The Rich family

Pioneer Day

2009-08-10T09:28:00.000-07:00

24th of July
It is so nice living in Utah because we get 2 big holidays. Greg worked all day, so the kids and I played. We met Lisa and Jeff at the parade. It was so stinkin hot.
We met Shawna at Red Robin for Lunch and then went to This is the Place for the afternoon. They had a lot of fun activities planned for kids. Here is Ian in a Pie eating contest.
Alli and Jill in the Watermelon eating contest
We then met Nan and Papa at the Bee's game for some baseball and fireworks.
Sadie loved the fireworks.

Jackson Hole

2009-08-10T09:09:00.000-07:00

We left from the cabin and went to Jackson for a few days. If any of you go there, stay at Hotel Terra in Teton Village. We got a 1 bedroom suite and it was awesome. The pool was a little small, but kids didn't care.
Eating at Billy's on the square.
The kids loved the Alpine slide
Here we are riding the gondola to the top of the mountain.
And you can't beat the view when you get to the top. "Beautiful, gorgeous, wish you were here" Anyone know which movie that's from?

The Cabin Again

2009-08-10T08:39:00.000-07:00

We went to the cabin again with Nan this time from July 8-11. Grandma Browning came up on the 9th. We were with her for a few days, then Greg came and Jayne, Roy, and Kallie came on the 10th. We stayed a few more days with Jayne and Roy.
We saw the baby black bears and their mama with Jayne and Roy and Gma. They were right off the side of the road.
This huge elk was right by our picnic area.
My camera was not zooming right so this grizzly bear does not look that close, but he was as close as the black bear. We saw this with Nan and Gma Browning. We sat and watched him for a long time. It was so neat.
We went with Nan to Virginia City and Nevada City. It took about an hour from the cabin. The kids really loved this. They thought the ghost town was the best part of the trip. When Greg came a few days later, they wanted to go to Virginia City again. Here they are panning for gold.

This is my favorite pic. I let all the kids take their own pictures. Jill was taking a shot in a window. I just love how you can see how bad she is holding the camera.
Talk about gross! This is a double-decker outhouse. Need I say more.

2009-07-30T09:07:00.000-07:00

More to come - We've been so busy this July - lots to catch up on!
There are a few new posts below.

Girl Party

2009-07-30T08:53:00.000-07:00

July 6 - The boys went home with Melanie and Scott for a few days so we had to party while they were away. The girls and I started out the day by getting pedicures. They loved it. Jill could barely reach the water and Alli kept looking over at me like she was in heaven. We then met Lisa, Maddy, and Abby at the zoo for an afternoon of fun.

Yikes!

2009-07-30T08:48:00.000-07:00

This baby girl has some serious hair! She is now 4 months old and is the sweetest baby. My kids can't get enough of her and never leave her alone.

4th of July

2009-07-30T08:37:00.000-07:00

We spent the 4th of July by 1st going to Ian's baseball tournament. Nan and Papa, Lisa Jeff and girls, and Ryan and Kristen came to watch. I don't know why I have no pics. Greg's parents arrived just after the game finished. We spent the rest of the day with Greg's family. We went swimming with Melanie Scott and kids and Leslie and Tavis and kids. Melanie and Scott took Austin, Ian, and Alli with them to the Stadium of Fire again this year to see The Jonas Brothers. Greg and I kept Lili (not a fair trade, I know). If you want to know a great place to eat on the 4th of July - go to Cafe Rio. The rest of us went to eat there - and there was no one there. It was awesome! Thanks everyone for a fun 4th!

Old Faithful

2009-07-30T08:28:00.000-07:00

The kids and I went with Troy and Brittany to Grandma's cabin for a few days. We had a lot of fun with them. We did all the usual things, like swimming, picnic in Yellowstone, went to The Playmill. Thanks for letting us go with you.
Here we are watching Old Faithful.

All-Stars

2009-06-25T11:27:00.000-07:00

Ian is in the middle of All-Stars. We are having fun watching his tournaments every week. Here is a couple of pics from this week.

Ian played center field this game. This is a new postion for him because he usually plays 3rd, but he's quick at running after all those balls in the outfield - and there were a lot. I can't believe how well some teams can hit.

Ian pitched a few innings this tournament. He is the team's 2nd pitcher, and he does a great job!

Happy Birthday Grandma

2009-06-25T11:12:00.000-07:00

Hi Grandma Criss - this is Ian Michael Rich. I hope you have a good birthday. I miss you.

Grandma, I love you so much. I wish I could see you on your birthday. Have a great birthday. Love, Alli

Grandma, I love Grandma. It's not my birthday. It's Grandma's birthday - Jill

Hi Grandma - How is your birthday? I hope you have fun. I can't wait to come to your house. Love, Austin

Grandma - I'm lucky because you are holding me in the picture. I miss you. - Sadie

June is already half over - what have we been up to!

2009-06-15T11:13:00.000-07:00

I'm having a hard time with my blog lately. There are lots of pictures below.

June 13 - Alli's gymnastics recital - I was so sad because my camera died, so I didn't get very many pictures. Alli did so great - and next week she gets to move to Level II. Yea Alli
June 10- We went to the zoo one day while the boys were at football camp. It's been awile since we've been to the zoo. It was so fun. We've had a very cool summer so far, so we weren't too hot.

