Adam and Heather Hayes

Sorry it's been so long. I've been run, run, running since school got out.  I am coaching Erith and Tricity's T-Ball team, it's not been the easiest thing ever for me, but I'm liking the time with the girls. 

Scouting is taking quite a bit of time right now, the constant rain is making the grass grow like mad, and I'm trying to plan our summer vacation.  Adam kidnapped me and took me to Boise for a couple days. 

Adam made the Miss Idaho website this year so we got free tickets and a huge table to advertise on.  It was really fun.  I loved it.  It was held at Boise State's Morrison Center.  It was a two day thing. Our hotel was within walking distance and they held the Boise IronMan triathalon right through the middle of campus.  The roads got blocked off and the judges for the paegent didn't get there till a half hour after it was suppose to start the second night.  So it didn't get over till 11:00pm, and that put us home at 3:30 am.  Then I had to get the binders with our ward's flag routes to the place they are stored by 6:00am.  I am still trying to catch up on sleep.  It was fun to get away from it all for a couple days though.  I have to put in a plug for the place we ate the first night.  It was right in between our hotel and Boise State  It was a locally owned Italian resteraunt called Papa Joe's.  They make everything from scratch and it is goooooood.  I still have not painted the trim in the bathroom, maybe I will finally do it tonight, and then I will post the after pictures.

Well, I've spent a lot of time lately out in our driveway trying make a path for our vehicles.

Yesterday morning was disheartening because it would blow in faster than I could dig us out. Luckily, the wind died down a bit in the afternoon and I was able (with the help of Stuart) to make the driveway look like a driveway again (instead of rolling hills).

Today was the same way. It just keeps blowing us in, and it sounds like we are in for a couple of big storms again this week. The kids are loving it though. They have their own little "mountain". They have been outside playing a lot (especially since we've had a lot of snow days these last few weeks.

As for now, I think I'll just stay here in my nice warm office and be glad I don't have to drive to work. 

• A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
• B. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
• C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. 10 Years ago (1997/1998)
1. I had just finished working at the auto parts warehouse
2. I went into the MTC on Jan 31st, 1997 (my amazing new years party consisted of going to bed at either 9:30 or 10:30 (can't remember)
3. I was back in my on and off again relationship with McKenzie Adamson.
4. I took my first airplane ride. After 15 hours on the plane the novelty wore off.
5. Spent most of 1998 living on two islands off the coast of Korea.
2. 5 things on my to-do list today:
1. Clean up after our New Year's Eve Party with Daniel and Darcy Lundquist
2. Finish the box that the heater in my office sits on andand carpet it so it blends with the office.
3. Clean the new office
4. Finish some odds and ends on websites that I'm working on
5. Relax and try to catch some football
3. 5 snacks I enjoy:
1. My wife's chocolate chip cookie dough (and the cookies too)
2. Reeces Peanut Butter Cups
   
3. White Chocolate anything
4. Cinnamon Bears
5. Ice Cream
4. 5 things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Build my parents a new house
2. Build a new High School for Ririe with two really nice gyms
3. Visit Korea with my family
4. Spend a lot more time reading and studying things I'm interested in learning about (art, painting, wood working, volleyball, etc)
5. Spend lots of time having fun with my family
5. 3 of my bad habits:
1. Taking on too many projects
2. Messy (just look at my desk compared to the rest of the house)
3. I get bored with the same old same old so finishing big projects becomes tedious
6. 5 places I have lived:
1. Ririe, ID
2. Kojedo, South Korea
3. Youngdo, South Korea
4. Milyang, South Korea
5. Idaho Falls, Idaho
7. 5 jobs I have had:
1. Lawn Mower
2. Truck Driver (small auto parts truck, not big rigs)
3. Professor's Assistant
4. Webmaster
5. Business Owner
8. 5 things people don't know about me:
1. (Excluding my parents) I attribute a lot of what I've become today to my high school coach, Coach Gardner
2. I graduated Summa Cum Laude from BYU-Idaho with a 4.0 GPA
3. I coach one of the club volleyball teams for Ririe
4. I took piano lessons for 5+ years when I was young and can still play a little (I have 7-10 songs that I can play quite well, but I can't sit down and sight read a song)
5. I still get together with my high school buddies once a month
9. People I tag:
1. I'll list them when I get a list together... (I have to run...)
   

