2011 Indoor Soccer Rocks!!!

(Emma : bottom row - far left)

Emma got to play indoor soccer for the first time this fall. I think I had just as much fun as she did! Indoor is so much more fast paced than outdoor, not to mention warm too. The girls sub on the fly and the ball cant go out, so play never stops unless you score (or foul someone). It was quite the adjustment coming from outdoor play were there is more time to rest and much slower paced. Emma love love loves playing goalie, and usually ends up playing almost half the game there. She killed it at the very last game of the season, by scoring two goals!!! That was defiantly ice cream worthy!

12-1-2010 THE ABOMINABLE SNOW DOG

Meet Paisley!
Our Wheaten Terrier, and newest member of the Doty family!

So back in September we got a dog. The girls have had so much fun running and playing with her. Well last night it dumped snow, and I mean dumped snow! School was closed, and we got to have a SNOW DAY for the first time in forever. The kids had a blast, and I'm kicking myself for not taking pics of them while I was out shoveling snow. But I just had to take a picture of Paisley after she was done playing outside. She was drowning in snowballs all stuck to her fir. She absolutely loves playing in the snow, and bounces around! Needles to say after a quick bath to melt the snow, she was all tuckered out!

JULY AT A GLANCE!

I figured I had better just do one big post for all the activities we did in July.

At the rate I'm posting I might never catch up otherwise.
JULY 18, 2010
We took the girls into the foothills for a little rock climbing. They had so much fun. It was more running around and climbing small rocks than actual rock climbing, but who's counting.We had our annual Simpson Family Reunion. Always fun. But I don't have any pictures. Weird! Guess its time to hunt down the reunion disc and see if there are any good ones of my kiddos.

JULY 20-25, 2010
Then the girls got to spend a week at Challenger Soccer Camp.
There coach was Stephen from England. Its a great program where the coaches get housed by different families here in town. If we ever have a the room to accommodate one of the coaches, we think it would be blast. The girls loved camp, and said that all they did was play games the whole time. Love it when coaches teach through play, rather then drill after drill. The kids learned a ton without realizing they were actually doing a set drill.
JULY 24, 2010
We gate crashed Aunt Amy's pool a few times too. That was a BLAST! Aspen got so much better at swimming this summer just from playing on the steps.
Emma loved the rope swing, and probably climbed higher than me on it. I just loved laying out getting PINK and watching the kids. I don't know why I bothered taking a book. They never let me read it anyways.Girl after my own heart.Sorry Kurt, but I just had to show just how much fun we had there!
Swimming is always funner with friends, and since Amy and kids were in McCall we brought Kurt, Carlee, and Kids. The littler kids need a little help getting the rope for the rope swing so UNCLE KURT TO THE RESCUE!

7-6-10 Summer is Finally Here

Summer Time

Well summer is finally here!
Just as soon as fireworks were over we were ready to play!
Jed and Maria invited everyone out to the lake for a little bbq and boating.
We had a blast!
The girls love surfing, and playing in the water.
Jed drove us over to this low bridge that we all took turns jumping off. Emma got right up there, and loved it. Aspen was a little more hesatant, and would only go it I took her. Whether I wanted to get wet or not! So, I had to step it up and go jump with her.
I was really proud of both of them!

7-3-10 FIREWORKS!!!

FIREWORKS!!!

For three years now, Clay and I have been selling fireworks in the summer.
For about 2 weeks from mid June till July 5th, we eat, breath, and sleep fireworks.
Its actually been pretty fun, but we are always ready to sleep in our own bed, have our kids back, and get away from all the dust and dirt when its done. The girls go to family's house for the whole time. They are not aloud to stay at the fireworks stand, but they love to visit, shop and run around. This summer we decided to have a little sleepover / fireworks show with the girls before it got to crazy. It also lets us light off a few fireworks so we know how to describe them, and see a few of our favorites. Who knows how long we will keep selling, but so far its well worth it! So look for us next summer.

6-17-10 Playing Dressup

One night the girls talked me into pulling out my container of keepsakes. They loved looking at my baby book, growth chart, books, ceramic hands and a few clothing items. I had two baby dresses. One in a 2T, and then this one in a 4T. Aspen loved trying it on. At least she did until I buttoned it up and it was pretty snug around her neck, and she's not use to that.

Its so fun to look back at the different styles. The big collar with all the lace cracks me up! :) I couldn't believe how short it was. I loved how poofy it was, but there is no way I could let the girls wear it out with out leggings or something. I cant handle it when the girls show there panties when they run are running around. Was it just fine for us to run around with our panties showing?


Emma got to try on my old Baptism dress. She will be baptized at the end of the year, and is so excited. I think she is the youngest in her church class and will be the last to be baptized. It will be fun to shop for a dress with her, and see what styles she likes. Funny how twenty years later the low band around the hips it totally in right now. :)

5-25-10 Aspen Preschool Graduation

Preschool was so fun this year. Aspen got to go with her cousin Tyler (Kurt & Carlee's oldest)

They went twice a week and usually ended up having a play date after.

Carlee and I took turns driving, so we only had to drive once a week.I was spoiled, and would usually end up kid-less for half a day or more. She loved it! And I loved it! It was so cute to see them come out with there paper graduation hats, and sing some songs.

May 9, 2010 MOTHERS DAY

So the night before mothers day as Clay and I are going to bed he looks at me and very smugly says:

"You are never going to be able to guess what I got you for Mothers Day!"The jerk, he had to say it right before we lay down to bed, so then I just lay there thinking about it. Took me forever to fall asleep. So the next morning as I'm sleeping in, (what moms are suppose to do on mothers day right?) I hear some thumping and bumping going on in the living room along with a whole lot of giggles. Curious, but not wanting to ruin any surprised, I stay in bed and "pretend" to sleep some more. Finally I get told that I can come out and what do I find?

