Ok, for you men that are a little shy about "women" words I warn you to not read this post. If they don't bother you, read on! I've just been laughing this morning remembering how in high school, one of my good friends had a code word for tampons-they were called party favors. It was a good word, if you were in a public place, and needed to ask a friend for an emergency tampon, you would just ask her if she had any party favors. Now maybe people knew what we were talking about and maybe they didn't, but either way you felt a little less obvious and uncomfortable asking for a party favor. Well as of late my two youngest have discovered my stash of tampons in the bathroom cupboard and you know what? You would think they really were party favors. They have more fun opening them and popping those tampons up through the tube than just about anything I've seen them get there hands on. I don't love that they are wasting them, but it still cracks me up - other than I'm afraid there is going to be an untimely incident with one being opened and left in sight of front door company one day that I will miss!

Welcome new cousin baby Smith (we'll call him that 'cuz it's the only thing we can call him right now :) He made his appearance 4 days late (or maybe right on time-who knows what his schedule was) on October 13. He is a big boy weighing in at over 8 lbs and looks a lot like his daddy. He sure is a cutie and we're glad he made it here and that mom and baby are doing well. Congrats Quin and Natalie!!!

October 5, 2009

Good Morning Idaho!!!

September 29, 2009.

I just had to post these videos of my Genius child Kayson. They crack me up, but he definately is innovative. Sorry it is in two videos-it really isn't that long, Brylee just started pulling on the camera string at the end of the first video and so I had to stop and get her off to catch the second video. Kayson was pretty detrmined he was at this long enough for me to watch, then go find my camera, and then come and video tape the last of his efforts. Anyways, enjoy if you care to-I thought it was pretty funny.

September 21, 2009.

Since my birthday fell on a Monday this year, we decided the whole family would go on a 'birthday date' with me. We took the kids to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (which I thought was pretty funny-it did poop out a little on the last 15 minutes though). Then we went out for Mexican food. There is one Mexican restaurant in town that me and the kids like, but that Kade doesn't so I have to use my birthday to be able to go there. And it was GOOD!! We finished up with gifts back at the house, but had to wait until the next weekend for cake. Their just wasn't time to get one made today.

September 20, 2009.

While Kylie was visiting for the weekend, I asked her to take a family picture for us. It turned out pretty good.

Deidra, Kade

Kayson, Brancyn, Brylee, and Liberty

September 18, 2009

Today is the big homecoming parade and game. The second graders at Liberty's school are the lucky grade that get to dress up crazy and go to the parade to support the highschoolers. Liberty was all for painting her face and spray painting her hair, but we had to talk a little harder to get her to wear red tights under her cutoff shorts. In the end we talked her into it and she was way excited to dress up crazy like the highschoolers. And the parade was great. It is always fun and they give us more candy than any parade I've been to. It was only about a 20 min parade, but we came away with a grocery bag half full of candy!!! The kids were impressed:) My sisiter stopped in to visit tonight on her way to Washington so we didn't go to the game. Kade was keeping tabs on line though and it started to look close at the end so we walked over for just the last couple of minutes. In the time it took us to walk there, the other team had already scored again though, so when we got there, the game was basically over. Oh well, we'll get 'em next time!!

September 3, 2009

This week, my family came to visit and attend the Farley Family Reunion. They spent the first half of their visit at Michelene's, then we all went to the reunion for a night and then they spent a few nights at my house. While they were here, I set my little brother Cheston up with my neighbor's daughter. It was his first date. We had a game night with her one night so that they could get to know each other a little bit before the date. We probably scared her to death as we introduced her to the Farley's game of "Braclets". A silly game involving hiding a few braclets and a guard watching over them while the rest of the family tries to find them. It involves lots of running around, diving into hiding places, getting caught, and of course lots of laughing. It was so fun. I havent' played this since Liberty was a baby. We had about 20 people running through my house and everyone from 2 year olds to 50 year olds were in on the fun! It was a riot.

Kade and my Dad discussing the finer points of the game "Braclets". You can see that Kade is sweating to death. He was the one guard trying to catch all the rest of us.

The runion was also a lot of fun. We haven't done an overnighter since I was a kid. This year my Aunt Judy offered the use of her cabin to all of us so that we could get together a little longer. It was great. I really enjoyed visiting with cousins, aunts, and uncles that I really don't get much of a chance to see. Thanks Judy for all of your hard work!! On the way to the reunion, we got a phone call. It was Gillian telling us she had just had her baby. It was great timing because my parents were going home that way and were able to see their newest grandchild. I don't have any pics of that little guy yet.