We try to go on a road trip every summer and this year we decided to go to to the West Coast.

MONDAY July 23, 2007

We left our house at about 9:30 in the morning and drove straight up and over to Moses Lake Washington. It seemed to go really fast. I read Harry Potter 7 aloud and it kept our minds off the clock. We arrived at my Aunt and Uncle Allen and Christine Quinn's house at 6:00 pm our time but, oops, 5:00 pm their time. They were very gracious hosts to us even if we were an hour early. We were fed well, updated on what all my cousins were up to, and got to see some pretty hilarious pictures and YouTube videos. Lisa let us sleep in her newly painted room and entertained our girls to their heart's content, bless her!

TUESDAY July 24, 2007

We left the Quinn's after a delicious blueberry pancake breakfast and headed for Canada. This is where our perfect trip started to mock us. We had never gone through the border before but wow, don't get in the left lane! The right lane is 5-6-10 times faster! So after looking at the peace arch in Blaine Washington for a couple hours we finally got through the border.

Canada doesn't look that much different from Washington! There were lots of people picking berries out in the berry fields and the people are very proud of their country and they know french. That's the impression Canada left on me. We went straight to Vancouver which is huge and has a lot of Asians. We tried to find some Korean shops for Adam's Korean pleasure but we burned out of walking downtown before we found any. We learned there are no left turns from 8-6 on several major roads in Vancouver and when you see a big sign that says Parking you'd better take it fast! We went on top of the Vancouver LookOut which is like the Seattle Space Needle but not as tall and you have to stay inside the glass. It was cool. I love seeing the lines of boats and seagulls and all the sights you never see in Idaho. We then went to Burnaby with the intention of going to a "see what it was like in the old days" Burnaby Village, but alas it was closed and wouldn't be open until 11:00 the next day which we didn't have time or patience for.

So we went to the "Second best campground in North America" which is in Burnaby to camp for the night. We checked in and asked if there was anywhere close to eat and they said there was a Subway a ten minute walk from there. We didn't think the kids could last so we drove with a scribbled map on a paper and the ten minute walk turned into a 2 hour lost in Canada adventure that eventually brought me to tears. They rename the roads every mile or two in Burnaby and we kept accidentally getting on the freeway and leaving Burnaby and trying to turn around and get back in and find the campsite. It was a joke. So the swimming pool and playground had lost their zing when we finally made it back. We got the tent pitched and all the kids settled down the best that was humanly possible and then the air tram/train something LOUD sounded like it was going over our heads FOUR times that night. Viola would finally be asleep and then ROAR and WAAA! It was NOT a good night's sleep. Needless to say as soon as it was light we got out of there and didn't look back till we saw the American border.

WEDNESDAY July 25, 2007

You'd think we would have learned our lesson about the left lane but alas, we obviously didn't because we were in it again and the right lane just WIZZED through. We sat there for an hour which is better that 2 hours I'll admit but still, I guess I have patients issues.

We got through and drove straight to Seattle and parked the car by the Underground Tour in Pioneer Square. Walked in and found out they do it on the hour and we'd missed the last one by 5 minutes so did we want to wait for 55 minutes? We probably should have but no we walked to Pikes Market. It was a refreshing walk with the ocean breeze blowing in at you. We didn't see them throwing fish I'm afraid and the high class luch we bought was too high class for the kids. They refused to eat it after waiting an hour to get it. But they liked the fresh raspberries we bought and free samples of other fruits. That market is huge takes up both sides of a road and like 8 levels! Adam really wanted an oriental painting but we thought it would get ruined (or get too heavy) while we walked.

Then we walked to the Space Needle. Tricity was NOT coping well with the walking by this point. It was fun. You could go outside and feel the breath catch in your throat as you looked down.

When we were done and heading to the children's museum the kids couldn't stop staring at the rides around the base of the space needle. I told them we only had time for rides or museum, and what do you know, they chose rides! There was a monorail right there by the rides and we took it to get closer to Pioneer Square. When we got off we found out that they offer FREE buses to all the tourist spots in downtown Seattle! Now you tell us! There were no buses to be seen and we really needed to make the next underground tour so we walked the rest of the way anyway. We saw a lot of Seattle that we probably wouldn't have noticed by bus at least. There was a shop that had a gorgeous full size fox I really wanted but again, how could I carry it? Or find room in our packed car where it wouldn't get ruined?