A CANOE IN MY LIVING ROOM!!!

Really wish I had gotten a picture of that. It barely fit.
Apparently Clay was driving home and saw a free sign stuck to it. Needless to say, there was no way I would have guessed a canoe for Mother's Day! We still don't know if it even floats, because the lake we went to had been drained for work to make a white water park. Girls were a little bummed. We still haven't taken out the canoe, but really, who else can say they got a canoe for mothers day? and a free one at that? :)

5-31-10 Dryers are over rated!

Forget Playing in the dryer. There over rated!Aspen was helping me change the wash, and it led to this!

Its a little crazy when your 4 year old can fit into the washer.

May 2010 Emma's Soccer Game

Emma has been playing soccer for a while now, and starting to really get a hang of it! She loves all the positions, and usually ends up playing goalie every game too.She has one heck of a cheerleader too. Aspen has been a really good sport coming to all the practices and games, but she is itching to start playing herself.

May 2010 Aspen Swim lessons

SWIM LESSONS 101

We joined the YMCA early this spring so figured it would be smart to take advantage of the cheaper priced swimming lessons. Especially for Aspen who broke her collar bone just before she was suppose to start her lessons last summer. So being a girl who loves the water, but had no formal training it was good. Not Great, but good. She actually ended up teaching herself a whole lot more than she learned in the lessons just by spending a lot of time in Aunt Amy's pool this summer.:) THANKS AUNT AMY!!!

5-4-10 Emma Hair Cut

I know I said later that summer, well later turned out to be May. :)
Emma had been begging to get her hair cut for a while, and me being smart tried to push it off by saying if she wanted a hair cut she would have to pay for it herself.

Yeah that backfired!!! A week later and a really really helpful child and I were headed to the salon. She knew exactly what she wanted and hasn't looked back since.

4-20-10 Avery's B-day Party

So wayyyy back in April the girls got to go to there cousin Avery's 8th b-day party! It was a super cute, super girly party! My sis-in-law asked everyone to come wearing jeans and a white tee, and the pictures turned out super cute because of it!

(Can you find Emma and Aspen?)
They got to do tons of fun stuff!I was in charge of the bath-salts station.

The girls got to measure, pour, and mix all the different ingredients.
There was a spot for decorating a monster cupcake!
Take a look at Emma's hair! She cut is this summer. Its cute short, but I might have to blow up this picture to show her how cute her long hair was! I miss the long hair!They also got to paint there own letter (first letter to each of there names). then pick a cute paper to mod-podge on top. If you look really close you will see Aspen in there.

And of course they did presents and pinata. This is Avery opening the outfit that my girls gave her! The Skirt is one of three that my amazing mom and sister made for me (because I'm sewing impaired, and kind of like it that way)
I ended up getting them all the same shirts to go with it. I did help make the cute flowers that go in there hair. That's the blue flower on top of the brown. The brown one you can kind of see is a big brown tulle flower, with a teal button in the center that was made to tie onto the basket of the bike she got from her parents for her b-day! Mom made that too. It turned out awesome!!!

Later in the summer Emma got to go to another crafty party when cousin Mckayla turned 8. They made there own trifle, bracelets, and personalized necklaces. Wish I had some pics of that one.

September 1, 2010

Hello again!
Its been a really really long time!
Time for a little catching up to do huh!
I know your all so excited to hear all about our spring and summer!
I figure its my turn to try one of these wellness challenges.
But I'm making my own to fit me.
I can't go cold turkey from soda, sweets, and my chips. so I'm going to try pacing myself.
Here goes nothing!

Kristen's much needed wellness challenge!

* Get up at 7AM!!!!! (if you know me, you know how hard this will be)
* Drink 8 glasses of WATER (shouldn't be a problem if i actually exercise)
* 1 soda per day (not the 3-4 i have been)
* NO CHIPS!!! (think i just have to go cold turkey on this one, we'll see how it goes)
* exercise 45 min daily
* Sit ups / palates daily (time to dust off those palates DVD)
* No eating after 8pm
* Blog Daily / Weekly (or scrapbook! need to start 2010!!!)

I figure I will start this today Sep. 1st, and go till the end of the month and see how it goes. Course since I just decide to do this at 11 at night, my first day didn't start to well. I think the only things I did do are the sit ups, and the blogging. Ha ha!!!
Any one have any good ideas on how to track this thing?
Want to join me?
I could use the help!!!

Just a little blast from the past!

4-2-10 Last Day Of Skiing!!!

We had a great ski season!

Every year we try to get the whole Simpson Clan up to the mountain to: play, eat and ski!
This year we had just about everyone make it! It was a blast!
Tyler and Aspen on the Bunny hill - After the Hi'five, Aspen wouldn't look at the camera because she knew I was recording. The stinker!Aspen - Tyler - Aunt Carlee - Uncle Kurt
Uncle Kurt with Jake the Grouch
(actually he was loving it, and would get so mad anytime they went inside)The human rope tow!
Aspen and I
(we do a lot of this! :)

Most these pics are of Aspen. Sorry Emma - you were off skiing with cousins and I had to steal this pic from someone else, so you would make it into this post!Last video, I promise, but I just have to put it in.
The 4 five/four year olds (Carter, Tyler, Stella, and Aspen)
They were skiing down this little hill, taking there skis off (all by them selves) and hiking back up to do it again. Aspen just had to do what the others were doing. So off she goes. When she got to the end this is how she decided to get her ski's off. After the first time I was bummed I hadn't got a movie of it. Lucky she did it one more time before realizing there was a much easier way and she didn't do it again!
ENJOY!!!