Labor Day Weekend!

This Labor Day weekend we were able to do a little bit of everything. First we went Friday to Island Park and camped with my parents by Henry's Lake. It is really pretty there. The kids had a lot of fun. They got to stay in Grandma and Grandpa's trailer, go fishing, and ride the 4 wheelers. There aren't a ton of places to ride the 4 wheelers in Island Park anymore but there are still a couple of places you can go. Carter loved playing by and in this stream that was right by the camp spot. Grandpa Pat made him a fishing pole out of a stick and some string. He loved it so much we had to bring it home! Macie had a blast. She just wondered around, usually carrying a chair and ate lots of treats. She seemed to find a lot more than I would have normally allowed her to have. Oh well, we were camping that is what you are supposed to do, (eat treats) right? Anyways, we all had fun. Dave came up Saturday morning to join us. He was such a nice husband and stayed home Friday night so that he could do the paper route and I could go spend the night with my parents. When he got there Saturday my dad took Carter and Dave out on Henry's in the boat and well, Dave claims Carter as his good luck charm. Lately whenever he takes Carter fishing with him he always catches something. Dave caught a 3 lb fish and Carter caught a 2 lb fish. I forgot to send the camera. We came home Saturday night.


My dad had a blast showing Carter how to shoot the BB gun. Carter loved it.





Sunday we got up and went to church and then we headed down to Blackfoot to have dinner with the whole Vasas family. John and Sherri were coming to visit for the night because of the long weekend. Carter was excited to see all of his cousins. Especially Cole. Carter says they are best friends because they are both boys. It is so cute Carter calls him Cole Man. Macie and Madi had fun playing the piano and jumping on the tramp. We had a great dinner and some cake and cheesecake for desert. That night all the grandkids decided that they wanted to stay the night and have a big slumber party. I decided to stay too to help out. What a fun visit. Sherri and I made plans for the kids and I to go to Utah in a couple of weeks to work on Halloween costumes. Carter has decided he wants to be a Cow. I have no idea what I am getting myself into but Sherri said she would help me out.




These three got really quiet that next morning and when we found them they were creating masterpiece crafts. They had made colored water by putting the tips of markers in them. It is amazing what 3, 3 year olds can come up with!

Needing A Change!!!

So I thought that since it was a new month I would start it out fresh. And I just needed something new. So this was my solution.

I was really scared at first but when I realized that I was going to be able to donate it again I felt much better about the whole thing. It feels so good to not have so much hair.

August at a glance!!!

Well, August is officially over!!! That was by far the longest month ever. Here are a few things that happened during the last couple of weeks.

Carter and Macie came up missing one afternoon and everything was really quiet, so I decided I had better go and see what they were up to and this is what I found. That was our laundry basket but as you can see it has been turn into a boat and all the dirty and clean laundry has so neatly been piled together in one big pile on the floor. I am going to have to really keep an eye on those two.

Grandpa Pat is trying to get Macie interested in seeing the baby calf one Saturday morning at Family Day at Reed's Dairy. What a fun day, we met my whole family there and had lunch and ice cream.

These two are best friends. They love playing together. This was their fort and the chairs were their pretend movie.

Macie is already playing dress up. She is our little shoe monster. If our shoes come up missing we know who to go and find. Her favorite thing to do is to sit by the front door and try on all the shoes and then walk around the house in them for a minute. It is the cutest thing. Just the other day we were able to get her a new pair of sandals and I have never seen a little girl so happy to have a new pair of shoes.

The two of them had so much fun playing with the bubble machine. I think those were one of

the best things ever invented.

Sherri and the kids came to Idaho Falls and spent a couple of days with us. It was great. She has really become one of my best friends and I appreciate all her support. They stayed the first night at our house. Carter loved it. He got to sleep out in the family room with his cousins. They all slept very well. The next day we got up and went to Tautphaus Park where we met Becky and her kids. We all got to talk while the kids played it was great. Then for lunch we had pizza and then played some more. What fun. Carter talks about his cousins Saylee and Julie all the time. It usually starts with him saying remember when Saylee and Julie... and then ends with lets do that again. He is growing up so fast.

Happy 27th Birthday Daddy!!!