The underground tour was very funny and interesting. We were the only ones with little kids. Vi finally fell asleep, but our poor arms were so tired from carrying her all day, it was a task walking up and down the stairs to the old underground Seattle buildings. As soon as it was done we rushed to our car and rushed to Adam's high school buddy Clifton's house. Clif had just barely moved there from Arizona so he didn't know the area that well yet and his directions were a little sketchy, but luckily we made it there just fine.

It was so nice to see Clif and Bree! After a LONG day of walking it was heaven to sit back, relax, eat the amazing barbecue they had prepared for us, see their new twin girls, and chat to our heart's content! When it was the kid's bedtime we said goodbye and headed for our hotel which after about an hour of trying to find it we realized it had a 3 foot concrete median in front of it and you could only get to it from one way! Mapquest can be a blessing but it can also be a cursing because it doesn't know the little details, or, how to tell you there is a median down the middle of the road for 10 miles!

The hotel gave us a room someone was already in. AWKWARD! But It's much funnier now than it was then! Oh well! The important thing was we did eventually have a room to stay in.

Thursday July 26, 2007

We did have a pretty good night's sleep to get us going Thursday morning. We left Seattle and drove to highway 101 right as Washington meets Oregon. We were under the impression that highway 101 gave you a view of the coast from Washington to California. It does follow the coast as best it can but it's not a constant ocean view. In fact it's a s-l-o-w, winding, occasional ocean view kind of road. It's absolutely beautiful! But very slow. (Especially if you're used to taking the freeway!)

Most of the 400 pictures we took on this trip are of the Oregon coast. We have a less than 20% sample of all the pictures we took in the image gallery if you would like to see more than you see here. (Which is worth the time, I promise!)

We wanted to see all the lighthouses we could between Seaside Oregon and Florence Oregon. Sadly again we planned more than we had time for. The Lighthouses that were open to visitors were only open from 11-4 and we never made it to a touring one during those hours. So we made the best of it. We went to Seaside to see the Lewis and Clark Monument that probably said something like "That's ocean, so I guess this is as far as this land goes, let's turn back and tell the President" but we never found it!

We did find a beautiful beach though, so we let the kids get a taste of the ocean and the beach and Vi, the sand. They loved building sandcastles, collecting shells, and running from the rip tides. The next day they got a little braver.

We saw four lighthouses, one really close up (Yaquina Bay), the other three, not very close up. One was on it's own little island (Tillamook Rock) and another was on a rocky ledge we couldn't find a road to (Yaquina Head). The Cleft of the Rock Lighthouse is actually an old lighthouse keeper's house he built like a lighthouse but you can't get too close. The Yaquina Bay lighthouse would have been fun to tour if only we could have made it between 11-4!

In Newport Oregon I REALLY wanted to go to the Newport Aquarium but it closed at 6 and we got there at 6:45. I must say if nothing else I learned some valuable lessons about planning opening and closing times into family vacations! We had reservations in Florence so we couldn't just camp there and go to the museum in the morning. (Another valuable lesson learned, reservations aren't always the best way) We got to our campsite at Honeyman State Park quite late because 35 mile an hour curves only let you go so fast down the coast

FRIDAY July 27, 2007

We got up early and went to the Sea Lion Caves just North of Florence, there were tons in and outside the cave. Then we went to the Hecta Head Lighthouse which is right next to the Sea Lions but we didn't think the kids could handle waiting 2 hours then hiking up the trail to the lighthouse, so we didn't tour it. We took lots of pictures on the beach there of the kids and the lighthouse. Erith and Tricity loved getting their legs and feet wet this time. It was so beautiful. There were about 15 painters out there that morning painting the beautiful scene.

Then we drove across Oregon, all day long.

We started Harry Potter over again because we were in such need of an escape. It was quite beautiful, but not very fast, till we got to the desert and drove like the wind.

We got to New Plymouth Idaho at about 8 pm. Our old neighbors from in town Ririe moved back there after they were done schooling at BYUI. It was so fun to be out of the car! Our girls played with their girls and the parents could talk and relax and have ice cream. We spent the night there and chatted and ate great food and went to a classic car show next door.

SATURDAY

It was a great end to a less than great road trip! The drive from New Plymouth to Ririe took about 5 hours. Which wasn't too much compared to what we had been doing each day! We arrived back home at about 6:00 pm and were amazed at how hot it was. The coast had a nice 70s feel to it, Ririe Idaho was over 100!

