Tandbergs

Allyson's Veteran's Day Performance

2009-11-23T08:56:00.000-08:00

The 3rd grade at Allyson's school put on a performance for Veteran's Day that the parents were invited to. She had one of the longest parts of the entire grade. She did a great job memorizing it but was a little nervous as you can see in the video. But she did a great job!

It's been awhile

2009-11-23T07:05:00.000-08:00

I was going for a year of not blogging but since our families don't get to see the kids too often I thought I better put some pictures on the blog for them!

Bryce was really enjoying his book!

When we were in North Carolina we visited Duke's campus. This was at the chapel.

Evanie's cast

2009-01-29T19:38:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to post these pictures for awhile now. Evanie got her cast off about a week ago. She fractured it on New Year's Eve and I took her to see her pediatrician, He did x-rays but didn't see anything so thought it was a sprain. He sent her home with an ace bandage. But after another day of her not putting pressure on it a friend who is an orthopedic resident suggested that we take her to the ER and have it casted. So we spent 4 hours of our New Year's Day in the hospital. It only took Evanie about 2 days to figure out that she could walk with her cast and then it wasn't long before she was jumping. The hardest thing for her was trying to sleep with the cast. She loves to pull her legs up to her chest and it was so hard to get comfortable at night. We were so excited to get it off because then we could finally sleep at night. She was thrilled to have it off and she gets a huge smile when I ask her where her cast is.

Christmas

2009-01-15T18:29:00.000-08:00

Every Christmas Eve we make hot chocolate and put everything we can think of in it. The kids add so much that they usually can't even finish it.

Makin' cookies for Santa

I put this picture in just in case anyone was wondering if Evanie had hair yet.

I made pajama pants for the kids this year. I don't really sew so I was pretty proud of myself. That was until Allyson's pants ripped within 3 minutes.

Catching Up

2009-01-13T20:24:00.000-08:00

Back in November we went to the Cross Country National Championships in Slippery Rock, about an hour out or Pittsburg. Adams State was running and both the girls and boys won 1st place. It was awesome! We didn't know anyone who was running but it was just awesome because Dave ran for Adams back in the day.

We happened to run into this bunch of crazy guys. They drove all the way from Colorado for the meet in that van behind them. They we a little embarrased to be posing in their underwear with our kids but I don't feel too sorry for them. Dave claims that crazy fans didn't start running around in their underwear/running shorts all painted up until he and a bunch of guys from Adams started doing it.

This was ASC's top runner. I think he got second place. It was an insanely cold day!

We met up with Shawn, Cass, Dane and Josie later that day in Pittsburg and had a ton of fun. Here are the kids on the Duquesne Incline that we took up and down the mountain. Then we went on a carraige ride around part of the city. Later we hit Primanti Brothers where they serve hamburgers with the meat, tomato, french fries and coleslaw all inside the bun. It was suprisingly good.

The next day we went to a couple of museums for the kids. The Pittsburg Children's Museum is the most awesome one we've been to. There were so many fun things to do. In the art room they painted, made silk-screen prints, made their own paper and Shawn and Dave even made some interesting things with the play doh. There was a garage/workshop where they made rockets and dropped parachutes off a huge platform.

The gravity room was the coolest. It was tilted at an angle and totally hard to stand up in.

Our Very Merry Halloween

2008-11-13T11:06:00.000-08:00

You can stick your hand up the cow's *** or you can take the butcher's word for it! (Dave's contribution to this post)

Evanie finally got hair. We wish, that's her cousin Mariah

Bryce picked the hardest pattern and said "I can do it! I can do it!" Well, guess who ended up doing it? I must say I did a pretty good job!

Evanie's wondering why she doesn't get such a big basket

Check out all the loot! I should have no problem eating all of this.

random pictures

2008-10-18T18:15:00.000-07:00

The kids are playing soccer this year. It's their first time and they are both doing great. Most of the kids on their teams and the other teams have been playing soccer for one or two years. Bryce scored goals in both of his first two games and has played really well in the other ones. Allyson's games are on Sundays so she just goes to the practices. But it's good because she gets to learn the game and how to play with a team. The last half of practices they always have a scrimmage and last week she scored 4 out of the 4 goals for her team.

