Booster Seat research.

Well, in our quest to see if we really need to buy a van, I have been doing research on state laws and regulations on booster seats to see if we can legally drive Danica around without a booster. Well, I found that in Idaho the law says they have to be 6 years old (no weight or height regulations) In most other states we may end up the requirements are over 40 pounds and over 4'9". I don't know about you but if I remember correctly I didn't reach 4'9" until I was at least in 4th grade. Danica has about 10" more to go.

I also found that the Insurance institute for car safety just finished another booster seat study to determine if booster seats are doing their job. and they found that 10 of them did such a poor job at fitting kids they don't recommend them in the least - guess what - our booster is on that list. Yipee for us. I have pasted thier findings below so any of you that have kids in boosters can check your brand too.

Booster seat evaluations
Not Recommended
Safety Angel Ride Ryte backless
Cosco/Dorel (Eddie Bauer) Summit
Graco CarGo Zephyr
Evenflo Big Kid Confidence
Cosco/Dorel Traveler
Compass B505
Compass B510
Evenflo Generations
Dorel/Safety 1st (Eddie Bauer) Prospect
Cosco Highback Booster
Cosco/Dorel Alpha Omega
Evenflo Chase Comfort Touch
Safety 1st/Dorel Intera

Best Bets
Graco TurboBooster backless with clip
Fisher-Price Safe Voyage backless with clip
Combi Kobuk backless with clip
Fisher-Price Safe Voyage
Britax Parkway
LaRoche Bros. Teddy Bear
Safeguard Go backless with clip
Volvo booster cushion
Recaro Young Style
Britax Monarch

Good Bets
Graco TurboBooster
Safety Angel Ride Ryte
Recaro Young Sport
Combi Kobuk
Safety 1st/Dorel Apex 65

The study also said that you need to check the way the shoulder/lap belt fits your child when they are in their booster. It should go over the bony parts of their body to prevent internal injury if they are in a crash. (ie. collar bone, hip bones)

Hope this helped anyone who was interested. After more reading and looking I have figured out that seatbelts don't fit me right either (course I think I have always known that since they cut into my neck all the time, even with the adjustable ones in our car) So I guess none of us are really safe.

Our little singer

How pleased we are with our little Danica. Our ward had their Primary Program today and Danica was asked to sing a solo part for one of the songs. Unfortunately I don't have any kind of simple recording device that we could get an audio recording of it, but she did fantastic. She didn't look nervous at all. She just got up there and when it was her turn she sang the perfect volume and clearly so everyone could understand. She is so amazing. I had a hard enough time getting up and singing with a group when I was in high school. I dont' think I am brave enough even now to sing a solo.
What an amazing little girl we have been blessed with. I learn so much from her everyday. Her spirit is so much more developed at this little age than I feel mine is now. She has a great work for her in the future I can just tell.

The Lord teaches us in many ways

Well, Dave's job officially ends on Tuesday. We still don't have another job (at least not until the end of November, and that's our fallback plan) So, as we have been contemplating what we are going to do and both of us have been praying all we've been getting is that it's going to be okay.

Which is good to know, but both Dave and I are planners - we like to have a plan to know what we need to do, and the not knowing makes it hard to plan. So, as I was praying yesterday I was a bit uneased that none of the the things I was praying for felt right. So I changed what I was asking and discovered that I am not supposed to know. That right now I just need to trust and not know. Do you know how hard that is for me!!!

But I am doing my best. We are going to stay here in Arco until who knows, and trust that everything will be okay. We will just keep doing what we are doing and wait as patiently as possible and try to listen to the Spirit. Hopefully this is one of the last things that we are supposed to learn from all this moving around.
Thanks to all of you for your support and prayers . We love you.

Human Pin Cushion

I can't wait until this baby makes it's debut. For someone who used to have a severe fear of needles I think this baby is trying to cure that.
For some reason with this pregnancy all my veins went into hiding. (well, they've never been very willing to show themselves to a needle) Hopefully I'm done being a pin cushion until this baby comes out. All in all I have been poked 14 times in the last three months.
Yikes - I'm not sure where this lovely trait comes from but I hope my children don't get it.

Yellowstone final part

We hiked to this beautiful lake that seem a bit out of place in Yellowstone, but then Yellowstone is so big it's probaly just part I've never been to before.

The girls enjoyed taking a break and throwing rocks into the lake. On the way up we missed one of the switchbacks and ended up going straight up the mountain. What a trooper Dave is as once again he ended up carrying both girls. And of course I couldn't miss this great photo op by the river.


We drove around the park looking for wildlife after our hike and we were lucky enough to see this grizzly bear eating a bison. I know it's hard to see but just take my word for it.

We also saw several coyotes, a family of bison and two black bears. Unfortunately the other pictures didn't turn out well because it was dusk. Oh well. Dave was glad to see all the wildlife, but he still wants to see a wolf.

More camping fun



The Mammoth Hot Springs used to be very colorful, but now they are mostly dried up but the formations they made are still fun to look at. What do you see?

And again - Dave carrying both girls. What a great daddy. I promise our girls did do alot of hiking themselves too.

After such a great vacation we decided the girls should have something to remember it by (besides just pictures). Whitney picked out a grizzly bear and Danica picked out a wolf. They played with them almost the whole way home.

Whitney named hers cuddley bear and Danica named hers Giselle.
Danica took hers to school today for show and tell so it must have been a great trip for her.
I have some fun quotes from them that I will post later.

Yellowstone part 2

We spent the next day hiking around geyser basins and this is what Whitney and Danica thought of it. They also decided that they both had to ride on daddy. So Danica leaned back and picked up Whitney. What funny kids.