Tressie and Grandma Farley (The Matriarch of the Farley Clan)

Judy set up crafts for the kids at the reunion

Bill and Judy's cabin.

August 26, 2009.

The first day of school. A much anticipated day at our house. The kids were up and ready to go(barely on time, it will take us a few days to get hang of the new schedule). I walked them to school and they were both of without a backward glance at me. It is sad to see them so grown up sometimes, but at the same time I am glad they are independent strong kids that aren't afraid of new things. Even though we just live around the corner from the school, the principal wanted Kayson to ride the bus home just so they wouldn't be worried about him . So Kayson get about a 60 second bus ride home each day. He was actually pretty excited that they pushed the bus issue because he thought he wasn't going to get to ride the bus. So first day a success!!!

Liberty and her posing (she told me the other day she was a proposer-I asked her why and she said 'cuz the always poses for pictures. Uh, I think that's a poser:)

Kayson looking sharp in his new school outfit of choice

Bye Mom!

The famous 60 second bus ride.

Ok, back to catching up.

August 22, 2009

Today we went boating with Grammy and Grampy. I have been part of this family for 10 years, and this is the first time I've seen the boat up and running. Everyone was excited to go take it out on the water. The plan was to head to Blackstail Resivoir, but when we got there, there was a big line (apparently we weren't the only ones trying to sneak in some boating time before school started). So, we decided to head over to Gem Lake and see if we could get in there. There was plenty of room for us as well as a nice beach area for the kids to play at. It was a fun afternoon. Everyone enjoyed a ride in the boat, many tried their hand at being pulled on the tube and everyone enjoyed a little sun. When Liberty and I had our turn on the tube, it started to lose air. We all but got pulled under as we tried our hardest to hang on. We got the attention of Grampy just in time for him to stop before we were tipped right over! Of course we had life jackets on, but I have to admit I still am a little nervous out in such deep water with my little ones:)

Brancyn enjoying some sand and surf time

Kade and Kayson having a turn on the tube

Deidra and Liberty's turn

Some cute beach babes.

Brylee, Alyssa, Halle, and Liberty

August 19-21, 2009.

We had plans to go to Bear Lake with Kade's family this weekend, but our reservations got messed up. So, we had to make other plans. We still wanted to go camping because we hadn't been this year and this was supposed to be our last hurrah before school started. We did some researching and decided that Scout Mountain outside of Pocatello, ID looked like a good place to camp. So off we went. We camped there Wednesday and Thursday night. We enjoyed some nice nature walks, playing in the creek, and of course good camp food. On Friday morning, we packed up and headed in to Pocatello. We spent the morning at the Museum of Natural History and then went to Ross park to meet up with cousins and go swimming. The pool was a hit. Liberty, Halle, and Alyssa spent all day in the lazy river while the rest of us bounced back and forth between the lazy river and the kiddie area. The kids had a good time and I'm glad we got one good camping trip in this summer before we had to send the kids off to school.

Kade, Brylee and Brancyn setting up camp. Brancyn's favorite tools were the ax and the roaster sticks-of course. He couldn't play with something safe like a flashlight.

Deidra trying to get the monster sleeping bags zipped together. It was worth it-Kade and I stayed plenty warm. Too bad the same can't be said for the kids. I couldn't keep them in their sleeping bags for anything.

Kade helped the kids build a dam in the creek. They thought that was great and enjoyed wading in the pool on the other side. When it was time to go, they broke the dam and watched the flood of water head down the hill. Adding water to a family outing always means success.

Kade, Deidra, Brancyn

Kayson, Brylee, and Liberty

at Scout Mountain overlook.

I forgot to add the funnest part of our camping trip. We had some fun nighttime visitors-skunks. We had to be in our bed by about 10 and pray that you didn't have to get up and use the restroom during the night. You could here them scurrying around our tent all night. The second night I wasn't so lucky. 3:00 a.m. rolled around and I just had to use the restroom. I woke Kade up and asked him if he'd come with me because I didn't have my contacts in and I didn't want to run into a skunk. He said he'd come, but then looked at his clock and said "It's 3:00 if they were out, they won't be anymore they'll be in bed" I asked if he was sure of that ( I wasn't convinced) He said he was so off I went to the bathroom by myself. On my way back I heard scurrying in the bushes off to my left, so I picked up the pace. When I got back to the tent Kade started laughing and asked what he'd told me. He was still half asleep and thought I was asking to go visit someone. He said the skunks were probably still out and I told him I thought so too. Less than a half hour later they were scurrying around our tent again. Whew, glad I made it through that one ok!

