sure we "quoted" it!

Then they put me up on a chair and made me wear the many "hats" representing our friendship, teaming and "partying". I have the cards buried in my classroom stuff that is still packed up. I do remember they pointed out the hat of wife, Mom, Pampered Chef consultant, Mary Kay discount giver, Glitter Toes and Shoe Party girl and of course teacher! It was so cute - thank you so much - it was good the hat covered my eyes so you didn't see how I teared up. You guys are amazing!

Also, the last picture is for Winnie - yes, she did have 3 plates of ice cream - she deserved it after all the oatmeal and bowls of veggies she ate all year at lunch time!

Love you guys!! Keep in touch!

Spring Break in West Yellowstone

You might be thinking - Yellowstone, for Spring Break? Well...Yes, we are having a great time at a condo, and my favorite part the view from our balcony (see picture above)and no crowds! :) We left early Monday morning. The girls were so excited that their V-Smile players had new batteries and a bag full of games, that they were already in the car ready to go, thirty minutes before we left. They did not quite understand that there was at least 6 hours of that ahead of them. I was impressed with how well they did, not as much whinning and complaining as I had prepared myself for. We made a pit stop in Idaho Falls and then straight on in to West Yellowstone. After unpacking and letting the girls explore, they were so excited to have their own bathroom and bedroom, we set out on the first adventure... finding a place to eat dinner in a partially hibernating tourist town. We found a treat at the Oregon Short Line. Inside was the restored train car that the girls enjoyed walking through, several times. Bill and I agreed that the Montana Nachos with buffalo chili we ordered for an appetizer were the BEST we've ever had (sorry Taco Amigo). We ended our first evening, with the girls favorite part of this trip so far - Swimming! It was great having the pool, kiddie pool and hot tub all to ourselves (again the beauty of Yellowstone prior to the park opening).




The girls enjoyed sleeping in the same bed, and even went to sleep quickly, all that swimming wore them out! It was nice to sleep in Tuesday morning and enjoy a relaxing breakfast in our rooms. We headed out to a fun lunch at the Canyon Street Grill, with yummy old fashioned burgers and a fun train that went around the ceiling. We then headed over to the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center. > This is an amazing interactive exhibit that has Grizzly Bears and Gray Wolves, living in a beautifully natural habitat, that do not hibernate. This picture was taken through glass, but you can clearly see all three wolves.

This is a video Bill took of the two grizzly bears wrestling. It was amazing to be so close to them.



After taking several great pictues and enjoying the museum, we signed the kids up for "Keeper Kids". Both of the girls had the chance to hide bear food for the bears to discover. It was fun watching the huge grizzly bears digging up the food they hid.
WE also discovered a fun little bookstore and the girls each picked out two stuffed animals. I never thought a buffalo could be cute, but Ce'Nedra found one and fell in love with it. We also found some fun coloring books too.
After dinner of leftovers and another relaxing swim at the pool, the girls enjoyed coloring in their new books next to the fireplace.

Today we had a nice work out in the gym and then headed out to the huge IMAX theatre to see the movie "Yellowstone".
Since the park is not open we opted to enjoy it from the movie seats. However, the screen was so huge and so realistic that both girls were scared of the roaring Grizzly and I ended up taking Acacia out. We enjoyed the private pool again, until..gasp, one other family joined us!


We're headed out to Wyoming tomorrow to start the house hunting! :)

Hopefully we won't find our car looking like this again...

Some Serious Updating. . . Finally!

So, here is the problem! Facebook! I've been spending so much more time checking up, or as my good friend Paula would call it, "Lookie Louing", all my friends and posting my pictures there that I've seriously neglected my family blog. So, in an attempt to feel caught up I'm posting this for now. I cannot believe that there is only on more week left in January - seriously it's flown by WAY too fast!!


Bill and I in Vegas at the "Tournament of the Kings" show at the Excalibur in Vegas. We had a great Anniversary weekend there.




We also saw Mamma Mia!, it was great! We had a good time seeing the many..."colorful" things there are to see in Vegas. Here are a few more pictures!








Bill trying to look innocent!

Christmas 2008

Christmas Eve turned into a quick trip up the Provo Canyon to celebrate with my parents, sisters and Grandmother in Midway. We wanted to avoid the BIG storm that was suppose to hit. It was fun opening up gifts on Christmas Eve and spending a bit of time, although feeling a little more rushed.


We spent time visiting with my grandmother after she gave the girls their gifts. I was opening the wonderful gift that she gave us, a beautifully framed picture of The First Presidency, I realized Acacia was missing.

A few mintues later she comes running into the living room with her brand new pjs from Great Grandma Price on - she was ready to go home and go to bed at 2 o'clock! She was so excited for Santa to come! Shortly after that Ce'Nedra thought it was a great idea and they both had their new pjs! Grandma got a good kick out of it!

This was the first time we stayed home as a family for the entire Christmas Day. It was so nice not to have to rush to be anywhere. We even put together a yummy Christmas Dinner, turkey and all! Bill did such a great job on the turkey that I wanted to take a picture - but he had aleady started carving it - it was so YUMMY!

The girls felt special drinking their orange drink from the fancy long stemmed glasses. I had to get all my matching Pampered Chef Dots items!

Santa was so very good to us this year! We had many surprises and the girls felt so special getting so many fun things they had worked hard to earn...trying- it's so hard for a five and six year old, isn't it?

This year starting on the 14th of December we started a nightly reading of a special Nativity my Mom gave our family. Each night we would read a scripture and put up the coresponding piece to the Nativity. The kids LOVED this and wouldn't let us forget a night. It was a great activity that helped the children learn and remember the true meaning of Christmas.

Gingerbread House FHE

I took the easy activity for Family Home Evening.

The Gingerbread House kit from Wal-Mart was a hit!

The girls had a lot of fun decortating AND eating the candy.

It turned out that it was something the girls were REALLY excited about doing and even did well taking turns!

Daddy is a pro at making the icicles too!
**Added the next day** I'm grateful I took some pictures since our little stinker dog Smokey decided to eat the snowman and gingerbread man that the girls decorated!

Breakfast with Santa

It was our ward's annual early morning Breakfast with Santa last Saturday. The kids had fun eating pancakes and ice cream just before Santa arrived. It was a great turn out for our ward - it was seriously standing room only at one point. Ce'Nedra was very nervous to sit on Santa's lap as we got further up the line. I asked her why she was nervous and she said she didn't want to have to tell Santa that she had been naughty. I had to chuckle, as it was I that told her she was on the naughty list a few days prior for breaking a family rule. (Opening the front door to someone without Mom or Dad there!) I told her that it would be okay as she had been working very hard to be a good girl since then. Wow - I guess that it really did mean something to her this time - my little girl is growing up!