The Dalley Family

4th of July

2009-08-30T20:38:00.001-07:00

These are our pre-fire work sparklers, before little Stella had to head to bed. Since it gets dark at 10:00 in the summer.

Me and my Bros! Me, Chase, Marty, Nick

Morgan Tegan, Kenz, and Stella posing in their 4th of July colors.

The whole FAM! Chase, Cortney, Tegan, Nick, Abby, Brian, Me

Marty J, Mom, Dad

Morgan, Stella, Mckenzie

Mckenzie, Stella, and Morgan watching the parade in Melba.

We love to go to parades on the 4th. This time, we found one in the small little town of Melba. Love the small town celebrations.

Eagle Isand

2009-08-30T20:19:00.001-07:00

We discovered Eagle Island this summer. We went with my family for the day, and had a great time playing in the sand and swimming.

Morgan Dancin' In The Rain

2009-08-30T19:46:00.000-07:00

One rainy, summer day, Brian and I looked out the back door to find Morgan dancing away in the rain. We couldn't resist catching her on camera. She didn't seem to mind though.

Our Summer Craft Classes

2009-08-09T19:12:00.001-07:00

Instead of taking swimming lessons, tennis lessons, or art classes, the girls and I decided to teach some Summer Craft Classes this summer. So we planned all of the crafts that we wanted to do with the girls, and we made a flyer and got to work. We were pretty successful filling up our classes. As you can tell from our pictures, we had a lot of fun. Luckily I remembered to take pictures of some of the stuff we did.

The soft pretzels were so yummy, and so easy. Morgan and Kenzie sometimes make these all by themselves.

Candy cake decorating brought out some awesome creativity. They had just as much fun eating the candy though.

These are our totally cool tie dye T-shirts. The kids had a lot of fun with these.

The beads are always a hit. We always have plenty of them hanging around at our house.

These swim suit wraps were probably the most challenging, because they required some sewing. But, the girls LOVED these, they were fun.

Mckenzie's Piano Gig

2009-07-22T23:45:00.000-07:00

Mckenzie's piano teacher is always looking for new experiences for her piano students. This time it was playing in a piano restaurant down town. The students brought family to eat lunch whie they played, then they got to keep whatever tips they made while playing. It was a pretty cool experience. She loved it and she did great.

Taylor Swift Concert

2009-07-16T10:46:00.000-07:00

The girls meeting Taylor's mom.

End of the concert.

Mckenzie and Tristan doing the lip sync contest.

Morgan and Brooklyn doing the lip sync contest.

Yes, I'm a little behind on my blogging. This TAYLOR SWIFT concert was in May. We made it a GIRLY GIRl'S NIGHT! Our seats? Just medocre! But we were going to have fun anyway. After a few songs, a guy from the Idaho Center walked by and said Taylor was going to come and walk right down our isle. Was it true??? Was she really going to walk right past us? Well, if she was - we were ready!

Soon, another Idaho Center guy came to us with new tickets and said we had to move down to the floor by the stage. Well, we wanted to stay where Taylor was going to come right down our isle. But, we had to move down, along with the other rowes below us. We questioned the security people. They told us Taylor's mom was sitting right behind us now. So, we met her and she gave the girl's a guitar pick and a hug. Then, suddenly, Taylor was up singing in the crowd - RIGHT IN OUR ROW, that we got kicked out of. What's that all about? But, it all worked out. When she came down the stairs, she walked right by us and the girls got to touch her and say hi, and one of them got a hug.

Also, the girls did a little lip sync contest. Guess what! Morgan and Brooklyn were one of the winners from Idaho. Wish I could post the actual video. But, you can tell from their picture they did great. Kenzie and Tristan did great too, I can't believe they weren't one of the winners.

LAGOOOOOON!

2009-05-20T08:47:00.000-07:00

Mckenzie and Tristan on the Merry-Go-Round

Maddy, Julia, and morgan on the Merry-Go-Round

Mckenzie, Maddy, and Tristan riding over Lagoon.

Morgan and Julia riding over Lagoon, waving at everyone.

