Sweet Success!

I had such a great time at the Craft Fair on Saturday! I ended up making almost 80 things to sell (a little less than 60 mini cheesecakes and a little more than 20 bags of cheesecake truffles). I ended up bringing home about 10 things that didn't sell. Yay!!

It was so funny to watch people as they walked by. Looking at the other booths, totally composed, then seeing my cheesecakes, their eyes would widen and their mouths would gape open. Seeing that kind of reaction from about 90% of the people that walked by made me so happy, even if they didn't buy anything.

And then to hear the comments from people was so fun! One girl that passed with her family said, "Oh, Dad, that is so tempting!"

I even had a HUGE surprise. My brother, Andrew, and his wife, Tatiana, drove all the way up here from Utah to come and help me!! I was so surprised to see them standing in front of my booth! I gave them a cheesecake to walk around with and eat for some advertising. They did a really great job!

So, all in all, Saturday was a great day for me. Here are some pictures of my booth...

I'm already looking forward to more craft fairs next year!

Craft Fair

I'm posting this just about EVERYWHERE! I'm sorry if you've read this already, but I want everyone to know about it...

I'm doing a craft fair! Come visit me this weekend at Rigby High School, Saturday, Nov. 14th from 10 am to 5 pm. My booth will be called Sweet Treats. So come and find me and buy some mini cheesecakes. They are truly fabulous!!! This is what I'll be selling:

Original cheesecake

Brownie Cheesecake

Turtle Cheesecake

Chocolate-Covered Cheesecake Balls

I'm starting the baking today. Wish me luck!!

I've Been Decorating

I went to Boise a couple of weeks ago and hung out with my sisters. While Shauna and I had some spare time, we went to Ross to look for more house decorations for my barren home. Can I just tell you how amazing she is?! She sees things that I don't. She can put so many things together that I can't. She's just what I've been needing!!!

So with two trips to Tai Pan and one trip to Ross, this is what I've done in my house...

Tai Pan

Tai Pan & Ross

Ross

Ross

Tai Pan, Porter's, & Ross

Tai Pan, Ross, & old decorations

Ross

I still have a ways to go, but this is a terrific start! And I do have to say that everything looks better in person. These pictures don't do them justice!

Fun, fun, fun, fun, FUN!!!! Thank you Shauna!!

Halloween 2009

Halloween couldn't come faster at our house this year! The kids have been so excited about it. They were thrilled when I finally told them that we were ready to carve our pumpkins. They all had a blast doing it!

Scary, huh?!

And here we are all dressed up.

Austin was Batman, Aubree was Batgirl, Brynnlee was a little ladybug, Brooks was a friendly, chubby ghost, and I was a country girl.

So, so much fun!!

I'm Really Beginning To HATE Mondays!

For the last two Mondays, I've had some pretty bad things happen. Over a week ago, I went to get my hair touched up at my next door neighbor's and Aubree wanted to stay home and watch cartoons. So I let her.

While I was at my neighbor's, a police officer pulled into her driveway and I saw Aubree jump out of it! He came over to explain what had happened. Apparently, a telemarketer called and Aubree answered the phone and told them that I wasn't home and her dad wasn't home. So they called the police. They came and told her that she needed to get in his car to go find me. She told him that they would just walk over there if he wanted to. He was confused by this, but told her she needed to get in his car. So she did. He asked if she knew where I was and she pointed to my neighbor's house. He drove her over and was surprised to find me only about 100 feet away. He apologized for the inconvenience and left. I felt like a really crappy mom.

Yesterday, I was taking Brooks in for his four month check up and immunizations. When we got into the building, Brynn threw a fit and would not go up the stairs. So while I was carrying Brooks in his carrier in one arm, I reached down and grabbed Brynn's hand and pulled her up the stairs with my free hand. She started to scream and when I let go of her hand, if just fell limp. She couldn't move it. Luckily we were heading into the doctor's office, so I had him take a look at it. He said that I had dislocated her elbow. He popped it back into place and then she was fine. I, again, felt like a really crappy mom.

