Update on our little family. James went in for his 6 month check-up and is getting taller and skinner by the day. He is now above 95% for height(28in -That makes 8 inches total growth) then dropped to the 10% for weight (15lb 10oz, still has not doubled birth weight), He dropped from 50% to 10% in weight since his 3 month check-up. He also has a ear infection, first out of all our kids. Joe has his Masters license now just waiting on the Contractors licence to make him completely legal. Joe went hunting and got a buck this year. After several evening it is all processed and put away. Crystal is doing great in school with the exception of their timed math tests, but she is improving. Clayton is loving preschool and asks everyday if it is a school day. He went to the Ped. Orthopedic surgeon and he doesn't think Clayton will need surgery on his leg, so that is a huge relief. So we just have to go again in 6 months to see if it is correcting its self. The kids had their Primary program on Sunday and they did great. They both had their parts memorized and said them during the program. I spent the afternoon on Tuesday rescuing Mom, Gram, Aunt May and Lauri from the side of the road taking them to Wal-mart then back home safe and sound. Had a great time at the trunk-r-treat and the kids loved going to the Colleges party as well. Now just getting ready for all the November/December things.

VEGAS BABY!!!

Joe and I won a trip to Vegas so we went over our 9th anniversary. We had a great time, did a lot of walking the second day all day doing some site seeing. The last day we spent in our hotel at the amusement park. It was lots of fun. Joe was braver then me and road the roller coaster. Joe is the guy in the second row. He went on it twice and loved it. We went on a 3D and a 4D ride, did a couple ones that made us want to throw-up. We had a great time but are glad to be home with our kids again. Thanks to Grandma Bingham who came to our house and watched all three kids for the 5 days that we were gone (two of those days were driving to and from SLC where we then flew to Vegas). It is amazing how fast you can make a trip when you don't have kids needing to potty every 10 miles.
This was on the Hot air balloon Ferris wheel, we figured this ride might help sooth our troubled stomachs after a couple crazy rides. We stayed at Circus Circus and it was really fun. We went to the midway above the casino and played carnival games and watched some pretty amazing circus acts. WE won the kids a couple toys each. This was the view out our window. I had never been on so many escalators just to cross the street. Concrete jungle? Some kind of jungle! We are glad to be home.

fall or winter?

I really should update the blog, Dang you facebook for taking up all extra computer time. Joe passed his masters test!!!!! Now we are in the process of figure out all the licensing garbage. James is growing like a weed. He is now 5 1/2 months old.

Crystal is loving 1st grade, even though she passed out during a field trip last week (very scary call for me to get). Clayton is loving pre-school. We are headed up next week to the pediatric orthopedic surgeon to get a second opinion before we consider the drastic surgery the regular orthopedic surgeon suggested. So we should know by sometime next week what we will be doing. Joe was ticked to say the least when our early winter snuck up on us and caused total destruction of out well pump. I am hoping for a warm up so that we can get all the hoses drained and put away. I also need to do a days work with the plants outside. Looking forward to this weekend. Joe is going hunting with a friend. I don't like wild game meat but Joe and the kids love it. When we see a deer by the road the kids ask it we can run it over so they can eat some more deer meat since we ran out a while ago. Kids do say the darnedest things. Crystal is taking a baking class this week after school. She is loving it so far. Then she will have a cake decorating class next month.The kids loved the Firehouse open house. They get to go and get in all the trucks. It is a nice thing done annually.

Joe Had a class in Rapid City a couple Weeks ago and since my digital camera was on the fritz I had to wait for my 35mm film to be developed. Crystal stayed with Grandma Emmett (thank you) and we took the boys and hung out for three days. We went to the dinosaur park and Roosevelt park. One night we went to Pirates Cove miniature golf. Clayton loved it and it was fun for Joe and I as well. It was 18 holes and they weren't very easy and lots of water traps, and pirates shooting cannons at you while you were trying to putt. We had a great time. We also went to Joe's sister house on the way home and Clayton had a great time riding their Mule. All and all it was a great fun. Now we have to go back with Crystal so that she can do these things. We felt bad that she wasn't with us but she didn't want to miss three days of school. I love how much she loves school. Now we are home for a week or so. Joe will be gone two days next week. Then the last of the month he and I are headed to Vegas for our anniversary, My mom is coming to watch the kids. She has to spend a s much time with them as she can before they go on a mission. The outside of the garage is done with the exception of the soffeting. Have to save up more money for that. The rest of the garage went over the budget and through the just in case extra money.

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Today was Crystal's first day of First grade. We had blueberry pancakes for breakfast. I was really excited this morning because we were all up, fed and dressed and even to school early, and the best part was that it was very stress less. We just picked up on our routine from last year, with the exception of James is an addition to the morning routine that we have some kinks to work on. Thanks to my great husband for the help with James this morning. It was raining so Crystal had inside recess. It was a little sad for me seeing her walk into the school, but she was so excited and ready to start school. She is much more ready to grow up then I am to let her grow up. Clayton was upset because he didn't get to go to school today. He has to wait two more weeks before he heads off to pre-school. They are all growing so fast. James will be 4 months old the end of the week and he has been rolling over for about two weeks. Joe and I are just busy keeping things going and working on the garage. We now have two sides of the garage completely done and the third is about 90% done. I can't wait until we are all done and start parking in it.

Hey all, it has been a while. Here is an update on the garage. After much delay we have the roof done, we only had to order additional shingles 3 times. the walls are all complete, the doors and windows are all in. Now all we need is the siding then the exterior will be finished. Then we have to wait for more money to insulate and sheet rock the inside, we already have some wire and Iknow a good electrician that work for cheap, for me anyway ;) so we can be working on that during the winter. I can't wait to park in there, just imagine not having to scape the hundreds of windows on the suburban. Thanks to all the friends and family who have come and helped on our project this summer.

Crystal is preparing for 1st grade, she starts in two weeks.
Clayton is so excited to be getting ready for pre-school he starts the 10th of September.
James is just growing and getting cuter by the day. He is now 25.5 inches long and even.
Joe is on his last week of his summer hours and will be grateful to be having work start at 8 next week.
I am busy keeping things together and running, getting the kids to their activities, feeding the helpers on the garage, taking care of all the sick kids we have had at our house this week.

Busy as ever and hoping that school starting and the garage wrapping up will help slow things down a little.

We have been to multiple reunion this summer, and as much as we loved seeing everyone we are grateful to be home and on a some what normal routine. We love you and appreciate all our friends and family.

Hey all.. We have been crazy busy building a garage, doing summer reading programs at the library and just trying to stay above water with all the rain we have been getting. The day that we had the concrete came a down poor as the guys were finishing up and we had a beautiful full rainbow, it was a double but I didn't get a good shot before the upper rainbow disappeared. in June we got 2.5 inches of rain, our average June rainfall is .25 inches. Here are some pics of our life.

James had his check-up at 9 weeks and was 24 inches long and 11lb 11 oz. He has grown 4 1/2 inches he is getting very tall very fast. He sure is a smiley little boy. He is the light in all our lives. The kids love telling every person we see (Clayton "this is my baby brother James Allen" Crystal " This is my baby brother James Allen, I am the only girl kid in our family and I am getting my own room soon") they are a handful but I love then and they make me laugh, even when I feel like they listen like brick walls. All our love to all.