RANDOM KIDS PICS

We finally got around to getting ready for Christmas. We just barely got the tree set up, so thought I would post a few cute pictures. Plus, Dreyken is growing up so fast, and I just can't keep her little. She is such a funny, cute little thing. I was finally able to get her hair into piggy tails! (sort of, they are a little lopsided, but she so did not want to sit still.) She has also started to play games, and LOVES playing catch, especially with Dad and his football! There should be a video attached at the bottom if I can get it to work!

MEXICO!

Dan and I just got back from a little over a week in Mexico. Dan had gotten us a trip for our ten year anniversary (not until May, but didn't want to wait!). We went to a place called Rivearia Maya which was about an hour away from Cancun. It was BEAUTIFUL! It was also very warm and super relaxing, thanks to David and Lorie who tended our kids. Anyway, we mostly hung out on the beach and stayed at our resort which was all inclusive (I would so recommend this to anyone looking for a good vacation). We did leave twice to go see Tulum one day, and then to Coba for a day. We ran into a ton of huge lizards, and got to get up close with a monkey while on those trips.

Dan really enjoyed the variety of food from Escargot to Octopus Lasagna (yea, he really did eat both!) While I enjoyed a lot of fresh fruit and freshly made crepes. Anyway, here are bunch of pictures from the trip. They were getting ready for Christmas at the resort so there were Christmas lights EVERYWHERE!
This is some ruins buy our hotel that we walked on the beach to.

This is the walkways that line the entire hotel property to get you from one place to another without having to get wet when it is raining.
A picture from the beach
This is a picture of our hotel
More of the beach
This shows just some of the Christmas lights that were up.
Dan and I at Tulum.
Me about to touch a HUGE lizard
A picture of our hotel room

One of the many swimming pools
My trophy I won in a tennis tournament

Dan and I standing at the bottom of Coba just before we headed up.
A look down from the top of Coba
Inside a Cenote (a cave with a lake in it) that we stopped at on our way home from Coba to swim in.
The monkey that we got to see

PROGRAMS!

Last week we had two different programs to attend. Dan's parents came up to catch both of the kids perform, and to get to spend some time with the kids. Tarek had his pre-school Thanksgiving program. He was so proud of himself and had been practicing the song for the last few weeks. Of course when the program started he was so excited he could hardly stand still. He did a good job and it was fun to see him get so excited. Then we headed to the Festival of Trees for Kalli's clogging program. She did a really good job, but the place was CRAZY! They only have one in and out and the room is so packed that most parents can't even see their kids. We got there at 5:00 and were able to get some seats next to Grandma and Grandpa Parry, but the seats went quickly. It is so fun to get to see her enjoy something that I really enjoyed as a kid. She has only been clogging since September, but LOVES IT! I am so proud of both my kids and what great kids they are! Finally, here is just a quick picture of Dreyken, enjoying the shows.

LAUGHING

Just had to add this cute video of Dreyken. ENJOY!

NEW BLOG!

So after Tammi's comment at the coupon class the other day that "it would be nice to have a way to share some deals with each other" I decided to start a blog. I figure since I am looking for deals for my family anyway, I may as well post them for others to see. I thought it might be fun to have a blog where we can put up any good deals or ideas we may have and want to share. They do not necessarily have to be coupon deals, but any sort of good idea or topic that might want to be shared. I am hoping to get a lot of help from friends and family and your ideas. So go over to www.familydealfilter.blogspot.com and check out the blog and let me know what you think either there or here and if you have any suggestions or ideas to make it better. I know there are a lot of blogs with the same information, but thought it could be used to filter the really good deals that are around! Remember, it doesn't have to be just coupon deals, great receipies, easy DIY Christmas ideas, etc. Hope to get some feedback

COUPON WEB SITES

So thanks to those of you who came to my mom's house for the class on couponing. I really hope it helped those of you with questions, and will make shopping exciting. Let me know if you ever have any questions and I will try to help. To help out I thought I would add some links to my blog of a few coupon sites that I like to check every now and then. Not all of them are from Idaho Falls, some are from Boise so their prices and stores and somewhat different. They should show up on my side bar under Coupon Blogs. Hope this helps!