Anyway, though I planned it poorly, we have family memories that we'll never forget! The kids handled a lot of time in the car amazingly well. It was poor Vi's first road trip and she got a little anxious when we put her in her car seat shortly after that, bless her heart. But we survived it! Our kids tell anyone who asks how the trip was something like "It was GREAT! The best trip ever!" So how can you have any regrets! :)

Adam and I went to the Miss Idaho Paegent last week and did some buisiness advertising and had a fun get away from life. 

We went to an Art Museum, which had exhibits of Idaho Artists.  It was okay, nothing that inspired us too much.

We then went to Camel's Back Park to hike up the camel's back.  It was steep up onto the hump and then had a bunch of winding trails around the top and down the sides. 

I thought we were lost after 45 minutes and finding a stream instead of the park. 

But we were just one hill curve away from the park.

We spent 5 hours in the Boise Temple Saturday, it was a great oppurtunity to get ahead on our family names.  Thank you to all the Quinn family helping with our family names, we should have enough to do a huge 8-12 couple sealing session by the end of the summer, thanks for all your help!

We were happy to see our kids again when we got back.  They have been having tons of fun feeding and collecting eggs from our 4 hens everyday. 

(I highly recommend a few hens for teaching kids responsibility!)

We used a trail of cracker crumbs to lead our neighbors free ranging chickens into the coop.  (they gave us permission to take them) We got to play Momma kitty to a batch of kittens as well, that story does not have a happy ending I'm afraid.  We tried!

Well, this was an interesting tournament. We played really well (except for one game). We were on our path to win our pool and play against Hillcrest. All we had to do was beat North Fremont (who was only playing with 5 girls). Unfortunately, the girls figured all they had to do was show up and they would give us the match. Not so. :( So after our humiliating defeat, we ended up playing for second.

• Idaho Falls (Justin) (win)
•      25-18 (win)
•      25-13 (win)
• BVC (win)
•      25-18 (win)
•      22-25 (win)
• North Fremont 
•      25-18 (win)
•      16-25
• Blackfoot Tabu (win)
•      25-18 (win)
•      23-25
•      17-15 (win)

I will hopefully have my middle back for this next weeks game (or at least the one after that.) I should also have a couple of players that have been doing junior miss and other stuff back as well. So I'll have to figure out where to put them in my rotation.

We had an amazing practice yesterday where we really focused on hitting (that is where we lost with North Fremont... we got behind and then got scared to hit.) I'm feeling a lot more positive about this upcoming tournament. The practices last week were just off for some reason. They just couldn't seem to concentrate, but this week is much better. 

Hi friends and family! Welcome to our blog! We realized how convenient it is to put pictures, videos, and pertinent information on the web so we can show and explain things (Our road trip this summer inspired it) without bringing laptops, cds, dvds, scrapbooks and etc. along with us everywhere.

For those of you who don't see us often, I will quickly bring you up to speed on who and where we are.

Adam is running his own business from our home, AH Digital FX Studios . He does web design and hosting. The wonderful thing about that is he can work from anywhere, even Ririe Idaho. He was in charge of his 10 year high school reunion last Saturday, it was a blast. (That also gives you a clue on how old he is!) He is the BYU Idaho 7th Stake Clerk, that takes up a lot of Sunday morning time but he loves it and he can make it back for 1:00 church with me so I really don't mind it either! He is enjoying swinging a bat this summer whether it's softball, baseball, wiffleball he's in the middle of it. Our business is doing well. In fact we are about to close in our 1 car garage and make it the office so there is an outdoor access and more room. In order to do that we needed a shed/shop to store all the stuff in the garage now, so we are looking at the foundation in the backyard and hoping it will be mostly done next week.

I (Heather) am in the middle of yard and garden work. Picking and canning green beans, finding new ways to convince my family to eat zucchini, watering my 1 acre yard by hose and sprinkler, keeping Baby Vi out of every cupboard, and primary presidency stuff. It's an exciting, but busy time of year. I LOVE harvest season. All the hard work in the garden is paying off. Getting Erith and Tricity ready for kindergarten and preschool is fun. The summer has been so busy, I'm excited to get a break once school starts!

