Hallie Hallie Hallie

Brittney was going to take pics of Hallie, but  Britt didn't feel well.  So Hallie and I ran outside and snapped some in less than ten minutes.......it was soooooo cold!  She either had cheesy smiles or freezing frowns, but oh well it was fun and she was awesome!  Now I need a good editing program for my pics. :)

Brotherly Love

Hallie was begging Brooklyn to paint her fingernails.  Of course Brooklyn wouldn't do something nice like that so I asked Trace to do it because I was cookin dinner.  He informed me that "he is a guy and guys don't do that!!!!"  I asked him to please do it for me and that it would make her so happy.  He told me he couldn't do a good job, and I told him to pretend he was painting.  Trace, being the nice brother and person that he is, finally gave in.  It was so cute I had to secretly take some pics, but he wasn't too happy after the flash went off.  :)  We love you Trace!!!!

B-Day Boy & B-Day Girl

Hallie & friends.......Sara, Maddie, Hallie, & Brooklyn  (oh and Brenton drowning in the back)

Shana made the dress modest because G-ma Kappel requested it that way!  I love that  about Deby!  Thanks Shana and Deby for the cake!

We celebrated Brenton's and Hallie's b-day's together.  Brenton turned the big "7" and Hallie the big "4".  Aunt Shana put my pirate ship cake to shame with Hallie's beautiful Barbie cake.  Hallie thought it was "the best".  They had a blast and we are done with b-day parties for seven more months! Wahoo!

Hallie Bear's Life @ 4

Barbie and the Three Muskateers

friends Kaylee and Emma

her Daddy

running around in only her undies

DANCING

SINGING

messy hair

coming in Mom and Dad's bed in the night

her giggles

staying up late

chicken nuggets every day for lunch if I'd let her

26 pounds

helping mom with dinner EVERY single night

loving her new cousin "Little Brittney"

McDonalds

Christmas lights

Brenton's Life @ 7

good student

loves to read and LOVES math

loves to help Dad outside

Wii of course

Webkinz

top bunk - that's important

soccer

draws pictures

snuggles

diving off the high dive

taller than Brooklyn & going to pass up Trace

loves G-pa & G-ma W's crazy dog, Pogo

Pixos

HaLLoWeEn FuN!

Another year down.......

Trace the rodeo clown & winner of a costume contest he's been tryin to win for years

Brooklyn as Dorothy and her baby as Toto

Brenton as a freaky mummy

Ariel as herself

Shoe Party

Shoe Party

My House

Friday 6:30 - 8:00 Drop in whenever!

Cute Shoes and very inexpensive

myshoeshoppe.com

WELCOME TO THE.....

Trace showing his pig, Buffy!

Reserve Grand Champion for fitting and showing. The judge was tough at this fair!

Brenton even showed, but he's considered "Primary" so they didn't compete against each other.
They all got blue ribbons. He did awesome, we're very proud of him!

Brenton and Oreo

We tell the kids that fair isn't about the money, BUT Brooklyn had a good experience selling her market rabbit. She was terrified of the market rabbit with it being huge and white with freaky pink eyes. So she was afraid to hold it out in the arena by herself. I've never seen her doubt herself like that. Anyways, she was dead last to sell out of the entire fair. I was bummed thinking that everyone would be out of money. I kept reminding myself, "It's not about the money". But as a mom, I feared she would be out there dead last and no one supporting her. A older gentleman that helped the kids in the arena told me that with her being last, it might actually be a good thing. He said not all the time but sometimes there are companies trying to get rid of extra money. Well the rabbits were going for $300 - $450 (Grand Champion rabbit), which is outrageous compared to Grant County fair where they went for $100 - $300.

So she goes out there and these two guys start bidding each other up. One wanted it for his daughter and the other one kept saying as he was raising his arm, "Well if she wasn't so cute." (Some people wonder if he had a little to drink) By the time it got to $700 I was on my knees in shock! The older man that helped with the kids kept patting me and reminding me each time it climbed higher. I'm proud of Brooklyn because she carried that bunny with a smile even though she was scared, but who wouldn't smile I guess when the bidding was nuts. She was a trooper. She walked outta there $900 "richer" as she says. The older man came up to me later and said that he had done the fair for years and never seen a rabbit go for that much.

