Family time in Jackson Hole

We started out our little vacation with sunshine and some to die for views. The roads were just a bit scary on the way there....there are a couple of pretty steep passes you have to get over to get over to Jackson. Of course on the way over we had to stop and get some famous SQUARE ice cream cones! YUM!

Once we got there we checked in to our family suite cabin. It was so nice and comfortable. The boys were LOVING it. Dallin said, "Mom, I think this is the nicest apartment I have ever lived in."

The next morning Nate got all ready for a day of depositions so the boys and I got ready for a DAY of FUN! We obviously couldn't get any skiing in with this expectant mom so we were geared up to find us some other things to keep us busy in Jackson Hole.

We lounged around until it got a little warmer out.   

Then we went to our first AWESOME destination. Can you guess by the picture where we are???

Bet you didn't guess BIG O TIRES!!! Yep....we walked out to the car to find a LOVELY flat tire. Luckily the little maintenance guy at our cabin filled my tire up enough to get us over to the tire store. An hour later we were back on the road. Apparently one of the sensors in my tires had gone bad.

Next stop....Teton Village for an afternoon of sledding and playing in the snow castle.

Now THAT.....was fun!

Mrs. Preggo couldn't participate in much of the snow festivities but it was really great to watch the boys laugh and run and enjoy the snow since we haven't had much over in IF this winter.

On the way back to the cabin we saw 3 MOOSE! They were so beautiful! We were pretty excited about it since we haven't ever seen one after all these years of going to Yellowstone.

After Daddy got finished up with his meetings we went out for a delicious BBQ dinner and followed up with a good long SWIM! The water felt so good and we had the pool all to ourselves!

The next morning while Nate headed off for more lawyer stuff the boys and I went over to Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum. Dallin and Parker were especially fascinated by all of the weird and crazy things. 2 headed sheep, birds, and cows. Albino porcupines, buffalo, and trains made out of match sticks. There was tons of cowboy and vampire stuff too. SO random.  

After Ripley's we went over to the candy store for some treats. It was hard to find Dallin a candy he could enjoy now that he has the BRACES on!

Then we met Dad for lunch and made the SNOWY trek home. Serious WHITE KNUCKLE moments here. It was SO incredibly windy that it was almost impossible to see the roads. We were so happy to get back to the highway where the roads were just wet.

A GREAT trip together. LOVE memories made with my family. Totally worth skipping school. ☺

Cookies, parties, getting fat and playing hooky.

First things first, the MOST important bit of information as if late.....I have found the perfect chocolate chip recipe! I'm ALWAYS trying new chocolate chip recipes in search of the very best of the best. This last one was pretty darn good. I'm keeping this one on file for sure.

Here is the link:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/best-big-fat-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookie/

And here are the cookies! YUM!

And speaking of eating cookies........I'm getting fatter!!! 16 weeks! Yippee!

And speaking of getting fatter, I had a boy at the dollar store come up to me and say, "Hey, you're fat!"
Yeah, that made me feel awesome. Little sh*%.

And in other news, I hosted a very last minute 30th birthday party today for my sweet friend Tawnya. When I heard she didn't really have any plans for the big 3-0 I jumped into action. A few friends, a fun game and a delicious lunch later, I think she felt celebrated and very loved. I adore any excuse for a party, even if we only have a few hours to pull it off! I forgot to take pictures during the actual party, but here is the aftermath.

I am SO looking forward to playing with my family for a couple of days in Jackson Hole. Nate has to work up there for the next few days and I insisted that the boys and I come along. They are only little once and even if they miss a few of days of school it will be great to get some quality family time in. I can't wait to take the boys sledding and swimming. We're staying in this really cute family cabin. It really is a beautiful place to visit. We're lucky to live so close.

Yeah, we're awesome parents like that who encourage their kids to play hooky. Shhh....don't tell on us. ☺

A very random post indeed......

Last time I was pregnant I was 25 years old. I swear there is a huge difference between 25 and 30. So, I'm 16 weeks pregnant and still throwing up at least 2 times a day. I SWEAR this went away at about 12 weeks when I was pregnant with Landon. I am still extremely tired too. I go to sleep early and take 2 naps every day. Yep....2 naps! Seriously, I feel like I'm 80 or something. Grateful to be pregnant, just wanting to feel a little bit more like myself...that's all.

