The Moment I ALWAYS knew would happen.

Did I catch your attention! We usually have been torn between the two families, on where to eat Thanksgiving dinner.It always seems like my family and Brian's family want us to come and eat at their house at the exact same time. Brian refuses to break the day up, he likes to stay put. For the record we have had Thanksgiving dinner at my family's house I think two times in seven years. I don't really care as long as I'm getting the turkey, who cares where it's coming from!
This year will be different. Brian's family is all going out of town and coinincidently my family is going out of town as well.
For some unknown reason, I have always known that I would have to cook Thanksgiving dinner... by myself!!! I have feared this moment ever since I was 16 or so. Isn't that weird!! I guess it probably stems from the fact that I am not a cook. It has been an ongoing battle. I'm happy to report I feel more prepared than i thought i would be, after a nice rundown from my sis in law.. who is an excellent cook and some help from food network I think it will turn out nice....hopefully.

My Princess Gisele is 1

My poor little baby! She did not have a very good Birthday. First of all her B-day was on Sunday..defineatly not my favorite day to have a B-day, even if she is 1.The day started out with a baby blessing that we attended at 10:00, which for her is right in the middle of nap time. She was a zombie by the time it was over. After her nap was over. I picked her up and I could feel that there was a significant amount of heat radiating from her head. I grabbed the thermoniter and low and behold she had a temp of 102.5. I have never had a child with that high of a temp. I ran her to instacare where she indefineatly had an ear infection.Even the doc. said "she's is very miserable". I took her home, called my family and told them the party that I had planned was cancelled.She moaned and groaned until she went to bed at 7:00,all through the night she woke up every 4 hours for some more tylenol. I feel like I am still making up for the lack of sleep that I have not acqured from last week. But the good news is, is she is feeling lots better.:) We had her party the following sunday and it was a blast.

Hips Don't Lie

We had our neighborhood Halloween party on Saturday, and enjoyed the magic of the amazing Keith Huber. Eesti really enjoyed his grand finale. Freaking hilarious!!

I guess for chirstmas all she needs is a pole and we'll call it good.

Happy Birthday!!

My how time flies!!! October 13, was my Eesti-Mae's fourth birthday. Crazy to think I have a four year old. We had a great time riding the carriage at Gardner Village, and then spending time with the family.

Proud to be a Mother and Proud of my Girls

I have a confession to post... I am a huge slacker and have decided to take it upon myself to delegate the "blogging" to Brian. I thought he would find it quite amusing, but only to discover he wants a little more input from me. Apparently he doesn't have enough to say.So Here I am posting for I think this will top me out to number 2.
Can I just say I love having an almost 4 year old. Life is so much more exciting. Even though it is fun to go through all the infant stages as well. Don't get me wrong. It was fun seeing Eesti eat solids for the first time and taking her first steps. We are actually going through the walking phase with Gisele and it is exillerating.
Eesti is growing up too fast. She is so mature for her age. I was never like this, so for me, watching her reaction in different atmospheres takes me back to that era in a different light...completely. For example. If I say to not do something, that's all it takes, she listens and she just does as I ask. Her primary leader is so proud of her. She has to tell me everytime she sees me what a good girl Eesti is in primary and I have to say I agree. Even though I'm not there to witness it, it doesn't surprise me in the least. There will be times where she has her 4 year old melt downs, but what 4 year old doesn't.
Eesti was invited to TWO Birthday parties on Saturday. One was for our good friends the McCleary's.Their daughter (Katrina) is two weeks older than Eesti. She turned 4.This party was from 3:00-4:00. She had a really good time. I would have to say her favorite part was the pianta. She was the only one that was able to hit it hard enough to let some of the candy out.I was so proud of her. Maddison who is 9 finished it off. Gathering up the candy was also the best part and as you can see from the pics. Gisele had a good time too, gathering up the candy as well. It is so funny that she knows exactly what candy is and she's not even a year yet. After this joyous occasion, we had to book it out of there to get up to Jungle Jim's where the next party was being held. Our neighbors' little girl (Katelyn) was turning 2. She has an older brother (Ben) who is 5 almost 6. Eesti and Ben play almost everyday at 4:00 when he gets home from kindergarten. They play so well together. They have such immaginations. We had to be an hour late, because both of the parties started at 3:00. Luckily, Jungle Jim's takes a little bit longer to get through. The girls had a very joyous occasion. I guess we are going to have to pay another visit for Gisele when she turns 2. I put her on the carosel and she was enthused. Luckily we still have one more year of not having to do a party. I like to go to them. Hosting them is another story. All in all we have so much fun together I never want this lifestyle to end. I can't wait for Eesti's Birthday. I don't think we are going to do a party, she doesn't seem to care. I don't think I will be so lucky next year though. We will still do something fun, just knowing there is not going to be any stress gets an A for approval in my book. Yeah!