June 11 - The girls and I went with some friends to Sweet's Candy Factory for a tour and lots of sampling. It was a lot of fun to see how their orange sticks, choc covered cinnamon bears, and taffy are made.

June 10-12 The boys just finished football camp up at the U. They had so much fun. Austin is doing it again next week, but Ian gets to go to Scout camp.

Alli's soccer league is almost over. She has one makeup game left. This was Monday, June 8th. In the first picture, she had just made her 6th goal. She was on fire this game - I think she got 10 goals.

Regular season baseball is over. It was so nice to have the boys on the same team. Now we're onto All-star baseball.

We went to Idaho the weekend of the 5th - 7th for Coulson's baby blessing. This is a picture of Greg and Nathan with their babies, Gma Criss, and her dad. I think it is neat!

School's out

2009-06-15T09:39:00.000-07:00

Alli's kindergarten graduation

Dance festival - can you tell Austin wished he was doing anything else besides dancing in front of the school?

Awards Assembly - Austin, Ian, and Alli all got the Soaring Eagle Award from school. Plus I had to throw a picture of Jill and Sadie in because they came to all the end of the year activities and were such good girls. Hey Brittany - what do you think of Sadie's dress? I love it on her.

Sadie's Blessing Day

2009-06-15T09:21:00.000-07:00

May 17 - We were so happy to have both of our families with us for Sadie's blessing. We had everyone except Nathan and Heidi. It was a such a nice day for Sadie - she looked like such an angel in white.

Sadie's 2 months old

2009-05-06T11:16:00.000-07:00

Sadie is starting to smile and coo. It is so much fun to see her grow and become more aware of what's around her. I can't believe she's been here for two months.

I think she likes it!

2009-05-06T11:11:00.000-07:00

This was a couple of weeks ago, but I think it is so funny. Jill, Sadie, and I went and saw a movie while the other kids were at school. I looked over at Jill and she was doing this with the popcorn. I got my camera out hoping she would do it again, and she did. She loves popcorn at the show!
This picture was on Greg's birthday. We'd finished eating lunch and Jill fell asleep on the way to Cabelas like this. She is always doing silly things like this.

The month of April

2009-05-06T10:30:00.000-07:00

Since I am so bad at posting new things, I have to post the entire month of April at once. I only have one picture for each thing, otherwise it would be long.

Here are the kids on Easter. We had the Easter Bunny come while we were at church because we have morning church. They are getting ready to go inside and see what was left for them.
On April 18, Greg ran the SLC half marathon. The kids and I went to several spots, and it was fun to watch him run. We also saw Lisa, Jeff, and Kristen do the 5K. Way to go you guys.

April 25, my big 30 birthday. Greg took us to brunch at Little America. It was really yummy. That night, thanks to my mom and Lisa, Greg and I stayed at The Grand America. I've always wanted to stay there, and it was so pretty and relaxing. Greg also took me to see Wicked for my birthday. I'd say he did a pretty good job of spoiling me.

2 days later, another birthday - Greg. His was not so eventful, but we had a fun day going out to lunch, getting his fly pole from Cabelas, new running shoes from Wasatch Running, and taking all the kids for Thai food, Greg's favorite. We ended the night with Ian getting stitches in his lip. His front tooth came through his lip while trying to land a front flip on the tramp. I would have taken a picture, but it was pretty gross. You can ask Lisa, she saw it. Good thing we have a doctor in the house.

April 30 - another birthday. Austin turned 11. I can't believe it. He wanted french toast with strawberries and cream for breakfast. I took pizza into his class for lunch. He thought that was pretty cool. That night, we went to the movie and saw Monsters vs. Aliens.

The next day, my mom helped drive Austin's friends to the bowling alley for a party. Emma, Abby, and Jill had so much fun. They kept jumping up and down and clapping. Abby kept getting strikes. All of Austin's friends had a lot of fun. I'm sure glad birthday week is over, it is exhausting.

Gotta Love The Jazz

2009-04-06T07:53:00.000-07:00

These boys are jazz fans through and through. On Friday, Karrie and Kent came to visit. Greg and the boys went with them to the Jazz game (not in the nose-bleed section) so it was a lot of fun. You know those things they wave behind the basket when the other team is shooting, well these boys had to bring home theirs, plus all them that were left on the floor. Aren't they funny?

Where does the time go?

2009-04-06T07:40:00.000-07:00

Sadie is 4 weeks old! It amazes me how slow the last 4 weeks of pregnancy go, and then how fast time goes when they're born. We are slowly getting life into a routine, and everyone is adjusting to little sleep and even less quiet. Good thing we love you baby!

I can't keep Jillian away from her. She always want to hold her and kiss her and touch her!

I snuck into the room and took this picture. Isn't Alli so sweet? I just love watching her help take care of Sadie.

Dancing

2009-04-06T07:35:00.000-07:00

My cousin, Elise, is a senior and this was at her last show for their dance group. They held a dance clinic on Saturday for young kids and on Monday, they got to perform in the show. Alli, Maddy, and Anna all did it together and had so much fun. And look how awesome Aunt Lig is! She got all the girls flowers.

Happy Birthday Mom!

