This last weekend Jerry and Bernice and their 4 kiddos arrived from Illinois!  They stayed at our house for the weekend than headed up to the campsite on Monday.  We will be joining them and the rest of Casey's family in Donnelly this weekend... It was SO good to see my 3 nephews again AND meet my new, first little niece, Berendina! She is a month old and so, so sweet! 

Marie and Katie soaking up "Dina" time!

On Saturday of Labor Day weekend my little brother, Jake, and his fiance', Krystal, were married!! It was a beautiful wedding held in the backyard of her parent's house.  At 7 'o clock in the evening, approx. 100 close friends and family came to celebrate their union.  My dad officiated their ceremony, Casey was an usher and Katie Rose got to be one of three flower girls. I love how their whole wedding was so special and totally unique to them and their relationship!  We are super excited to have Krystal in our family now and, thankful my brother has found "his woman!"

 Pretty girls!!

 My dad and Casey... waiting for family photos to begin

 JC, Katie and Makenzie

 The happy couple!!

 My dad's sister, Bev, came out from MO for the weekend.  She helped my mom and I prepare the food for the reception... it was SO wonderful to see her and Uncle Don again, as I hadn't seen her in approx. 15 years!

 Our family :)

After the reception, a group of us went to Barbacoa in Boise... a fun place to finish out the memorable night! Currently, the two love birds are honeymooning on a cruise in the Caribbean.... wish I was on a cruise in the Caribbean too... well, NOT actually with THEM but, with my hubby :)

Last Tuesday, the 21st, Tys and Katie started school at Zion Lutheran Christian in Nampa.  Tys is in Kindergarten this year and, Katie in 1st grade.  So far, they are enjoying it and are getting used to being in class "all day!" as they say :)  Another first for them is having their lunches at school... depending on the school's lunch menu they get their choice of hot or cold lunch.  This week seems to be going better with meeting new friends and actually remembering their new friend's names... and, it helped that their friends from church, Janelie and Eleana, are also in each of their classes.  I am proud of my two kiddos and how hard they work at school!  They are growing up so much!! 

 Next Saturday my little brother and his fiance', Krystal, will be married in the backyard of her parent's house.  I am SO happy for my brother... God has given him an amazing, fun, beautiful bride! Above photo: On August 12th my mom and I gave her a bridal shower luncheon at Smoky Mountain Pizza. Approx. 20 of her friends and family came to show her our support and happiness for their upcoming marriage!

 This last Saturday was Krystal's bachelorette party in downtown Boise. 7 of us girls began the evening at The Solid... making our way to various places like Fatty's, Bardenays, Lil' Roddy's and China Blue.  At Lil' Roddy's we met up with the guys as it was Jake's bachelor party as well. It was so fun to have the two parties together in the end!! We danced into the wee hours of the morning and just had a great time!

Not the greatest photo but you get the general idea of what a cute couple they are :)

Hello!  I'm back! After a long break from blogging, I figured it was time to sit down and catch everyone up on the happenings of our big summer.  Another excuse for not blogging is the fact that my computer was in another state for 2 months and we just now got our internet up and running in our new house...

Anyhow, the big news of summer is we've moved!  After my last post, the kids and I moved to my parents house in Boise.. Casey spent the end of July moving our stuff from Nevada to a storage unit in Idaho (and various other friend's houses... by the end we had stuff/animals in 6 different locations) After living with my parents for about 5-6 weeks, we were able to get moved into our new house in Nampa!  We love the spaciousness of the house and the big back yard where the kids can play.  Inside, there are 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 livingrooms and a beautiful all wooden "man-cave".  Including the man-cave there are 4 levels.. 3 sets of stairs! Yes, we all got quite a workout moving things up and down all those stairs :)  I will post inside pictures soon. Our neighborhood is nice and quiet... its more of a retirement community. However, it just so happens that our neighbors next door have little kids our kid's ages! A sweet older lady brought us corn from her garden as a "welcome to the neighborhood" gift... how sweet!

The same week we moved in, the kids started school at Zion Lutheran Christian and are loving it! We love how Christ is centered around everything that they do. Casey and I helped out with their big "cleaning the school" weekend (beginning of Aug) and Casey is volunteering his time on Saturdays to help other men replace their building's roof.  Katie and Tys are making new friends and, it's nice that their good friends, Janelie & Eleana, are in their classes too.

Casey began his new job as manager of Foam Concepts for F&H Mine Supply the beginning of Aug.  He was hired to first, move Foam Concepts from Minnesota to Boise. And, second, run the company once he gets it moved.  So, for the time being he has been spending most of his work weeks in Minnesota.  This last week he was "in" so we could get moved however, will be "out" again for these next 2 work weeks.  He is loving his new job!  The company is very laid back and very supportive of their employees and managers.  Having him work a normal 40 hour work week will be something that we are going to enjoy and will quickly get used to :)

There are lots and lots of photos to post from these last couple of months... for now, there is still lots more unpacking to do and wedding preparations for Jake and Krystal's upcoming wedding!!

It's Moving Day! The kids and I make our official move to Boise today... Casey will be back and forth these next few weeks to move for loads. We are thankful for these last 5 years that we've had in Battle Mountain and will forever cherish the memories made with our dear friends here.  We love you guys!

June 27th - We celebrated Kristiana's 1st birthday!!  She spent her special day showered in love from her family and friends... 

 Good morning, birthday girl!

 as per tradition, her birthday breakfast was a chocolate donut... yum, yum

 for lunch we went to Wendy's for hamburgers and frosty's

 to work off all those sweets, we spent the afternoon at Settlers Park in Meridian.  This park is one of our favorites because of it's cool playground and water fountains.  Kristiana LOVED the water fountains! She spent her time splashing in the water crawling back and forth between fountains.

 In the evening we had a little party with her siblings, Aunt Marie, Meredith, Brian, Jake and Kristal at my parent's house... Katie chose a Mini Mouse themed party for her little sister!

 Such a big girl with her new purse!

Happy Birthday, Kristiana!! Your family loves you!