FEBRUARY 2008

Well February is birthday time for the girls in our little family! Mine was on the 19th (turning the big 3-0!) and Sierra's was on the 22nd (turning 5!). She got her own little digital camera-she's already out of control with the pics! But I want her to have some fun pictures of growing up and the things that are important to her. Sierra's birthday fell on a school day so I was able to go to her school to have lunch with her, she got to do her favorite job-"lunch helper" (see picture with big plastic bag-lol), it is fun to get to go spend some time in the day with the kids when I can-they love it!! Then we had a little party on Saturday the 23rd with her Bastian boy cousins and a couple of friends. The house was still in "kitchen turmoil" so things were a little hectic but it was fun to get some of Sierra's favorite people together to celebrate such a special day! What a big kid she's turning into!!

JANUARY 2008

We went to the Children's museum in the gateway mall in SLC with the kids school, what a fun adventure! The kids had a blast playing in all the different areas especially the water part (they have little ping-pong balls that the kids can send on adventures through tunnels and water wheels etc..). We've also been doing some remodeling at Grandma's house-they've torn out the ceiling to raise it, & painted the cabinets. It's made for an interesting time having the kitchen in a plastic bubble for a week or so, and a non functioning kitchen for a month :) It'll be exciting to have the updates though! We are taking a trip to the past, trying out those foam rollers on Sierra's hair-she loves it and it looks so cute! This picture of her in rollers we were having a little "girls night" we thought it would be funny to try some lipstick on her too :) The kids love to play with the laundry baskets, they play tons of creative games with them, but they also like to help lay out the laundry and pull it down when it's dry (skills courtesy of Grandma Hellie!). I got Blake's cute little funky hat for like a $1 at Gap-he can totally work it I think-haha! So Blake's little outfit in this clothes basket picture is part of why I had to take the pic-he's in his boxer briefs, green camo rain boots, funky hat and mittens-these kids keep me laughing with the things they like to put together!! Blake is loving nursery rhymes lately & knows most of them by heart. Thought I'd include a little video clip of their everyday silliness. Sierra loves to change into summery type clothes when we get home from school or errands etc...she's frequently telling me she is done with this cold weather (already)!

DECEMBER

her 3 kids, we hit it pretty early in the month so it was nice and non crowded-and BEAUTIFUL! Then we went to eat at the Spaghetti Factory at Trolley Square (a Christmas Tradition-love Trolley Square any time of year, but at Christmas it's magical!). Sierra was one of the angels for our ward nativity-she did a great job! And here's a couple snapshots of the little characters all gussied up before church today (by the tree). Another semester down for me-hooray! This last week and the week coming up before Christmas, I've been volunteering at an Orthodontist, at a Dental Office w/ a hygienist and in an X-ray department. It's definately kept me busy but it has been interesting to get to see what the work is like in the 2 programs I'm applying for. I'll be back in the saddle on January 5th for Spring semester (I'm going to takeMerry Christmas to one and all!! We've been trying to fit in some holiday cheer into this busy month :) We went to a Gingerbread Festival at Thanksgiving Point, it was amazing to see all the creations and the time it would have taken-check out the princess castle behind Sierra!! We also got to create our own little treat. We went down to the lights at Temple Square with my sister Andrea and Sociology, Child Psychology, Nutrition and Small Metal/Jewelry. Pretty excited about the jewelry thing!! The rest will be interesting too I'm sure-lol). Sierra's 5th birthday is coming up in February and she keeps telling me she is going to stop sucking her thumb once she's five-lets cross our fingers! Love that kid! She is an amazing, bright little whip. She ADORES her little school, and can't wait to be back after the weekend to all the fun learning activities and fieldtrips they do (they had Domino's come show them how to make pizza, and recently went down to a rest home and sang Christmas songs for the grammies). I'm looking forward to "Mom's and Muffins" this coming week, they're bringing in Mimi's muffins (yumm!!) and we get to snug and read for a bit in her classroom on Tues morning. Blake is potty trained! Thanks to his cute little teacher, she said "he's ready!" and he's done really well with it-amazing to me! Thought he'd fight me to the end of time:) He is an "on-the-go boy!" His teacher is always telling me "he's so fast!", it's like he's in fast forward all the time. He had some birthday money left over from last year and so he bought this little skateboard. It is the funniest thing! He seriously has "Tigger" legs! He bounces around the room (getting some serious air-see pic-lol) and now he does it on his skateboard. And the last photo is a little snippit from my photography class final-those little hams!

