Hair . . . who needs it anyway!?!

For the last two years, Kali has been growing out her hair so that one day she could donate it to Locks of Love - an organization that makes wigs for little girls who have lost their hair for different reasons. I was so proud of her for making this decision on her own. It took a lot of courage to cut it!

Before:

Look how long it has grown! :)After:
She looks so cute! But it took a lot of convincing and many tears for her to decide that it was worth it! She misses her long hair. It isn't even long enough for a pony tail right now but some little girl will have a big smile when she gets to wear Kali's beautiful hair on her head! I am so proud of Kali's unselfishness. She is such a great daughter and I am honored to be her mom!

Now, Kali, tell us how you really feel about your haircut!!

This picture is more true than anyone knows! :)
It has taken 5 days for her to even wear it down and show how cute it is! I really love this girl!!!

American Heritage - New York

New York is going to have to be two blogs. There are just too many pictures and too many amazing things to see and do there. I really loved New York. The history was fascinating in Washington DC and Boston but there is something really cool about New York.

This picture is from the top of the Empire state building. It was freezing cold that morning and the wind was blowing like crazy but the view was absolutely amazing. Kali has a fear of heights so she tried to stay as far away from the edge as possible but I think that she really enjoyed the view as well.

This was the view of the New York skyline.
Battery Park is located by Wall Street and is the place that you board the ferry to get to Liberty Island and Ellis Island. The girls just could not pass up a photo with Lady Liberty.

This is Cental Park. I would have loved to have my running clothes to take a jog through the park but instead we settled on a picture on top of the Alice in Wonderland Statue. You can not even tell what the kids are sitting on because they have covered it completely. We found the Central Park Zoo, police mounted on horses, and lots and lots of people roaming through the park. Pretty cool.
My favorite part of New York was definitely the Broadway production of Wicked. I told Rob that we need to schedule or next get away to New York so he could take me to some shows and I would take him to some baseball games. Oh such a sacrifice for me - since I love both!!

American Heritage - Washington DC

Kali and I spent 9 days back east for an American Heritage tour. Our days were jam packed with museums, tours, broadway productions, and very little sleep. We had a great time and saw more things and experienced more sights than most people do in a lifetime. We feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to see a part of our country where so much history took place. I will break this blog into parts so that you can see a few things that we experienced.

We woke up bright and early on Friday March 19 to catch the bus at 1:00am here in town. We flew out of out of Salt Lake at 5:00am. It is a good sign that we are still smiling because both of us love our sleep.

We got into Baltimore early enough to catch some sights. The weather was beautiful - mid 70s all 3 days that we were in the DC area. We saw the National Archives where they keep the Declaration of Independence, (Name that movie!) Washington monument, and the Pentagon Memorial all on the first day.

Sporting the new shades purchased from the street vendors for only $5. They made a lot of money on our group.

Day 2 in Washington/Baltimore was spent at Fort McHenry, the White House, the US Capitol, Union Station, and an illumination tour of all of the monuments in and around the area. (Lincoln, Washington, Vietnam War, Korean War, World WarII, Roosevelt, Jefferson, and the White House.) Some pretty amazing sights!!

Lots of protesting in front of the Capitol against the Health Care Reform.

We kind of got side tracked on one of our tours and when we went to cross the street, traffic was blocked and bus loads of police officers were filling the intersection, snipers lined the Capitol roof so we knew something was going on. We were not allowed to cross the street. We were told earlier that President Obama was in the Capitol building with us but we didn't believe it until we saw his motorcade drive right in front of us. He is in one of the 15 black SUVs in the picture. Pretty amazing to see the President of The United States even if you don't support all of his decisions!

Day 3 we went to the Arlington Cemetery (one of my favorite sights) where we watched the changing of the guard, the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and Mt. Vernon (George Washington's home).

Day 4 was spent touring the White House, exploring the Smithsonian Museums of American History and Natural History, Ford's Theatre, and ghost stories in Gettysburg.

All I Want for Christmas....

So, you are going to get just a little preview of our family Christmas cards. They may not be sent out any time soon but they are a work in progress - thanks to my talented sister-in-law, Maja. First, I had to take the kids out to get their pictures taken this week. The temperature was in the mid-twenties, thus the red cheeks and noses. They were good sports and a few of the pictures turned out pretty good.

We took the kids to see Santa Claus yesterday and here is a sneak peak at their lists:

Hey Santa, all I want is unlimited texting and an ipod touch! (Ummm, no and no!)

Do I really have to go talk to Santa?

Since my dad said that I won't get anything unless I talk to you, Santa, I want a remote control Mustang or Camaro! (Okay, maybe that is a little more reasonable anyway!)

Santa, I will be happy with anything that you bring for me but can I have some new rollerblades, I am tired of using Kali's old ones! (Now we're talking!)

Santa, I have been really good this year. I promise. All I want is an ipod shuffle since my mom washed my last one and now it won't even play one song!

Oh, they were so much easier to please when they were littler. Poor Santa isn't going to want to come to our house. It might break the bank. Good thing he makes all of his toys or his Visa would be maxed out!

