Before and After!

Before: (Grainy pictures from the ortho office):

And After:

It just blows my mind how GREAT his teeth look now! And the braces were only put on in February! Incredible how FAST kids teeth can move! I'm SO glad we decided to go ahead and do this. It doesn't seem very long ago my Dal was crying in the car about his "big and crooked" teeth.

We LOVE you Mr. Dallin! You look AWESOME!

Tiny Bronco

I forgot to post some pictures of sister in her cute outfit for the BSU vs. BYU game. Nate and I love BYU. We met there, fell in love there, cheered for our Cougs at lots of sporting events and both graduated from there. We just didn't know WHO to root for this time. We also LOVE BSU...yeah neither one of us went to school there but we've been cheering on the Broncos since we were very first married.

We said we were going to go ahead and root for BSU since they are so much more fun to watch and have been so incredibly consistent for all these years. Funny though....we found ourselves kind of just cheering for both.

Anyway......Anna looked pretty cute in her onesie and her little tutu I made her. My very FIRST tutu! So much fun. I'm making her another for Halloween too! I'm having way too much fun with this whole new world of all things GIRL. ☺

Sun Valley

LOVE myself a fantastic recharge weekend! Nate had yet another Idaho Defense Council Conference and this year it was in beautiful Sun Valley. Every year we switch between McCall and Sun Valley but 2 years ago I couldn't join him because the boys and I chose to go down and see The Lion King instead with EE.

It's hard to believe that I have never in my entire life been to Sun Valley. We only live about 2 hours and 20 minutes away from here so now that we live so close there is NO excuse. Especially now that I know how GREAT it is!!

We stayed in the BEAUTIFUL Sun Valley Inn. 

 The flowers all over the grounds were just to die for!

While Nate was in the conference baby and I had fun hanging out together and checking out the town. We searched the small town until we found a video rental store. Downton Abbey Season 2. Ahhh yeah baby! We're all caught up now!

We went out to dinner with one of Nate's partners and a very fancy schmancy restaurant. LUCKILY Anna just fell asleep as soon as we got there. It wasn't shall we say...a very baby friendly kind of place! She was an angel all weekend actually. She came to one of the luncheons and was doted on by all of the old attorneys and their wives. It was really fun. ☺ My husband works at a great family friendly law firm. It is AMAZING to see how much they care about my husband and how much they actually care about US....his family. No words to describe how much that means to me.

Saturday we did some exploring. We went hiking along the river. Went for a drive up into the mountains, and checked out Hemmingway's grave and memorial.

We also did some shopping downtown and enjoyed some delicious treats along the way.

This European peach pastry was D. LISH.

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Apple. YUM!

He left his bike at home this trip (which was very kind of him) but was MISSING her the entire time! I told him he could bring her along next time.

Saturday evening was the formal night. I opted not to go because the dinner didn't even start until 7:30. It was a really good call because Anna was SUPER fussy that night. It would have been a nightmare. It's just a big drunk fest anyway so I wasn't too sad to miss out on the festivities. Although watching all of the drunk peeps dance is always great entertainment. Beautiful breathtaking surroundings, delish food, sweetheart holding my hand, and our beautiful baby at our side. Pretty picture perfect. Needed this weekend. Feeling blessed and so thankful.

THANK YOU to James and Sierra for meeting up with us along the way and taking the boys for the weekend! They had so much fun spending time in Twin Falls. We owe them BIG time!

Baby doll

"Hi! I'm Anna. People around here also call me baby, sissy, banana baby, princess, sunshine girl, sweetie, tiny sister, and more. I LOVE to be cozy in my jammies. My mom thinks I am a dolly or something because she is always dressing me up."

"For instance, today she dressed me in this silly black and white thing. At first I didn't mind it."

"Then I got bored with it and fell asleep."

"Then I decided that I was totally over it."

"She is always putting these annoying things on my head and then I accidentally pull them down over my eyes and I get REALLY mad. Today she decided to put some crazy things on my FEET...as if the head things weren't enough! I didn't like that very much either."

"We spent the entire day packing lots of clothes and more of those stupid head things because Daddy is taking Mommy and I on a little trip this weekend. You know what? It takes Mommy the same amount of time to pack all three of my brother's clothes in the time it takes to pack mine."

"That's pretty much all I have to say. Kthanksbye"

Dallin's 10th Birthday Party!