I'm so grateful for these 2 little ones!!! They make life beautiful! I'm grateful for all of you and your love and humor that make our lives so delightful! We hope you all have a fabulous Christmas and New Year!











=

OCTOBER

Time keeps on slippin'! We are in full-swing "fall fun" time! We all started school the end of August, and although we are busy, it has been a blessing and we are enjoying all the new friends and experiences we're having. The kids both have great teachers and a whole slew of new friends in their classes. I'm going full time to Weber and then also taking a night class at the DATC for Radiology, trying to get ready to apply in January for the program. I've also decided that I need to ensure that I will be sure to get started on a program next fall, so I'll be applying for the Dental Hygiene and Education programs as well. I'm interested in all of them and think I'd be happy doing any of them. So we'll see! I'll be applying to the RADiology program in January, the other two in February. We're all loving the cooler weather, amazing colors and the excitement for all the upcoming holidays. We went to an awesome pumpkin patch and had a blast. There was so much to do! For Halloween, Sierra is going to be a "ballerina witch" and Blake is going to be a skeleton-we can't wait for the primary Halloween party and then for Trick-o-Treating fun! We hope you all have a safe and fun HALLOWEEN!

JULY

Summer Semester is over!! Hooray! I'm done with my Anat/Physiology courses-double Hooray! I've got 3 weeks to live up this summer :) haha we've actually been having a good time. The 4th and 24th were a blast! (pun intended-tee hee) We just went to Cherry Hill yesterday, Lagoon a week or so ago, and have been playing with cousin Finny from Cali. The kids are off to Vernal tomorrow to stay with Grandma & Grandpa Bastian as well as seeing their dad a bit. I'm off to the Bear Lake area for Trek, I'm a really excited and glad that all the final school work and Trek prep is done. I guess it's one thing after another...as always. Hope your summer is full of fun!

MAY & JUNE

Well, as many of you know I have delved into the waters of education once again :) I am trying to get into the Radiology program at Weber State University and have been working on my pre-req's for the last little bit. I just finished Biomed 1110 which is an Anatomy/Physiology class which was pretty intense since it's a summer course (we did it in half the time). Well, apparently I'm a little more insane in the "membrane" because I'm starting the next level on Monday, which originally wasn't the plan, it will run another 6 weeks. It's the same frenzied pace, but I decided that it's worth working hard to get it out of the way. The Radiology program is pretty difficult to get into, which means I HAVE to get an "A" in these two classes to have a chance. So far-so good, with much help from family and some major prayers answered I was able to get it for this last block. Now, wish me luck on the next one! It should be good, I'll be totally done with both classes in the time it would have normally taken me to do one. I'll be done August 3rd! The I apply for Radiology in January. It's been a lot of fun to learn such fascinating stuff, and fun to meet some new friends.
Blakey turned 2 May 12th! He just had 2 little friends from nursery come over to eat cake with our family. His favorite gift was a bike/trike he affectionately calls " my motorcycle". The kids are having a fun summer, they've been playing in the backyard, riding their bikes :), and playing with friends now and then. We went up to Heber & rode on "Thomas the Train" on Memorial Day-the kids loved it!! We're looking forward to going to Lagoon & Cherry Hill sometime this summer, and of course the 4th and 24th of July are just weeks away. I'm going to be going on our ward Trek in August-I'm sooo excited about that!! Yet another event we're looking forward to is a bunch of family visiting in August. My brothers: Jared & Chris and their families are coming out-so that'll be awesome! We hope you are all doing well, and hope you're enjoying summer fun!

EASTER!

Happy Easter ya'll! Today has been a blast. The kids found their "baskets" (The bunny's plan is to give them a different container each year. Last year was a sand pail/bucket, this year a storage cube.) this morning (Sat). They had alot of fun gathering up the random eggs that were all over. Sierra has gotten so good at playing hide-n-seek, that the bunny really challenged her this year-but she found her basket and the kids had fun playing with their new water guns and bath towels. Looking forward to some summer fun with those spray guns :) Then we were off to a egg hunt up at the F.H. city building. It was kindof slim pickins (bigger turnout than expected) but they did do face painting, they have a cool swing, had the Fruit Heights city mascot buffalo on hand and Sierra's best friend was there, so what more could you want right? :) Then we headed out to the cousins place for some EXTREME easter fun. They always put on a great hunt-their theme? "THEY'RE ONLY YOUNG ONCE!" Still, the company was the highlight! I love to see the kids having a blast with their cousins! Hope you have a super Easter!