We went to LAGOON last weekend with Brian's family, and the Cureton's (they are sort of like out in-laws/friends/neighbors). Brian's sister, Lindsay was dancing in the clogging competition at Lagoon, so we wanted to see her dance, and of course ride all of the rides we possibly could in a day. It was perfectly warm, probably in the 80s, and not too big of lines. Probably because it is still May, school is not out yet. So, it was a great day! We had so much fun with our family and friends. I have to laugh though, because the pictures I have are all the calm, and wimpy rides that the kids went on. But, only because they are the only ones I could get a picture of them on. But, they are not wimpy when it comes to rides. They really went on every FAST, SCARY, HORRIFYING ride there was to ride. They even went on the ones I wouldn't dare go on. They are now big enough to do that, and it scares me to death to let them go, but they LOVE IT!!!!

Mckenzie's 11th Birthday!

2009-05-08T11:08:00.000-07:00

These are just a few of the Bottle Cap Necklaces we made at Kenzie's party.

Here are some of the girls from the b-day party. One of the car loads took off before I rememered to snap a picture of the girls. The bowling alley was nice enough to turn on the glow in the dark bowling for us crazy girls. We were the only ones there anyway.

Stella loved the had dryers on the bowling ball dispenser. She loved putting her face on it and making her hair blow.

We had a crazy bithday party for Mckenzie's 11th birthday. She turned 11 on April 24th. We went bowling, made bottle cap necklaces, and had a slumber party. Yes, a slumber party, and never again! The girls were well behaved for the most part. But slumber parties are crazy when you don't have a huge basement to banish them all to, so you don't have to hear them all night. Well, that's what we did in the 80's anyway.

Picture Day!

2009-05-08T10:50:00.000-07:00

Yes, picture day can be a little stressful. Today, the students had their class picture taken. Morgan was a little upset that her hair didn't turn out just right when I curled her hair, so she put her own twist on it with the barretts. When she saw that I was taking her picture on picture day, she hurried and found her smile.

Shoshone Falls

2009-05-08T10:20:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, we took a little Sunday road trip to see the Shoshone Falls. The Shoshone Falls are right by where my brother and his wife, Chase and Courtney live in Kimberly. So, we packed up the min van, Grandma and Grandpa and all, and took a trip to Kimberly. We picked up Chase, Courtney, and baby Tegan and went to see the falls. The line of cars was soooo backed up, that we parked our car in a church parking lot, and made the walk down the road into the area where the falls were. It was pretty fun!

We got Polk-A-Dotted!

2009-05-08T10:11:00.000-07:00

You know you're getting old when your daughter is getting polk-a-dotted by boys. You have to admit, polk-a-dots are a lot funner than toilet paper. But, the funnest part was when we CAUGHT them :)

Our New Friend

2009-05-08T08:48:00.000-07:00

Morgan wanted her very own bunny. So, we took her to D&B, and she bought him with her own money, he is a Lion Head (notice his main). These last two pictures is boots when we first got him, he was just a tiny little fur ball. He crawled right up on Brian's legs and snuggled in.

TWILIGHT FREAKS!

2009-04-03T18:32:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago when Twilight was released onto DVD, Mckenzie, Morgan, Tristan, and Mia all dressed up like teenagers (about 2 hours in the bathroom). Yes, they think they are about 16 years old, but I quickly remind them they are not. After primping, and dressing up, Brian took them all to Hastings for the midnight release of Twilight. When they got home, they watched it. So, as you can imagine, we were up LATE. Or should I say, until EARLY IN THE MORNING! I thought it was okay, but there is something about it that has sent them crazy. Mckenzie has read all 4 books now. She loves it.

Our Winter Break

2009-01-06T08:21:00.000-08:00

We thoroughly enjoyed our Winter Break. Brian and the girls had a 2 week break from work and school. We tried to enjoy our time doing fun stuff together during the break. I'm pretty proud. We got a lot of different activities into the time. Here our some of the highlights of our WINTER BREAK!

It's a little hard to tell where we are in these pictures, but we are at... The skating rink! One of our familie's favoite activities is going to the roller skating rink. Yes, I skated too, even though I'm not in any pictures. We had tons of fun, even though I came home with nice bruise on my rear!

Morgan is doing the roller skating limbo.

Mckenzie and Morgan made soft pretzels all by themselves, with NO help from mom. I have to say, they did pretty well, except I was cleaning up flour for the next few days. It was everywhere!

Santa brought our family a Wii for Christmas. Here we are on Christmas day trying to figure out all of the new and exciting games.

Our friends across the street, The Curetons, have 4-wheelers. So, one snowy Sunday, they got the 4-wheelers out and took the kids "hookie-bobbin" around and around the neighborhood. In this picture, Brian is driving, but he had his turn on the sled too.

