Avery's 2nd Birthday!!

Avery's birthday was in January as well....it was Christmas all over again at our house. :) She was so cute and loved everything about it! She loved the gifts but didn't go crazy or anything. She got some dress-up shoes and absolutely loved them and she's really into anything she can carry, wear or take care of. She is a total girl and I'm loving this stage that she's in. She's not at a "terrible 2" stage and she's really funny, smiles all the time and is a joy to be around. We all talk about how we're so glad she chose our family. We're so blessed and like Carson, she was a special surprise. We weren't sure a 4th child was in the plan, but here she is. It's amazing how things turn out the way they do and how the timing is always right!

Avery, we love you so much! The kids still run up the stairs when they know you're awake in the morning and they love to give you kisses before you go to bed. You're so very loved and a light in our lives. You're such a good girl...I keep waiting for things to get hard and so far, so good...(knock on wood). We've always called you "stealth baby" (thanks, Alysa) because of how quietly you go about your business. You've always been so active and you never stop moving, but you're not getting into things....you're just very busy. Sometimes a nap would be nice, but I'll take you as you are. You're a sweet girl and we love you! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Avery loved her cake and I just have to say "thanks" to the girl at Target because she put it together in under an hour. Another mother-of-the-year moment, going to Target the day of her birthday, I was actually just going to get a boxed cake and went over just to see what the bakery had and the girl was so cute and said she would do anything for me if she had it. What a sweetheart. I love people that actually go out of their way to help....it's hard to find.

Carson's 5th Birthday!!

Carson's 5th birthday was January 14th....better late than never, right? He had a Spiderman birthday this year and absolutely loved his cake! All he wanted were spidey masks....such an easy going kid. He actually got sick on his birthday so we had a family party the next day. He is such a fun kid and our family wouldn't be the same without him. He makes us laugh every day and he's always been my sweet boy and Cody's buddy. He hangs out with me and then runs to the door when Cody gets home and I love that. He is very good to his sisters, especially Avery. He watches out for her and always has. I hope it stays that way as they're growing up because their relationship is so cute and sweet.

I don't know where the last 5 years have gone, but Carson, you've been a blessing to our family from the very beginning. You were a very sweet surprise and we love that we have a darling little boy in our lives. You add so much fun, laughter, activity, happiness and love to our lives! I love the things that you say and how you say them. I love your cute little toothless smile and I love that you're all boy (hence the toothless smile)! I love that you sit next to me to read books and hold my hand as you snuggle up to me. I love that you love your sisters, even though you can push their buttons like no one else. :) We love you so much! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

The Birthday Boy!

Avery was totally into the birthday thing...can you tell?

This was the hit of the night....we had a major spy shooter shoot-out for Carson's birthday! We were all laughing so hard as we pelted each other with nerf discs. It was a great way to end the day!

Love those kids!

District Spelling Bee 2009

Bailey went to the District Spelling Bee and did very well! They have 4th grade to 8th grade students there so she was pretty nervous. She was one of the youngest kids there but she held her own! She made it to the 7th round, which is wonderful and she did her very best! We are so proud of her and hope she'll give it another shot next year!

We took a chance to get a little extra studying in by taking her out of school early and spending the afternoon at Red Robin to study over lunch! It was fun mom & daughter time and I love taking advantage of moments like these. Even though she was a little disappointed, I hope she always remembers that we love her no matter what!

When we got home, Brittany went upstairs and got her trophy and name badge from last year and of course Avery had to get in on the action. It was a fun night and we're proud of our kids!

2009 Spelling Bee!!

Bailey was chosen to participate in the school Spelling Bee this year! Well, she did really well and ended up winning the Spelling Bee! It was such a fun day and it was also fun because Brittany had won the spelling bee the year before so it stayed in the family. :)

My Little Smarty-Pants

Just one of the boys.... :)

We're so proud of her and we love her so much!

More Winter Pics...

