Bella growing up before our eyes!

Bella is growing up so fast! Here are a couple of photos below to catch you up on how much she has grown! We are in the process of updating our blog so stay tune for more updates to come.
Look at our little angel!

Look at that face ~ what is she thinking?

So serious.....

Laughing and smiling

Bella is here!

I know everyone has been waiting for pictures of our little Bella and finally I am getting around to posting them.


Here are just a few of the great candid moments since her birth....

It was a long 3 days, we were so happy when she was finally in our arms.





Daddy just loved to sit and look at her.









Just lounging in mommy's lap!

Grandma Bobbie gave me my first tub bath.

















Daddy's first time giving Bella a bottle... he was a little worried about spilling, hence his "bib".













I am the princess!












Visitng my Auntie Jen and soon to be cousin Mackenzie!















My first time meeting Great Grandma Terri. She had me wear the beautiful christening gown she brought over from England in 1944.
















Bella also got to meet all her other "cousins"during our trip to Seattle.





From left (also oldest to youngest), Corbin, Gage, and Bella.









And here's the rest of the crew, Gavin, Lanea, and Blake.











My first trip to th park with Grandma Darlene. It was so sunny I had to wear mommy's hat.




















Bella's first time grabbing a toy!





Finally, mommy captured a smile! Only took two months.



















Sleepy girl...why is that every time daddy holds her she dozes off?












Mommy and daddy love you!















Thats all for now, but I promise to post more often when I'm back to work, which will be in two weeks.

Growing Belly and Baby's Room

I know it's been a while since we've posted anything and everyone is wondering....how big is she? What does the nursery look like? We'll here's a quick peek at what's been going on in our lives......



7 Months~ Wow, can't believe I finally made it this far....only 3 months to go now!














And here, at 8 months.... 8 weeks and counting! I had just returned from my trip to Dallas and boy was I tired! It took nearly an entire weekend to recover but I feel great now!








I finally, got time to work on Bella's nursery and here's what it looks like so far.....


These are some shadowbox shelves we put together for knick-knacks and other stuff. We also added in some decorative paper and some old shadowboxes from Grandma Trudy's house to keep it interesting.










And finally, the momen't you've all been waiting for.....the mural I have been working on.
















It's only about 1/2 done so far and has turned out to be quite the project. The bright flowers really bring life to the room though.

The phrase over Bella's crib reads "The angels danced when you were born".















The mural carries over into the next wall and behind some fun prints I got at work. Grandma Annie's glider has taken a place in the corner and we're working on recovering the cushions to match.

The guest bed has a cute duvet cover with a white background and colorful flowers to match the theme of the room.







And these are some little frames I put together to hold pictures of the new baby......

Trip to Sun City!

We spent last weekend with Brandon and Teresa in Sun City, CA! It was a great, but quick trip and we even had the best surprise ever.....Daniel was there Friday and Saturday! Being a mom-to-be I got really emotional about seeing Daniel and cried about the "surprise". Thanks Brandon and Teresa for making that happen! It couldn't have been more special. Here are some pictures from our trip:





Daniel was very excited to help decorate the Christmas Tree. Footballs, dogs and all!

Hey....this one looks like Scruffy!

Its time to put the star on, do you think you can reach the top?

How about a boost from dad?

Come on Grandpa! Let's go for a walk! Grandpa really needed some air Saturday morning. He tried to keep up with Brandon and Snuffy and found out it's not as easy as it used to be. Needless to say.....we had fun teasing him all day!

He was truly overdressed for the warm Sun City weather....leather coat, hat and all. We think he looked like someone out of the Blues Brothers Movie in this picture.

Even once he was back inside, he found it very hard to take his glasses off.

Check out this video clip of Daniel and Grandpa playing. It's a little wobbly as Scruffy was trying to knock me over, but it's still cute!

Do you think Grandpa can get out of this knot? Daniel was very into this piece of rope and amused himself for hours tying up a sleeping Grandpa.

After a long hard day, Grandpa finally fell asleep on the couch. He had worked so hard on keeping Rocky of the couch that it was just too ironic to see them both sleeping soundly!

Thanks for a great weekend you guys! We look forward to many more with both our families and children!

Idaho Snow!!!

Well, it finally started to snow in Idaho on the 2nd of December and boy did it snow! We accumulated a foot overnight and nearly 2 feet of fresh white stuff by the end of the day.

This is what our back deck looked like when we woke up on Sunday. Apparently Mother Nature had been very busy while we slept.

Jack was a little unsure at first what to do with all the white stuff. He has since learned to love it, except......

man I have to pee....where do I go? How do I get there? Ian had to shovel some paths for him so he would actually go....

thanks for the tip on that one Mike!


By the time we were done goofing around in the back yard, Ian decided it was time to shovel... we were in for a surpise. We opened the front door to two feet of snow on the deck, walkway, cars and driveway. I think we shoveled three times that day; when the plows finally came through about 4 pm, we had to remove the 4 foot high burm at the end of our driveway. That wasn't much fun....next year we want a snow blower for Christmas (hint, hint)!

Snow Camping

This was our first year joining the crew at Indian Head Camp Ground at Priest Lake. What a blast! It was great fun, even when you are the only sober adult there. You would not believe what a production it is.....we were only there for tear down, but I can't imagine how much work putting it all up would be and will be in future camps!

This is the exterior view of "The Compound" if you will. There were a total of 4 Wall Tents, each with their own wood stove to keep it nice and toasty! You can tell there were plenty of coolers and beer....a nice mommy even brought O'Douls for the prego.

The all important bar and eating area....this also became the hang out for the boys. It was also the warmest in here!

The gourmet kitchen was amazing! We ate better while we were camping than we do when we're at home! They even had a camping oven and a drip coffee pot that works on the gas cook stoves! Nice work Laurie!

And finally, the sleeping quarters! Believe it or not there were 16 of us packed in these two tents. We were nice and warm too (as long as someone stoked the fire when they got up to pee). Ian and I were quite surprised how comfy and cozy it was and Jack thought it was really cool to be able to follow people outside in the middle of the night to do his business.

Growing belly

Mommy's belly is really expanding now! A co-worker has started taking photos of the growth each week.


This picture was taken at the end of Month 4. Just barely showing and only when the clothes were more fitted.
















The picture below was from our weekend in Seattle for Linnea's Birthday Party and Jen and Wally's engagement party! The three of us are all due within 3 weeks of one another with Marci due the earliest. We may end up with a whole football team, as both Marcia and Marla are having boys!

















We had Thanksgiving at the Smith's House this year before going snow camping....yes, SNOW CAMPING!!!!










And finally, my belly at month 5! Now I am really starting to feel the expansion. My non-maternity clothes are about to be retired to the back of the closet as they are getting smaller and smaller!