PIANO RECITAL AND HALLOWEEN

So it has been awhile since I posted anything about Kalli. She has been super busy and is always doing something. On Halloween she had a piano recital and I (once again) forgot the camera. So I had her play the song for me at home and thought I would share. She was really nervous and I was really proud of her for getting up in front of a lot a people to play. She ended up getting picked second to last to go so she was REALLY nervous when she finally got her turn. She really is getting pretty good. She has also started clogging and LOVES IT! For anyone interested she is going to perform on November 18th at the Festival of Trees at 6:00.

Now for a few random pictures from Halloween weekend. The kids had a great time carving pumpkins and trick-or-treating. Kalli was a pirate, Tarek was The Dark Knight, and Dreyken was a pumpkin.



Finally, these are some pictures my brother-in-law took while we were visiting Dan's parents this year. The pumpkins the kids are sitting on have their names grown into them. Lorie carves the kids names into them when they are small and the pumpkins heal themselves, but leave the name engraven. The kids love to "Hunt" for their pumpkins every year. Unfortunately, we had some neighbor kids who thought smashing pumpkins would be a good idea so our pumpkins got broken after only a few days. Luckily, Lorie was able to send up some more for the kids to carve. Those however, only lasted through Halloween, then Halloween night a different set of kids smashed those all over my front door step. Yea, real nice! On the plus side, Dan says they are a lot easier to dispose of that way.

DREYKEN IS MOBILE!

So I have been meaning to post a video of Dreyken moving. She is now nine months old, and is EVERYWHERE! She has yet to crawl on her hands and knees, but she can get where she want to pretty fast. We have also discovered that she hates things being organized and put away. She loves to destroy the videos, and anytime she sees you stacking blocks, or piling up her toys she hurries over and swats with her hands until the pile is everywhere. She has also developed a love for her Daddy. She is now officially a Daddy's girl and SCREAMS anytime someone takes her away from him (yes, including her mom! :(. ) On another note, Tarek came down with the Flu last week and has been camping out in our front room for the past week. The other day I came out to find his head missing and his legs straight up in the air. Apparently he is feeling much better!

LITTLE MAN TURNS 4!

I am a little slow at getting this posted, on Thursday September 24th my little man turned four! I can hardly believe how fast he is growing up. He is such a fun and spunky little boy, with an imagination that runs wild! We are so glad to have him as part of our family and love every minute that we get to be with him. He got a football game, a football "Green Bay Cheese Packers" outfit and blanket and lots of games with cars. He wanted a race car birthday game party so he had a car pinata and a demolition derby cake. He loved it!

I want to remember a few things about Tarek so...

Tarek has a "Mr. B-dare" that he has had since he was 3 months old

He Loves watching and talking football with his Dad (he roots for any team that Dan wants to lose... they learn so young how to push buttons!)

He loves Spiderman, Batman and getting to sleep in a "Man Cave" (His room is in our unfinished basement)

He is completely convinced that he plays for the "Y-ami Dolphins" he claims to get paid and that his job is to get the ball and run really fast so that he doesn't get tackled. (Tonight I overheard him telling Dan, "if you watch the Y-ami Dolphins play, I am the very smallest one out there")

He loves to make up stories about "Billy and the Dragon" who live down the street from us

He really enjoys preschool and Ms. Karla

He also is really enjoying Gymnastics... and loves doing flips and tricks off of my furniture.

He is very inquisitive and loves to question EVERY THING! WHY is his favorite word.

He loves bugs of any kind and has no fear of them.

And finally, he is Daddy's buddy, Mommy's bear, Kalli's best friend and Dreyken's entertainer.

I am so grateful to get to be his mother and get the chance to raise him. He has such a sweet heart and loves everyone. He will befriend anyone who will give him a minute of their time. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAREK!

BECK FAMILY FARM

We were just able to make our trip down to Gunnison for Pumpkin season. The kids love to go every year, and we always have such a good time. Lorie carves the kids names into pumpkins while they are still small and green and the names then look like the pumpkin grew that way. The kids love getting to go and "Hunt" for their pumpkin. Dreyken loved getting to be outside and playing in the swing. She also was a huge fan of the four wheelers (yea she rode on one a few times). All of the cousins were there and so the kids had a great time as always!