We keep getting coupons for free bowling games and different events that the kids go to. We got some from the summer reading program at the library so we all went a few weeks ago. The side bumpers go up for the kids so they actually do pretty good. The quality of pictures is terrible. We still need to get our digital camera fixed - hopefully before the holidays.

Can you be a Republican and be a Faithful Member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints?

2008-10-12T17:04:00.000-07:00

OK, that is not really the subject of this post but it is close. Instead we felt like it was high-time that we address an issue that has, for some reason, risen to a level that it can not longer be ignored. We (David and Darin) are currently registered as Democrats and plan to vote for Obama in the coming presidential election. These facts have created enough consternation among friends and family both that we have decided to make a feeble attempt to explain ourselves.

Before we move on to the purpose of this post we would like to address an even more important, though related, issue. The very fact that we feel compelled to openly explain our choice of party is a travesty. It is both sad and embarrassing. In fact, it should be embarrassing to the entire membership. It speaks volumes about the state of political discourse among us. I am sure some were shocked by the title of this post, however if we had titled it “Can you be a Democrat and be a Faithful Member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints?” some may not have been as shocked. If our political discourse and maturity in dealing with these issues were at an appropriate level, no matter which major political party was cited in the title, the effect would have been equally as shocking.

We sincerely hope you take the time to read the entire post even though it is way too long. Obviously it is important to us or we would not have writen it. Also, when ever we insert quotes from prophets or reference scripture we do not do it as a way of saying Mormons should agree with us, we only do it to help explain our positions, not to support them.

The primary purpose of this post is not to convince anyone to think the way we think or to vote the way we vote, instead the primary purpose is to meerly explain why we think and vote the way we do. That is all. Of course it matters not to us whether you agree with our positions or not (we know that both our Democrat and Republican friends may disagree with us on more than one issue). Our friendship is not contingent upon you feeling the same way we do politicaly.

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So to the issues at hand, we will first discuss the issues of being a Democrat and a Mormon and then will we attempt to explain, in part, why we are voting for Obama. In doing this we are in NO WAY saying that the proper party for members of the LDS church is the Democratic party or that if you are a Mormon you should vote for Obama. We DO NOT believe that. We honestly believe that you can disagree with us and that you can be a Republican and be a member in good standing of the LDS church and that you can be a good American. Hopefully you will allow us the same privilege and understanding. Political disagreement is a good thing. It should never become personal.

Topic number one: Being a Democrat and a member of the LDS church.

No matter how silly it is that we have to even write about this, we nevertheless feel compelled. At this point it should really be a non-issue because on March 15, 2006 the LDS church issued a letter, which was to be read over the pulpit in every Ward in Utah by the bishop. The letter was issued before the Utah primaries. In it the letter said this:

"Principles compatible with the gospel may be found in the platforms of all major political parties. While the church does not endorse political candidates, platforms or parties, members are urged to be full participants in political, governmental and community affairs." The letter went on to say that the Church does not endorse any party. A full description of the letter can be found HERE.

In effect the Church went beyond its normal confirmation of nonpartisanship (which it reiterates every year) and officially said that you can find things with each party that makes membership in that party OK. Again, it is very sad and embarrassing that the Church felt compelled to issue such a statement, but I am glad they did.

Even before they issued that letter, Elder Marlin K. Jensen, a lifetime Democrat and one of the most intelligent and thoughtful person I have heard speak, gave an interview with the Salt Lake Tribune in which he discussed the health of party politics within the Church. At the time he was a member of the Church's Public Affairs Committee, was "designated by church officials to respond to The Salt Lake Tribune's request for an interview on the topic of partisan imbalance in Utah and among LDS members." In the interview he brought up several major points which I bulleted below:

· Any notion that it is impossible to be a Democrat and a good Mormon is wrongheaded and should be "obliterated."
· The overwhelming Republican bent of LDS members in Utah and the Intermountain West undermines the checks-and-balances principle of democratic government.
· The LDS Church's reputation as a one-party monolith is damaging in the long run because of the seesaw fortunes of the national political parties.

The actual article can be read HERE.

