Merry Christmas 2012!

 

 

After Christmas festivities in Idaho with Kyle and Courtney (they headed to CA), we headed to New Years with everyone else in Utah. We all stayed at the Shilo Inn, and the Payne's just came down for the day. We swam, shopped, exchanged presents and ate some yummy pizza. :)

 

Washington Visit! Happy Birthday Grandma!

My Grandma Bryan had a birthday and my mom, Corey and I went to visit :)

It was so fun to be with Aunt Susan (miss her face so much!) and spend time with Grandma and Grandpa at a home that fills me with childhood memories. Loved seeing cousins and hanging out with them for a short but sweet time. I love how much my aunt and mom laugh with eachother, how they often pee themselves and laugh so hard they can't move. I think it's such a refreshing scene knowing that two people that are so different can still have such a healthy love for eachother. I lean on Aunt Sue so much when we're all together. I think her kids are some lucky ducks! Too bad they all live so far away (north and southeast). One of these days we'll have to have a cousins reunion and laugh our butts off! I LOVE you Grandma, I love how you always make me feel special, loved and the center of your world for those moments I get to spend with you. I love listening to your stories of motherhood and grma-hood, looking at your wall pictures and helping when I can. Grandpa, you are my hero. You are kind, creative and patient. I am grateful to have you both as mentors. I miss you so much.

 

Sept, October and November CATCH UP! WEW!

September 2012: Visit to Grandma's Vernal House

We visited Vernal for Kimber and Nick's First Endowment Sessions and Kimber's Bridal Shower for Nick's Family. It was so fun to have all the grandkids together all squished and eating ramen! I love this picture, they played so well and we ended up hanging out at the Paynes house for a a whole day just to let the kids play. They had so much fun! I love how Rylin and Taelin don't fight anymore, or tattle (thank goodness!) and the boys are now getting into the fighting stage...but the fighting is manageable, and more like "please share" than anything else.

 

Football season and Soccer Season are here! Its beautiful weather and so nice to enjoy it with these cuties!

KIMBER'S WEDDING DAY!!!! Since both Mom and Kimber lived in Vernal at this time, and the wedding and reception were done up here in Rexburg, that meant that I got to do a lot of the running around stuff :) Which, I seriously don't mind. I just had a HUGE school carnival and bike for kids activities that went through the summer, and fall! wew! I wasn't nearly as organized as I would have liked (hence my camera battery wasn't even fully charged when we went to take after temple pictures! urgh!!!) but we all survived, got thousands of pictures and they got sealed! What a joy to see!

HALLOWEEN: So, Daddy ends up cleaning out most pumpkins, because I declare as the mommy, I shouldn't have to do gross things that I can't stand anymore. Sometimes I don't get a choice, but in this, I DO! SO...Daddy does make the kids clean out their first pumpkin, and try everyyear. The older boys don't mind, but Evan FREAKED out! Kept screaming "icky!" and Taelin was right along with him, but they all kept trying to scare him (he's also afraid of spiders)...and he gives such a great response...its kinda funny. So, the kids all got simple pumpkin faces...or we'd be here for hours. As it is, Jacob and I already have sore wrists...and one kids' can't be any cooler than the next! :) Happy Halloween and cute costumes! Taelin: Tangled/Repunzel; Evan: spider (he screamed when we'd put on any other costume); Kelton: Hulk, and Chase: Blue Power Ranger! Jacob and I were pirates.

 

 

 

 

NOVEMBER: We headed down to Vegas!!! With two of our favorite people on the planet, Kyle and Courtney. We went to a magic show, walked the strip, hung out and relaxed. It was a much needed vacation, and we walked ALOT, so we ate ALOT!!!

 

August Family Fun!!! End of Summer!

 As a family, we headed back up to Kelly Canyon for a family hike! We saw some icky clouds roll in and thought we'd make an adventure out of it! We sure did! It poured for about 20 minutes, so we huddled under thick trees and sang songs while we ate some snacks. Daddy carried Evan just because it was so steep, but the kids had a fun time! It was definitely an adventure!!! We'll have to do this hike again, but hey, a little rain never hurt nobody!

                                                               

We headed to LAGOON for the last weekend in August and met up with Kimber, Nick, Talea and Grandma. We celebrated Evan's BIRTHDAY! #2!!! He's so cute! What a mellow loving little guy he is! He LOVES balls, throwing balls, hitting balls, catching balls and anything that's round. It was nice and hot, but we had so much fun! We got to go 2 days and boy was it nice to have extra time and the camper at the camp ground! We were super close to the front of the campground, and we loved hanging out in between the busy hours of running through the park! Happy Birthday sweet Evan, we love you!

End of Summer- August is here!

My kids LOVE to help daddy mow the lawn, and this year mommy left most of the lawn mowing to daddy- which meant a lot of warm summer nights were spent with fresh smelling grass clippings in the air. The kids feet get green, but they don't care. They love to help. And they have a great daddy that has alot of patience for helpers!

