Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Polar Express

I was TERRIBLE with pictures on this trip. We had a wonderful time with family. Bhakka and Boppa took us all for a ride on the Polar Express. We had a Vance scared to death of Santa and Nano almost lot his bell a number of times. Luckily, our host was awesome and went diving after his bell, under seats and all! Finally, when we thought we'd lost it for sure, he gave Nano his own bell from around his neck. Never a dull moments with our crew. It was awesome and we had a great time spending an evening in our pj's.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Christmas at our house

The kids got really spoiled. We did Christmas at our house on the 23rd and then flew out to AZ on the 24th and had Christmas at Bhakka and Boppa's house. Lots of fun! Kids never get tired of opening presents do they! ;)

Snow in Richland

We all had fun singing Christmas Carols one night. Then the snow came a few days later. The pictures are really dark but just before dusk Nano and Merrill decided to ride their bikes on the freshly fallen snow that was on the forbidden golf path!
It rained that night and the next morning there was just ice. The boys had a great time sliding with just their bodies on - yet again - the forbidden golf path. After that fun, we decided to invest in some sleds and took them to the slopes just by a ski resort. They had a great time! We have some natural sledders.

Alphabet Kids

 
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We made some letter photo books this year and the kids had a great time. See if you can find all the letters! We have a few duplicates (a,i,l & p), but the whole alphabet is there....just use your imagination on some of them and you'll get it!

alphabet fun

The kids and I had so much fun I had to take some of their really silly poses also. I love the ones where Lynneah is trying to copy whatever pose one of the older kids was doing. It was a good time!

FIVE

Josh! Happy Birthday Son! I can't believe you are 5.

So remember that stomach flu at Thanksgiving. Ya, we still had it come Nov 30 and Josh was sick on his birthday this year. Poor boy. So we had an all indoor party with just our family. They kids seemed not to mind and Josh got his Batman cake and pinata. (He went easy on me this year for the cake and only wanted the logo instead of a batman one, thanks buddy.) The boys and I had a good time making everything for Josh's b-day that day. So....we didn't get to do all the fun outdoor plans but we had a great day after all, even with two sick boys and one sick girl. Then daddy and Mikayla came home and put the icing on the top for one fun day.

We love you buddy and are so glad you are part of our family!

Monday, January 11, 2010

Thanksgiving

We went to Utah for Thanksgiving. All my siblings were able to come. It's been way too long since we've all been together...since Eddie went on his mission and he has two kids now (well 1 3/4) at Thanksgiving, but since then we've had little Noah join us! Anyway, it was so fun to see everyone. I don't know how much everyone else enjoyed it though. We brought the stomach flu with us and everybody got sick. At least we all got to enjoy the feast before the flu hit! My poor family. You know you are loved when people want to see you even though they know you will get them sick!

I kept forgetting my camera, so once I get some pictures from my mom, I'll post some of those.

Chillin' out

Photographer

Mikayla loves to take pictures and she gets some great shots of the boys! And toys!;)

Halloween

Like mom??

Nano found my mascara!

Boise's half way

We figured out that Boise's about half way for my family in Utah, Idaho and us...so we planned a trip and I got to see my parents and 3 of my siblings and their families!! It was awesome. We spent the night and enjoyed a random park we found by our motel. It doesn't take much to entertain us!

She's doing it!!!

She took here first steps on her b-day. Then she went through a phase where every time we tried to have her walk and let go of her hands she'd start crying and sit down!

But by the 20th she'd figured it out a little and was taking 4 or 5 steps!

Then 2 days later....she's cruisin!

We are spoiled

Our apt here has been quite interesting. There are a total of 7 kids and 4 of them our ours! We have a few people who really love the kids and then some who don't. The one's who don't tend to complain a lot when the kids are out playing....and as you know our kids...they love to be outdoors! So we deal with the complaints and keep sending them out. The kids have had a hard time with all the rules and not being free to go where they please, especially Nano...we've lost him a few times as he was wandering the grounds!

But as always the good outways the bad and we have Nana and Papa next door! They often had afterschool snacks for the kids. Sadly, (for us anyway) they went to Arkansas for the winter and wont get back until we move out! But we were lucky to have them while we could and hopefully they want lots of visits when they get back!

"The Rock"

Our gym here has an awesome climbing wall. The kids totally love it!

My baby's One!

Yes, I'm a major slacker...Lynneah turned 1 in sept and here it is Jan.....
We love you Lynneah, sorry Mommy's so slow in posting all your birthday, chubby, messiness! You bring so much joy to our lives pumpkin!

Birthday Cake Fun!

Something else she started on her b-day!

1st day

Mikayla started up school again and we are close enough to bike her to school. I think the boys were as excited about it as Mikayla....can't believe she's in 2nd grade! Here teacher is Ms Nicacio and "she still hasn't ever yelled at us". Obviously, Mikayla loves her teacher!
We did the bike rides while the weather was nice and once it got too cold we put her on the bus...I'm excited for the nice weather again. Those bike/jog rides were so fun and got lots of the boy's energy out, who am I kidding...mine too, but I felt so in shape!

Kiddo's

Kid's just having fun! Notice we all are enjoying the produce here!