This post is dedicated to MY OLDEST, scrabble playing, very creative, OLDEST (did I say that already?)Sister-in-Law!

Micky turned "40" this year! (OK so I am a little late posting this Micky and Mori, no comment needed from either of you, So technically she will be 41 this calendar year...but I am posting for last year, and 40 sounds better doesn't it?) I think that is old... well anything older than me is old so it had to be a party with everything black. We all had the debate if over the hill is 40 or 50 but to me it didn't matter.... black stuff was coming either way! This picture isn't the best because of the glare of the "40" candles. If I remember right the smoke alarm went off after having to use the fire extinguisher for the candles. Oh yeah that didn't happen, but it sounded good.

So here is the AMAZING depends cake. Yes, that is right depends... for the one turning "40". I have to say I love this idea! Michael came up with the idea of the depends instead of the diapers you would see at a baby shower. I graciously decorated it to the theme of the party. I love how it turned out!

Here are the items in the birthday present. I wanted to get everything black but there was a couple qualifications first. 1. Inexpensive 2. Somewhat Practical. This "40" party was all in fun but I did want to get her stuff she could use. Look close, included is the $1.50 off depends coupon I received with the purchase of the depends.

Thanks Micky for having a birthday so I could throw you a Party!

Halloween 2010 was so fun. We first attended an Awesome Halloween party put on by the Allen Family. We all had a great time. The kids loved dressing up all month. I think they tried on ALL the Halloween costumes 20 times....a day. Brody always has a hard time deciding what to dress up as, Brae just wants something fast and easy, and Brekka wants ten costumes and will change that many times just because she can.
Brody the Scarecrow. He didn't want this last minute costume but ended up wearing it 3 or 4 times. Who know a scarecrow could be so cute.

Brae The Yellowstone Park Ranger- yes in shorts... it must be warmer there than here.

Brekka The Beautiful Bumble Bee for this party

The Real Halloween Night: A couple days before Halloween, Nana and Papa mad a surprise visit to the kids with a FABULOUS Halloween bucket with lots of goodies and balloons for the kids. By the time Halloween night came, they were done playing dress up and didn't want to go Trick or Treating. Once I finally got them out the door they were excited to go trick or treating....for the first 3 houses. Then they were done. Which was fine with me. As we were getting in the car Brody said, "We want to go to the houses with the best candy." I said, "that is our house. Nana just brought you better candy than you will get at most houses." Not sure if that helped them be done tricking or treating earlier but they knew they had good candy waiting at home for them. (And for the record...yes it is January and I am finally posting this... and yes I do still have good Halloween candy hiding. We don't get trick or treater so we have to eat it all ourselves. Not good for body shape but DELICIOUS).

Halloween Dinner at Cari's Last but not least... the annual Halloween Dinner and cookie decorating. Cari and I love Halloween.. I think more than the kids. It is such a busy time for all of us that we haven't done any big parties but we managed to get this last one in. We love cousins!

This fall Michael started to drive his Grandma's old car. He was driving our old suburban to work everyday and gas isn't cheap. With many memories from his high school days, he will now have many more memories driving this to work....

....including the first week. He cleaned some of it out at his parents but when he got it home it needed ALOT more. The smell was horrific. So he starting deep cleaning.... he didn't stop and neither did the mouse smell. When it was all said and done...not much was left in the car. Here are a few pictures of the couple days of cleaning and working. Don't ask me how he could remember where everything went.


Here is the picture of the mouse nest that was built in the front end. Disgusting!!! It makes me sick looking at this pictures.

Nothing left inside. Thank heavens for a Shop Vac and Bleach.






Now it's just like new...Kind of.

