News in Photos

We had the Best day in the Salt Lake Temple. My Uncle Howard, cousin Micheal, his wife Angie, my sister Laura and Grandma.

Sisters
Not sure this one needs those curlers...
Trip to the zoo with friends

St. Patty's Day menu: Green Hootenanny Pancakes, Green Peppers, Asparagus

Having fun with goggles from Sam's old job at Dupont Holographics

Reese's class put on a play to celebrate Dr. Suess's birthday, he got to be cat in the hat!

Audrey trying on dresses to take pictures and email her friend so they can plan what to wear.

Dog-gone-it!

So, for all those who live here in town, you've no doubt heard me complain about our lovingly-annoying dog, Nigel. He is annoying because of the countless nights we've spent hearing him bark away at nothing in particular. This one flaw aside, he really is a great family dog, wouldn't hurt a fly and is the possessor of many a quirky personality traits that make him, well, Nigel. We do love him, and we've recently had to put him through a de-barking surgery. Four barking collars later, we realized they weren't going to do the trick, and he'd chewed up and destroyed at least two of them. So, since his surgery, he's been a darn near perfect pet. The kids have had more sympathy for him and so have been playing with him more than ever. He's a Beagle/Basset with an extremely talented nose on him, so when he's out with us, or if he gets out on his own he ALWAYS comes back home. He'll even come and bark at the front door if we go inside before he wanders back home. Incase you're all thinking, how can they do that? We live across the street from a big field, that's usually where he sniffs around, browses, and roots before coming back.. Well, yesterday, Audrey let him out in the front to play with her, he wandered off and we didn't think too much of it. Until he'd stayed out over three hours... This morning he's still not home and the kids are heart broken. Here's hoping you find your way home Nige.

Well, happily only an hour and a half after I posted our missing dog signs around town, we got a call. Apparently some people had decided to keep Nigel in their yard since he didn't have any tags... which had fallen off. They saw our posters and decided they'd better call. When I went to pick him up he was running down the street with about eight kids trailing him, you could tell he thought he was a celebrity.. He ran straight to our car and hopped in like nothing out of the ordinary had gone on.. So I guess there's a couple lessons from this, one, replace the dog tags, even if you have to do it a hundred times, and two, if your dog goes missing, make a poster, they work!

Blast from the Past

I was looking through some of our pictures and came across this one of Sam. He is truly an awesome Dad, he had checked out a book at the library with Audrey, then 2, about the sun being made of bread. He thought it'd be fun for them to try it out for themselves...

Audrey and Sam still love to cook together and when I saw this picture it reminded me of how long they've had this little tradition going! This was just too cute of the men in my life...
Our little family (sans Elle ) at one of my best Friend's weddings. Hayden Lake is in the background, it's about a ten minute drive from Coeurd'Alene Lake.

Daddy and his little girl

So, on a side note.... These are some shoes that I ordered over a year ago.. I then decided that I'd found some other pair that I liked better so the plan was to return these... That was the plan. I recently cleaned out my closet, and lo and behold, there they were! I want to wear them so badly, but I don't want to make Sam even more frustruated with my shoe obsession... I guess they're mine now right? After a year! Yikes.

Happy Birthday Dad

I was out of the house all yesterday so I didn't get this ready in time,but at least I got to see you and give you your German Chocolate "cakes"!

This is my Dad, Ladd. He is a man among men and I am so thankful to have him as my dad, I can't imagine how I would've turned out without him. My Dad is an Entomologist and has become an expert in his field, people from around the country have looked to him for input and advice; but, more importantly he is a great leader of our family. If you ever wonder where I get my confidence and why I think I can do anything, it's in large part because my dad has always loved me for who I am and shown me that anything I take on is doable. He is the hardest worker I've ever met, in fact mom and I tease a little because every time I call home and say where's dad? She'll say, oh in the shop, on the roof, at the temple, going to a scout meeting, etc... once I even called and she said, well, he's in the yard moving around a bunch of rocks.. not sure why, but he's working hard! I feel like Dad has so many interests and has been a great example to me in just doing.. doing the things that matter to you. From fly-tying, to bee keeping, to woodworking, remodeling, mechanics, gardening, temple service, hunting, taking time for family, tubing behind the boat, I feel like if he's interested in something, he does it! Action is his motto.

