Gym video fun!

The kids love to go to open gym and play on all the gymnastics equipment. The tramp is a favorite!

Gymnastics

Mikayla's been doing gymnastics for about a year now and she loves it! She's learned a lot of cool things and it's fun to watch her. She had a day where she got to show us some of her stuff. The other kids got to do some of it too. It was a fun day!

Mikayla is 9!

It's January again and my baby is one year older! Mikayla you are just getting so big and so amazing with every day. Here's our day to celebrate you! You are such a great big sister, such a fun friend and such a helper to your mom and dad. Now that you are older and get to stay up a little later, we love the time that we get to spend with just you. I love all your jokes and the great ideas you come up with for creative things to do and say. Thanks for being patient with me when I forget that you are getting older and forget to treat you as such. We love you pumpkin!

Your party was fun, even with your annoying orange cake and annoying grape pinata! :)

Presents Again

We left early for Christmas break so we didn't get all the packages before we left. The kids were okay with that and loved being able to open presents all over again! Thanks so much Bhakka and Boppa!

Christmas again at home in WA

We got to open packages from Bakka and Boppa when we got home. Here is Josh trying out his new skate board. He's found a way to ride it in the house!

family fun

Here's just a glimpse into the fun activities of the trip.

Dec 25

Christmas morning with so many little kids is awesome! How blessed we are!

Nativity photos

I love having kids act out the nativity. They are so cute all dressed up and I think it helps them understand better what happened on that special night when they get to act it out.

We also had a few songs and thing afterward but those didn't get on the video just the nativity. They did a great job.

nativity video

Here's a link to a video of the nativity if you like. We even have Carlos as a donkey and Merrill as a camel. I can't remember what Josh did before we came to UT to get his black eye...but it's good one!

http://web.me.com/birdnofam/movies/Nativity2010.AVI

It's not working to click on the link. Go ahead and copy it and open it in a new browser.

Grandparent's House

We went to Utah for Christmas! We had a lot of fun playing with cousins. Amy was home from college. Eddie and Becca came from AZ with their kids Noah and Lucy. Anne and Carlos came from NM with their kids Rafael and Corina. Then Victoria and Aunt Erna and Uncle Larry all came for Christmas Eve! We had a great time!

We also had fun skiing before all the cousins came. Too bad I don't have any pictures of that! Josh and Neah stayed with Grandma Hansen and Nano and Mikayla came with Merrill and I! We had so much fun and the kids are great little skiers! It took Josh a while but in Jan we finally got him to enjoy skiing again. He liked it last year but had a hard time getting into it again this season! The last time we went here in WA, we put Neah in the backpack and she LOVED it! It was a very fun family outing!

Dancing to Uncle Larry's Christmas music!

Kids & Camera cont'

The kids got the camera again!

More video fun!

I don't know if this was Nano's or Josh's video but enjoy our backyard!

Also, the boys have been way into glueing all sorts of paper together. They get scrap paper and tear it into the sizes they want and make all sorts of animals. Josh made a cheetah, lion, dragon, dinosaur...This was Nano's finaly project:

Kids & Camera

The kids got a hold of the camera and of course, they could get it to work! We also have a few shots that we didn't use from the card making photos...like Nano's purple hat...I finally convinced him to use a red instead of purple one! Oh and you get an extra one from Josh's b-day..opps!

Nano's movie

He was so proud of it. I had to put it on...it's short one!

Birdno Cards

We had so much fun making these deck of cards for Christmas. Our kids favorite games are Uno and War! We made a deck of face cards and then added a few for Uno. Each kid got to be one suit and have numbers 2-10, Ace, and Jack. Merrill and I were the King and Queen and Jokers. Then the kids got to be the wilds! Enjoy!

Hangin' Out

The kids and I, just being silly!

Josh is 6!

Son! How did you get to be so big? Are you really 6? I guess so and what a fun boy you are. I love how you are so good to make sure all your friends are included in all that you are doing. You did think it was pretty cool that wherever you went that day...all your friends followed you. You are the birthday boy! I'm glad you enjoyed your Night Fury cake and your Bone Knapper dragon pinata! Those where fun to make...but a lot of work too! :) I love you son!

I love how even in Nov, you all put on coats and still enjoyed the pinata outside! Way to go kids!

Turkey

In Oct, Merrill took a trip to Turkey for his work! What a fun trip for him. He liked the coastal city much better than the BIG city.

Turkey cont'

Forgot the best picture for Merrill! Somehow this got in a different spot with all our pictures. Thanks goodness we found it! :) Love you honey!

