Just a couple more pics....

Our photographer is releasing our pics a few at a time, so I guess that is how you will see them too. :) Here's a couple more!

The 4th...

I KNOW! Two posts within 1 week! I'm going crazy! :) LOL... The 4th is always SUCH a big deal in our "world". Bigger than Christmas, Bigger than Birthdays, Bigger than all. Growing up in Molalla, I think it has to be! either that or YOU HATE IT! :) I happen to love it. Every year we go back for the parade/carnival/family BBQ, and it count down the days until we do it again. This is was only disappointing in one area...

THE CARNIVAL DIDN'T HAVE MIGHT PAYLOADER!!!!!

I KNOW! I don't know how they called it a Carnival either! lol... The rides were great, but the games sucked... so if there's anyone out there from the Molalla Cahmber of Commerce, WE WANT THE OLD PEOPLE WHO RAN IT BACK!

Ok, enough of my fit! :) Diane and Steve came back to their white trash roots and we got to see them! :) Man, I miss those two! (OK those 5, but my kids hogged their kids, so I barely even got to see them!) The picnic at Mom and Dad's rocked the house, with Jason Phillips, Shellie DeMerrit & Justin Wilson and Andrea (Jason's Fiance') stopping by! I got to introduce old friends to David and the kids, and sit out in the back chatting. The entire trip to Oregon was awesome, and I am missing it already. But here are a few pics to keep you entertained until next year. :)

Riley and Harris ANXIOUSLY awaiting the parade! (AND the candy that comes with it)

OOOHHH!!! Elvis!!! HAHAHA... Time has not done him any favors...

But Karin and I gave him (as Jack says) "Some Sugar" anyway... :)

I love this pic for some reason. Like, LOVE IT! Only Dirk Courty and I are paying ANY attention... everyone else is... um... NOT.

Jack is showing off his "feats of strength" :) He TOTALLY WON!

Of course, everyone under 12 won, but, Still! :) He's SO stoked about his prize! We were less stoked while driving home to Boise with it.


Another game another dollar. Or $5 as the cost maybe. But we got a crappy Dollar Store stuffed animal, so I guess we are the true winners.

We were trying to look afraid! (and yes, I have green gum in my mouth)

And here we are ACTUALLY a little afraid! It was a good ride!

LOVE LOVE LOVE these people! :)

New Pictures!

I know. No excuse. So I shall not waste time on why I have been a total Blogger slacker. SORRY. I shall TRY to do better. :)
Let's see... life in a nutshell for the last few months. 2 (count 'em) 2 knee surgeries... UGH. But hopefully I will be back to chasing after my kids soon! Ummm... Riley "graduated" from middle school this year and is starting MIDDLE SCHOOL! Eeekk! Scary! She is SO excited to get to be in choir. :)
PLUS some of our favorite people EVER are moving to Boise! WOOT-WOOT!! THE Maags! They will be back here for two years for Micron, so we are feeling really lucky!

Harris and Jack will both be at Silver Sage this year, and Jack is THRILLED! Harris is...um... LESS than thrilled. But I think I am MOST thrilled being that I have ALL kids in school for 5 DAYS A WEEK! Holy CATS! How did that happen?? Jack is in Kindgergarten this fall, Harris in 5th grade and Riley is in 6th!!!

We went to Portland and had 9 days there soaking up the NW Sunshine, and I am NOT kidding about the sunshine!!! It was 98-103 for a WEEK! Which if you know anything about P-Town, it isn't a hot hot type of place. But I enjoyed it so much! I got to go Wedding Shopping with Courty where we found her shoes!!! SO cute! Watched Toy Story 3 with Kasey, Aunt Bev and the kids and CRIED, but loved it. AND!! Best of all got some family pics taken!! I will post one of each of the kids, but that is all we have so far. We haven't gotten the rest yet, but when we do, I will post them ASAP!

Man... I know they are mine, but HOW FLIPPING cute can they get??? Thanks to Illya Plaskey, the AMAZING photographer who took these! Those of you in the Portland Area, LOOK HIM UP! He's affordable and really good, and a kind person! Best of all worlds! :)

Happy Mother's Day from "Judith" and Lawrence Welk...