We never had a question about how important the gospel was growing up because of Dad's actions, (and mom's for that matter!) He always treats his callings as an absolute privilege and duty. I've never once heard him complain about anything church related. He is constantly engaged in some form of service. He is always accepting of those around him and will do anything to help. He is a true leader to many around him. Our entire family is so grateful for your loving example. Happy Birthday Dad! You're the best.

As an ode to Dad's musical tastes, I'm playing the Boston Pops Orchestra. Growing up the only music in the house was classical and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir...

Unless you went into one of my brother's rooms, that was a different story.

I wanted to have "Put your Shoulder to the Wheel" playing

but couldn't find the right version of it.. So this song's for you Dad.

On a side note, I decided to google Dad's name, this was amazing! It took up until page ten of the results before every single article wasn't talking about Dad specifically! Wow, I thought that was pretty cool to be able to google you're own Dad and have over 100 articles pop up about him in the first ten pages worth of results! You're awesome, Dad.

!!! Happy Birthday !!!

!! It's your Birthday !!

The world is a better place because you were born, but most importantly my world is the best place because of you. I love you and I'm so grateful that it's you who's perfect for me. It's easy to see how much you love me and how you love the kids by the way you treat us. We're all so blessed to have you in our lives. Not to mention the kids worship you! You bring joy and life to our home. The kids are happy and confident because they have the love of not just their Mom but their Dad who knows how to play and love and always has their best interests at heart.. You've accomplished so much already and I can't wait to see all the beauty that our lives will hold. I want you to enjoy your day today knowing you have a wife and family that love you and couldn't dream of a world without that love! Happy Birthday love, you amaze me.

Welcome to New Zealand!

These posts are just as much for me to remember all the details of our trip as they are to share with everyone, so, if you can get your way through them all there are eight different posts from our trip! This one is a collection of pictures from our first day.
There are several videos on these posts, to hear them,

you'll have to pause the music playlist on the right.

If you want to look at all the pictures, the slideshow is at the bottom of the page..

Right when we stepped outside of the Auckland airport, the warm humid air hit us with an incredibly strong smell of honey. I couldn't believe how sweet the air smelled. We were so excited to be there and so relieved to get off our plane, it was 13 hours straight from L.A.

For our first day, we checked into our hotel and then were shown around the city by a guide who had been hired by Sam's company

Here's some of what we saw.

The City of Auckland

They were celebrating the Chinese New Year, these pictures were from inside the Space-Needle Looking structure, we stopped in to convert our cash to the local currency and this is what was going on inside.

The Northern Island of NZ was formed in large part by Volcanoes, this is the view from a hilltop where you can see several "cones" or old volcano tops, this is one of them.

This was the view from one of the streets we were driving down, it was a residential area.

We stopped into a little shopping district and walked around some, I was so impressed with how well they keep up their buildings, it seemed like every building had a fresh coat of paint. You would even see shop keepers out doing touch ups on what looked to be a perfectly painted store front.


I was so impressed with this, when we were walking we stumbled up onto a little birthday party, all the kids were inside an art studio getting to paint and the party was set up outside the shop in the little courtyard. Too cute!
For Dinner our first night we went down to the wharf to find some good seafood, the boats and views were incredible! I think one of the things I was most excited about was eating all the wonderful food that I didn't have to cook!

View inside the restaurant looking out from our table.

Some other fun things were that they drive on the other side of the road, so when you're walking on the sidewalk, our first instinct is to move to the right when someone's walking towards you. I can't count how many times I did that and stepped right in front of someone, they're expecting you to move left, like traffic. It was funny. The people there also had a good sense of humor and quick comebacks, they loved to show their national pride and take a jab at Australians any chance they could get. We are so thankful that we have had this amazing experience!

The Langham

The Langham Hotel in Auckland was absolutely beautiful, here's some pics... When we walked in it smelled so fragrant like fresh flowers, I realized that all of these giant arrangements that were placed everywhere were actually real flowers. Needless to say, we were blown away and felt very aware of how much Sam's company appreciates him and how very blessed we've been to experience these things.

This was the entrance to the pool area, the doors would just go into the walls!


This was on the roof top