Sorry I have to brag...

Lexi did a fundraiser at school and when she brought the thing home we found out the you could get a Nintendo Wii for selling the most stuff. We jumped right on it and got a whole bunch of our family to help out. Good thing that we have such big extended family and that they live close by. So I thought she did a pretty good job selling it, but we had to wait for a couple weeks to find out if we sold enough to get 1st prize. So we found out about a week ago that Lexi got 1st prize, a Nintendo Wii (we probably would not have bought a Wii otherwise), The kids love it and it can give you a little workout on the sports game that we got. Jared and I also enjoy it and find the game that we have fun. So I just had to share. Sorry no pictures this time. I will try and get the family pics that we just took up soon (they turned out great)! Thanks to all that helped out!!

8 Years Yesterday!!

Nov. 2, 1999 (our second date)


So it was 8 years ago yesterday that Jared and I had our first date!! It was weird thinking about where we were when we first met and what we did on our first date and such. So I decided to get a babysitter (my parents), so that we could go out to dinner together. So we went to "Applebee's" and had a great dinner and a little dessert also (they have this new thing called dessert shooters and they are just the right amount of sweets for after dinner and only 2 dollars). Anyways so after dinner we thought that we would go over to Target to pick up a couple of things that we needed and look at a couple of things we didn't. As we were walking down the main aisle just minding our own business we bumped in to the Director of the Portland Institute downtown. Which is ironically where we had met eight years ago, so not only is that where we met, but he was also there for the first time that we met. His name is Bro. Weed. He is such a great person and so easy to talk to. So he asked us how we were doing and we told him that it had been eight years since our first date and that we were out on a date. He was also there with his wife. We talked for like 45mins in the middle of Target. It was so nice catching up with him and talking about old times. He couldn't believe that our oldest is six. He told that he still tells the story of us meeting and other stories about us to his classes. That is weird sometimes to think about, but cool to know that we were someone that left an impression in his life. I know that he has also left an impression in ours. So how weird was that to run into someone that was there the day that we met and through our courtship on the day we were celebrating being together for 8 years.

Bella's 1st Halloween

My kids were so cute for Halloween!! They were a cat, dog and mouse. These were costumes that we basically had already from previous Halloweens, so we didn't spend really anything on costumes this year (yeah, me!!) Above is Bella in her mouse costume (this costume was one that Lexi wore her 1st Halloween also)
Spence as our little Dalmatian dog He was such a cutie.
Lexi as a cat, she said she was posing like a cat. Don't you love her socks. They were left over from a previous costume when she was a witch and she really wanted to wear them to school, since they were not able to dress up this year for their party at school.
Here they are all together. They had such a great time "Trick or Treating"!! Bella was in the carrier again and loved seeing everything and didn't complain once. What a good baby. While we were out we stop by for a few minutes at family in our ward that was having a party. We didn't stay long because were were all bundled for the weather outside (which was great by the way for Halloween) and didn't want Bella to get over heated in her outfit. We also had fun the Saturday before Halloween, because it was our ward "Trunk or Treat". We invited my sister and her family, and friends of ours. They came to our house before hand and we had dinner then went over to the activity. It was fun and I know the kids enjoyed it. The kids now have enough candy to last them forever. I always end up throwing out some around Easter, because they never eat it all. Partly because I don't let them just chow down on it. That's just me.
Here is a picture of there pumpkins. Lexi's is on the left she wanted it to be a cat, it has a tail in the back also and for the first time did it almost all by herself. Spence told me what he wanted and I helped him. We cut them at my oldest sister Carolyn's house. Every year she has an annual Halloween pumpkin carving party and gives out prizes. She always has prizes for all the kids and they love doing it and we love going and having a great time eating and socializing also.

Bella's 1st Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Okay, so having three kids has made me busier that I thought. Blogging has not been a top priority lately, not like you can't tell, since I haven't blogged for over a month. So here is a little catch up for the end of October. We took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch and choose the worse weekend to go. It was so stormy with wind and rain. I thought we could handle it but when we got out there it was worse then we thought it would be. Lexi was upset about being cold even though I had her in warm clothes and she wanted to go home. She kept saying, "I am mad, can't you see I am mad. I am cold and don't want to be here." Which was funny because she was the one that was so excited about going even if it was raining. Above is a picture of Jared, Lexi, Spence and Billy (cousin) trying not to get too wet under their umbrellas. At least Lexi smiled in this picture. Probably because at this point we said we were going to leave.
Here is a picture of Lexi not so happy, Spence wasn't bothered by the weather and neither was Bella. She loves being in the baby carrier outside, though she has to be facing out to be happy. So being out in Canby at the pumpkin patch we decided that we would just go over to Bullwinkle's family fun center and play some video games, so that the day wouldn't be a total loss. We have never gone and just played the video games before, we usually did putt putt golf there, but it had been a long time since we did that. So the kids really enjoyed themselves and with some other family there they were able to earn lots of tickets and the kids got to get lots of prizes. We split the ticket between the kids and they thought that was great. They had more tickets then I ever had. They were really lucky on a couple of the games.
Here is Spence enjoying himself.
Lexi and me trying to play a motorcycle game, we weren't very good.