Between the letter from the First Presidency and Elder Jensen’s interview any notion that a person can’t be a Democrat and a faithful member of the LDS should disappear.

Just so you know many Church leaders and other individuals who are respected in the Church were or are Democrats. Among them are: President James E. Faust, Elder Marlin K. Jensen, President Howard W. Hunter, Hugh Nibley, Elder Hugh B. Brown, Elder N. Eldon Tanner, Stephen L. Richards, President Heber J. Grant, and President Wilford Woodruff. Of course the list could go on.
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Topic number two why we plan to vote the way will.

Now to the issue of why we are registered as Democrats and plan to vote for Obama.

First of all, as the letter from the Church indicates, each major party has elements of its platform that are in-line with gospel principles, however I would take it a step further and say that each major party has elements of their party platforms that ARE NOT in-line with gospel principles. This is OK! You can be a member of a party and not agree with everything the party stands for. Really it is OK. Party membership is not an all or nothing deal. You do not give up you right to think and to have an opinion when you sign your membership card. The reason I bring this up is because we should NEVER assume that because someone is registered with a certain party they agree with everything that party stands for. Further more, we should never believe that because someone plans to vote for a certain candidate they agree with everything that candidate stands for. When we (Darin and David) vote we look at all the issues and where the candidates stand on them. We then see which candidate has the most in common with us and vote for that one. We do not allow one or two issues to dictate our vote, nor do we allow party affiliation alone to dictate our voting. It is the sum of the issues that matters to us, especially those issues the candidate can actually do something about (so often people vote based on a candidate’s stand on an issue the candidate has no power over, we believe that to be the epitome of ignorant voting).

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who is a member of the LDS church and a Democrat, gave a devotional talk in which he spoke to this issue and we agree with most of his points. The entire talk can be read HERE. His statement that: “I also say that my faith and political beliefs are deeply intertwined. I am a Democrat because I am a Mormon, not in spite of it.” Basically sums up our feelings. Again, that is not to say that someone, because of their faith, could not feel compelled to be a Republican. We believe that that is possible and can appreciate someone feeling that way. We only ask that you allow us the same possibility when it comes to our faith and our choice of party.

We will not go over every major issue or reason why we are Democrats instead we will only touch on a few hot button issues (they are NOT listed by level of importance, just how they entered our minds).

First, we are registered as Democrats because of our feelings about the environment.

We have a deep love and care for one of the greatest gifts our Heavenly Father has given us, which is the world we live on. We find that the Democratic Party’s and Senator Obama’s feelings on the issue correspond better with our own. Our feeling is that the earth is not ours to destroy. In fact, we view it as God’s creation. Imagine for a moment that you spent years crafting with your own hands the perfect gift for someone you loved very much. You crafted it to perfection and you honestly know that if the person for whom you were crafting the gift for loved and respected the gift that the gift would teach that person much and help them develop into a better person. Now imagine that the person you gave the gift too treated it with utter disregard, learned nothing from the gift, and within a short time had damaged the gift beyond repair. We are sure that most of you would be insulted and disappointed. It is our belief that God must feel that way when we mistreat the earth. We further believe that the policies or our nation and our political leaders should do what it takes to ensure we treat the world with proper respect. Not only because in doing so we will show the proper gratitude toward God but also because our very health and existence depends on a healthy environment.

Second, we are registered as Democrats because of our feelings in regard to helping the poor.

Our feelings as Darin pointed out in a reply on a different blog are basically summed up by Mosiah 4:16-25. We do not cite this scripture as an argument for the Democrat’s view on welfare (anytime people use the scriptures to argue for a certain political platform we are in dangerous water); we only do it so that you understand our views. Again we believe that people can be good people and care about the poor and still have different in the policy solutions for addressing poverty.

We find that the Democratic party is more in-line with our feelings about inequality and how to address the issue. Both of us have attempted to explain our thoughts on helping the poor in a post to a different blog which can be read HERE. Suffice it to say we believe that currently opportunity is not dulled out equally in our country and that, in fact, there is great economic, social, and political inequality. The history of the world and, specifically the history of this country, teaches us that a comprehensive, government lead, approach to addressing these issues is needed to make any in-roads in correcting these problems. We sincerely hope that you will read our other post linked to above.

