I am way too pedictable

Yesterday I saw a friend from high school- Kelie- and we discussed my inability to do things I say I am going to do ESPECIALLY when it comes to blogging! I told her I would post yesterday and here we are- next day! At least it isn't a week later! Anyway, last weekend we went to Logan to attend Neil's baby blessing. Elise had her third boy in October and it was fun to be able to hang out with the Hansens for the special occasion! I had my camera the whole time and these are the only pictures I caught!
We are so lucky to have family close enough to us that we can attend blessings and get together often!




I also wanted to spread some holiday cheer- for your dry-humored funny bones! Follow these links for a little chuckle!
John Malkovich- makes me laugh
You have to listen to all of this- no matter how much it hurts your ears!
Who doesn't love Christmas?

Monthly post

We celebrated Dallis's 5th birthday- I was going to put together a video but, I have too much to catch up on! Dallis requested Mongolian Grill for her birthday lunch and then Garcia's for dessert.
She thoroughly enjoyed the attention! Dallis got some great toys and a very pretty dress from my mom. She is very excited to be a big girl now.She has started acting more like a little girl and less like a toddler. Lots of questions lots of the time- and some are not so easy to answer. How do you explain what 'hurry' means if you also have to explain 'fast' and 'go'? Dallis's birthday is just before Thanksgiving which leads me to my next topic.
Todd joined me this year for the Run to Feed the Hungry- a 5k that most of us agree was not measured right (we are very sure it was more like a 6 or 7k). My mom, dad, brother Jake, and sister Caitlan ran with us also.
Then we headed home to make a few side dishes and pies for the big feast at my mom's. This year EVERYTHING was perfect- the turkey was the best ever- very moist and just perfect! THANKS MOM!! We played games and then wrapped up our evening.
It is our tradition to set up our Christmas decorations on the day after Thanksgiving (I am NOT a Black Friday fan- so I try stay in). Now that we have room in our new house, we got a big Christmas tree- real, and piny, and full, and so pretty! The girls tried their hand at decorating it- including socks, teddy bears, Barbies and a shoe. I think my sister, her friend Jessi, and I did a little better, but I guess it is all subjective.

After hanging the stockings I reminded myself- I have a lot of frikkin kids!!
Todd's plan to keep the girls from playing with the ornaments was to tell them the Grinch lives in the tree and if they play with the decorations 'something scary will happen'. Well- as helpful as that has been to my ornaments that I have been collecting since my youth- the girls are now coming up to us showing us random scratches and saying the Grinch did it. Or, they really want to sit in the living room, but can't without a parent because the Grinch will eat them. It is pretty funny. I am just sure that in years to come the girls will be dealing with serious trauma due to the fear instilled in them by the scary monster in our Christmas tree! Here is a picture of what goes on behind the scenes of an attempted family holiday picture!(the source of MY trauma!!) Well- Happy Beginning of the Holdiay Season! Up next, Todd graduates, has a birthday and The Boy turns ONE!

Halloween has come and gone

This Halloween was a good one for us. Dallis chose to be a mermaid but, after her costume proved why I paid so little on it, we had to switch over to Elina the Barbie fairy character. If any of you know who I am talking about then I assume you have young daughters and the Barbie invasion is in full swing at your house, too. Barbie is also Odette, of Swan Lake, and Hadley's choice for costume. Brynn's costume was some fair maiden dress that I really chose just because it came in her size. She looked very cute but, I didn't take pictures when she was lookin good. I waited until she had nap hair and Tootsie Roll face. Ike looked super cute in his Halloween jammies. I know- copping out and going the jammie route just cause I can- can we say mom of 4?



We enjoyed going to Boo at the Zoo and the Snake River Landing trick or treating. I left my camera at home for Snake River so here are some cute ones from the zoo!
We have been major slackers in our blogging but, we appreciate our friends who do check up on us! Happy Fall!!

Hadley is FOUR!!

Hadley's birthday was last week- so in true Ann-Michelle fashion, I am posting today! We love our little Hadley Jane, even when she is acting more like Denise the Menace than a sweet little girl! We love all the funny names she makes up for her other sisters and brothers and all the dogs she owns, she has such a funny imagination! She still sings to herself quite a bit- sometimes she will sing a song that she didn't make up! So, Happy Birthday Hadley! WE LOVE YOU, HAT!!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The Boy

The other day Graham was sitting in his bouncer and started falling asleep- not the unusual- but he was reaching for something at the same time and I thought it was so cute. Ignore his teething drool and my mess of a living room and the picture is kinda funny!
A big STILL toothless smile from Ike- he has been drooling like he will cut soon for months now- and no tooth. Which means the drooling has no end in sight.

The Boy has started to become mobile as well- not your conventional crawl, but dang cute!

So it begins

I know that technically pre-school is not considered K-12 level school BUT it marks the beginning of the school years in my mind! Dallis loves her class enough that she wants to go with Hadley to her class, too. I am predicting that enthusiasm for class will fade in the coming years! Dallis has a pretty large class with an even mix of girls and boys. Hadley's class, on the other hand, is smaller and she and one other little girl are the only girls in the class! Dallis is getting better at writing her name. For a short while there she was adding an 'H' because it was one of the letters she knew how to write pretty well. In fact, it is the only letter Hadley can write- so when signing her name it is just one big squiggly 'H' and some other marks. Here my big girls are posing with their backpacks and an example of Dallis's fine penmanship (with only the tiniest bit of help from Grandma Diane)

Out of hibernation

This will be a picture-less post because I lost our camera. I really want to blame Todd- but, I know it was me. I was pretending that my rest from blogging was because of the missing camera. The truth is that I just haven't made the time to post- we were all the way up to almost twice a week and then fell off the bandwagon. Well, I am back and will buy a new camera if I can't find my old one soon!
Todd gets back into school in a week and 3 days and pre-school starts for both Dal and Hat in about 5 days. They have been asking to go to school since February and kept the requests up all the way to now! They are both VERY excited to start learning with Miss Becky and Miss Whitney. I am a little sad- but also looking forward to having something for them to do outside the house. Hadley does find the fact that she is going to school and Brynn is not pretty pleasing. She actually uses 'You can't come to school with me' as a way of picking on Brynn. Yes, my children pick on each other already. They do have DeArton blood in them- so it was to be expected! Well- I am really going to post within a week, so until then, bye!

On and around the Middle Teton

Last week DocuTech had the "Teton Challenge" which consisted of a bunch of us getting a day off of work to hike the middle teton. It was alot of fun - though I didn't quite know what I was getting myself into, as you will see shortly. We left Tuesday afternoon and camped at a site between Jackson Hole and the Tetons. By 5:00 AM the next morning, we were on the trail.




These lakes were really pretty, and kept coming in to view from different angles as we switchbacked our way up



It was about a 4-hour hike up to "The Meadows," which is where the word "hike" begins to be less applicable, and "climbing" takes on new meaning. Here are a bunch of pictures of the hike up to the Meadows.








I don't have any real good shots of "The Meadows" - this will have to do.



Needless to say, it is beautiful up there and had a spectacular view. Great place for a picnic. After the Meadows, things get alot more difficult. I think the first time I thought I might just go back down and enjoy the Meadows was when two guys in our group took off over some icy snow




That basically looks like this at the bottom



The rest of us decided to take another route up, but still!

This shot captures my moment of decision. This is where I decided seeing my family again was more important than seeing the peak =)



It was a great time, thanks to Mitch for letting me borrow some of his gear for the hike. And while I can't quite say I climbed the middle Teton, I can accurately say that I have been climbing on and around it!

Meichelle has the best lnks

I saw this on Meichelle Johnson's blog and took a few quizzez- some for Todd, too!I apparently will go to jail for picking a fight with the homeless- Todd is getting locked up for dowloading Metallica songs!

	ann-michelle Pills: Will cause tone deafness
	'What effect do you have on people?' at QuizGalaxy.com

	todd Pills: Will cause religious reprogramming (in chemical form)
	'What effect do you have on people?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Todd's Random Movie Quote: 'My dad thinks I paid for all this with catering jobs. Never underestimate the power of denial.' - Ricky Fitts, American Beauty Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Ann-michelle's Random Movie Quote: 'You can never go too far.' - Ferris Beuller, Ferris Beuller’s Day Off Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

todd --

[noun]: A dance involving little to no clothing

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

ann-michelle --

[noun]: A real life terminator

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

So true, so true

Tag Town USA

My sister-in-law Jana tagged me with a 6 random facts tag- I know, I know- how many random facts about me could there possibly be, right? Yeah- I am little bit of a random person, so I guess a lot.
1. I am addicted to NWClassifieds.com and SnakeRiverMLS.com- I pretend I am house- or job- hunting and look up houses in Idaho and Washington and jobs in Washington. I combine my findings with PayScale.com (the sweetest site that shows what you should be making and how much your cost of living will change if you move from say, Idaho Falls to New York- or something)
2. I have not owned a purse that was any color other than red (and usually a red leather croc print- but not a real croc, that's cruel) for the past 3 years. I may have had purses that were other colors- but I only use my red one.
3. I like babysitting for other people- it cannot get weirder than that. My kids are nicer- I am nicer, and I know that some mom somewhere is getting a break. In my limited capacity to serve I feel this is one area where I can actually help someone.
4. My guilt-complex is almost crippling- it is hard to relax when I am finding something else to blame myself for!
5. I wish I was as creative as my brother-in-law Chris with nicknames. He and my sister have some pretty fun ones between the two of them- I am not so cool, but dang I do try! See what I mean?
6. I have madly talented siblings- I think I am part of the family to even things out. Elise is insanely creative, have you ever heard Kristie sing? And Caitlan, too- for that matter. Jacob writes piano music and can't read notes! Allison is also creative- a great story-teller. I am not sad about being a little low on the talent side- it is kinda fun being a sibling with these amazing people.

