Life is Good!

So, I haven't posted in a while. (I can consider two years just a while, right?) A lot has happened since we moved to Walla Walla. We have enjoyed the beautiful landscape and fun community activities that this part of Washington has to offer. We have been involved in piano, violin, soccer, tennis, dance (briefly), children's theater and swimming. We have met some great friends and are happy to be feeling like we belong here.

Moving, Moving, Moving

So, another winter, another move.  It has actually been three years since our last Jan. move, so I guess I shouldn't be complaining, right?  For those who haven't heard, we are moving to Walla Walla, Wa in a few weeks. Darren's company here in Idaho decided to move their office after being in the same location for about 30 years, so since we had to move anyway, Darren decided to look for a new job. We are looking forward to this new exciting adventure, but we will greatly miss our life here in Pocatello.

Twins' Special Day

Alyssa and Emma got baptized this month! It was a great experience us and we were grateful for our family that traveled so far to be with the twins on this day. I can't believe they are getting so old!

Yellowstone

We went on a fun adventure to Yellowstone the last weekend of the summer.  We decided to camp in Yellowstone itself and it was great. (Of course, there was a hiker killed by a bear the night before we stayed there, but we didn't see any bears.) Our campsite was right on Yellowstone Lake and it was so peaceful and beautiful!

Fourth of July!

We are starting some fun traditions for the 4th. We went down to Provo to spend time with Matt and JaNae's family and to enjoy the festivities there. Some saw the Stadium of Fire, some ran in the Freedom Run 5K, all watched the parade and spent fun times playing. We also saw Derek and Sonja's family which is always great. Christiana joined me for the 5K this year, and she did awesome! We ran just over a 12 min. mile and Christiana was 46th out of 107 girls in her age group (I was 80th out of 159). I was really proud of her--she had only ran about 4 times to prepare, but she really did great. What a fun weekend!

Mother's Day

For the last two mother's days, my siblings and father have been meeting at my mom's grave to celebrate our mom and her impact on our lives. It is a great time for me to be able to talk about my mom and how much she means to me. This year my dad brought an album of pictures of my mom that my kids looked at while we were there. It was good for them to see different pictures of her from when she was a teenager and young mother. It is sad for me that my kids have no memories of my mom. She is such a huge part of who I am, I wish that they had the chance to see that and know her.

Graduation!!

Darren participated in the graduation ceremony for his MBA this last weekend. It was fun to share this accomplishment with him and some of our family. We are so proud of Darren!!

Lack of Posting, Not Lack of Things to Post About

So I was looking back at my blogging history, and I realized that I never really blog much in the fall. Which is really too bad, because half of the birthdays in our family and a lot of fun holidays happen in the fall. I take pictures and enjoy all of these things, but they just don't make it onto the blog. I enjoy reading and looking at my friends' blogs, and think, "I should post about things like that", but it just never happens.

So this fall has been great! We have had fun with school, dance, piano, soccer, preschool, Halloween, cheer and tumbling, Thanksgiving, family visits, painting, Nutcracker rehearsals, fishing, volunteering at the school, stitches (twice on the same kid), snowman building, birthdays, and graduating (with an MBA, no less! Way to go Darren!!). Life is good.

First day of school

Christiana doing what she loves to do

Alyssa and Emma with their double 7 B-day cake

Yeah, Julia is a mermaid superhero

2nd Annual Y Hike

The older girls and I got up early on the 24th of July to hike up to the Y in Provo. We actually woke up late (we were supposed to leave at 6 am, but ended up going about 6:45), so we didn't get to go with all the cousins, but we saw them as they were coming down and we were going up. This hike is not for the faint-hearted (which, unfortunately, I am). Sally was kind enough to hike the last bit again to the top, so we had her company as we went back down. It is a fun tradition though, and hopefully next year Darren and Julia will be able to be with us!

Showing their exhaustion

Success!! We are all showing our "Y"s

California!!

We took our summer vacation to California in June and went to Disneyland and the beach. It was a lot of fun. We went on rides,

watched Princesses,

LOOKED at souvenirs,

and even got to be in a parade down Main Street!

