THIS YEAR, I AM THANKFUL FOR.....

MY FAMILY! We had so much fun over the Thanksgiving holiday! We Turkey Trotted, ate, played Ultimate Frisbee which, I LOVE now! ate, went to the Monterey Aquarium, and ate some more! CHECK out the AWESOME shirts my brother made!! We so want to be like "Dan in Real Life!" This year, we may have pulled it off :) I have so much fun with my family! I miss them.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IKE!

So, for Ike's birthday I told him we would have a "special" day with just the two of us. Well, he has always wanted to go to Build-A-Bear so I thought I would surprise him. We met his friends Elsa and Vivian at the mall. They were all able to pick out their own animals and they all chose the turkey!!

Ike LOVES his Turkey, Tom! ( Yes,we are VERY original :) ....

and I LOVE Ike!! He is such a sweet little boy! He always makes me smile and just has the funniest personality! This is such a fun age. I cannot believe he is SO big now! HAPPY BIRTHDAY my little Ike! I sure love you!!

PUMPKIN PATCH

The family went to the pumpkin patch for FHE. The kids LOVED the maze and the scary tunnel!! Gretta loved all the little pumpkins and hay. She really did have a great time, even though she is NEVER smiling in the pictures! This is my favorite time of the year! I just wish it would have cooled off for more than a day. Soon enough I am sure. (Oh, I think I need a new camera). Good thing Christmas is right around the corner! (hmmmm....) any one have a suggestion?

CONGRATULATIONS COLE!!

Cole had a very special birthday this year. He turned 8 on Sept. 6th. We decided to make a mini-vaca out of Labor day weekend, so we drove to Utah. We were there for a week and it was so fun to see everyone. It makes living away easier when I can see them every 3 months or so!! Cole decided he wanted to get baptized in Utah. He was so excited to have his cousins there!


Also, our Primary has challenged all eight year olds to pass off their Articles of Faith this year and they would get a HUGE cookie. Well, Cole received his cookie today. So many people stopped him in the hall to congratulate him. They could not believe that he was just baptized and had already passed of his A. of F. I am so proud of him, too. He is so smart and determined. He really is just a sweet boy! I cannot believe he is already eight! The time is flying by!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLE! I LOVE YOU! XOXOXOX

I WON!

So. I won the contest!! I was so excited because I never win ANYTHING!! Go to face book and see a few of the photos! It was so much fun! Cant wait to see the rest!

Also, WHY can I NOT blog anymore? I used to be so on top of it :( Oh, yeah.... face book! I really need to get back on track! This is my journaling!! Motivation Please!!!!

PHOTO CONTEST!

Hello everyone! I know it has been a long time since I have posted! Well, I have a contest to win so It will be even longer.... My friend Ally ( from Utah) is having her year photo anniversary. She is amazing and looks like she has been doing this forever. Check her out.... enter in the contest. (She also shoots in S. California) for my cali friends!! She is amazing! See for yourselves.

www.allysonrandlephotography.blogspot.com

I will be back sometime soon, I hope to post about our BUSY lives. :)

For some reason the link wont work here, but you can follow the link on the right side :)

Have a good day!

SPRING BREAK OVERLOAD!!

I cannot believe spring break has come and gone! What a busy week we had! Beware of the LONG slide! We just did so much :) We started our break by seeing the movie Monsters vs. Aliens. It was pretty cute. I wish I had a picture of all of us wearing our 3D glasses. We also had our ward Easter egg hunt. It was pretty cute. We had egg races, tosses, and then the hunt. The Easter bunny even made an appearance! For Spring break, all the kids ( mine and Jennifers') got new sunglasses. I did get a pic of that. We all decided to head South on Tues. We stayed in Manhattan Beach. We hit Hollywood Blvd. to see the "stars" . We went to the LA zoo. We matched all the boys to help keep track of them. It worked! We only lost Elsa once! ;) I knew we should have gotten her a yellow shirt too. :) One out of eight is not too bad! Elsa wasnt even worried. She found a new friend. On our last day, we went to the beach. It was a little chilly, but the kids still had fun. The poor Poyers all had the flu. They were still troopers and came to the beach! We had such a great time! I could NEVER live there with that traffic, but it is nice living close enough to visit often. Thanks Poyers for a wonderful spring break! ( Oh, and thanks for the flu too!) Just kidding!! At least ours waited until AFTER the trip! :) At least now I have an excuse for a little after vacation R&R! I just feel so bad for the kids! YUCK!!!!