August 14, 2009.

We were looking for something fun to do today when I remembered it was the County Fair. We lived one block from the fair grounds in our last house, but somehow never made it to the fair. Now we've moved across town and we went-go figure. Anyways, the kids enjoyed looking at the animals, listening to the roosters crow, looking at art displays, and they all especially enjoyed their complimentary balloon! It was a fun afternoon. We'll have to put it on the list for next year. (Somehow I didn't get a picture of Brylee at the fair. I'm always missing one kid in the picture line-up:)

Liberty

Kayson

Brancyn

August 9, 2009.

Tonight we enjoyed a team b-b-q as well as some pretty heart wenching goodbyes. Our dancers were to load a bus the very next morning at six a.m. so this was it. When we started out on this whole adventure, we were warned that we would cry when our dancers left. I believed that we could become somewhat attached to them, but thought there was no way I was going to cry after having only know these guys for a week. Not to mention we couldn't understand them half of the time. But this was an amazing lesson in service to me. I learned more fully that when you serve others you love them. How else can you explain the fact that these two guys feel like family to us now? The kids stayed up with us until almost eleven this night. No one said much, we just sat there being together. Occassionaly one of them would lean over and hug one of the kids or pat them on the head. The kids went to bed crying as did Kade and I. I guess we were warned:) But, I would do it all again. We love you Yosuke and Yukinobu!!!!

Yosuke feeding Brancyn off of his own plate. If that isn't brotherly love!

Yuki and Brylee. With Yuki hear, it was like having and extra Grandpa around. He was so good with the kids and Brylee especially loved him.

Yosuke and Kade wearing their matching Wii pajamas. Yosuke bought these for Kade for his birhtday and then got a matching pair for himself.

Yosuke, Yuki, Kade

Libert, Deidra, Brancyn, Brylee, and Kayson

Yosuke says he wants to come back to the United States again and asked if he could stay with us when he comes to visit. We told him he was welcome anytime. I hope he really does come back . . . .

August 7 and 8.

These two night were the big performances in Rexburg. All of the dancers were amazing and we enjoyed seeing a bit of their culture. We took Liberty, Kayson, Grammy, and Grampy with us the first night and Brylee, Grammy, and Judy (Grammy's best friend) the second night. I wish I could have got better pictures, but sitting up in the stand with a little point and shoot camera just doesn't get any better than this.

August 8, 2009.

Today they had a gift exchange between the dance teams and the Chamber of Commerce as well as a dancers and host family picnic. The weather turned pretty chilly on us so they moved that 'picnic' to the Heart Auditorium. It was a fun day, but a little melancholy. We knew our time with our dancers was drawing to a close so it was a little sad.

Yosuke and Kayson

Yosuke, Brancyn, and Yuki. Everybody loved Brancyn from the Japanese team. I think he got enough cheek pinching and head rubbing to last anyone a lifetiem:)

Yosuke and Brylee

Kade and Brancyn. This week has thoroughly worn Brancyn out.

I didn't catch a picture of Liberty today, she was having too much fun running around.

August 7, 2009.

Kade and my brother-in-law Shaun took the guys fishing today. They had requested this activity, but it didn't prove to be as fun as they had hoped. They caught one small fish and a lot of mud and weeds. Oh well, it was still an experience!

Yukinobu

Yosuke

Oops. Rewind one day.

August 5, 2009.

Today we celebrated Kade's birthday. It is a historic year. He is now as old as his mother-he's 29!!!

Kade enjoyed a birthday dinner of Lasagna and Garlic Bread and finished off with carrot cake and ice cream. It was nice to have a little family down time during this busy week.

August 6, 2009.
Over the next couple of days, we didn't see a lot of our dancers. They had performances in Idaho Falls and Blackfoot. But, on Thursday I got to take the kids to Youth Culture Days. We got to go and meet dancers from the different country's and dance with them. We only signed up for two this year- The U.S. and Japan. I have no idea what happened to my U.S. pics, but here are a few pics of the kids having fun on the Japanese drums.

Here is our biggest kid, Kade, having fun with Kayson.

Deidra, Brancyn, Brylee, and Yuki.

Brancyn was having so much fun that we couldn't get him to be quiet during instruction time-he wanted to be banging on a drum if we tried to stop hime we got one big earful!

Liberty enjoying a turn on the drums.

