Memorial Day Fun

Our Memorial Day started out kinda slow, but ended up being pretty fun. To start off, I was on call which meant that I had to stay with in 15 minutes of Gunnison. We ended up going to Pallisade lake, about 10 minutes away, with Cody's family. After sitting in the car for about 30 minutes waiting, and hoping it would stop raining, we finally got out of the car. We had a nice little picnic spot right next to a park. The equipment was soaking wet, not to mention the mud puddles everywhere---the kids were in heaven. Some people fished, some played and some slept, but we all ATE!! The best part is that I did not get called in (although time and 1/2 plus extra time and 1/2 for holiday pay would be nice). Cody took the kids on a little hike. As they were walking away, I snapped this picture. I think it is priceless. The slide show contains some more pictures of our little outing. Hope everyone had a good memorial day!! Another exciting thing is that Cody's 2 cousins and 2 second cousins are returning safe and sound from Iraq with the 145th!!! YEAH!

Payton's Preschool Graduation

WOW, I am getting old! I can't believe I really have a little boy going to kindergarten next year. Payton loved his 2 years of preschool. He learned all his letters, number, and is learning how to read and write. Overall, he just had tons of fun and made a lot of friends. He will miss his teacher and his class, but he is excited to go to kindergarten. Way to go Payton, we love you!!!

TALLY BUG

I can not believe that Talan is already 7 months old. He is growing up so fast. Every stage is fun with babies, but I really enjoy when they start doing all their funny faces. Talan loves to blow spit bubbles, which makes for a real disaster when he does it as he is eating his squash!!! Since he was born I have called him Tally Bug. I used to say, "Talan, my little love bug"- and it got shortened to Tally Bug. Cody has always made fun of it saying it is a "gay" nickname. Although, at times I hear Cody call him that also. Well Talan is so cute. Watch this slideshow to see some of the cute faces he makes!!

Our Newest Addition

This is the newest addition to our family!!!! Some of you might be surprised, because if you know me you know that I do not really like cats. Well with all the fields around my house, mice have become a problem. I definately like cats more than I like mice!!! Someone brought us a wild full grown cat about 1 month ago.....that did not last very long. As soon as we took it out of it's cage thing it ran away. That was the last of that cat. Finally, Cody's cousin Darren called and said that these kitties were ready to be taken away from their mom. He brought it up, and it was soooo cute. It was really scared the first couple days and it would not let you hold it. Now it is pretty content, but does scratch a little. Unfortunately we will not be declawing him...after all what kind of mouse killer would he be??? I kinda like the kitty. We have been feeding it some kitty food and farm milk. It seems to be growing well. I also invested in a lot of mice toys to start teaching it to hunt them. Well I sure hopes that having a cat helps. Otherwise I do not know what I will do. Oh yeah the funniest part of it was when we were trying to decide on a name. Rilee said, "Mom since our kitty is a baby like Talan I think that we should name him Baby Jesus." HA HA HA We laughed forever...it was funny. Well we did not use that name. Instead Payton and Rilee agreed on Whiskers. Hopefully he will be as good of a cat as he is as a kitty!!

My cute kids

About 1 month ago, my brother Danny's friend (hopefully girlfriend)- Sarah came and took these pictures of my kids. Her mom is a professional photographer and Sarah has been working with her mom a lot. She does a great job and I get so many compliments on the other pictures she has taken that are displayed throughout my house. I love these pictures. They were taken at the park in Gunnison. I love how she turns my pictures into collages. My kids are all growing up so fast-----It is fun to have pictures like this done. Payton just graduated from his second and last year of preschool. He is so excited to move on to kindergarten, but will miss his teacher. I am a little emotional about the thought of him going off to school. It seems like just yesterday that I had him. He is a very smart boy and is so loving and sweet. He also amazes me with his patience and determination. When he decides he wants to do something he puts his mind to it and does it. Last year he wanted to learn how to ride his bike without training wheels. He spent hours that day practicing how to balance..then off he went. He has been that same way with learning to tie his shoes, puzzles and anything else he wants to accomplish. I am sure that he will do wonderful in kindergarten. Rilee is still our wild child, but also has a way of melting my heart. Her sweet little smile just makes me happy. Even in the middle of her tantrums she is still adorable. She will be starting preschool and thinks that she is soooo big. Her response for everything is, "cause I am so big, huh!!" Don't try to tell her that she is little or too small to do something or her emotions start flying. She is very smart. She learns very well. Her challenge is going to be sitting still long enough to do things...especially cause her best friend is in preschool with her. They are like twins.....adorable and out of control!! Talan is already 7 months old. How time flies. He is sitting up, eating baby food, and is full of the most adorable smiles and laughs. He is pretty cuddly and over all just a very chill baby. I will have to say that these last 2 nights have been hard because he has been very fussy. I think that he is teething, but have yet to see a tooth pop through. He is my sweet little guy. I think that god gave me him as a reassurance that not all of my kids will wear me out like Rilee does. He has big brown eyes that melt my heart--he is a big boy and I love him so much. Cody and I are going to go on Martin's cove with the youth, and I am carrying Talan. I did not want to stop breastfeeding to go, yet they needed another couple to go to be a ma and pa. After thinking about it I realized that even if I was not still feeding him I could not leave him yet. He is so sweet and innocent and I lvoe feeling like he is dependant on me. It makes me feel important. Well that is a little update on my kids. Cody just said we are going to go for a ride and cook a hot dog so, I will have to do more posts later. Happy Memorial Day!!!!!