The other girls in our branch Abby, Mychaela and Serena. They are a great group of girls!

All the girls in the branch including Kathryn who came up with Sis. Hyzer on Stake night. Also Sydney is lying down in front. Not sure where she is from.

My 2 baby girls are no longer babies. Kylie is now taller than I am and Kamryn is close to passing me up. This was taken at girls camp. We had a blast!

Minnesota

I have to say this move to Minnesota has been liberating. We have been here almost a year now. The first few months here felt like years but now that we have been here a year it all of a sudden doesn't seem so long! The other day I was driving to Sioux Falls admiring all the crops growing and was in awe of the flat green land that seemed to stretch on forever and ever and I was instantly grateful to be here and the beauty that is in Minnesota even without mountains. I feel blessed that Heavenly Father directed us here and that Travis has such a good boss and for all the good people here. I don't feel we will stay here forever but I feel that there is a big open world out there and we could literally go wherever we wanted. In that way this move has been liberating. Powell was great but until we moved here I think we felt stuck. I wonder what the Lord has in store for us?!?!

Toby's imaginary brother

For those of you who don't know yet, we have another boy in the family. His name is Hec. He is Toby's brother. I don't know where he came from or why but Toby talks about him all the time. He started out as Toby's father but over the weeks has instead become his brother. His age fluctuates but he is currently 49. Toby tells us many humorous stories about him and the things they do together! Hec lives in the mountains and sleeps in a pink John Deere bed. However, he occasionally visits us and conspires with Toby. He recently wrote Toby's name on the wall downstairs with pencil. (hahaha) Toby talks about Hec frequently. He told me yesterday that he and Hec and CJ have been doing a lot together lately. They watched movies yesterday and made a big mess with the popcorn. That's funny because I haven't seen CJ here and surprisingly enough there was no mess with any popcorn! If you talk to Toby you should ask him about Hec. It's hilarious. It was especially funny the time I heard him talking to our branch president about his brother Hec and the very puzzled look Pres Hysar had on his face!

Pipestone Monument

Here are some pictures of Pipestone monument before and after it flooded. We went to the monument and it was a pretty walk but we never saw the monument I don't think. Some of the path was blocked off after the flooding and cleaning up.

Tyler...I'm pretty sure she has a toad in her hands!

Kylie hoping if she kisses the toad it will turn into

her prince!

We found a couple little toads on our hike.

Of course the kids were all about them!

Our 4 beautiful children. We had a lot of fun

with them on our hike!

My grown-up Kylie in one of the rock quarries

near the Pipestone Monument. As you can see

below, it was filled with water after the flood!

It's hard to believe it is the same place!

Halloween 2010

We had a really fun Halloween. Friday night our branch had a harvest festival that the primary puts on with games and treats for the kids. The kids had a great time dressed up and got plenty of candy. On Saturday Trav and I took the kids downtown to some of the area businesses to get candy and go trick-or-treating. We went at the end of the time limit so they didn't get overloaded. On Sunday they had more fun handing out candy so we hung out at home and watched them hand it out.

Toby (Spiderman) and Tyler (Spiderwoman) Kylie (she-devil) Kamryn (hippie) and Parker (Dracula) Parker is one of Toby's friends from our branch.

Kamryn and her pumpkin she carved of the headless horseman.

Kylie and her pumpkin she carved of a dragon. It was a combined activity for YW/YM. It was also Trav's first activity as YM President so he took all the kids to carve pumpkins.

Toby and Tyler dressed up. Toby is the king...I'm not sure what the hat is about. Tyler is a witch.

First costume try-on. They were so excited to be matching and to get their costumes on!

Summer Adventures

It seems like we went so many places over the summer. We counted several states we were in through all our travels including Montana, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Idaho, Utah, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa! We traveled to Missouri for a clogging expedition which was a lot of fun with our older girls and niece. And we took a trip to Idaho Falls to check out a job there with the whole family which was a lot of fun also!

The kids posing for a quick picture outside of TGI Fridays in Idaho Falls. Friday is Toby's favorite day and he is quick to remind us every day of the week!

Tyler and Kamryn riding the tiger at the Idaho Falls Zoo which we bought an annual pass to...luckily the pass also gets us in to the Sioux Falls Zoo for free!

Tyler and Tobes on our way to Minnesota. We waited 2 1/2 hrs for the tire mechanic to come fix our blown tire. It was hot and we did all survive but we were tired of waiting!

Kylie, Carly Brown, Richelle Phister, Taytum, Kram, and Mariah Phister outside our cabin in Branson. This was our last day in Branson!

Cloggers performing Barn Dance in Silver Dollar City

Kram, Taytum, and Kylie waiting outside of Olive Garden in Branson

Trav and me with girls after a show. They did 24 shows in Silver Dollar City!

Tired and hot but still smiling...well sorta!

Kylie is a Silver Dollar City beauty.

Clark, Juleen, Trav and I outside of a brazilian grill in Salt Lake City on our anniversary trip.

Sioux Falls Zoo

Toby claims the giraffes were his favorite!


Eating lunch...


Toby in the flamingo house. He kept saying..."mom, they are standing on one foot!"

Pipestone, Minnesota

Pipestone...our new home for the time being! It has been 2 years since I have posted anything so I thought it was time I got back in the groove. I have no excuses now since I am not working! Here's some pics of the kids first day of school here.


Tyler Kindergarten


Kram 5th grade


Kylie 7th grade





Windmills are a big thing here. I took this picture of a bunch of restored windmills just outside of Jasper MN for my dad. They are interesting to watch and beautiful! They really change the landscape!






This is just a quick picture I took when Pipestone flooded a few weeks ago. This was a couple days after so the water had gone down alot! We were very lucky that our home didn't flood and many prayers of thanks were offered up!

I've been good this year Santa!

Wednesday night was our ward party and Ty and Lisa took our kids. (We owe them big time!) It was also the night of the John Deere Christmas party so we were not able to go to the ward party. The kids all got to sit on Santa's lap and my friend Becky took pictures for me. It looks like they had fun but Toby looks a little uneasy...maybe because he knows he wasn't so good this year! ha ha. They all came home with bags of candy which I wasn't too excited about especially since I've been finding wrappers everywhere that the kids have been sneaking candy all over the house!





Wednesday night was our ward party and Ty and Lisa took our kids. (We owe them big time!) It was also the night of the John Deere Christmas party so we were not able to go to the ward party. The kids all got to sit on Santa's lap and my friend Becky took pictures for me. It looks like they had fun but Toby looks a little uneasy. They all came home with bags of candy which I wasn't too excited about especially since I've been finding wrappers everywhere that the kids have been sneaking candy all over the house!

Trick or Treat!

Here's Halloween 2008! Toby was a bat--Tyler the Little Mermaid--Kamryn a BRATZ cheerleader--Kylie a scarecrow. We had a fun time and it was fun to watch Toby after he figured out he was getting candy. We did have one meltdown downtown due to NO NAP! It was a very busy day and started with Grandma Geri's funeral. This is a completely useless holiday but it was still fun. I only gained a "few" pounds eating all the Halloween candy. And I'm not sure what the whole deal is with Tyler's new smile but it's pretty funny and cute all in one. I'm glad she's no longer hiding and crying for pictures!