We had such a wonderful time in Utah, I had to include these pictures! I love the pictures of the kids in their warm, puffy jackets and hats. I love that we got to spend so much time with our family and we appreciate this time more and more with each visit because we know we have to pack a lot of memories in while we're there. The kids loved riding the snowmobiles around the pasture at Grandpa's house. We spent New Year's at Jessica & Joe's house in Erda and it was so fun. Carson fell asleep before midnight but the kids went and got him so he didn't miss lighting fireworks and sparklers to bring in the New Year. Everyone sat outside in the cold until every last sparkler was lit. We saw our sweet friends, spent a lot of quality time with grandmas & grandpas, brothers & sisters, cousins, etc....the kids will never forget our crazy but wonderful trip and neither will we.

Happy Birthday, Cody!

I feel like Cody kind of got the shaft this year. We didn't do much for each other for Christmas and he kept insisting that I not get him anything for his birthday either. His birthday is the 26th. We had a few expenses right before Christmas so we decided that we'd go easy this year. Well, I always try really hard to make his birthday very separate from Christmas because a birthday the day after Christmas is not very fun. This year, I really didn't do much and I'm going to have to make up for that for Father's Day or something. He has wanted Rosetta Stone for a while, so that's what me and the kids gave him. When he learns to speak Spanish, he said that will be his gift to me. (that's an inside joke, which some of you will understand) :) Happy Birthday, Cody! We love you so much!

Avery loved the cake! Thanks Grandma Debbie

It snowed quite a bit on Cody's birthday and the kids all stood and watched Grandpa snowblow outside. The snow was beautiful and it was so fun to see the kids so excited....our California kids aren't used to a white Christmas! So glad we made the trip!

More Christmas....in May!

I wanted to finish up Christmas so I could move on with 2009. Here is our Family Christmas party in California before we went to Utah. We had such a great time with Grandma Vera and Jack, Bryce & Lisa & kids, Polly and Sierra and we don't know what we'd do without them down here. My favorite picture is Avery in her winter boots eating an Otter Pop.....that's kind of how we roll.

Christmas....finally

Well, it's April so I figured, why not do a Christmas post? :) I know, many have probably given up on us and I don't blame you. It's been a wild few months, but I'm determined to keep this family journal going so I can get that fun book all printed up and put on my shelf for my family. It's going to take time to catch up and to check in on all of you, but here we go....

The pictures are all mixed up...but if I start over now, I probably won't get back to it. Here are some fun pictures of Christmas in Utah. Our trip was quite eventful....I stayed up all night working on our accounting for the company because we had an appt with our CPA in Utah and getting things finished up and filed for work but figured I could sleep all the way to Utah so no problem. I went to bed at 6:00 and got back up at 7:30 and started packing us up and kept working as I did so but knowing that once we got on the road, I could relax. Well, Cody was getting us loaded and was working on getting us a cargo carrier and came home and his face was just chalk white. He said he didn't feel good and went upstairs to laid down for a second and then threw up. He had this horrible flu that had been going around and it was absolutely perfect timing. So, I promptly took the energy drink out of the fridge that I had gotten for him and put it in the cupholder in the car and we headed out....about 4 hours later than we had planned. We decided to go the back way to take off some time since we were already late and of course, I was driving and drinking my energy drink. Well, Cody told me to watch out for a couple of landmarks as we went through the beautiful scenic route of Yucca Valley and told me the towns to watch for. Yeah, I missed one of them and when Cody woke up, he asked where we were and we were almost to Sussex?? I was just driving along and he had forgotten to mention how tiny the sign was that I was watching for. Yeah, missed it! We drove about 45 min to an hour out of our way so we headed back and finally caught back up to the right road and kept going.