 Saturday we celebrated Dallin's 10th birthday! It's actually not until this upcoming Friday but since Nate and I will be out of town on his actual birthday we celebrated early! Dal wanted a bowling birthday. Easy shmeasy. 2 lanes for one hour, pizza, and drinks plus a bowling pin for all the kids to sign and the birthday boy gets to keep. YES! He loved it. We ALL had a really fun time. And who knew??...Nate is pretty much a professional bowler. I had no idea. ☺

I found some cute plastic pins over at Zurchers and made the bowling balls out of chocolate balls. I just made three little holes with a toothpick and there you go. The lady who worked at the bowling alley thought they were pretty cute.

I love my Dallin. I can't believe it has already been a decade. Time flies when you have a son who is as amazing, smart, kind and as thoughtful as he is. Love you buddy.

Lucky

Landon: Mom, we sure are lucky.

Me: Why do you say that buddy?

Landon: Because we got the prettiest sister in the whole world.

 I have to agree with my little man.

 I hung up the beautiful artwork that Emily painted for me. I absolutely LOVE it. It's nice having talented and wonderful friends. Thanks again Em!

Houses

I can't sleep this evening. I feel like my mind is racing a million miles minute. What got me started on this tonight? Well, let me just tell you:

The darn PARADE OF HOMES.

Nate and I bought some tickets today and ventured out to see a few of the homes. It is overwhelming and RIDICULOUS the way that some people live. Seriously....one house had a PIRATE SHIP in it with ropes to climb and a slide to go down. This same house had a secret passageway with a safe in it AND an ice drawer that makes ice like you get over at SONIC. (My favorite type of ice I might add.) Throw in a huge tv that comes out of the kitchen counter and a huge brick oven (with a tv above it) out on your ginormous deck and you've just barely scratched the surface.

It isn't necessarily these beautiful and completely over the top houses that are causing my mind to race. You see, the time has come to START the process of finding another home to buy for our family. When we lived in Boise and bought our first house there I feel we were a bit naive. Our boys were just tiny and we just felt good about our decisions concerning where would build a home. We thought we'd be there for a few years, sell after 5 years or so, make some money off of that first house (hahaha) and move to a more permanent place in Boise where we could raise our growing family. Then everything in Boise fell apart. You know the story.

Yeah, that's me...a blubbering mess back when that was all happening. I kept telling myself I was strong but really I was a complete and utter wreck. (Dallin took this picture of me in the middle of one my millions of break downs)

And we said good-bye.

Once again, things happen for a reason. It was obvious that we were meant to be over here. We have seen and continue to see the many reasons we are here. Things have fallen into place and we have a deeper understanding of trial and faith. Idaho Falls is home to us now. We were lead here, and we acknowledge that wholeheartedly.

Which brings us to today. Buying a house in Idaho Falls is a pretty HUGE deal to me. We're REALLY going to be putting roots down here. We're REALLY not going to raise our kids living by extended family...no cousins, no grandparents. We're not going back to Boise. We're REALLY here for the long haul. This is serious. This is commitment. This is so real.

The decision as to WHERE we buy in this city really stresses me out. I now realize that the decisions we make today will truly influence our children. Friends, neighbors, schools (high schools), a good ward...I just really want to make the BEST decisions that we possibly can. I don't want to uproot my kids again. I don't want to have to start over again. We've met a few amazing people where we live now. I've met a couple of lifelong friends. Friends who made my life bearable those first few months I came here kicking and screaming. The boys have some great friends in the neighborhood. The problem is, I just know in my heart that we don't belong here (in this particular neighborhood) long term.

No, it's not like we're moving this month or even this year. But, it's time to start asking the questions: Big yard/smaller yard? New house/older house? Neighborhood/open space? Close to town/further away? Build home/find existing home? Pirate ship/no pirate ship...haha just kidding!
It's exciting but I'm also terrified out of my mind. I know I feel this way becuase of where we've been and especially because of how burned we ended up after our last home buying experience. All I know is that we will take our time and make sure we are prayerful about whatever we need to do and where we need to be.

Ok, now that I have spent an hour rambling on and on I am TIRED and ready for BED!

Just because

Wearing your very first pair of jeans is grounds for a blog post wouldn't you say?

Also, Parker started his very first week of piano lessons. So far he is EXTREMELY motivated. I didn't want to deny him the opportunity to learn....I just know how he is. We'll re-evaluate in December and see whether or not we'll continue. I BELIEVE in him....I just KNOW him really well too. hehe

Anna and I enjoy sitting and listening to him practice.

Dallin is staying very busy with soccer this fall. We decided to do an outdoor league and he is loving it.

And Mr. Landon just got back from the dentist today with 2 more cavities. Dallin and Parker have their dad's teeth. Landon obviously has mine. Grrrrr.

And that is what's going on around here.