2009-04-06T07:24:00.000-07:00

A little late, but I wanted to wish my mom a happy birthday. We always have so much fun together, although, she really just wants to hang out with me so she can see the kids. She was so awesome after I had Sadie. She came everyday for a week and cleaned out cupboards, closets, my fridge, etc. She did all the things that I had wanted to do for so long, but just didn't feel like doing. She bought my favorite things for lunch everyday, and has taken the kids a lot so I can have a break and rest a little. Love you Mom! Doesn't her b-day cake look so yummy? Lisa and I got it for her, and it was so good!

2009-03-09T17:01:00.000-07:00

Here you go Melanie, here are some pictures. We have had a ton of visitors and its been great to show off our newest little girl. Kristi and I have been excited to have a 1 year old, but have been dreading a newborn. Well, we have both changed our minds and have been LOVING this little newborn. I forgot how small babies are and all the great things they do, like agressively moving their face for food, doing the super back stretch, and smiling in their sleep. We love her!

Happy Birthday Sadie!

2009-03-09T16:42:00.000-07:00

New Baby!

2009-03-07T07:24:00.000-08:00

We wanted to get a picture out of our new baby. This is Sadie (no middle name yet) Rich, born 3-6-9(love the birthdate). Everything went well and mom and baby are doing great. We will probably be able to go home today from the hospital. Sadie has been plagued with PAC's (prematurue beats) and is continuing to have them. So far no one is really too excited about it, including me, and she has continued to look like a normal baby that likes to shoot out a few extra beats. Enjoy, Greg

2009-01-17T15:06:00.001-08:00

Lots of new posts below. There are pictures with each post, but for some reason, they don't always upload right away.

Surprise Kids!

2009-01-17T14:46:00.000-08:00

Greg and I were talking on Monday about how we have not done anything with our kids for a whole year. Everytime I took the kids somewhere last year, Greg had to work, so I went by myself. We decided that since Greg had a few days off the following week, we wanted to get to some warmth. You can't go too far for 5 days, so we planned a quick Disneyland Trip.

My mom came Friday evening the 9th to do something with the kids and surprise, we ended up at the airport. It was so fun to not tell them until we were leaving.
Here we are on Saturday walking into the park. This was the busiest day because it was a weekend, but compared to the last two times we went, which were over Christmas, it was not that bad. We went to Disneyland on Sat, Mon, and Tues. We brought sweaters the first day, but didn't need them long. I ended up having to buy the kids some short sleeved shirts because it was warmer than we thought. Gotta love those Santa Ana winds.

I'm not very good at posting fat pictures of myself, but I've had a few people complain, so here's a 7 month shot. It's the one picture you'll get, so enjoy.

We loved eating at the Blue Bayou in Disneyland. We ate at the Rainforest another day, but the food was so much better here.

Gotta love Mickey Mouse

Beach Day - Jan 14

2009-01-17T14:21:00.000-08:00

We did the beach the last day of our vacation. The kids had so much fun. Greg and I can't wait until we can take our kids on vacation to a warm beach and stay there the entire time. The kids could have done the beach everyday. By 7:00 we were cleaned up and on our way home.

New Year's Eve at Gma and Gpa's

2009-01-17T14:07:00.000-08:00

I think it is funny how many blogs I read where people are playing Rock Band or Guitar Hero ---Well----Here's another. We spent New Year's with Greg family and we had so much fun playing Rock Band into the night. We split up into teams which made it really fun. We had everyone there except Rylee, so it was really fun to all be together.

Christmas Morning

2009-01-17T13:53:00.000-08:00

We did Christmas at our house, and I have to say, I really enjoyed being home for Christmas. We have not been home for a few years, and it was really nice. Here are the kids waiting to see what Santa brought.
We did Santa presents downstairs and tree presents upstairs. Next year, I am doing everything in the basement so I don't have to see the mess. Here are the boys opening up their favorite presents from Greg and me. I love how much they have turned into boys. They love watch sports on TV and they loved their jerseys. I think they wore them three days in a row.

This is my girly girl. Gma Criss gave Jillian dress up jewelry. She had it on so fast and it didn't come off the whole morning.

Here's Alli helping Greg open up his present.

Christmas Eve at Nan and Papa's

2009-01-17T13:38:00.000-08:00

We did Christmas Eve at my parent's house this year. I was glad to be home for Christmas. I took the kids up to Idaho to see Greg's parents (no pics) and got snowed in because they closed the road between Idaho and Utah. I wanted to wait it out so I didn't have to take the long road around through Pocatello, but it never opened up. On the 23rd, we took the long way home. The roads were pretty bad to Pocatello, but we went slow and made it home.

Our fam, Lisa and fam, Troy and Brittany were there for Christmas Eve. Ryan and Kristen were with her fam. I wish I would have taken pictures of dinner, but I always remember way too late. We ate all you can eat crab legs which everyone loved. We had a bunch of other stuff, but that is pretty much what everyone ate.

Here are the kids decorating sugar cookies with Aunt Lisa for Santa. Singing Christmas songs around Papa's piano.

Opening new jammies from Nan and Papa.

Here are all the grandkids in their PJ's. The girls are really outnumbering the boys. Since we're adding another girl to the mix, Troy and Brittany, Austin and Ian are counting on you for a boy.

Boys Christmas Concert

2009-01-17T13:30:00.000-08:00

So I had to pull teeth to get the boys to join the school Christmas Choir, but I'm glad they did. I'm all for kids doing things that are good for them. They practiced twice a week for about a month, so it wasn't a huge commitment. They performed at a nice, short Christmas concert on the 13th. Thanks Nan and Papa for supporting the boys.

