Full Throttle

Hey everyone, (this is Alex)

Just thought I would send an email telling you of our lives these days. We have gone from being very laid back and cool to full throtte this last week. Anna is busy with all 3 kids. She does a great job of enertaining them and taking care of them. I have been very busy. I started teaching again. I am taking 2 online courses for my degree again this semester and then 2 more for the spring semester. I should be done this spring! I can't wait! This year will be a true test of our patience as a married couple and as a family. I am still a ward mission leader and have meetings and 2 nights a week that I go out with the missionaries. All the other nights during the week are committed to homework and teaching preparations. It could be interesting. We have had an eventful summer. We enjoyed the time off, but especially the camping and swimming activities. This labor day weekend, my brother-in-law, anna's brother, and myself are going to hike to Alpine lake. Anna is going to have a slumber party with her sister. The weather might get a bit interesting, but we are committed. Anyway, we will do our best to stay afloat this semester. I look forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas already. I hope everyone is just as happy and busy as we are! We finally did get some pictures, so look out mom. Later

Be Reminded....

Life is short. I see that so much more now as I watch my little ones grow. It is precious and sweet, and too many times we let our lives run on auto-pilot. We find ourselves feeling frustrated with the messes, the talking back, the whining and the crying. We tend to feel bitter that we've become "frumpy house wives" who spend all day doing things for others instead of ourselves. I have been feeling lately that this "job" I've been given is the Most important thing I will EVER do. These precious spirits are only with us for a fraction of our lives. How important it is for us to cherish the sweet times and try to laugh at their "childishness". Lets not take everything so seriously and remember that they are learning. The Lord gave them to us, and at any time he could have them back. I honestly never thought I could feel love like this. My heart swells with Emotion when I think about how quickly the time passes. So with that said, I wanted to share a Blog Post that a friend posted. I hope she doesn't mind. I think everyone could benefit from reading this story.

http://meaksfam.blogspot.com/2009/08/witnessing-miracle.html

My Baby Turned Five! Where did the time go?

Yesterday my baby turned Five! I really can't believe it. I wanted to make a video that highlighted her five years. It took me two days to figure out how to create a video to post to You Tube. I still didn't get it the way I want because I couldn't figure out how to get the music ON my video. Anyhow, as I was putting this together I realized how fast they grow up! I got pretty choked up. So here is my best effort at a video presentation.

Dejah's Birthday Party

On Friday we decided to throw Dejah her 5th Birthday early! We wanted to do something she would love, so we reserved the Meridian Pool and invited lots of family and friends to join us for a BBQ and Swim party. Dejah is such a social bug and loves to play with friends. So it was the perfect party for her. I even ventured out and made a princess cake! Here are the pictures we got of the BBQ. We didn't take any swimming pics, but it was tons of fun! Thanks everyone for coming.

Someone Sucks!

Ok, its Logan!!! :) And he Loooves those fingers!

New Moon

I just saw this trailer of New Moon on a friend's website. It is the best one I've seen so far, and it actually makes me excited for the movie. I was pretty disappointed with the Twilight movie, but what can you expect with such a good book? Here it is...enjoy :)

Hiking the Sawtooths

Last weekend, Alex and his brothers did their annual...Beal Brothers Hike. (or whatever you want to call it) Anyway, he should be the one writing about it, but since he is back to his busy schedule, I am left with giving you my best description of the trip.

There are actually 6 boys in the family, not including their Dad. One brother had to work, and the other is serving a mission in Texas (Hi Chase). Anyway, this year they did a pretty intense hike. They left on Thursday afternoon. When they got to the trail head, the weather was pleasant. They had to get booking it to get their camp set up before it got too dark.

I guess the trail was pretty rugged. Lots of rocks. But really beautiful. This picture is of Gabe (left), Alex (center), and Hart (right).

This is Alex, Keaton, and Hart. I don't know which lake this is but it looks awesome! Nice sweat marks Keat!

Alex and the Brothers love to go for Freezing late night swims! Yes, my husband is the pasty white farmers tan one :)

Notice the Ponchos?? Yes, it rained. And the weather got really cold. I guess they decided to bail Friday evening instead of Saturday. They ended up hiking 13-14 miles that night as fast as they could. The terrain is kind of rough and Alex got a little injury trying to go that fast downhill. When they got to Stanley, the Hotels were all full. They called their Dad and he suggested they stay in Sun Valley. So they got a better night sleep there.

They all made it home safe without serious injury. Looks like a fun time. Maybe next year the weather will be better. At least it wasn't like last year when the mosquitoes "bullied" them out!

Are you kidding me?

