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!



New Year's Eve

Almost 3 months ago Nathan and I flew to DC to see our sweet friends the Perry's. It's a DARN good thing we went to visit them when we did. Tom was offered a fantastic job back in Boise and so during Christmas Break they DROVE back to Idaho to stay!! On the way they stopped to stay with US! YIPPEE!!! If we hadn't gone when we did we never would have made the trip! So happy we decided to go and make those amazing memories. ☺

We had so much fun for the couple of days they were here. We took the kids to Leo's place to play and run wild and then we came home and threw a pretty fantastic last minute New Year's Party because ME (with my pregnancy BRAIN) didn't realize Saturday was New Year's Eve. I thought it was on Sunday. I'm an idiot.

We made TONS of food. Played lots of fun games (the candy bar game, Wits and Wagers, Game of Things) AND we made GOO with the kids.

James and Nate playing some sweet air guitar:

Candy bar game is ALWAYS a hit:

Lots of yummy food: Bacon wrapped shrimp, crescent covered smokies, cheese ball, veggies, cookies, cowboy salsa............ugh. I was so FULL I could hardly drink my sparkling cider at the end of the night!

We did a little pretend countdown for the kids at about 9:00. They had been awake since 5 am and we (the adults) were READY for them to go to SLEEP! After we got them to bed we cranked on the Pandora and played games and danced. It was hilarious.

Next morning they left. It's so funny how NOW it feels like we're pretty much just neighbors again becuase we'll get to see them SO much more. 4 hours is NOTHING compared to and entire DAYS trip on an airplane! Welcome back to the POTATO STATE Perry's!!

Christmas in Boise

Christmas was WONDERFUL in Boise this year. I had to fight the husband to get him to go for Christmas Eve. He is ready to stay home for Christmas Eve...I pleaded for one more year. After all, this was the last year with my little brother as he is preparing to go on a mission here in the next few months. We had such a great time......Nate agreed that we had made the right decision. ☺

I wish I had taken more pictures, alas I guess I was enjoying myself to much. Living in the minute is a good thing though.

When we got there we immediately headed over to this really FUN/ a tad bit on the CrAzY Santa's house. He made his 4 wheeler and a trailer into Santa's sleigh and takes people around the neighborhood. He takes it very seriously. It was really fun....and REALLY cold.

We had a fantastic Christmas Eve spent together....minus James and Sierra. We had a fantastic dinner and testimony meeting. It was fun hanging out all day together. We went to a movie (The Muppets) and went bowling. ☺

Everyone was spoiled rotten Christmas morning. We got up EARLY so we could attend church by 9. It was special being able to go to church on actual Christmas Day.

Later on during the week we had a great time seeing many of the friends that we miss so much. We went out for dinner, movies, and had a great game night. I'm so glad so many of them still take the time to see us. ☺

Somehow we were able to CRAM everything into the car and make it back home in one piece. It was a great Christmas. I'm so blessed to have such an amazing family and so many great friends. Gotta admit though, feels nice to be back home!

Old Fashioned Christmas

Last night for family night we met up with James and Sierra and headed downtown to the museum where they have a fantastic Christmas display for FREE. Creches are on display from all over the world, there are ginger bread houses, and there is even a huge Santa Clause exhibit. SO much fun.

First thing though, we had to drop off letters to the BIG Santa mail box!

You know you live in Idaho Falls when one of the largest gingerbread houses is of the TEMPLE!

After the museum, we stopped over at Maverick for some hot chocolate and then headed out to the town of Iona to see the CRAZY light displays! We had a great time watching the lights that go together with the music on the radio! Pretty amazing!

Such a great night spent together as a family. THESE are the things that I ADORE about the Christmas season. Never mind the fact that I am STILL not done shopping. I actually went shopping tonight for a little while. All was going great until a wave of nauseousness hit me. I got into the car, grabbed a grocery bag and proceeded to PUKE in it. Little did I know there was a FREAKING HOLE in the bottom of it. THROW UP......all over me in the car. Shopping trip over. Come on baby, lets just be friends already ok? I'm so over this.

In other non-vomit related news, THIS boy received the "Spirit of Christmas" award today at school. He has been caught being kind and doing service at this school. He hasn't taken the hat off ever since he got home and that was 4 hours ago. Hehe.

♥♥♥ this time of year!

Parker's party

One word would describe Parker's birthday party last week. SIMPLE. He wanted to go to FatCats and I wasn't feeling up to throwing a grand ol' party so the agreement was made. FatCat's is all the way up in Rexburg so we did have to some commuting to get up there but it was worth the drive!

He could invite 3 friends, we would play games, mini golf, shoot each other in the balladium, eat pizza, have cake, and go home!

YESSS! And, the best part......it was really REALLY fun!!!

His favorite gift would have to be the LAKERS jersey from Grandma LeeLee! He had to wear it the rest of the night and to school the next day. ☺ It's hard being the only Jazz fan in the family.