Ok, most of you know what total SNL followers David and I are. We have just always loved it, even through it's "bad times". The Lawrence Welk skit has quickly become one of our favorites, and this one was on this past Saturday. Happy Mother's Day to me that it was on! :) I LOVE IT!
Hope you all had a Happy Mother's Day. I have Courtney's Bridal Shower photos to upload on here a little later today! It was so FUN!

I KNOW! It's been a while. I will do some make-ups posting, I swear!

It's been a while. I don't want to hear it... I have been a blogger slacker. It's rough for me now that facebook is around. I am really good at keeping up on it... I promise! But anyway. This post is to show off my good friend Charity's nieces BOOK! Yes, I said niece's book!!! She is only 12, and she just published her first book. For those of you that don't know Charity, her Mother Linda used to write all the time. She would write songs for her kids to sing, she'd write poems for them to read, pretty much everything you can think of, that woman could write! Linda passed away a few years ago, but was able to meet her namesake Nicole Linda (David's daughter) before she was called home. I know that Linda is watching this little girl and helping her from above. Go check out this book. It's AMAZING!!

http://www.blurb.com/books/1139532

Ok, false alarm...

Allright. You know what? I have decided I AM NOT DOING IT. I am not going to let a few weird things change my blog. Sorry for the false alarm on that... but I just hate it when a few bad apples ruin the rest! So enjoy my NOT private blog. :) Hope everyone is doing great!

I said I'd never do it...

So. I was NOT going to go private. It's not my style... I am kind of an out there person. But I have been getting WEIRD comments left, and I guess I figured I'd join in with the rest of the world and go (pause for dramatic effect) PRIVATE. I know. Lame. Anyway, I am going to give it a week or so, so if you'd like to continue getting the meager offerings that I call my blog, PLEASE comment with your email. I will add you, and that will be that. Right? Ugh.

I am a mean mean Mom...

But this note HAS to be posted. It's the cutest/funniest thing I have ever seen. Man. I SO don't miss 4th grade. Not even 2%...

I did mark out the phone number as to help keep it anonymous...

I know, OK? It's after new years, but here's Christmas!

Look, you are going to have to be happy getting to see these pics at all! We had family in town all of Christmas Break, and I didn't want to waste any of our minutes... even to blog. So, hopefully you will forgive me. :) Hope all of you had a wonderful New Year's Eve, and an even better New Year!

The Christmas Eve jammies!!!


Here come the stockings!! I LOVE Harris' face here!!


Here's what they were looking at...


And the aftermath of the stocking explosion... yes, this is just from one... I know, Santa is IMPRESSIVE!

OH! The anticipation of the stair photo!!

Jack's favorite toy... The GEOtrax CARS edition...

All the stuff Harris got, and Santa gets all the credit with a huge pack of gum. Hmm...

Riley's favorite gift... a cell phone. I know, I know. She's OLD.

Our favorite gift... peace on earth... and a Wii game they all play TOGETHER.

Don't you love that the carpet is just LITTERED with stuff? Gift Bags, wrapping paper, toys... oh well. I guess that makes a successful Christmas.

Christmas Sunday

So here are the kids in their Christmas Sunday outfits... Gotta love the Mormon Christmas Sunday pic outside the brick buiding... :)

Jack gave his first talk on Sunday too. He was SO cute, and did a great job! Here's a pic with Daddy as they were practicing in the nursery room right before... And then a couple of Jack just being Jack.

I'm telling you. This kid has more confidence than ANYONE I know. He is SO much fun. He has no boundries... which often makes him DIFFICULT to say the least, but at the end of the day, he's a blast.

We are really looking forward to Christmas this year. Boise is an interesting place to be right now. It's economical situation is SO bad with it's three big companies laying off so many, but it's been a wonderful experience for my kids to give, and to see how much they are really blessed with. The giving tree that we went to this year had children asking for socks. Yup. I know. Socks. So it was a great moment for my kids to see that we are blessed and spoiled, and not to take it for granted. I am grateful for David having a job, for it being a GREAT job, and for his being willing to work so hard so I can stay home. Merry Christmas everyone! We hope you have a great one!!

