{Ty's Birthday/ Labor Day Weekend}

Labor Day weekend we found ourselves loading

up the van and heading to Pinto to meet up

with other members of Tylers family.

 We started the weekend off by celebrating

Tylers 29th Birthday!

Doesn't he look so happy to be turning 29!!

His cake took a beating during

the drive up to Pinto so it didn't look real great

BUT...it sure tasted fabulous!! It was my first attempt

at making a cake from scratch and I'm glad it

turned out or else i would have never heard

the end of it!

 Biking "stuff" was at the top of his birthday wish list,

and biking stuff he got!



 The great thing about Pinto is that it's a place

you can relax, enjoy the outdoors, go

on adventures, play with family, gather up

wild turkey feathers and stick them in your pants,

wear Great Grandpa Ence's hats, play in the sand/dirt,

sit and do word searches, go on four wheeler rides,

collect acorns, feed the cows and horses, go

on tractor rides, and the list could go on and on!



 Boys will be boys with their parents toys!!!

(Hopefully someday we'll have some of our own!)

This is Tyler's happy place!

There is a little reservoir about 5 minutes away

from the cabin. We had a great day

out on the water thanks to Aunt Amy and Uncle Rob

for bringing their boat. Trey experience tubing for

the first time and Addie experience tubing solo

for the first time. They loved it! And  Tyler and

I even got some wake boarding in! Its been a while since

either of us had done it but it

was just like riding a bike...you don't forget!

 And last but not least the long awaited

tractor ride with Daddy. Addie and Trey

just can't get enough of the tractor. They

love to sit up there next to Daddy and go

for rides around the cabin and out in the pastures!

We had such a great weekend!

I'd consider it a Labor Day weekend

well spent!!

{Pre-school 2011}

Addie was very excited to start preschool again.

She has loved being in Miss Suzies class

and is making a lot of new friends. She

comes home with a smile on her face everytime!

And every now and then she'll spout off something

she learned that day or even days later. I will even

catch her singing songs to herself that i've never heard

and ask her where she learned it and she happily replies,

"at pre-school!" She is doing very well

and is becoming more helpful and mature day by day.

And as much as I get excited to see her grow

 physically, and maturity, and in knowledge it breaks

my heart at the same time knowing there is nothing I 

can do to keep her from growing up. 

We love you Addie! 

{The Call, The Departure}

This big white envelope FINALLY

appeared in Grandpa and Grandma's mailbox around 11:30 a.m

on June 15, 2010.

They where like kids on Christmas morning

anxiously waiting to open it! But

to their dismay they would have to wait

until all their kids got on a conference call later that

evening to open it. In this envelope contained

information that would determine the next year

of Grandma and Grandpa's lives.

And do you know what that letter said? Well, this is what it didn't say... It didn't say they would be staying in the United States of America, it didn't say that we would be able to call them on their cell phones still, it didn't say they were close enough to travel to and visit them, it didn't say they would be able to speak their native language, it didn't say they would stay in their comfort zone, it didn't say we would get to see them again in 12 months, instead it said quite the opposite...

It said.....

ROMANIA.

Need i say more.



 Grandma and Grandpa McFadden chose to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and willingly said they would go anywhere they were needed. However, they were just as shocked as we were when they read in the letter that they would be serving in Romania. Diligently, prayerfully, and nervously these two immediately started preparing themselves to serve the people

in Romania. They worked hard everyday to study the language, the culture, and get everything ready before they went.

 Aug. 30th came way to fast. Before we knew it my sister and I where headed to SLC at 5:30 in the morning taking my parents to the airport. The dreaded goodbye that we all didn't want to do. It was a very emotional morning, sending my parents off to another country for 18 months wasn't exactly easy. Knowing there at the airport would be my last time to wrap my arms around my parents for the next year and a half was heartbreaking. Although, this was a hard thing to do I know this is where they needed to be, serving and bringing the gospel to the people of Romania.

We are sure going to miss you, Grandma and Grandpa!

We love you and not a day goes by that we don't think of you!

{3 places, 45 days}

Whew...the title just wears me out thinking about

our busy, crazy summer. In a span of a 45 days, or

to make it sound better a Month and a half we lived

in 3 different places. So in a nutshell here is how

our month and a half went....

 Place #1.

On July 18th we moved from place #1 were we had been

living for the past year. We loved our stay in Wyoming.

We then temporarily moved to Grandma and Grandpa McFaddens house

for 2 weeks while Tyler studied his guts out for his 2nd

set of boards which he had scheduled to take in St.George

on Aug.1st.

 During the 2 weeks we were there,

Addie made her first debut in the New Harmony

parade on July 24th, Pioneer Day. Earlier

that day we got to go watch a parade in Ivins, UT

with Grandma and Grandpa Hansen and enjoy some

carnival fun after.

 Addie and Trey also swam their hearts

out while staying at Grandma and Grandpa

McFadden's house with 24/7 pool access!

1 day after Tyler took his test we moved

to place #2.

 I introduce to you...

Place #2.

A small quaint apartment that suited us just

fine for the month we would be there. It was

located in Cedar City, UT. Tyler signed up

for a Pediatric rotation in Cedar City and wanted

the family to join him for the month. So we packed

up the bare necessities to get us by for a month and

headed up to cedar city. Lucky for us we found a

furnished apartment so we didn't need to haul

furniture.

 While we were there we found great

joy in headed up Cedar Canyon

and taking the kids to the Kids Pond

to do some fishing. It was beautiful up there

and not to mention like 10-15 degrees

cooler! The kids would have fun

casting and reeling in for the first 15 minutes

then get bored and go play in a pile of sand

they found. While they were happily

occupied with the sand Tyler and I got

do some fishing of our own! And guess

who got the first and only fish???

 Me!!!!

I guess there is a first time

for everything, right?!! I have to say I was very excited

when i reeled this baby in and saw that it was

a pretty good size. So we kept him and cooked

him up for dinner the next night! Yum!

We also enjoyed going on hikes, playing at the

parks, and making new friends while we

were there. After Tylers rotation was done we moved

to place #3.

Place #3. St. George, UT.

A place we can finally call HOME.

A place we can finally settle into for good

("for good" meaning, a year)

And fortunately for me this place really is HOME.

I grew up here and am very grateful for the

opportunity to live here and take care of the

place while my parents are gone. We are finally feeling

settled and into a more normal routine of things.

And it feels so good to not be living

out of suitcases anymore!!! Yay!!!

{Snail Art}

What is Snail Art?

A. Kind of Gross

B. Fun

C. Artistic

D. All of the above

 D. was our answer!

My kids had such a fun time with this.

It made them giggle, laugh, and explore

hands on fun!

 These slimey, slow, creatures can make

quite a master piece without even trying to hard!

Put them to the test and see how yours turns out!

What you'll need:

* Snails (any size)

* Paper  (thicker paper or freezer paper so the dye doesn't go through)

*Liquid Food coloring

* And cute little helpers



Put a drop of food coloring on the paper then have your

cute little helper place a snail right on top of the food coloring drop.

If the snail doesn't come out right away, just wait a minute and it will.

Then sit back and enjoy the show! We had about 7-8 snails going

at one time. And when they would go off the paper we'd just pick

them up and put them back on.

And when their all done you have beautiful

snail art!!!

(no animals were hurt during this activity!!!)