Holiday Dresses!

One of my favorite things to do this past 2010 was to dress Mya for church every Sunday! I spend more time on her 1 dress and shoes than all the boys combined. She got some pretty adorable dresses from Aunt Carol and Aunt Kim that I will be posting in 2011!


Hope everyone has a Happy New Year!

Dear Santa....

It is one of our family traditions to drive around and look at Christmas lights and decorations. We use this to our advantage to get our children to eat, and we go out almost every other night looking at different areas of town. For Drew, this is a BIG deal! He loves any outdoor holiday decorations and will tell people, "You don't have very many," if the decorations are not up to his standards. I try to appease him and buy a couple of decorations to add to our collection each year, but he is still not pleased with our own house. He wishes our house looked like my friend Julie's house because she has about 20 inflatables or as he refers to them "blow up things" in the front of her house! I am completely against those things! I told him when he has his own house, he can decorate it any way he wants.

But oh NO...Drew took it to the next level! He asked Santa for blow up things!!!! What is a mom to do? Do I go against all I believe in, so that his Christmas wish will come true?

The day before Christmas I went out to buy stocking stuffers and was still torn about Drew's request for inflatibles and keeping with my own decorating standards. I decided to check out Walmart and much to my surprise they were already sold out. The same went for Home Depot and I was a little relieved, but pleased with myself for at least trying. I ran to the dollar store and much to my surprise they had mini christmas inflatibles for $1.00!!! Jackpot!!!!! No they aren't bigger than me, like he would want, but a compromise I hope he is okay with.

Christmas morning Drew came down to find his infatibles and he questioned them asking, "Why are these small ones?" I did as any mom would and threw the blame back on Santa Clause! I hope these mini inflatibles will tide us over for next year...we will see!

Ian and his new bike.

Owen, or should I say Buzz Lightyear, Christmas morning!

Mya, who wanted nothing to do with her pink little skirt, and was very upset she didn't get her own bow and arrow like her brothers.

Christmas Eve we acted out Luke 2 and my dream of finally playing Mary finally came true! I had 2 older sisters and I always was a shepherd.

The boys left food for the reindeer.

We enjoyed celebrating this wonderful time of year and reflecting on the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We hope you all had a joyous Christmas and a Happy New Year.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

He Told Me!

After 2hrs of playing Mario Kart with a friend, I made Drew turn it off. A not so happy Drew, stormed to his room and put a picture on his door, letting me know just how mad at me he was.

He changed his mind when it was time for his nightly back rub!

9 years ago...

We Got Engaged on top of a water tower underneath the stars.

We married for eternity in the snow in Manti, UT.

We honeymooned in Ouray, CO, where we went ice skating, skiing, and snorkeling in a hot spring.


Us today.
We celebrated our 9 year anniversary, by going to Cheesecake Factory and ice skating!


My love for Kenny grows deeper every year. I Love what we share together and am thankful to be married to my best friend! I can't wait to see what our future holds together.

"These are COOL!"

Ian, Owen, and Drew....future police men...

ONLY, if they get to ride around on these bad boys!!!!

The Lord of The Rings

The Lord of the Rings...Legolas, Gimli, Aragorn, and Frodo in their armor and weapons!

Kenny recently celebrated his 35th birthday. His favorite gift he received was the Lord of the Rings Trilogy in Blue Ray. He and the boys have re watched the movies several times and each of them like to pretend they are one of the characters in the movie. Owen is the hobbit Frodo, Ian is Aragorn, Drew is the elf Legolas, Kenny is the wizard Gandalf, Mya is Arwen, and they joke that I am the hairy, fat, dwarf Gimli!

The boys spent the morning playing Lord of the Rings. Unfortunately Kenny was at work, or I'm sure he would have let me wrap him in foil too!!!!

Crazies!!!

Kenny says Ian gets his craziness from me! I Beg to Differ.....
Not sure who took this pic. Found it on the camera. Sure Kenny will not appreciate this post, but I thought it was funny.

Preschool days

Owen is in preschool this year and loves it! There are 6 kids who participate and each mom takes a turn teaching for 6 weeks. It is my turn to teach and I am also loving it. I remember now why I chose to get my degree in Early Childhood Education. I love watching a child learn through play. To experience their excitement and joy of learning something new is always so rewarding for me. We celebrated Christmas with a little party. They decorated cookies, exchanged gifts, and decorated stockings. It was a fun way to end out the year.

Family Traditions

When I was a little girl, I received a blanket from my Grandma Elliott with my name on it. It was a tradition for her to make one for each of her grandchildren. When her great grandchildren started arriving, she made them one too. Unfortunately she passed away several years ago, but her tradition lives on thanks to my Aunt Shirley and cousin Jamie. They have continued on my grandmother's wonderful tradition and have spent hours making each great grandchild a name blanket. I still have my blanket, my boys all have theirs, and now Mya has her own. I will cherish them forever and be reminded of my loving grandmother. Thank you so much for continuing on this family tradition Aunt Shirley and Jamie!

Black Line 5x7 folded card

Unique party invitations and announcements by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

How to win over a 1yr old....

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! My parents decided to drive to CA to spend Thanksgiving week with us, which made the holiday so much more exciting! I love being around my parents and am so thankful for their sacrifice to come and see us. We hadn't seen them since June, so my mom (aka Ge/Coleen) had to win over the heart of Mya Coleen in a short amount of time. Well of course she knew just the way to any girls heart....FUDGE!!!!
Mya knows sign language for "more" and she energetically signed it after every bite of fudge Ge offered her. She was attached to her from that point on!

My mom wanted to have a pre Christmas celebration with us, since we would not be seeing them this year, so we spent hours shopping for gifts. My parents gift to Kenny & I was the purchase and grueling hours of installing gas fire logs. I love the finished product and Kenny & I have already enjoyed cuddling up next to the fire!!!
This picture was taken at 5:30 am! My mom wanted to let the kids open their gifts from them while they were here, so we wrapped them up in one big pile and left them in the middle of the living room floor. I swear my kids can sense when there are presents in the air! All of them were awake and in my bed by 5am, and since Ge and Grandad were still on KS time, I was sure they were already awake. I told the kids that there was a surprise down in the living room and they all bolted down the stairs. Unfortunately, this was the first morning my parents were actually still asleep. They were quickly awoken by 4 children bouncing up and down, eager to know what was in the big red pile.

What fun to celebrate Christmas morning in November. I could really get used to having 2 Christmas mornings! Thanks Grandad and Ge for the fun times. We Love You!!!