Fat A

My neighbor Jeff convinced me to start working out with him. Unbeknownst to me, I agreed. It is called P90X, and it is a killer. Michelle thinks it is great, because I have "a little bit of a weight problem." They, Jeff and Michelle , are slowly trying to kill me, and at the moment they are succeeding. It has been a few weeks, and I am still waiting to see results. All I know is that right now I HURT everyday, and want the pain to be over!!! I guess that I just need to deal with it. Thank goodness Jeff is there, or else I would have been done with it after Day 1.

She is growing up

My little girl is growing up too fast! She has started pre-school. I was a total wreck after I dropped her off at Challenger. I am suprised I made it home without any incident, I was crying so bad. I am happy for my Eesti-mae though, she has been looking forward to school for over a year now.

7 Years

Better late than never. 11 days ago was Michelle and I's 7 year anniversary. CRAZY!! I cannot believe she has put up with me for that long. Every year, things just keep getting better and better.

Mich, you are the greatest wife, mother, friend, partner, and eternal companion I could ask for. I love ya.

Melissa and Dan

August 2, 2008 was a great day for us. We had the joy of celebrating my cousins wedding. She looked beautiful. There is nothing like spending the day in the shadow of the Salt Lake Temple. Melissa and her husband, Dan, have a rather interesting background. Melissa, graduated from Duke, (I couldn't tell you in what) served a mission in Barcelona Spain, came home and went to University of Maryland. Talk about a brainiac. Dan, is an interesting guy. All I know is that he works for the Secret Service, guarding Pres. Bush. He even had his gun on him at his wedding reception! My Aunt Stephanie took a picture of it. Anyway, the ceremony was short and sweet. We all felt the spirit very strongly as we sat in the sealing room in the temple. It was fun to see all my family, they all live out of state.

Barbie Girl

When I was on my mission in Latvia in 1997, there was a discotheque next door to the Zone office, and all we heard at district meetings was techno music. While I was there, this song Barbie Girl by Aqua came out and they played it over and over. (If you don't know the song, it is the first one on our play list.) They played it so much, that the all of us missionaries could sing it word for word. Just sad. Needless to say, I hated the song Barbie Girl while I was there.

Fast Forward 10 Years

Barbie Girl is still a part of my every day life. It is Eesti-Mae's favorite song. KILL ME NOW!!! All she ever wants to listen to is this "fabulous" song. To top it all off, she walks around the house singing it. Yes, she knows every word. What a great song for a 4 year old to know. I am a failure for a parent.

Code for: I need a Pet

"Daddy? DADDY? Where are you? Hurry, I gotta show you sumpin!" Was all I heard at 7 o'clock this morning. About 30 seconds later I felt a finger poking me in the back.

"Daddy, hurry I gotta show you sumpin." As I opened my eyes, I was meet by Eesti's blue eyes and a smile. She started to tug at my arm, and it was only then that I realized that she really was in a hurry. As I got out of bed, she quickly grabbed my hand and lead me downstairs to the kitchen. All the bad things that could happen started racing through my mind. She let go of my hand, ran over to the table and pointed at a large mixing bowl sitting on it. Thank goodness nothing bad had happened.

"What Eesti, I'm tired." was all I could muster out. With a big grin on her face she said,

"Look at my ants! Aren't they beeeautiful?" Ants? What the hell is she talking about? As I got closer to the bowl, I noticed that inside the bowl were some rocks, potato chips, and ANTS.

"See daddy, my ants. An I give them some chippies to eat." I stood there laughing to myself, and then she picked up a blue plastic lid and slammed it on top of the bowl with a boom.

"An now they no can get away!" she said triumphantly. Without knowing what to say, I told her to go and show her mother. She picked up the bowl and headed back upstairs looking for Michelle.

"Mommy, I gotta show you sumpin." she shouted, as she stomped up the stairs.

I guess that it is time to get Eesti a pet. Ants just don't do it for me.

Blind, Deaf, and just a Mess

For those of you that don't know my dad, he is the best. At the age of 70, he still does his best to be one of the boy's, throwing batting practice to my baseball team, helps my brother and I coach football, and he still attempts to play in the ward softball tournament, even though he is at least 25 years older than anyone else on the field. The only thing that really shows his age is his driving ability. He is all over the road. It isn't "Life in the fast lane", it is "Life in EVERY LANE." My brother and I have nick named him the "Bird Man" because we get the finger all the time while driving around town.