The only place I have been DYING to eat at......Chuck A Rama! Sick I know. Something about having a small little sampling of all sorts of food AND desserts just makes me giddy. Nate took our family out for a night on the town the other day. He made my dreams come true by taking us to the Up-chuck. He's such a romantic. ♥

My Dallin just finished up another season of indoor soccer. He did a GREAT job as the goalie. He wasn't even afraid of the ball at all. Unfortunately his team lost ALL of their games.....they ended up tying their last game. Yahoo! That is right...I am cheering for a tie! The best part though, Dal still loved it and still wants to play again. Gotta love that positive attitude. You also HAVE to love the crazy striped socks that he borrowed from Dad's Argentina box. Hehe.

My two elementary boys received their report cards. Dallin straight A's once more and Parker got all A's and a B+! We took the boys out to celebrate with some Orange Leaf last night. Proud of my smart and hard working boys.

Taught preschool yesterday. We had so much fun heading over to the library for story time and then doing a few crafts at home before it was time to go. We were down to 4 kids because one was out of town and one moved recently! 4 kids = EASY!

I love my Landon. We've had so much fun being home together this past year while the boys are in school all day. He is so sweet as I've had a hard time these past few months. The other day I told him I needed to lay down for a few minutes because I was SO tired. He came in, tucked me in and said, "Ok Mom, you and your baby sleep good ok?" "Don't worry about me, I'll just be playing Nick Jr. for awhile." Love that sweet boy.

Doesn't Jack just look THRILLED in this picture? Hahahaha! I love it! He puts up with SO much crap in this house.

In other news, I am a total and utter BAWL BABY. I have pretty much forbidden myself from listening to ANY country music on the radio anymore. I start sobbing to every stinking song. I am a hormonal basket case. I probably shouldn't share this story for fear of total humiliation but hey, here it goes.
Yesterday I went to pick up the boys from school and the Chick Fil-et COW was out in front of the school reminding the kids to go to Chick Fil-et for dinner that night! It was a fundraiser for the school. The cow was standing out there waiting for the bell to ring and for the kids to come. When I saw the pure JOY on the kindergartners faces when they came out......yep, I totally lost it. I was crying over a dressed up cow holding a sign.

 Wow.

Less than 2 weeks until we have our gender ultrasound. I bought some cute BOY bedding online the other day. I think its another boy and it was a steal of a deal.

Alright, this rambling has gone on long enough. ☺

Making some fun out of nothing.....

No school today. And this girl needed to GET OUT of the house. Nate decided he needed to work today which is probably a good thing since MOST of the other attorneys were in the office too. I thought about taking the boys to another movie, or going somewhere fun for lunch. Really though, I just wanted to go outside and see some sunshine.

The weather people have been ranting for the past few days about this huge storms rolling this a' way so I wanted to get outside before the snow clouds hit.

Parker has been DYING to drive his remote controlled boat for some time so I thought, Hey....lets take it for a little spin a roo. We packed up the boat, some new batteries and headed over to the only little pond that I could think of over in Snake River Landing. Sure enough though........totally frozen over. Parker hysterical. I told him not to get his hopes up but obviously he didn't listen.

While heading back home I remembered we were near new little man made fishing lake and decided to swing by to see if it was frozen over as well. Most of it was but we got out of the car, walked along the paths and enjoyed throwing rocks on the ice/ sliding the rocks into the water towards the middle. The boys were laughing, running around and having a great time.

 They loved seeing the little frozen over waterfalls as well.

 Then some ice fishers came and we watched them dig through the ice and set up their tent. They boys were fascinated by the whole thing.

When our cheeks and fingers started hurting from the cold we piled in to the car to head home. I was thinking how we had made some fun little memories even if we didn't get to drive the little remote controlled boat. What a great afternoon!

Then Parker sighs and says, "Well, that day was a total WASTE!"

Seriously?

Who's little PUNK kid is this?

A great day.

Today has just been.......really good. I feel blessed becuase of it and wanted to write it down so I could remember that not all January days are totally blah.

The weather over here has been AMAZING this winter. Sunny days, warmer temps and hardly any snow. I know the farmers are worried but I can't complain. I've LOVED it. It's like a Boise winter.....I can handle this! It is clear and sunny again today. I love opening up the windows and soaking up the vitamin D!

