Newell Family

I had so much fun taking the Newell family pictures at Thanksgiving. I am just a little slow at working on them. here are a few of the favorites.

I love the series of candid poses. I love to see a families personality!!

Thanks for the opportunity!!

Computer Troubles!!

When we moved I bought a new laptop computer. I was so excited until we had only had it a month and started having problems. Over the last six months I have constant problems and spent hours on the phone trying to get things fixed and arguing with them to send me a new computer. I finally turned it over to Brad and he was on the phone for hours but to no avail. Instead they have sent me a new computer in pieces. They have replace the motherboard, hard drive, memory, and the DVD/CD drive. I would have thought the other way would have been easier.

So now that it is up and running again her is what is happening in out lives.

Snow, snow, snow, and yeah, more snow!!

I am in love with all of the snow that we have received. I have always loved snow and after living in Lewiston for several years where it doesn't snow I am so excited to be here where it does. I definitely didn't expect this though!! The girls and I were out shopping when it started and when we made it home I had to shovel the driveway before I could get the van in. I could barely drive down the street. Zoe was so excited to get her clothes on and play right away. Cale was napping in the car. When she finally woke up I asked her if she wanted to get out and she said, "no", right away. She was perfectly content to sit and watch me shovel the drive from her car seat. She is not to hot on the snow or cold.

Brad came home early from work and took over shoveling the rest of the night and even managed to fit the van in the garage!! (so I didn't have to shovel it off the next day.) The next morning this is what he walked out to in the morning to head to work. Lucky us, he got the day off!! We had such a great day playing in the snow!!

This how our house looks now that it has stopped snowing. Anymore snow and you won't be able to see the van.

Our back yard. It makes me just want to run across it. Although I am sure that I wouldn't make it that far!!

Brad stuffed the girls in the big snow pile by the driveway.

I sat Cale down so I could take the picture of the backyard and she didn't like it so much. She look so cute though I just wanted a picture of her. Shortly after this she started crying!!

Zoe and Brad spent the rest of their time making a snow cave.

The neighbor girl came over to join in.

Cale actually liked being inside. It was out of the snow and the wind. It was the only time she wasn't crying while we were outside.

They got it pretty deep and Zoe said, "we can bring out our sleeping bags and sleep in here tonight!!

Brad's attempt at a snow angel!!

I am really not kidding about Cale. She does better at times with the snow but ultimately this is how she feels. I know you should torture your kids but I had to have one picture!!

Zoe on the other hand would sled all night. Once she is in and realizes how cold she is then she is miserable!!

In the Spirit of Christmas.....

Traditionally we have gone as a family over Thanksgiving and cut down our Christmas tree. We have been blessed with family that live near the woods. Unfortunately this year we missed our opportunity. Had I know how much tree's cost I definitely would have made more of a valiant effort!! My sister took mercy on me, cut down a tree and brought it too us.

Zoe couldn't wait to decorate it.

They were just excited about the lights. It was a little hard to get them away from Cale. She thought they were her toy and loved dancing with them.

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of our finished tree. Brad and I made our decorations the 1st year we were married and it is what we have had. The star is cardboard covered in tin-foil. Zoe thinks it is beautiful. Everyday the girls re-arrange the ornaments on the tree. Normally I am pretty uptight about stuff like that but amazingly enough this year I have managed to let it go. Today I noticed a huge section of our tree doesn't have any ornaments. Oh well!!

Thanksgiving in Bonners!!

We had a great trip to Bonner's for Thanksgiving and enjoyed spending time with Brad's sister Sarah and her family. It is so beautiful there how could you not enjoy!!

After seeing Wilson ride his bike without training wheels Zoe definitely wanted a try. She has been trying to get us to take the training wheels off for quite sometime. I have been avoiding it until spring!!

She definitely needs to work on the balance. She gets way to busy watching everything and doesn't think enough about what she is doing.

Not the best picture but Brad says there isn't enough of me on the blog. He insisted on taking a picture of me.

My girls adored all of Sarah's kids and haven't stopped talking about it since. Zoe can't wait to go back and Cale gets so excited every time she sees a picture a picture of them.

Thanks for such a great weekend!!

Pineapple Cupcakes for Dessert

Zoe and I spent the afternoon making cupcakes for dessert. I am basically a bystander as Zoe does everything. We had lots of fun hanging out together.



Cale just woke up from her nap and was still on the grumpy side so she hung out on daddy's lap.

She eventually made it over and decided that she really liked the batter. She was eating it right out of the cupcakes as I was filling.

Here is a cute video of Cale eating the batter. Enjoy!

No, I don't know how to use the answering machine!

So we transferred out Comcast phone service when we moved into the house. I have never liked there voice mail set up but haven't been able to figure out how to use our answering machine instead. Since moving in I have called that voice mail a couple of times to check messages. I only received a message saying that my voice mailbox wasn't set up. So I figured no one could leave a message and I haven't worried about it. While talking to a friend at church today I realized that people have been leaving messages and I better figure things out.

End of story......I got things set up and I had 40 messages on my phone. To all of you who have been trying to call us this last month I am sorry, I just now received your message. I really do return phone calls!!

Swimming Lessons

With our summer being a little crazy I didn't get Zoe into swimming lessons like I would have liked. We have been swimming with her a lot and she loves to go. I have worked with her on several things but I thought it would be good for her to have lessons. I started looking at the calendar and decided if I didn't do it now before the baby comes it would be next summer before she got the chance. She had a great time and did everything they asked her too. In the bathtub that night she was practicing her back floats and breathing out her nose under water.

Read, Read!!

Cale loves to read anything she gets a hold of books, magazines, etc. She will sit for a long time and just look through the book. She especially gets excited when she finds a puppy for a horse.
She loves it if you just sit and read to her for hours. This is how I found her in my room the other night.

Halloween Requests

After the last set of posts I got several requests for Halloween pictures. I just figured I was too slow and no one would care. So here they are. The girls were fairies and loved it.

We went out to the valley mall and Zoe couldn't get enough. She would have gone around several times if her cousin Hannah hadn't been ready to be done.

Daddy tried to take her candy away for a picture and it brought instant tears!!

She was all smiles as soon as he gave it back to her. She is so determined!!

Showing off her treats!!

Zoe wanted to check out everything that she got right away. I was ready to get rid of it right away. She definitely has her daddy's sweet tooth.