LIFE...........................

I love this crazy tragic, sometimes almost magic, aweful beatiful life!!!!!
I really do!!

Well summer flew by this year. We had so much fun with family and friends! In July we went to Sun Valley with the Mickelsen family. We camped in a beatiful place, ate great food, and had a lot of fun adventures. The first day we got there and the kids played in this awesome splash pad in down town ketchem while some of the adults went window shopping. ( none of us can afford to buy anything in sun valley! ) But its sure fun to look. There is an amazing furniture gallery there with so many amazing pieces I was in HEAVEN!!!! The next day we went to the Alturas Lake. It was so fun and brought back a lot of childhood memories. We used to go there for family reunions! the kids played and loved the water. Even at its less than comforting COLD temperature! On day Three we decided to just have a chill day. We were going to let the older kids play around camp. They had build 5 or 6 little forts to play in and were really enjoying themselves. My mom, dad, and jen were going to go for a bike ride. Matt and I were also going to go for a less adverturesome bike ride and take lexi to ride along. Well we got about 1 mile down the bike path, and matt blew out Both of the tires on his bike! ( He felt like a fat kid!) so We were heading back when my mom and dad and jen caught up and decided to take lexi and I along with them while Matt would come pick me up on the River Run side of Sun Valley. Well we did it and it was so fun. I wasn't very fast lugging Lexi behind but it worked out great. The kids hiked a CRAZY scary mountain with Uncle Brandon , aunt Keelie, and uncle Jordon. Glad I took Lexi with me! The last day Brandon and Jen left early so we kept their bikes and went for a ride with lexi, Matt and I. It was so fun. Lexi loves to ride the "BIKE" and Matt and I always enjoy being together. Side note from the trip. We decided to take Zoe and Bruce( Keelies dog) It turned out ok. Zoe loved to be around another dog. Zoe spent most of her time at camp on a leash thought because she would get so excited and want to play with Bruce. Keelie took zoe for a hike and said she was about as sure footed as a horse as she walks up shale mountain sides with ease. The really epic story though is that I got up early to cook breakfast for our meal, so I let Zoe off her leash to run free before Bruce was out. I was cooking breakfast when I hear my mom say Moose and watch my dog go running after it in a field close by. I had tried to be quiet so everyone could sleep but then I burst out yelling ZOE COME!!! of course intrigued by this fun game of chase she doesn't come. the moose continues to run away and I decide I better go after my STUPID DOG and she if I can get her to come back. Right when I head in the direction she disapeard she comse back and all I can think is I hope the moose isn't chasing you now. luckily the moose was stupid and afraid of my dog! We could have had a REAL ADVENTURE if not.


Other things that have been going on around here. Matt has been working a ton (whats new). I have been coaching lots of volleyball and Lexi is gettings really big and so fun. She is starting to try to say everything you say. She is constantly entertaining us. I am really ready to stop taking care of flowers! Bring on the fall and I have loved being able to can. Ruth came and helped me can some pears and some Relish. I also did some pickles on my own and I am planning to can Stewed tomatoes and salsa in the next few weeks! Sorry this doesn't have pictures. I didn't take in while we were in sun valley!

Summer So Far!

Wow Summer has been crazy. I think thats the only was summer knows how to be. Matt has worked a lot we have played a lot. Mom has done lots of volleyball camps. Lexi has done lots of playing and family has been around. What more can we ask for. We had a great trip with the suttons to Island Park as usual! We always love to spend a few days with family. I didn't take any pictures though because I was having tooo much fun playing in the water! I will have to steal some pictures from Ruths computer to share with you our fun time. Lexi went on her first tube ride and She loved it. She is a fish. She loved the cold water and cried when we would make her come back to the cabin. I got to go wake boarding for the first time in 3 years and It was as fun as I had remembered. I love to be on the water. Matt got up on a wake board and did awesome!!! He was the driver most of the time and we loved having so much fun with our daddy!

The next week Matt worked and worked until the 3rd. That night we made a last minute decision to go to Driggs to go camping and then to go watch the Hot Air Balloon rally! It was so fun to get away! WE packed up all our camping stuff the baby and the dog and headed out. The balloon rally brought back great memories of my childhood! I loved watching the balloons and lexi thought it was really fun too!

