Christmas Slide Show 2009

This free picture slideshow made with Smilebox

Finally some Halloween pictures!

As I was going through these pictures I realized the kids aren't smiling in any of them. Probably because they had all this candy, but didn't know where it went. (but I do, and so do my thighs!)

Dillon as the Giraffe at our Playgroup party

Kaitlyn uses her photography skills to grab a picture of Mom, Dad & the Pumkin

Dillon as the Giraffe

Kaitlyn as a Hula Girl at the Playgroup party

The Evil Witch and her side kick Aligator Boy

Just a few Pictures that make me smile!

Dillon discovered he can put both paci's to use!

A fun weekend with "2 Grandma's"

Having fun at Gap with Granda Derrick

His face was just too cute not to include. Such a happy sucker!

I was talking to a friend of mine in Idaho the other day and she was saying I should take some pictures of our home so they could see where we live. So I took a few of the main floor with the tiny changes we've made since we've been here.

The Family Room

(changed the blindes, still need a new fan and paint)

Mantle

(changed the huge canister light to a new little light)

The Kitchen

(Painted walls blue, spray painted the white on the light to bronze)

Entry Light
(New light. What do you think? Different or outdated. I got it brand new at a garage sale for $10.)


The Entry

(behind Kaitlyn is our "shoe cubby" I got at a garage sale for $20, the greenery and mirror also came from garage sales.)

Our trip to the Apple Orchard

We had a great time with our ward play group at the apple orchard

Kaitlyn got to pretend to be a bee keeper

Dillon just wanted to pet a chicken, those poor chickens.

We loved picking our apples

Dillon loved the hay ride, kind of.

Kaitlyn with her friends hanging out on the hayride.

The Fall Festival

We all enjoyed a literal "brick" of fries with cheese of course.

(Don't even try to count the calories!)

The kids were both mesmerized by the remote control singing fire hydrant


Enjoying their first REAL parade

And all the candy that came with it.

Nauvoo Trip

We had a great time on our ward temple trip to Nauvoo last month. James's mom flew out so she could come onthe 4 hour drive with us to Nauvoo. We stopped in Hannibal Missouri on the way to stretch our legs, look around and take some pictures. Here's a little preview of all Nauvoo has to offer. We look forward to having all of you out here next summer! Our door is always open!

We are now Modern!

Dillon's new favorite toy

Daddy's new favorite toy

Everyone is happy on Saturday and Sunday

No more crowded movies in the cubby

August and September

Wow it's been a long time! I've been so lazy about blogging. I've tried the facebook thing, but I'm no good at that either. I better just stick with what I know. I love looking at what everyone else is up to. It makes me what to be there doing it all with you! We haven't been up to much, but here are the highlights.
Chiefs Pre-season game
Worlds of Fun amusment park
Deanna Rose farm
Painted the Dining area
Did some laundry
I hope you all enjoy the piotures. Dillon is starting to talk a little more. He now says "foo-ball" and "memo" (elmo), as well as a lot of ball, dog, dad, and mama. He's 15 months today and loves being outside, running away from mom, and dancing (especially spinnning in circles).
Kaitlyn loves school and is quite the social gal. I try to keep her busy with playdates. She is also learning how to write her letters. Her favorite movies are the Letter Factory and the Word Factory. She knows the sounds of all the letters and is working on reading (kind of).
James is out of town, again, so I've enjoyed a few late movie nights and just hanging out. He gets home tonight and we leave for Nauvoo in the morning! Better get packing! I know these slide shows are pretty old school, but it's all I know so enjoy!

Lots of Summer Pictures

One busy summer

My month in a nutshell:
flew 3 hours with 2 kids by myself and did GREAT!
weaned Dillon (1 year old)
Got Dillon to sleep through the night (weaning was the trick, before that he was up 3-4 times a night. AHHHH)
missed my husband
drove to KC with my parents and sister
reunited with my wonderful husband
Entertained my family for 4 days
-Independence Visitors Center
-Liberty Jail
-Crown Center
-T-Rex Cafe
-Penguin Park
-Adam-ondi-Ahman
-Far West
-Jamesport (Amish town)
-Jackstack BBQ
-KC Royals game (vs White Sox)
sent my husband on his 4th (and last) 6 day trip this summer

For more details read below.

