Handsome boy and a foundation

From the front (driveway side) corner

From the back (driveway side)

From the other back corner

From the back corner of the property

Here's a somewhat accurate version of our floor plan. The basement will be completely unfinished.

Thankful for this Family

I didn't take a lot of photos but the few we have provide good memories and more important is the time we spent together. Thank you for all being wonderful. wish we could have had everyone, but we still love you too.

 Oliver and Beth went for a nice run on the morning of Turkey Day. Way to go!

Ryan holding his newest cousin.

Andrea already comfortable holding her little sister. Like she's holding a doll. 

Beth and Evan on the banana chair that he claimed for himself.

Oliver's newest crush.

Thanks to Charlie & Chelsea for opening up your home at a time when you may have preferred to be by yourselves. You are truly wonderful.

Dora the Movie

It think everyone will appreciate this.

Happy Hansenoween

Macy is 5

Macy turned 5! She definitely is becoming a beautiful girl. Thanks for letting us celebrate with you.

Voter Registration

So I finally broke down and registered to vote. This is the first time I've done it (that I can remember). I think I maybe haphazardly registered 5-6 years ago but never actually voted.

If you are interested in figuring out what your political views are I strongly suggest reading through some of the information on the following website:

http://www.politicalcompass.org/analysis2

I'm pretty sure I fall a little to the left and a little down on the compass right now. Even though I know I'm leaning Liberal/Libertarian it was super hard to actually pick a party. I'm really good at being non-committal about issues and don't agree whole-heatedly with any of the parties. Dad has been telling me for years that actually having to pick a side is a very self-educational process that I have missed out on the last 3 presidential elections. I have been thinking about which party best represent my views for a few weeks now.

When it came down to it, I'm a little more put-off by the take-over of the Republican party by the tea party fundamentalists than I am from the mostly nonsensical democratic agenda right now. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I ultimately registered as a Democrat. But for some reason I WAS surprised when I clicked "Democrat" in the drop down menu.

This really has been an interesting process so far. I for sure won't just vote party line in the election. If I'm going to vote this time, I'm going to do it right and look up my local constituents and see what they are all about. We have a little more than a month to go. Take dad's advise if you haven't yet and register. It is a strange experience having to actually take a side. I know that my vote really won't matter in the big picture, but it does mean that I have a vested interest in the election and that I can now validate my complaining and criticize  the system as an insider instead of an outsider.

Happy election time everyone. Don't feel like you have to share your political views. I just thought it was an interesting experience and I don't have a problem sharing my self-reflection with you guys. Thanks mom & dad for being a good example of what it means to be an involved citizen.

Register if you haven't yet!

-Oliver

Chelsea's Trip to Logan

I went to Logan at the end of August to help move my little sister Kaitlyn into her new apartment which is right across the street from Beth. So eventhough Beth had worked all day she came and helped moved Kaitlyn in and even went shopping with us at WalMart until 12:30 a.m. The next morning I took her out to Breakfast at Kneaders for her belated Birthday. Then she took me to see her new photo lab. She and the other grad students have worked hard to renovate the lab. It looks fabulous.

Macy turned 5 and started Kindergarten

 Happy Birthday. Here are your Gluten Free Pancakes on your special day.



 We went to the lake because that is what you wanted. I bet you would have liked to stay longer than 20 minutes. Darn that thunder, lightning and rain.

 Yeah your grandma and grandpa and aunt and uncles and cousins came now make a wish and blow out those candles!

 Macy chose to go to The Golden Corral for her birthday dinner because she likes their steak and cotton candy (great combo huh?) Ryan and Macy even shared some cotton candy.

 First day of school! She had so much fun. Andrea was sad that she didn't get to go and for the rest of the afternoon asked "Where's Sissy?"

Macy and her buddy Brody. They are good friends and are excited to be in the same class. I think they helped each other not be so nervous. Man Macy looks so much like Beth in this picture (lucky girl!)



2012 Family photos

Hooray for having time to lock myself in my room and edit photos.  Here are our family pictures. Ten points to anyone who can correctly guess how many layers used to make our group picture. I think next time we should just take the group one and then try the family ones a different day so the kids aren't so cranky.

Pioneer Day

 
 Hooray for the Pioneers and our Pioneer ancestors. It is still a little weird to me and I think just about everyone else in this family that this is a holiday- because it's a Utah thing. But since I've been living in Utah for a while I embraced the holiday this year and roped Olie and Megan into it as well. We-(mostly Oliver and Megan- I didn't do a thing except tell them to make it haha) made dump cake. And then we watched Craig fulfill his grandpa duties and put on a firework show for us.

Ryan loves Craig and followed him around all day

It was fun that Stacey and her little girls spend a few days with us at the Creek House.

Sparklers

We even had a crows of neighborhood kids come to watch

 

Thanks to Grandma for letting us always crash her house and Thanks to Craig for the fireworks.

Dinos

Per dad's request I'm finally getting around to going through some of the photos that I took this summer. Here is some from our visit to the Dino Museum. The kids seemed to like it.