Then we went to the beach and had a blast building sand castles and jumping in the waves. What a fun trip!!

Swim Lessons

We decided this is the summer that the twins are going to learn how to swim, so we have been doing swim lessons once a week and going swimming as a family once a week. It has been fun to see their confidence grow in the water--even Julia is making progress.

I bought these swim suits to cut down on my sunscreening time and I have loved them!! We also get complements everywhere we go on how cute they all look.

Of course, we needed goggles for everyone, and Darren and Julia were kind enough to model them for us.

Storytime

This is a familiar scene that we have each night as Darren reads to the girls before bed. They all want to be as close as possible and share time with him. And he is good-natured enough to be a jungle gym/couch/pillow for them.

Camping!!

We decided to try out Darren's scouting skills that he has been honing through camping every month with the Deacons, and went camping overnight. (Above is a picture of what Darren brought home from his last adventure). It was a lot of fun--even though it was freezing and rainy. We had the girls in long sleeved shirts, jackets, and coats, and they were barely cold. But we were happy to see that our tent did not leak when it rained for four hours in the night. We found that hot chocolate makes all the difference on a cold morning!

Busy Month

May is always a crazy month around our house. So far this month has been the same, if not worse. Christiana has been busy with an award ceremony, piano recital, rehearsals and performances of Swan Lake, and a dance recital coming up this weekend. The twins were in the Missoula Children's Theater production this last weekend, field trips, kindergarten graduation and a dance recital this weekend. Luckily, Julia has just been along for the ride. I am grateful for the opportunities my kids have. They get to participate in some really great things. It does make for a busy mom, though.





Christiana w/ Opa Wright


Emma showing her normal enthusiasm


Alyssa is the blue knight in the center (w/mustache!)



Christiana after her performance in Swan Lake

Spring Break!!

(Can you tell who is who?)

For spring break this year, we went to St. George to enjoy some warmer weather and visit with some family. We had a great time. It was nice to not have to wear long sleeves and to see a beautiful blue sky. And of course we enjoyed shopping at the outlets. Here is a cute picture of the girls in their Easter outfits (a little early, I know.)

We also went hiking up in Snow Canyon. It was fun to have our girls old enough to enjoy that kind of thing. It was very windy, as you can tell.

To cap off the trip, Emma got her ears pierced. Alyssa got hers pierced about six months ago, but Emma wasn't ready. Then she decided she wanted to do it for Christiana's birthday (which was last week). She is such a sweetie!!

We had a great vacation!

Fun Friends

It has been so fun to watch my girls growing up. They have such fun personalities and make everyone around them smile. (Christiana isn't in the picture because she is always at school, but she is included in my comment as a big part of the fun.) My girls rarely want to play with other friends, because they have too much fun at home with each other. I am so grateful that they get along so well and want to spend time together. Now if Julia would just stop hitting them, everything would be great!!! (We're hoping it is a phase.)

Update

I have had a problem with fuzzy pictures lately. I have taken pictures of the girls at so many fun things, but they are all too blurry to post. So I will post a couple even though they are blurry.

Christiana participated in a Geography Bee at school yesterday. (She is the second from the right in the picture) She was one of 8 children to participate. She qualified by winning the contest in her class. I was so proud of her for being brave enough to be up in front of almost the whole school (grades 3-6) and try to answer very difficult questions. Out of the 21 questions that were asked, only 3 were answered correctly. It made for a quick competition, because none of the kids could answer the questions. She was competitng against 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. Even though she didn't win, I hope she will be able to participate again next year.

Here is sweet Julia. She is getting bigger everyday. Her hair is still curly and is now most of the way down her back. Her vocabulary is amazing for a 3 year old--she sounds more like her 6 year old sisters than her 3 year old friends. But that is probably because she spends 95% of her time with her 6 year old sisters and doesn't have any 3 year old friends.

First day of Kindergarten

The twins were so excited to start school this year. Since they will be 6 the first part of October, they were more than ready to be learning. It has been fun to see them grow and get along with their 23 new friends. I am glad they are in the same class. They are a great support to each other, but also able to branch out on their own. They are such sweet friends.