This summer has seemed extra busy. James has been gone 4 of the last 7 weeks and 2 of those weeks I was in Utah alone with the kids. It was fun seein family, and I apologize to those of you we weren't able to get in touch with. My plans kind of went downhill when I got sick with either the flu or food poisoning the last Monday I was there. It was not fun! By the time I felt recovered enough we were dealing with trying to get James on a stand-by flight out there. It fell through and I was totally bummed! So we continued our fun and went to the Smith Family Reunion and had a blast, but missed James every minute, espcially when we were playing football and "red rover" (we needed his help). Finally, my parents, my sister (Rachelle), and myself and the kids drove back to Kansas City. The kids did almost as well in the car as they did on the plane ride out. I was very pleased, but ready to get out of the van and into my waiting husbands arms.
My family stayed with us for 4 days and we crammed almost every possible activity into it. For a mid-west city it has a lot to do. So anyone looking for a nice family friendly vacation check out Villa Von Gunten. We're getting pretty good at taking people around the city and doing lots of fun, inexpensive things as well as visiting the church history sites out here.

A Fun Week!

We've had a great week and it's only Wednesday. I wanted to get some recent pictures of Dillon on here for his birthday, which we are celebrating on Saturday. Wow, how time fly's! I adore my sweet children and hold precious this time I have to watch them grow and learn.

Now here are May's pics

I know it's June, but here are April's Pictures

I just had to post these still, even though it was 2 months ago. We had such a great time with Skeet, Emily, Nathan and our two Grandma's! Thanks for all the memories!

Is it May already!

I've put this off for too long and now the task is way more than I can handle, so I'll do a short update without pics just to get me back in the game.
We had a great April. James' family came out for a visit and we realized how fun Kansas City really is and can't wait to show it to everyone.
James has started his summer traveling and will be in and out for the next few months. He enjoys playing basketball during his lunch breaks and keeping up with the young men in the ward. Kaitlyn still adores him and they just discovered playing catch together. James was ecstatic!
Rebecca, oh yeah me, I've had a Demarle party here and there. But most of my time is spent keeping up with playgroups, play dates, and playschool. I guess I just play all day! I do love my life. I have also discovered how to do cool things like make bread and yogurt. It has really helped us save money. I even grind my own wheat! James gets a kick of telling his buddy's at work how "homemade" his lunch his. But the real reason I haven't blogged is because it's garage sale season and man is it crazy! You wouldn't believe the great stuff I find, I've probably already told you but just in case here are a few of my top finds (all are in great, like new condition):

2 burner gas grill $10 (okay, it's pretty used, but a new one would look just as used soon)
Oster Bread Maker $7.50
Nike Jordan baby boy shoes $2.00
Princess Bike $10
Fisher Price Bubble Lawn Mower Blower $1

I'm telling you, I am in HEAVEN here!

Kaitlyn also loves garage sales and sports here favorite 25 cent sandals everyday. They're a chunky, strappy Barbie sandal with pink flower jewels that are 2 sizes too big. She could care less and I have to talk her out of wearing them when I get sick of the "clunk, clunk, clunk" they make. She also loves her sparkly red Dorothy shoes (also a quarter) and wears them every week, despite Daddy's argument of them not matching her pink dress.

