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

With Scott gone and the leaves piling up in our yard, I decided that Rylan needed some constructive work to do. I sent him outside with a rake and said get to work! He soon got distracted and decided that balancing the rake on his hand and using it as a guitar was more fun! Madelyn is getting bigger (slowly) and smarter (too smart) every day. She can say about 15 words, and communicating with her is getting easier. She loves shoes (what a girl) I always catch her stepping into my misplaced shoes, here Rylan was helping her. Now here is what I have been up to lately, now that these gifts have been given I can post pictures. I made these two baby girl quilts for some friends. I was really pleased with how they turned out.

Last week Madelyn and I met Scott in Colorado so we could take care of him after his Lasik surgery. Maddy did amazing on the flight, she was very sleepy and when we took of she fell asleep on my lap, and didn't move the whole time! Whew that was nice...I think I even caught a little nap myself. We stayed in Colorado Springs, CO just an exit down from the Air Force Academy where his surgery was scheduled. We got up early on Monday and drove to the clinic for his surgery and there were fire engines outside. That didn't look good, and we later learned that there was a leak of some kind of heating fluid??? and they had to completely turn the heat off in the building thus making the surgery impossible to do. Something to do with how sensitive the lasers are that do the cutting. We decided to go sight seeing instead and found some beautiful hikes and waterfalls, but we were not prepared with hiking shoes or Maddy's hiking pack so we didn't go far. So on Tuesday he was able to...

(thank goodness!) Although we have the hyper children still, now with loads of candy. Rylan claimed that the candy was for "all of us" he is so nice to share, and he has no idea that when he goes to bed Scott and I raid his stash. Rylan wanted to be "Anakin Skywalker when he was angry"...(since he has a lot of different wardrobes in the movies). Since he was Anakin I thought that Maddy would make a good Yoda. So I hurried and sewed a hood onto my black bathrobe for Rylan, and got some fleece, and velcro to put Maddy's together. We had fun, Madelyn even got into it, she liked getting candy and wouldn't let go of her bag. We went to our ward's "trunk or treat" just before dark then came home and did our neighborhood. I didn't want to take Madelyn out for too much longer so I was thankful when our neighbor with his four-wheeler pulling a wagon for the kids to sit in, invited Rylan to go trick or treating with them. I could hear Rylan's ...

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.