Moved

I created and moved our blog to wordpress. I wanted more flexibility in customizing...it's taken me a while and it is still a work in progress but for those waiting for blog updates you can check them out here: http://vellamarie.wordpress.com/

I named the blog after Jaelee's middle name Vella and my middle name Marie.  It will be a blog/site where I will also have pages for my photography.  Like I said it's still under construction but take a look.........

I'm not sure I like wordpress yet.  Since I am using the free wordpress.com there is not a lot of customization I can do so it may be back to blogger for me...

Off to Oregon We Go - Day 1

I love going to the Oregon coast to see our family.  It is really fun to see the kids playing with all their cousins, getting together with our family and there is so much we get to do.  I always look forward to going there.  We made our yearly trip over there for labor day weekend.  We left on Thursday night after work and drove to Portland.

(I had the kids pick out toys to bring and put it in a bag, I had no idea what they picked. While I was driving Greg tells me to look in my mirror at Jayse. He'd brought with him one of his mask and had put it on. So cute, love my little guy.)

Western Idaho Fair

This year for the fair I entered the photo contest with 3 of my photos, so we had to go to the fair to check out if I won anything and have a little fun while there.  The first thing we always do is go look for my photos.  This year we found the photos but no awards, not even an honorable mention. Oh well it's still fun to see my photos displayed there.

After finding my photos we went and took a look at all the animals.  The kids LOVE the chics, while we were looking at them a lady took one out for them to see up close.  They also got to pet a couple ginnie pigs.

Settlers Park

It is officially October, my favorite month!  I am going to try to catch up on my blogging as I am sure we will have a lot going on this month with Halloween arriving!!

In August I took the kids to a park in Meridian that has a lot of stuff for them to do.  There is a little water park that they can play in, toys to run around on, rocks to climb and instruments to bang on.

It was a lot of fun but really hot.  I had to take a dip in the water a few times myself.

Four Generations Getting Pedicures

When we went to Alaska on the day the guys went fishing the girls were going to go get pedicures but we weren't able to.  I had my grandma all geared up to go, she's never had one before.

I felt like she needed to experience getting a pedicure so while my mom was in town I made an appointment for us all to get pedicures.  My grandma and Jaelee getting their first pedicures together.

It was one of those times that was just really cool, seeing four generations all experiencing something together.

The place was really great they treated everyone like queens.  Jaelee had a soda and some fruit snakes and this really cool pink chair that had lights in the water that changed colors.  I think everyone had a great experience.

Car Races

Greg got some free tickets to the car races so we all went.  We had ear protectors for the kids this year and I don't know why we didn't think about them before.  Jaelee liked it so much better.  I think we only stayed for an hour because it was so hot and the kids were just playing around but it was plenty of time to get a bunch of photos.

Sunset

It just wouldn't be right with out me trying to do a photo shoot at sunset.  We had a really pretty sun set so I dragged the kids and the wagon over to our favorite field.  I only got a few photos before the kids were over it but we got a few good ones.

Jayse

Jayse is not interested in letting me take pictures of him.  It's really hard these days to get a picture of him unless I sneak around like the paparazzi.  However, there are rare occasions when I can get a few.  This was one of those occasions.    He was riding his bike and when he got off he posed a bit for me and let me get some pictures.  So here they are.

Looking at these I can't believe how big he looks.  Sad face :( they are growing too fast.

Arrow Rock - Lake Fun

We spent a lot of time at the lakes this summer.  Because we got the new to us boat it allowed us to go places we couldn't before.  It was so fun.  We went out to Arrow Rock, past Lucky Peak to find a spot to fish and hang out for the day.

We found this place that looked awesome, there was a bank with sand, grass up higher and plenty of room for the kids and dog to run around.  We headed to the spot and when we got close to the shore, Greg, Jayse and Bo jumped out and found out that the sand was a sinking mess.  You couldn't even stand in it.  They were covered in mud in no time.  They hurried and jumped back in a boat and we were back out trying to find the perfect spot.

Jaelee's Last Dance Class For the Summer

Jaelee's last dance class was August 2nd.  They opened the large door in the studio and it let in beautiful light.  I was able to get some really good pictures because of it.  So basically be prepared for a lot of photos.