Cement Stairs

My Dad and Dellma built these cement stairs outside Victoria's basement, so there could be a second entrance. They did an amazing job. Although my kids were sad to see the dirt pit gone!

Halloween

The kids had a Halloween Party for joyschool. They got to parade around the house in their costumes and sing us a couple songs. Not all the kids were super thrilled about it. But they all looked cute!

Sadly, the camera was on the fits for Halloween and we didn't get any photos of the other kids...let's see...I think Josh was a ninja turtle, Nano was ironman, Mikayla was a black cat, and Neah was a fairy ballerina....sorry no pics guys! Trust me they were cute! ;)

Camping

We went camping in Sept. with some of our friends from Meadow Springs ward! They are a lot of fun and their kids are so cute! We only got pictures of the lake by our camping site, seeing how that's where the kids spent most of their time! :) We left all the sleeping bags downstairs for a few days afterward and the kids had a ball playing in them. I guess it's good to be so slow in putting things away sometimes, right! ;)

Neah is 2!

It's Sept 3rd and I can't believe our Neah has turned 2! So much for our baby! That time goes too fast. But even though we call you our sweetness monster - and you got the monster cake and pinata for proof - we love every bit of you! All your fun cuteness and all your monsterness! :) I'm excited that you are talking more. I think part of your monsterness is that you have had so much to tell us and haven't been able to because now you are quite the jabberer! We love you sweetheart. Happy Birthday!

We were able to have Michelle and Dave come over for her b-day. We went to a park where there was a blue grass festival going on. Score! We had a lot of fun! Thanks for coming over guys!

Nano is 4!

Our camera is about dead so usually the only way to take a pictures is to 1 - be lucky enough that the batteries are working at that moment - it's touch and go - and 2 - then you have to take out the memory card and hold it just right... I guess this can be a good thing because I really don't have very many more pics to put on my blog. Maybe I'll be caught up by the time we get a new camera!

Oh Nano Man! Happy Birthday my son! You are such a fun, wild boy! I love to see all the adventurous things you figure out to do! Although some of them do scare me a little! I guess that will only get worse the older you get... :) But I love your spirit son. Thanks for keeping us on our toes and for all the fun you bring into our lives! We love you buddy!

I love that you have an Aug b-day because we can still do all the fun, water, summer things that you LOVE! We got to go to the water park for the b-day party...it was a hit!

The Kitchen remodel

Well, here it is...We went on our trip to AZ and UT. Then my parents and Dellma and Victoria came back with us and helped us tear out carpet and take off popcorn ceiling (or chicken - love you mom) and best of all, tear out walls! Thanks it was fun! :)

Then we headed over to Tacoma to see Nate before his mission and brought Merrill's parent's back with us. They helped us do A LOT of tapeing off and Merrill and his dad painted any brown that could be seen, white! :) Plus textured and painted the ceilings we'd scrapped. Mom helped me keep the kids busy and away from the paint! Thanks so much for all your help!

So, basically our families got to see all the mess and no finished product....we'll have to get you both back out here but the pictures with have to work for now.

We went out of town again and then we were able to come back and put the hardwood floors in while working around the guy tiling our new countertops! It got a little stressfull but we were able to get it all done and move in July 31! Hooray! No more renting!! Of course, we still have lots of touch up painting to do...but we are here in our own home and I don't have to tell the kids quite so many "NO's"..... :)

If you want to see more pics of the house or the outside of it... just scroll down a on the blog to the new house post!

Oh and Lynneah loved helping Dad with his projects, she's always a big help! :)

Watch out Texas!

We went to Tacoma to wish Nate good luck. He's headed to Texas and will be a great missionary. Of course I didn't get any great pictures of him. But I did get two of the back of him.....he was busy saying goodbye to everyone! Or really, I'm just a terrible photographer!

Neah in Panties?

We made another trip to Tacoma and Lynneah was acting like she wanted to wear panties so Auntie Michelle put some on her. She thought she was the coolest thing. They went outside and walked around and said hello to the dog and had a great time. Then she came inside and had an accident and she was done with the whole potty thing! Oh well, I guess we're not quite there yet.

Utah & a Bird?

We saw my family in Utah also but our camera was giving us fits, the thing has been well used for 6.5 years and just about to bite the dust. But we did get a few pictures of the water feature Dellma was building, and that my kids loved to play on!!! We had so much fun with you guys. Love ya!

We also had fun when we got home. We had a quail in the Grigg's garage! Merrill had a lot of fun trying to catch this bird! There were plenty of hiding places with all the boxes, both ours and the Grigg's! But after it being in the garage for 2 days and me having no luck...Merrill spent a good hour or two that night and he was the winner!!