Dec 3

2008-12-28T07:07:00.000-08:00

Ian's basketball team got to go watch a Utes basketball game. During halftime, they got to play a halfcourt game. Greg and Austin went with him, and they all had a lot of fun watching the Utes play and watching Ian play.

Christmas Shopping

2008-12-28T06:57:00.000-08:00

I took Jill to Toys R Us to look for Christmas ideas. She fell in love with a Sleeping Beauty doll that she dragged around the entire store. Then we found Annie and June dolls from Little Einsteins. She loves that show and did not want to leave the store without those dolls. So.... she tried to hide them from me. I love how sneaky she thinks she is!

Dec 1 - Jillian's 3

2008-12-28T06:43:00.000-08:00

We spent Jillian's day doing our usual things. We went shopping for Christmas tree decorations and Nan came to lunch with us at Gardner Village. Ian had basketball practice and Austin had a game. At about 8:00 we made it to get ice cream and dessert. Papa and Nan came to give her presents and they got ice cream with us too. And Jill even got to stay up late so she could see Daddy on her birthday. He got home really late, but she wanted to see him. Really though, it is pretty easy to make her happy. I could tell she had a great day being the center of attention.

My pictures uploaded out of order. I'm too lazy to fix it. The picture of the four kids was after the ice cream picture.

2008-12-09T11:20:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm not caught up on my blog, but I did do all of November. Hopefully soon I can catch up on the rest.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-09T10:55:00.000-08:00

We spent Thanksgiving at my parent's house. It was the 1st time they have hosted Thanksgiving since living in Idaho. Thanks to Kristen, for the photos. You have to look close at Jillian's smile in this picture. It is my favorite.

This is the next morning. I went shopping with my mom, Lisa, Troy, and Brittany. Papa and the girls practiced singing Christmas songs.

Turkey Trot

2008-12-09T10:46:00.000-08:00

The kids' school did a turkey trot right before Thanksgiving. Alli had to run a 1/4 mile, Ian ran a 1/2, and Austin ran a mile.

Here are all the kids at the start of the race.

Alli took 1st place in the K/1st grade race. We knew the boys were fast runners, but we had no idea Alli was so quick. As you can see in the picture, there is hardly anyone behind her. All the kids still have to turn the corner.

Turkey Trot cont

2008-12-09T10:20:00.000-08:00

The pictures would not upload together, so here are Austin and Ian finishing their races.
Ian came in 2nd for the 2nd/3rd grade race.

Austin took 3rd for the 4th-6th grade race. So we got a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. I keep joking that the kids got their quickness from me. Haha, I wish I was fast.

It was fun having Melanie, Scott, and family, Nathan, and Nan and Maddy come watch the kids' races.

We actually had Melanie and Scott and Nathan with us for a few days before Thanksgiving. I'm bad at taking pictures, but we had a lot of fun letting the kids play together. Mckenzie baby-sat for us so we could go to dinner a couple of times, and Greg had fun hanging out with Nathan and Scott. Here is Greg and Nathan trying oysters at Market Street Grill.

November

2008-12-09T10:03:00.000-08:00

The kids took swimming lessons during the month of November. They also started basketball. Ian had his last football game on Saturday the 8th and basketball started the 10th. What a good break huh?
I don't have any good pictures of basketball; hopefully soon.

Here's what happens when you take your seatbelt off to hurry and run into basketball. I turned into the parking lot and Ian came tumbling forward and hit the console in the van. This picture doesn't do that much justice, but he was swollen and bruised and had to have four stitches under his nose. It's nice Greg can fix all of Ian's accidents because he is definitely the kid that everything happens to.

Alli's #6 birthday!

2008-12-09T09:42:00.000-08:00

Nov. 8
Alli's birthday was on a Saturday, so she had a full day of activities. Unfortunately, they were not all for her. We opened presents and ate a yummy breakfast then headed off to Ian's last football game of the season. His team took 2nd in the Jag bowl, I'm not sure how, but it was fun to watch his game. Early evening, we met Nan and Papa, Troy and Brittany, and Maddy at Olive Garden for dinner. Then off to a movie.

Here is Ian getting his trophy for the Jag Bowl. I'm kind of glad football is over; it will be nice to be not so busy.

I love how much fun Alli and Maddy have together.

Halloween

2008-12-09T09:14:00.000-08:00

Nan and Papa, Lisa and Jeff and girls came for Halloween at our house. We ordered pizza and had fun trick-or-treating together. Jillian and Abby were both witches, Alli was a cooker again because I could not talk her into being a princess (she's just not into that stuff). The boys were easy, they just wanted to wear their football costumes. Emma was Minnie Mouse and Maddy was a ballerina.

UEA Weekend

2008-10-27T14:45:00.000-07:00

Monday morning the kids and I left the house at 7:00 for IHOP. I was going to let them sleep in a little, but they were up and ready to go. We also went to the cheap movie theater and watched Kung fu Panda. We hadn't seen it, and every loved it but Jillian. She thought it was pretty scary.
Saturday - more football games. We finally got Nan and Papa to come watch the boys. This last picture is when we're getting ready to leave. You really can't tell, but Jillian had tears running down her face. She sure does love her Nan.

