Our 1st Big Snowfall of the Season!!!!

Sunday we had the first big snowfall of the Season! My kids were so excited!!!

This happened even before Halloween!!!

We started out the day waking up with me not feeling well, and Mike with very little sleep. So I decided to crawl out of bed, let Mike sleep in, and decided to go and check on our kids. I went and laid down on the couch, as the kids started slowly climbing on me, looking outside and realizing how much snow was falling. They were all so excited! Addi, tried going outside in bare feet and PJ's she was so excited. So of course I had to quickly stop her and told her it was to cold to go outside right then. I told the kids to all eat their breakfast.

The next thing I woke up, not realizing I had fallen asleep, to my kids whispering to see who was going to ask me...Kyler piped up and said, "Mama...Mama..." my eyes were closed, so I opened them up to the cutest little sight. " We all ate our breakfast, we are all trying to be good, we all got our snow clothes on, can we Pleeaase.... go outside!" How can a mother resist this, all of my kids tried their best, all four in a row, pleading with their little hands together like they were begging.... in their cute little snow attire. So of course I said yes! They were so excited, they could hardly handle it. So of course I had to grab the camera! They had a blast! They were sad to see the snow melt so fast by today it was pretty much gone.

Ethan-What a crazy kid!

Kyler- What a Goof Ball!Jessi-What a Funny & Silly Girl!Addi- Our Sweet little Angel! Well Sometimes:)
They were all having so much fun! They played out there for 2 Hours....What die hards!!!!
Their attempt at a snowman, but it ended up turning into a fun slide instead! My Sweet little Angels! I don't know what I would ever do without them! They are our Life!!! I feel so blessed! They are truly great Kids!!! We got very lucky!I sure love my Babes!!!!

We had Hot Cocoa and Warmed up Cheezy Crackers when they came in. They were so cold and red skinned. They definetly can't wait until the next Big Snowfall!

We've had a lot of changes this year! Between selling our house, moving to Grandma and Grandpa Strains basement for a while, switching wards and callings. Me and Mike both in the hospital. Mike moved from working at Autoliv for 8 years to applying down at Westech Engineering in Salt Lake City! My big bro. Tyson has been trying to convince him to apply down there where he works at Westech. So this past March 2008, we decided to apply and boom! It was a great opportunity for our family to switch jobs. Mike amazes me with all of his hard work and dedication he has to our family. I love that man very much! So Tyson, thanks! So now we're a Westech Family! So since it was a long commute we decided to sell Mikes Ford Truck and get a Toyota Corolla for the great gas mileage. But it works out even better because Westech pays for half of a pass for him to ride the train. So even cheaper. We only spend around $95 in gas a month for him to travel to S.L.C. every day! Bonus!!!
Jessi and Kyler both finished up there soccer season in the Spring. They had a lot of fun. Mike and Grandpa Strain coached Ethans Minors boy baseball team in Spring 2008 and their team won Ogden City Championships, which led them to go to state championships. They had a lot of fun. Ethan got a couple of game winning hits, including getting the team ball in the final game of the Ogden City Championship for his great play. He did really well. Kyler, such a natural athlete, and Jessi also played baseball and had a blast. It was Jessi's first year playing tee ball. They had lots of fun.
We were able to do our annual go and stay at little America in Salt Lake City with the kids in May. They love to stay in the hotel for a night or two, and swim in their way cool pool. They are so funny. But it's fun to do that once a year, to just get a way as a family for a cheap Vacation!
Ethan got his front bottom tooth half way knocked out this year playing around with his cousins. So that was a pretty penny fixing that with no insurance because we didn't qualify for insurance with our new job yet! They are such a crazy bunch when we all get together. Everyone of them love it! Then he got it knocked out a second time playing around with his cousins again. But luckily this time we had insurance to help out, hopefully this being the last time of getting it knocked out! Ethans such a great kid, he just likes to play rough sometimes! A boy's got to do what a boy's got to do, right?
The kids all took swimming lessons this summer at Ben Lomond High Schools Pool. They all loved it!
Kyler got Baptized July 5th, 2008. We are so proud of him. He is such a cute kid.
We then decided to move again so we could get our kids over to their new school district before the school year started, so we moved in now with Mom & Dad Gollaher, switching wards and callings again. Like I said in my previous post. We are going to buy their house eventually. Yeesss! So needless to say, we have had an adventurous year so far. Lot's of changes, but mostly for the better!
We've also found a new favorite family game. It's called "Settlers of Catan", my favorite. Mike's family introduced us to that game. Now I've got my side of the family hooked. So I've got it made, I pretty much get to play it any time I want, I love it!!! I just switch back and forth between families. Basically it's my Hobby Lately!
I've been doing daycare on and off in my own home now for 6 years. Right now I watch my cute little niece Berklie Dawn Gollaher. My Brother Rick and Camisha's little girl. I've been watching her since she was 6 weeks old. We love her to pieces. She's now 2 1/2. She's just part of our little family. She's fits in like one of the kids. She's expecting a new little sister in February which I'm really excited about, because I get to start watching her too. I also watch another little girl by the name of Olivia. She is a dolly too. Her Grammy works up at my kids' old school, Hillcrest Elementary, as a 5th grade teacher. Her mom works at Hill Air Force Base. They are such a neat little family. I've been watching her since she was 3, she is now turning 6. I have a really strong connection with her also. She fits in as one of the kids too. So needless to say, I really have 6 kids right now, not 4. My sister Tami helps me do daycare during the day. We have a lot of fun. She recently is trying to have a daycare child under her for the first time. She's doing a great job! She brings her baby Morgan over too, so she can have a social life. She's such a cutie!
Mike is going to be taking his very first Westech Business trip this next Tuesday. I'm really going to miss him. He is going to be back that following Thursday night though. So not way long. But too long for me. He hasn't had to travel for years. I can't wait for his trip to be over. He's only going to Reno. So not to far. But ya just worry about them and miss them when their gone!

