Our Summer

(Warning: MEGA POST! I apologize that I was too lazy(or too busy!) to post these pictures and stories when they happened so I have combined our whole summer into ONE post!)

This year summer didn't start for us here in Pocatello until late June, early July! It rained most of May and almost the entire month of June! I love the rain. I really do, but THAT was a bit much. So hot summer days came late this year and it's inviting warmth and sunshine is already slowly creeping away leaving us with chilly mornings and sudden overcasts. Sure, I bet we still have a good month of nice weather before it gets bone chilling cold, but by no time we will be back on our frozen tundra. So soak in as much UV-rays and get all the vitamin D as you possibly can before it's gone!

Because summer was so short, (or at least to me it feels that way) I felt like we didn't get to do some of the fun summer activities that we had planned to do. Yet, now having the time to look back through all the pictures of the last couple months, I think we did have a fun-filled summer after all! I just might have been too preoccupied to notice, as Ryan and I were so busy traveling back and forth to Salt Lake to visit the twins, mostly Emily, every weekend, that it's been kind of...well, CRAZY!

But in between all the traveling, we did get to do a few fun things. So let's take a look back at what we did......................

We had a picnic with Grandma and Grandpa Graf then headed over to Hoogle Zoo! The girls had such a good time, they always do with grandma and grandpa! Avery liked Grandpa's hat...so cute!

Hoogle Zoo!

After the Zoo, we went out to dinner at PF Changs, one of our favorite restaurants. Such good food! Grandma Graf and Madi playing around.

Avery trying to eat with chop-sticks...uh, not quite Avery!

My cousin, Brian and his wife, Carmen (who I absolutely adore!) came to dinner with us too! It was so much fun meeting up with them and hanging out. When we went down to see Emily we sometimes would stay at their house in West Valley Utah. Thanks Carmen and Brian for everything! Love you guys!

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The girls just love holding their baby sister. Madi is always asking, "Can I take care of Emily, Mom?" It's so cute to hear them both say, "It's OK, Emily" when she is crying. They love her to pieces!

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The girls got to be in a parade and everyone from primary decorated theirs bikes and paraded down the streets of Pocatello.

Here's Madi, Melissa and Maylee on their bikes.

We also decorate Avery's ride and she loved following the big kids down the street. Go Avery!

Madi helped decorate her bike and was so proud of it!

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This summer we went exploring for rocks in the yard. The girls found rocks that they liked then we came inside to "make them pretty" as Madi would say and painted them!

Avery multitasking...

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We also got to spend some time outside playing in the sprinkler. However, I am not sure the girls got wet much if at all, as Avery wouldn't go near it and Madi tried her best to avoid the water as much as possible trying to grab the ball from the sprinkler either by stretching over the water,

running around the water,

or ducking from the water.

Finally claiming victory by retrieving the ball and only getting partially wet.

Avery watching from the sidelines...

Another time we had our friends, Jordan, Skye and their cute little boy, Asher over for some sprinkler fun too!

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On June 27th we went to the annual Newman Reunion. Every year it's held at Springville Utah. There are some really nice camping areas and we have a big breakfast and lunch. In the afternoon we have our traditional Newman auction, to pay for next year's expenses. Here's a goofy picture of me, with my dad's parents, my Grandpa and Grandma Newman. Eating, talking, eating, laughing, eating, playing, and ....oh, eating. :)




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A fun thing Madi got to do this summer was take swimming lessons for four weeks. She did very well and it was so fun watching her learn new swim moves, make new friends, splash and ultimately have fun! Her swimsuit literally swam on her. It is a size 4T, but she is just too skinny (wish I had that problem!) , so we had to tie it up every morning, making little fins on her shoulders! :)


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This summer the girls also spent many hours running around the house as pumpkin and dog-?


They thought they were pretty cute, but I thought so too!

My lil' pumpkin!

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We also got to attend cousin Colton's Birthday in Rexburg. (This is my older brother, Adam's cute little boy). Colton turned two on July 28th! Happy Birthday Cole!

Cole and Aves eating some delicious bass...I mean cake. By the looks on their face, I would say it was pretty good too.


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The girls also spend many hours outside in the sand box, playing on the swing set and in their house. This was great for mommy too, as it gave mommy a much needed break! Here's a few cute pictures of the girls outside exploring, pretending and digging...

Madi loves to "help" dad mow the lawn.

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And lastly, I took these pictures two Sundays ago and thought the girls looked so cute all dressed up for church!

Overall we had a GREAT summer and hope everyone else did too!

I am ONE Lucky Gal!