July Phone Photo Dump

Woo hoo after this post I will be all caught up with our July adventures.

I take quit a few photos on my phone.  It is smaller and therefore a lot easier to carry around.  So here is my phone photo dump from July.

 

(Jaelee had to go get her rain gear to wear underneath the sprinkler. I thought that was cute)

Jaelee's Room Makeover & Princess Pictures

Now that the kids were in their own rooms I was really excited to start decorating them.  I started with Jaelee's room because she wanted a pink princess room and I thought that would be really easy and fun.

Hogle Zoo

We got back from Alaska on Thursday, Greg and I took off Friday because we didn't want to have to try and rush home to go back to work for one day before the weekend.  We stayed at my mom's house Thursday night.

Alaska Day 7 - The Knife Shop

On day 7 we had to head back to Anchorage so we could get up early the next day to catch our flight home. It is always amazing how fast time goes.  I couldn't believe it was already time to start our journey back.  We had the whole day to drive the several hours back to anchorage so we got to sleep in and then stopped at a bakery shop for breakfast/lunch.  Greg and I shared a homemade sandwich and soup that was really good.

Alaska Day 6 - The Great Fishing Day

Tuesday the guys had planned for their fishing trip, they got up really early to head out fishing.  The girls got to sleep in, it was nice!  Once we all got up and got ready we headed out to do some tourist things - like shopping.  There were a lot of cute little shops to go in.  We started at one end of Seward and finished at the other.  I found some cute books for the kids and a few other things for myself :).

(This is the only picture I took of our shopping day, I thought it was cute.)

Alaska Day 5 - Seward Wildlife

For our first day in Seward all went and ate breakfast together.  We found this place called Nellie’s Roadhouse.  It was a small diner with great food and atmosphere. 

Alaska Day 4 Denali to Seward

On day 4 we headed from Denali to a fishing town on the coast called Seward.  It was a pretty long drive and we were in the car for most of the time.  The ride there was beautiful it was so green everywhere and we got to drive along the ocean for some of the drive.  We did make one stop at a McKinley look out but still didn't really get to see it as it was really cloudy out.

 (Hunter trying to get some sleep in the car)

Alaska Day 3 - The Search for Mt. McKinley

On day 3 we got up and had breakfasts at the buffet in the what I like to call the village.  They had a lot of options and some great food.  The miners cheesy potatoes were delicious, I had to go back for seconds for those.

Alaska Day 2 - Denali

On the second day in Alaska we woke up and had breakfast at the Country Kitchen across the street from our hotel.  They had some great breakfast options, Greg got a reindeer sausage omelet and I had some meat breakfast.  My cousin Cade couldn't resist ordering ribs and fries for breakfast, why not we are on vacation right?  

Alaska Day 1 - Anchorage

Greg and I were really lucky to get the opportunity to go to Alaska with my family.  Any time I would ask Greg where his dream vacation would be without hesitation he says Alaska.  He is always hot and a tropical vacation to him would just be torture.  Not to mention the fishing opportunities.

Another reason we were able to go is because my mom watched our kids while we were there.  So thank you so much to everyone that made it possible for us to go!  Greg can cross Alaska off his bucket list now, although he is determined to go there again, he didn't want to leave.

I am doing each day we were in Alaska in a different post because I took a ton of photos and we did so much it's not going to fit in one post.  So be warned now there is will be a lot of post and pictures but the trip deserves it.

On the fifth we flew out of Salt Lake City with everyone, 2 of my aunts and uncles, my grandparents, 2 cousins and my brother Hunter.  In total there was a group of 11 of us.  We flew into Anchorage and got there about 2 local time. The plane ride over was pretty easy.  It was a direct flight into Anchorage.  Greg and I watched the in-flight movie and we also rented a movie on my kindle that we watched.  The flight was only about 4 hours.

When we arrived we were super excited to go out and see Alaska.  My uncle rented a large van and a RV for our trip, so we took a shuttle to the location of the rental place.  The weather was a little bit cold.  I think it was 55ish.  Alaska was beautiful - large mountains with snow still on them and really green. 

(Our first picture together in Alaska)