I am finally feeling better. I've only puked 2 times in the past 4 days. Yee Haw!

Nate was featured in the newspaper today. They interviewed him yesterday and did a write up on the newly formed Eagle Rock bike racing club. Nate is the official race director of the new team. I love how he has taken his passion for biking over here and how he continues to help the sport grow on this side of the state. He is getting so invovled in our little community and I love it.

I took my Dallin to the orthodontist today. I swear, everywhere I go in this town I see someone I know.....of course I just so happend to know the woman at the front desk (she is in my ward and in the scouts with Dallin). The Dr. is good friends with our dentist friend back in Boise. The nurse's old basketball coach moved to Boise and ended up being my sister's basketball coach back in the day. The ortho lives right by one of the partners that Nate works with. EVERYONE knows EVERYONE here. I absolutely ♥ it! Oh, and my Dallin gets braces in 2 weeks! I'm SOOO happy for him. I'm grateful for GOOD insurance that will help cover a lot of the cost.

I got a letter in the mail from a great high school friend. Made me smile.

I got a phone call from my best college friend (Marcy). It was great to catch up. I love that girl.

I took a gift to a friend who just had a baby girl. She was the cutest little thing ever. Oh how I want a girl.

I had a friend stop by for a visit this afternoon. It was fun to show her my new and improved house....espiecially since it is still clean. We'll see how long that lasts! ☺

I'm going to lunch with a bunch of girlfriends tomorrow. I love lunch with friends on a Friday.

I watched my sweet husband and my cute son trot off to basketball practice. I love that Nate coaches Parker's team. It really just makes my heart happy.


A good day.......a really good day. ☺

Be our guest!

I did it! I finished the guest room today. I primed, painted, put the bed back together and hung some things on the wall.

FAREWELL nasty green wall and room o' crap!

Hello guest room!

I'm so tired now....I think I'll just climb on in and take a little nap!

Extreme Makeover....Starnes Edition

Haven't blogged in awhile. How come? I have been one BUSY BEE!

I'm not sure what exactly got me started. Maybe this new baby coming, but it seems a little early for "nesting" already. Whatever the case....I have been in major musical chairs mode with the house the past few days.

This isn't our house. We only plan on living here one more year but for the time being, I have decided to try my darnedest to make this house a little bit more FUNCTIONAL for our family. When we go to buy again......I can assure you I am going to be ONE extremely PICKY gal!!!

First off, the kitchen eating area has been WAY too small for our family. We haven't been able to have a sit down dinner as a family for so long. I decided to make a drastic change. We moved the family room downstairs and turned the family room into a dining area. Now my big table can be out all the time and we can all SEE EACH OTHER when we eat. And surprisingly enough....I have quite enjoyed having no TV upstairs. It is so much more peaceful when I am in the kitchen. We moved the computer upstairs also so I can monitor what is going on a little bit easier. The front room is still upstairs so we do still have a place to sit and hang out upstairs.

We're really like the family room being downstairs....it's so much more comfortable and it's nice having all 3 couches together.

Next we moved Landon into Dallin and Parker's old "sports" room:

(He LOVES it!)

 Then we moved Dallin and Parker downstairs into the basement. We got them some new bunkbeds and they are absolutely in heaven. Boys and bunkbeds....they just go together! We still need to find some things to hang on the wall.

 So now Landon's old room will sit and wait a few more weeks until we see if we leave the wall BLUE or paint it PINK!

Nate moved his bike room into my old craft room. I really didn't need all that room for craft projects anyway.

So, now to the old bike room. This is the current project in action. It is a total and complete DISASTER area! Tomorrow I am painting that nasty green wall and getting everything all set up. New guest room coming soon! See, we still have room for visitors! AKA.....come and visit us!

Pictures to come in the next day or so!

And yes....that is a large scary shark hovering in the corner. It's pretty much a $100 balloon. It was my mom's Christmas present to Dallin. It swims around using a remote control and absolutely

 TERRIFIES our cat.

(Which I secretly find VERY amusing)

My girls.