The girls have had so much fun sledding. Here they are sledding down the hill in the common area behind our house. I love it when we have a WHITE CHRISTMAS!

Mckenzie's Poem

2008-12-06T15:44:00.000-08:00

One night, Brian and Mckenzie sat in the living room and had a little discussion about what bunnies do during the night. There is so much time during the night that they probably don't spend the whole time sleeping. What else could they do? (Keep in mind, this discussion was inspired by our little bunny Flip-Flop). During the day, we try to spend as much time as possible playing with our bunny and giving him time out of his bunny hutch, roaming and playing.

Shortly after this discussion of bunnies, Mckenzie disappeared into her room. A little while later she emerged with this little bunny poem in her hands. At school, Mckenzie entered it into the Reflections contest in the Literature category, and SHE WON!

Congratulations Kenz!

BUNNIES AT NIGHT

Bunnies are cute,
There's no fright about them.
But what do they do When night comes by them?

My dad says,
"They whip out their
Frying pans and stoves!"
"Ha Ha!" I laugh.
They don't have those!

But one night,
At three o'clock sharp,
I woke to the smell of
Vegetable soup and rolls.

I guess it's true that the
Little animals have
More to do
Than chew.

By Mckenzie Dalley

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-12-05T10:06:00.000-08:00

Just thought I would share our latest family photos, we took on Thanksgiving day. I love when my whole family is together. What a great day!

Mckenzie's Monster Concert

2008-11-25T11:05:00.000-08:00

Mckenzie recently played in her first Monster Concert. What is a Monster Concert? Well, we can now tell you. There are 10 pianos on the stage, each piano has a duet playing the same song at the same time. Which makes a total of 20 kids playing the same song at the same time. As long as everyone is together (and they were), it sounds pretty cool. The theme was a patriotic theme. So, she played Yankee Doodle Boy. You did a great job Mckenzie, we're proud of you!

Tea Time!

2008-11-25T10:32:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago, we got to have a fun little visit with my long lost friend Stephanie and her cute little girl, Jaidyn. They live in Florida and she hasn't been home to Boise for 4 years. So, we had a lot of catching up to do. So, why not have a tea party brunch. The little girlys had so much fun trying on hats, and drinking hot chocolate out of their tea cups.

Morgan's Baptism Day - November 1st

2008-11-04T21:08:00.000-08:00

Morgan on her baptism day. She kept saying, I'm so glad to be baptized, and we're proud of her for her decision to be baptized. She looked so beautiful, I can't believe my little girl is Eight!

Morgan and Daddy on her baptism day. Brian baptised Morgan, and confirmed her with an awesome confirmation blessing.

Morgan and Mom on her baptism day!

After the baptism, we chowed down on taco salads. It was great to have so many of our friends and family there. We had a ton of our family come from the Utah area and even from Eastern Idaho. Thanks evryone for being there for Morgan's special occasion.

Mckenzie and Aunt Abby played a primary song at Morgan's baptism. It was so cute, Mckenzie came up with the idea on her own that she wanted to play a song at her baptism. So, she got it all arranged with her piano teacher to learn a song. Then, she found out that our stake no longer allows people to participate in their families baptism program. They just ask random people to speak etc. So, her and Abby just played the song at the luncheon. They did a great job.

Halloween

2008-11-04T20:50:00.000-08:00

Morgan as SUPER GIRL! She plays the part pretty well.

Mckenzie as Nancy Drew (could ya tell?) She was so excited to play Nancy Drew. She came up with her costume, etc. She looks pretty close hu?

Moooo! We mean that in the nicest way possible Lins!

All of the cousins Trunk-Or-Treating!

Baby Tegan with Grandpa at the Trunk-Or-Treat.

Brian, and Lindsay at Trunk-Or-Treat!

Stella getting candy from Lindsay, the cow!

Cousins at the end of the Trunk-Or-Treat!

The Daddy DO!

2008-10-20T13:56:00.000-07:00

Daddy let us do his hair. What a HOOT!

Morgan's 8th Birthday!

2008-10-20T13:01:00.000-07:00

Morgan's birthday was so much fun! She wanted an ART PARTY. So, the kids painted their own picture on a canvas, and mom painted everyone's face. We had a ton of fun. Morgan got a Kareoke machine for her B-day! How fun was that! She sings Carrie Underwood, Hannah Montana, Grease, and High School Musical. Brian and I had so much fun singing Grease, we hardly gave her a turn. But, we won't expose you to that.

