"the bee is giving name cards" Thursday, August 30, 2007

Emily is loving the bees baseball game right now...

Here are some more photos from the game:

bees game 8/29/07

Tree house Sunday, August 26, 2007

The kids found an old tree house up the hill in our forest / backyard...

Backyard

Herds our new backyard...

The move Thursday, August 23, 2007

We used every inch. It tool about 5 hrs to load, and a little less
than that to unload.

Uhaul

We thought a 26' uhaul would be plenty

here they are at school Monday, August 20, 2007

Amanda in Ms. Davis' class (1st grade).

















Dallin in Mrs. Forster's class (3rd grade)















And a sign on the side of the road in SLC.

1st day of school

Dallin and Amanda started school today at Jeremy Ranch elementary in Park City. They love the school and their teachers. Dallin is in 3rd grade, Amanda in 1st. Emily is jealous... she even had to get her own fathers blessing.

















These pumpkins are from our garden, grown from seeds.

Maracas Beach Friday, August 17, 2007

On the last day in Trinidad, the kids loved the waves at Maracas

Staley Dental Office Now Open

Congratulations to John and Joelle on the opening of their brand new dental office in Boise. It was a long run and required many detours and much patience, but the big day arrived.

We're home Tuesday, August 14, 2007

It was a long day with delayed flights, a missed connection, and we're
still waiting on one more piece of luggage (the only one that made it
to Trinidad doesn't seem to have made it home)...

West Undies Sunday, August 12, 2007

Emily thinks she is so funny. She keeps talking about her trip to the West Undies and then cracks up at her own joke.

Click on the picture below for a slideshow:

the trip

Here we are at the Coal Pot restaurant in Castries, St. Lucia. The food was great and the fish in the water next to our table kept the kids entertained. We even saw a snake swim by.





















We flew from SLC to Atlanta to Port of Spain, Trinidad. Our luggage spent a few days in Atlanta without us. We didn't let that ruin our trip, and bought what we needed and enjoyed traveling 'light'. Here's a picture of Dallin and Amanda sampling coconut water at Grandma & Grandpa's place in Trinidad. They have all kinds of fruit trees in their backyard.

































After a couple nights in Trinidad, we flew to St. Lucia (still without luggage) and stayed at the Villa Beach Cottages. It was a fun little hotel right on the beach with a pool outside our door. It helped that we were the only guests at the resort.




















Dallin and Amanda experienced snorkeling for the first time at Jalousie beach at the foot of the Piton mountains in Soufriere, St. Lucia. It was a grueling windy mountain drive to get there, with frequent stops because Amanda and her mommy were car sick. (We missed the cassava bread stand we were looking for, but stopped for some coconut muffins from a street vendor). Other highlights of that day trip to Soufriere included a waterfall swim, a volcanic sulfur mud bath and hot spring soak, and a lot more..

Sunset in St Lucia

Amanda the Brave

Dallin's Baptism Saturday, August 11, 2007

Dallin turned 8 on August 2nd, then he was baptized on 8/9/07 in Castries, St. Lucia, West Indies. His Grandma and Grandpa gave talks, and Amanda sang a song. Then he went out into the water and was baptized in the ocean by his dad, and confirmed by his Grandpa. A couple missionaries were there.

the pitons

Here we are at the Dasheen restaurant, Ladera Resort, overlooking the piton mountains in St. Lucia. We had a great trip and now we're sitting in the airport, on our way back to Trinidad. More pictures to come..

Piratcy Saturday, August 4, 2007

Stuck on the runway for 45 min so far... Kids are doing their sticker
books. Dallin just said "i just made up a joke- what does a pirate
say when he goes to the bathroom ? I need my piratcy"

Harry potter, nintendo ds, fruit snacks..

Lines

We survived the long lines, made it to the gate, and boarded right
away...

Off to Trinidad

We're off to Trinidad then St. Lucia... More pics to come along the way.

Dallin's 8th Birthday Thursday, August 2, 2007

I was just tucking Dallin into bed. I told him that he was making me feel old because I have a son who is 8. He commented back, "So, I am almost as tall as you so I make you look young". Why didn't I think of that

For his birthday he ate German Pancakes for breakfast. Then he played video games. He choose a Cafe Rio Salad for his lunch. He helped me get ready for his party by hanging up posters and decorating the cake. Then he had a party from 4-6:30pm. We had a Sonic the hedgehog obstacle course (we borrowed the neighbors bounce house to make it even more fun). Then we had star wars legos pinata. Each kid picked out a Star Wars character name and they took turns with our Jedi training (trying to hit the pinata with a blindfold on). After the pinata the kids headed downstairs for video games.

A little about Dallin:
Dallin is a rule follower. The only times he gets into trouble is when he doesn't know what the rule is about something, or when he follows a rule "letter of the law" and not the spirit of the law. He is much more social now. His best friend is Jared Kamauu (they have been friends for about 5 years). He is very loving to his sisters. He loves to play with both of them and they all get along very well. He is just starting to pester his Sisters, but he does that mostly when he is bored.

To end, here is a quote from Emily when her Dad came home from work the other night. As soon as Reid walked in the door Emily greeted him in a very happy and excited voice and said, "Daddy, I am so proud of you!" Wouldn't that be a great way to be greeted each time you came home?