Third, we are registered as Democrats because of our feelings in regard to health care.

Research has shown time and time again that having quality health coverage and access to health care are critical to personal health (for a few examples click HERE, HERE, and HERE). Likewise, access to quality health care is entirely based on the type of job one has. Higher paid jobs tend to offer quality health insurance and lower paid jobs tend not to. We firmly believe that quality heath care is not a privilege but that it is a right. It should not depend on weather you are rich or poor.

We think that Obama’s plan creates great equality in regard to coverage and that it does so in a very efficient way. It does not create a huge government run program but instead builds off of what already exists and then fills in the holes. We highly recommend that you read about it HERE.

Furthermore, not only is our health system highly unequal it is also in need of drastic improvement. A common argument against extending coverage to everyone is that it will hurt the health system and that currently we offer the best services of any country in the world. Both arguments are sadly wrong. As these two links show we sadly under perform compared to other developed countries when it comes to the quality of our care and access to quality care. Click HERE, HERE and HERE. For more information on health care/health coverage models click HERE. For all the health and health coverage data you could ever want click HERE. We find it funny that our system is often compared to Canada’s and that often people say if we cover everyone our system will be as bad as Canada’s. Not only is it true that on most measures Canada out performs us (look at the previous links and click HERE for a FactCheck.org article on the subject) but in comparing us to Canada they are setting the bar fairly low, of the developed nations discussed in the reports above our system performs the worst (generally) followed by Canada’s.

(We realize that we are providing you with a ton of links but we hope that you will take the time to look at them so that you truly understand our positions and because, in our humble opinion, we believe they all provide valuable information that everyone should be exposed to before they vote.)

Fourth, we are voting for Obama because of our feelings in regard to war and the military.

To us war represents the utter failure of humankind. It should never be engaged in unless our nation’s existence is threatened. We find Obama’s position on the decision to go into Iraq to be consistent with our feelings (we should not have invaded Iraq because they did not threaten our existence, had no WMDs, had no connection to 9/11, and no connection to Bin Ladin). Obama’s position on the use of the military and on diplomacy are also consistent with ours.

We are in total agreement with the Church’s stand on war. The First Presidency issued a proclamation in 1942 that the "Church is and must be against war…It cannot regard war as a righteous means of settling international disputes; these should and could be settled--the nations agreeing--by peaceful negotiation and adjustment." (A message from the First Presidency: 112th Annual General Conference of the Church. Conference Report, Apr. 1942, 88-97).

Later the First Presidency said "While recognizing the need for strength to repel any aggressor, we are enjoined by the word of God to Renounce War and Proclaim Peace!" (First Presidency: Spencer W. Kimball, N. Eldon Tanner & Marion G. Romney, Church News; 20 Dec. 1980). The Book of Mormon lays it out fairly clearly, indicating that nations should not rush to war; for the Nephites were…"taught never to give an offense, yea, and never to raise a sword except it were against an enemy, except it were to preserve their lives". (Book of Mormon: Alma 48:14). Again we cite these examples to explain our beliefs not to support them.

Obama has also been a consistent supporter of our military. He helped push through an expanded GI Bill that greatly increased the benefits our veterans receive.

We could go on and on with issue after issue, however we invite you to read Obama’s stand on all of the major issues HERE

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Ok now we feel compelled to address the issue of abortion. This is a make it or break it issue for many people. Regardless of a candidate’s position on every other issue if they are on the wrong side of this issue they will loose many people’s vote. We feel that is unfortunate but at the same time recognize the importance of the issue.

The vast majority of Americans (whether Democrat or Republican) hold similar views on the issue even though some define themselves as pro-life and others define themselves as pro-choice (at the same time recognize that many people’s views are vastly different). Foirina (one of the great political scientists of our time) clearly illustrated this fact in his book “Culture War? The myth of a Polarized America” (click HERE for more info on the book). Most Americans think that abortion should be available in the event of a rape and incest, and when the health of the mother/baby is threatened (baby will die because of birth, etc.). This is entirely in-line with the Church’s official position which can be read HERE. Abortions need to be available in these instances and therefore can not be made entirely illegal. These are exactly our feelings about abortion.

