Softball Coach

Olivia had been working out with the Freshman softball team all year and started tryouts. She had some struggles with how she fit in with the team, and also had wanted to try out tennis (which sadly they were in the same season). When Olivia decided to switch over to tennis, I told her that she had to let her coach (coach Julie-amazing lady) know that she was going to be switching. I was really impressed with how grown up Olivia has become and able to stand up for her religion even when it isn't the "cool" thing to do. I thought I'd share her texts.

Disney On Ice & Monster Jam

One of the great perks of writing for A Mom's take Blog is getting to attend some pretty fun events in the area. The girls got to go to Disney on Ice, and the boys got to go to Monster Jam. A fun weekend for everyone!

Braces Swap

Big Day for Olivia...NO MORE BRACES!

And...our next kid up...Izzy gets BRACES!

Izzy absolutely HATES this picture...Don't let her know it is now on the blog for ALL TO SEE!

Brace Face looks good on you Izzy!

What a smile!

100th Day of School

Collin had to bring in a collection of 100 things. He chose 100 balloons!

The Temple

Collin drew Shayne and I at the Temple.

A Priceless Gift...

Milkshake Recipes

The kids have decided that Grandpa makes the BEST milkshakes. Collin asked him one day for the recipe so he could make them himself.

I love kid-recipes!!

Snowboarding Fun

This guy has had LOTS of opportunities to snowboard this season. He's pretty much in heaven! He finally found some friends down in Arizona that like to snowboard, so he's been up to Flagstaff a few times (helps that everywhere is getting record snowfall!), took a snowboarding trip to CO with his college buddy Jim, took another snowboarding trip to UT, and even more Flagstaff visits. This season he'll get to snowboard 9 days! WOW! What a record!

Principal’s List

Way to go! These kiddos work REALLY REALLY hard to do their best and get good grades in their classes. Woohoo! Principal's List!

Play dates With Layla

We always love when family comes in town to visit! Layla was in town for a LOOONG weekend and we got to hang out with her a bunch! We took her to LegoLand Discovery and SeaLife Aquarium, and even got some yummy food at Rainforest Cafe. Some of our favorite places to visit at Arizona Mills.

Izzy’s Half Birthday Dinner

Only TWO MONTHS late for Isabelle's Birthday Dinner! It was a crazy time. Izzy decided to try out Cheesecake factory. It is SO MUCH FUN to take out just one child at a time and really enjoy a nice evening out. Of course, the favorite part of the night was the CHEESECAKE! We'll have to go back soon!

New Year’s Eve pt. 2

The night continued with the SaranWrap Prize game

Lots of goofing off

A movie

A fancy tea party

A New Year's Countdown

And even some fireworks!

Happy New Year 2019!

Whew! What a start to a fantastic New Year!

New Year’s Eve

Our girls put on a New Year's Eve Party for our kids and the Pond's Kids. They had all sorts of activities planned for the entire evening!

A gift exchange (boxes of candy) game

Gingerbread Houses

The Giving Machine

We were EXTREMELY lucky in being one of the cities that got to have Giving Machines this year at Christmastime. The Church teams up with local and global charities to help all sorts of people. Our family bought two chickens, four fish-farm starter fish, and meals for two seniors for a week. 

The kids were really excited to participate, although they wanted to purchase the cows and goats ( a little out of our price range), it was such a neat opportunity!