Walking Whitney and new trees

Three trees in the back, Autumn Blaze Maple, Autumn Purple Ash, and another Blaze Maple.

The ash tree in the front of the house

Cool Whitney

Walking around

How much mess can a one-year-old make with one Halloween oreo?? this much

Life goes on here in Monticello. The fall has so far been beautiful and warm. The leaves are turning now on the mountain. We waited until October first to get our trees 50% off. We were able to borrow a trailer and drive an hour to Cortez to a nursery to get them. They are supposed to be fast growing, and both will display great colors in autumn. We are VERY excited about them. Now just to keep the kids, deer and dryness away from them for a few years and we'll be in business.

After thinking I was out of luck with peaches this year, Bountiful Baskets had some, and I now have about 60 lbs set out on the counter to ripen! Scott promises to help me can them, so we'll see how it goes. I need to see if I have enough jars...

Whitney is now fully walking everywhere, and is getting faster by the day. She LOVES ring-around-the-rosie, but likes to fall down the best. She doesn't need to wait until the end! it is so cute. She is really following and copying her sisters now. She doesn't say much, but I think she's on the verge of breaking out in full sentences. Whitney does things on her own schedule, and that's ok with us.

Halloween decorations are up and costumes are being put together. On October 21st we are getting family pictures by a great photographer in our area. I hope the weather will cooperate and we will get some great shots. So far, Whitney likes getting pictures taken, so we'll hope she keeps it up. When we pay for them, we get a CD, so any of you who may want copies, we can print as many as we want, in any size.

Happy Fall to all of you!

September This and That

Making necklaces, they are all old enough to do it themselves, and when the baby is sleeping it is nice! Anyone with kids, you can get huge bead sets at WalMart and have a lot of fun

A herd of deer we saw last night on our Sunday drive in the mountains. Saw lots of mommas with babies.

Sara and her flowers. She wanted to keep them "the rest of my life!" but they didn't make it through the drive home. oh well.

This is what happens with ZhuZhu pets and hair when kiddos can't listen to mom. During our trip back home after Labor Day.

There are some beautiful wild sunflowers everywhere around our house. i wanted to get some pictures of them, and Isabel happened to be the model in her (Abby's) cute dress.

We also went to The Lion King in SLC on labor day weekend. We couldn't take pictures, bu it was really cool and I think Isabel and Abby liked it.

Scott has been working like crazy, having fun with some hunting issues and issues with the local sheriff. People here think they can do whatever they want,whenever they want because it is on public land, including destroying barriers to trails they want to go on. It is frustrating but Scott continues to try to be professional and deal with these things. He also finally got his new truck, which is a whole other story. it is a 2010 Ford pickup.

Fall is coming on quickly, leaves are turning, nights are brisk, but things are good here. Hope they are good where you are.

Back to School 2010!

This is a pic of the balloon launch they did at school. The kids love it. It was super windy, so they all went sideways instead of up.

Our little friend who likes the apples in the neighbor's yard, and the nice construction they started the day school started. smart!

How excited was Isabel to see the monkey theme! She loves kindergarten.

We walked her over to school.

Abby in Second grade, in her new class. Her teacher is Mrs. Keyes.

Abby was so excited to go, too.

School started on August 18. Both girls were totally ready to go. They haven't looked back since. Abby likes everything, but already has a lot of homework. It think it is more to force parental participation, which bothers me, but I guess it's necessary these days. She is reading very well and now is starting spelling and a lot of math and science. She had quite a few friends in her class, so no problems there. Abby also started piano lessons and is doing amazing, she picks up the little songs so quickly and then can do them by memory, so we have to work on reading the music and playing at the same time. It is crazy to realize we will have piano practice every day forever, but I really hope she sticks with it.

Isabel's kindergarten was lopsided between the am and pm classes, so after a request from the school,we decided to change to afternoon. It is working out pretty well. Just a lot of "is it time for school yet?" going on. It is nice for her to walk over when there are less people, and then Abby can bring her home. We certainly love being right next to the school. Her teacher is Mrs. Garcher.

Sara misses the girls when they are gone, but she also enjoys getting a little time to be with me. She also gets a little time with Dora, which the big girls are way over. It's all iCarly and older shows now.

Whitney is walking everywhere now, thank goodness! it took her a while. We also just took her binky (pacifier) away. I had to throw them out so there's no going back. She has always been so good at putting herself to sleep that now it is hard. We never rocked her, sang to her, or anything like that, so it's been a little rough. But it was time. She still doesn't talk but she understands. She can fold her arms for prayers, copies her sisters and likes to pick in the garbage. She is also getting jealous, if anyone else sits on my lap.

Isabel's Hair

The girls with their super-straight hair curled for church. It takes a lot of hairspray and a lot of time and then pretty much lasts an hour. oh well, they were excited

This is Isabel's "after" shot. I decided to do bangs to cover her workmanship, and then just layered it a bit to cover the rest of what she did. NOw she wants to grow it really long, so hopefully she can not be so scissor happy in the future

"Before"This is the nice chunk of bangs she cut to the scalp, and on the right side ( the side the scissors connected with) she also added so VERY short layers, it's kinda hard to see in this picture. Love that crazy girl.

New Piano

A company came to Monticello with some pianos for a few days sale. We went to look and actually found the perfect one! It is exactly what we were looking for, matches the house and will work well for us while the kids are young. Great price, too. I hope they like it, and odds are good we will end up with at least one player in the family. The best part about the piano was they delivered it right to the front room and Scott didn't have to lift a finger! He's not even home today. We have been looking online for quite a while, but the delivery was going to be the hardest part, we would have to travel to find a piano store or get a used one from somebody. In that case you never know what you are going to get. The girls all seem to love it, we are wishing we had doors on the front room now! It was an option when we built, but I wasn't thinking it would be the piano room. We may install some since this piano has no "quiet" pedal. The bench is brand new and I think overall it will be awesome. I might even take lessons myself!