Today marks 7 years of wedded bliss for Ryan and I. We were married on August 31, 2002 in the Boise Temple. Our wedding was planned pretty much in 11 days. I know! Fast huh? Though there are some things I wish we would have done differently on our wedding day, (my hair for one!) overall it was THE perfect day! I couldn't have asked for more. Most of our close family and friends were able to attend and afterwards we had lunch at the church. There Ryan sang and played a song for me on the piano, called "Close Your Eyes". He wrote this song shortly after we met. It is so amazing!! I wanted to share it with all of you because it is very special to me. (I will probably embarrass Ryan a little bit but I never get to brag about how amazing he is so here's my chance!)

Isn't that the most beautiful song?! Ryan is very talented and has wrote and recorded many more. Someday I will have to share a few more of my favorites!


We have had our ups and downs during the past 7 years like everyone, but continue to grow closer and more affectionate towards each other everyday. Ryan is truly my best friend. I feel so blessed to be sealed to him and that he picked me to marry out of the millions of girls that wanted him! ;) He is a wonderful husband and an amazing daddy to our girls!

So thank you babe for being mine! I love you so much!!!

An Apology from Football fans

My wonderful wife recently posted about her favorite show, "The Biggest Loser" about to start the next season in 2 weeks. That got me to thinking, I need to let the world know that, not only does the Biggest Loser, school, and autumn start in a few short weeks, but so does FOOTBALL!

Ah, my friends, there is nothing like the sweet smell of clipped grass and the colors of falling leaves as they drift across the streets, parks, and yards. Nay, 'tis a time of year second to none. But hark! What is that sound? The distant rumbling of snare drums and the blare of marching band brass lights a fire in your soul. The shrill TWEEEET of a referee's whistle awakens your

spirit from it's involuntary 8-month hibernation. The loud BANG of crunching helmets against shoulder pads, the roar of rabid fans, and the cry of victory emminating from the stadium.

That's right, folks. College football is here and I am chomping at the bit to watch teams both beloved (Boise State and Utah) and teams loathed (most BCS conference teams and especially the Idaho Vandals, Oklahoma Sooners, and Ohio State Buckeyes) do battle on the gridiron.

I understand that most of you reading this are not as super stoked about the coming college football season (because most of you are girls or pansies (except you, Aaron Moore, Jeremy Johnson and Nate Morin), but please do me a favor and don't judge those of us that are as being couch potatoes and worthless bums (although you are mostly accurate in your assessment). We, the worshippers of the game of football, only ask for 4 months of Saturdays with which to fill our cravings. There are only a proverbial handful of games that we are able to watch amidst the chores, duties, and labors we must perform.

So when your hubby begs you to hand over the remote and go grab him some snacks, do him and all us guys a favor, forgive us for our couch potato-ness and take a seat beside us for a while and enjoy some pure unadulterated testosterone driven man-sports. Your husband will love you for it!

Time to Weigh In!

So I thought I would do a follow up post to my weight loss goal. And all you all's that wanted to lose weight with me,

"HOW ARE YOU DOING ON YOUR GOAL?!"

My report: I lost 10 pounds as of last week from when I started two months ago, today. But as soon as the weekend hit and we had so much "junk" food for Avery's birthday, I will confess, I gained 2 pounds back! Ah well, you win some, you lose some. I have 9 weeks to go before November, which is the goal I set to lose the remaining 14-16 pounds...hmm, that's going to be some work! Yet, I know it's possible, so I am here to say I am going to jump back on the wagon and commit myself to full work outs and eating more healthy...again. Cuz really we all want to do our bodies some good, right?!

The Biggest Loser Show - my favorite TV show!... Begins in just two weeks I believe! I can't wait!

I hope everyone is doing good on their goals! Keep it up!
You CAN do it!!!! (I'm just trying to motivate myself is all...) :)

Here's a little weight loss humor....

Avery turned TWO!!

Little miss Avery Eve had a birthday! She turned two on Friday, the 21st. Hard to believe sometimes how fast they grow up. We had a mini party for her with just our little family Friday night. We bought some little cupcakes and had a feast!

On Saturday we invited my family; mom and dad, Adam, Genn and Colton, April and Josh(except Josh had to work...we missed you Josh!) and Randy. Ryan's aunt and uncle, Wendy and Jerry came. And our adopted son :), Dan, who is in Ryan's PA class came over too. We had pizza, veggies, cake, and icecream.

I made a white rainbow chip earth worm and mint chocolate chip caterpillar cake. Avery was so excited when she saw the finished cakes. But before the cakes were done the girls got to lick the beaters and here is the aftermath of that...

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Total Cuteness!