I'm so excited! We've finally got a family blog!
Mike and I have been married now for 11 years! WoW! How time flies. We have four beautiful children who we absolutely adore. They all are really great kids. Ethan is 10, Kyler is 8, Jessica is 6, and Adalyn is 4. We sold our house in December! We are planning on buying my Mom and Dad Gollaher's house eventually. With the market being as crazy as what it has been, were hoping it doesn't take us to long. Mom and Dad are planning on buying a nice sized one level house. We are excited for them and for us! It's a win win situation!
The kids have been adjusting well now in our new school district. They struggled at the beginning with being at a new school but they are now handling it pretty well. Jessi still struggles a little. She's used to having Grandma Strain for comfort at her old school, "Hillcrest Elementary", so it's hard for her not to have that comfort at her new School, "Pioneer Elementary". Who can blame her! It's awesome having a Grandma as your school secretary.
Jessi wouldn't go to bed last night, so I finally resorted to telling her, "If you don't go to bed right now, you will be grounded tommorrow." She responded excitedly,"From School"! She was stoked. Of course we broke her great plan with a big "No". She is so funny.
I'm so proud of our kids. They work so hard with the things they want to do. Both Ethan and Kyler are in cub scouts and love it. Ethan is in Webelos now and Kyler's a Wolf. I'm the Bear Den Leader, and my Mom is the Wolf Den Leader, so we are going to have lots of fun doing den meetings together. We had a Pack Night tonight, Kyler got awarded his "Bobcat" Ethan earned 5 of his Webelos pins. They were excited! They are doing a great job. At the end of Pack I felt bad for Kyler he was running backwards with the other scouts and Adults in the parking lot and accidently got fell on by an Adult. Of course the parent felt bad, Kyler bit his tongue pretty bad! Ouch! And well lets just say he ate pavement! He still has some black on his teeth we can't get off all the way. Poor kid! He's also got some pretty good scrapes. It's a good thing kids are survivors.
Our little Adalyn(Addi) is such a spit fire. I've never seen a girl that loves to play dress-up and pretend as much as her. She's always talking to someone that we don't see. She's a hoot! One thing about her that is kinda funny is we can never find matching shoes for her when we are ready to go some where. We don't know what she's always doing with them.