Photo Shoot

This summer, we went down to see Merrill's folks in AZ. It was the first time in 2 or 3 years since everyone had all been together. We had so much fun! Before anyone got burned or any other craziness happened, we all got dressed up and got family pictures! It was pretty crazy with so many little ones but well worth it. Here are some of my favorites!

Birdno family fun!

We had such a fun time. Michelle brought all her jewelry stuff and Dave brought his pen stuff. They lady's had fun making great necklaces, bracelets and earrings and the guys and few lady's had fun turning the pens. We played lots of cards and the kids had lots of water fun! We just enjoyed time together and can't wait to get together again! We love you all!

Camping season is back

We went over to the wet side of the state for this trip. We went to Ohanapecosh campground at Mnt Rainier! It was beautiful! The kids couldn't get enough of the waterfalls and rocks to climb on our hike! I sure love camping with these kids! What family fun! Although, I did forget Neah's shoes....what kind of mom forgets her baby's shoes - ME! We were talking about it in the bathroom and a lady overheard...how could you not, Neah was a bit upset! They had an extra pair of flip flips and let us have them. We had to use a little rope and get creative as they were Josh's size....but we did it and our Neah finally had some shoes! :)

Neah sure loves to jump in the puddles, although this video didn't capture her previous giggles.....no performing for the camera today!

Josh took a turn with the camera! He made 6 or 7 videos but they were all about 1 sec. This one he actually got a little of Nano!

School's out!

We enjoyed some summer showers and just being home more. This is also a picture of Mikayla's 2nd grade teacher, Mrs Nicacio at Badger Mnt. Elementary. She loved Mrs Nicacio! Thanks for a wonderful year! It was sad though on the last day of school. Just after this picture was taken and Mikayla started to walk away, she also started crying. All the other kids were so excited to leave. Mikayla knew she wasn't coming back to Badger Mnt next year and she was going to have to start all over again with new friends and a new place. Poor kid, moving sure has been hard on her. Thanks for putting up with us Mikayla! We love you!

Baseball Time

Nano and Josh decided to try out baseball this spring. They both had a great time and so did we. It got a little crazy at times, with Josh and Nano having a game and practice at the same time in two different places. Usually we could tag team it, but Merrill was gone on trips a couple times and ya well, one had to miss. Poor Nano it was usually him, since we figured a game won out over a practice. I just love baseball, especially when the kids are starting out and learning what base to run too...it's the best when they run to third after hitting or better yet, almost take out the "pitcher" on the way to second after they hit. First base seemed to get skipped a lot! But what a fun time.

Baseball Take 2

Josh got a few more pictures than Nano because, Melissa - one of the other Mom's - was a great photographer. She got some great shots of Josh for us! Thanks Melissa!

One last Suprise

Oh and one last item of fun for our trip to NC. Mikayla decided to go and get stitches on us! We were at the Aldriches for a final goodbye dinner our last night in Durham. Mikayla was climbing a piece of wood propped up against a fence when Briggie told her there were termites! She promptly let go and slid down the tree, making a nice laceration in her leg! One hour, eight stitches later, we were headed back to the Alder's to pack and get a little sleep before we headed off to the airport in the morning. But hey, she got to ride in a wheelchair at the airport!

Graduation, Finally!

First off, I have to say thank you to Merrill's parents for all the pictures. I, of course, never had my camera with me....some days I wonder just where my brain is!

After five years at Duke and almost one year of work at Cadwell, Merrill got to walk for his graduation! It was a great feeling and a great excuse to come back and see all of our friends we miss so much. This thanks is long overdue as well, but needs to be said nonetheless, thanks to everyone for all the help with places to stay, watching the kids, meals and just wonderful visits! We love you all and were so glad to have Merrill's parents out there to join in the fun!

It was quite the day with the big ceremony and speech on the football field (I'm sure it was a good speech - didn't get to hear much for some reason, Neah), a little luncheon, and a smaller ceremony in the chapel. It was a long day but well worth it!

The Hooding

Now this I'd never seen or heard of until we started school. But it's a pretty cool ceremony that celebrates each graduate separately. Kind of nice when there are a LOT of graduates.

The Grad Party

I've never been able to surprise Merrill with anything the whole time we've been married. He always finds out! This time I was determined!

The kids wanted to do a fun scavenger hunt. Mikayla helped me with the clues and hiding them. Then all the kids got to help Merrill find them and take pictures as proof. They were all so cute and Merrill was a good sport. Along with each clue was a sweet note from each family at the beach of a favorite "Merrill memory". Then his final clue was a scrapbook from the kids of some favorite things they've learned from DAD. Afterwards the kids gave him an ice cream tasting party, and again Merrill was a great sport about that! Then we finished with a fun slide show of our time in NC with our beach family friends. (Of course, we had to all cram around Merrill's laptop to see it because I'm not computer/tv savvy and didn't bring the right equipment to show it on the big screen!)