Me and Morggy

2008-09-28T20:39:00.000-07:00

I just love my little girls. Morgan wanted to snap this picture of us sitting on the couch. So we did one of those pictures of us holding the camera out in front of ourselves. My sweet little Morgan is turning EIGHT this week. I love this picutre of me and her. I wish my baby didn't have to grow up!

Meet The MONTANA Family!

2008-09-28T20:25:00.000-07:00

Yes, that is a Hannah Montana wig. Grandma bought the girls a Hannah Montana wig, and the girls talked us into trying it on. Please excuse the snarls though. I couldn't quit laughing, so I look really goofy. Even Brian had a little fun trying it on. He probably will die when he finds out it's on the blog. But, I couldn't resist. We all had a pretty good laugh.

Hagarman Fossil Beds

2008-09-28T20:20:00.000-07:00

Here we are in Hagarman Idaho. We went to Twin Falls for see Chase bless his baby. Mckenzie had learned about the Hagarman Fossil Beds in Fourth Grade. So, we took some time to stop and see. It was pretty cool! Here we are in front of the area where all of the Hararman horses were washed up by a flood a gazillion yars ago (or something like that). We also got to see part of the Oregon Trail and tell the kids a little bit about that. Good times!

Our Newest Family Member

2008-09-03T21:20:00.000-07:00

Our new baby cousin, Tegan. My brother Chase, and his wife Cortney had their first baby. IT'S A BOY! Last Saturday we got to meet him for the first time. He is darling, and the girls can't wait to babysit him!

First Day of School!

2008-09-03T21:17:00.000-07:00

Here they are the morning of their first day of school. Mckenzie in FIFTH grade, if you can believe it. Morgan in SECOND grade. I almost cried, my babies are growing up!

Is Mckenzie ready for school, or what!

2008-09-03T21:11:00.000-07:00

Mckenzie begged to buy school supplies the minute they arrived in stores over the summer. The other day, I had some EXTRA chores for Mckenzie to do, so she began the bargaining. She said, ok, I'll do the extra chores, if you let me look at my school supplies. So, I said "DEAL"! That's all it took, she just wanted to look at her supplies. She was so excited for school to start. So, I go in her room and this is what I found. School supplies EVERYWHERE, nicely organized. You can also kind of see in the corner, she has picked out the first three outfits she planned to where on the first few days of school. What a school girl!

Flower Girls

2008-08-25T19:43:00.000-07:00

One of the highlights of our summer was being flower girls in my cousin's wedding in May. It was in the Canyon by Salt Lake. It was beautiful!

Babysitting Cousin Stella for the Week!

2008-08-25T19:10:00.000-07:00

We took Stella to The Discovery Center. She got to pretend she was shopping in a real grocery store. It was perfect for her age. The shopping cart was little, and the check-out stand was just her height. It was fun stuff!

We had fun trying new hair styles on her every day. We even got her hair to go into french braids. She looked so cute!

We met Nick and Abby in Twin Falls to pick up Stella. This worked out well, because we got to go to the Twin Falls Open House.

We helped my mom babysit Stella for a week this summer, while Nick and Abby went on a trip. We had so much fun with her. She is the funnest two-year old I know. She's just like her dad, always wants to be part of the action. She is a really good sleeper and napper, but when she is awake - watch out! She's on the run and funnier than ever. She couldn't quite understand the concept of where her mom and dad were. She just did her thing, and once in a while she said "I can't find my mom", "I can't find my dad". She is pretty darn cute. We love her!

Backyard Camping

2008-08-22T19:21:00.000-07:00

CAMPING DALLEY STYLE... In the back yard. We have some good friends, The Larson Family that were coming to stay the night on their way through to Utah. When they called, they sprung the news that they had gone from 4 to 6 children since the last time we had seen them. They had accumulated 2 foster kids. So, we quickly came up with the plan to have the older kids sleep outside in the tent. Pretty good idea huh? The kids loved it so much, we had to keep the tent up for another sleep over with their girlfriends. So, they watched the Hannah Montana 3-D Concert out in the tent. The trend continued for a couple other evenings, with other friends. Mckenzie and Morgan even had a night out in the tent with daddy. Their just happened to be a Meteor Shower. So, daddy couldn't resist that invite. We stayed up late watching the falling stars, I didn't sleep out there the whole night, but the tent was right by my window. That counts doesn't it? We even did S'mores on the b-bq grill.