As for "Pickman" a.k.a "Pickle" a.k.a "Dillon Pickle" a.k.a "Trouble" a.k.a. "Punk" a.k.a. "Squirt" okay, I think that's all of them. He is a riot! Always emptying drawers and cupboards, pulling book off shelves, and eating various items off the floor. He is a very determined little guy and so smart too. He's starting to sign "finished" and "more" and responds to ques such as "head butt" and "how big is Dillon, So big!" He loves music and will clap and dance along. He got his 1st tooth this month (finally! he turns one June 10th) and is enjoying watermelon and cauliflower(cooked of course). He really is a great baby. He's content in the car, but once he's out, watch out! Sometimes I feel like I have a dog. My neighbor and I are constantly saying the same things, "don't each the grass/rocks/ dirt" except she's talking to her dog. Dillon has also taken his first steps. The most I've counted so far was 3.

Well that's that. Us in a rather large nutshell. Thanks for reading! I'll try to catch up on your blog later!

Love this song!

So I was running this morning and this song came on the radio and I totally started crying! Of course it was country, but it's not a sad song, just a reflecting one. It's funny because just yesterday I was blow drying my hair with Dillon standing up holding on to my legs and I thought, "Oh how sad will be the day when he doesn't need me anymore." Like my 3 year old who insisted she was 16 the other day, no longer needs me. The precious times go by so much faster when you have a living example of what they will be just 2 years from now.

Dillon 7 Months Old

Birthday Visit with "2 Grandma's"

So my computer was acting up and I wasn't able to put on all the pictures I wanted, so here they are. Grandma Derrick and Grandma Von Gunten came for a quick visit the weekend of her birhday and showered her with gifts! The lucky girl!

She loves her Grandma Derrick!

Grandma Von Gunten got her a little computer that she LOVES and had to have. For weeks before her birthday all she could talk about was that she wanted a little computer for her birthday like her cousins Brielle and Paige.

We went out to dinner at her favorite resturant, Cici's pizza. It was her last free meal there. She loves to "play" the video games when she's done eating.

Happy 3rd Birthday Kaitlyn!

We had a great time celebrating her birthday at Chuck E. Cheese with her friends. She chose a Tinkerbell theme and I made her an ice cream birthday cake. I can't believe it's been 3 years! We have so much fun with her and she is becoming more and more of a Daddy's girl.

I had to stay right by her side and MAKE her open her presents because every time she heard the carousal she ditched her party and raced over to ride one of the horses.

Carousal Queen!

One time she got there and all the horses were taken so she just climbed on and stood in the middle and laughed while it went around. She can hear that thing from across the room and once she does, there is no stopping her!

What's REALLY going on

Sometimes I post a bunch of pictures then forget to tell what we're doing when we aren't in front of the camera. James traveled to California twice this month. Once to San Diego and recently to Marina Del Rey. He says he hates being away, but really can it be THAT bad? I think he just tells me that so I don't get too jealous of the fancy dinners he gets every night on his company tab. LUCKY!
I just started my Demarle at Home business. I'm a new representative for this company that sells flexible bake ware. It's great stuff! We'll have to book you a party! My friend lent me The Host, so naturally I've been reading that with any spare time I get, sacrificing valuable sleep.
Kaitlyn is loving her friends and I try to keep us busy with library story time, playgroup, playschool, and play dates. The weather was oddly warm 2 weeks ago so we were able to get out for a walk and enjoyed playing at the park. She is a very resourceful child, sometimes too resourceful. She went out to our car in the church parking lot the other day at playgroup and got her doll that she wanted. It wasn't until we were leaving that I noticed she had her doll and asked her how she got it. She tilted her head to the side and said, "I just go out to the car and get her" like there was nothing wrong. Ahhh! Right now as I type I can hear her in the kitchen probably trying to get a snack she shouldn't have because she's being pretty quiet.
Dillon is just a fun lovin' guy always looking for adventure... and the remote control. He loves to make James his climbing obstacle. He thinks he likes stairs and has climbed up a few of them before I caught him. He's only had 1 tumble, but just a stair or 2. He's more interested in going up than he is down. We have 2 sets of stairs, so I have to keep a close watch on him, or get a gate. I just keep thinking he'll learn to go down. We do have a door for the basement stairs though.
All in all life is good and we are loving life in the mid-west, just wish you all were here too!