So we can no longer hold Brynn's hand, well for the next three or four months, to make sure it doesn't happen again. Hopefully we won't be having anymore bad Mondays. I'm planning on just staying home. That should fix it, right?

Sneak Peak

For a sneak peak at some of our family pictures, go here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/41532974@N05/sets/72157622232524551/show/

Spud Harvest

It's spud harvest time! We went up to ride around in the tractor with Brett tonight. I took all of the kids, but Aubree wanted to play with cousins. So it ended up being Austin, Brynn, and Brooks riding with me and Brett. I was a little nervous about how the two little ones would do, but they did great! It was so nice to spend a little time with Brett and visit with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. A pretty nice evening, I would say!

Brynn's driving the John Deere! Looks pretty excited about it, doesn't she?!

3 Months Old

Brooks is now three months old. I can't believe it! He's been sleeping through the night for the last almost three weeks now. That's so wonderful! And I think this might be why...

He sucks his thumb! I know I shouldn't let him, but I think it's so adorable and I don't want him to stop. I'm sure it'll be a pain to take care of when he gets older. But I've heard of some babies that just quit on their own. I'll hope for that!

Brooks has been my best baby so far. He's so good for us and he's been growing and changing so much. I love to see him smile and coo away at anyone that will listen. He's such a sweet baby and we love him so much!!

My New Hair!

Last month, two people in one week called me a red head. Now, I have nothing against red heads. For Heaven's sake, I have to kids with red hair and I love it! But for me, I don't want red hair. So for my birthday last month, I got my hair colored and cut just last week. It's a dramatic change, well, the color is anyway, but I LOVE it!! Here are some pics...








Before...

and after...

When it comes to hair, I really like change and am really enjoying this!

Second Year of Pre-School

Thursday was the start of Aubree's second year of pre-school. Next year, KINDERGARTEN! She can't wait for that, but in the meantime, she LOVED her first day. She's going to a new pre-school and I have to say that I am very impressed with the teacher! Aubree had so much fun and is so excited to be doing the ballet class there at her school that happens right after her pre-school. We're really looking forward to a great year!

The Titanic

Brett had the day off from work on Monday, so he wanted to spend the day with all of us (HUGE SURPRISE!). After hauling hay, we all went to the Museum of Idaho. Yesterday was the last day of the Titanic exhibit. And ever since the movie Titanic came out (which I saw about 10 times), I've been completely fascinated by it. So I was THRILLED to be going to see real parts of it in person!!!

When we got inside, we were handed a "boarding pass" that looked like the real tickets. On the backs of each of the passes were information and details about an actual passenger on the Titanic. That was really interested to read and made things more personal and heart-wrenching.

When we got into the exhibits, there was this hushed reverence you could feel. It was so neat to see everything in person. It makes it all so real, and sad. We weren't allowed to take pictures of the exhibit, but these are what I did get.

Bike Riding

Austin and Aubree have both decided (Aubree more than Austin) to try riding their bikes without training wheels! They are both doing really well, and considering the terrain where we live (gravel, dirt, weeds, and hay), it's really quite impressive.

Austin has even learned how to start riding his bike all by his self and is now teaching Aubree. It'll be nice when we don't have to keep helping them get started.

We're pretty proud of these brave, big kids!!

1st Grade

Austin had his first day of first grade yesterday. I was kind of nervous about how he would do since this is his first year going to school all day. But he did great! He came in the door and said, "Mom, first grade is fantastic! I love school!!" I was so relieved to hear what a great day he had.

Aubree, however, did not enjoy him being gone all day in the least! She kept asking me over and over, "When is Austin gonna be home?" She just moped around all day and did nothing until he came home. It's amazing to see how much she misses him when they fight and argue so much when they are together. When he's at school, it truly is like she's missing her right arm!

