Kennedy is SIX!

Kennedy celebrated her sixth birthday on Friday! She had a fun day. Aunt Mel and Uncle David were here visiting so that alone made the whole day wonderful. Aunt Mel gave Kennedy a manicure and pedicure and fixed her hair all cute and curly.

She got to invite two friends over after school to have a playday/birthday party. The girls all had fun playing. We also made braclets and ate pizza and homemade twinkies. Grammy Gillette came that evening and we opened presents and played dominoes. All in all she had a very fun day.







Layton liked her new bike helmet.

Deer Hunting 2010

Austin had a good Deer Hunting season this year, now lets pray that Elk season is the same. He hunted in the Pocatello area. He spent the first week in September hunting and then went back the next weekend. Austin was able to shoot this nice buck on saturday afternoon. Damon drove up and helped him pack it out.





This is a beautiful picture Austin took in on of the areas that he hunts. I love this picture!

Harvest time...

Layton's favorite thing right now is TRACTORS. As we drive Kennedy to school everyday he points out every tractor he sees, and if he hasn't seen a tractor in the last 30 seconds he asks me, "See 'nother Dactor Mom?" At first I thought he was saying Doctor, and I thought that was really cute. But no, he was talking about tractors. Still cute.

When the farmer's started combining the grain in the field behind our house Layton was SO EXCITED!!! He sat at the window and watched all morning until it was warm enough outside.

Fun Run

On Saturday we went to Idaho Falls so the kids could participate in a Fun Run. Ty and Kaly's kids were also running in it. Tori and Kennedy were pretty excited to run in the race.

Tori, Kennedy, and Shay


Layton did not want to stand next to his sisters to get a picture.


Kennedy started off a little rocky, not wanting to run by herself, but she finished strong. At the end of the race she told me that she never stopped running, she was really proud of that. She ran 1/2 a mile.



Tori and Raliegh at the start of their race.


Tori ran a mile, and was pretty tired at the end. Austin jumped in and ran with her for a 100 yards or so until she saw Kennedy and I and kicked it in full gear for the last 100 yards. She did great!
I was so proud of both of the girls. They ran hard and had a fun time doing it. They were both a little sore on Sunday, but want to do it again next year.

First Day of School

Today is the first day of school. We have a few new things this year.

#1 Kennedy starts Kindergarten! A bit of mixed emotions with that one, for both Mom and Kennedy.
#2 Tori has to get up at 6:45 so we can make it to the bus at 7:30.

#3 Tori and Kennedy will ride the bus home.

The girls are both excited, but it is odd that they can't ride bikes or walk to or from school anymore.
Tori's teacher is Mrs. Hammond, and Kennedy's teacher is Mrs. Swainston.

And yes, the girls are wearing matching outfits. :) Sometimes you would think that I have twins and try to dress them matchy/matchy, but I don't. They just really like to match. I try not to have them do that. Oh well! When I buy them clothes sometimes I will buy matching, not the same, but matching. Then they will always wear those clothes on the same day, on purpose. It is kinda cute. I am just glad that they get along.

Celebrate Youth Party

Every year, the day before school starts, Rexburg has a big party for the kids. So we went to Porter Park with Heather and the kids. The kids all had a blast! The fun part is that it was Kyler's birthday! So we got to have a fun and different kind of celebration with him.
Everything was free, and they had tons of give-aways, including food! It was so fun.

Tori's SMILE...

Just got a bit more holey! She is getting pretty good at going to see the Dentist. In the last two weeks she has gone to the Dentist 3 times and the Orthodontist once.
The first time at the Dentist we found out that all of Tori's permanant teeth coming in were too big for her little mouth. The dentist gave her 3 days to make one tooth out or he would have to pull it. He pulled it!!
During our trip to the Orthodontist we learned that Tori is going to have a total of 10 teeth pulled, just to make room for the new ones growing in.


This is Tori's beautiful smile before the first pulling today.


Dr. Davies and Summer numbing Tori's mouth before her FIVE teeth were pulled.




Her NEW, toothless grin!

Layton is TWO!!

Layton got to celebrate his birthday for about four days straight. by the 4th day he was singing Happy Birthday to himself. It started with Grandpa and Grandma coming to visit a few days early, then Birthday cake and cousins, then his sisters and presents, and ended with Grandpa and Grammy. He loved every minute of it.

Wind Storms...

I am doing a little catch-up, but when we had been in the house for three weeks we had experienced a total of FIVE, yes I said FIVE, major big wind storms. There would be gusts up to 60 MPH, and not just one gust, but one after another. The first one occured the very first night. These wind storms were strong enough to pick up our grill and drop it in another spot, breaking it twice!! I was beginning to wonder if I was going to like living out in the country. It obviously didn't like me.



One day, while driving home from Rexburg after running a few errands, I looked toward our home and the sky was BROWN. Literally BROWN! It had been blowing so hard for so long that the clouds in the sky picked up all the dust and made it brown. It was kind of cool, just because I had never seen anything like that before, but really weird.



As the clouds came over our house, it cast a brown hue over everything.



This is a beautiful sunset that we get the opportunity to see from our kitchen window every night. There are some spectacular sunsets in the Plano area. We really do love living here.

Tee Ball/ Tiger Ball

It was a short, cold baseball season this year, but the girls still had a BLAST!
Kennedy was pretty scared her first game, but after that she was great. They both improved over the year, and were two of the best players on their teams.


Kennedy at bat.


This is Kennedy getting reading to make a great play on third.


Tori at bat. I think she is getting ready to hit one of her grand slams.




And this is how Layton felt during the games.
He actually loved going to the games. We tried to always bring a mitt and ball for him so that he thought he was playing too.

I was so proud of Austin, he won the two awards that were given out that night, the teaching award, which was voted on by all his fellow residents, and the quality project award, which he put a lot of time into. I was so impressed.




The Senior Residents get together and decide which Attending Physicians and Nurses have helped them the most in the the last three years and them award them with a plaque. Austin was able to give this award to the Doctor who has been his greatest mentor during his residency. Austin was so honored to give this to Dr. Dyer. He has been such a great influence in Austin's career.



This is Austin and his certificate of completion.



Austin was so wonderful. At the end of the graduation he presented me with a dozen red roses and told everyone that he would not have been able to get through medical school and residency without me. He said lots of other beautiful things and that made the seven LONG years worth it! And I loved the roses.




These were some of Austin's fellow residents, and some of his best friends these last three years. L-R : Austin, Rachel, Amy Brizzee, Dave Brizzee (resident), Ryan Zimmerman (resident), Rena Nordeng-Zimmerman (resident- married to Ryan)




Austin's mom, Gail, was able to come and see the graduation.


Us with my parents, John and Terry Fennell. They delayed their vacation by a couple of days just so they could be there to support Austin. I am always so grateful they are always so supportive.


Not the greatest picture, but here are the Graduating Residents:
L-R: Ryan Zimmerman, Rena Nordeng, Charles Clair, David Brizzee, Marty Mangum, Austin.

Ross Park

My sister Stacy came to visit from Alabama, which sadly only happens once a year. The kids and I went to my parents home for the first weekend. The kids all had so much fun. It was a bit crazy with all the kids and two dogs, who were not used to being in the house. The next week we were all going to meet in Pocatello as Heather was driving through, but the weather was terrible! So we tried it again the next week, and the weather was perfect! We had so much fun we decided that next year we are going to make it a family reunion kind of thing.



All the kids and their moms.




Evan




Everyone in the Lazy River. Oh so nice! We loved that.





These beauties are my sistas. Aren't they gorgeous?!?