 

In August, right before Evan's Birthday, Aunt Susan Otto came to visit. We had the kids all dressed up for Sunday, since she wanted a nice family picture. :) She got them each books from Barnes and Noble (a tradition) and gave Evan his at a little family party we had. We gave Evan a few gifts, and then went to Lagoon as a family for that weekend and mommy's birthday too. It was so fun to have Aunt Susan tag along to Kelton's CubScout cookout with moms. She's an amazing woman, and we are so lucky to have her in our lives!!! So, here are some great photos of her reading with the kids, something they are learning to love from her!

 

Wolf Scouts Hike

  

We went up to the Kelly Canyon area and found some beautiful woods for the Scouts to Hike. Taelin and Chase got to come, but we left grumpy (and nap needing) Evan to sleep with Opa. The boys all had a blast skipping over muddy ponds, climbing tall rocks, staying on the trails (i'm such a meanie) and playing in the mini waterfall. We had a snack on the top of the trail overlooking the very East parts of Idaho Falls. It was an awesome day with some awesome boys!

 

(bottom R picture) L to R: Chase, taelin, Oliver, Mitchel, Elijah, Jon, Kelton, Rook, Trey, Ridge

(bottom L picture) Taelin and Tessa hanging out in the shade!

Bowling!!!

We {heart} bowling. We usually only make it through one game, but Opa and Oma treated us to a game at the Bowlero Lanes here in Idaho Falls. The kids LOVE helping Evan, and now they can actually bowl on their own! The boys watch the score, and Chase almost beat Daddy! Way to go guys! You all did great!!! Taelin always finds a pink ball (even if its too heavy) silly girl!

 

July 4th: Choffin Family Reunion

Lake Powell has been so fun! Beach days full of redish sand, sand castles, waching tiny fishies swim around our legs, and Daddy's fun sand castle vs water battle. Each time we head to the beach (rigby lake included), Daddy makes a deep mote and tower close to the water and then some people call "water" and some people call "sand" (ususally daddy) and then the water people grab buckets and then it becomes WAR! The kids LOVE that they beat daddy, every time! Courtney and Mommy have swim suit twinners!

 Our family photo (abby took it) and we all love that LaBron James on Beau's tshirt is looking straight at Kyle! 4th of July, we went to the Page Park festivities and ate lots of sno cones and popcorn! Later that day, during the hot hours, we took large balloons and filled them with water and played Water Balloon Volleyball! We tested it out with the kids in Kyle and Courtney's backyard, and it was a hit!!! We found a park with a big sign and played over that. Seriously, this one was so fun for everyone and with the Choffin's everything gets competitive, but everyone pretty much sucks at Water Balloon Volleyball, so mostly the afternoon was just filled with cool feet, occassionally wet people and lots of giggles. 

 

 

   We took a break from the heat, and headed into the High School where Kyle teaches and Courtney coaches, and the boys got their game on while the kids played in the gymnastics room and tried on cheer stuff! Taelin was in heaven!

 

We started our hike at 10:00 am and it got SUPER hot SUPER fast!!! The nice 3 mile hike ended with most of us on our last legs! Literally, Jacob carried mom the last 100 yds on his back since her knee was giving out. In the end, the water was warm or gone and the kids were slightly burnt, but mostly just red from being hot. It was pretty wtih all of the red rock and the kids felt like they were on top of the world when we let them climb high with some help. :)  The older boys carried the little ones on their backs towards the end, I think we should have had a lot more water! :)

OVERALL, a GREAT 1st FAMILY REUNION!!! Thanks Kyle and Courtney!!!

June Fun!

 Zoo Fun with the Mickelsen Family

Taelin LOVED the tiger, and they all had fun in the kiddy area climbing around and running a ton (hence the lack of pictures). Soooo nice to have the summer here! 

 

Each June, around Father's Day, we attend the Air Show in Rexburg (by ourselves this year). The kids LOVE the planes and we sit across from the airport at a park, set up camp and let the kids play at the playground, with frisbees, and snacks! I love watching my kids just staring at the sky with their necks titled upwards, and sometimes with their hands over their ears for the super loud old planes :) Some of the pilots are so talented, they stall the planes straight up and then free fall (which is Kelton's favorite). The jets and trick planes are also a favorite, but to tell you the truth, we all enjoy the nice weather and cool show. We've never felt disappointed heading out on a fun June Saturday. We walked around the duck pond this year to see if we could find better seats of the runway, and we did- but alas we returned to the playground for the younger kiddos. Lots of white tails and wondering eyes. One of our favorite summer traditions!

Happy Father's Day to a great Daddy! He didn't need anything big, but a ton of little fun things! He's became a master griller using his smoker, and we're all reaping those benefits this summer! Happy day daddy! (missing evan) We think you are the best!!!!!