Kysa Sporting Her New Glasses

20/200 vision....+7.00 in one eye; +7.75 in the other.

Kysa's glasses are pink...and thick.

She has been pretty good about wearing them. Just need to work on always
putting them in the same place (on her pink nightstand) when she takes them
off.

G-Ro to the Rescue

Grandma Ro has been a huge help to us in this busy time of year. From a
semi-surprise visit on Wednesday for the Madison basketball game (which
Grandpa watched) and G-Ro babysat so I could film and go to the freshman
girls practice...to coming last weekend so I could do the ACT's and ref a
basketball game...it is always a blast for the kids. She manages to find
time to play with them, read to them, make gingerbread houses with them,
Skype Kirb and Bodie with them, and always throw in a load of my laundry or
two and clean up my messy house. She is truly a superhero to me and my
kids. Oh, and I didn't mention that if ever something needs mended or
hemmed, she is quick to do it on my sewing machine (that only she uses!)
Even though she lives 2 hours away she is here when I need her to be, and I
am so grateful.

(I have to comment on this one picture with the kids by the Christmas
tree...I think it's hilarious because Grandma Ro looks so cute and the kids
all look like GOONS! Reminds me of the Little Bunny Foo Foo song...the good
fairy has done what she threatened to do.)

Aunt Claire's Overnighter

Aunt Claire stayed with us last week because Brittney was flying in to the
I.F. airport from Alaska at 9:30 p.m. and Claire had to teach in Rexburg in
the morning, so Dale took Brit back to Poky and Claire just slept at our
house. My kids LOVE their Aunt Claire so much because she is the next best
thing to Grandma Ro, Grandma Sue, and Grandma Rue. Kysa ended up sleeping
downstairs with her. We made Shay sleep in her own bed, much to her
disappointment.

Re-Living the Dream 2010 Part 2

Jen Cannon and I recruited BYU-I students Jenny Fiso McKinney (Eastern
Washington) and Marianne Schiess Dalling to play with us in a couple games
on Friday vs. Snow College and Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming. Jill
Adams and Cady Williams along with Libbie Loughmiller Oram and Kelly Coombs
Grossman from Billings also joined us. We lost to Snow by 3 and beat
Northwest Wyoming by 8 points. It was so fun to see Cady and Jill. Cady
couldn't make it for our first game against Snow or I know the outcome would
have been different. (Cady had 32 points in the game she made it to.) Refs
were pretty poor for the Northwest game on both sides. The Northwest coach
said they were the worst she's ever had. It was ROUGH. Jill got a black
eye and I ended up getting tackled with about 10 seconds left in the game.
My jaw is still out of alignment, but it's getting better so I don't plan to
go to the dentist.

As for our travel plans, we left Thursday night and stayed in Bozeman and
then drove Friday morning. There was a semi-truck wreck outside of Powell
that almost caused us to miss the game, but thanks to some "desperation in
action" (Jen and I going car to car to see if anyone on the other side of
the wreck would turn around and take us to Powell) AND the emergency workers
who finally let us go through and then helped sandbag and push us back onto
the road when we started to slide off, we made it to the game on time! It
was quite the adventure. Jen's favorite line from the trip was mine when I
said "Go get the nurses!" (The two BYU-I nursing students) and mine was
Jen's when she said after we slid off the road, "Well, at least the two
truck will have to pull us out first."

G-Ro watched the kids so I could have my adventure. Ty took his boys to
Utah where they went 1-1 vs. Syracuse and Clearfield and then went to the
BYU v. Hawaii game in SLC at Energy Solutions Arena.

We had a couple from our ward over for dinner today because mom left us a
roast and we had plenty of food to share. Scott and Desiree Wheeler and
they have two little kids Cole and Alicia. Cole is 3 and must have a lot in
common with Shay because when they were down playing he climbed up on the
bunk bed with Kysa and then chucked his sippy cup down at Raleigh who was
playing a computer game. The sippy cup bonked Raleigh on the head and then
spilled all over the floor and Raleigh bedspread. Raleigh came up bawling.
Of course Cole's parents felt bad but it was pretty funny. I think Ty said
he home teaches Scott now. So yay, December should be done. :)

Re-Living the Dream Part 1 was my basketball trip to Snow College a few
weeks ago. If I ever get a copy of the team picture we took I'll post it on
the blog. Different team, but it was fun.

