Jolie Turns ONE!

Our sweet little angel baby cutie face turned ONE on Thursday! It's been fun for us to reflect on the last year and to think about how much fun we've had with Jolie. She is getting big and weighs just under 22 pounds and is 29 inches tall. She makes us laugh with her spunky personality. Lately she has been crawling all around the house just because she can. She now points when she wants something and says NO! She also points at anything she finds to be interesting. Jolie also hands us things that she wants to share...like shredded kleenex or her toys. She will share her dinner with you too if you want to take a bite out of her hand! She is finally walking with us if we hold her fingers, but she has no interest in trying to do it herself yet. She is very sweet and we love her so much! Happy Birthday Jolie!

We had a little party for her and some of our friends came over to help us celebrate. I told Colby not to worry that Jolie got two parties, because at his first birthday party there were like 50 people and he got a ton of presents...he was ok with that.

Luckily Jolie didn't get upset this time when we gave her a cupcake. Dad blew out the candle and let her taste the cake and frosting, but she pretty much just left it alone.

The High's were there to party with us! Thanks Jake and Jolein!

Austin, Spencer and Nick having some ice cream.

Nick, Grandma Olivia, Colby Bradley, Alysia, and Tyler having a treat too!

Our Family!

Here's Connor crawling over to Jolie to give her a Birthday kiss!

I think she thought that was great at first.....

Then it was get this boy off of me. I'm not ready for this! It was really funny!

A Wolf Carving a Pumpkin With Grandpa and Getting "Punched"!

On Tuesday, Grandma and Grandpa Yancey came over for dinner and to carve a pumpkin with Colby. Wouldn't you know it, we only carved ONE of the fourteen pumpkins we grew! We were able to give 8 of them away, so at least they didn't all go to waste. I guess the leftovers will be good Thanksgiving decorations!

This is the finished pumpkin! Grandpa was even able to accommodate Colby's request for FLAME eyes. Colby wanted his pumpkin to look scary, and I think they did a great job.

On Wednesday I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and took them over to Colby's school for his birthday! His teacher was in Hawaii last week so she asked us if we would wait until this week. As you can see from the picture Colby got to take the first bite before anyone else could dig in.

Here's Mrs. Daley giving Colby "A Punch to Grow a Bunch"!

That night Colby received his Wolf Merit badge for cub scouts. Lucky me, I got to present it because I'm his Den leader. He is so cute, and he loves scouts. Good Job Colby!! Brett was holding the baby and the camera, so we didn't get a very good picture.

Happy Birthday!

We were able to go to Utah to celebrate Colby and Jolie's birthdays with my family last weekend. We left Friday afternoon and went to get Jolie's picture taken at Kiddie Kandids. It took WAY too long but the pictures are adorable and I will post them as soon as my sweet sister Hilerie emails them to me.

Saturday Brett and I had a wonderful experience at the temple. We did a session together and then had lunch. It was the best day that I've had in a long time, and I will always remember it because it was on Colby's birthday! I also found out that one of my best friends, Becca, was able to meet her new baby son! She and her husband had a successful adoption and I'm so happy for them.

Anyway, when Brett and I got back to my parents house I made corn bread loaves and chili with my sister Stephanie for the birthday party. Everyone showed up around 3pm and we had a great time.

Grandma Kalawaia brought the skeletons for the cornbread--I thought it was funny and the kids loved it!

Here's Brett with Grandma Kalawaia

Colby and Ali having some lunch

Ahhhh...the line for the pinata!

Colby broke off Sponge Bob's leg on his first turn

Here's Brett with the pinata rope and everyone else a safe distance away!

Here's Colby with his cake!

Cousins having cake and the best grandma in the world!

Mom and Jolie

Jolie before we gave her the cake.....

Jolie after we gave her the cake. She hated it. She did not like orange frosting on her fingers so she wiped it all over her hair and ear. She went straight into the tub!

Taking a bath is much more fun than eating birthday cake--darn it!

Here she is--all better! Jolie loves Colby!

This is the pumpkin Colby carved with his aunt Christy! He did a great job! We had a really fun weekend and Colby and Jolie got some fun presents and lots of attention! Thanks everyone for coming and helping out.

FREE PUMPKINS!

If you haven't gotten pumpkins for your kids yet PLEASE CALL ME! We were able to get 14 pumpkins from 4 pumpkin plants in our garden this year and we want to share. Please just call me and come over!

Two Halloween Decorating Extremes

I was reading my BFF GF's BLOG http://sweetmamak.blogspot.com/ and she posted a link to this crazy Halloween Blog. It just made me laugh because I am the extreme opposite. This Lady's house is awesome yet bordering on maniacal. If you need some good ideas on how to decorate your bathroom for Halloween or how to make an edible brain out of shrimp, you should check it out! http://murfreesborohaunts.blogspot.com/

Here is a picture of my Halloween Decorations (All 9 of them) LOL!


Here is a picture of the JUST the front of Halloween Lady's House...


I guess I need to try harder in the decorating dept! Happy Halloween!!

A Good Week

Well Monday through Thursday has gotten pretty busy for me! The highlights were that I worked 4 days at Gold's, babysat for my friend Debbie, got in some great workouts, made a huge batch of fresh salsa, and even went to lunch with one of my BFF's Jessica at Downtown Bread Co.!

I was relieved when Friday came. Colby was out of school and I was so glad that we could just have a day to relax a little! We went to the gym and then to Kessler's. I promised Colby that if he went to the gym with me without complaining I would let him pick out some ice cream. He chose wisely (Mud Pie! YUM) and then we went home to do some chores. Brett decided to go motorcycle riding in Pocatello so I got the house clean! I know--fun. Colby had two friends come over and they played and played. I know Colby was so happy to have someone to hang out with besides me.