Avery got some fun presents from everyone, a play dough set from Genn, Adam and Cole. A horse you can ride from grandma and grandpa Newman. Wendy made Avery a little bag that she can carry around all her books or babies supplies. April and Josh got the girls dinosaur hats and a baby doll. And Ryan and I got Avery some puzzles, a doctor set, and stroller/carseat for her babies. She seemed pretty tickled by it all and kept saying, "Wow"! everytime she opened a present. Thanks family for coming to celebrate Avery's birthday with us.
(These picture of the girls riding the horse was actually taken on August 9th the day they met their baby sister, Emily.)

Yeehaw!!!
This is our hillarious TWO year old. Trying to get dressed like big sister Madi...She took off her pajamas and diaper and this is how I found her... putting on her shirt?
Haha! Almost Avery! :)
-Some fun facts about Avery-

She is always making us laugh. She pulls these faces out of the blue that total surprise us and makes us all laugh so hard. She is talking so much and repeats almost everything we say, which is so cute! Since she copies what we say all the time, I try and say big words like Constitution, medicine, United Sates of America, Boise State Football... and she then repeats everything back. Everytime her and Madi are seperated for more than an hour, either in church or nap time as soon as Avery spots Madi she runs and gives her a hug. They are such good friends and play so well together. Another one of Avery's passions is eating. She loves to eat and is always asking for a "nack pease, mommy". This girl could eat all day long, I tell ya! But of course she burns it off as quickly as she swallows it, making her therefore STILL hungry. haha. She likes to say the prayers and read books. She likes the show Calliou, but I think that's just because her big sister Madi does so much. She loves to scream out letters of the alpahbet when she sees words somewhere (even though they are not always the right letters! ;) She is just a fun happy kid and we love having her in our family!


Happy Birthday Avery!

Welcome Home Emily!!!

Geez wiz...my poor blog just doesn't get the attention it deserves! I wish I was more motivated to make my posts a little cuter, a little funnier and maybe a tad more frequent...yeah, that would be nice.

BIG NEWS!!!


EMILY is HOME!!!!


Emily and Madi both have the same red stork mark on their foreheads. Madi's has faded a lot since she was born and so will Emily's.
This is the first time the girls got to meet their baby sister. They were really excited to hold her and very curious about her. Every time we took Emily away from Avery, Avery would just bawl. It was pretty cute!


We got to bring Emily home last Saturday. She has been home for a whole week! We went down last Friday and stayed with her until Monday. Came home Monday night then went back down Thursday and on Saturday Emily was released from the hospital to our care....kind of scary at first, but she is doing great and we are really so excited to have her home. So.....

Welcome home baby girl!!!
(I have been wanting to say that for a very long time!;)

Emily is now 6 pounds 9 ounces as of Tuesday(so she probably weighs more today). Emily is on oxygen and the doctors have told us to keep her away from stores,church, public places probably until next April/May, after RSV season. Emily will be four months old on the 19th! I can't believe it! Technically she and Ethan were suppose to come today! August 15th was my due date with them.

I have a ton of pictures to share, but unfortunately most of our pictures were downloaded to our home computer, which currently is not working. Don't know what happened, one morning it just didn't want to turn on and hasn't turned on since(I have mornings like that too, I guess). We got a new video card for it, hoping that would fix the problem, but it didn't. We will have to take it into the shop again! Ugh. So I am typing on my husband's laptop, which has a few pictures on it to share.

Emily's little profile. She was sleeping while being gavauge fed...one of her last tube feedings! Sunday, August 1st.

One of the nurses that takes care of Emily said Emily had pulled her feeding tube out of her nose and from then on she has been drinking from a bottle ever since. The doctor's and nurses were pretty surprised she did so well with her feedings after being on a ventilator and having a tube down her throat for so long. I guess Emily was ready to be a big girl and took matters into her own hands! :)
Emily's first bath at home! I wrap her all up in a warm towel and she loves it!

Chuck E. Cheese!

While Grandma Graf was visiting this summer, we got to go to Chuck E. Cheese's for the first time and we all had a blast! I haven't been to Chuck E. Cheese's since I was like 8 and we had a great time. We were there for hours playing and eating! I wish they had one here in Southern Idaho because we would go all the time.

Avery with Grandma Graf watching Chuck the mouse perform.

This was Avery's favorite ride. She kept loving on this dog like it was real and would cry if she had to get off.

Dad getting in on the action.

In the end we had lots of tickets and the girls "helped" dad feed them into the machine to see how many tickets there were to get a prize. This was pretty funny to watch as Avery and Madi would try cramming the tickets into the slot.