Friday - we met at the new Olive Garden by my mom's house for lunch. It was fun to eat lunch with almost everyone (all except Greg, Ryan, and Dad). Then my mom and I took the kids to a small game place called Liberty Land. It was a little young for the boys, but they liked the race cars and miniature golf. Jillian loved everything because most of the rides were geared for her age. Alli also had a lot of fun. Thanks, Nan!

Oct 1-7

2008-10-27T14:30:00.000-07:00

Soccer ended on the 7th. Alli is a little sad it's over, but she loves her trophy.

Here's a picture of Alli and her friend, Sydney, at gymnastics. It is the longest week until Thursday rolls around. From Friday on, I have to hear Alli ask, "How many more days until gymnastics?"

Oct. 4 What a rainy weekend for Greg's parents to come watch the boys play. It was one cold, wet day but the boys loved having them here to cheer them on.

Most students are chosen sometime through the year to be student of the month, so the kids had a pretty good shot of being chosen. I just thought it was pretty cool they were all chosen together the first month. This month was Respect. I guess I must be doing something right.

A Football Day

2008-09-29T16:10:00.000-07:00

Saturday, Sept. 27
I totally forgot to take pictures at Austin's game this morning. My Aunt Linda and cousin Karrie came to watch Austin's game because it was right by Linda's house. It was a lot of fun to have them come watch with their kids.

This is Ian #44 getting ready to punt the ball. Troy and Brittany came to watch Ian's game. He was really excited to have people at his game. Thanks everyone for supporting the boys today!

After Ian's game we headed to the Utes game. We rode Trax to the game. Greg and I laughed so hard at the before and after Trax pictures. Austin was out cold.

Here are a couple of shots during the game. We had a lot of fun watching the Utes play Weber.

From One Circus to Another

2008-09-29T15:51:00.000-07:00

We love it when the circus is in town! Jillian talked about seeing the elephants all day - she was so excited! We went to the Friday matinee and the kids all loved it, although Austin informed me that this would probably be the last time he would go because he is getting too old for this.

September fun

2008-09-22T15:05:00.000-07:00

Kindergarten Circus Day
Alli dressed up as a clown for circus day. She was so excited at home, but when we pulled up to the school, she saw a couple of kids who were not dressed up. Man, did the tears start flowing. This picture is before she cried all her make-up off. I couldn't get her to go into the school, and I was in my pajamas. I ran home, threw on some clothes, jetted back to school, and dragged Alli into her class. Once inside, she was okay because there were lots of clowns, elephants, tigers, and monkeys.

BYU Game
Uncle Ryan took Austin and Ian to a football game on Sept 20. The boys had a lot of fun. They even won a t-shirt and a padded seat at a football toss before the game. Thanks Ryan for taking the boys.

My Busy Life

2008-09-22T14:44:00.000-07:00

Tackle Football and soccer are pretty much our life right now. The boys are having a lot of fun playing football, but man, is it time consuming. Austin practices Mon, Wed, Thurs and has games on Saturday. Ian practices Tues, Wed, Fri and has games on Saturday. Sooo, we are doing football 6 days a week. To top it off, Alli has soccer practice on Mon and games on Tues. Good thing they are having fun because football ends around Halloween.
Austin and Ian both play tight end and running back. Ian is also the kicker for his team. It's been fun to see how much they have improved and learned the last couple of months.

Alli is such an aggressive ball player. Her first game, she scored 7 goals. She has consistantly scored about 5 goals every game and is a huge ball hog. We've been trying to teach her how to pass the ball to the other kids.

The Fair

2008-09-22T14:36:00.000-07:00

The kids get out of school at 1:15 on Fridays, so we went to the state fair with our friends, Jason and Mayumi Johnson. The kids had fun sliding on this huge slide. I wish I had some pictures of Greg's favorite activity. He ate so much junk: fried snickers, chili fries, BBQ and corn on the cob, funnel cake. He didn't stop the whole time we were there.

Alli and Jillian are dancing to the band music.

Cheesin' it for the camera!

School has begun

2008-09-22T14:28:00.000-07:00

The boys started school on August 25. Austin's a big 4th grader and Ian is in 3rd. Alli didn't start kindergarten until after Labor Day, but I added all the pictures together. Alli was very ready to start full day kindergarten, and I don't know what I'm going to do with my day. I have three kids gone all day. Poor Jillian! We've got to get a play group started for her.

Another Race

2008-08-15T12:14:00.000-07:00

August 9 - ULCER Bike Race
I only came for the end of this race because it was 111 miles. Yuck! Greg, Ryan, and Brent raced around Utah Lake and pretty much stayed together. They finished in about 6 hours, not including their lunch break. They all said it was as bad as a marathon, but Greg didn't feel as bad the next day. By Monday, he was all geared up for his next race in two weeks.

Ryan was first in, so I missed his finish, but this is him right after.

Gearing down and chowing on Subway sandwiches, fresh fruit, popsicles.

Isn't he sweet!

2008-08-15T12:08:00.000-07:00

My Austy is such a sweet boy. He is such a good helper with Jillian. We only have 3 swings and 4 kids, so we usually have some fighting. Not today, though. I snuck outside and took their picture because it was so cute. She kept laying her head on his shoulder as they played together on the swings.

