Our trip to CA, December 2008!

Halloween with the Givens!

Christopherson's Halloween party!

Our first annual Halloween kids party!

On Thursday, October 30th, we decided to host our first annual kids Halloween party. This party was especially for Kael this year, as we wanted him to be able to celebrate with his little buddies and not have to miss out on the Halloween festivities. It was a fun-filled evening that included games, prizes, YUMMY pizza and snacks, and even a dance competition to our favorite spooky tunes. We will definately be continuing the tradition in the years to come! :D

Below, we've posted pics and a video clip of the dance-off...

Our first annual Halloween kids party!

Kael loves Star Wars!

Kael has become obsessed with Star Wars. Not only does he he enjoy watching the movies and playing with his figurines, and has Star Wars underwear and Under-roos; he also loves to have light saber fights with Darth Vader, aka Dad.

Kael Jon Black Kindergarten picture and new glasses

Too much time on our hands? ;)

Okay...so we recently discovered a new website in which we were able to upload our faces onto a variety of hairstyles from different time periods. Not only did we get a good laugh, but were able to reminisce a little about some of our not so attractive hairstyles of the past. After wasting much time trying on new do's and then giving our friends and family new hairstyles, we decided that we needed to get off the computer and do something productive. Here's a link to the site and some pics we decided to share... careful though, it's addicting!

www.yearbookyourself.com

P.S. Doesn't Josh look a little like Peter Parker in the first one? ;)

Josh's school carnival

Tonight we picked up Kael's "bestest buddy" Ethan and headed off to Josh's school carnival. Excited about his costume, Kael insisted on wearing it to the event. Kael was dressed as Luke Skywalker and Ethan as a skeleton; however, they both turned into vampires after winning a pair of fangs. Among the many games, there was also yummy food, a dunk tank and jumpy houses. The boys both won trays of cupcakes in the cake walk, and ended up with a bunch of candy and other prizes. Karyn also did not leave empty handed, as she won her own tray of cupcakes from the cake walk and a 2-liter bottle of A &W rootbeer from the ring toss game. What a fun evening!

We are sealed for eternity!

Finally! :)

Surrounded by friends and family, we were sealed to one another for time and eternity on Saturday, September 20th at the Boise, Idaho LDS temple! Although there were some who could not make it, we were fortunate enough to have many of our closest friends and family members there to share this special day with us. The morning started out rainy and windy, however, the weather turned absolutely beautiful just in time for pictures. (As soon as our pictures had been taken, the wind and rain started up again...it was as if it had stopped, just for us)! We have been blessed in so many ways, and could not be happier! We want to give a special thanks to all of those that were able to come and be a part of this important day!

Check out our pictures...

Sealed for Eternity!

Sara Evans Concert!

Sara Evans concert!

On Friday, September 12th, we went to see Sara Evans play live in Nampa! In addition to getting to watch her perform, we were also able to see One Flew South and James Otto as opening acts. We had amazing seats, thanks to Aaron Christopherson, and were able to see every detail of these talented performers! Thanks again to Guy and Amy Givens for the tickets! We had such a blast! Check out the video and pics!

Kael started Kindergarten!

On Wednesday, August 20th, Kael started his first day of Kindergarten! He is adjusting well to his new classroom and is loving school so far. He loves to tell us about what he is learning, and sings us the new songs that he has learned. Being the social butterfly that he is, Kael is working hard on paying attention to the teacher during lesson time and staying in his seat. He is doing great and is improving every day! We can't believe how quickly our little boy is growing up and that he is already in school!

Going Western at the Western Idaho Fair!

While visiting the Western Idaho Fair on August 19th; we were able to go Western, thanks to our good friends, the Christophersons! Aaron and his helpers dressed us up and cowboy-ed us out...it was a lot of fun! Thanks again, guys!

Visit to the Schindlers and Lagoon!

For our last vacation of the summer, we decided to head up to Utah to visit the Schindlers and to go to Lagoon. We love road trips, and the weather was great, so the drive up wasn't bad. We had originally planned to go to the Lagoon on Friday, however, Kael got sick while we were standing in the ticket line. We ended up making our Lagoon trip on Saturday, and had a great time! The weather ended up being even better than the day before and we didn't have to wait too long in line for any of the rides. Our very first ride was Wicked...it was Kael's very first roller coaster ride, EVER! He insisted on riding it with the rest of us, and was very brave. He definately takes after his father with his love for roller coasters! Between the rides and the water park, we ended up being there for 10 hours. We had such a fun weekend with the Schindlers, and hope to make this trip a Summer tradition!

I'm graduating!

Two weeks ago Josh took his comprehensive exams for his Masters degree. This was his final exam to graduate from the program, so needless to say the pressure was on! The test had six essay questions, the first two were required and he was able to pick the last one. They were not able to use notes or resources of any kind. For the first question, he had to describe how he would design a district curriculum, the second question was how he would conduct a quantitative and qualitative project. He had to describe how he would gather the data, and what tools he would use to draw conclusion from the data gathered. Josh went into the test at 9:00am and four hours, and almost 15 pages later, he was finally finished! Yesterday he received his test scores in the mail and to our great joy, he passed! In the next few days, Josh will turn in his research paper and his degree will post in a few weeks after he finishes his last round of classes. It has been a long, tough 14 months, but it was well worth it! Josh has learned things that he will use the rest of his career and has made friends whom he will never forget.

One year, we made it!

On July 7th, Karyn and I celebrated our one year anniversary! We ate a piece of our wedding cake together and, surprisingly, it still tasted delicious! It’s hard to believe that at the end of March, we will have been together for three years. Time really does fly by when you’re happy! We feel truly blessed that Heavenly Father knew how perfect we would be for each other and brought us together.

Kael and Dad's hiking adventure!

Kael and I decided to go on a hike up a mountain in Caldwell, near the lake. After using all of our energy climbing up and down the hill, we decided to take a swim in Lake Lowell.

Guess who turned five!

Kael turned five years old on Friday, June 13th! A football birthday cake, jumpy house, and 20 plus pre-school aged kids made for quite an afternoon. Chelsea, Kael's cousin, was able to come over from Eastern Idaho to attend! It's hard to believe how fast Kael is growing up! It's a reminder to us how we need to cherish every moment with our little man.