We recognize that many of the leaders of the Democratic Party would extend abortions to those that would have them for convenience. We differ with them on this issue. However, everyone wants to limit the amount of abortions in this country and we therefore have a common interest. Some Democratic leaders are in fact pro-life (Senator Bob Casey (D-PA and Harry Reid (D-NV) to name a couple). Again you do not have to agree with the entire party platform to be a member of a party.

Obama is pro-choice but at the same time he has shown a true commitment to reducing the number of abortions that happen in our country.

Many have been passing on e-mails which indicate that Obama is all for partial birth abortion and for infanticide. Neither of these are true. Obama strongly believes that states can properly restrict partial birth abortions. Here is a quote from him on the issue:

“On an issue like partial birth abortion, I strongly believe that the state can properly restrict late-term abortions. I have said so repeatedly. All I've said is we should have a provision to protect the health of the mother, and many of the bills that came before me didn't have that. Part of the reason they didn't have it was purposeful, because those who are opposed to abortion have a moral calling to try to oppose what they think is immoral. Oftentimes what they were trying to do was to polarize the debate and make it more difficult for people, so that they could try to bring an end to abortions overall. As president, my goal is to bring people together, to listen to them, and I don't think that's any Republican out there who I've worked with who would say that I don't listen to them, I don't respect their ideas, I don't understand their perspective. And my goal is to get us out of this polarizing debate where we're always trying to score cheap political points and actually get things done.” (2008 Fox News interview: presidential series Apr 27, 2008)

Many have criticized the fact that Obama did not vote for a bill that would make partial birth abortion illegal while he was in the Illinois legislature. The reason he did not was because the provision did nothing to protect the mother and in fact could have criminalized all abortions no matter the reason they were administered (The Improbable Quest, by John K. Wilson, p.147-148 Oct 30, 2007).

In the end Obama’s views on abortion do not entirely jive with our own. We would restrict them to a greater extend than he would. But we still find common ground with him when it comes to reducing the number of abortions in this country. Further, we do not vote on one issue alone and on almost every other issue we completely agree with him. Therefore, he has our vote.

We hope this very, very, very long post helps you understand why we feel the way we do. We also hope that you have had time to check out some of the links we inserted into the text as they provide the type of detailed information one needs to truly understand where we are coming from.

All the best,

David & Darin

Too much time on my hands?

2008-09-16T08:11:00.000-07:00

Some friends did this and it looked like fun.

1952

1960 - I hope I look this good when I'm 60

1962

1964

1966 - This one's my favorite, I might just have to try it out

1968

1974 - This is what I'd look like if I swallowed a small cantelope

1982 - I swear I've seen a picture of my mom that looks just like this:)

1990 - this one too!

1994 - I wish my hair looked this good in middle school

first day of school

2008-09-15T20:02:00.001-07:00

Allyson and Bryce have been in school for a few weeks now and are loving it. I have to say that I am also loving it. It's fun to spend some time during the day with Evanie, and having time to myself while she is napping. Here are a few pictures from their first day.

Notice the big smile on Allyson's face as she got off the bus this year as opposed to the picture from last year when she got off the bus. I'm so glad it went better for her this year.

Evanie's Birthday

2008-09-15T18:23:00.000-07:00

I have a lot of blogging to catch up on. Our digital camera is broken so I had to buy some disposable cameras, get the pictures developed, scan them in, now it's a month later and I'm just gettting it done. You don't realize how convenient digital is until you have to go back to the old way of doing it. Evanie's birthday was back on the 13th of August, so here are some pictures of her special day.

Visit to Manassa

2008-08-04T21:16:00.000-07:00

We spent some time in Manassa and had so much fun. Allyson and Bryce played hard with their cousins the entire time. They spent most of their time on the trampoline and 4-wheeler, eating popsicles and raspberries, playing with puppies and dirt, and celebrating Pioneer Days with a carnival and parade. Danette and I decided to run the 5K, or should I say Danette told me that I'm running with her whether I like it or not. I think we did pretty good considering we hadn't really trained. We all went up to Fox Creek and fished with the kids. Allyson caught her first fish and even though it was on the small side we brought it home and cooked it. Of course all the guys went fishing several more times. Bronson, Haley, Dave and I went rock climbing just outside of Manassa. It was Haley's first time and she did awesome!! She was so determined to get to the top and she did it, and it was a really long climb. Here's some pics from the trip.