Two Months Old

Brooks turned two months old on Wednesday. I took him in to the doctor for his check up yesterday. He weighed 13 lbs. 5 oz. which puts him in the 80th percentile for his weight and measured 22 1/4 inches long which is in the 24th percentile. So in other words, he's a CHUNK!!! But I LOVE how squishy he is!

We are loving seeing him smile at all of us. And he enjoys having "conversations" with anyone that will talk to him (when he's in the mood). It's so fun to hear him goo and coo. He is so precious and we love having him as part of our family!

He wouldn't smile very well for me today. Probably because he's still mad about the shots he had to get yesterday. But, this is what I snapped this morning...

This is his cousin, Conn. Conn was born the day before Brooks, but Brooks has him beat when it comes to weight. Look at those thighs!!!

Brett's Accident

CAUTION! This is not for weak stomachs!! I'm gagging just glancing at these pictures. So proceed with caution!!!

A week ago today, I got a phone call from my mother-in-law around 10pm. She called to tell me that Brett had had an accident and was on his way to the emergency room. I hurried to the hospital as soon as I could to meet up with Brett and his dad.

Apparently, Brett and his dad were either trying to hook our trailer to our pickup or they were trying to take it off. Anyway, there were 17 - 100 pound bags of sand (for sandblasting) on it and the weight of it broke off the jack that goes to the trailer. So Brett decided to use a different jack.

Once he got the trailer raised, the jack started swaying under the weight. Brett could see that it was going to fall, so he tried to catch it when the original broken jack came down on his foot, smashing his big toe and the one next to it on his left foot.

He ended up losing both of the toenails (one lost entirely, the other just dangeling) and breaking both toes. On his big toe, the x-ray showed that the bone was completely broken with about a 1/4 of an inch gap between the two pieces of bone. And the other toe's bone was still intact, but there were cracks all over it.

The doctor put in several stitches in one toe and sewed back on the toenail that we still had. But before he sewed it back on, he cut the nail, making a new nail for the toe that had lost it's one. I hope that makes sense. Or maybe it's better if it doesn't.

He was so lucky that was all that happened. It could have been much worse if the jack came down on a higher part of his foot. He's also lucky that it wasn't his right foot, because then he wouldn't be able to drive for a while. And I think it's amazing the little damage a 2,000 pound trailer did to his foot.

Brett's decided that he'll only be wearing steel toed boots from now on. That could have prevented his injuries. Oh well, we are certainly counting our blessings!

Here are pictures of his battle wounds. Thankfully, Brett's mom is a nurse and can handle helping him with his foot. I, on the other hand, cannot!

This is how I like it to be kept - all covered up!

Andrew's Wedding

My crazy kids!!! Read on for the story...

There was an open candy bar and Aubree LOVED that!

Crazy hair!!

Our little family

Cute little tuxedo pants!

My brother, Andrew, got married two weeks ago. We all think VERY highly of his new wife, my new sister-in-law. I remember the first time that I met her; Tatiana is her name. We were visiting my brother, Kevin and his family, staying at their house when Andrew brought Tat over. I watched them interact with each other. I was very impressed with how she kept him in line. I knew that he liked to be super cuddly and smoochy with girls, but Tat was very concious of those around them and made sure no one was uncomfortable. I liked that.

She was very sweet, attentive, and playful with the little kids. I liked that. My brother, Kevin, is a very funny and sarcastic joker. Any time he made a joke, she was able to shoot something right back at him. It was very entertaining to watch and listen to. I really liked that.

But what struck me the most was when I was upstairs helping Kasi get dinner ready, Tatiana came upstairs, by herself, and said, "Alright, Kas, what do you want me to do?" Kasi gave her a job and she did it. It was right at that moment that I knew Andrew needed to marry her. It was like she was already part of the family.

They broke up a while after that and Andrew dated some other girls. I tried to sound happy for him when he told me about the other girls, but I knew that none of them compared to Tat. When they finally got back together, I was SOOOOOOOOO excited!

Here are some pictures of their beautiful wedding...

I'm so excited that Andrew and Tatiana are married. She's such a great addition to our family!