A reckoning (what have I done in the past year?)

me as a baby. 

So, today is my birthday. As some of you may remember, I made a list of things I wanted to accomplish in my 30th year. 

Here is what I wrote:

 Now onto other things,

Here are a few things I'd like to accomplish in my thirtieth year:

* Lose at least 30 lbs

* Buy and wear lip stain

* Successfully harvest crops from my garden

* Sew an item of clothing using a store bought pattern

* Buy an old piece of furniture and re-finish it (possibly a dresser for Eve's room, a china hutch, or a tv stand)

So, here's my reckoning. 

As of my 31st birthday I am happy to say that I have successfully 

* Lost over 30 lbs

* Bought and worn lip stain (bright red lip stain at that!)

* Harvested crops from my garden

I have not sewn an item of clothing from a pattern. I thought about doing it this week, before our trip to Florida, but we will see if I get it done. 

I have also not refinished any furniture. We did buy a great armoire on craigslist but have not refinished it. Still on my to-do list. 

But, 3 1/2 out of 5 isn't bad. 

For this next year, I suppose I should do the same kind of thing 

So, in my 31st year I'd like to:

* Sew an item of clothing from a store-bought pattern

* Buy an old piece of furniture and re-finish it

* Lose 20 lbs 

* Do a hand-made Christmas

* Finish our family's Christmas stockings (I only have mine left to sew)

* Get pregnant

Eve's 5th Birthday!

The CRAZY birthday crown!

The cake!

The decorations

The table. It was an Art party. Each girl got a canvas to paint and an apron to keep.

Rainbow fruit kabobs

Eve turned 5! We did an art party. It was fun! Eve is reading and writing and continues to love coloring and drawing. She sings her way through life. She is funny and smart as a whip. We love her so much!!

more than a month-photo blobbin'

 Basically a post with a bunch of pics from the last more-than-a-month.

 Emmie is 10 months! She is getting 4 teeth on top. She is becoming less clingy, which is wonderful. She loves to climb the stairs and make a mess when she is eating. She is also very loud when she wants to be. She loves bath time with mommy and her siblings and is standing up on her own a lot.

 We went to the Hagerman fossil beds. Russ uploaded the pics to Google+ like right after we got home and I am starting to think that blogging is becoming obsolete. But, anyway, here are a bunch of pics of our family adventure to Hagerman. We were at this lookout and saw some of the wheel ruts from the Oregon Trail. Then we drove to a visitor's center where they had stuff about the fossils and such. We had a good time. It was fun to get out as a family on Daddy's day off.

Eve dubber herself, "Cowgirl Rosie."

 The kids favorite part of the day was going to the city park in Hagerman. 

I just love when Russ has an extra day off and we get to spend time together as a family.

Our Little Dancer

Eve has been taking dance. Here is a video. It goes without saying that we think she is the cutest little dancer.

Here are some pictures of that night too.

She LOVES the giant mirror in the room where she has dance class. She prances in and then just starts dancing and watching herself in the mirror. It is so cute. She is so cute. 

And those ballet slippers. GET OUT! 

9 months out

Emmie girl has been out of the womb for as long as she was in it! Wow! 9 months!

 Emmie is a sweet little munchkin! She is still quite clingy, but has shown slight signs of outgrowing that. She has at least twice in the last few days cried for and crawled toward Russell when I have been close to her! 

She likes to pull up on things and is an expert at climbing up the stairs. We just need to teach her how to come down. 

She is pretty resilient due to the "love" of her brother and sister. 

We can't believe how quickly she is growing. 

She is a joy to us.

Mackay Camping trip 2012

So, we went camping this summer with the Neilson family

We had a nice time.

Emmie let other people hold her (and she fell asleep)

Cousins played together.

We hauled firewood

We ate s'mores

Poster boy for S'mores!

We got dirty

We played in the river

We played by the river

We did some fishing

Russ and the guys saw a bear swim across the river while they were fishing! (In talking with everyone there, we discovered that no one has ever seen a bear around the area.)

We hiked up a mountain and looked out across the valley below.

Emmie was the only one of our kids to come on the hike. Eve and Zeke would not have made it. It was steep and hard in some places. Emmie took turns being carried by me, Mom, Rachel and Dad.

My awesome parents!

We explored a DARK cave! It looks light in there because of the flash.

we napped in camp chairs

And crashed hard on our way home!!