More fun

Opening presents...thanks Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Nic!! Isaac got up at 6am with the sun. Hopefully a nice, long nap is in the cards today.

Birthdays

I had a great day yesterday. It was just me and my family. We went into Logan to figure out why my cell phone wasn't getting any signal when the coverage map said it should be great. We also went to see Maxine Howser, Rob's former landlord from Granada Hills. She lived right around the corder (kind of) from the Willow Park Zoo. The kids had fun playing at the park for a couple of hours.

It was a n ice, leisurly day that I don't think could have been better.

Today is Isaac's big day - 2 years old! It's hard to believe it was two years ago we were packing up to leave Northridge and Rob and I were graduating from CSUN.

Well, to liven up everyone's day and save me from talking too much, here are some more pictures from our stay here in Garden City, Utah.

Notice Isaac jumping for joy in the background. We couldn't have gotten this picture like that if we'd planned it.
Daddy and Isaac admiring the fish. All Isaac was thinking was how he could get in there to catch them!
Mom and kids at the end of a long day. Isaac wasn't going to have any of it, but the pretty blue lake is in the background.
This is the park set at the resort of where we're staying. You can see the lake right over the slide, that's how close we are!!

Happy Day in Bear Lake

So, I was getting really sad on Wednesday night, my camera just quit on me. The lens got stuck half way in and half way out. I guess, since the camera was about 2 years old, it was time for it to go caputs. Electronics are designed to work for 2 years anyway, if you get more than that, it's a bonus.

That brings me to the huge "problem". We left yesterday for Bear Lake, Utah to spend the weekend away for Isaac and my birthdays. How can you have a birthday without a camera?

Well, I went to Walmart to think of a solution to my problem. I was thinking of getting a couple disposable cameras, but then there's the cost to process them and I'd end up spending about $15. It doesn't sound like much, I know, but if you consider that I could spend $15 on something that I don't really want just to get a new camera later, I decided to go with my next option - New Camera!! It was on sale and is a nice, cute little model.

The great thing about the new camera is that it takes the same memory card as my old camera. The bad thing is I left the memory card at home because I didn't think I would need it for the trip and didn't want the pictures to somehow find themselves erased. That being said, I can only take 6 pictures at a time with the new camera. I have the laptop (obviously) and so we just upload the pictures as we take them. Because of this, I have pictures of our tuilips that are going to have to wait. They are stuck on the memory card.

We are staying at the Worldmark Trendwest Resorts in Bear Lake. We have a two bedroom condo overlooking the Lake. I'll get pictures of that and put them up too. Here are the kids enjoying a movie while we got unpacked and settled.

For my birthday, Rob got me a Nintendo Wii. It's very exciting to now be part of the "in crowd". Here are Rob and I playing the Sports games.

Here is Isaac modeling Cosette's new slippers. He's all about "oohs" (shoes).

May Day

So here is what we woke up to on Thursday, May 1st!! This was 4 inches of snow. We were woken up in the middle of the night by hailstone pounding the windows, and then saw we got a little more than hail. How crazy is this? I took this picture at about 8:30AM

And then, here is the yard at 5PM on the same day. We're hoping things warm up and stay warm - not HOT - warm. :-)

So it begins...

Robert received a letter in the mail today stating that he has been accepted into the Doctral of Education Administration degree program. He will start the program in the Fall. The fastest he can complete the program is 3 years, usually it takes students 4 years. We are accepting all types of gifts especially monetary (just kidding of course).

Window Dressings

April 22nd (Tuesday) was a busy day for Emma. While Rob was at work, Emma tutored from 8am-11am. Claire came over at 9am so her mom could teach preschool. She was there until 2pm. The window guys showed up at 10am to put nine windows in our house. Claire was terrified of the workers (too loud). I don't know how much tutoring was actually done. Rob came home and loved the windows. Unfortunately, we couldn't put the blinds back up because the caulk was still drying. Rob left Wednesday at noon for Boise and then on to Michigan. That means I got to put up all the blinds. I am now a window blind hanging expert! I don't know how we did it, but somehow we managed to survive. We always do.

None of my before pictures turned out well. It was too dark in the house and too bright out side. Oh well. You can see in the very first picture though, the sliding door on the top and the white window on the bottom. It was the first time we could see out the bottom window. There was too much moisture in them before. Also, we took out the slider and framed it up. Eventually we would like to take off the smoking deck as well.

A 4-year-old's birthday

Cosette turned 4 on April 18th. She LOVES to be 4! When she was asked what she wanted for her birthday dinner, she told me pancakes. When we looked at cake ideas, she had to have a castle cake. Since I was making cake, she wanted to decorate one too. The first picture is Cosette blowing out the candle on the cake she made for herself Friday. Then you see the castle cake for her party Saturday.


I'm 4!
Grandma and me...Grandma is moving to Texas the first week of May.