Well, we got to Primm and I bought another energy drink and started on that. We were going straight through so I figured I'd need a little somethin', somethin'. We stopped in Mesquite because Avery was starting to freak out and stand up in her carseat. We got her out for a minute and took a little break and then forced her back in her carseat while she was screaming and went on our merry way. It was raining pretty hard but I was wide awake and ready to go. We got just outside of Cedar City and Avery had been crying in some form or another since Mesquite and Cody had been miserable all day as he struggled to get comfortable with a fever and aches and that wasn't happening and as we drove into snow, cars were sliding off the road and we were down to around 30 mph, Cody says, "let's just stop." I look at him with my big, wide artificially energized eyes and said, "I'm good to keep going, let's keep going" and Cody looks at everyone else and they all kind of nod and he says, "let's stop." Our poor cousin, Brock was with us and had been sitting by Avery all this time and I don't know how loud his IPod was at this point, but he looked a little weary too. We stopped in Cedar City and got a hotel and I laid and looked at the ceiling until 4:30 in the morning because I was prepared to drive straight through with my energy drinks.

We got up the next morning at 7:00 and got ready to go and headed out again. I drove for a while until Cody thought he could finally take over when we were 2 hours from home. After 4 hours of sleep in 2 days, I still couldn't relax but when we finally made it to my dad's house...I couldn't have been happier. It's a good thing it was worth it when we got there, which of course we knew it would be, but it was quite a trip! There's actually more to the story, but I won't take the time to write it down right now.....let's just say HO, HO, HO. :)

My niece made these antlers....aren't they funny?

Grandpa and Grandma took such good care of us. This is Christmas morning and we had a delicious breakfast and had such a fun day! It was great to be around family and cousins for Christmas in the snow. I am getting used to lights on palm trees, but not quite the same as a white Christmas.

She loves her babies and carried them around all morning.

Carson's new bike

This has to be my ultimate favorite picture of the holidays. You can totally tell how excited Bailey was that Brittany got a cell phone. Her expression is priceless!! "But that's not fair" was not far behind this expression, but it was so funny to look back on the camera and see this picture. Brittany was happy! :)

Christmas Morning! Carson is still yawning....

I love this picture....we had our family party on Christmas Eve this year and all of the grandkids gathered around my dad while he read about Jesus' birth from The Bible. They all sat down and listened....it was so sweet the way they looked up at him. We do this at our house too, but it's totally different coming from Grandpa.

Love this! No one had a baby this year, so we had to use the Fisher Price newborn. It did the job and I love how serious Carson was about his role.

Money! I do the same thing.... :)

We always have homemade soups with bread bowls and munchies....I love this dinner. It's perfect for the cold outside and I love my sister's Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup with homemade noodles. I tried to make it once, wasn't the same.

Bailey loved this gift! It's an earring holder that my niece made for her.

Brit & Jacey are inseparable when we're in Utah. They're only a few months apart and are so cute together. They got matching blankets and slippers....my kids really miss their cousins.

Avery had a really fun Christmas. I love the fact that she just loves whatever she gets and even if we wrapped up her sippy cup, she would love it and carry it around. She got the hang of unwrapping and loved everything she got.

These are Carson's buddies....cousins Braden and Ty. He can't get enough of either one of them and they are so cute together.

Avery has never been in the snow so this was a whole new thing for her. We had Carson's old coat and we bundled her up and she loved it!

Grandpa Phil & Grandma Debbie give all of the grandkids pajamas and it was so fun to be together this year. I love this picture. They take one every year and I'm so glad we got to be in it. We missed Jerry & Kim, Taylor & Hayden so it's missing 2 of the kids, but what a cute group of kids!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving, Brittany & I ran the 5K in La Quinta with our sweet friends Alysa, Carson & Roxanne. Our family was going to do it together but Thanksgiving morning, Avery woke up with a fever so I took Brittany and we had a mother/daughter moment. She did great and next year we're going to train a little better and Bailey is definitely going to join us next year and we'll gladly take any others. Alysa and Carson were with us last year as well and it's such a fun way to start off Thanksgiving morning. We had a great time and it feels so good to not only do it for yourself, but to help out a good cause. The event raises money and awareness for Martha's Village & Kitchen so it's definitely a win/win. It's a great way to start out the day and it definitely helps us to reflect on all of the many things that we're so grateful for. We had many blessings this year and I can't tell you how thankful we are! Among some of the many....