Erith is 5 years old, she will turn 6 in December . She played T-Ball this summer and had a playdate with her best friend once a week. She LOVES to learn just like her Dad. She is excited to start kindergarten Aug 20th where Adam's aunt will be her teacher. She has been learning to read words one at a time when we have family scripture study. She's up to 30 and can sound out as many or more.

Tricity is 4 and very smiley. She went to a private preschool last school year twice a week and will get to go 3 times a week this year! She loves to play with her big sister Erith. They are inseparable and imaginative. Yesterday they were making people out of clay and using story books for their tents. (Propping them on their covers /\ I liked it!) She can read about 10 words.

Viola is 1 and walking (ahhh!) She is still a bit stiff legged but it's cute. She has a lot to say but we can't understand most of it. Her favorite word is Dad, yeah she's a Daddy's girl. She has a lot of personality coming through now that she's walking. She's quite the trouble maker. We can't leave anything on the floor or 3 foot from it.

I plan on updating this blog about once a week I will detail our trip we just took next probably. We will continue to add pictures to the photo gallery and I will e-mail when the updates are posted or extra good!

I talked to my mom last night (Saturday) for quite a while about how things are going. We are going to see them after church and it makes me sad beacause it may be the last time for quite a while.

Landon's white blood cell count is going to be checked twice a week by a home health nurse. If his count gets too low he won't be able to see any outside person especially ones who are sick at all. We seem to have a cold that passes amongst the 5 of us lately.

My mom has hand sanitizer at the door and masks for anyone remotely sick and we have a couple days till the white blood cell count is going to take a huge drop, so we're going to make the best of this visit tonight!

I just thought this information ought to be mentioned so you family understand why they can't have visitors or go out in big crowds too often for the next year and believe me it will be hardest on me and my girls! I'm sitting here wondering if I should take Tric and Vi with their runny noses tonight but I guess it's better today than in 2 days.

Erith and Tric are making get well soon cards for Landon as I write, bless their loving hearts.

Adam just walked in from his BYU Idaho 7th stake clerk stuff and he says he's speaking in stake conference in 2 weeks and this is their last stake conference to speak before they get released. (I think I'm just about ready to be honest. It's kind of an unappreciated calling because your home ward just thinks your inactive!)

Our new office is coming along. All the Sheetrock is up and most of the screw holes are mudded so we just have to per fa tape, sand and paint. Oh, and figure out how to stop the bottom of the door from leaking when it rains. Our house and now new office faces South and it takes a huge weather beating.

Anyway, we are doing just fine. Vi is an amazing trouble/mess maker and I am learning to be patient when I find toothbrushes in the toilet and the entire contents of a garbage can on my living room floor. I'll miss these days when she's a teenager supposedly so bring it on Vi!

Adam got the privilege of taking pictures at his brother Josh's wedding recently.

We had a brunch at The London in Idaho Falls. 

Steve got a lesson on how Americans don't use a knife and fork correctly.

They were sealed in the Idaho Falls temple.

They had a reception here that night and one in Oregon a week later.

Our girls had a blast.

We decided when the baby comes we won't fit in our car anymore so we tried to find a 7-8 passenger not mini-van if possible vehicle and so we researched it online and decided we wanted a Saturn Outlook.

There is no Saturn Dealership in Idaho Falls so, we called a dealership in Boise and lo and behold they had exactly what we wanted. We got the loan quick and easy.  We had the next day open and free , so when everything falls into place so amazingly well, why not get it? So we did!

I really thought we didn't have anything exciting to write about, but today I realized that I'm doing this blog so I can have a history of our family.  So if every entry isn't that exciting to you, I'm sorry, but it's information I want to remember.

I need to remember my first time calling Poison Control, which happened last night.  My sweet little two year old Viola has learned to use chairs and stools to climb onto tables, counter tops, pianos, and anywhere else we thought was a "safe place."  She climbed onto the bathroom counter and grabbed an Air Wick scented oil with fan refill and sucked on the wick like it was a straw.

She started bawling and ran to me.  She smelled very strongly like Harvest Orchard oil and said she needed a drink.  We gave her lots of water to drink and Poison Control said we probably gave her too much to drink which might make her throw up, which might get in her lungs, which might give her pneumonia, which might start an infection, but most likely she would be fine.   Which she is, just fine today, didn't even wet the bed after all that water before bed.