Cosette turned 4 on April 18th. She LOVES to be 4! When she was asked what she wanted for her birthday dinner, she told me pancakes. When we looked at cake ideas, she had to have a castle cake. Since I was making cake, she wanted to decorate one too. The first picture is Cosette blowing out the candle on the cake she made for herself Friday. Then you see the castle cake for her party Saturday.

Kids

Back at Spring Fest...this is Cosette's idea of hitching a ride.

Sunday Cosette decided she needed to help me feed Ethan. She did a pretty good job. About half way through she put the bowl on the counter and said Ethan wasn't hungry anymore. I asked, "Is Ethan done or are you done?". She replied, "I'm done."

Ethan fell asleep in his toy. So precious.

Cosette and Claire wanted to help make sandwiches for our picnic. Cosette set up shop on the floor (they have a yellow mat on the floor). Here's to peanut butter and honey sandwiches!

Spring Fest

Isaac...realish this now because next time you'll be on the bottom!

Wow! A hot air balloon. I want to ride.

You can't see them, but Cosette and Mommy are up in the balloon! Cosette cried the whole time because the "fire" was too loud. In fact, she calls this a "fire balloon".

What can be said? He's cute!

This is April?

Ethan is starting to rock and roll on his knees. Not long before he crawls for real.

Cosette and Isaac were so excited to get this picnic table from Aunt Janet. They eat out there whenever they possibly can.

Cosette and her friend Claire. Claire is 4 weeks older than Cosette. They built a Cinderella castle together out of Legos.

This is my pasta man!!

Kite flying in the park. Cosette wanted to fly it, but of course she ended up on the playset and Rob and I flew the kite.

Ethan is 5 months old now. He's starting to get on his hands and knees and rock. He also army crawls all over the place.

My boys!

Visit from Grandma

We went to Salt Lake to pick up Grandma on March 28th. Afterwards, we stopped by Temple Square so Cosette could see the temple. She is always sad when Rob and I go to the temple and she doesn't get to come with us. Our friend Katoba Mushala came with us to SLC. And we stopped at Natalie Woll's to visit. Janelle Youngstrom came up from Orem to visit too.

Uncle Alan gave us a hit in the Hot Wheels track! Isaac likes to sit on the stool while the cars go down the track.

Cosette and Faith - Easter Sunday

This is the head stone of my great-great grandmother. I was named after her. Her full name was Emma Althea Bingham. She's buried in Blackfoot, Idaho.

Who is my Hero

I had the sad opportunity today to attend a funeral of a 7 year old boy who died of cancer. It may have been the saddest thing I have ever been to. Today I had the opportunity to reflect on my life and who in my life has impacted me to the point of calling them my hero. It is a short list because there are thousands of people I admire and many that I call my friends but very few I will call my hero. I want to list them today. I will start at the earliest point in my life that a hero came around. His name is Jay Jones, a man of honesty and integrity who helped me see a better, happier world. Bill Braden, my Jr High Spanish teacher who helped me achieve levels that I had never thought possible and was the real person who first believed in me. From there I went with out adding a hero to my list for several years. It wasn't until college that another person came into my life and changed it forever. My home teacher Skip Tribble literally saved my life and for that I owe him all I have. He was my last hero until my wife. I do not believe I could do everyday what she does. I do not believe I would love me unconditionally like she does everyday. You see a hero to me is someone that is able to accomplish things that I feel I could not do. Not like Jordan or Tiger Woods, but on a real life level. Jay took me in and gave me shelter and food, Bill gave me his time and made sure I knew that I was important to him, Skip stepped in at a critical time of my life and gave me all he had to make sure I was okay. Emma has done more than I could have possible imagined. Today I added another person to my list. Jason Dixon is the father of that 7 year old boy. I have played basketball with him on one occasion and it was there that I learned about his son and the trials the family has been going through. This boy also had autism which is difficult enough but then add cancer on top of that and you have a pretty bad mess. The reason I added this loving father to my list was because he changed me. He stood in front of hundreds of people and cried. He shared his love for his family with this group of people today in a way that I could only look up to him and hope that I could have a fraction of the strength that he displayed today. You see I do not believe that I would be able to shoulder a burden like he has. I do not believe that I could stand in front of so many after losing one of my guiding stars. He is a hero of mine. Even though he may never know it, he has impacted my life for the good. I can only pray that I will not have the challenges that he has had and that I will never face losing one of my own children or my wife. I do not think I could survive the heart break. I look to these people on my short list for inspiration, encouragement, and hope. I hope you have heros in your life as well.

California Trip March 2008

We took our "march" down to California in our van. Ever since Cosette got a countdown calendar, she's wanted to "march" in our van to Grandma and Popi's house (we went in March).

We really had a nice time. It was great to relax and catch up with friends and family.

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