AND..... this is what Gretta was doing while we made the volcano.

Max found an old Halloween wig and put it on Gretta!

She is blowing everyone kisses!

Miss ya!

THE VOLCANO

It has been so long since I have posted any pics! ( SORRY family! ) So, now I have a TON to post. Bare with me friends..... some are for the Grandmas, aunts and uncles :)

A while ago, the boys and I made a volcano that a friend told me about. It was so easy, and the kids' thought it was the coolest thing ever!

You Are 2: The Helper

You always put on a happy face and try to help those around you. You're incredibly empathetic and care about everyone you know. Able to see the good in others, you're thoughtful, warm, and sincere. You connect with people who are charming and charismatic. At Your Best: You are deeply giving, altruistic, and humble. You devote your life to others while caring for yourself too. At Your Worst: You are manipulative and enjoy making other people guilty. Your Fixation: Rejection Your Primary Fear: Being unworthy of love Your Primary Desire: To be loved unconditionally Other Number 2's: Mother Teresa, John Travolta, Princess Diana, Dr. Phil, and Mr. Rogers.

What Number Are You?

GRETTA'S 1ST BIRTHDAY!

WHAT A MONTH!

This month has been crazy at our house. We have ALL been sick. Cole had a terrible cough that would NOT go away... well three weeks later he lost his and I must have found it! It is miserable. You dont get any sleep and neither do the people in your bed. (yes, at our house it is people in my bed. Every night we have Ike with us, and for some reason Max has been joining us the past few nights. Is a king even BIG enough??) Max had double ear infections, and Ike had some random fever that still comes & goes. Strange.

Then, Gretta had RSV and bronchitis! Poor thing. She had to do breathing treatments every four hours and HATED it! The boys were so concerned for her. So, just when everyone is getting back to normal.....

Wham- Greg sprains his ankle playing basketball. He thought he had actually broken it because of the loud POP but I guess he severely sprained it!? He is supposed to get an MRI this week. He is your typical guy. He didnt need the pain meds offered to him from the hospital, or crutches. Well, now that all MY left over vicodin and percocet is gone he had to see the Dr. :) Also, our friend found us some crutches. MY lifesaver. Now Greg can get off the couch. I knew I didnt want 5 kids!! JUST KIDDING!! Love ya :)

Well, we are all feeling so much better! Just in time for Gretta's birthday party. :) Thanks Eric for taking Greg to the ER, Bryan for the crutches, and my cute friend Jennifer for the heart shaped pizza and yummy brownies! (we still owe ya) We have the best friends ever!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

For Valentines Day, Greg gave me the prettiest flower arrangement! (so, I had to share a picture with all of you :) He likes to go to the flower shop and "design" his own bouquet. He did a fabulous job!!! Thanks boys!- I love you!!

The boys gave me a webkinz! THE LOVE MONKEY! I love playing the webkinz games. ( I also know that many of you do too, secretly) ! If you haven't tried it....don't start! It is almost as addicting as Facebook! ( If you want to try, go for the smoothie moves! It is so HARD!!) Greg used to give me a hard time about always being on webkinz. I needed to win money for my kids, right?? Whose bulldog is that, you ask? Yes, I have now corrupted my husband!

Ike wanted to get in on the action and have a picture with ALL of our webkinz. Yes, we all have them!! LOVE them.

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentines day full of love.....

GO THUNDER!

Our friends, the Poyers, invited us to go to a hockey game on Monday. Our kids are all pretty much the same age and we have the best time with them!


The boys' playing around in the gift shop.





Gretta and Ike were not too sure about the mascot!





It was a great game. (until the end) Our team started losing in the last period, so it pretty much turned into a boxing match. Every 30 seconds masks went flying and the players were brawling. The boys didnt understand why all they wanted to do was fight. I think our team did win when they werent skating.

**What a great family home evening** :) Thanks Poyers!!!

RANDOM CHRISTMAS PICTURES