Wait Till You See This!!

So apparently my oldest daughter takes after her father in his love of fishing and other gross stuff! Here are some amazing pictures of Mikaela and her daddy on a fishing trip with a guy from our ward who was kind enough to invite them out on his boat. He even let Mikaela drive! She had a blast! Now Matt spends his time searching the classifieds for a fishing boat...we have created a monster!

What a woman!!

Emma's New Pictures!

We got Emma's 1 year old pictures done when we were up in Layton last weekend. They turned out so cute! She has so much personality and was being so cute with the photographer! We really enjoy her and feel so blessed to have her in our family! We love you, Emma!!

More Beach Pictures!

Here are some more pictures of my little beach lovers!

They caught about a million sandcrabs (we put them all back!)

and they had fun getting buried by my dad's girlfriend, Debbie.

We were lucky enough to have my nephew, Kyler, come with us.

He has been a great playmate to my kids and a huge help to me!

Santa Barbara

On our trip to California, we HAD to take our kids to the beach! My dad and his girlfriend met us in Santa Barbara and we went to Stearns Wharf, the beach, and the zoo. My kids fell in love with the beach! They did not want to leave. They loved catching sand crabs, playing in the water, getting buried in the sand, collecting shells, and building sand castles! It was a great couple of days!

Life-Long Friends!

On our trip to California over the 4th, I was able to get together with 2 of my 3 best friends from my childhood. Here is a picture of us on our high school graduation cruise. From left to right...Lisa (who couldn't make it to the reunion), Andee, a random Panda Bear, Me, Julie (nice tie;) Oh, to be young and carefree again! We haven't all been together in about 16 years? Is that right, girls? What an awesome visit it was! We'll have to do it again next year and we'll get Lisa and her clan there.

And here we are now...minus Lisa (we missed you!)

Here are our kids swimming and playing together.
Mikaela and Aubrie had fun with Sydney(sp?) and Hannah and Brady got along really well!

Emma is 1 !!!

My baby turned 1 on Sunday! We had a little party for her with just our family. She had more than enough help opening her presents and eating her cake! We love her so much. She is such a sweet natured baby and we love to see all of her new accomplishments. She can wave and clap and shake her head no and nod yes and she can say DADA and she can bark like a dog. And she can charm everyone! She even smiled and waved at the nurse after she gave Emma her shots!

She LOVED her cake. And when she finished, she tried to eat the plate!

Can She Get Any Cuter?!

Hannah asked me to cut her hair the other day.

I have usually cut my girls' hair into a "bob" by this age.

But I hadn't with Hannah yet because she always wants

it in a bun or a ponytail. So when she asked me, I was

really hesitant. She quickly reminded me (in her special

Hannah way) that she is in charge! That's a nice way to

say that she begged and begged until she got her way!

It turned out way cute! She even knows just how to pose

for a good picture!

Graduation Day!

Start spreadin' the news,

I'm leaving today

I want to be a part of it,

First grade, First grade!

Aubrie did it! She graduated Kindergarten! We are so proud of her! She is growing up so fast. I can't believe 3 of my kids will go to school ALL DAY next year (and Hannah will start preschool!)! At Aubrie's graduation, they did a slide show and played the song, "You're Gonna Miss This" by Trace Adkins. If you know this song, you'll know that it's about cherishing the now. What a great message! We should always try to appreciate what we have right now and not wish for our kids to be grown and gone. We can be excited to experience new things with them, but always cherish your "NOW". We love you, Aubrie!

A New Dishwasher?!

Usually when Emma decides to help with the dishes, I start to hear the silverware jingle around as the spoons and forks go flying out of the dishwasher and onto the floor. But on this particular day, I heard the plastic bowls clanking around...you know the ones that go on the top shelf? I looked down and there she was, standing on the open dishwasher door throwing bowls out of the dishwasher! OK, so she's better at unloading than she is at loading, but I guess I can't be picky. At least she's willing to help!

This is dedicated to my Dad!

Dad,

You taught me how to plant and take care of flowers. You also taught me to love it! Thank you for always letting me help! I had the girls help me plant some pansies the other day. They each got to plant their own pot and they loved it. They beg every day to go out and water them. As soon as it quits dropping below freezing every night, maybe I can tackle the flower beds. Any suggestions for what to plant?

I Need Fabulous!!!!

If you've seen High School Musical 2, then you will understand the title. This happens to be one of Hannah's favorite songs. She sings, "I need Baaaabaluuuusssss!" So one day she was putting on a show for us and Matt said he would join her. So he put on the Cinderella shirt around his neck and then Hannah mumbled something as she was running into the other room. Matt said,"What did she say?" After I was done laughing, I said, "She said you need a clippy!" so she brought back a tiny hair clip and put it in Matt's hair. They then proceeded to dazzle us with their singing and dancing talents! (Unfortunately you can't see the clippy, but it was there!) What a great dad!

Our Little Ones are Growing...

I just noticed that we had shown you how our house had changed,
but didn't show you how our kids have changed!
Here they are, getting bigger by the second!

Emma Lucille!
At 9 months old, she is such a sweet-natured baby and ADORED by all!

Hannah Michele!
She's 2 and a 1/2 and boy can you tell! She's definitely the life of the party
and there is never a dull moment with her around. Sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes that means there's marker on a wall somewhere!
She has us laughing everyday!

Aubrie Lorraine!
She's 5 and a 1/2 and enjoying Kindergarten. She is our resident make-believe expert and performer. If you come to our house, you will probably find her dressed up in a princess dress, high-heeled shoes (the loudest ones she can find!), any make up and jewelry she can get her hands on, with purse and cell phone in hand! If she's not talking on the cell phone, then she's singing for her fans!

Mikaela Susan!
She is 8 going on 15! She enjoys her dance class and playing with her friends!
On any given day you can find Mikaela entertaining Hannah and Aubrie
or changing and feeding Emma. She is definitely a huge help to me!

Connor Matthew!
Today is Connor's 11th birthday! We celebrated over the weekend by going to Cedar City
to see Horton Hears a Who and going to Wendy's for lunch. My mom came down with my nephew and 2 nieces to surprise Connor. It was very fun!
These days Connor spends his time reading fantasy books
and playing his new DS Lite. He also just took 1st place in the school spelling bee!

IT"S BEEN A LONG TIME COMING

It's been a while since we updated our blog.
Since we last posted, we have moved to
Circleville. It's about 45 miles south of
Richfield. This is a picture of our boxes!
Exciting, huh? Things look a little different
now. We've unpacked and are in the process
of remodeling some things.

Here is the front of our house when it had blue shutters. Actually this

house had blue everything! Matt painted the shutters and the trim and the front door and we like the new look!



Here is a picture of our kitchen. It had white countertops and floors with blue trim and accents. We had new countertops put in and Matt laid vinyl that looks like hardwood.

Here is our dining room where Matt also laid the

wood-looking vinyl. We are so excited to finally have

and dining room and a dining room table!!

The past few days we have been sent a few new blogspots to look at and thought it was time to update ours and try to stay more consistent in keeping it up to date. This family picture was taken on the 2nd of September when our eight year old, Mikaela was baptized and our baby, Emma was blessed. Man, we are growing up. Our family is doing super! We really enjoy Circleville and have met many wonderful people. We are grateful for our new friends here.