My baby is 3!

Having a 3 year old is so stinkin fun! We had a fun filled weekend celebrating Noah's 3rd birthday. For the past couple months Noah has been talking about having a "chuck e cheese" birthday. So Chuck E Cheese it was! The fesitivites started on Saturday when my parnets came over. My dad was able to go to Priesthood session with Todd and the rest of us got to hang out with my mom. Noah with his gift from grandma, a dodger outfit! He LOVES baseball, basketball, and football. He basically is either dribbling a basketball or playing catch. I'm not even kidding. The boy LOVES sports! After priesthood session was over we met the guys at Romano's pizza where we enjoyed the BEST PIZZA EVER. My mom said she dreamed about it that night :) My parents stayed the night and watched conference with us the following morning. It was so fun having them here! My mom made pancakes for breakfast and tacos for lunch. My Mom also brought with her the card game "old maid" can i just tell you..I have not had that much fun playing a card game in a long time! Playing with Mack was hysterical. Needless to say, we haven't gone a day without playing and he has gotten pretty good at beating me. Mack and Noah are such best buddies! They remind me a lot of Trevor and Ethan at that age. Make a wish! score! look at all those presents! We were lucky enough to get to spend some time with my brother Ryan and his cute family in LA. We got to their house on Sunday night. Taryn made us dinner and spoiled us with her homemade chocolate chip cookies for dessert. The kids had a lot of fun playing with their cousins and I really enjoyed hanging out with Ryan and Taryn. They have the CUTEST kids on the planet. Nate and Macy are so fun! Macy and Kate! Nate and Noah We had a picnic at the park. Trevor and Ethan's only suggestion..that the park had a basketball court...wish granted :) On our way home we made a stop at Sprinkles cupcakes on Rodeo drive, dropped the kids off at home with Trevor (gotta love a built in baby-sitter) and Taryn and I went to a really yummy hamburger place. We made it home later that night after a three hour drive gotta love LA traffic... It's hard to believe that my baby is 3. It's definitely bitter sweet. I'm really enjoying the stage of life I'm in right now...I wish it would stay like this forever :)

Last post of 2010!

OUR CHRISTMAS THROUGH PICTURES. I didn't do a very good job of getting pictures of the kids opening their Christmas presents this year. I feel bad about that! I think it was because I was too busy video recording our morning. Sooooo here's to what I do have!

Ive decided I'm going to do a lot more of this in 2011...play board games! So FUN...and by the way I won that night :) that NEVER happens!


Our annual sisters picture (Melissa and Carolee are missing :(


This time we didn't forget about Ryan!


Can't forget the group family shot..with your classic prom pose

Noah and Nate

Christmas afternoon in Gavlan Hills with the Thompson's

Trevor and I...do I really have a son who is 14?!?

Todd and Tommy

Our kids were very good this year! Drum roll please........................

Look what Santa brought!

Good bye 2010! You were great and you will be missed... HELLO 2011! We are ready for ya!

what have I been up to lately?

Here it is... the LAST day in November..where has the time gone?! Here is a recap of what we've been up to...

Oct. Halloween! Ethan was an injured football player with a real broken bone, cast and all! Kate wanted to be a girl vampire, Mack was going to be a cowboy, then iron man but ended up pulling a 5 year old monkey costume out from the Halloween box... and of course my handsome cowboy Noah.


I was lucky to get to celebrate TWO Thanksgiving's this year :) We celebrated our first one with the McCooks the first week in November. I can't think of anything better than spending time with my family..we love being together!


Thanksgiving in Gavlan Hills with the Thompson's is never a disappointment either! 5 acres = playing in the dirt and quad riding :)



I love that Ethan made a point to show his cast in this picture!

Okay..if you know Jaime and Summer than you KNOW that they are PROFESSIONAL black Friday shoppers. I decided to give it a try this year. Here we are standing in line at Walmart. We waited in that spot for 3.5 hours...good times :) We got what we wanted and were out in 15 minutes! I headed home and these two stayed up the rest of the night for more shopping.

My sister Carolee has been here visiting from PA. We got together with some of my favorite girls for a fun GNO!!

And finally on Sunday we decorated for Christmas. I love to see how excited the kids get. We are definitely feeling the Christmas spirit at our house and it's extra fun now that Noah is old enough to know whats going on, he gets so excited about the Christmas tree. I especially love that he calls the stockings hanging from the fireplace...socks :)

To be continued....

Kate's special day

Kate was baptized on Oct. 9th. What a special day!


The whole family was there including aunt Carolee, aunt Candice, and aunt Melissa who all came from out of state :)


After the baptism everyone came to our house for dinner. We had at least 60 people over...
more than half were kids!


I'm so grateful for Kate's decision to be baptized. What a good, sweet little girl she is! I know she will remember this day forever...and so will I :)

It's great to be 8!

Kate turned 8 on September 2nd. Her birthday party was last night. It was a "late over" party! The pictures are out of order but here's a quick recap of how the night went.
All the girls arrived around 5:00 and quickly jumped in the pool.

After swimming and working up an appetite they grubbed on Pizza! Kate's favorite!

After pizza the girls played "hot potato" and "musical chairs" but instead of using chairs we used pillows

after a couple of games we opened presents and had cake and ice cream

Kate always loves to pick out her b-day cake from Costco, something she's always loved to do ever since she was little...like I always say, "gotta love Costco"! ha

After cake and ice cream the girls decided they wanted to have a fashion show. So they raided Kate's closet and dressed up and danced and singed. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment. They put on a great show!

After a great fashion show the girls all grabbed their pillows and blankets and watched Annie

Kate is so lucky to have such good friends!

I can't believe my sweet little girl is 8! I remember when she was born. I remember like it was yesterday how happy I was when I found out I was having a little girl. Kate has brought me so much happiness! It's hard to believe that in another short 8 years she will be 16......until then.. it sure is great to be 8!!

First day of school

What would the first day of school be without homemade cookies waiting for you when you came home? (thanks Christina for that idea) and of course first day of school pictures! You might notice that Trevor's picture is missing...well i kind of forgot to take one of him. He goes to school a couple hours earlier than the rest and i may have still been half asleep..

Miss Kate (3rd grade) almost 8 years old!

Ethan 6th Grade (11 years old)

and Mack 5 years old first day of Kindergarten!

stayed tuned for Trevor's picture :))

First week of our new schedule went well! The kids have all been good at getting their homework done (still working on the whole getting to bed on time) and I have actually made dinner every night! wohoo!!

now if only I could get back on track with going to the gym in the mornings ~sigh~

Family night at the Angel game

Noah's first baseball game! Actually our very first game all together as a family. We had a great time! Noah LOVED his cotton candy but man that stuff is so sticky! what a mess..but anything to keep him happy right?


and don't forget the soda !!

glad to know Kate got in this shot, forgot to take a picture of her

nose bleed seats ROCK

my youngest and my oldest..love it!

One more week of no school! I'm so sad. I have LOVED having the kids home, we have had such a fun summer vacation... loved staying up late, sleeping in, NO homework, and just playing..sigh.our party ends in a week :(

Mack starts Kindergarten this year. He's so excited. Noah and I will have a great time just the two of us!