We recently spend 4 days in Iland PArk again. This time we went to work like dogs! Matt and I laid some tile for my cousin Casey. It was really fun to go be away and to work together but we worked really hard. We did manage to play a little, but I also managed to not take pictures of any of it. I know I suck. But give me some credit I'm getting better! What a fun summer so far. We can't wait for Keelie and her family to come and we will have so much fun with them!

Our crazy, wonderful, busy life!

Life as of late as been crazy as usual! We have been redoing out yard, accepting new jobs, chasing a crazy baby, training for races, visiting family, and Working! Most of the fun things listed above mommy gets to do and Daddy mostly works, but we are so grateful for him and his williness to work so hard to support our little family! Mommy took a new job as the Head volleyball coach at Pocatello High School (yes I know thats the"wrong" school, but the opportunity presented it self and I couldnt turn it down). I am in the process of planning camps and getting things ready to go for the fall. I have a really great group of girls and I couldn't be more excited about the future that we all have together as the Indians Volleyball team! Lexi is as crazy as EVER! She is one busy little girl. We love her spunk and saucy personality (well most of the time, somedays she tests my patience, but what kid doesn't?) she is starting to say more words all the time. she knows how to open the fridge and get her own sippy and anything else she things she wants. She has recently started saying Mama and PaPa we didn't teach her that but she says that for grandma and gradpa, but of course not when they are around that would be do nice of her. She will only say words on her time table not on mommys commands!

Lexi and I had an exciting adventure last week we went to Peoria, IL to visit my sister Keelie and her family! It was so great to go see them. It was Lexis first time on a plane and My first time since our honey moon! We flew stand by and everything on the way out went great. We got on all of our flights and were in peoria on Keelies bday and right on time. We had lots of fun playing with the kids going for walks, eating ice cream, and enjoying eachothers company. I can't wait for next year when my sister will live in Pocatello and I can see her whenever I want! It was fun to meet all of their friends and to see where they lived though. There was only one bad part of our trip...... Daddy didn't get to come and we missed him, I think he might of missed us more. that was the first time daddy has been left home alone for that long. He was having a hard time. Needless to say the reunion when we got home was GREAT!!!

 Lexi getting excited about the airpains in SLC.

 Maya and Lexi waiting for Addies Kindergarten program to start!

 Friends or Enemys? That is the question!

 Ice CREAM!

 That is one tired lil man.

 I'm leaven on a Jet Plane!!!!

look closely the stroller is actually laying on the suitcase. I got tired of watching her flintch because her neck was so kinked!

ALL In All a very fun trip. Thank you Keelie and the Marshall clan for such a fun week. We love you and miss you!

Catch up blog!

Since Christmas life has been crazy and I haven't been very good at taking pictures I will try to do better. I love Pictures, but my mom was always taking them when I was younger. I haven't figured out that most of the time if I don't take pictures there wont be any. This is going to be lots of pictures and a little bit of writing! Those are my favorite!!!

1st My mom and I went to the girls State Basketball Tourney in Boise. It was fun to get away and have a fun weekend. The girls didn't do as well as we had hoped but all in all it was a good time. 2/16-2/18 Mommy and lexi at the Idaho Center. 

 Cousin Bailey and lexi after the girls last game. lexi in her HHS GEAR!!

Daddy Got a new toy!! Matt is going to start doing more landscaping this summer and he got a skidster! He was like a kid on Christmas! I'm so excited for him and for this step forward in our lives!! That is one happy boy!!!

Next is Ms. Lexi and her crazy fun personality!!! She is one SAUCY girl! She is our total entertainment!! I love her so much and she is always making us laugh. This will make you laugh Im sure!!!!

 This one deserves a write up. One day I decided to make cookies I used the rest of the eggs and threw them away. The bosch was going so I couldn't hear anything. When I was done I went to look for Lexi. She had removed the egg carton and was breaking the eggs and Zoe was eating them. I laughed went and got the camera and then I cleaned up the mess!! Those two are a dangerous combo!

