Friends

My friends are such that we will be friends forever, but as we got ready to leave the area, we tried to get together before I left for good.  All of these friends mean so much to me and I have learned so much from them through the years.  I realized I had no pictures with them and made an effort to document this moment in time:


Amber and I have gotten together at *least* three days a week for the last 8 years!  She is my exercise buddy, and we have had so many great morning discussions about everything under the sun and also solved so many household/family relation problems during our morning exercise sessions.  It made it a little easier to leave knowing that she was also moving a couple of months after us...

I've been friends with CodyAnn ever since I was her visiting teacher clear back when we both had just two kids!  We have spent many the morning on the phone talking while we simultaneously clean our houses:

Tara is such an incredible person!  She always knows when something is going on in my life and gives me a call.  She knows the perfect thing to say or do, is so perceptive and makes anyone around her feel like a million bucks.  She is also one of the most talented people that I know, and has the best laugh.  We always have great discussions when we are together.

Susan and I met in a stake choir practice.  She was one of those people that God orchestrated me meeting right at that time because we both needed each other!  We were both wondering about having another baby - feeling like we probably should.  We were there for each other through that subsequent pregnancy and new- born stage, as both of our husbands were gone so much. Not long after we met, we were in the Stake Presidents office with our spouses at the same time.  They were coming out just as we were going in!  Her husband was called to be the bishop the same time that Shawn was.  We helped each other through that phase too:

I wish I had gotten pictures of a couple more of my friends, but maybe next time.  Also, moving is interesting, because I suddenly realized that I felt so close to so many more people.  Women from my ward.  I know that those friendships will continue to grow and build as they are already making plans to come visit.  I am so grateful for my friends and the many ways they have enriched my life and helped me through trying times.

Valentines

I love our tradition of writing valentines to each other and hanging them up every February:

We were actually pretty sad poets this year... except for Shawn - he was having an "on" night.  I loved this poem he wrote to me:

"Amy's my friend, the best that I've got.  If I didn't have her, I 'd lie down and rot.  Her beauty and friendship bring spice to my life! I'm one lucky guy to call her my wife!" ....Awwwww


Caden was asked to the Valentine's dance and I was excited to make his date's corsage again.  I was so happy with how it turned out!:

I also made his bow tie and cummerbund and he and his date looked so sharp!:

This and that

I remember sitting down to the table for dinner and feeling like this side of the table had an excess of energy, but it looks relatively calm in the pic - either way, I don't want to forget these crazy days and great time of my life:

Two buddies:

My cute niece, Hazel, at Sunday visits at Grandma Gee's house, wearing a pair of her clip-on earrings:

An incredible lesson that Isabelle gave on choices and consequences in Family Home Evening.  She is the best teacher!

Pace insisted on wearing this fireman hat to go shopping at Walmart. I don't like drawing attention to myself, but ended up being happy he brought it, as 15 minutes into the shopping trip he started feeling like he would throw up.  I turned it up-side-down in his lap just in case while we hurriedly got out of the store!

Shawn and I went for a job interview over in Pendleton Oregon in early January.  The roads were just awful the first day and by the time we got to Boise, we found out that the road from Ontario to Baker had been closed.  My parents were also stuck in Boise after their temple shift.  They had a hotel room and got one with an extra bed and invited us to share it with them that night.  It was pretty fun- like a grown-up slumber party, all lying there talking in the dark:)  The next morning the roads opened up and were clear, and I got this picture that I thought was so lovely with pink and purple in the morning sky against the white snow:

I'm all Pace has when all the kids are at school during the day, so every now and then we head out to play.  On this particular day we played in some snow forts that Caden built with the little boys, down on the pond.  The forts are pretty big!:

Sometimes i take a picture while I'm exercising and send it to shawn:)

I never get tired of watching him sleep:

Some honey we harvested recently:

Pace woke up one morning telling me that he wanted a "bat".  I finally figured out that he was talking about a cape, but just didn't know the word for it:)  We went to the store and I pointed out the red satin to him, but he saw the yellow, so yellow we got because he "yuffs lellow"  I sewed it up for him and he has been using it quite a bit!

Kami came home to watch Ellie in Distinguished Young Women - It was so fun to be there with all of my favorite gals:

Our school has a "start with hello" week at school.  On Friday all the kids were supposed to wear green.  Caden had his own take on that.  He wore a name tag with "Hello my name is Jill Stein" on it.  ( She is a leader of the Green party)...

It's all about hair

Isabelle went through a time this year where she wanted me to do her hair, but would cry and be upset with whatever I did, so I stopped doing her hair.  Lately she has decided that I do an okay job, and it's sure been fun to do fancy hairdos on her again!:

It's also always fun when Maddie has straight hair because she keeps it straight for a full week after she straightens it and I usually get to do it at least once during that time:

She has the BEST hair no matter what she does with it!!

I thought this was cute:

Ballroom Belle

Isabelle loves ballroom dance, and I love watching her!  She has such a natural grace and is so good at it!

These pictures are from a performance at a half time basket ball game, and also a ballroom showcase at the civic auditorium in Idaho Falls:

With my friend Susan Tietjen's daughter Julissa:

Caden Choir

One night this month, Shawn and I went on a date to hear Caden sing at a music festival.  This is him with his vocal spectrum group ( he's the tall one and I think he is so handsome:)

At Christmas time the Madison Choirs went to Salt lake for a couple of days.  I thought it was really neat that Kami was able to go watch Caden sing!  They were so excited to see each other; Kami said that when Caden saw her he picked her up and spun her around until he realized that people were watching:)

Kami with her roommates and Caden (above)

Kami at college

It's pretty gratifying to raise a kid and know that they are surviving and taking care of and being responsible for themselves all on their own.  Kami has had some great learning experiences at college!

She's had great roommates - this is a few of them, dressed as unicorns for Halloween:

l-r: Shayla (not a roommate yet), Suze, Kami and Brooke

Before Christmas, Kami tried out for a spot in the Women's Choir at BYU.  Then she had to wait until she got back to school to find out if she had a spot.   It was very competitive and she was so excited to get in! Also, the girl to her left in the picture is Shayla Babcock and the girl below and between them is Brynn Piper, all of them from Madison.  Go Bobcats!!:

Also when Kami went back to school, she got a new roommate, who is actually her good friend from our ward, Caroline Bressler.  It's great that they are rooming together because they can ride home together and we see Kami more often!

Yesterday Kami sent me this picture.  She had just visited the salon and got a new haircut:

So cute!: