Update part II...

So, here are the pictures I got from our fun time at Dierkes Lake (on the Snake River) in Twin Falls. It was Ryan's class reunion and about 20%-25% of them showed up. All of 10-12 people! Very different, but much more fun than a group of hundreds would be. The girls loved it! Aliyah paddled around in her "boat", Rylee decided she preferred the sand(and her star floater), and Lizzy wanted to float and swim at the same time (she ended up just swimming in the end). I was swimming so I didn't get much of the people there (except my own little ones), and of course after having so much fun, the girls were tired and we left with some sad faces and tears.

After we left the lake, since we payed $3 dollars to get in, we stopped over at Shoshone Falls before heading out. One of Ryan's friends -Steve- and his family were there. The girls had so much fun with their two girls and little boy and it was such a beautiful place. (There are even a few pictures from the drive up the canyon.)

(I also like to call this one "My favorite things about Twin")

Update!

Okay, so I have been a blogging slacker, I just haven't had the energy it takes to sit and pick out pictures, there are just too many cute ones to pick from, and I didn't know how to show them all without taking too much time (plus I've had homework a lot). Until now, or still a couple weeks ago, when Alisha told me about picasa. Love it! So now I will be playing catch up for the next week, starting with "fun times at home in July" (the little one is Mikaila, a friend of ours, and Christian's sister - he is in the background of one of the pictures, but wouldn't turn around for the picture.) and then "Oquirrh Temple Open House" from our trip to SLC in July. Hope you enjoy and look forward to our next installment: "Ryan's ten year in Twin Falls"!!!

(Ryan bought a $120 Boise State rug (above) for $15, we will miss Lowes' employee deals!)



The girls just love their "big girl" cousin Katie!

TAG

I have officially been Tagged!

For all you married people out there! Tag your married friends that you want to know about!
1. When is your "engagement" anniversary: November 30, 2002
2. When is your "marriage" anniversary: March 15, 2003
3. How long have you known your spouse: 6 year, 10 months-ish
4. How long did you date/court before you were engaged: 1.5 months
5. Where did you meet your spouse for the first time: At his apartment in our complex at Dixie
6. What is your spouse's full name: Ryan Clark Egbert
7. Do you have any children yet: Yes
8. How many: 3 girls
9. Do you have any house pets: 3 girls ;)
10. Do you own a house or rent: Rent
11. Do you live in the country or town: Finally in a city!!!
12. What is one of your favorite activities together: Movies, we've gotten boring over the years
13. Do you have a favorite vacation spot: St. George/California
14. How many siblings (including in-laws): I have 1 sister, 2 brother-in-laws, 3 brothers and 4 sister-in-laws. (= 10 siblings)
15. What church do you attend: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
16. Is this the church you were married in: Sort of, in the Bountiful Temple.
17. What town is your current address: Boise!
18. Do you work or stay at home: Stay at home
19. Where did you honeymoon: SLC, UT :P (then 6 months later we went to Cali)
20. Leave a piece of marriage advice: Sometimes it is better to go to bed angry...

I tag Sadie M., Shenille H., Kristy K., Michelle B. and Aubrey A. (if she see this ;)

Abigail Rosetta Egbert!

After being bombarded with so many (awesome) nephews, Ryan and I finally have another niece!!!

Abby Rose was born to Mark and Shelly Egbert around 2pm, today, July 17th. She was a healthy 8lbs. 12oz. and 21 inches. We hope to see her, or at least pictures soon!!!

That makes 3 beautiful nieces and 6 awesome nephews for us now!!!

Stuck In Byron

Well, everyone is gone except me and my parents. Can't wait to be on my way home in the morning!!! I miss my babies, but it was a nice trip once things got going! Here are a few pictures of the new Mr. and Mrs. Jed Alvey:

Oh and a p.s. when you see Jed again, ask him about the police officer!

Happy 4th of July!!!

We had a breakfast/parade at our ward this morning and of course I left my camera at home, like usual. So, here are pictures of them after we got home. They rode bikes that we decorated in crape paper. Rylee was the "Queen" of our entry and Aliyah and Lizzy were the "Attendants". We had a lot of fun with the little paring lot parade and after that we went to a cool little outside nature center for a nice little walk. Now we are all taking a rest so that we will be ready for the fireworks in the park behind our apartments! So nice to be able to stay home and still see the show...

Here is Queen Rylee a.k.a. Miss Liberty!

Here is our "handsome" Princess #1, Aliyah!

And her royal highness #2, Princess Bubba-kins!
(a.k.a. LizzaBooBoo)

My Album, What is Your?

Ever wanted your own Album?Ever wondered what it would look like?Well here is your chance.Follow the simple instructions below and you will create the perfect album for you! 1 - Go to Wikipedia. Hit “random”or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:RandomThe first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.2 - Go to QuotationsPage.com and select "random quotations"The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album.3 - Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7daysThird picture, no matter what it is (barring inappropriate pictures), will be your album cover.4 - Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together.This is a fun game. You should try it. Let me know when you do!
(Got from Mindy's blog)

My Camera is Back!!!

I finally found the button battery my camera needed at a battery store, a battery store! They had every thing from button to car batteries! Anyway, the girls have been so sad that the camera doesn't work that they made sure to have me take some pictures of them when I got home and "fixed" the camera.

Rylee, our princess; Aliyah with her "Indian" Jones toy; (Lizzy was napping).

Rylee wouldn't leave me alone, "take my picture, let me see!"

Aliyah just wanted me to make sure "Indian" Jones was in the pictures.

And I couldn't resist one of Ryan helping his princess with her crown!!

Along with having our camera back we are doing great! Ryan is working 8-5, M-F, with a couple disabled boys, no more Lowe's and no more Sundays!! I am doing a couple summer courses and babysitting Baby J still, the girls are having fun running around and making messes. The other day we got to go visit the park with the fountain with J and Anya after her class that day.

Pictures of the park and fountain from last year.

We can't wait for our adventure next week and to see everyone in SLC in a few weeks!

Best Give-Away Ever!!! (shelf reliance)

As many of you may know, the Harvest 72″ is one of our favorite products here at Shelf Reliance.It’s a beautiful thing. The unique first in - first out design will cut down on expired food and, therefore, wasted money. The Harvest means less mess, less hassle, and fewer bruises from cans that fall all over the place if you look at them the wrong way. And the best part of all?

One of you lucky souls will be given a Harvest 72″ on Shelf Reliance’s dime. No cost to you. No strings. No joke.

This giveaway is the first installment of a new feature here on the blog. We’re calling it “Free on Friday,” and it’s exactly what it sounds like! We’ll be offering new giveaways every two weeks, and the fortunate winners will be announced on Fridays.

I won’t keep you waiting any longer. Here’s how the Harvest giveaway will work:

Anyone who comments on this blog entry will be entered to win the Harvest 72″. Each comment counts as a separate entry. The winner will be chosen at noon (Mountain Time Zone) on Friday, June 26th, so get your comments in before then!

You are eligible for up to 5 entries.

(1) The 1st entry is easy as pie! Just leave your first and last name in a comment on this blog post.

(2) The 2nd entry is earned by signing up to receive the Shelf Reliance newsletter. The newsletter is one of the best ways to stay up-to-date with all that Shelf Reliance has to offer, including sales, promotions, new products, and online tools. Receiving the newsletter is as easy as entering your e-mail address in the indicated box at www.shelfreliance.com. When you’ve done that, leave a comment on this blog post. This comment should include your first and last name, along with something like, “I signed up for the newsletter.” If you already receive the Shelf Reliance newsletter, leave a comment with your name and something like, “I already receive the newsletter.”

(3) The 3rd entry is earned by becoming a follower of the Shelf Reliance channel on YouTube. This channel has so many videos showing you how to make delicious and creative recipes from your food storage, and our chefs will be adding even more in the months to come! Simply go to http://www.youtube.com/user/ShelfReliance and click on the shiny yellow “Subscribe” button. Then leave a comment on this blog post. This comment should include your first and last name, along with something like, “I’m following you on YouTube!” If you’re already subscribed to the channel, leave a comment with your name and something like, “I already follow the Shelf Reliance channel.”

(4) The 4th entry is earned by writing a blog post about this giveaway on another blog, whether it be a personal blog, a family blog, a business - whatever! Just include a few sentences about the giveaway, along with a link back to the Shelf Reliance blog. In this comment, you’ll need to leave your name and the URL address of your post.

(5) The 5th entry is earned by becoming a fan of Shelf Reliance through Facebook. Our Facebook page is a great place to read unique company news, network with other food storage & emergency preparedness enthusiasts, and - perhaps best of all - discover promotions that are only available through Facebook. To find the fan page, simply search for Shelf Reliance in the search bar on Facebook or click here. Once you’re a fan, leave a comment on this blog post. This comment should have your name and something along the lines of, “I’m a fan on Facebook.” And - you guessed it - if you’re already a Facebook fan, the comment should include your name and something like, “I was already a fan on Facebook!”

Remember, each of the five comments counts as a separate entry. If you just leave one comment that says you’ve done all five things, you’ll only be entered to win once, so be careful about that! Also, you don’t need to do all five things in numerical order (for example, you could just do options 1 & 3 if you wanted). The winner will be chosen randomly, and we’ll be certain to verify that the winning entry is legitimate and fair. Any entries that aren’t in accordance with the giveaway rules will be disqualified and removed.

If you don’t win this time around, don’t sweat it! Every two weeks, we’ll bring you a new chance to win a great prize. Check back often or subscribe to the Shelf Reliance blog by using the buttons on the right side of this page.

So get blogging, get clicking, get commenting! We’re just itching to give this Harvest 72″ away!

We're back!!!

Well, we've been up to a lot lately. Ryan and I have had school and nursery, Aliyah had preschool - I joined her there as much as possible (field trips, lunches, trips to the "big" park, etc.), and then there was the trip to St. George for the Alvey's big event weekend. There have been a lot of other little things, but school ending has been our biggest break! I am especially glad preschool is over, it was fun but by the end of the year, with committies, I was the only person still going. Planning the end of year party myself was a little stressful. But I'm done with that and on to planning my friend, Christina's baby shower (lunch at Olive Garden I'm thinking). Ryan is getting to the point where he might be able to quit Lowes and be home on the weekends! And the girls are back to being up to no good now that they are all together again! Life is good...
Anyway, we finally got pictures of the girls done, (Ryan's cousin Christy took them for us at Rylee's "castle" -aka train depot-she was so excited) here are some:

Make-up fun!

These are some pictures Christy took while we were having a Mary Kay party,

the girls just had to join in!

Before

After

Lizzy relaxing, away from it all!

Listening intently

Just plain having fun!

Zoo much fun!

Well, we still haven't found the teeny tiny battery for our camera, so still no pictures, but I should probably still post something. I guess one of the biggest things to happen was Easter, the girls got dresses from Mom and Dad, movies, a book about Jesus, shoes to match the dresses, tiny baskets with a couple Starbursts and one special big egg, and little chocolate bunnies from the Easter bunny, and a special surprise while we were at church, the Easter Beagle hid some eggs for the girls to find when we got home. He also left the two older girls jump ropes. They thought that was a lot of fun.
Next, on Friday (the 24Th), the girls and I all went to the Zoo with Aliyah's preschool class. 19 kids and 12 adults worked out just right. Although it was a rush to see as much as we could, the kids all stayed in a group and we all had a lot of fun, especially when they finally got to go down the giraffe slide!!! The Zoo was a lot smaller than I had imagined but I think it was just right for a preschool trip, even if there where no elephants...
Also on Friday, we had Ryan's birthday. Since it was Friday and I had class, Ryan wasn't expecting me to make dinner, but I did! When he got home I was just finishing up a meal of spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread, broccoli and watermelon. I was also in the process of making a lemon meringue pie but the store bought pie crust didn't work out. So, after class I spent the night making my own crust and meringue- I didn't have a lemon so I had to use my canned lemon filling. It turned out good and I hope he liked it too, he was too busy playing computer games with his friend John to stop and eat it!
Now, we are trying to finish up school work for this week and part of next so that we can head down to St. George for the weekend and see Katie get baptised. Then it's finals week and then... SUMMER!!!!

For those of you interested...

I found a blog that is all about recipe sharing. http://www.cookingformoms101.blogspot.com/ How it works: the owner will post a recipe and then people who want to leave a favorite, or different version, of the same recipe put that recipe in a comment on her original post. It sounds like it could be fun and helpful!

I think it just has something to do with attitude!

Well, I don't like to blog unless I have pictures, but my camera has a dead battery (the watch kind) and they don't have 'em at Walmart. Anyway, I wanted a new post so here goes.

This last week wasn't any better than the previous, but it wasn't any worse either... We all got sick each it seemed with something different; Ryan had a cough and achiness, Aliyah had a sick stomach, Rylee a fever and achiness, Lizzy an ear infection (we learned at her 15 month check up Thursday), and me? a congested head and migraine. Ryan missed some school and work and Aliyah missed most the week of school, the rest of us stayed home like usual. Poor Rylee was asking me to take Aliyah back to school by Friday :). I guess she really likes her Mommy time. I felt as rushed with school work as usual, but without any tests or papers or plays to read, I was able to get my work done sooner. I had a meeting for the preschool Policy Council on Tuesday, an activity for the Preschool Thursday (only I went to since everyone was sick but I had to give a report on the council meeting and I had the door prizes (cute little kindergarten goodie bags) which I made the night before) and somehow made it to both my classes on Friday night and Saturday morning.

My in-laws came to visit, but actually to work for the first couple days, and all my girls did was asked "When will Papa and Nama be here?" I kept saying maybe tomorrow and ended up being a liar twice, good thing they finally came or else my girls would never trust me again. We went out Saturday with them and, although they were drugged, the kids seemed well. Then Sunday came! I felt like crud but I knew if I didn't go no one would, so I got up, got Ryan up and went to get the kids ready. After they went potty I tried to find the girls to put their dresses on only to find them curled up in whiny little balls on the floor. Needless to say, no church for us this last week. (I still feel guilty- good thing we had the Living Scriptures to watch all day). Then I had to make dinner that night for Ryan's brother and his wife. I got dinner done, but the horrible thing is, I stayed in my PJ's the whole time and we ate wherever because I didn't feel like setting the table. Oh well.

Ryan was happy on Wednesday though, his birthday present came, a month early, he found a refurbished PlayStation 3 about 30% less than a new one. Since his Xbox died and I refuse to let him get an Xbox 360, I let him get his PS3 instead. (It's pretty fun, too.) I'd still like a Wii though.

OH!!! And the best part of the week was when I went to get us all medicine and when the turning lane's light turned green I went, but I wasn't in the turning lane!!! Yeah, in my sickened stupor, I rear-ended someone. Luckily, it was an older truck and it wasn't too bad, we exchanged info and he was really nice, he rear ended someone 6 months ago it turns out, so he knew how I felt. But luckily nothing serious enough for insurance, phew!

And I know this sounds like it wasn't the best week, but I somehow feel like it wasn't that bad at all! We had visitors, we are all stocked up on medicine, I got to be with all my girls all week, we saved on gas by not going out much, we got lots of rest, and my kids were so weak, they couldn't mess the house up like the little monkeys usually do :D!!! I don't think we had more than one "time out" this last week! All -in - all, I'd have to say, best week of my life... okay not that great, but not a bad week, not a bad week!

Oh yeah and my neighbors from down stairs found out on St. Patricks Day that they are having a little girl!!! Yay for them! (I totally forgot St. Patrick's Day this year, and I LOVE St. Patrick's Day, so I bought me some green and white carnations :D) Sorry this is so scattered and messy, and thanks for the nice comments on my last post, you guys are so nice!!!

I wasn't going to write about this, but it did help, I feel a little better now!

Well, it's been six years and I guess today was not at all how I thought it would be. Ryan didn't do anything to make it bad, by all means he was wonderful to me, two weeks ago when we went to the Rascal Flatts concert, that was my birthday and anniversary present. I wanted that more than anything I just wish it had have been closer to one of the actual dates. He was even great about my birthday and bought me a dozen roses and a teeny tiny cake (due to dieting). We went to a play on the 5th, albeit an assignment for our theater classes, and then had his aunt watch our girls so we could go to dinner last Monday (our only free night). It's been a nice couple of weeks, even though it's been stressful too with tests and preschool trips and everything else. But I guess I am just too hard to please or something because today just plain sucked! Ryan started feeling sick yesterday and ended up laying half dead on the couch instead of getting ready for church. He helped as best he could to get the girls some clothes while I bathed them and tried to find my skirt. In the end Rylee, Aliyah and I left Daddy and Lizzy home, which helped a lot with what happened next.

At church: we missed sacrament, I fell asleep sitting in the foyer and only knew it when my snoring woke me up and the teenagers next to us were trying not to laugh to hard, and then the other nursery leaders (who were scheduled for this week) didn't show up. The last one wouldn't have been so bad if 1) Ryan had been there with me, 2) I hadn't already been subing for the second hour for the third lady that is there every week. (In case that was hard to get, there is usually Sister Titmus and one of us couples. Robin got a sub for the first hour and I was going to sub the second hour) So it was me and the first hour sub (and thankfully parents whose kids wouldn't let them leave) but for the second hour everyone left and if it hadn't been for an overload of young women leaders the sub for the first hour would have had to leave, leaving me alone with 10 kids, one of which is handicap and needs extra attention. I survived by the grace of God!

Then at home I found out my delusional husband couldn't handle the baby and put her down for her nap two hours too soon, which meant no nap for me, at least not a trouble free nap. If you could guess from my falling alseep at church, I was tired today. So I ended up falling alseep while the baby sat in her chair eating lunch, only to be awakened by Aliyah telling me that Rylee was spilling Ryan's Gatorade powder all over their bedroom floor... I sent her to timeout told them to be good and went back to what I was doing while they went back to playing, then the sound of water woke me up. They were pouring it on the powder on the floor! I banned them from their room and told them to pick out a movie to watch quietly so Daddy could rest. I really tired to stay awake this time but I failed and every time I opened my eyes they were getting into trouble. I finally had to get Ryan to come out to the couch. Things went better after that, I made the girls dinner and heated some soup for Ryan, the soup ended up having bones in the chicken (canned soup)!!! After dinner the girls went to their room and Ryan went to bed too. The girls stayed up an extra 1 1/2 hours but finally went to sleep. So I spent the evening alone... Happy Anniversary to me!Troubles 1, 2 & 3!

The 9th Ward: Did You Get Your Visiting Teaching Done This Month?

The 9th Ward: Did You Get Your Visiting Teaching Done This Month?

I couldn't figure out how to get the picture up, but this is funny, especially if you like the Twilight series!

Pay It Forward!

The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a handmade gift from me during this year. When and what will be a surprise. There's a small catch though...Post this same thing on your own blog and then come back and leave a comment telling me you're in. Remember, only the first 3 comments receive the gift! I saw this on my friends blog and thought it would be fun. I will try my best to create something cool too!

Aliyah's 5th Birthday~! (and babysitting)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALIYAH!!!

Our big girl is 5 now. Here are some pictures of the fun party we had:

Food
Family
Friends

Fun
And...

Presents!

We thought she would be excited about the bike, but it was the bow and arrow that really took the cake!

The only sad part was we invited her entire preschool class (16 kids) and none of them showed up :(

We had tons of fun with our great neighbors and family anyway!!!

One of whom was this cute little one, baby J, who I get to babysit on Monday, Wednesday, and sometimes Friday for a few hours each. Just while his mom is in class and his dad, Ryan's cousin, is working. He is such a cute little angel!!!