She is definitely in the terrible twos though.  She has to do everything her way. Don't even think about helping her out of the car.  She fell flat on her face at my mom's house a couple weeks ago getting out of the SUV by herself and skinned her forehead and nose. I had to cancel her picture appointment that week.  Since Erith and Tric are at school five days a week, Vi has 2 less sets of eyes to watch her.  She  is quite the adorable trouble-maker!  She is communicating so much better though.  She says simple sentences and knows how to count to 13 in English and 6 in Spanish.  She can say the ABC's pretty clearly and knows the color red.  She can play several games on the Ubuntu computer that Adam set up for the girls to play on. She knows who's turn it is for family prayer which we do by order of birthday! Crazy huh!

Erith lost her fourth tooth last week.  She has lost 3 on bottom and 1 on top with two more quite loose.  She can read quite a few books and verses of scripture without any help now.  She knows how to change Clara's diaper and draws and prints picutures on the kid computer nearly every day. (We had to give her a paper limit per day recently.)  She is taking piano lessons and doing quite well, when she practices!

Tricity is quite the social butterfly.  I hear story after story about all the kids in her kindergarten class when she gets home.  She loves to help me cook.  She likes to draw and play on the computer as well.   She is quite good at remembering to practice the piano.  She is doing great at school and has helped me find homes for 10 of our 19 kittens.  (You heard me right, 19!)

Clara is jabbering a lot and she seems like a permanant hip ornament on me.  She is definately a momma's girl.  She laughs when Vi or I entertain her.  She rolls like crazy but is not wanting to crawl or sit up on her own much. She is eating lots of new foods and seems to never get full.  She's very cute and sweet and I love her a lot.

Adam's business is picking up again, it usually does right before year end.  His brother is working for us in the evenings so Adam's challenge is to NOT stay in the office from morning till 11 at night.  He got to meet Dallin H. Oaks when his stake presidency got replaced, that was cool.  He likes the boys in his scout group really well, they are going swimming tonight.

I have been crocheting baby booties for humanitarian newborn kits.  I am still quite slow and have a lot of mistakes, but they keep Clara's feet warm, so I'm sure they are good enough.  I have lots of Primary stuff to do before the end of the year and I help a lady I visit teach quite often, and the PTSO have something they want at least once a month.  I just keep busy without a whole lot to show for it.  It's kind of frustrating, but I hope I'm making a difference.  Adam and I are going on a date this week if it kills us!  It's been about a month.  Between his schedula and mine, there's never a free night.  I really want to do a session at the Rexburg Temple, I haven't done one there yet.  We're still in the Idaho Falls temple district.   Have a great day!

For family night the other day we went to feed the ducks in Idaho Falls.  I had quite a collection of old stale things that no one would eat so it was a fun way to get rid of it!  We fed the ducks and shared with a Chinese tourist family the cereal we'd dumped all over the ground.

We went to the temple grounds afterward and talked about how important it is to go to the temple and be sealed together.  It was really hard for Vi to resist picking the pretty flowers.  

Day 5: Disneyland!  We had to delay our departure to Disneyland by an hour Tuesday morning.  Why? You ask, because Adam was puking again!  He passed 2 kidney stones that morning!  Some people's bodies just don't know how to kick back and have fun! 

It could have been worse though, they only took an hour to pass, he wasn't on a ride or driving in traffic.  Praying for safety is definately worth it!

As you can see we got there safe and sound.  The first thing Vi wanted to do was the carousel, even though we have those in Idaho we jumped right on.  Those who smile get put on the blog! (hint, hint, Erith)

Then we did Toad's wild ride, (which our friend Wade tells us is the only ride in Disneyland, all the others are 'attractions') Peter Pan, Pinocchio's daring journey,Snow White, Flying Dumbos, and then bought some cute Mickey/Minnie Mouse ears on our way to lunch.

Gotta love waiting in line.  It was a hopping day that day.  Most lines took 50 minutes which is still tons better than summer lines I'm told.

I have to say that my kids were amazingly patient in the lines.  I was way more annoyed at waiting than they were.  They just gaped and stared at everything going on around them. 

I had a backpack full of snacks to give them something to do in line and I only brought stuff out twice the whole day.

Andrew was key to the success of this vacation.  He drove us around once we got to his house, he dropped us off at the gates, he left and brought back food right at mealtimes, he volunteered to take Clara and/or Vi when they were too short for rides.  He bought our girls big pens and other treats. He saved Adam's life in the ocean, he is a miracle man, we owe him big time!  Oh, and he's single ;).

