Bowling Bonanza:

A few weeks ago, we took the kids bowling for the first time. It was a hoot. Brinly and Cade LOVED it! Cade could hardly carry the ball, or Brinly for that matter, but they were entranced by the return-the-ball machine. While we waited for their ball to finally meet the pins, our neighbor bowlers took about three turns--literally! It was too funny to watch how slowly the ball rolled down our alley. It was definitely memorable!

Brin taking her turn while little brother soaks in the technique of his all-knowing big sister:)

Cade's victory! (I LOVE it when he does this...it is just makes me melt.)

Aerobic Adventures:

So Brinly has a great little dance class she attends each week- last week, we were without a car, so we biked. It really was very refreshing, even with heat of almost 100 degrees outside! I enjoyed the exercise, and the kids fell asleep-helmets and all- on the way home...great bonus:)

Dress-up Dude and Diva:

Brinly enjoys dress-up immensely--Cade is now succumbing to his sister's endless efforts to join her:) Introducing...Cowboy Cade!

...AND snow princess Brinly!

Hurricane Ike

The storms of these days are amazing! This hurricane is huge and is hitting my sister's home in the outer skirts of Houston. We are hoping and praying that their home will be protected from the incredibly strong winds and the torrential rain and flooding.

Our Musician

Brinly is amazing...she dances, she sings, and now she plays the piano:)

Cade's Chatter

At the Westover Family Reunion, just following Shane's father's sealing to his parents (very neat by the way), we had food and fun at a park in Dayton, ID. Cade and Brinly enjoyed playing with their cousin, Jaydon, while the adults mingled. Cade also became quite the chatter box, as displayed in the video. Pretty cute:)

Brinly's First Dance Recital

Brinly was adorable at her recital! Watch and enjoy!

And then there was one....

About a week and a half ago, we found out our little 14 year old Geo Prizm needed some serious work...more than we would be willing to dish out for our faithful commuter. We weren't quite sure what to do- run it to the ground, try to sell it, or save up for repairs. Shane posted it on craigslist just to see if there would be any interest. He also took it to Carmax for a quote-- they offered him $300. I honestly thought there was no way that anyone would buy it for more than $500 max with the knowledge of it's needed repairs.

Well, Shane had TONS of calls on the car--like 3-4 every day! The first guy came to look at it last night and HE BOUGHT IT for $850!! I was quite surprised, but feel really good about it. Now, we'll start saving for our next car...in the meanwhile, Shane's getting to know the Henderson Public Transit:)

Brinly is sad that the "Baby Car" (as she calls it) had to leave and now we only have the "Big Car".

Odds and Ends

This picture is too good to pass up. After Shane's school day of "surgery prep" he came home with some fun equipment. Shane didn't want to miss out, so with the help of their dad transformed into Dr. Brinly:) She was thrilled.

EVERYDAY, this is what I find in the living room! At first it drove me crazy, but I am now more laid back about it. Brinly and Cade have so much fun tearing the couch apart.

My camping boys a few months ago. We went camping with Jami, James, and Addison up in the mountains of Fairview, UT. It was really pretty...though, camping with kids doesn't allow you to enjoy the experience as much as you would like:) We're just going to day camp from now on...that is until we have OLDER than 1 1/2 yrs. old:) We'll see how it goes next time.

This is a little outdated, but I had to document our 4th of July at Grandma and Grandpa W.'s. They invited us to do some fireworks and sparklers. The kids enjoyed them, that is, until Cade grabbed a burning sparkler. He burned his had pretty good. We'll wait a few more years before we do sparklers again...they are just too little still. BUT we still had a good time and the kids really enjoyed watching the fireworks.

I LOVE this picture. Cade's adorable eyes shine through.

Prepare and Ye Shall Not Fear...

This is a litte outdated, but I wanted to record the efforts made on starting our food storage. I started collecting rice, wheat, and beans for a number of months, as you can see from the following pictures. They became mountainous! So, what did I do with all that rice, wheat, and beans? Scroll down and you'll see:

(Don't mind Cade in this picture, not sure what he's doing:) But his belly is adorable, I think.)
I borrowed the sealer from the church cannery and pouch sealed hundred's af pounds of life supporting dry foods:) It was actually very satisfying and quite the simple job.

It did take me several days to complete the task, but I did get it done!

This is what my hallway looked like for a week, until we secured a place to store it all. I have had strong feelings for a while that I needed to work on my food storage (I had NONE), so I took that feeling seriously. I'm still working on it, and am now collecting other items and will probably repeat this adventure in a few of months. Happy Preparing:)