We had a good day today too! It started with the class I attended at Rush's in Idaho Falls. Brett took the kids and they walked the green belt and drove around the town for 3 hours! I'm glad that Brett got some good DAD time in! We had lunch in Idaho Falls and then came home for a nap. Since then we've just been hanging out, and for dinner we ordered pizza and had it delivered--A Yancey first!

Here are some pictures....first Colby playing LEGO Batman with Dad and then eating pizza for dinner :)




I'm glad tomorrow is Sunday...I'm not quite ready for Monday yet!

Rush's Kitchen Supply Co.

Well I am pleased to announce that Alex Constantino, the owner of Rush's Kitchen Supply Co. is going to schedule at least 4 classes for me to teach in his Idaho Falls store on his spring schedule! He invited me to attend one of his classes today so I could see the format that he and his regular chef use. We will do an adult pastry class that will be repeated and a class for kids. I am extremely excited and NERVOUS! I think I can do a good job though and hopefully I will be on his schedule permanantly while we are living here...keep your fingers crossed for me! YAY!

Look What I Can Do!

Our little cutie pie is more mobile than ever and getting into everything. She is pulling herself up all the time now and crawling all over the house looking for things to discover/destroy. Another cute thing she started doing last week is she will blow on her food before she eats it off the spoon. I think she saw Brett and I doing it for her so she wouldn't get a hot bite and now she does it too. It's so cute.


Please note the cute Halloween t-shirt from auntie Allison and the darling bows that Coree made that no longer last more than a minute or two on her head. I still try though--because I can't stand how adorable they are!

Jolie loves playing with Colby. Sometimes she will cry if I take her from him if they are in the middle of being silly together because she isn't done yet! He is such a good helper and a cute brother. We look forward to picking him up from school everyday!

Now the following picture was taken on a Sunday a few weeks ago. Brett and I were getting ready for church and J-boogie fell asleep in her crib in this baby yoga position.

The Willows

I keep forgetting my camera so sometimes my camera phone has to do. Yesterday I went on Colby's walking field trip to The Willows, which is an assisted living nursing home in Blackfoot. The whole third grade went and they sang their little hearts out for the residents there. I was really proud of the kids for doing such a great job. Every person was smiling, some were singing along and tapping their feet or clapping to the beat. I was a little choked up especially when Jolie caught the eye of a sweet Granny with her cute smile. I know that this type of service needs to be done regulary, and I want to make sure that I instill that in my children!

A Great Weekend in Zion!

Oh Utah...you call to me like the Sirens! Last wekend the kids and I were able to go to Utah to spend some time with our family and to attend a baby shower! Brett had to work Friday and Saturday so he opted to stay home. Luckily for him, some really fun things came up on Saturday and I know he enjoyed a little "man time" sans me and the kids. Colby was so excited to see his cousins and to play with his Grandma! As you can see here by the giant smile on his face, he enjoyed every minute we were there and asked why we couldn't stay until Halloween. I had a lot of fun just hanging out and watching conference. I also took some fresh peaches down with me and made peach pies for everyone! It rained a lot, so we didn't venture out too much! Anyway I'm sorry that I didn't get to see any friends. I hope that my next visit can be LONGER!

This is my sister Andrea and her sister-in-law Cindy. We partied on Friday night with Cindy celebrating the up and coming birth of her already oh so sweet baby girl!

My sister Hilerie, Cindy, Jolie and I

At Stephanie's house glugging some milk!

Jolie's toothy grin for the camera!

Cindy, my sisters Stephanie and Andrea

Thanks fun family for being so good to us! Thanks mom for going to Robert's with me to find the perfect shelf! You're a good mama and I love you.

A Close Call!

I got pulled over yesterday because I was speeding in a school zone. I'm not proud of that at all! I was clocked at 28 mph and to my surprise the policeman just asked me to slow down and let me go. I couldn't believe it! That has never happened to me. Whenever I've been pulled over in the past I just know that I'm guilty and I've never evaded a ticket. Anyway, I'm glad I didn't get a ticket and I promise that I will watch my speed. I think I am still getting used to the new car if that makes any sense at all! I knew the exact pedal pressure in my jeep for 20 and 30 mph and the toyota is different so I need to pay more attention!

Busy!

I started working in the day care at Gold's Gym about three weeks ago. I really like it so far and the benefits that come along with it. I go in three afternoons a week, and the kids can come with me. Colby likes it because he can watch cartoons! Jolie can crawl all around now and play with the toys, and I think she likes the other kids there too. I like the free membership and the interaction with adults. My co-workers are all really nice and the gym regulars are fun to talk to. Brett comes to work out on his way home from work and then he takes the kids home. it's worked out really well so far, I just make sure there is something ready for dinner and he takes care of the rest. I'm always home between 8:15 and 8:45 so it's not too bad! It's just twelve hours a week, but I feel busy! My blog has been sorely neglected...







Recently I've made a few fresh peach pies with friends and strawberry jam. We also had a garage sale and we made about 200 bucks! Yay! Today my kitchen sink is clogged and I think we're going to have to call a plumber to auger it--what a pain! I told Brett that I wish I could just call maintenance and have them come and fix it. SEE--there are some good things about living in an apartment!

Anyway, things are going well and we're all happy and healthy. We are going to Utah this weekend so hopefully I'll have some better posting material by Monday!