I think I actually surprised him. We love you honey! This post is long overdue....Thanks for all the hard work!

We love the Beach

As always, our yearly beach trip ROCKED! We had so much fun catching up with great friends, enjoying the ocean life, the sand, the waves, the beauty of it all and not to mention, great food! Of course we added a few friendly competitions...long jumping and arm wrestling. It's always something fun at the beach!

It was great to see the kids all reconnect and enjoy time together. The older kids really got into the boogie boards this trip. It was fun to see them getting such a thrill from catching the waves...they were really good at it too!

And it was great to be around friends. After a year of adjusting to the non school life, quite and adjustment I must say, it was nice to be back with friends and be just comfortable being us and not trying to remember new names and faces. Not that it's a bad thing to be meeting new people, just hard sometimes, it was a nice break. People who know and love you for you! A beautiful thing that i realized I took for granted. Thanks guys for a wonderful time!

Oh and Linds, again, thanks for the photos. You know me and my camera....it always is missing in action! :)

Our New House

Hooray! After lots of searching, we finally found it! We were excited for this house! The only thing I didn't love was the limited space and one entry into the kitchen. But we knew we'd fix that to our liking! All we had to do was expand the kitchen a bit and break a whole in the wall for a new entry! Simple right! Of course we ended up adding a few more things to our list of to-do's...but we sure loved and still love this house!

doing what we do

April Fun

We had a good time in March and April. One of which was moving from our apartment to a house. One of our friends from our ward was going to Maylasia for 5-6 months and we were lucky enough to rent out their house! It was a beautiful thing. No more complaints for our rowdy kids who LOVE to play outside. We celebrated by inviting lots of friends over and had the Garnica's come for a fun easter hunt with the kids. They also had so many beautiful tulips in front of their house that spring....I only got a small portion of how pretty they were!
Then we enjoyed conference and then all the silliness came out.
Oh and the last picture is Merrill with his hair LONG! I don't think the pictures does it justice. It's the longest I've ever seen on him. He got tired of everyone asking where Neah got her curls. But then as it was getting hot...he couldn't stand it any longer! This was just before I cut it!

IT'S BEEN SINCE JAN!!

I can't believe it's been that long! So just to give you a little update....most (okay all) of the pictures will come later! :)
We bought a house!!
May - we went to NC for a week beach trip and Merrill finally getting to walk for graduation!
The boys started t-ball and Mikayla gymnastics
We got one camping trip in and then off for our trips...
We went to AZ and UT and got to have SO MUCH FUN WITH FAMILY
Came back and started renovating our new house
Made another trip to UT and Tacoma
Did more renovations and finally got to move in
Nano turned 4!
Mom got one year older :)
Josh started Kindergarten and MIkayla 3rd grade
Lynneah turned 2!
So that's been our crazy summer!
Now we have the job of still unloading boxes!

Another trick of Neah's

I was making dinner one night and heard a funny noise from Lynneah...I turned around to this:

She could do this on demand...it was so awesome...She holds her breath and starts shaking her fists....It's so funny and she can still do it 6 months later when you ask! Priceless!

Saying I love you!

So Lynneah can talk pretty well now but this was her first I love you...Mikayla taught her to point to herself, make a heart with her fingers and point to someone else at the end...It was pretty cute but of course we never could get the whole thing on the video!

Happy Birthday Mikayla!

Lynneah's b-day song to sis!

Mikayla's Baptism

Mikayla - it was such a beautiful day. I can't believe you are eight! Your baptism was wonderful and your excitement for it was very special. Watching you make that choice and go down into the water with your daddy waiting for you was something I'll never forget. You are such a great example to all of us.
Having so much family come for this special day made it just that much better. Having all the kids sing "I love to see the Temple" was a very tender moment. We love you sweetheart!!!

Mikayla's b-day

We celebrated Mikayla's b-day a little late. We had a whole houseful. They came for her baptism but we had a little craziness before. We had Bhakka, Boppa, Aunt Amie, Aunt Michelle & Uncle Dave, Landon and Mireya. And Grandpa & Grandma Hansen, Uncle Dellma & Aunt Victoria, and Aunt Amy. Thanks to everyone for coming. It was so wonderful to have you all. I know it meant a lot to Mikayla. I loved all the help with the Unicorn pinata and swimming pool cake and cookies and more and more!