Tony and I at the Gallagher show.  This was what I did for my birthday!
We had 3rd row seats, so we got pretty splattered with spaghettiO's, cottage cheese, mustard, etc...

For Thanksgiving we stayed home.  This was the first time we've ever had Thanksgiving dinner in our own home, and I got to cook everything.  What a lot of work!  It was really fun though, and everything turned out pretty good.  We had Tony's uncle, Sheldon, and some of his family over.

On the day after Thanksgiving we headed for the woods to find a Christmas tree.  We weighted the truck down with sandbags, took extra food and water, and were prepared for any winter mishap.  Luckily everything went great and we found a nice 12 foot tree.  The kids cut it down by themselves and we all had a great time! 






Decorating the Christmas tree. 

Whatever

This is Jacob getting his EEG done on Monday morning. He had to stay up all night, so he would fall asleep during the test. He had a seizure last Sunday, so we are trying to figure out what caused it. His CT scan and bloodwork were normal. We don't think it will be serious, but we have to rule out the big stuff like tumors and epilepsy. I can't wait to get the results so I can stop worrying!




The honey bear that I murdered in the microwave. (Doesn't his face look sad?)

Settling In

Life is finally slowing down, and I feel like a human being again!  We moved into our new house about 4 weeks aago.  It was very fun, but hard too.  We lived without a refrigerator, washer, or dryer for 10 days, till ours arrived.  During that time we had company twice.  Tony's Mom had a stroke, and that has been hard on everyone.  We are not able to visit her as often as we'd like.  My Grandpa has been having serious heart trouble, but had surgery yesterday and things are looking up.  We've all been sick with nasty colds.  School started, and with all the kids in different schools, it's been hard to keep up! 

 

A bunch of Derricott cousins at the Johnny Sack cabin in Island Park.

Yesterday the kids all participated in a 1-mile fun run.  It was a beautiful morning!  Emily ran most of the way, but due to colds and un-fitness, the boys walked most of it. 

 We were so surprised at the end when Erik was announced as the first place winner in his division!!!!  He got a medal and is so very proud of it!!!  After the race, there was a drawing.  Jacob won a football.  At the end, the grand prizes were two new bikes.  We couldn't believe it when Erik was called as the winner of one of them!!!  It was so funny because it was about 2 feet high with training wheels!!!!

 

Erik was so sweet about it!  He took it to Walmart and exchanged it for a girls bike for Emily, since she has outgrown hers, and he got a new bike last Christmas.  Sometimes my kids amaze me!  

Inside Pictures / Can't Wait to Move In!!!

Laundry Room - upstairs


Dining Room

KitchenKitchen Pantry -It's Huge!!!

Downstairs Family Room Front entry, looking up staircase

Upstairs Family Room

Mud Room

Left half of Master Closet (who owns that many clothes?!?)

New House

We just found out a few hours ago that the negotiations on our new house are over.... we are getting it!!!!  I'm so excited I could cry!!!!!   It is a beautiful, brand new home.  It is the only one I REALLY  liked after touring at least 30 different homes.  Now I have to get all the mortgage work done, and hopefully we'll be closing and moving in before the end of August.  One of my favorite things about it, is that we can see the temple and the Teton mountains from the family room.  The boys haven't been inside, but Emily has.  She has picked out her room because it has a window seat, and she can see the temple from her window.  I will have almost 1-1/2 acres of land to landscape..... any ideas?!!!? 

Fast and Furious

Things are finally moving along!  Yay!!  After waiting for 6 months for our house to sell, we finally got an offer.  The time between the offer and the closing date was less than 2 weeks!  I am going to Montana on Monday to sign the closing papers and do some painting (as part of the agreement). (I'll be in Hamilton from the 6th till at least the 9th, and would love to see friends... hint.. hint...  :)   I'm so excited!  I spent the afternoon yesterday looking at houses here, and still haven't found the right one for us... but, I'm sure it will work out!!

This summer is flying by with the kids involved in all sorts of activities.  We've been meeting our cousins every week for a fun activity.  We've gone to the zoo, the temple visitors center, and several museums.  We made ice cream, painted wood models, make alka-seltzer rockets, and had picnics.... lots of fun! 

Tony's parents were here last weekend and we went out and spent 5 hours stuck in a mud hole.  The sheriff had to track us by our cell phone signal, then come pull us out.  It was scary and not so fun, but we made the best of it and are glad to be home safely! 

 We had a ward activity where they had a climbing wall... Em was the only one of our family brave enough to reach the very top!

We got to spend a Saturday morning at the air show, watching the cool planes!  It was so exciting to see them dive and spin... made me want to be flying with them!!