So here is the latest and greatest picture of our kids! Not so little but still pretty darn cute if you ask me! Happy Holidays!

Seriously Slacking

Okay, so you know you are in trouble for not posting when your husband who rarely checks the blog (I mean as in monthly :)) says , "You haven't posted anything for quite a while now!" Oops! It is not because there is nothing happening around the McMinn house. In fact, quite the opposite - life never slows down around our house! The kids have been in school for two weeks and I seriously have not had one day that I have stayed home the entire day! Not that I am complaining or making excuses or anything. So hopefully if time permits I will be posting a few times this week to get us caught up to the present.

Let's start back in July....

Kyle needed to earn his Outdoorsman achievement for Webelos which requires some camping. So Rob took him backpacking at the end of July. I don't know who was more excited Kyle because it was his first pack trip or Rob because his son was finally old enough to go play in the woods with him for a few days. They had a great time and Rob was really impressed with how well Kyle did. He carried all of his own stuff in about 5 miles and camped for 3 days and 2 nights. They did some fishing, day hikes, and played around the campfire. They had a great time and are already counting down the days until the next trip.

Our little hiker - doen't he look excited!



This picture almost makes me want to go hiking! Beautiful scenery! Kane Lake, Idaho

Rob seems to think that it would be fun for me to try to hike with them. I think that I am alright with staying home and having a Girls' Night Out. While the boys were away, the girls decided to play. We gave each other pedicures, went to the Hannah Montana movie, Brooke and Taryn got their ears pierced, and we went out for ice cream. After our busy day, Brooke looked at me and said, "This never would have happened if Kyle was here!" She is probably right. He never would have agreed to a day like that. I bet he was glad he went hiking too!


The first week of August, I had a nephew that was getting baptized which gave us a great excuse to go to Washington for a few days to visit family! My sister has a pool so the kids literally lived in the pool from lunchtime to bedtime and that is no exaggeration. They loved it and were asking when we could move closer. We had a great time in Washington. Grandma and Grandpa took us to lunch for our birthday treats - all at once since we live so far away and they can't come for every birthday. They even brought ice cream, balloons and sang for Grandma and Taryn! They were thrilled about that. We did some school shopping since our shopping is so pathetic here. We rode four wheelers, picked watermelon from Grandpa's field, had barbecsues and I got to spend lots of time with my sisters - I love those girls!



Now, I am only a month behind! Stay tuned for more updates!

Taryn Turns 9

It is hard to believe that Taryn is 9 this year! She likes to tell us all how old she is getting and how tall she is too! There are so many reasons why we love Taryn!

*Her smile is contagious! Taryn wakes up smiling and goes to bed at night smiling! She is always happy and I don't just say that because I am her mom. She truly makes other people happy just by being around her. Her smile is beautiful!


*She is a great helper! She is always asking, "Mom, what do you want me to do now?" She loves to clean the bathrooms especially the toilets. She is a little bit weird that way. I think that is because she knows that I don't like to do it so she wants to make me happy!

*She is her oldest sisters biggest fan! She goes to all of Kali's sporting events and loves to cheer her on!

*She is a great little piano player! She doesn't like to practice but she does a great job learning the music!

*She gives the best hugs and kisses! She is so loving and kind. She has so much love to give and is such a great example to us all! I love you, Taryn!

For her birthday, she decided to take a few friends miniature golfing. It was hot but I think they all had a great time. She even invited her siblings who enjoyed themselves as well.

Taryn's friends

Hiding in the tunnel on the 18th hole! Trying to find some shade and being silly!

Sibling rivalry! :)

Brooke's great golfing form!

Happy Birthday Taryn!! We love you!!

4th of July

We had a great 4th of July! The sun was shining and it was really hot early on so we decided to take the boat out for our first real skiing trip of the season. We had been out once before just to make sure that everything worked but this was the first time that the kids got in the water to tube, ski, and wakeboard. (I know this is really sad but our summers are crazy busy with softball so we don't have a lot of time for playing on the boat!)

We don't usually cram this many kids on the tube but for picture sake you get to see them all! Kali and Brooke are the die hard tubers of the family. Taryn likes it if we are going at a snail pace for a very short period of time! Oh, Taryn! Kyle doesn't want to waste his time on the tube because he would much rather be on the wakeboard. Hurry up girls, it is Kyle's turn to play!

Rob's favorite thing to do is surf behind the boat. We have to limit his time because he would spend all day back there! The kids love to just jump in the water and swim in the middle of the lake! They think that it is sooo much fun and I love to hear them laughing and squealing as the play with each other!

After a great day at the lake, we came back for a neighborhood barbecue. It started out really great and then the gray clouds rolled in! We thought that the storm might just blow over but 70 people shoved into a neighbor's garage to watch the storm ride it's way out showed us how much we truly love our neighbors. It was pretty comical! It wasn't just a little sprinkle but a monsoon type storm with huge rain drops and hail too!

(This is Kyle's collection of hail stones!)

Oh, the memories! After the rain, we pulled out the sparklers and fireworks. (Notice the water in the streets - it was a BIG storm!)

God bless America, land that we love!!