Ian's 9th Birthday

2008-08-15T11:48:00.000-07:00

August 1
Summer birthdays are so much fun for the birthday kid, and so much work for the mom. It is an entire day of partying. We met my mom at 8:00 for breakfast. She always likes to be the first one to call or see them. Ian's first phone call was at 7:15 from my dad, he beat her this year. She called soon after though and wanted to meet for breakfast. After breakfast, we went bowling. Breakfast was so big, that none of us were hungry for lunch, so on to the next party place - Classic Skating. We didn't skate, but played in the Jungle and played video games. After, we went home and opened presents, went to dinner with my parents at Famous Dave's, and headed to football practice. After practice, it was the Father/son campout with our Stake, so the boys got to go camping. I think he had a pretty good birthday. He played from sunup to sundown.

Camping

2008-08-15T10:57:00.000-07:00

Austin and Ian both needed to earn some scouting badges, and we really haven't done a lot of camping this year, so we headed up Big Cottonwood for a night. It's so nice to drive 20 minutes and you're there. We made Dutch oven chicken, potatoes, and cobbler for dinner. We went on a hike the next morning after eating pancakes and hash browns. There was a stream right on our campsite, and I could not keep Ian out of it.

Spudman

2008-08-15T10:45:00.000-07:00

July 25 - The day before the Spudman, Greg didn't have to work so we headed to Idaho early because Rylee was there for the weekend, and Greg's parents were getting her for a couple of hours. We went bowling, went to the park, and played kick-ball in the backyard. My kids always have so much fun playing with Rylee. I wish we got the see her a little more often.

The Spudman Triathlon

It was so much fun to have so many people do the Spudman - Greg, Jeff, Ryan, Brent, and Justin. My camera went dead, so I didn't get any pictures of everyone. I just copied pictures from Nathan and Heidi's blog and Ryan and Kristen's blog. Thanks guys.

After the race, we went to Stevo's and ate yummy burgers and steak fries.

Hurricane and Emma's Benefit Fair

2008-08-15T10:22:00.000-07:00

July 7 - Greg has been so busy with his new job, so the kids and I headed to Hurricane to play with my Aunt Jayne and Uncle Roy. Roy's brother lives across the street, and we pretty much swim in their pool non-stop. Jayne also spoiled the kids at the dollar store. We had tons of fun!

July 19 - Emma's Benefit Fair
There were tons of people who worked to together to put together a benefit fair for Emma. My Aunt Joyce was in charge and put in so much time. We had fun working together, but were really glad when this day came. I never realized how much work, time, energy, it takes to put on a benefit fair. We had such a great turnout and all of us were thrilled with the support from Emma's community. Here is a couple of pictures from the day.

Jeff, Emma, Lisa, and my dad on stage

This was people watching the entertainment. We had great performers, tons of fun booths, 6 blow-up slides and bouncy toys, auctions (live and silent), and awesome food. Thanks everyone for a great day!

Check out my Slide Show!

2008-07-11T07:06:00.001-07:00

4th of July

2008-07-10T19:24:00.000-07:00

Here we are at the start of the parade. We went to my Aunt Lig's neighborhood where the kids get to decorate their bikes, and they are the parade. They have a lot of fun. I couldn't talk Austin and Ian into being in the parade, so they stayed with Matt at the house. I'm sad they are getting independent. At the end of the parade route, they have cotton candy, popcorn, snowcones, games, etc. Jillian and Abby took turns eating snowcones from Papa, but poor Emma had to eat plain ice because of her diabetes. She didn't mind though. This parade really is a lot of fun. We also ate a yummy lunch at Lig's.

That afternoon, Mel, Scott, and fam came for the Stadium of Fire. They took the boys with them, and we took Meili and Lili with us to watch fireworks. Here they are sitting on the car watching.

He's finally done!

2008-07-10T19:11:00.000-07:00

For all of you who have been counting (me) Greg is finally done with his residency. 12 years later, he is an actual anesthesiologist. The Univ of Utah did an awesome dinner at the Grand America.
Greg with his buddies, Jason and Ty.
This is all the people finishing in Greg's class!

Can you tell I am happy? I never thought this day would come. I remember driving out to Kansas City with my 2 year old Austin and my 1 year old Ian thinking that when Greg is finished with school, Austin with be 10 and Ian with almost be 9. I remember thinking, "That is so far away, that will never come." I can't believe we are finally here! It really did go fast. For those interested, we are staying in our house at least another year while Greg works at the new hospital in town. We still don't know what we'll do after that, but we'll let you know.

Surprise!

2008-07-10T19:04:00.000-07:00

Greg's entire family came down on the 20th for a surprise graduation party. It was Ryan's birthday, so it was a good chance for the whole family to be together, plus celebrate Greg's big accomplishment. He was so surprised! We went out to eat at Tucanos down at the Gateway. Can you say yum? Thanks everyone for putting forth such an effort to come down to be with Greg! Love ya

Waterslides

2008-07-10T18:49:00.000-07:00

Greg's sister, Melanie, came down for a few days to let the kids play. We had so much fun. Melanie and I would get take-out everyday for lunch, and then take the kids to eat free lunch at the school. We're awful, but Cafe Rio tastes way better than school tacos. Actually, the kids love to go down to the school for free food. We played lots of Wii, did the slip n' slide, and here are a few pics from the waterslides. Ian had to go to scout camp this day, so he missed out on the fun.

