It's Almost Time!!!!

This Saturday my Emee will be getting baptised! She is so excited and we are all so excited for her!! I can hardly believe that she is old enough to get baptised! This past Sunday was her Bishops interview. For those of you who have no idea what that means, basically Emee sits down with our Bishop, by herself, and he asks her questions about Baptism. I think it gives the Bishop an opportunity to be sure she really understands what Baptism is, and the covenants that she will be making with our Father in Heaven. Bishop Kohler was just recently released as our Bishop (which was so sad for all of us, he was such an amazing Bishop and we are sad to see him move on to another calling) and Bishop Ashby was just called. Emee was his very first Baptismal interview. Anyways, Eric took Emee in on Sunday morning for the interview. I stayed home with Hannah, so as soon as Emee got home, I was so excited to hear how it all went, you know, how she felt, what questions he asked her, etc. In typical Emee style, she said, "Mom, I could tell he was REALLY scared, but (and she shrugs her shoulders)so was I so it was O.K." I asked her, "Did he say that he was scared"? And she said, "Nope I could just tell, he was so scared mama". Good thing she was there to help him thru it! LOL!!!!So cute! She really is ready, and it is so special for me to see her own little testimony growing, and the joy she finds in the gospel! I love it. When Hannah was getting ready to get baptised we took her in to get her pictures taken in her special Baptism dress. So today, we did the same for Emee. What a pro, boy. You would have thought she was a little model with all of her poses, and ideas for the pictures! She knew exactly how she wanted it all to go, and they turned out very sweet. Oh before I forget, for those of you planning on going to the baptism, the time has been changed. It was originally supposed to be at 1:30 this Saturday, but it has been changed to 3:30. Sorry about the confusion! Anyways, we are all looking forward to her special day! P.S. I am adding Hannah's baptism picture as well, because I think they both look so cute! There is something so beautiful about being dressed in white, it makes everyone look so ethereal and peaceful!

Braces!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today my little Hannah got her braces on. I CAN HARDLY BELIEVE IT!! It just seems like such a grown up thing to do. She even looks more grownup to me, and she is only 9! I never thought we would put braces on one of our kids so young, but she only got them on her top 6 teeth, and it will really help with all the over crowding that she is having. Needless to say, she did amazing. I was so proud of her! She was so excited that she could hardly stand it!!! She got turquoise and teal rubber bands,(just like her favorite "Older Sister" and babysitter, Alicia Birch) and has been smiling ever since! They took pictures of her teeth from all angles, so I snapped of few of them myself! We added some of her before and after pictures, and of course she lovesssssssssss the freaky open mouth one! Way to go Hannah, you have a perfectly sparkling smile to match your already sparkling personality!

Introducing Hailey!!!

We have the cutest, and sweetest little friend that lives next door to us. Her name is Hailey and she could be my third little daughter. She looks so much like my Hannah, with her red hair, fair skin and blue eyes! She fits in perfectly with our family! In fact I have taken her several places with us and I always get comments on how cute all three of my daughters are!! She is such a smart, witty, and kind little thing, and we just adore her!

Swimming with the Reagles & Munsons! YEAH!

We had a super fun day at our good buddies Ed and Kelli's pool the other day! They are always so kind to us, we just adore them! They are by far the worlds best next door neighbors and friends! They had a special barbecue and swim party with us and our good buddies the Munsons! (who we also just adore) The kids had a blast! All of the kids were trying to outdo each other with their jumping in the pool!!!!

Emee's Special Day!

This weekend we celebrated my little Emee's Birthday! My kids birthdays are my most favorite days of the year! I think that I am usually more excited than they are! I love to remember the moment when we first saw our children, and how instanly in love we are with them. Pretty sappy, I know. My little one turns EIGHT this week, and I can't believe that my baby is that old. I just love this little girl so much and am in constant awe of her. She is so loving and tender, so much fun, and so full of life!!! She started off the day by picking her breakfast, (lemon pudding, bacon and frog eyes), (I know totally vomit inducing, but she loved it)! She then opened all of her presents. Then she picked a family game for us to play. Next we went and saw "Kung Fu Panda", totally cute by the way, and then went to Panda Express for dinner. We had a whole Chinese thing going! Anyways, it was so much fun, and it was the perfect celebration of her. We love you Sass!

Build-A-Bear Magic, Just for you Sass!

Two weeks before Caleb passed away the Doctors sent him home from the hospital and said that it was time to take him home and let him go. We decided that it was really important for my girls to have something very tangible to hold on to and love when he was gone. We decided to take the girls to Build-A-Bear, with Caleb, and build something special just for them, from their brother. We recorded his tender little laugh, and he helped the girls pick out their bears and kissed the tiny hearts before they put them in their bears. While we were there, I of course had a difficult time holding back the tears. The girls were so happy and Caleb just smiled the entire time. While I was crying the manager came over and asked me what was wrong. I explained that we had so little time left with our sweetie, and she told us that Build-A-Bear would love to pay for their bears, as well as the outfits. Apparently there is a program that helps children in times of grief by supplying them with something to hold and cuddle. Needless to say, there is not a day that goes by, even still after a year, that my little ladies don't listen to his laugh, and snuggle their little Caleb bears. I guess the reason that I am telling you this is that their bears have become a very important part of their lives. They never go anywhere without them, and every holiday or birthday their bears received something special. This past weekend we celebrated Emee's birthday because we knew that Eric was going to be in New York the whole week. Emee's bear received some special gifts as well, and she just loved it. She wanted us to take a picture of "Snowy", so here you go little Sass!