I've got Activity Days on the brain since we had it today! I thought I'd do a little recap of some of our recent activities for my few friends out there who share the same calling. (Fully expecting you to do the SAME! ☺)

A few weeks back I hosted a little "Manners and Courtesy" tea party at my house for my girls. A tea party? These are words not EVER used in Starnes vocabulary! We had so much fun! I went to the DI and bought some cute little tea cups for .25 a cup since I didn't really want the girls using my nice china ones. We had some hot cider, croissant sandwiches, little pumpkin muffins and tea cookies.

We had the girls all wear hats and dresses which was really fun. We started by talking about basic manners and what you should/should not do when at fancy event. I love these cute girls. We have such a great time learning fun things together.

 We later played some fun games like "who can keep the book on their head the longest?" We also played a game where the girls had to draw a picture of, act out, or sculpt out of play dough, one of the manner rules we discussed earlier.

A few months back we mod podged some darling frames and put clear pictures of the Idaho Falls temple in front. The girls put their own pictures behind them to remind them to have their sights set on the temple.

And today we talked about goals. Each girl had to set 2 goals, one spiritual and one personal goal for the year. Each girl had to fill out a worksheet and write how she would achieve her goal, what things might get in the way of her getting there, and the steps that she should take to accomplish it.

Even if this baby isn't a little girl...I am SO happy that I get my girl fix every month. They are SO different than my boys and I have LOVED getting to know each of them and their little personalities.

1st belly shot.

What a difference 10 years and 3 pregnancies can do to your body. I was looking back through my old pregnancy journals the other day and couldn't help but laugh.

Here I am a whole 5 months (almost 6) with Dallin. Ummmmm.....what belly?? I only WISH my stomach was that little now...meaning when I am NOT pregnant. ☺

And here we are today in all of our matronly glory:

Almost 14 weeks and BAM! There it is! Haha!

10 years older, wiser, and maybe a little more squishy. I like it that way. ☺

New Year

Happy 2012. Seriously, 2012? Wasn't it JUST Y2K? Years are literally flying by. What an amazing year 2011 has been for us. We've had our ups and our downs. We have most definitely ended this year on a high though. We've had such clarity and understanding as to why things happen. It has strengthened my faith, and validated the times where I've had to leave my frustrations with the Lord. We've made SO many memories and been blessed beyond our wildest dreams.

It is incredibly hard for me to believe that we have lived in Idaho Falls now for almost 2 years. I came here kicking and screaming. I never thought I could be happy here. I thought it would be a temporary means to an end before we could go somewhere that I WANTED to be. Well, I was wrong. My husband LOVES his job here. Not many men can say that about the place that they work. He is excited to go to work every day. The men he works with are such great men who respect him and appreciate him. They talk about home teaching in their monthly meetings and they only serve water and lemonade at the annual Christmas party. Pretty awesome compared to where we have been. We fit here. We belong here. They take such good care of him and have made a genuine investment in him. At his end of the year review he was told to tell his wife to "Go ahead and buy a house here.....you aren't going anywhere!" It's such a huge blessing to know that we will indeed be able to pay off all of these darn loans and much quicker then we ever though possible.

We have great friends here. They have become our family while we are away from ours. I'm grateful for my preschool mom friends. It's been wonderful getting to know all of them even better and knowing I always have someone to call if I ever need anything. I'm grateful for Nate's Aunt and for her never ending love and concern for us. She has made us apart of her family and for that I am so appreciative. My kids go to a great school. It is 3 minutes away from our house and I love that they get to spend less time on the bus and more time with me. I love my calling with my Activity Day girls. I love how they will look over at me in church and smile and wave.

I love living near some of the most beautiful places in the world. I'm glad my kids have a passion to explore and see the world just like their mom and their Great Grandma. We've done a TON of that this year. Good thing since it looks like this summer we're going to be forced to slow down a lot.....for good reason though. ☺ Seeing the Grand Canyon, going to Yellowstone again, heading to Bozeman, Zions, and the usual down to Lake Powell. I know that these are the things my children will remember when they are grown.

It's been a year of milestones! We celebrated 10 years of marriage, I turned 30 years old, and after much struggle we found our our 4th child will be joining our family. We went on some fantastic vacations both with children and without. I will forever cherish our trip to Washington DC, our alone time in Jackson Hole and our Indian Summer days spent in McCall.

We continue to love, grow closer and appreciate each other more and more.

 I'm looking forward to the adventures and changes happening for our family in 2012!