This year was fun for birthdays. Brody and Brekka get to share birthday fun because Brekka's birthday is the day after Brody's. Brody had a awesome unforgettable birthday this year. He turned 10 on 10-10-10. Because his birthday was on a Sunday, we wanted to still celebrate so we had a little party with a few friends and family. At 10:10 a.m. we sang and celebrated. We had an AWESOME brunch, visited, and then went to church. After church we had lunch and celebrated Brekka's birthday.
I forgot to take pictures, so this is the only one I have of Brody on Sunday.

Brekka opening a few presents... and no we didn't plan the matching outfits, Cari and I are just really good at that.

Later that week we celebrated both the kids birthday's with friends. Thank goodness Michael was home for Harvest Break. I was really busy with beads and he really put on good parties for both of them. FYI...he is in charge from now on. I am done. =) He did such a great job decorating, planning games, and helping cut out REALLY cool princess crowns when they needed help. I will just be a really good helper.
Brekka's Party: She had a simple princess party.


Brody's Party: We had everything in 10's. 10 Adventures/Activites, 10 toppings for dessert, 10 Friends invited

Brekka's Surgery
In June Brekka had a little surgery...she had a herinia fixed. It was a simple fix and all went well. The day before the surgery, we went in for a check up and she some blood work done. I didn't know that they were going to do it so I didn't prepare her for it. Note to self..... prepare her next time. She DID NOT want to go back the next morning and be there by 6 a.m.
This is her is the waiting room. She was terrified, and her face shows it.

When I got her back to the bed, I had a hard time trying to get her settle down. Thank heavens for a AWESOME Anesthesiologist who knows how to deal with children. He was amazing with her and she was ok with things. All she had to do was try to blow up the balloon when she put on the mask and she would fall asleep.




As I was posting this and she was looking the pictures, she said "mom I was scared. Now I am not and next time I have to have a hernia fixed I won't be scared. I will just blow up the balloon."
She didn't wake up very fast. But once she did, she was good. A little sore but she was playing in the back yard later that afternoon. Wow. I wish I could bounce back that fast.

One day when it was raining.... oh yeah... we had a lot of that in May and June =) We decided to go to Idaho Falls for the day because Michael couldn't work on the outside project (the swing set). This is a once a year event for our family (even though it is so close). Here we are at the Musuem of Idaho:
Brekka loved this dog by the garbage can so she had to have her picture by it.

Brody brought along his notebook so he could take notes and write down facts. Brae just loved looking around. Brekka just wanted her picture taken by everything.

Brae took our picture (this is the second one he took. I asked him if he got a good picture. He said "yeah, but I cut your head off".) Not the best picture of us but it is one of only a few.

Brody having fun in the cave.


Brae loves horse so we HAD to have a picture here.

Then we decided to go the Idaho Falls Temple Visitors Center to see the Awesome pictures. Before we went inside, Michael took a couple pictures of the kids smelling the tulips. I guess we will have to work on the modeling.


On the way home we saw this awesome site. If you look really close you will see a double rainbow over our Rexburg Temple.

As we got closed we saw the "True" pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!

The kids took gymnastic in May and loved it. It was the first time for all of them. This is them at their recital. They did such a good job and learned very quickly. They were a little scared to get on the big stage but they did awesome.

I have video of the boys but not a very good still picture. Here is Brekka in the middle getting ready to do her hand stand.

Yeah School is out for the summer. Michael and Brody are home all day and we are trying to get the summer off to a good start. Michael is really looking forward to getting a lot done this summer..... Organize the "storage shed" so that it will be "the shop" again, finish the swing set for the kids, finish the kitchen after two years, and LOTS More. We will see. He has been doing good so far!

On Memorial Day we went fishing with his brother. It was a fun day. The kids loved it. After they finally caught some fish, we went back to Grandma's house to eat them. Brekka and Brae fell asleep before dinner was ready.... and my camera die so I don't have very many pictures.
The Kids getting ready to go

Brody waiting with Princess and Yeller

After just a half hour of being out of the car, Brae managed to find the mud.

The Family Fishing

The fish the boys "helped" Mori and Dad catch