Christmas Cheer...

Riley started piano this fall. She really has taken to it AMAZINGLY. She is now on Christmas songs, and it's so fun to hear the music in the background. She taught Jack to sing with her on one, and I thought I'd share...
To hear it better scroll down and pause the music player, that way the background music doesn't drown out the beautiful strains of Jack's voice... Merry Christmas!!!!

Jack the Elequent...

I know, I shouldn't laugh at this, but I can't help it...



HAHAHAAHAHAHA!!!!

Babies...

I came across the FUNNIEST AD campaign EVER! It needed to be shown. :)Hope everyone is having a great week!

And here is Harris!

Here he is... a day late... and a smile short? At least we got a smirk. Bear with us as we figure out the awkward smiling thing... lol... At least he's a HANDSOME littler bugger... it's always saved his skin. He is starting to look like a little man. Sigh.

Riley's 5th grade pic...

Oh my heart. Riley is getting so grown up. She came home with her 5th grade picture today. (Harris in true form forgot his... maybe tomorrow...lol) Anyway, as you can see she is turning into quite the little "tween". Wow. Where does the time go???

Virginia, DC, & New York Oh My!!

David and I got to sneak away for him to work in VA... which means he worked, and I played. :) And play I did! We got to go down and see Kenon & Scott, which was perfect. I forget how much I miss them until I get to see them! We sat up and played and laughed and played and laughed. Then David and I went to see Our Nation's Capital. It was amazing. I have been called "Overly Patriotic", but come on, can you really be too patriotic? Anyway, seeing this beautiful city was so cool. And then off to NYC for me for a day! WOO-HOO! It was so much fun! I took the Amtrak train to Penn Station and then spent the night and then the train back the next night. What a husband for letting me go, and what a Sister-in-law (KIM-THANKS AGAIN!) for watching the kids so we could get away for some much needed Hubby and Wife time. Here are a few pics... :)

Here's the capital...

Here's David and I smooching... TRYING to get the Washington Monument in the background. Oh well... cute pic anyway... :)

On the train to NYC!!!!

I HEART NY Cheesecake!!!!!!

Enough Said. :)

The trip was awesome, but we are glad to be home. Happy October everyone!!

Riley is 11!!!

I am not even sure how this happened. In what seems like only a couple weeks Riley went from looking like this...

To this!!! How did that happen? Sigh. My little girl is 11! She is old enough to BABYSIT! WHAT??? So crazy. She is such a sweet girl, and I am SO lucky to have her. Happy Birthday baby girl!

Here are a few of my favorite Riley pics...

Here's her birthday party this year. We started off with making jewelry...

And then the cupcake bar (can I just tell you, this is THE way to go! It eats up time for the party, is cheap AND the kids love it!!)

And of course blowing out the candle...


Here's a couple shots of Ry this summer with her brothers. She is SUCH a good big sister!!!

And last but not least, her pic for her Birthday dinner, RED ROBIN! What a shocker... huh? :)

Happy Birthday Riley!!!

WOW!!!!!!!!!

Ok, this is a friend's little boy, and it is the MOST amazing thing I have ever seen!!! He is CRAZY talented!! I didn't even know he could dance!!! I'm DYING!!! JAKE MATOS!! Well done buddy!!!! When you listen to it make sure you mute the BLOG music player by scrolling down and clicking the pause button. It's on the right hand side of the screen at the bottom.

Carter Family Reunion pics...

Just a few pics from the Carter Family Reunion. PROPS to Chris Nascimento for taking pics and getting GOOD ones of the whole family! NOT a small feat!!! :)

My little family. Cue the ooohs and ahhhs...

We just call Harris "Blue Steel" he has that smoldering thing down pat...

This little man is so stinkin cute.

And again with the blue steel look from Harris. Oh well. It's better than the awkward smile phase I guess...

The enitre clan minus Steven & Rachel and Brandon & Katie (2 oldest nephews & their wives). The nephews SORELY missed you at the Uncles vs. Nephews basketball game guys...