Me!

One of my bestest buddies, Annie Sager had this on her blog. I loved the idea so I thought that I would steal it.

A- Attached or single: Attached
B- Best Friend: Eric
C-Cake or Pie: Banana Cream Pie, and ALL cakes!!!
D-Day: Favorite Day of the Week: Saturday, I love lazy Saturday mornings with my little family!
E- Essential Item: My kids
F-Favorite Color: Brown, it reminds me of Autumn!
G-Gummy Bears or Worms: Gummy bears, the kind in the gold package.
H-Home town: Lake Arrowhead, California
I- Indulgences: Definately pedicures with my girlfriends, and hot baths with a good book!
J- January or July?: I should say July, because of my birthday, but I LOVE WINTER.
K-Kids: Hannah, Emee, Aubrey, and little peanut
L-Life is incomplete without: Eric and my little ladies.
M- Marriage Date: Feb.4,1995
N-Number of Siblings: 1 amazing sister and 2 crazy brothers!
O- Oranges or Apples: Oranges, I HATE FRESH APPLES! But I like apples in pies. Big shocker hugh!
P- Phobias or Fears: SNAKES!!
Q- Quote: "I love you"
R- Reason To Smile: I have the best little family!
S- Season: My idea of heaven would be Fall all year round!
T- Tag Four: Misty, Annie
U- Unknown fact about me: I can only roller skate and ice skate backwards. Crazy, I know, but I can go pretty fast!
V- Very Favorite Store: TARGET
W- Worst Habit: Definately biting my nails!
X-Rays or Ultrasounds: I hate both, I never get good results..
Y-Your favorite food: Pizza and seafood
Z: Zodiac Sign: Cancer, love the crab

WE ARE BACK!

Well hello to my family and friends, we are back!!!!! We were so lucky to go on an 11 day vacation to Southern California, as a family! It was so amazing, and perfect, and great! We stayed in L.A., saw the Broadway show Wicked, went to the beach for a few days, hung out with Misty and her cute family, and followed it up by hanging out in Carson City, NV. with Eric's family for a few days. It was so great to spend time with everyone, and I loved every second with my sweet little family! Look below to see some of the fun things that we did! I am so excited that the girls are out of school, and that I get to see them all day every day! This is one of my favorite times of the year! P.S. Be sure to check out my cousins POST, they are all so adorable!

So Sweet!

My little Emee NEVER sleeps. She goes strong all day, is up by 6:00 am, NO MATTER what time she goes to sleep. I think that we finally tired her out on this vacation! Is'nt she so sweet! I love how fuzzy and warm my kids are when they are sleeping.

WICKED!

Alright so I Loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee the Broadway Show Wicked. It is by far my most favorite musical. All of us know the whole story, and every word of the songs! Geeky, I know! But last year I was able to see it in Portland Oregon, I LOVED IT, and I have been dying for Eric and the girls to see it. We were able to get tickets at the Pantages theatre in Hollywood, CA. The show was incredible and everyone loved it! I loved watching my girls watch the show! It was so cool to see how excited they were!

Our wonderful Grandma Auntie!

My Aunt Joe lives in Huntington Beach, and we were so lucky to have her come and spend some time with us at the beach. She brought a wonderful lunch, and helped make sand castles with the kids, it was so wonderful!

A totally PERFECT couple of days!

I think when I am old and gray, I will look back on my life, and remember our days at the beach, and think "Those were the most perfect of days"! Everything was so perfect! The weather was amazing, the beach was so clean, the waves were awesome, there were not very many people there, and my kids just beamed the entire day! It could not have been more perfect! I hope that some of these pictures show how truly happy they were!

So YUMMY!, and Something So Amazing!!!!

On one of the nights while we were at the beach, we had all the kids roast hot dogs, and smores! THEY LOVED IT, and O.K., so did I! THEY WERE SO YUMMY!


After the kids ate, they all went down by the water to watch the sunrise. While we were watching the waves, I noticed a dorsal fin riding a wave right next to a surfer. I told the kids, OH MY GOSH IT'S A SHARK!, (you know being the calm and collected mother that I am) But Hannah said, "No mama, look it's a dolphin". What was really cool was there was a whole pod of dolphins, that just hung a round and played for a good 20 minutes! IT WAS AWESOME!!!!! I am not sure if I mentioned this before, but Hannah's most favorite animal is a Bottle Nosed Dolphin, in fact she wants to train dolphins to work with Special Needs kids when she grows up. So to see the dolphins was so special for her, and all the kids loved it. When I asked the girls what their favorite part of the vacation was, they both said THE DOLPHINS.

Body Surfing, (Well Trying)

Eric was in Southern California for a work related trip, and brought us all along. He was pretty busy most of the week, but on one of the days he was able to go to the beach with us! It was great. He taught all the kids how to boogie board, and they all did pretty good. After each one of them crashed, they were pretty done with it, though! But it was fun while it lasted!

Cousins, Cousins, and More Cousins

We just got back from a totally fun vacation to Southern California! We did so many fun things, and the weather was amazing. My sister Misty and her kids were able to come with us, so all the cousins were able to spend some time together! THEY HAD A BLAST!It is so much fun seeing our kids love eachother, and have so much fun together!