Thanksgiving in Donnelly

Scott and I spent Thanksgiving this year with his side of the family, in Donnelly ID. Scott has six siblings, 3 boys/3 girls, he is four out of six. Five are married, and 13 kids between them...if I counted right. His two older brothers (and his parents) have recently moved up to Donnelly/McCall area. His older sister lives in Nampa, the sister right under him lives in Mesa AZ, and his baby sister lives near us in Boise. It was only a year and a half to two years ago that we all lived relatively close to one another. Most everyone lived in the Nampa/Caldwell/Middleton area, and Scott and I lived the furthest away in Boise. So we are all still adjusting to not seeing everyone too often. So it was nice that we could get everyone together for Thanksgiving.

Scott, Carly, Spencer

Scott's brother, Jason, has horses and Spencer loved to come watch him feed them. You can't tell by my face, but I am terrified of them. It took every ounce of courage I had to stand so close for that picture. Spencer, however, loved them.

Scott and Spencer sitting on Jason's (brother) porch. Yes, it was very cold...Spencer was prepared:)

One word.......cheeks:) Spencer and his cousin Emma.

Spencer helping Scott hang some sheetrock

Spencer helping Uncle Jason hold the tape measure

Carly and Scott's baby sister, Emilee

Carly and Scott's 2 little sisters, Amber and Emilee

LOTS of games

We had a gift exchange, since we won't see each other at Christmas. This is Scott helping Spencer unwrap his gift.

Spencer's cousins: Megan and Kimberly (sisters, they are sitting across from one another), Lexie, and scary hair Hannah in the back

3 cute girls:)

Spencer just chillin' with his cousin Tyler....watchin' a show

All the cousins, except for 3

Carly and Spencer

Happy Birthday Katie!

November 20th, was Katie's (little sister) sweet sixteen birthday! My older sister, our best friend, and I have a birthday breakfast tradition. We pull the birthday girl out of bed around 3 in the morning, blindfold them, make them wear a dumb birthday hat, and take them out to breakfast. After awhile, it was obviously expected, but you never knew what your hat was going to look like, and sometimes we would sneak someone else in the car with us. So this year we decided to let Katie in on our tradition. We made up a story on why my older sister had to sleep over, and luckily Katie believed it. However, Katie has a morning routine, where she washes her hair at 2:30 in the morning, then puts it in a towel and goes back to sleep. So when we went to wake her up at 3:00 she had already done that, and was laying there with a towel on her head. Katie isn't known for being Mrs. Merry Sunshine in the morning, and she wasn't. She kept whining about how her hair's in a towel, and she won't have time to rewash it...yadda, yadda...we didn't care, she was still going. It took Lindsey and I a few hours to make her birthday hat, and we were sneaking her best friend, Cassie with us, who was already picked up and waiting in the car. So we finally got her up, and moving. We went to IHOP, it was really good. You wouldn't think you'd be hungry that early...but from years of doing this, it tastes really good at 3 in the morning. Besides that it wasn't really that eventful. She opened presents, her main gift was a cell phone. She doesn't like to be the center of attention, she likes to, "go to other people's parties" but not have them. So I did her hair, and gave her a facial, and Lindsey gave her a massage. Then we all went to Chili's for dinner.

Katie and Cassie
Lindsey and I....man, we're pasty! And yes I'm aware that my face is puffy. For some reason whenever we get up that early my eyes burn, and my face gets puffy. Whenever I'm really tired the light starts to hurt my eyes, and then they get itchy and puffy...I don't know.
Fun, full-body, Christmas jamas...Spencer had some to match.
Katie and I....and the top of Spencer's head.....at Chili's.

Special Olympics

The Idaho Special Olympics had their bowling tournament on Tues, the 18th. My mom teaches a special education class at Liberty Elementary School, and her class put together a team. Spencer and I went to go cheer on the team, but Spencer was kind of a nightmare. We had to stay behind the bowling area, and all Spencer wanted to do was run around up by the lanes, and play with the brightly colored balls. So we left basically before they even started. We watched the opening ceremonies and that was about it. It was funny because they asked a few of the athletes, "What does it mean to be in the Special Olympics?" The first two athletes said really cute answers about good friends, and good fun. Then a boy from my mom's class got up and said that it was about, "going bowling, and getting a strike." Another little boy after him then told us that it was about, "getting bad guys." It was really funny. I never heard how things ended up, but one kid from my mom's class got a 140, and another got a 138. Not bad...of course there were bumpers, but thats still pretty good.

Cheering from the side-lines!
It only lasted for a few minutes, but this is Spencer, mesmorized by the bright colored balls flying down the lanes.

What have we been doing since Scott came home?

Scott came home Wednesday night, after being gone for two and a half weeks! We had a full few days planned:) Thursday night we went swimming.
Spencer loves the slides!

Then on Saturday morning we went to the Veterans Day parade. My little sister Katie was marching with the band. Spencer loves the big military helicopters that fly over when the parade begins.

Disney on Ice came to town, so that evening we went and saw the show. My older sister, and her family, as well as my little sister came too....It was awesome!!


Everyone waiting for the show to start. The show was called "100 Years of Magic", they performed songs out of several of the Disney classics. I really liked the Mulan performance...the Beauty and the Beast performance...the Aladdin performance....Toy Story...I liked them all.


Finding Nemo, Mulan, and Aladdin.


It's a Small World (Disneyland), marching band, and the finale.