Boys only fishing trip

2008-07-10T17:47:00.000-07:00

Greg took Austin and Ian up to Ashton, Idaho for a boys only weekend. They had so much fun fishing, floating down Warm River, and camping. Greg's brother, Nathan, and his dad, Randy, came up to the campsite to visit, but they went back to Rexburg to sleep. They all went fishing together, though. The boys had fun visiting with Grandma Criss and Aunt Heidi, too. I was pretty impressed that Greg attempted to make pancakes for breakfast. He may have to start cooking a little more at home.

June 7 - Salem Spring Tri

2008-07-10T17:34:00.000-07:00

This is one of our favorite triathlons to attend every year, but this year was a bummer. It was raining pretty good in the morning, so they canceled the bike part. I know it's for safety's sake, but the bike is everyone's favorite part. This race was short and sweet, but it was still a lot of fun. Here is Greg, Jeff, and Ryan before the race started. The second picture is Greg coming out of the water, and the last picture is after the race is finished.

School's out for Summer

2008-07-10T17:14:00.000-07:00

The Dance Festival

Ian's grade did the Mexican Hat Dance with giant parachutes. Austin's grade danced to Hannah Montana. I think he was a little embarrassed. Alli, Maddy, and Jillian had just as much fun dancing on the sidelines as the school kids did performing. They both did such a good job.

Field Day

I ran one of the rotations for field day, and it was a lot of fun. My friend, Lesley, was in charge, and she brought her family's old fire truck to hose down all the school kids. It was a huge hit (look how soaked Austin is). After, she drove a few neighborhood kids home on the fire truck. My kiddos thought they were pretty cool.

My Little Ball Players

2008-07-10T16:54:00.000-07:00

The first three pictures are of Ian. He was a stinkin' good ball player. He did so awesome at pitching. Greg loves this picture of him pitching. Ian was also awesome at batting. We had fun watching him smack those balls.

Here's Austin at 1st base. He did so great at 1st. Nothin' got by him, as you can see in this photo. He was also so fast at stealing bases. His coaches could always count on Austin making it home because he is so quick.

Pretty much from March to the end of June we could be found at the ballpark. The boys were in different age divisions which meant different games and practices on different nights. We did baseball everyday for 3 1/2 months. Looove it!

Ogden Marathon

2008-06-23T12:32:00.000-07:00

May 17
Greg swore after the last marathon that he would never do one again. Well, here we are a month later, and here he is. His knee really bothered him this race, so Greg said he is never doing another marathon. I guess we'll see. The kids and I had a lot of fun watching him race.

Opening a banana

2008-06-23T12:04:00.000-07:00

Greg and I love looking at the pictures Alli takes. This is her sequence of Jill opening a banana. I think it is pretty funny.

Austin's 10th Birthday

2008-06-23T11:47:00.000-07:00

Could I cry that Austin's 10. I've told him over and over that he is not allowed to turn 10, but he didn't listen. He had a great birthday anyway. After school, we went bowling, then Nan and Papa, Lisa and Jeff and fam, Ryan and Kristen, Troy and Brittany, Aunt Jayne, Andrea, Karrie and Cannon met us at Chili's for dinner.

Can you tell these boys love ribs?

SLC Marathon

2008-06-23T11:14:00.000-07:00

Apr 19
Greg is ambitious and ran the whole marathon. I'm not that ambitious and just ran the half. It was so much fun! It was also fun to have Greg's family there to cheer him on. It's just too bad that we're both slow runners.

Playing in the Garden

2008-06-23T11:10:00.000-07:00

Jillian loves to play in the dirt. This is what she looks like almost everyday. I don't know what she'll do when we plant our garden.

Easter

2008-06-23T11:05:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of pictures from Easter morning. I didn't get a lot of great photos, but the kids had a great morning!

Nan's birthday

2008-06-23T10:54:00.000-07:00

March 19
Lisa and I surprised our Mom early on her birthday. The girls wanted to take her maple bars for breakfast (I'm sure she was thrilled, but she always takes the kids to get doughnuts, so they wanted to do the same). After doughnuts, we went to the movie and saw Horton Hears a Who! That night, everyone met at The Mayan for dinner.

Jan - Hawaii

2008-06-23T10:11:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from our trip to Maui. Greg had a medical conference in Kaanapali, so I tagged along. We went with our friends, Ty and Tiffany Church.
This is from the Luau that came with our conference. It was at our hotel.
We went up to Haleakala Nat'l Park to see the sunrise. It was beautiful, but man was it cold.
Ty and Tiffany at the Luau. Their sweet baby, Avery, is in there somewhere.
We were snorkeling and saw this whale jumping. It was pretty cool.
Tiffany and I being cheesy girls. Can you see the rainbow in the background?This is the view from our hotel. Looove it!

Greg and I hiked Oheo Gulch and saw the seven sacred pools. We hiked back about an hour to see this waterfall.

Gotta have a snorkel kiss.

The Last Two Days

2008-06-14T11:10:00.000-07:00

Thursday, December 27
This was the only day that was really cold.
Jillian loved the carousel. This was her favorite ride, and she can go on it anywhere.
Thursday morning, I(Kristi) took Alli and Maddy for some big girl time. We spent wasted so much time waiting to see Mickey at his house, and after 2 hours in line, we gave up and went to play.

Here is Jill on a different carousel. This is my very favorite picture of her.
Alli wanted to take a picture of Greg and me. You can tell from the angle of the photo.