We got to meet his little boy Jake for the first time that day.  He hung out with us at Disneyland for a while.

This outside picnic area became our home away from rides for a couple days.  We'd get our hands stamped, walk out and into it's hard to see entrance and there would be Drew with food for us.  It was awesome!

After lunch Aunt Cory, Jake, and Drew joined us for Roger Rabbit, (that was the worst long line with cranky kids we had this trip) when we got out there were tonsof fun picture opportunities before we did the Rescue Ranger rollercoaster.

Notice the pink Mickey Mouse balloon on the stroller?  Some nice random lady gave it to Vi. It made the other's jealous I'm afraid, but it did help us find our stroller among the thousands there.

We couldn't forget Adam, the usual picture taker!  I have a picture of Adam 9 years ago in this same spot on our belated honeymoon.  I should scan it and show how he's changed!

The Rescue Ranger rollercoaster, the line anyway, our first thrilling ride of the day.  Clara went with Cory, Brenda, and Drew to the play yard/picture area next door.

Clara loved the slide and the jack-o-lantern.  We couldn't resist taking a few pictures when we came to pick her up.

She is so cute and sweet when she's not throwing a tantrum!

Gotta love 5 cute girls on boxes.

Vi is the kind of kid that makes you forget your useless cares and just smile...or laugh!  (Again, when she's not throwing a tantrum)

We wanted a picture with Mickey or Minnie, but the wait time was close to 2 hours, so we opted for the 5 minute wait with goofy instead.

After that we popped into It's a Small World, which was better and newer than the last time I went.  I then draffed the younger croud who joined us to go to Captain EO, Michael Jackson, 3D show.  Then we did a fast pass onto Autopia.  Erith and Tric were big enough to drive themselves.  Vi drove me.  Clara fell asleep in the stroller with Cory on the way to dinner.  After dinner it was dark and we split into 2 groups: Erith and Tric big kids, Vi and Clara little kids.

Adam and I were in the big kid group.  We did Splash Mountain, Matterhorn, Thundermountain Railroad, (during the fireworks) Buzz Lightyear, Space Mountain, and with 7 minutes to spare till midnight, Adam, Wade and I booked it to Indiana Jones.  Poor Tric was asleep standing in line for Space Mountain.  Andrew took the two girls on the train to get to the car to sleep while our crazy trio ran to Indiana Jones.  Not bad for s day's work!

I got majorly soaked in the front of that log.  I didn't want anyone else to be wet and cold that late at night, so I guess I took one for the team.  I could hear Tric behind me saying "Mom, you said only you would get wet, I just got a little wet!"  Thanks to Evie and Gregg for braving it with us.

Poor sleepy Tric looks like Cousin It in this pic, and Wade and Andrew are hilarious as always.

The little kid group did Winnie the Pooh, Astro Orbiter, Dumbo again, and the train.  Then bless their hearts, Ryal and Cory took Vi and Clara home and put them to bed.

I was very impressed that Erith and Tric could handle the big rides.  As you can see from the look on my face, I can barely handle the big rides!  The Matterhorn was Erith and Tric's favorite, Thundermountain was mine.

We had a lovely week of family fun last month.  I forgot to take pictures, so I'll try to tell our story the best I can with words.  Well, we do have a few pictures.

Adam's family stayed with us at a cozy A-frame cabin in Island Park from Monday evening to Thursday morning.  We started with a big crowd Monday night and slowly shrank in number by Thursday.

We went on a rafting trip from Big Springs to Mack's Inn.  I failed to take the camera, which is a shame.  It is a slowww float and we saw a moose and got sunburned!  There was another rafting group who kept "racing" us, it was fun even though we lost.  (They only had 1 adult and 3 youth, we had 5 adults 3 youth, HEAVY RAFT!)

Mostly we ATE a lot and played Super Nintendo and board games. The cabin had cable, indoor plumbing, and 2 bedrooms and a loft which you can see above. So now you know how much we were "roughing it!"

We toasted marshmallows in the fire pit one night, but alas I have no pictures of that.

After we left the cabin Thursday, we went to Mesa Falls.  My dad told us about this place on the way were you can feed the fish.  Once they know you're there they just jump like crazy for the bread or chex or the fish food you can buy in a vending machine.

