We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.

Since Rylan was out of school Scott took the week off and we headed up to Grangeville. Idaho, good ol' Idaho. I am telling ya there is no place like it! We stopped to visit Anna in Boise to break up the trip. We may be spoiling our kids but they each have their own dvd player in the car and that made the trip so much EASIER! Since Madelyn is not 20 pounds yet she is still rear facing in her car seat so they cannot share a dvd player. The first thing Rylan wanted to do when we got there was ride Papa's horses, he is getting braver and braver and Sprinkles (who he helped name) is getting used to him too. Papa has a new colt named Nugget, she is very sweet but still learning and Scott was actually brave enough to get on her but I wasn't there to get a picture. Madelyn does not scream anymore when you take her up to a horse! That is progress, she even learned what a horsy says. The cowboys talking about life: Rylan got in trouble and had to go to his room, he must have ...

Our little 6 year old is a soccer star! He is so cute out there and is a great defensive player! He is a really fast runner and if someone from the opposing team takes off with the ball he is great at stopping them. Offensively he is a bit shy, he told me that he tells his teammates to pass it but they don't listen! He is good at passing the ball to others which I am glad he is not a ball hog. He is number 5. He stole my camera the other day and took these pictures of himself... I caught him dressed up as a Jedi and fighting evil: And last but not least this is a self portrait that he drew of himself at school. He is doing really well, I met with his teacher and she told me that he is very friendly and kind to others, loves to participate in class, and is right at the level he should be academically! He is starting to read and sound out words, which is very exciting and seeing his face when he realizes he can do it is priceless.

This is what happens when you let a 1 year old feed herself yogurt... And this is what Maddy does when she hears the theme song to "Elmo's World" Maddy had her 1 year appointment and she weighed a whopping 16 pounds and was in the 25th percentile for height and in the 3rd for weight. She had to get 5 shots and get her blood drawn to check her iron level and be tested for Turners Syndrome. We came back a week later to get her blood drawn. Holding your baby down while two nurses take her blood...not fun. I couldn't believe they actually were able to find her vain in her tiny little arm! Her iron levels were perfect, and we will find out about the Turners in a couple weeks. She only has two symptoms of it: smallness, and abnormal bone structures. The right side of her rib cage is bigger than the other. It has been that way since she has been born. The doctor was really skeptical of her having it, but he wanted to take every percaution.

While Scott was in South Carolina my sister Margaret came to visit to help me juice my grapes and go to a quilt show that was right here in Layton. First we had to pick them and we didn't even get them all! Ben and Maddy had a blast holding the grapes and eating them. They had juice running down their shirts and sticky faces. Then we put the kids to bed and got started. I inherited my mothers steam juicer but somehow lost the hose that goes with it so I stopped in to ACE hardware (love that place) and they helped me out, a person, a actual man asked ME if I needed help and knew what he was talking about and was able to help! So we started at 8 p.m. and by 11 we had to stop we were so dead tired! I continued to juice the following two days and ended up with 16 quarts and 12 pints. I could have kept going but we were leaving town so we took the remaining grapes up to Scott's parents neighbors. However there are still plenty on the vine and I haven't even started the red grape...

Ok so I am such a dork, but today while getting ready for church I purposely dressed Maddy to match me...actually she was dressed first so I purposely matched her. We had a pink and brown theme going on! Anyway it made a good opportunity for Rylan to take our picture since Scott has left us for the Army again. Love ya babe!

Our little Madelyn turned one on Wednesday! We had a great day, and when dad came home we were ready to party. We had Madelyn's favorite meal for dinner, macaroni and cheese (with extra cheese) and cooked carrots. Then we had cupcakes, it was so much fun to watch her eat and gobble it up. A video of us singing to her... She loved that she had the cupcake all to herself and that it was big and not cut up for her! oh and I always forget to hold the camera horizontal when taking a video! So sorry you have to tilt your head at first! Then we went to a new aquatic center but found out that they weren't open due to swimming lessons so we went to another swimming pool and they were closed...so we gave up and went home. We opened presents, then played in the back yard sprinkler. She LOVES Elmo right now! Sitting with her daddy on the patio. Madelyn is quite the character! She is beginning to come out of her snobby shell. She likes to wave to strangers and say "hi" and...

We decided to have one last hoop-lah before the weather got cold and headed up to Idaho to experience Lava Hot Springs, Idaho. What a blast! Not only did they have the extremely hot pools, but they have a wicked waterpark, and a cute little river that runs right through the middle of the town that you can tube down. There are even some decent rapids. Decent should explain why me and our friend Alison flipped the tube going down..hee hee! Our husbands were laughing their heads off up the river bank at us, it must have looked funny. It was really fun! Scott and Rylan went down first with our friend Pete who actually went down the river on a $1 air mattress. He hit some rocks and had some huge battle scars to prove how MANLY he was. Here are some pictures of Rylan and Scott. After floating the river we had lunch then went to the waterpark, which was packed but Rylan had fun because they had big slides he could actually go down. Then we went to Pocatello for dinner. We then drove to Idaho ...