• My sweet husband who I love and keeps me sane (either that or we're both nuts) He also is the one who can always make me laugh. With all of the craziness this year, that has been one of the most important things that we've learned....you have to laugh or the sanity thing goes right out the window. He has been amazing and while things definitely could've torn us apart, it has brought us even closer together. I know, I know, sappy, but I don't know what I'd do without him and I love him!!


• My wonderful kids! Without their help and their love & understanding, it would have been absolutely miserable. They stepped in so many times when we needed them, watched kids, cleaned the house, made breakfast, lunch and dinner and also made me laugh. What a joy it is to be their mom and I don't think they'll ever understand how much I love and appreciate them. Together we made a pretty scary year turn out to be okay and I love them so much for that!


• Our family & friends! I know that if we ever needed anything, they would be there for us. I can't tell you how nice that is to be surrounded by such good people who we love! Many times this year we received acts of kindness from family and friends that helped us mentally, emotionally, financially, etc. I hope that we're in the position to do the same for someone else because you have no idea how many times our prayers were answered through the wonderful people around us.


• I'm thankful for the gospel...you can't help but have a positive attitude when we know how blessed we truly are. I'm thankful for the testimony that I have and for the opportunity we have to teach our kids the gospel and to believe in the power of hope and of goodness and to see firsthand how prayers are answered. I'm also grateful for the opportunity we have to serve others and we're grateful for those who have served us! That is a humbling and wonderful thing and one that I'm used to being on the other end of. Thank you for those who have picked us up when we've been down! You truly made a difference in our lives this year.


• Work....we've been very blessed to have good people around us that either provided us with work or passed our names to others. We wouldn't have made it without all of you and we know this for a fact. Thanks for all of the jobs, referrals, friends of friends, etc. We'll try to return the favor...


• I'm thankful for the opportunities we have in life and for timing. It's amazing how things fall into place when you're least expecting it.


• I'm thankful for moments of pure happiness that come with a sweet moment with one of my kids, an unexpected hug and kiss or a card made and left on my nightstand. I'm so thankful for all of this and more and for the opportunity I have to write it all down so I can remember that 2008 wasn't all bad! :) There were so many learning moments and moments of reflection that made me realize that through some of these difficult days, we smiled, we laughed and we were grateful for each other and for all of our many family and friends who made a bright spot out of a lot of cloudy days. Happy Thanksgiving (a little late)! :)

Carson & Avery

I know I've blogged about this before, but I just keep catching these two taking such good care of each other. Carson is very protective of Avery and they are such cute little friends. I do catch them being mean every once in a while too, so don't get me wrong. But the thing that I do love is I catch them like this way more than I ever catch them being mean to each other. I worried about them being 3 years apart and them being brother and sister, but now all I worry about is how Avery is going to handle letting Carson go to school next year. She'll be lost without him!

This is at one of Bailey's football games. They were giving away lemonade and he wanted her to have some. He didn't want me to go with them; he took care of it all by himself.

This was just too cute!

Carson had the flu one morning, hence the big pan, but Avery sat next to him and held the pot in case he needed it. She brought him a blanket and a little while later, she brought him his pillow and continued to sit by him until he felt better. She had her arm around him for a while, but I missed that! Carson looks like he needs a good friend! :)

I couldn't ask for better kids!

Girls Night Out!!

Here I am playing catch-up AGAIN.... I want to remember nights like these because they're so important! When things get crazy and I feel like I can't keep up and I get a little out-of-touch....what's better than a fun Girls Night Out to keep you going? A group of girls went out for Shannon's birthday and it was so needed and so much fun! We all piled into my big car and headed to Sami's at The Garden. It was perfect timing and nights like these are what bring a little perspective back into life and help make the next few weeks go so much better. I can't tell you how important our friends are to us and we're so blessed to have so many wonderful friends around us! I don't know what I'd do without them and we definitely need to do this a lot more often!

Roxanne, Shannon & I
Shari & Lizzie

Melissa & Shea

Brooke, Lillie & Rachelle

Happy Birthday, Shannon!