Friday, December 28

Princess Lunch

Kristi, Alli, and Jillian went to a princess lunch with Lisa, Maddy, Emma, Abby, and poor Jeff (he came to help with Emma and Abby). All the little girls wore their new dresses from Santa.
Sleeping Beauty with sleeping Jill.
I don't know what Jill was doing, but this is one of my favorite pictures.
Dancing Princesses
We finally got a picture with Mickey Mouse on the last day of our trip.

Day 5: California Adventure

2008-06-14T10:53:00.000-07:00

Today was our 3rd day at Disneyland, but our 5th day of vacation. We spent most of the day at California Adventure.
Heading into the park bright and early. Ian had to stop and get a picture with his "I" initial.

Austin, Ian, Alli, and Maddy got to perform in the High School Musical play.
Alli and Maddy thought they were pretty cool because they rode this ride all by themselves.

That night, we took the kids back over to Disneyland so the little girls could go on some rides. You would never know though because I again have pictures of the bigger kids.
We were on baby watch duty.

Day 4:Christmas Day

2008-06-14T10:25:00.000-07:00

Christmas Morning 2007 - The picture quality this day isn't the greatest because Greg forgot to switch the camera back to the right setting after the kids used it the night before. Oh well! You can still see what a fun day we had.
The morning was chaos, but the kids had a ball opening up gifts from Santa.
Everyone was so excited to get a new Wii and Guitar Hero.
Alli, Maddy, and Emma all got princess dresses and dolls that had matching dresses.
Once the boys opened the Wii, they didn't do much else.

Jillian loved her Minnie Mouse dress, baby, and stroller. She pushed her stroller up and down the hotel hall.
Christmas Dinner at Goofy's Kitchen. This was the highlight of the trip.
Emma loved all the Disney characters. She could not get enough hugs. It was so cute!
This is our one photo from Disneyland with everyone in it.
Leaving Goofy's Kitchen. We are so stuffed, but it was so delicious.

Day 3: Christmas Eve

2008-06-14T09:08:00.000-07:00

I took lots of photos the first day, but everyday I took less and less. I won't bore you with all of our vacation pictures because there are alot. Here are some of favorites from Day 3.
Everyone could hardly wait to see Alli's face when we walked through the gate.
Alli - you finally made it. She was so excited to go to Disneyland.
We'd been in the park about 30 minutes before Jillian fell asleep. Glad we came all this way for a nap!
Our first ride: It's a Small World. Sadly, we never rode it again. I don't know why because all the little girls loved it.
Hey Greg. It's a picture of you. Greg took most of the photos, so there aren't that many of him.

Maddy, Alli, and Emma were all beat by the end of the day.

Not very many people can say they went swimming on Christmas Eve. This is the kids opening up their new jammies from Nan and Papa.

California Day 1: At the beach

2008-06-14T08:46:00.000-07:00

Christmas Vacation: December 22

Our little family spent our first day of vacation at the beach. The water was pretty cold, but the kids had so much fun. After this, my parents flew in and we all spent two days at Lloyd and Kristi's house. It was fun to do some last minute Christmas shopping with them.

Jillian's 2nd Birthday

2008-06-14T00:33:00.000-07:00

December 1

Jillian loved her trike. We couldn't get her off it.
She also loved her phone.

Jillian loves cupcakes, so we did a cupcake cake with

homemade ice cream. She loved it. Look out the windows.

We had a huge snowstorm that day.

Rupert's Festival of Trees

2008-06-14T00:24:00.000-07:00

Me holding Abby (Lisa's baby)
Waiting in line to see Santa!

We went home to Rupert for Thanksgiving this year. We had a yummy dinner at Greg's house. One of the days, I met Karrie, Lisa, and Lig at the Festival of Trees to eat breakfast with Santa and to sing some songs. The last picture is hard to see, but the boys are singing with Carson.

Alli's 5!

2008-06-13T23:53:00.000-07:00

Here is Alli opening up some of her birthday presents.

My Mom and my Aunt Lig met Alli, Jillian, and me for Alli's birthday lunch. She wanted to go to the new Cheesecake Factory. She loved her Dulce de Leche Cheesecake!

BYU Football Game

2008-06-13T23:43:00.000-07:00

Papa, Nan, Uncle Ryan, Greg, Kristi, Austin, and Ian went to a BYU game. We had so much fun, even though Greg couldn't bring himself to cheer for BYU. The only complaint was it got pretty hot. I even got a sunburn, but no pictures to show.

Halloween

2008-06-13T23:36:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from Halloween. I don't have any of Ian because he took off with his friends, and I didn't see him all night. Austin's friend, Kaleb, went around the neighborhood with us.

We love the fall

2008-06-13T23:17:00.000-07:00

We took a quick trip to Idaho over UEA, and the kids loved playing in Grandma and Grandpa's leaves. They have the best tree for Fall leaves.

This was the costume parade at school. Austin told me after school that I was so embarassing because I kept waving at him. Notice that Jillian is a fairy princess today. She decided she didn't want to be a kitty. Good thing we have lots of Alli's old costumes.

Halloween Trunk or Treat 2007

2008-06-13T23:06:00.001-07:00

I got a new camera in October, so I decided I'm going to backtrack and put on old pictures. I need the practice. This is our ward's trunk-or-treat.

Can I do this?

2008-05-29T21:01:00.001-07:00

I'm a blogger!