Well, today Alex is off on a Hiking trip with his brothers for the rest of the weekend, leaving me here with the wee ones. So what do you do when the hubby leaves? Go see Mom! She had the day off today, so my sister and I took our kids to Grandma's for a visit. Grandma has lots of fun things for the kids. Toys, movies, a back yard play-set. Things most kids would just LOVE to play with. Leave it up to our kids to bypass the fun...at least the two oldest. Chase is just one month older than Dejah, and they are the best of friends. They are both Five years old and gearing up for kindergarten. They are also entering the "age of exploration". So here are the Top three things today. #1, We were sitting there in the living room with the younger kids, just visiting. Chase and Dejah were outside playing. It was time to "check" on them and to my horrified eyes...there they are! In the front yard, sprinklers on...and in the NUDE! Running through the sprinklers and laughing their heads off!! Ahhh...We hurried the kids back in...hoping no passer-bys saw the craziness. She explained that they didn't want to get their clothes wet. I had to explain to her that we don't get naked around boys, and we don't run around naked outside...EVER! I asked her several times after that what I told her, and she had it down. Ok on to #2. A little time had passed. Again it was time to "check" on the kids. I look out the front window, and too my horrified eyes...Chase and Dejah are ON TOP of my Van!!! Holy crap! What the heck? They crawled up on the front and made their way up to the top! If Alex saw that he'd probably have a heart attack! Lesson number three: Don't climb on the cars!! Alright, last one of the day #3. After the "car" incident, a time-out for being naughty, and the punishment over, of course the kids were back outside...and we found Chase down in a hole that leads to my Dad's septic tank. Dejah and the other kids were watching him...probably debating making their way down there with him. Its been an undone project of my Dad's and there is dangerous wiring down there...he really needs to get that hole filled in. Anyway, maybe the lesson is not to let the kids play outside. I'll just say it has been an eventful day!

Summer Recap

I can't believe summer is coming to an end for us. It has been so wonderful having Alex home with me. I am so blessed. Just before Logan was born, my Grandpa passed away. Then our summer kicked off with the birth of our 3rd child and 1st boy, Logan. The first month was a blurr of new baby, mastitis, and Alex playing the "mommy" roll to our girls. Still we managed to have some fun.

We took a little trip to Twin Falls and went to a Hot Springs. I of course just watched.

Then Alex took the girls to Arco for a family reunion.

We went boating with my family, and I finally got to get in the water.

Logan was blessed on 4th of July weekend, so we had fun with family.

Alex got shingles. Can you believe he is still "recovering". I'm pretty sure he will have scars on his forehead. He didn't even pick at the scabs.

Anyway, we did the big Redfish trip.

My birthday came and I turned 31.

The big Hell's canyon trip flopped due to rain. My poor parents work so hard preparing, so it was a big let down.

Dejah stared "jump start". Its a program that runs 3 weeks before Kindergarten. They work on basic skills. She has loved riding the bus and meeting friends.

Alex will be leaving to go on a hike in the Sawtooths with his brothers in a couple days. Then its back to work. Dejah will start school a week later.

So far we've had a fun summer full of friends and family. I am actually looking forward to some structure. Our lives will get back on a schedule. The one thing I am NOT looking forward to...Alex's busy schedule. He leaves for work at 6am. Gets home around 5ish. Then he has two Master's classes that start. On top of that he has a busy calling at church working with the missionaries. Its going to be alot to swallow. I hope I can hold my emotions together.

Well everyone, I took this video a coup weeks ago. My baby is growing so fast. He's HUGE!! Check out the "talking", he's even doing it more now.

OK Bloggers....

Whats the deal? Is it just me? I need blogs to read....and I'm not gettin' any. So nows your chance. Pick anything to blog about. I don't care if its about boogies, spit-up, poopie diapers, or your bad hair day. You don't have to include pictures, and it doesn't have to be "blog worthy"! Who came up with that phrase anyway? So nows your chance to redeem yourself and start blogging.

Unexpected

August 5th! My birthday! Also the day we went to my FAVORITE place to camp and wake board! Hells Canyon! My parents literally spend DAYS preparing. My brother and his wife bought plane tickets to fly from Pennsylvania for the bless-ed event. The food was bought and prepared. The kids were geared up for fun....meaning the "adults". August = HOT weather! Right??? Perfect for the lake! Not just any lake.....Glass for miles!!!! The camp grounds are beautiful and provide nice shade, electricity, bathrooms with flushing toilets, and a SHOWER! There is a fun beach for the little kids to play at. I mean, we really look forward to this trip every year. And wouldn't you know it????.................................

What you hear is why I am blogging now! I am so bummed! We took off Wednesday after Dejah got out of school. We arrived three hours later. It was hot, it was beautiful, the lake was awesome. Then Thursday brought with it some nasty weather. We stuck out the next night and slept well considering the leaking tent and puddles of water on our floor. This morning we decided the storm wasn't just passing through. Ughhh!

31

Born August 5th

I really can't believe I'm 31! I feel great. I feel truly blessed to be raising such beautiful children with my Best Friend Alex. Here's to more wonderful years!

Wakeboarding!!!....and...FU...U...UNN!!!

As you know, we LOVE to go boating! If we could we would probably go everyday. Anyway, some good friends from Laramie were in town visiting family, so we took them out to wake board! Here is the You Tube video Kody put together for us. Enjoy!!

Here is Logan in his little spot, content as can be.

HOT Mama Tiffany!!

We also went tubing with them on Indian Creek here in Kuna. Don't let the word "creek" fool you though. It has some crazy rapids.

Tiffany and her husband Kody. Thanks for the Fun! We hope you'll get to move here.