So, this time I am tagging Elise, Becky(maybe you read this?), Caitlan, Allison, Mom and DIANE!! (I know you read- you can do the tag on the Freed Fam Adventures blog!

July with the Freeds

This past month has been a quick one! School wrapped up on Friday- (Hooray! I graduated- now I have a diploma and everything!)- and we had a lot of fun family activities that we decided to show in a little July-tribute video! Happy Summer, everyone!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Hey, you digital scrapbookers!

I am not too savvy when it comes to scrapbooking- but would not be against acquiring the mad skill of digital scrapbooking. My sister, Elise, has of course mastered it- she is way cooler than me, dang. Now she is even designing kits for Heritage Scrap!! Check out her blog- she has some free stuff and also is going to be selling sweet kits soon!! I am thinking that I am cool just because I share some genetic similarities with my super talented sister- well, I am hoping that is true;)!

Explanation

I think everyone guessed pretty close.

I had been at work for about an hour on Thursday when Ann-Michelle called to tell me that someone had just driven through our backyard. I told her I would be right home, but I had no idea what to expect. What I conjured up in my mind turned out (if you can believe it) to be a lot worse than what had actually happened. The subtext for this story is that we just had sod put down in our yard a couple of weeks ago, and the fence built last October, and we got the swingset from Mitch and Jana just a month ago! I was sure every piece of the fence was destroyed and all the sod was ruined!

Well - when I got home the street surrounding our house was coned off and there were policemen on the scene. Apparently what happened is that some lady was driving southbound on Ammon when she blacked out or lost consciousness somehow with her foot still on the gas. She crossed the northbound lane and plowed right through our yard. You can see from the pictures that she went right through one of our gateposts - which is reinforced on 3 sides with a steel beam.

After demolishing the swingset she exited our yard and hit the curb in the church parking lot. Somehow she kept going and finally stopped after hitting a tree in the churches yard.

And thats how it happened. More than anything else we just thankful and relieved that none of our kids were outside at the time.

And The Winner Is . . .

Can you guess what happened !?








Tune in again in a couple days for more details!

Pampered Chef- you know you love it

So for all of you who are interested- I am having a Pampered Chef catalog party. If you want in on the festivities or just want to take a look at Pampered Chef's fancy cooking stuff, let me know- I will get a catalog to you. The party closes on July 7th- so lots of time to pine over a new garlic press or sweet baking stone! For the sake of privacy, just leave your email address as a comment and I will communicate with you that way OR write to me at iamannmichelle@yahoo.com. I am personally looking forward to owning another Pampered Chef knife- they are SO sweet!!

Taggin' it up

So Cait tagged me and I am playing along- woot!

1) Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2) People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
3) At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.

Here we go!

1) I TALK with my hands- I mean, I cannot communicate without some finger pointing, hand flipping, or some demonstrative action that is supposed to make whatever is spilling out of my mouth make sense.
2) I hold grudges- long lasting and unbreakable grudges- against some books and American Idol. I try to say it is better than holding grudges against people- but I am sure it bad just the same.
3) I HATE mustard- so much. If there is any mustard on my hamburger I will eat around the contaminated area and waste the rest.
4) I am supposed to be putting laundry away right now.
5) The way to my heart is spicy, burn-your-lips food OR rich, and totally unhealthy chocolate desserts. They don't normally go well together- but at least there is more than one way to my heart.
6) I want to live back East someday- I haven't been there much and so this desire is really based on the fact that I like the names of the states: New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maryland- ahh, much better than Idaho.
7) Seven is my favorite number- yes the obsession is deep enough that I pushed for a wedding date that either contained a 7 or was a multiple of said best number.(yeah- my anniversary is March 17th)Speaking of my freak number habits- I memorize phone numbers, fast- I do it by identifying the mathematic relationship among the digits.
8) My face turns red just by the thought of it- like now- I can feel it turning now.

I am tagging Jessica, Holly, Kelie, Hannah, Jana, Meichelle, Heather, Katherine and - no, thats 8, that is my list!

Visit from Nonny and Bob

Nonny and Bob decided to stop in Idaho after being in Panama and Columbia for the winter. Their tradition is to bring all the great-grandkids tee shirts from whatever port they've been to. We love seeing Nonny and Bob and wish they could get to the states and to Idaho more often!



Nonny made it without getting in any pictures- but not Bob! Here he is with a GREAT great-grandaughter!

This is Mom-mom, and although she wasn't visiting we thought we'd share this cute picture of her and the boy!