Megan and Brooklyn's Brave Adventure!

Saturday we had the big excursion to the mall to get Megan and Brooklyn's ears pierced. They have been asking for several weeks and Heather and I finally agreed to indulge them.

Brooklyn, unfortunately, cut her own hair into a Billy Ray Cyrus Mullet the night before during her sleep over at my house. So, she also conned her Mom into buying her one of those curly two toned hair pieces that you clip onto the back of your hair. She calls it her "Hannah Montana" hair.

Anyway, the girls were all for it when they picked out their beautiful pair of shiny studs, Brooklyn picked sapphires and Megan diamonds. Brooklyn got to go first. Her cute little face went from curious, to nervous, to "OUCH" to big crocodile tears. Even the lollipop given by the lady doing the piercing didn't help too much to detract her from the pain of the second hole, but she managed to get through it, and ten minutes later, she was proudly posing once again.
Megan also didn't make it through the ordeal without crying some big tears of her own, the picture of her looking at them in the mirror at the back of the store is my most favorite!

Connor's Scout Troop wins First Aid Competition

Check out this newspaper article from the Rock Springs Rocket Miner featuring Connor's scout troop:

Caption under picture reads: LEARNING FIRST AID--Boy Scouts Josh Rawson, Ty Rawson, Colton Burnham, kneeling from left, treat victims, lying from left, Austin Cheney and Connor Eickbush for multiple injuries at the Castle Rock Medical Center in Green River. These Scouts, from Troops 55 and 5, took first place in the competition.

Article follows:
--Rock Springs
Boy Scouts from Green River and Rock Springs met March 1 at the Castle Rock Medical Center for their annual first aid competition, the Pilot Butte District First Aid O'ree. The event chairman was Dr. Steve Sloan. Assisting him were Castle Rock Ambulance Employees and Boy Scout leaders.
The event began with a first aid game hosted by the ambulance employees. Then the troops were given four scenarios to act out. Judges gave points to the troops based on their responses. A combined group of boys from Rock Springs Troops 55 and 5, accompanied by Vera Trefethen and Melanie Eickbush took first place. Troop 312 of Green River, led by John Fuller, placed second, and Troops 98 and 86 of Rock Springs, accompanied by leaders Dennis Hungerford and Kelly Rasmussen took third. Also attending was Green River Boy Scout Troop 915, led by Rusty Bales and Gary Pope.
The next district Boy Scout event will be the spring Camporee in June.

Connor is the one laying down in the picture, it was a fun day, and as always, Connor likes to win!

Dave turns 38!

We had a birthday party for Dave on Sunday night. Pat, Heather and kids joined us for dinner, birthday cake & peach pie. The kid's trick candles were extinguished quickly with Dad's fingers, much to Jordan's chagrin.

The Tour

This is for all the women who care about the inside of my house enough to ask for pictures! I am happy with the progress we've made and am enjoying living here. This is a great house! Here's the dining room, my big splurge was this new pub table with 8 chairs that we bought with our tax return:

The kitchen is small as far as floor space, but has tons of cupboards and I even have some empty ones! It's recently been updated with slate floor and this tumbled rock back-splash:











Downstairs family room, this couch looks like a big brown monstrosity but the picture doesn't do it justice - this is the most comfortable couch in the history of the world!

We have lots of projects in the works, and are going to paint and personalize the house more so stay tuned to see our progress!

9 to 5

When I said we were embarking on a "new" year, I really meant it. Going back to the office (I refuse to say "back to work" because of the obvious falsehood of that statement -- working outside the house is much less "work" if you ask me) after 14 years of being a "stay-at-home" Mom, has been an adjustment. It hasn't been too hard on me but the kids are still reeling in shock.

I have enjoyed getting up and going to work each morning at Jackman Construction, working with my new "boss" (a.k.a. my little sister, Heather) and earning a pay check for my "work" has been a nice change.

Kyle goes with me and has a little play room upstairs with toys, games and movies to keep him busy. He also "helps" because his duty is to run the shredder which absolutely delights him to no end. The big smile on his face whenever he sees that there is a pile of paper next to the shredder just cracks me up!
The older kids are slowly getting used to the fact that I'm not at their beck and call and they have an hour and a half after school before I get home in the afternoon to do all their homework and chores (right!). I have Thursday afternoons off each week, so I can do some errands or go to appointments that have to be during business hours. All in all, it's working out quite well, and has been a good change for me, plus has thrust me into meeting new people in our new hometown.

Here I am with my valentine's balloon bouquet from Heather -- Kyle was the photographer-- explaining the angle of the picture!