PATTY CAKE

Dreyken playing Patty Cake.

UPDATE!

So time has flown by and I haven't updated our blog in awhile. A lot has happened for our small little family. So be prepared for a lot of photo updates! Kalli got hair dye for her birthday from her Aunt Markell, something she (Kalli) has been asking for awhile to get. I was super nervous when I began to wash out the dye and her hair was REALLY WHITE! It turned out super cute and she loves it.

We then had the privilege of having family come and visit to watch Kalli get baptized. She had to get baptized twice, but did manage to finally get completely immersed. She than looked so pretty in her white dress and was so blessed to have so many worth men there to confirm her. Tarek was having some asthma issues and was throwing up throughout the entire thing (Thanks Markell for taking him out) It turned out to be such a wonderful day and we are so proud of her and love her so much, she is wonderful daughter and a great example to her younger brother and sister. Thanks to all those who were able to make it.

Kalli with her Dad, her two Grandpa's and her Grandpa Great Parry

We got to spend a weekend camping with my family and that was a lot of fun (other than the freezing cold nights) Dreyken and I slept in the car and after the first night when I didn't have the keys, I would turn the car on to keep her and I warm. It got to 27 degrees one night... yea COLD! My kids loved getting to camp and play with their cousins. We are not much for camping, but the kids really had a great time and we may just have to do it again next year when it is warmer. I forgot my camera (I seem to be doing that a lot) but am hoping to get some pictures from my mom sometime.

Kalli than got to start third grade on Monday the 24th of August. And of course I forgot to take a picture of her the first day, so this is a picture of her second day of school. She is starting to not like camera's and pictures. She is growing so fast!

Tarek is getting ready to start preschool on September 9th and is so excited! He just got a letter from his teacher with a count down calender with stickers. This is Tarek hiding in my towel closet, we were playing a game of hide-and-seek, and it was a good think Dan cheated or we never would have found him! What a funny kid he is.

We did have quite the scare with a friend of Tarek's over the weekend. I had taken my three kids to the swimming pool with two other friends of mine and their kids. One of who is Tarek's really good friend. As we began to get ready to go, we were packing up the babies and gathering up towels when Sheldon's mom said "I don't see Sheldon". We all began to scan the group of kids that had formed at the pool as it had gotten rather crowded. I then see Andrea (the other friend of mine) dive into the pool and come up with Sheldon in her arms, blue as could be. I grabbed my phone and dialed 911 as the screams had drawn over other people, one of whom was a nurse. After calling 911 I went and gathered up his two sisters who were still in the pool, and my own two kids and headed off to the side out of view of the commotion. The medics arrived and took Sheldon to the ER and got him to start breathing again. Andrea and I gathered up the kids and took them to our houses (she lives directly across the street from me) and before I even got home I had calls from people in the ward wanting to help out (even offering to nurse Lana's four month old baby). Word had traveled fast and the response was incredible. Sheldon had to be Life Flighted to SLC and for awhile it was just sit and wait for us here. Things have turned out great, Sheldon is doing really well and only had to stay a few nights in SLC and is up and running around. We are so grateful he made it through and for all those offers to help. Tarek has been wanting to make and take presents to Sheldon since he "didn't die and can still be my friend." He has colored pictures, wrapped up a pen, and given him some money. All thought up on his own. Let me just say I never want to have to experience that again EVER!

Dreyken is getting so big! She has figured out patty-cake (sort of) and loves to pull hair. She is sitting up, but has not attempted to crawl yet (YEA!) She does move around very quickly in her walker and often runs over other people's toes that are not paying attention. She has developed quite a bit of stranger anxiety and doesn't NOT like it when her Dad goes in at night instead of Mom. Funny how they figure out who can feed them and who can't. She is such a happy kid most of the time, and loves playing with Tarek and Kalli. With the weather finally being so nice she has discovered the swing and loves to swing outside.

And finally, I got some pictures from the Beck family reunion we had in July from my brother-in-law and thought I would post some of the many pictures. What a great time we had, it is always so fun to get to go and play on the farm. Thanks David and Lorie for the great time.