So... that's we've done with our summer so far!  I'll keep posting about all our fun adventures!!!

Stuff in our lives

I've been a terrible blogger lately!! I spend all my time in "survival mode" these days, and blogging is not a priority!

Emily got to be the star of her class play. Here she is as "Captain Comma". It was a great play! Em liked her part and was a great pirate captain!

School has been out for a week now, and we are having fun with summer classes. Jacob is taking an art class, Erik is in golf, Em is doing tennis, and I am stiff and sore from pilates! It's a good thing we have a reading program at the library and a movie program at the theater too, to keep us busy. We are having a hard time with no yard to mow and water and no garden to weed. I planted a couple tomatoes in pots, and the wind immediately whipped them to pieces!

We are enjoying all the activities available on campus. One of the kids favorite places is the "rock and mineral" display in the geology department. This shows the kids enjoying the crystals, and wishing they were rich enough to buy them!

s

We are getting very anxious to sell our house in Montana so we can buy a house here. We recently got a notice that all pets MUST be on a leash outside. Our cat is not happy. He yowls all night to be let out, and none of us enjoy listening to him. When we do put a leash on him, he fights it and we also look really silly! It's hard to keep 3 kids and a cat quiet and busy in this small apartment, and I won't be very sad to leave it!

Em's Field Day

 

Today I had the fun experience of helping with the Lincoln Elementary Field Day.  The theme was "boot camp".  After a last-minute trip to DI for some camouflage pants, we were ready for the day.  The kids had 10 stations to go to.  My job was basically the "pack horse".  I carried around various jackets, backpacks, water bottles, lunches, hats, scarves, etc.... and tried to keep up with the kids.  Occasionally I applied sunscreen or escorted kids to the "latrines".  It was nice to spend the day outside and get to know some of Emily's new friends.  

Working in Montana

I made a very quick, spur of the moment trip back to Hamilton to do some work on our house. We've been praying and praying that it will sell soon. Tony and I decided that in order for us to try and hurry things along, a few jobs needed to be done. Thanks to the help of my parents, I got a lot done in a short time. My parents scraped the old paint off the inside front porch, and the outside back steps before I got there. Then, we scraped a bit more, primed, caulked, and started painting on Tuesday night. On Wednesday we got up early and did the rest of the painting. After a quick lunch at Perkins, we ran to Missoula for some vinyl tile. Then hurried back and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening laying it down. I think it looks 100% better than it used to. I just hope the time and money will be worth it, and that someone will buy my house soon!!!!!! It was a fun couple days...... THANKS MOM & DAD!!!!!

Current Events

We've been fighting with Emily for the past months about the scraggly state of her hair. It was a battle every morning to get it combed, and she would never wear a pony tail or anything to help keep it neat. She finally made the decision to get it cut, so I immediately called the beauty college and made an appointment. We had about 8-10 inches cut off, and she looks cute with her new bob. The girl that cut her hair was really excited when Emily said that she could keep her hair and use it for a "coloring" experiment.










Last weekend we worked on the boys' hiking merit badge. They have to do 5 ten-mile hikes, and one 20-mile hike! This was their 3rd 10-miler. We started at our apartment, and did a "exploring Rexburg" tour. Emily got tired after about 4 miles, so she and I walked about another mile back to our home while the guys kept hiking. The weather was beautiful and we all had a good time. Erik got a giant blister on the bottom of one foot, but other than a few other small blisters, that was the only mishap on the trip.











My sister invited us over for Easter dinner. We had a delicious meal, then a big egg hunt for the kids. To make it fair, the kids all divided up the eggs so that they each got the same amount... they are such good kids!!! Then we played a fun word game we made up using Scrabble tiles. I especially enjoyed it because I won!!!

Conference Weekend

 

Emily took this while playing with my cell phone.  

We had the opportunity to go to Salt Lake for General Conference.  Tony was in a choir that sang during the Priesthood session on Saturday night.  My Mom and Dad came down for the weekend, and Dad was able to take my boys (and my brother) to the Priesthood session.  It sounded like they had a good time!  Meanwhile the ladies went shopping at the big IKEA store, and went out for dinner.  On Sunday morning, I got to go to conference with my parents and my sister-in-law.  It was a wonderful experience!!!    My brother was good enough to let us all stay at his home, and we had a good time visiting with his family also.  It was a good weekend!

Current Events

Erik singing in his first choir concert in Rexburg.


My boys are "very close". This is how they play on the gameboy! It makes me laugh when I see their heads glued together like this!