Trip to Colorado

2008-08-04T14:02:00.000-07:00

We had such a fun time in Colorado. We spent about a week with Dave's family and then a week with my family. I felt so bad for Allyson and Bryce though. The day before we left they both got sick with bad fevers and headaches. The plane ride was miserable for them. When we got to Grandma Julie's house they pretty much laid around for 3 days. They took lots of naps and ate lots of popsicles. When they were feeling better we went to Boulder to see Jeff and Maki. We went to a park and had a picnic and then played in the river. Then we went to an awesome art's festival and the kids loved all the art, especially figuring out what they could see in the abstract one's. We also went to a Rockies game with all of Dave's family. They lost but it was still fun.

Our visit with the Funds

2008-08-04T13:45:00.000-07:00

While we were in Colorado we were able to visit with our good friends, the Funds. They just moved to Broomfield about two months ago from Boalsburg so we are excited that they are close enough to Dave's parents that we can visit. It just so happened to be Caden's birthday, so we had lunch and a party, then went to the park and played baseball with Caden's new gear. I took a ton of pictures of their kids so these pictures are mostly for them. (Alisha-feel free to copy any pics that you want to).

Look...no hands!!!

2008-07-20T13:16:00.001-07:00

Here's a silly face Evanie likes to make. She breathes in and out of her nose while she does it. It's pretty scary!

swimming and eating dirt

2008-07-11T21:12:00.000-07:00

allyson is getting to be such a good swimmer. today she spent a lot of time in the deep end jumping in and doing cannonballs. she wanted pictures of her doing handstands under the water but all I got was her butt sticking up in the air so this picture will just have to do. bryce could spend all day floating on noodles pretending they're a boat. and evanie gets dunked at least a few times when we swim. hopefully she'll be a better swimmer because of it otherwise I'm just being mean.

here's a picture of spencer posing

I had these pots of soil on my kitchen floor (yes, I killed the flowers) and Evanie found them. I was going to move her but had other things to do, so she sat and played with them for a good half hour. At first she just picked up a little bit at a time with her little fingers but before long she was dumping then out and eating the dirt. Maybe I should have been a little more concerned but she was having fun.

Strawberry Pickin'

2008-07-04T11:52:00.000-07:00

We found a farm here where we could pick our own strawberries, so we went and got about 8lbs and made some jam. It seems like everytime we've done this my kids happen to wear white shirts. It's so obvious that they've eaten half the patch so we usually end up paying a little more. This time we were sneaky and Dave took the kids to the car while I payed for the strawberries. It wouldn't have been at all obvious that Evanie was consuming them!

Bryce's birthday part 2

2008-07-01T20:12:00.000-07:00

I haven't been blogging lately because I've been reading the Twilight series every spare minute I get, which also means I've been neglecting my kids. But now I'm finished so my kids are now well care for and I'm anxiously waiting for the next book to come out in August. And for those of you who are sick of looking at Bryce's birthday....well, here's some more!

The kids were training to be jedis.

There were lots of spontaneous light saber fights.

They raced on yoda bouncy balls

We drew a death star with sidewalk chalk and they destroyed it with water balloons.

Happy Birthday Bryce!

2008-06-09T07:16:00.000-07:00

Bryce's birthday was last friday. He had such a fun day. He's having a Star Wars party next Friday with his friends so I wanted to practice making the R2-D2 cake beforehand. It turned out ok. It was so hot here that the icing was melting before I could put it on the cake. He loves his star wars legos and golf set. Evanie got a little piece of cake. She squished it in her hand and made such a mess of it, but loved it. I will try to upload a video but blogger and youtube aren't working.

Evanie crawling

2008-05-29T06:16:00.000-07:00

Evanie is crawling all over the place now, but she uses her left foot instead of her knee. If she's going for something at just the right angle she crawls completely sideways. Its pretty funny to watch.

Our latest project

2008-05-26T21:49:00.000-07:00

We finally finished the hardwood floor in our living room.