2008 however, has been a rough year for him. To start the year off he had retina surgery to fix a detached retina. After that surgery he had to have cataract surgery as a result of the retina surgery. So now he is kinda blind in one eye. Which makes the driving experience even more interesting. A few months later, he had a hip replacement, and was out of it for 6 weeks. And today, he has once again gone under the knife to repair some pinched nerves in his back, and the doc says this one will keep him out for another 6 to 8 weeks. To finish it all of, he is also 80 percent deaf in his left ear. I DON'T WANT TO GET OLD!!!!

Now for all of you that want to feel sorry for him, DON'T. There is only one reason he has subjected himself to all of this, so he can play GOLF. It is not for his health, nor his family, just golf. We don't mind him playing golf, we just hope that eventually he will let us drive, although the day would be a little less interesting if that happened.

July 24

Pioneer Day was quite the day for us this year. To start the day off, I woke up a 6 to put out flags with our scout troop. I was exhausted, due to the fact that I had stayed up until 1 playing Guitar Hero. When I got home, Michelle and I watched the 24th of July Day Parade, and to top the day off we, along with our good friends the McClearys, decided to go to 'This Is the Place Heritage Park.' The park has a petting zoo area where the kids were able to see some sheep, baby goats, rabbits, cows, and Eesti even pet a snake. Around 1 o'clock, it was too hot to keep wandering around, so we went and got ice cream at the old fashion ice cream parlor in the park. After that, it was defiantly time to go, the kids were hot, tired and ready to go home. I think Michelle was on the verge of going insane trying to deal with a hot and tired Eesti.

After a much "heated" debate about what to do for the rest of the day, swimming was the only thing that made sense. We gave the kids a brief nap and headed off to the Kearn's Aquatic Center. It was a great way to end the day.

Hogle Zoo

The other day, my kids were driving me nuts, so I decided to go to the zoo. Even though Brian and I had already been there this summer, it was all that I could come up with to keep my sanity. I called my Mom and Grandma and off we went to Hogle Zoo. It was a blast. Eesti and Gisele were such angels, and loved every minute they spent with Monka and GG. Eesti's favorite part was the giant elephant that blows water out of its trunk. Gisele loved the bears and just being with her sister. We had a great time.

The Cabin

This year for the Fourth of July, we made our annual pilgrimage to West Yellowstone, MT. We have a little cabin just outside of town on Hebgen Lake, and it is awesome. Beach front property, world class fishing, minutes from Yellowstone National Park, and all the 4 wheeler trails you could want; perfect. The cabin has been in the family since the 40's, so for the Fogg's, and the extended family, this place represents most of our summer vacation memories. The greatest part about the cabin is now we get to pass it on to Eesti and Gisele.
The Fourth was awesome. We all climbed in the boat's, and headed down to the dam for the best fireworks display we have ever seen. Stadium of Fire is nothing compared to watching fireworks from the boat, coming over the lake, with the Montana mountains in the background. Even little Gisele was enamored by the fireworks. The rest of the week was spent water skiing, playing in Hebgen, and visiting Yellowstone.

Our Kids

Eesti-Mae: Princess

Yes she is definitely our little princess in deed. She is currently 3 1/2 but that is about to change when she turns 4 in Oct. Right now, dance is her favorite pass time. She just had her dance recital and it was a riot. They "danced" to the song "A Few of My Favorite Things" and there was a lot more singing then there was dancing.

We can't wait for August, because Eesti will start pre-school. She has been asking us if she could go to school since she was able to speak. School will also be a great place for her to make new friends. She loves the friends she has around the neighborhood, but when they can't play, she begs us to take her to McDonald's so she can play with the kids on the play land. If that isn't good enough the only other thing she loves to do is go to Gardner Village and ride the pony Queen. Maybe one of these days we will have to invest in a real horse. Great, more money. That is all we need.

Gisele-Marie: The little Peanut

Even though she is only 8 months old, Gisele has quite the personality. All you have to do is look at her and she will give you a big smile. As long as she is being held, she is the happiest baby in the world. She loves her big sister Eesti, who ironically is the only person who can get her to laugh. In comparing the two, Gisele is SO much easier than Eesti ever was. The greatest sound in our house is her constant gibber-jabbering. She is finally mobile, so everything in the house has to be barricaded so she can't destroy it. She hasn't quite got the crawling thing down, so she scoots around on her back, and then whines when she wants us to sit her up. Hopefully she will start to crawl here soon, she is developing quite the bald spot on the back of her head. We can't wait to see what is in store for us with the little peanut.

Here we go...

Wow, we are offically part of the blogging world. After we realized that a ton of people we know have one of these things, we decided to create our own. Not really sure why though, our lives are not that interesting. Oh well, we are excited about it, and hope that who ever finds this blog will enjoy it.