Family pic in front of Old Faithful as it is dying down. The girls loved this one and when it was going off they were smiling and clapping for it. It was great.

Whitney got cold so she decided to crawl up inside my sweatshirt while I was still in it. What a great way to roast marshmallows.

Yellowstone day 1

The middle of August we took a trip to Yellowstone with our frinds Corey and Sarah. It was pretty neat for me since I had gone there in 1989 right after the big fire and now 20 years later.
It was Dave's first time coming to the park. As we drove through the pay booth this was the look on his face. Almost better than his excitement for Christmas.

This is a picture of the 20 year growth. Naturally reseeded from the fire. Sorry it's hard to see. But you can see the trees that were burned and then the new ones growing at the bottom.

As we were making our way out to our campsite we saw what we thought was a bear. We pulled over and I got out to take the picture. Well, it wasn't a bear, just a bison.

We didnt' do a lot the first day we were there because of naps and other such things, but we had a good time at our camp taking walks in the meadow and things like that. More to come later.

First Day Happenings

Aug 25th was Danica's first day of Kindergarten. She was so excited!! Every morning after we got back from Yellostone (pics coming later) she would say "I start school on Monday" or "I can't wait for the day after tomorrow" Well here she is just before we walked out the door.

And there she is with her sister in front of the school after we picked her up.
She had a fabulous day and they got to play with popcorn. How fun is that.
I wanted to make this day super special for her and I hope I can do this for each of my kids. But we had a little 1st day party that night. I made this brownie cake for her while she was at school and when she got home she ran back outside and said "MOM! The toothfairy made me a cake!!"


She couldn't wait for it to be time to go to the park for her little party and this is a bit of what we did.

Of course they had to climb a tree.

and eat the cake


and play on the playground. We also had a picnic dinner.
Overall I think the day was a success.

Why do I love Dave?

I have the best husband in the whole world! While the girls and I were in Provo, he turned back in the girls library books and was able to pick out Danica's reward for acheiving her goal for summer reading. He picked out a Pretty Princess game. The girls love this game. And the best part is that Dave is not afraid to play it with them. He is always taking time to play with his little princess's and make them feel so special. He is the reason they are always smiling.


Here's to you Dave!! We love you Pretty Pretty Prince!

rentng frustration

Okay, so this blog is me venting because i have no one else to vent to since dave is at work.
What a mess! Our water heater stopped working on Wednesday. We call our maintenence man to come get someone out to look at it. No one shows.
We call again. Finally someone comes. He checks the propane tank, lights the pilot light and leaves.
Not even an hour later it's out again. But now it's the weekend and he's on vacation. We call the head guy again today and he says he's sending the gas people out to check everything. They show up and tell me our tank is completely empty. well, that tank has been on empty for a while, but when we got here they told me it was the other tank that was ours and it still has 15% in it. But the propane man says no - this is your tank. So for the last three months we have been here we have been checking the wrong tank to make sure it was still full.
Now we have a several major fees to pay because 1 - it's the weekend and the propane man isnt' supposed to be working 2 - it's an off day for our propane route, etc, etc, etc.
And here's the best part - we are only here for another 4 weeks.
Blaaaaahhhhh
so - you think gas is expensive - try propane. YIKES

It's an alien

Kids are such fun. I was making dinner. I don't even remember what day, but it was within the last month. The girls love helping squeeze limes or lemons. Today it was limes and then Whitney did this...

I showed Dave the pictures when he got home and he said "ouch" . I would think that limes juice in your eyes would hurt too, but it didn't seem to bother her.
What a cutie.

Happy Birthday Dave

We celebrated Dave's birthday a day early while in Provo. We all had a great time despite the accidents. Danica managed to eat the dirt and rocks by grandma's garden. How fun, but after kissing the band-aids and drawig smiley faces on them she seemed to be okay. She was just as excited to see her friends as Dave was.

Kids and Ice Cream. Need I say more?


Dave and his present. It would appear he liked it.
Friends and Family!



Whitney of course had a blast playing, but once the friends started going home she found something else to keep her occupied. I look over and she has the spoon to the Cool Whip but is digging it out with her other hand. Oh she is her father's daughter!!

school fashion show

We went school shopping while we were back in Provo. Danica is definately a girl. She would have bought the whole store if I would have let her. I think we are going to have to teach her about money really early on. She picked out some really cute clothes and she loves to show them off. As soon as Daddy got there she was modeling them for him. Here is a sampling.

A true model don't you think.


Whitney had to join in too.
We are almost ready for school. We have registration later this week, but now I have to figure out what to do about her hair. She goes back and forth between wanting to grow out her bangs and keep her bangs so any suggestions would be helpful. (she does have that nice wave and a curling iron isn't very helpful in straightening them)

Atomic Days

Arco has it city celebration in the middle of July to celebrate atomic power used for peace. Arco is famous for being the first city to be fully powered by nuclear energy. They celebrate with a three day festival.

Dave chillin' at the parade. The girls waiting for more candy get thrown out.
Danica loved watching the dunking booth and made several new friends. I even let them have a turn throwing balls at the target. She thought it was the best thing ever.

What would a festival be without snow cones?

Volley ball tournements. Dave's team had a lot of fun,

and we had fun watching them.


And what would a small town celebration be without a rodeo. I will admit I had never been to a rodeo before. Well, I suppose I wasn't missing much. (sorry to those of you who really enjoy them, but I wasn't that facinated). Danica did do some mutton bustin' and managed to break her shoe. After her ride she got back up with her dad and sister and said, "Whitney, you DON'T want to do that!" Later when we asked her if she like it she got this "ARE YOU CRAZY" look on her face and said NO. She did like the stick race though and I think we may have a future track star on her hands.