It is a Wurlitzer. Somewhere around 40 years old. It sounds good, and they fixed some problems on it, it was a trade-in. We also have the option of giving it back and getting our price we paid towards another piano in the future. it seems like a win-win! yay!

July flew By!

Whitney is now standing! She does it quite a bit but still isn't sure about walking on her own. I am betting in a few weeks she will be running everywhere. She is now 14 months. She crawls like a Komodo dragon and is pretty quick. She now only wants to be up on the couch and has fallen off a few times,we put pillows all over the floor, but now she is attempting to crawl over the back of the couch and fall off that way, too. She is entering the phase of toddlerhood that tests me the most, the "let's see how many times a day I can hurt\maim\kill myself" She still doesn't really talk, but understands a lot. She is getting 3 teeth on top at once, not in the right order, so that has been kinda miserable. It will be good for her to finally be able to chew things, since she is past most baby food.

We moved the big girls into the basement a few weeks ago. Sara got the dollhouse in exchange for Isabel. She still ask for someone to sleep with her, but then crashes a minute later. it's good. I also finally refinished her bedframe which we got for free a while ago. It needed some love. Luckily I have all the little cans left from striping the room, and so she now has a cute purplepink bed. Another project checked off the mental list.

I found this dresser on the online classifieds and had jane bring it down for us from Salt lake. When I started getting ready to paint it, i found that it was solid cherry wood, so i kindof felt bad about covering that up, but the other finish just wasn't going to work. Sorry, i forgot to take a "before" pic. I removed the icky hardware and painted the base hot pink, then the girls voted to just whitewash the drawers. it turned out pretty cute, and will be perfect for them. I hope this will be their dresser forever. I ordered handles online and they weren't here when I took this picture. They are here now, and things are looking good in the basement room.

I wasn't up for painting their whole room right now, so i looked online and found these cute polka dots for less than $20. The girls picked the green and pink, they had tons of colors to choose from. Luckily the quilts we made them are so colorful, almost anything would match.
We have really been working on keeping the room clean and getting organized down there, and so far it has gone well.

Most of Scott's family came down for the 24th of July, which is Pioneer Day, the state holiday. Monticello had a pretty good parade and we all watched it. Scott got pulled away to catch someone doing something stupid on the mountain (the story of our lives lately) but made it back for the end. All the kids got lots of candy, and that's what's important, right? Then Scott, his parents, brother and nephew went on a long ride while the babies napped and all the girl cousins played. We had a BBQ and then watched the fireworks out in our backyard. The perks of a small town. It was a crazy but fun weekend, and we love having people come visit.

On Sunday Ashley and Whitney ended up in the same dress, which I think Grandma Jane gave to us on previous daughters....They were pretty cute together. Having Ashley as an 18 month old walker in the house gave us a taste of what's to come soon.

Scott has been super busy all summer, and especially the last few weeks. One day he ended up with 950 miles logged. And the rest of the summer may be the same, then into hunting season. He still loves it, and i guess we are used to being on our own, but some days are hard, especially when he always works all the summer holidays.

I have just been busy with the kids and house. I am feeling better every day about getting house organized. i just went through our food storage room and unpacked a bunch of stuff that has been sitting for a year. We have a great cold storage room, but it does not have a great light in it, so it has been a bit of a problem. Yesterday i just took a lantern in there and got things more organized. We still have a lot of yard things to do, but we're taking it one thing at a time. The sod is turning into a real lawn and Scott is excited about that. this fall we plan on putting in our trees, and I am really happy about that! Scott also is making plans for framing the basement, and starting on The Man Cave.

Challenge**** If you read this, please comment. I will continue the blog just for the grandparents, but sometimes i wonder who checks this thing!!****

happy summer everyone!!!

Abby turns Seven

Yes, I found some chipmunk pajamas

cake with the cousins visiting for Pioneer Day

friend party

mud cup "cake"

opening "Alvin and the Chipmunks:The Squeakquel"

Finally got the swings on.

Abby had her birthday and it was fun. We kept it pretty simple and decided to just have a late night with a few friends, instead of a big party. She chose this option and we spent the money saved on a new, big bike. Somehow I don't have a picture of it, but we'll get one. She got to go to wal-Mart and choose it. It is a pink, ladybug bike with streamers. Grandma Jane got her a bell for it, so she is set! She is obsessed with chipmunks lately, so she also requested nuts for her birthday. Grandma and Costco came through on that one, too. I keep telling myself, if she was this excited about horse, unicorns, dogs or cats it would be normal, so chipmunks it is. Anyways, the girls came to the party, we had mud cups, painted nails and then watched Alvin. The squeakquel has the chippettes, that is why they like it so much. We had lots of popcorn and finished the movie and sent the girls home. it went well. We also had a cake when everybody came down for Pioneer Day, so they could sing to her. Abby is definitely growing up. She can get her own breakfast and some for her sisters. She is reading like crazy and loves chapter books. Her favorites are "Fiona and Frieda's Fairytale Advenures." It is a series, check it out if you have older girls. She is starting to love to watch the older shows on Disney channel, iCarly being her favorite. Poor Sara isn't too happy about the transition up from Dora the Explorer! Abby is so ready for 2nd grade. She is very smart and I am not at all worried about her at school. She loves riding her bike and scooter. She is generally good but also tends to do a lot of "it was Isabel's idea...i told her not to...." after the deed is done. Oh well. She is a good helper and is already becoming smarter than mom, throwing out her solutions to any problem I might have. She loves her sisters and is loving watching Whitney grow up. She has two loose front teeth, so watch out for some cute pictures coming up. We love our Abigail!