Dave loves Craigo's so that night Dave, myself, the kids, and my parents went out to dinner and then we came back to our house and had homemade cheesecake and presents. I think it turned out to be a great birthday. The kids and I gave him a new backpack for school and Carter added some very special treats inside the backpack. Only I think that when Carter was picking out the treats he was thinking more about himself than his Daddy. Oh well, Dave loved it. My parents gave him a couple of new shirts that he really liked and is usual $50.00. He also got some money from his mom and dad and from my grandparents. My sister gave him a gift card to Subway which he was thrilled about because we don't really eat out anymore so this was his way of being able to get his favorite sandwich and not having to spend any money. She also gave him some Reese's and 3 Musketeers. I don't really know what happened to those they seemed to be gone really fast and I don't think that Dave got very many of them. My brother gave Dave a gift cert. to Sportsman's Warehouse. I think he is going to get, as he calls it, his quack quack stamp. He got a lot of text messages that day from his family and friends wishing him a Happy Birthday. All in all I think he had a great day.

This is our little boxing girl! So she and the tub had a big disagreement and she ended up losing. She is so fearless that she just scares me to death. She fell pretty hard and smacked her face on the side of the tub and this was the result. It was bruised almost instantly and that night it swelled up really bad. Now it looks like she has been in a fight with someone. This picture is right after it happened and so you can kind of see that it was a little swollen and now it is really a dark purplish blue.

Working things out!

Wow what a month. I have to say this has been the most trying month I have ever experienced. Dave and I have grown more in this month than I think we have in our 25 years. Not only have we grown up but we have grown together. I love him so much and respect him. He has been working so hard to make sure that everything is being taken care of for us and our family. The kids are doing great. Macie has a little cold it think. It might be her teeth. Carter is doing really good. He is getting really anxious to start school. We are excited that there is such a great pre-school program that is out there. Kailey started Kindergarten on Monday and so she was only here for half a day today. Carter liked being the oldest kid in the house. He was really sad when he found out that she was at school and he wasn't able to start his school yet. Dave started school today. He was so excited. I am really looking forward to this degree. I just want Dave to be happy. Carter was even more sad when he saw that his daddy got to start school today. He has been wearing his backpack around the house all day. I believe his school starts September 14th. I am going to hate having him be gone for the morning. It will be so weird. Dave got an interview today with Melaleuca. We had kind of given up hope that they were going to call but there was a message from them when we got home last night. He went to the interview today and then he has another interview tomorrow. I am confident that he will be able to get the job. It is only 3 days a month but every little bit helps. We have been blessed so much this last month that I can not even begin to describe the feelings I have had. I really believe that even though this whole experience was extremely hard, this is what Dave and I needed to open our eyes. And I think it was the boost we needed to get Dave out of that terrible environment. Everything has just fallen into place. We kept thinking that we were going to need all this additional help financially but it turns out that we have exactly what we need. My testimony on Tithing sure has grown throughout this process. I know that without a doubt that has been a huge helping hand in the blessings that we have received. I hope that some day we will be able to look back on this experience and know that it was all worth it and we will have something to share with our kids so that they can make it through really tough times. My number one goal is to make sure that they can come to us with anything big or small and know that we will be there for them.

You just never know what life has in store for you.