While we were feeding the fish we shared some chex with a retired marine from California and he told the girls he would give them a special coin if they promised to be very good little girls forever.  So they promised and they got these unique coins with his name, rank, awards, and a little map of where he served in Vietnam. You can see one of the coins in Tricity's hand below.  He followed a few minutes behind us to the lower falls and then up to the upper falls.

Of course I didn't get a picture of him with our camera but we took one of him and his friend with his camera at the lower.  It is a beautiful place.  I can't believe it took me 27 years of living in Idaho before I went to see these beautiful landmarks in my own backyard.

We did remember to take pictures here. There are lots of BIG pictures of us at Mesa Falls in the Image Gallery under 2009 Vacation.

We ate cold cereal at Mesa Falls for lunch and then headed to Aspen Acres for my Quinn family reunion.  Camp was all set up when we got there and everyone was playing games and doing puzzles while the rest of us showed up.

We had to set up our new tent for the first time (in the scorching sun) and then we joined in the fun too.

We were literally right on the golf course.  The one time I went golfing a ball rolled under my aunt and uncles tent! It was a fun course, as long as I could hit the ball, right Adam and Ranae!?

We made the cutest cards one day and threw goldfish crackers on people's shaving creamed heads for a prize, and made eclairs over the fire and if you want to see any pictures of any of this fun stuff you'll have to go to my cousin Camillle's blog, because unlike me, she takes pictures of everything going on!

Saturday, the last day, my wonderful aunt and grandparents watched my kids so Adam and I could go to the Playmill with my parents and siblings in West Yellowstone.  We saw Guys and Dolls, and it was so funny!  I highly recommend it.  Here we are with some of the actors afterward.

You can see why I don't take pictures, Blurry!  We took Bethany's boyfriend with us and afterward we took him to Mesa Falls!  So here Adam is looking like a hottie.

and that was our vacation!

While we were in Boise, we had some time to kill so we went to the temple. Then to the opposite end of peaceful places, the old Idaho State Penitentiary for a tour. 

It was a self guided tour and not that exciting.  But the pictures are cute!

We stayed till an announcer said "We are closing in 15 minutes, please head to the front if you don't want to be locked in for the night."

Adam didn't think this was as funny a picture as I did.

You wouldn't lock me up would you?

Well another club volleyball season has passed.

This season was a little harder because I had my setter in Junior Miss, which took her away quite a bit and limited the days that we could have effective practices. Overall they have improved a lot. We started them running more plays earlier in the season which was a great help. Last year we only concentrated on plays for a couple of weeks.

They are a great group of girls and I'm very proud of them. They played against reigning state champions and went hit for hit, block for block, dig for dig against them. I was SO proud. Because of the much tougher competitors we didn't have the win rate we had last year. This year we won 40% of the games we played.

Where have I been the past few months?  Well, this is Idaho, and it is winter, so believe it or not, I've been cooped up in the house.  Reading books, watching old movies, and for the past couple weeks exercising! 

I have a goal to lose at least 30 pounds this year. I've joined a group of ladies in my ward who walk 3 miles every morning (5 days a week, M-F) and lift weights immediately after on Tuesday and Thursday (our whole stake is invited to that).  I hope going from nothing to this will be a big improvement.  It has already helped my mood a ton.  January always makes me so stir-crazy.  I'm usually broke after Christmas, thus I don't leave the house much.  I feel like everyday is the same, and there is nothing to look forward to, and I just get down and sad/grouchy.  So I am LOVING the happier mind-set exercise gives me, and I'm sure my family is too. 

We are going to do a complete overhaul on our upstairs bathroom when we get our tax return back.  (Since we incorporated in 2008 we had to pay 90% of Adam and Heather Hayes' AHFX 2007 earned income AND AH Digital FX Studios Inc., so this years return should be a good one) 

Our bathroom is straight out of the 70's from baby blue sink, toilet, and tub to the blue plaid carpet. Yeah, gross, I know. So all new everything, even cabinetry.  Yes, the carpet is going, it will be replaced with: most likely tile.  Post on the comment section the likes and dislikes of all your flooring and counter tops.  We are leaning towards tile floors and granite counter tops.  (Is tile to hard and cold on your feet and does granite show too many splatters and fingerprints?)  We will do before and after pictures of it.

We'll be adding more toys to our swingset, and hopefully... laying some cement for a basketball/volleyball court. It should be a fun, busy year!