Jared wasn't able to join us at Bullwinkle's because when we went to leave the pumpkin patch our car wouldn't start. Jared had thought he had got it fixed, but it turned out there was more to the problem. He was able to get it started for a little bit and headed straight home to work on it. (We hitched a ride with other family back to our house.)

"Cash Cab" Cheney Style

My kids are so funny!! We watch a TV show "Cash Cab", which is a trivia game show in a cab in New York. Anyways, Jared and I watch it occasionally, what I didn't realize was that Lexi and Spence paid attention to the show. (It is not a bad show by any means it is just a trivia show). So the other day while I was making dinner I hear Lexi and Spence in the other room on the stairs, playing like they were in the "Cash Cab" and saying the things that the driver says and then making up questions. Lexi was the driver who asked the questions and Spence was the passenger. If I had thought about it I would have taken a picture. It was so funny I didn't even think they paid attention to that show when we watched it. So last night I played it with them I asked them questions and they could earn candy for after dinner. It was a great game to play while I was making dinner. The kids absolutely loved it and then played it again with Jared when he got home. I will have to remember this game in the future. It was also great because we asked them all sorts of questions from school stuff, TV shows they watch, and church questions also. Helps you to realize what they know and what they don't know. Just thought I would share.

First Day of 1st Grade

Lexi had her first day of 1st grade on Tuesday. She was so excited. Last year she went all day every other day, but this year she is there everyday all day. I wasn't sure how I felt about this at first, but after her first day I realized that is wasn't so bad. Especially because I only have two kids at home to take care of. Here is a picture of her right before she headed off to school.
Jared took this picture of us all right before we walked Lexi to school. It is sort of nice having the school right across the street. We decided we would all walk her to school her first day. Lexi liked us all being there to see her room and teacher for the first time.
While Lexi was at school Spence wanted to be the big helper for mom. I set her in the bouncer while I went in the other room to do something and when I came back Spence and Bella were watching cartoons and Spence was bouncing her and talking to her. It was so cute.
I had to put this picture in here. This is a look Bella gives sometimes when she is wondering what you are doing. I just love that I got a picture of it. Something to look back on and laugh about.

Now that Lexi is almost done with her first week of school, she has had a pretty good week. We will keep you updated on her 1st grade year.

Ward Campout/Labor Day Weekend

This last weekend was a pretty busy weekend! First off on Friday we headed out to our ward camp out for the night at Cape Lookout State Park. Jared was able to get off work a little early, so when he got home we packed the car and off we went. We got there at dinner time and quickly fed the kids. We let the kids play for awhile until it was time for the ward campfire. They had a big bonfire on the beach, it was a gorgeous day and night, so being on the beach wasn't bad at all. Though Bella didn't like the dark and we ended up heading back to our campsite early. Above is a picture of Lexi in her bed in Jared's parents camp trailer. The kids loved the trailer and it was a lot nicer then sleeping on the ground.
Here is Spence in his feety pj's. He doesn't wear these at home because when he sleeps he sleeps real hot. So this was the first time in a long time that he had worn them.
This is Bella on Saturday in the car. I sat her in there for a minute to help the kids with something and she was just so cute sitting there that I had to take a picture. When we woke up Saturday morning we went over to have a ward breakfast with he rest of the ward. This was nice, with pancakes, bacon and hash browns. Then we packed up camp and headed down to the beach for a little while before we had to head back to town. We only had a little time to play at the beach, because we had to be back in Beaverton for a baptism/blessing. The weather was so wonderful we really didn't want to head back, but didn't want to miss out on the baptism and blessing.
Here is a picture of the kids and Jared playing on the beach.
Here is Bella and I on the beach, she practically lived in this carrier the whole time we were camping.

So we headed back to Beaverton for Delia's baptism and Lela's baby blessing. Which we barely made it to. It started at 2:30pm and we had to hurry to get there. After the baptism and blessing was over we went to Craig and Pam's house for dinner.

On Sunday Lexi gave her very first talk in Primary!! She had always given prayers and scriptures, but this was the first time she was able to do a talk. She did such a great job. We were so proud of her.

Then on Monday in the afternoon we went to my brother Jon's, Graduation party. He just graduated from college and got a real good job. We are so proud of him and that he stuck it out.

That is how our weekend went and I am glad to get back to the routine of school and regular life.