Here's the before.....

And during.....

This is all we had done after an entire day of working on it. Then we finally got the hang of it and moved much faster.

Here's the after.....

Memorial Day

2008-05-26T20:41:00.000-07:00

Look at that face, she's so serious!

Allyson's such an awesome, natural climber.

Bryce has had lots of practice on our climbing wall at home.

Dave had the day off so we went rock climbing at Chickies Rock. It was really fun for the 20 minutes we had to climb. We drove about 45 minutes to get there and then had to hike in. We didn't know the area at all so we, of course, picked the steepest, hardest trail to take. That took us what seemed like an hour to get to the rock cliffs and then let the kids each do a few climbs. Dave and I bouldered a little bit and Evanie just hung out in her backpack eating cheese-its. We took about 45 minutes to hike out and had to be back home by 5:30 so Dave and I could go out for our anniversary. So we raced home and made it just in time for the babysitter. We wish we could have had more time to climb but it was just nice to get outside.

Evanie's 9 months old

2008-05-13T20:15:00.000-07:00

Evanie is 9 months old today. She is such a happy baby. She loves to smile at everyone she sees, as long as I'm holding her. She is starting to crawl on her knees, but still gets around mostly by army crawling. She can give kisses and hugs, give high fives, clap, dance and wave hi and bye. She's gotten really good at pulling herself up on furniture and everything else. She's even started walking along stuff a little bit. Every time I lay her down for a nap she pulls herself up and can't get back down. She takes great naps but she's still not sleeping through the night. Maybe when school's out I can let her cry it out at night, I just can't deal with cranky kids who don't get enough sleep(and by that I mean Allyson).

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-11T18:52:00.000-07:00

These are the top ten reasons we love our mom!!

She always spoils me when I go home. She makes me bread or cookies or whatever I want.
-Erik

I can always call when I need advice for my kids, whether their sick or just being naughty.
-Danette

She always sends my birthday cards on time, and for her that's a big accomplishment.
-Darin

Bronson was unavailable for comment(I think he was fishing) but I'm sure he appreciates being able to raid her fridge whenever he wants. It's all about the food, right?

When I sprained my ankle really bad and it was swollen and bruised she massaged it every night even though she HATES feet!
-Kacey

She takes care of me when I have a toothache.
-Sterling

She took me driving for 6 hours so I could get my driver's permit.
-Garrett

She washes my clothes when I ask her at 10:30 at night.
-Haley

She has given me 8 great kids and 30 great years!
-Dad

And of course we all love her cooking. She's the best cook ever!

We all love you mom and hope you had a great mother's day!

crazy dancing baby

2008-05-09T06:54:00.000-07:00

I know Evanie totally looks like a boy with that green shirt on but it has pink stripes in it, I promise. Allyson always calls her a boy when she wears it. Evanie loves to dance. Whenever she hears music she starts bouncing up and down. Her favorite song is Too Much by Dave Matthews Band. It's on my phone so we always listen to it. She gets so much more excited with that song than any other one.

Good Night, Sleep Tight

2008-04-30T20:13:00.001-07:00

Don't let the stinkbugs bite!! Every night when I go to bed I find this bookmark hidden somewhere in my bed.

Bryce LOVES to tease me and he knows how freaked out I get with stinkbugs so he hides it in my bed. I then hide it in his bed but by the time I go to bed the next night I know it's in there somewhere. He picked it out of prize box at school just so he could scare me with it.

Last summer these little bugs were everywhere, including in our house. They found any little crack to come in through. One day Dave was moving one of the window units and crawling on top were about 20 stinkbugs!! I was traumatized after that. The worst part is that the fly around and buzz. I'm not looking forward to all the bugs that come out in the summer. Hopefully they won't be as bad as last year.

Visitors from Texas

2008-04-14T10:29:00.001-07:00

Danette and Brody came to visit us a couple weekends ago and I'm just now getting around to getting pictures on the blog. Tysen was so sweet and bought her a ticket for our birthday back in March. Thanks again Tysen!!! We had so much fun together even though we didn't do a whole lot. We rented lots of movies, went out to eat almost every night, and even made a trip to Hershey for Flat Stanley to take back some chocolate for Jesslyn's kindergarden class. The best part was just getting to see Evanie and Brody together. Even though Brody is a month younger he is so much bigger than Evanie. I miss all the babies in the family that we don't get to see very often.

