Creative Side

So the kids have been very creative lately, which I can't complain about. I much prefer them to be using their imaginations than watching TV. Their first bout was Friday night when it was snowing outside. They decided to make it snow inside. So, Keegan came up with the idea to make snowflakes. Kiana's friend Alyx was over as well and they all had a wonderful time cutting and making paper snowflakes. They then hung them all over the room. And it left quite the mess as you can imagine!

Then tonight to our surprise, they made a whole show for us. They had all the lights off and had a flashing light in the area of the stairs where they put on a show with Skeleton sock puppets. It was quite adorable.

Keegan's puppets (Jack Sparrow Skeleton and Jack Sparrow)

Kiana's puppets (Jack Skeleton and Bob Skeleton)

After the show, taking their bows.

Then it was time for dress up. They dressed up and they dressed us up.

Little Red Riding Wizard and Rocket Boy

Don't we look so attractive?

We had to wear hats or else we wouldn't be allowed to watch the show

Kids are so much fun!

House Fire

We have had a lot of questions in regards to our house fire and people wanting updates, so I figured this would be a lot easier than trying to fit it all on Facebook.

To explain the story, I'll go to the night before, which thankfully had been a wonderful night. I had gotten home from work at about 6:45 pm (usual time) and Kiana had asked me to do something with her. I suggested we make some cookies which she thought was a wonderful idea. (And no, surprisingly, this wasn't what caused the fire!) So we made No-Bake Cookies which we all love. We then had Family Home Evening, which included a longer than expected game of Disney Trivia Pursuit. We finally sat down for dinner at about 10:00 pm (after finding out our microwave no longer cooked) and started watching Encino Man, then enjoyed some of our cookies. Then we went to bed.

I woke up at about 2:45 am to a strong smell of something burning. It smelled plastic and electrical. At first I thought the motor to the fan that I place by my bed at night had burned out, then maybe something plastic in the dishwasher melted. Jer and I searched the house for over a half hour touching light switches and plugs, looking for the source of the smell, but were unable to locate it. There was no smoke in the house, just the burning smell. I had to work in the morning, so still a little worried, we went back to bed.

At about 4:30 am the smoke alarms went off. I ran downstairs and found that Jer had found the source of the fire behind our big screen TV. He had yanked the TV out of it's cubby area and I could see small flames coming from behind. The cords were all melted and the wall was burnt. He told me to get the kids out of the house, so I ran upstairs to them. They luckily had gotten hot during the night and were sleeping next to each other on the floor. We ran down the stairs (after I grabbed some pants considering I had been sleeping in a t-shirt), grabbed my cell phone at the bottom of the stairs and ran out the front door. I got the kids outside, then crawled back inside to get Jer. We both went back outside and I called 911 while Jer ran around back to try and turn off the gas. I went around back to find Jer just in time to see the back window explode out. Luckily he wasn't in or too close to the house. We ran around front and I again called 911, panicked now that the fire was so huge, so fast. They notified me that four engines were on their way and would be there soon. We then moved across the street and waited.

The fire engines arrived quickly after from Boise, Meridian, Kuna and Whitney. The fire crews worked quickly and were able to contain the fire and stop it from spreading to nearby homes. They were very good at keeping us informed of what was going on and answering any questions we had after the fire.

We had many neighbors and friends arrive quickly after the fire started to offer us support and anything else that we might need. We really found out what a wonderful neighborhood we live in. We have had continuous support from everyone around us and we hope you all know how much it has meant to us and how much it has helped us make it through this difficult time.

The home is still standing, but is a total loss. Everything that did not burn received smoke and/or water damage. The kids have had a hard time understanding why they can't go get the toys that are still in the house. But they do seem to be handling everything okay.

Here are some pictures of the damage to our home.

The back of our house.

Our family room and fireplace.

Crown molding Jer added throughout our home.

The kitchen and dining room table.

Where the fire started and what was left of the 62" TV.

The kid's upstairs bathtub.

Kiana's clothes in her room. The rest of the clothes were on the floor
due to the hangers melting.


Our fridge.