This last week has undoubtedly been the toughest week I think Dave and I have ever gone through together. At the beginning of the week Dave was suspended from work for 3 days. I have never seen him so unhappy and scared. We immediately started looking for jobs just because we had no idea what the future had in store for us. Also, Monday I took Carter in to the doctor to make sure everything was okay with him. For a while now Dave and I have noticed that Carter drinks really a lot and seems to potty all the time. He has also developed some snoring habits that we just wanted to make the doctor aware of. Dr. Smith was concerned with Carter's urine sample that day so he scheduled a urine test for that next morning. When the results of that test came back he was still not satisfied so he ordered some blood work to be done the next day. While we waited for the results of that test to come back, Dr. Smith talked to me about what he thought might be going on. He thought that Carter might have what is called Diabetes Insipidus. This is a rare type of diabetes that is typically known as "Water Diabetes". So needless to say Dave and my stress level just kept rising. I have to say I can't remember when our house has been that quiet before. Dave and I weren't talking much because there was so much to think about and try to figure out. Friday morning Dave got up with high hopes that everything would work itself out and that he would have a chance to go back on a delivery truck at Pepsi. However, there were much different plans in store for us that day. Instead, Pepsi let Dave go. What a rush of mixed emotions when he got home that morning. Dave has been so unhappy for such a long time that I was in some way really relieved that he would no longer have to go to that terrible place. He would no longer have to be around the bad language and negative environment. So even though I was relieved for all of those reasons panic started to set in. I realized that suddenly we were without any income. That is such an unbelievable feeling that is really hard to describe. Dave and I immediately shifted into high gear and we were out job hunting. Thank heavens that my mom and dad were able to come and get the kids quickly. We were able to spend the entire day filing paperwork and filling out job applications and then we just so happened to be home for a few minutes and the doctor called with the test results fr0m Carter's blood work. And finally the first good news of the week. Carter's blood looked really good. He might just have an over active bladder and we just have to control his drinking a little and everything should be fine. After that we had a little bit of hope come back into our day. Then at noon Dave got a call for an interview with a new hotel. He walked in and a couple of minutes later he walked out with a job offer. What an unbelievable blessing. Especially with how the economy is right now. The job is going to work really good with his school schedule and he thinks that he might really enjoy it. By the end of Friday things were defiantly looking up. There are still a few kinks to work out but at least he has a job and we can carry on. This experience has taught me so much about life and about the gospel and how important it is to have the gospel in our life's. Dave was able to call one of his best friends for a blessing and I know it is because of that blessing and the support of his brother John whom he was able to talk to, that Dave has made it through all of this. This experience has certainly made my testimony of the Church, Heavenly Father, and especially Tithing grow in ways I can not explain. Some day I will look back at this experience and be really grateful for everything that happened because everything happens for a reason and I know that Heavenly Father has great things in store for us. I am also so grateful for our Bishop. He has been there for Dave and myself through this entire thing and he is continuing to help us in so many ways. Thank you to all that have supported us and been there for us. We really appreciate it.

What a fun WEEK!!!

Well our week in Park City finally came and we were so excited to be able to go. I was really excited that Dave was able to take the entire week off to spend with me and the kids. He had a lot of fun being with them all day everyday. We went down Friday evening and made it there just in time to go swimming and then Saturday we were able to get up early and go to Cabela's. It was fun this has become one of our yearly events. We ate lunch there and then we went back to the hotel and that night we went to the Mayan Resaurant. It was a fun experience. They had divers diving off cliffs into water. The next day we went to the Olympic Park and watched the ski jumpers jump off the trails and then we got to watch them jump off ramps do tricks and land in the water. Monday we spent the entire day at the hotel swimming and having a BBQ. Tuesday we went to Lagoon and spent the entire day there. It was really a lot of fun. We spent most of the day in Kiddie Land but that is what made the kids very happy. Carter and Macie rode these little cars around this little track it was so cute. Dave, Tiffany, Collin, and myself went on the new ride called Wicked. And let me tell you I did not go on without a fight. I was terrified and afterwards I wasn't much better. We were very proud of Collin. He was such a trooper. This was the first year that he was tall enough to go on the big people rides. On our way out of Lagoon my mom took all the grand kids into the Central Park store and each of them were able to pick any stuffed animal that they wanted. Carter got a Kangaroo and Macie got a Moose. It was funny that Macie picked the Moose since we call her Macie Moosters. Wednesday we had to have a relaxing day because everyone especially the kids were exhausted from going to Lagoon. So we slept in and then we went to down town Park City and went to a couple of the shops and then had lunch down there. Then that evening we went swimming again. Thursday morning my parents bought an hours worth of play time for each of the kids to play on the big jumpy things. They had a slide and an obstacle course and a jumping house. Then we went to the Tanger Outlet Mall and we found some great deals on some clothes for the kids. I was also able to get myself a new pair of shoes. That night we went to Ruby Tuesday for dinner. After that we went back to the hotel and swam once again. There was really a lot of swimming going on but I loved it and so did everyone else. Carter was a little nervous about swimming at first but by about Wednesday night he was a pro. He was swimming all by himself (with a life jacket) and he would jump off the side all by himself. He also would go under water all by himself and love it. Friday morning we got up and had to be out of the hotel room by 10:00am so we got packed and headed out. We went to Salt Lake City and went to the Gateway Mall. We had lunch there at the food court and then we went to Build A Bear. Carter got a new back pack for his Kangaroo that he has named Pasha.

A day with the wild life.

The Mayan Restaurant

Activities at the hotel

The Olympic Park

Lagoon "WHAT A FUN DAY!!!"

Macie showing her sweet personality.

Downtown Park City

Jumpy things

Daddy teaching Carter how to swing a golf club

Macie's way of getting a hole in one.

What a fun golfing afternoon.

Well, this was our vacation. The kids had a blast. Can't wait until next year when we go again.