By the end Spencer was phasing in and out:)
About ten minutes into it Spencer peed completely through his pants...he must have been a little scared:) So he went pant-less. Spencer, Natalie, and Alex are all about Mickey Mouse right now, so they had a blast. Spencer was content the entire time. Natalie wore her Belle outfit, you should have seen her face during the Beauty and the Beast performance:)

Halloween

Happy Halloween! We love Halloween at our house. Except this year, Scott was still out of town for work. He just barely missed it, he should be home in a few days. He's in Louisiana, which in and of itself is a long trip home....but they have a detour to Phoenix on the way back. So Spencer and I missed him this year. Fortunately, I live with, and have family close. Spencer, Natalie, and Alex are all about Mickey Mouse right now. Natalie's absolute favorite is Donald Duck; it's her alter ego. Every time we talk to her, we refer to her as Natalie Donald. And when she's pretending to be something else, like a vampire, it's Donald pretending...so she is then Natalie Donald vampire. So of course Natty was Donald. Originally Alex was going to be Mickey, and Spencer was going to be Pluto. I really liked the Mickey costume, and turns out Alex was terrified of the thing, and would not put it on. So Spencer was Mickey, and Alex wore a sweat suit with a skeleton on it. I was Minnie, to compliment Spencer. Our Halloween route is becoming a tradition. We always start out by going to our neighbors house; they give out cans of Pepsi every year. They are probably some of the most generous people I know (When Spencer was born they gave him $25 in Sacajawea dollars...because every kid needs a piggy bank:)) I got my Pepsi, and Spence couldn't leave without his. We then went to my stakes "Trunk-or-Treat". We love the trunk-or-treat, lots of candy very fast:). Plus it was fun to say hi to all the people who use to be in my ward (I've said it before, new stake boundaries, 5 wards instead of 6, and of course my ward, which was the first ward organized in Boise, established in 1936, was the main one to get dissolved). So that was fun. Our stake had a chili/hot dog feed along with the trunck-or-treat, so we had dinner. After that, we made a stop over to our good friends the Matagi's (Sefa, Fanua, and Naki). After the Matagi's we made our stop to my Grandparent's house in Meridian. Natalie, Alex, and Spencer love going to Grandma & Grandpa Mortensen's house. They have a cow (not right now), a creek with a rope swing going through their back yard, trampoline, a big tree house/jungle gym type area, lots of room to run, and lots of fun toys. Out of all the toys, Spencer is drawn to the Halloween, and everyday, decorations. My grandma has an awesome wooden Noah's Ark, with all the animals in it, Spencer can't get enough of what he can't touch. So we always stay and visit for awhile. After that stop we always go over to my grandparent's neighbors. Ever since I can remember, (the neighbors) they have always had a teacup poodle. Teacup is the smallest breed of poodle, just under toy. I remember one named Monique, and one named Sadie, and the one they have now is named Tina Marie. Spencer loves Tina. After that we stopped at our Aunt/Uncle's house down the road, then called it a night. Every stop we make, is a visit, not just a trick or treat and good bye. At our last two stops my 2 year old Nephew Alex would stand at the door, after we rang the doorbell, and say, "Come on in, come on in, come on in"....he knew that's what whoever answered the door would say. That's why we love truck-or-treat, it lets us get lots of candy, because we don't go to very many houses. It's fun with kids this age, because once they get older it turns into a "hang out with friends" holiday, more so than a family holiday. We aren't too exciting around Halloween....but then again we aren't too excited ever.....but we had fun. Probably not as much fun as Scottie though. He spent Halloween on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, the crapper.

Too much fun?

Loves to Bounce!

Howdy Western Folk!!!!

Hi guys - this will be my first post. I figured since I was away from home so long, I'll go ahead and post some pictures for my wife to see. So here it is! We'll see how I do. I'm very amature still :P We'll start by the drive through Texas. It's nuts! We were located in a City called Kilgore. Major towns around it would be Overton and it was about 60 miles from the East Texas border. The trees were INSANE around here. Everywhere you drove, they were thick; I mean THICK!!! Thickest treed area I think I have ever seen in my life. I've been to Victoria, Canada - I thought that place had trees.... hahaha nothin compared to this!

This is what it looks like when you are looking in on it.. it doesnt quite do it justice, but it is really think. (I was using my phone so none of these are excellent..)


When you get to a new state, you have to take the appropriate schooling/testing for that state. Since we already had Texas, we didnt need to go for that one this time, but we did have to take Louisiana's, because well you guessed it, that's where we were headed next. We got in around 1 o'clock in the p.m. so we couldnt take the classes today; so we went and had fun! We took off down I-10 to New Orleans and toured the big city! I dont really have any pictures of the city (yet) but I will soon enough! I do, however, have one of the mighty Mississippi River! That is really somethin else! It's HUGE! The Colorado River is plenty big, but this river has been a part of alot of U.S. trade for good reason - it can handle it! I want to go gator wrastlin' but some local warned me that it wasn't safe, but stay tuned anyway incase I get a chance!

Since we are so closed to the ocean, and the fact that in some places, New Orleans reaches 14 feet below sea level, all of the cemetaries are above ground in this area in crypts. Bob (my boss, and one of the owners of the company) made the comment it would be EXCELLENT paintballin terf - his words, not mine ;) I tried catfish for the first time.... not recommended. I like fish but there's something about catfish that just doesnt do it for me. yuk! Anyway, that's all I have as of current. but I will keep y'all posted as soon as I get more fun stuff together!

Future events/jobs: Traveling to Phoenix on the way home to check out a job that we have to do a week or so after Thanksgiving, so you know where I'm gonna be staying ;) There has also been wind of a job in Detroit,Michigan, and another one in Spokane, Washington sometime in the near future. Im pretty sure I can take Carly and Spencer with me on those! Love all of you and Ill keep ya posted! Sendin love from the Deeeep South, Scott :)