Kiana later told Grandma Chris that if I had known that we were going to have a fire, I would have let her eat more cookies so that they wouldn't have gone to waste. I love the way that kid's mind's work!

Grandma's House

Last Saturday, the 9th, our family got together at Grandma Janet's and Grandpa Gary's house to celebrate Adam's graduation.

It was so much fun seeing everyone and just relaxing. The kids had a blast with their cousins and running around their grandparents yard. We live in Boise, in a subdivision, on only 1/4 of an acre. So... to have acres and acres to run around and explore was a real treat!

We rode fourwheelers, had a fantastic meal, visited, the kids played in the fifth-wheel (it's like a playhouse!). Here are some pictures of our fun.

Jackson blowing bubbles (Or maybe eating them. One of the other.)

Adam and Mason on the fourwheeler

Happy Brigham

Keegan playing with Grandpa Scott

Kiana, always happy to smile for a picture!

Mason, Bridger and Keegan playing in the fifth-wheel

Grandpa Gary and Wendy

Kiana, Savannah and Jackson blowing bubbles

Tomboy

Kiana likes to dress up, get her hair all curled and will wear makeup whenever I will allow it. But, there is another side of her that takes after me.

From All Dolled Up

I had Friday off of work and considering it was going to be over 70 degrees that day, I decided it would be a great day to get some yard work done (and hopefully get a little sun on my winter-white skin at the same time). Kiana loves to be outside, so I decided to have her help out. We were trimming some of our bushes, removing clumps of grass from the areas it shouldn't be and pulling weeds that have unfortunately already started showing up. Well, in this process, we came across quite a few earthworms that were hiding in the dirt. Kiana had to hold everyone of them and had plenty of questions about them, including, "Can I keep one as a pet?" Obviously the answer to that one was no, but that didn't keep her from playing with them while they were outside.

Most girls when you clean out their pockets you find flowers, jewelry, lip gloss, etc. But my little girl, I find rocks. When she goes outside, she loves to find bugs, slugs and worms. I quite often find containers holding ladybugs or rolly-pollies in her room. (Unfortunately, they don't seem to live very long.) She doesn't seem to be afraid of anything and even loves to visit the spider and snake exhibits at the zoo and feels very fortunate when they let her hold them.

To Down and Dirty

I think it's kind of fun to see how your kids take after you. This is one area where my daughter is a lot like me. She likes to be outside and doesn't mind getting dirty. In fact, she quite enjoys it. And she is very proud of the fact that she is a tomboy!

Who Likes Presents??

I got this off one of my friend's blogs and thought it sounded like fun. So here's how it works:The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a gift from me during this year. When and what will be a surprise. There's a small catch though...Post this same thing on your own blog and then come back and leave a comment telling me you're in. Fun, huh? Remember, only the first 3 comments receive the gift!

Valentine's Day

Okay, so I finally decided to try this blog thing out. We'll see how much time I actually get to update it though. :)


For Valentine's Day, Keegan had to make his own Valentine's box. The instructions said to be creative, no crayons, markers, colored pencils allowed. So Jeremy, being the creative person he is, decides that this could be a lot of fun! He gets 2 reactor core switch panels along with a motor module something :) that his grandpa left him. (His grandfather used to work out at the site for NOAA I believe.) Keegan and Jer decide to build a launch pad with a rocket for the box. All four of us end up working until after 11:30 that night on it to get it ready for the next morning.




Now, there is something you need to know about this motor module with the 2 switch panels on the sides. Together they happen to weigh 16.5 lbs (and yes I actually weighed it using my Wii Fit). Not something that Keegan can really carry onto the bus and then into school by himself. So I drove him to school the next day and carried it in for him. The teacher had him set it in a special place so all the kids could see it.


Jeremy went to Keegan's school a few days later to help with the Valentine's party. He said Keegan's teacher approached him and asked him if he knew that they weren't having a contest with the Valentine's boxes. Jer told her he knew, they just wanted to make something really cool. Keegan said all the kids really like it.

Boys and their reactor cores! Sheesh! :)