Random Pictures

Kysa and Shay really like playing in boxes from an ottoman I got on Black
Friday. Raleigh read a 200+ page Diary of a Wimpy kid book yesterday, in
less than 24 hours. Yay, I have a reader in the family! (Kysa is working
on it too.)

The cheesestick picture reminds me of Jill in warm-ups for our basketball
team. A new hip-hop song is called "Like a G6" and I asked Jill if she knew
what the lyrics meant. She joked, "It's actually 'like a cheesestick"." Ha
ha

pillow talk with Shay

Shay, “You’re the best mom in the universe.”

 

Thanks Shay.

 

“Universe is my favorite word.”

 

Oh really?

 

“The universe is for cats, and dogs….and kids, right?”

 

Right Shay.

 

“That’s what I learned on the ‘puter.”

 

“You are the best mom in the universe because you do so many things for us.  You sweep the floor for us….you get drinks for us, when we say please….you get toys for us….you take us to McDonalds….you help us go to sleep….that’s why you are the best mommy in the universe.”

 

Wow, thanks for saying all those things Shay.  That makes me happy.

 

“Give me your hand.”

 

Shay takes my hand, and kisses it.

 

Does it get any sweeter than that from a 3 year old?

 

We are just thankful that Shay CAN be sweet. 

thankful for family

Tonight I feel so lucky to have the family that I have.  The family I was born into, the family I married into, the family that has resulted from church, sports teams, coaching, and work, and the family that calls 2292 Darah street home.  The gospel of Jesus Christ has made it possible for me to be where I am today, enjoying the family relationships that make life complete.  And I am extremely grateful.    

 

 

 

Raleigh's Baptism Notes

Our primary presidency handed out note cards to family and friends in between Raleigh's baptism and confirmation to write a note to him. They collected them and gave them to him in a brown paper bag at primary today. Raleigh enjoyed reading them, and here are a few of the ones that stood out:

"Hey Bud!! This decision is going to be the biggest and best decision you have and will ever make. I hope that when you get older you will resist temptations. It will be hard but me, your parents, your siblings, and god believe you can. You are an amazing, athletic, and handsome young man. You can do anything. Again, congrats on your decision bud. It will bless you forever. Love Your Cuz, Hannah Shippen

P.S. You're gonna be a good lookin' kid and lots of girls will like you. So only pick the ones with high stands and nothing less!"

"Raleigh, I can't believe you're already 8! (Seems like just yesterday you were throwing chewed hamburgers at me, ha ha) Your whole family is very very proud of you. Congratulations, stay out of trouble, and don't forget your baptism day! ☺ Connor…. Congrats, 8 is great."

"I'm very excited to be here and see you get baptized. Ral, I hope you had a good time and always keep close to our Savior Jesus Christ. He's always there when you need him. I am very happy for you. Sincerely, Reilly"

"Raleigh, you are a great example and an awesome cousin, hoping that your decisions will be chosen wisely. Wishing you the best, Wesley James Shippen."

"Raleigh Ben, how proud we are of you! We look at you & see your Dad all over again. Always follow his example and that of your family. Heavenly Father loves you very much. Always CTR. Love G & G Emmett & Sue."

Raleigh's Baptism and Confirmation, November 6th, 2010

Raleigh's baptism was great. The first talk was by a high school girl and
she was doing an amazing job, but about halfway through she started to black
out and thankfully said something so the people on the stand helped her sit,
and then they took her out to the hallway. Austin went out and helped
her--so nice to have a doctor in the house. I talked to her mom April
Spaulding today (who happens to be my online teaching supervisor) and she is
doing fine. They think she may have just locked her knees. We all thought
she might have had a seizure, so hopefully that's all it was.
We had beautiful weather and lots of people came. Afterwards we went to
Leo's, which was easy. Too big of a crowd for our house. Aunt Janie and
Uncle Mike came all the way from Boise. Meredith was planning on coming but
her flight got cancelled.
We are so proud of Raleigh and how he handles himself. His primary teacher
came and gave him a neat homemade book about baptism.
Standing in for his confirmation was G-Emmett, G-Jer-Bear, Uncles Ronald,
Shane, Troy, Trent, Andrew, Mike Conroy, Cousins Austin Gillette, Justin, Skyler, and Bishop (and friend) Clay Murdoch.

Happy Halloween!

We love October!