This isn't the best picture of us but right before Danette was leaving we realized we didn't have any pictures of us together so Allyson took this one. It's kind of funny that we have the same haircut. I didn't know what Danette's looked like and I got mine cut the morning that she got here right before I went to the airport to pick her up. I guess it's a twin thing!

I couldn't decide which pictures of the babies to post so I am just going to put all of them on. I love Brody's big blue eyes!

Happy Easter

2008-03-30T22:06:00.000-07:00

We had a good Easter with Steve and Chrystal in Richmond. We painted eggs, had a visit from the Easter Bunny, and went to an egg hunt in a cemetary at St. John's Church. That was a little weird but the kids didn't seem to mind, as long as they were getting lots of eggs. We went inside the church and there was so much food we sat down and ate and ended up missing our own church meetings. Then we all drove to DC to have Easter dinner with Dave's aunt and uncle.

dadadada

2008-03-30T20:48:00.000-07:00

Evanie learned how to say dada last week. That's all she likes to say. I found out that the best way to get her to say it is to try and have her say mama. It never fails, she just smiles and says dada like crazy - she just loves her dada!

Check out my Slide Show!

2008-02-25T08:40:00.001-08:00

Jumperoo Madness

2008-02-25T06:18:00.000-08:00

Evanie finally figured out what her jumperoo is supposed to be used for........jumping! Now she loves it.

Rock On

2008-02-24T19:33:00.000-08:00

We built this climbing wall in the shed in our back yard. Now we can climb anytime we want to.

happy valentine's day

2008-02-18T21:58:00.000-08:00

Allyson and Bryce made valentines for all of their cousins. Aren't they cute.......the kids and the valentines!

cRaZy KiDs

2008-02-18T21:38:00.000-08:00

Bryce and Allyson wanted to scare Dave when he came home from work so they ratted their hair. When I saw them I was almost mad because I thought that Bryce must have used a whole bottle of gel to get his hair to stand up like that, but Allyson assured me that it required only a comb. Thank you Grandma Julie for teaching her how to do that!

Mount Gretna

2008-02-18T20:43:00.000-08:00

We went to Mount Gretna today. Our Sunday School teacher and his wife used to live here and loved it and suggested that we visit it. It is a wooded mountain town with lots of fun stuff in the summertime like art shows, concerts and a theatre. It was pretty quiet today, we drove around and admired the little cottages. Allyson and Bryce just wanted to play at the Chautauqua Playground. We had fun playing tether ball (something Dave and I haven't done since we were kids). We definately plan on visiting in the summer to see a play and get ice cream from the Jigger Shop.

Maymont Park

2008-02-01T10:57:00.000-08:00

We went to Maymont Park in Richmond with Steven, Chrystal, and Mariah when we went to spend Christmas with them. We spent most of our time in the Japanese Garden - climbing rocks, hiking and playing by the water. We also saw the nature center, lots of animals and a mansion with a dungeon (at least it looked like a dungeon)!

Hershey Park Candyland

2008-02-01T09:41:00.000-08:00

Right before Christmas we spent the day at Hershey Park with the Shawn, Cassie, Dane and Josie. It was cold but we had lots of fun!!!

2008-01-17T21:42:00.000-08:00

Evanie rolling over

2008-01-17T11:33:00.003-08:00

Evanie finallly rolled over from her tummy to her back. She's still working on getting back to her tummy. She's just so big it's hard for her to get that huge head moving.

Happy 7th Birthday Allyson!!!

2008-01-17T10:53:00.000-08:00

Allyson turned 7 on the 4th of January. We all went out to dinner at her favorite -McDonalds, and we went to the movies and saw Enchanted. Then we came home and partied!! We did an art theme this year. She was so excited because her initials are ART and she had art class that day. We made a painter's palette cake (which gave us all very colorful teeth) and she got an art easel.

Evanie looked so cute after her bath I just had to take some pictures of her. She is getting so chubby!!

2008-01-17T09:38:00.000-08:00