August 3, 2009.
The street parade was a lot of fun. We got to see our dancers perform, Kade danced with the German dancers, and we even came back to check out the public street dance later that night.

This video clip is just a short bit of the number our team did at the street parade. They were amazing. I would have uploaded a longer video, but they were just too long. Hope you enjoy this short clip.

Man, I don't know what my problem is, but I just can't get excited about blogging lately. It feels like just another chore that I'm putting off. But, I've been putting it off too long, so I guess it's time to play catch up again.

August 3, 2009

Today is Kade's birthday, but because we have the dancers at our house, we decided that we would wait until Wednesday to celebrate. (The dancers would be off performin elsewhere that day-so we thought we could celebrate uniterrupted.) But, we found out that it was Yuki's daughters birthday as well and that she was in Rexburg with the team, so we called up the other host family and planned an impromptu birthday party anyway. We started off the morning with a fun bowling game. Yuki was amazing! He scored over 200 points! The rest of us at least broke 100:)

Yuki, Brancyn, and Yosuke High-fiving their amazing moves.

After bowling, we went to Wendy's for lunch. The honey b-b-q chicken was an instant hit with Yoskue. After lunch we met up with the other host family for a little miniature golf, arcade games, and laser tag.

Finally we wrapped it all up with gifts, icecream, and cake at our house. We finished all of the celebrating just in time to get the dancers to the street parade planned for that night.

Yuki with his family I believe it is Hazuki and Hukimo(but i'm not sure:)

August 2, 2009
Today we invited Yuki and Yosuke to go to church with us or told them they could stay home and rest while we went. They said they wanted to go, but we didn't know if they really understood us. As we walked into the church, they were looking around curiously, but still following us. We thought they were starting to look a little unsure so we told them they could go home, they jumped at the opportunity:) So we took them home. They spent the three hour block visiting with other team members that were staying nearby and shopping. That afternoon, one of the other host families offered to take our guys with them to Mesa Falls so they went site seeing again. And then later that evening we got together with two other host families from our ward to have a group dinner. Navajo tacos were being served and they were a total hit. They loved them. The lady making them had to make an extra batch of scones just for our guys:)

Yukinobu

Keisuke, Yousuke, and Shigeyuki

August 1, 2009

Our dancers showed up today. We got to have Yosuke (Yo Skay) Togami and Yukinobu (Yoo Key No Boo) at our house. They are from Japan. Their group had an awesome drum performance, it was supposed to be the martial arts of drumming and it was amazing. They had a totally synchronized drumming routine. Anyways, they showed up Saturday and we had about 3 hrs to feed them, get them settled, and entertain them before they had to go and rehearse for the Dance Festival opening cerimonies. They didn't speak very much English at all and we of course didn't speak Japanese, so there was a lot of charades going on all week, but everyone had a good sense of humor about it and we made it through even with a language barrier. The first day here, we took them to see the LDS Rexburg Temple and the gardens on the BYU-I campus. They seemed to enjoy that and the kids already started to bond with them as they offered piggy-back rides and wanted to take everyones picture:)

After showing the guys around town, we dropped them off to get ready for Opening Cerimonies. We took the kids to the show and we all had a good time. It was a little long for the little ones to sit, but overall they did great. And it was so fun to cheer for our guys, because they were already "our guys".

July 27, 2009.


This weekend Quin and Natalie (Kade's brother and his wife) came to visit. It was fun to see them and see the evidence that they are definately expecting:) I always forget to pull out my camera, so this is the only picture I got. I now Natalie wasn't super thrilled about this picture, but I have to put it on here for memories sake.

A baby shower was planned for Natalie for the following weekend, but we had our international dancers coming to visit and I couldn't attend her shower. So, I gave her some gifts today. It sounds like the shower was really nice though and I hope they were able to get some of the things they needed.

I have a lot of catching up to do on my blog, it is just too hard to keep up in the summer. Since there is so much, I'll just start with a few posts today and then hopefully some more over the weekend.

July 23, 2009

After Liberty got her cookbook for her birthday, she was of course rip roaring and ready to cook. So I let her try a breakfast the next day. She made 'shake 'em up scrambled egss'. She had to crack eggs, dice tomatoes, grate cheese, measure ingredients, cook on the stove top. and toast bread. I cracked one egg and diced up one slice of tomato for her, other than that she was on ther own . . . . and she did a great job! Her finished product even looked like the picture in the book. (I can't say that about my cooking most of the time:) She was so proud of herself. Way to go Liberty!