Tony is helping Em climb a mountain of snow and ice. She made it to the top!!! Tony didn't.



Here's our St. Pat's day dinner. We had corned beef cabbage rolls, Irish soda bread, green salad, green grapes, and blarney stone bars for dessert!
It was pretty good, but I'm not a big fan of corned beef.








That's a few photos of what we've been up to lately... not much exciting... just life!!

Happy Birthday to Em

Well, my baby is now 9 years old.  She didn't have a big party... only the family.... but it was fun.  We took "broken glass jello" to her school for a treat, ate dinner at McDonalds, and went bowling. 

Broken Glass Jello (recipe on my sister's blog at http://www.anticipatingthebest.blogspot.com/)

She wanted a Webkinz cake.  My decorating tools are stored in a box in a storage unit, so I was limited to using a butter knife, toothpicks, and a ziplock bag.  We came up with a "Wheel of Wow" cake, that she liked. 

Birthday cake with chocolate coins and polly pocket items as the prizes. 

I hope she had a fun birthday.  Love you Em!!!!

Presidents Day Fun

On Monday, everyone had the day off, so we went to explore.  This is one of the many beautiful views we saw.  We drove on the back farm roads, and just poked around.  At one point, a big truck came zooming up behind us, so we scooted over to let them past.  We got into the mushy snow, and it pulled us off the road into a snowbank.  Then we had to wave the fast truck down, to turn around and come pull us out.  We both laughed at how we slowed him down, by trying to let him speed up.  We also drove to the Teton dam site, and went to the Teton Flood Museum. 

We're getting all settled down,  living among the Mormons.  It is quite a cultural change.  Even at school, they call each other "Brother and Sister"!  The kids are enjoying school and making new friends.  Tony enjoys going to work and getting to know everyone.  I spend my time cleaning the mold in my apartment, and doing all the wifely/motherly things I always do.  We went ice skating last night for FHE.  Em was a whiz, zipping all over the place, Tony did quite well too.  The boys and I hobbled around the edges, feeling proud of ourselves when we could stop without running into anyone.  It was a really fun evening!!!!  Our new phone numbers are as follows:  Tara - (208) 206-2255, and Tony (208) 313-5324. 

New Address

We finally got to move into our apartment!  As grateful as I am to family who let us stay with them, it's so nice to be in my own place.  Such as it is.  I am thankful that it is only temporary, until our house sells, and we buy a new one!  Em had a good day at school yesterday, and is excited to have so many LDS kids in her class.  The boys started school this morning, and I cried.  They were fine and had the help that they needed, but it was really hard for this emotional mom.  This morning I am sitting at the laundry-mat, keeping an eye on our clothing.  I will be really grateful to have my own washer and dryer again!  This whole experience is making me thankful a lot of things that I generally take for granted!!  Our new address is: 520 Yale Ave, #101, Rexburg, ID 83440.

Montana Girl becomes Idahoan

Blogging has not been a priority lately.  Everything I own... except the contents of a suitcase, has been packed up and put in storage.  We are staying with some very, very kind relatives in Idaho, while we wait to get into our apartment.  Today it is about 20 degrees below zero.  I am feeling rather displaced and out of my element, but look forward to getting settled.  I was supposed to have a meeting with Jacob's new school this morning, to help him adjust to his new school, and get his IEP in place.  No one was at the school, because of the cold everything was cancelled.  I am a little disappointed, but am trying to reschedule.   Right now I'm looking forward to having my own home and a little sunshine!!!  I'm sure tomorrow will be better.

Lovely Luncheon

Yesterday I attended the nicest luncheon! My dear friend, Annemarie, set up a "moving away" lunch for me. Her husband and sons had set up tables and chairs at the church, and she invited friends, organized the food, and was a beautiful hostess. I was so touched by all her hard work, and by all the ladies that came. There were probably 25-30 people there! This has been a wonderful place to live, and I'm going to miss my friends and "church family" so very much! Thank you all for your wonderfulness! Luckily I will be able to visit often, and hopefully you will stop and visit us when you are in Rexburg! I love you all!!!!!

Times Are Changing

 

Sledding fun

 

Enjoying a Griz game

This new year will bring about a lot of changes for our family.  Tony started his new job at BYU-Idaho yesterday, and so far he loves it.  The kids and I are still in Hamilton, finishing out the quarter at school, and trying to sell the house.  Everywhere I look, I think "this is the last time I'll do ____________".  But, I also think "It will be fun/exciting to do __________ after we move".  I apologize to everyone about being an emotional wreck.  Change has never been easy for me.  Here are a few pics of holiday fun, and just hanging out.