20th High School Reunion

I can't believe that it has been 20 years since I graduated from high school. I don't feel anywhere near old enough to have 20 years under my belt. Since I was the Senior Class President, I get to carry the burden of planning our reunions. I'm actually excited to see all the people twenty years later, and to hear about their lives. It'll be a fun journey.

Rest and Relaxation

Shayne had a great getaway with his college buddy Jim this past weekend to Breckenridge Colorafo. They spent two full days snowboarding, and chatting about the philosophical things of life. I'm sure it was hard for Shayne to come back to real life with a job and a family of six, but he got a little piece of heaven for a few days and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Rocketships

Those are not laundry baskets filled with pillows and a kid all covered in a blanket, they are rocketships into outer space! Bubba and Collin could play this all day!

Every. Single. Day.

Every single day Collin plans a bike ride and trip to the park. It doesn't matter what I have planned for the day, HE has his own plans that we need to make happen...daily. He will ask me over and over and over about when we can go on a bike ride and to the park until I give in and give him a time. He wants specifics. "Later", isn't good enough. We're in for trouble.

Softball Prep

Izzy's best friend Allie's dad is going to coach their softball team this year. So we met up before the teams are made to practice some of the fundamentals. The girls loved getting out on the field, and the boys loved playing at the park nearby. Season starts in two weeks!

Teddy Bear Picnic

My kids always love the Teddy Bear Picnic, and Collin is no different. He talked about it for days before, carefully picked out what teddy bear he wanted, packed a lunch that was WAY too much food, and woke up hours early on the day of.

Our day was full of activities that surrounded our teddy bears. we read stories to them, made teddy bear bread, patterned with teddy bears, taught them how to behave in preschool, took them to Co-operative Play and Recess with us, and then went to the park down the street for a picnic with our favorite teddy bears.

We played some fun games, and just enjoyed our new friends at preschool.

Setting Records

We set a new record this year with the EARLIEST every 90 degree day...Feb 20th. Not really something to brag about, it makes everyone REALLY scared for August.

Sewing Project

My girls love Activity Days. They have one of the best leaders, that has done so much for them. The past two weeks, they learned some great sewing skills making pillowcases. They turned out fantastic!

The Millenium Falcon holds everything!

We know the Millenium Falcon is quite the smuggler, and can carry all sorts of crazy cargo. Collin has entrusted Han and Chewie with the most precious cargo he can...all his B's. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love any reason to celebrate, but Shayne got into it this year with me too! We are blessed to have such a loving family, and some of the most wonderful kids around, and wanted to let them know how much we absolutely love and adore them!!

Valentine's Day Festivities

Luckily the kids were still able to have some Valentine Festivities at school. Sadly, Olivia's grade wasn't participating, and she was fine not bringing any valentines for her class (it was the first year, and yes, maybe I shed a tear or two).

Izzy made an owl box to collect her valentines.

Bubba really wanted to have a Pokemon box, so we came up with this Pikachu made out of a milk carton. He was pretty happy with how it turned out.

Collin's preschool party deemed to be a bit overwhelming for him, and he chose to spend half of it lying on his bed. But he sure loved the haul of valentines afterwards!

Izzy had a blast at her Valentine's Day Party at school, and even received a special valentine from Christian in her class.

Bubba loved looking at all the different valentines everyone brought, and sorted and re-sorted them many times.

Even though Olivia's classes didn't do anything valentine-sy, she still exchanged some valentines with her two good friends, Ivanka and Kaylin.

Hiking Trip

Kids had a day off school and Collin had playgroup, so we decided we could do a little hiking (which would be harder with him). Each of the kids decided that they needed to have a hiking buddy, so we invited Ivanka, Allie, and Adrien to join us. We took the Waterfall trail in the White Tank Regional Park. It was the PERFECT day to go hiking!

Every time we took a quick break, the boys found the nearest rocks to climb on.

These two goofballs are inseparable, and didn't leave each other's side the entire hike.

Found more rocks to climb.

Getting close...heading up through the rocks.

And there you have it. A true Arizona waterfall. A trickle down the rock. That's what we hiked up to see!

Taking a break to do a little rock climbing.

I love those happy grins!

Too cool for pictures, but don't let them fool you...they loved it.

We had a great morning hiking around the White Tanks.

Daddy said, "Yes, you can eat some candy."

It is so difficult to be 3 years old. Life just doesn't make sense, you don't know what you want and don't want, and even when you are given what you think you want, you still feel the need to throw a tantrum about it. Collin asked Shayne if he could eat some candy, and Shayne said YES...and this is how Collin responded.

Huge Family Accomplishment

It took us a looooooong time (three years) to complete it, but we finally did it! We read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover as a family! WooHoo! Now to start all over again...

Poor Sick Baby

My heart just breaks whenever one of my babies' are sick. It doesn't matter how old they get, but whenever they don't feel well, I'm a wreck. I can't sleep because I'm worried about them, and we usually end up camped out in the recliner for most of the day. I will say that I do love the snuggles that I rarely get when they are feeling healthy.

Life as a Stay At Home Mom

Before I became a mom, I knew I wanted to have my house be the "hangout" house. I wanted my kids' friends to come over to our house. That way I knew where they were, who they were with, and what they were doing. I still want that. I like having my kids and their friends around, but now I have a much clearer picture of what that means. On any given day (usually at least three times a week) I'll have between 10-15 kids rotating throughout my house. We go through popcorn and kool-aid and goldfish like crazy, and my house never really looks "presentable"...but I wouldn't change it for the world.

Goofing off with Papa

Nothing beats hanging around and goofing off with a grandparent. It's even better when Papa's showing you Kung Fu videos on youtube. It doesn't matter that Papa will NEVER EVER call you by your correct name, he'll only refer to you as your "Papa Name" (Olivia-Knucklehead, Isabelle-Butch, Quinten-Floyd, Collin-Clarence). Life with grandparents is the BEST!!

Lightsaber Duels

In our excessive Jedi-training that we go through at our house every day, lightsabers duels are quite common.

Usually Shayne can overpower these younglings with his superior lightsaber and superior skills...

However, no one can win against young Kylo Ren's force choke!