 This was lexis "Troll Face" We would tell her do the troll face and this is what she would do. We are such good parents!!

 This one is kind of blurry, but ill explain. lexi loves to play with bows and headbands so she pulled them out and Matt put them on both of them. They were looking pretty fly.

 This is lexi at Gma and Gpa Mickelsens in their old kid rocking chair! She loves anything that makes her feel BIG!

 Ace Ventura anyone!

 Mommys ski helmet and daddys work gloves!

 Ms. messy face

Im so big with my own goldfish bowl in my own chair watching something!
The last recent adventure was when we went to Denver in march for a volleyball tourney. Matt and Lexi came and it was so fun. Lexi was a trooper watching volleyball all day. She even took naps everyday in the gym. This girl is already a gym rat and I'm ok with that! I am so grateful for a wonderful husband who supports me in all that I do but especially in my passion for coaching. I couldn't do it without him and I love him and the person he has helped me become! Here he is being a wonderful dad and supportive hubby!

She is ready to hit the ball!!! She slept like this every day at the tourney!
Spring break soon to come!

1st Birthday and Christmas!!! December is a wonderful month!

Alexis turned 1 on December 13th! It was so fun to have a birthday girl. We did a little party with family! she had volleyball cupcakes and got lots of fun presents! We love having her and cannot believe she is one year old. We just can't imagine what we would do with out her in our lives!

Christmas!!! This was probably the funnest( I know thats not a word but I love it) Christmas every. I love being a mom. Lexi enjoyed Christmas so much. She got spoiled and I guess that exactly what is supposed to happen! We gave her a few gifts but let most of the spoiling up to her grandparents!! We had a wonderfuly day and were grateful to have a family who we love to spend the time with!

Santa found everyone including zoe. Lezi loved her chair, necklace, and ball from santa!!! Zoe was afraid  of her bone and Matt and I were both spoiled!  The next pictures are lexi in her Christmas dress that grandma Red and Grandpa Mike gave her. The other outfit was her Christmas day outfit. I made the leg warmers and the onesie with the present on it. It was really fun. TJMaxx supplied the tutu! And Lexi made it all look good!

What a wonderful holliday season! I love christmas time !!!

Change.... The story of our lives!!!

So I haven't blogged since September when we were still living in Wyoming!!!! My how things change in such a short period of time. Where to begin. Well Matt stopped working in Wyoming in August. To say the least things didn't go as planned. We learned a lot and a happy to be home. Some people just aren't who you think they are. We were about to close on a home in Thermopolis, Wy when Matts friend layed him off. So we decided to go home for a visit. We wrestled with a lot of thoughts. We felt like we were supposed to be in Wyoming, and we had asked the lord many times and felt right about it, however everything was making it nearly impossible for us to be there. We put 4 offers on homes none of which were accepted until this last one and yeah life was crazy. After being home for a few days and Matt going back to work for Troy (and some persuasion from some grandmas and grandpas who were wanting their little Lexi closer) We decided to move back!!! We went and took all of out stuff out of the storage bin it had been in all summer and moved it back into the Uhaul and were back on the road. We decided to buy another home in Pocatello and continue to rent our home in chubbuck. We moved in with my parents with intentions of buying another home. We left most everything in storage and moved into their basement. Long story short we put 3 offers on homes here and none were accepted then we finally found one we really liked and were excited about. After getting into some of the loan steps we discovered we could not get another FHA loan so we were back to square one. We decided to move back to our home and gave our renters notice. We were planning to give them 30 days and within 6 days they were out and we were in. We are so happy to be back in our home and back in our ward.
Matt is still working for Troy and really enjoying it. I am home with ms. Lexi and learning to love it. She is so fun I love being with her. Its just been an adjustment for me to not be so busy, but down time isn't all that bad I'm finding out. Im still coaching bball at Highland with Kristy and loving that. Starting in FEb. I will be coaching club volleyball and can't wait. Matt is planning to broaden the landscaping business this summer and do more than curbing. Hes really excited and we are up for the challange. I also have some  stay at home mom business plans in the making but there is more to come on that.

catch up posts on Christmas and Lexis bday to come !!!!!!