Brooklyn's not quite used to the idea of only getting ten percent, giving ten percent to the Lord, and the rest in savings for college. Poor Brooklyn! :)

100% Chad

Brenton's after school activity.......

Chad and all his cousins, uncles, brother, etc. are trying to put a race track in Warden. They did a fundraiser at community days where people paid to hit a car. Don't quite get the excitement but must be testosterone related. Anyways, Chad was the one that found the car so we had it for a while before he disposed of it. So everyday after school Brenton put on the safety glasses and grabbed his hammer and went crazy. Must be fun I guess, because he did it everyday until Chad took it away.

First Day of School & Dance

First day of school.

Waiting for the bus.

First day of new dance year.

Fair in a Nutshell

Trace did awesome with Oscar, especially since he's never done this before. His pig was at weight for a month, so he walked him everyday and put him on a diet. Within a couple days that pig tightened right up (wish it was that easy with my bum). He really bonded with Oscar, we'll just leave it at that for respect of Trace! :) His pig got a blue ribbon for market. And for fitting and showing he got, according to his big ribbon, "Champion round"; basically it was a call back for the grand champion round. We were proud he got that far. He really worked so hard.

Brooklyn did better than expected with it being her first year as well. The rabbit barn supervisor had been working with her all summer and he said he thought she had a shot at Grand Champion. She almost did it.....ended up getting Reserve Champion for fitting and showing. The judge said she is the one to watch out for next year, so we'll see if she keeps up her momentum. We're proud of her, she absolutely loves her rabbits, it's the first thing she does in the morning to take care of them. Also Courtney, NiCole, and Brooklyn (the Warden girls) got the Supervisors Award. Thanks NiCole and Courtney for showing Brooklyn the ropes.

Brooklyn, Courtney, and NiCole

This little guy is the newest member of our rabbit family. His name is Jersey.

We stayed in the camper at the fair all week....never left and when we did on Sunday morning the kids whined. On Wednesday during fair Brooklyn was already saying that she didn't want to wait for next year, so against Chad's wishes I guess we'll be going back.

Rewind

I never did do "part two" of our Seaside trip, but have to just wrap it up mainly to say a big "Thank you for putting up with us" to Brent, Cindy, and kids, and also Jeff, Lilli, and Emma! They were perfect to spend eight days with......we never got sick of them. :) Now they maybe can't say the same.............. but we don't want to know!

Bonfire & Smores

Family Photo Session

Newport Aquarium

Brooklyn, Brenton, & Trace.......

.........oh, and Hallie!

Holy smokes, look at Chad's legs compared to his arms HAHA!

One of my favorite people......

And another.......

BFF

We had such a blast despite Cindy's occasional throwing of attitude! :)

I love you Cindy!!!

Way Back When....

I married possibly the best man! The most unselfish man....caring....nonjudgmental....all about family....chill....smart....happy....gentle....hardworking....wonderful father....honest as they come....and the list goes on. I credit it all to his wonderful mom, dad, and grandparents. Thank you for shaping a cute little freckled face boy into an awesome man! I'm convinced they are hard to come by anymore. And I'm convinced that I'm the luckiest girl! Here's to 13 good years! For me anyways! :)

A Week on the Oregon Coast w/ Great Company (part 1)

Day 1:

Fish hatchery off the Bonneville Dam.....a must see.


We arrived at the beach house and we ohhhed, awwwed, squeeled, jumped up and down, yada yada yada. Cindy and I were the most excited I think. Brent and Cindy got the master suite, Chad and I got a quiet room downstairs, Jeff and Lilli were across the hall, the girls got the bedroom with the two bunks, and the boys got the loft. It was a beautiful home.......




Let's not forget the hot tub.....

We walked a couple houses down to the beach at sunset....

Day 2:

Toured Astoria, shopped at Costco and went to the beach...

Chad said I'll look like this after I lose all the weight :)

Day 3:

Toured downtown Seaside....

Trace had his evil face in every bumber car picture!

Hallie was very protective of her tickets.

Day 4:

Explored Fort Stevens and saw pelicans...

Day5:

Went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory, visited a lighthouse, "The Octopus Tree" and enjoyed the coastline...

Just for the record, Brooklyn threw a fit everytime I tried to take her picture; so she is not left out of this blog by my choice!