Our 4th of July Sun Valley Trip

2008-08-03T22:50:00.000-07:00

Strike a Pose

2008-07-06T23:01:00.000-07:00

Morgan, Julia, Kenzie, Maddy, Ike, and little Landon in the back!

PJ Party!

2008-07-06T22:57:00.000-07:00

Now This Family's Got Talent!

2008-07-06T22:55:00.000-07:00

Billee Dalley on Top. Kelli, Courtney, and Lindsay in the middle. Brian, Travis, Rich, and Brent on the bottom.

It's A Cousin Pyramid

2008-07-06T22:41:00.000-07:00

TaDaaaaaaaa! We recently went to Utah for a Dalley Family get-together. We just had fun hanging out and catching up. We did everything from swimming and B-BQing to making pyramids!

Birdie Funeral

2008-07-06T22:09:00.000-07:00

Here lies Henry and Lessa. The two little Red Robin baby birds that died on Great-Grandma's front lawn. It was a little birdie family tragedy. We stayed at Great-Grandma's house for a few nights on a recent trip to Utah for a wedding. One of the mornings, we woke up and a Robin nest had been torn out of the tree by a mag-pie. there were 3 birds lying on the grass. One was dead, one was struggling to live, the third was fine. We knew that we shouldn't touch the birds or the mom and dad would never come back for the one that was ok. So we watched out the window all morning. The daddy coaxed the one bird back into the bushes out of the sun, and into safety. The mommy sat next to the dead baby, and the one that was struggling. She was trying to get it up and going. But it just couldn't do it. Mommy sat by her two babies for a while. Morgan said she was crying. We gave it some time. Then, grandma took the kids out and they put the two dead birds in a little box. Grandma took them out to her bird cemetary and they burried the little fellas. Morgan, and her cousin, Riley named the birds Henry and Lessa. They made a little grave stone and said a little prayer for the birds.

Summer Art Class

2008-06-22T22:25:00.000-07:00

Morgan took a fun little art class this summer with her little friend Mauriella. They learned how to draw monsters. As you can tell she's pretty excited about her art work. She loved every bit of it.

13 Inches Baby!

2008-06-22T22:15:00.000-07:00

Yup! Mckenzie chopped 13 inches off the day after school got out. She was dying to try out short hair. Our friend and neighbor, Teresa cut it for her in a cute little A-line style where it's shorter in back. It's cute. But, I can't say I wanted her to do it. Brian has helped me realize that kids need to have some freedom of choice (within reason of course), and cutting her hair the way she wants is something she should be able to choose so she can have her own self expression. So, walla! Her hair grows super fast, so I just said "what the heck" let's try it! She wants to send it in to a place like locks of love.

Who's The Bookworm?

2008-06-19T22:37:00.000-07:00

Mckenzie is the little bookworm. Hmmmm, I wonder where she gets that! From her dad, of course! This is how I found her the other morning, and she seems to be making a habbit of it. She has to let her bunny run around outside every day for a while, so sometimes she likes to just chill while the bunny does its thing.

Morgan's Summer Activity

2008-06-19T22:34:00.000-07:00

One of Morgan's Summer activities is her new gymnastics class. She is such an active little girl, we figured gymnastics was perfect for her, so we're going to give it a whirl. So far so good. She is loving it!

Finally - The weather warms up!

2008-06-19T22:27:00.000-07:00

Boise was pretty cold for the first couple weeks of summer. Finally the last week or so, the kids were able to go out to swim. I think they live to go swimming. Mckenzie swims for about a half hour or so, but Morgan could go for hours!

COUSINS

2008-06-18T22:29:00.000-07:00

Mckenzie and Morgan now have FOUR cousins on the Dalley side. Mckenzie: top, Ike: top-right (Lindsay's son), Landon: right (Courtney's son), Maddy: bottom-right (Lindsay's daughter), Morgan: bottom-left, Julia: left (Lindsay's daughter. What a crew!

New Bunny

2008-05-15T10:16:00.001-07:00

Mckenzie bought a little baby bunny with her own birthday money. She was only 6 weeks when we got her. She named her Flip-Flop. Morgan loves the bunny just as much as Mckenzie. They are quickly learning the responsibility of taking care of a pet.