Christmas 2010

There is just something magical when the house gets all decorated.  It brings joy, excitement, service for others and for the little ones wonder of what the season will bring.  We enjoy serving as a family for others and are always looking for ways we can bring some of the Christmas spirit to others.  We hope that your Christmas may bring you closer to the Savior and closer as a family!

Brianna's 9th birthday

 Brianna got breakfast in bed.  She thought this was really neat!

 After waiting and waiting for dad to get home from work it was time to open presents.

 Grandma and Grandpa had one present that had all of us puzzled to what it was.  It ended up being bracelets!

 We got B Super Mario Bros.  She is going crazy over it.  I think we got the right gift!

Brianna wanted footed pj's and she was so excited that she got them.  Shane thinks she is weird for wanting them.  Brianna later that night said that they were keeping her a nice and toasty.

 Grandma got B a ZhuZhu pet and car.  She had to rip it open and try it out.  All of the girls that it was AWESOME!  I love it too. ( No food, smell or mess  just the kind of pet we want!)

Aunt Rena and Uncle Steve's present is coming late.  They were hoping that they would be able to bring it up with them.  Brianna said that this was the best birthday ever.  I asked her why and she said because of all the snow.  We have had a lot of snow fall in the past few days and has made it look beautiful outside.  We went out to the movies and saw Despicable Me and then to McDonald's.  Brianna wanted to go sledding and bowling but we went outside in our backyard and built forts, sled path, and stairs up the hill to make it easier for Ryker and Lauren to get up the hill.

Thanksgiving 2010

Well- sorry there are no pictures.  We were hoping for my sister and her family to make it up here for Thanksgiving but with all of the big storms they weren't able to make it.  After being sad for a little while we were counting our blessings that our good friends had invited us to dinner.
The Rogers were such great hosts.  Thanks for allowing us to come and eat great food and enjoy great company.  The kids all had a great time playing together.  When we got home the kids all said they had a great time.

1st good snow storm

 After walking sisters to school we decided to play in the snow for a little.  Ryker and Lauren loved it and would have stayed out for hours but it was really cold and we needed to warm up.

 Ryker would fall down and then couldn't get up so we would need to help him.  With the snow pants and big coat he was like a little ball.

 I asked lauren to go and help him up.  This is her way of helping.  "Ryker get up!"

These two are the best buds.  It is really fun watching them grow up and play together.

sleepy Ryker Nov 2010

 One night Ryker was really fussy and hungry right when I was cooking dinner so I put him in his chair and a few minutes later this is what I found.

 One morning this month I went to get in the shower when I got out this is what I found.  My little buddy fast asleep.

Yet again he was sitting on the couch with his sisters and then Paige called me in and said, "Ryker fell asleep on me."  Then she laughed.

Ryker has been growing leaps and bounds.  I think this is what is causing him to fall asleep anywhere and everywhere!

Halloween 2010

 Bri- pippy longstockings, Lauren- 50's girl, Paige- cat and Ryker our little monkey!

 Brianna wanted me to take this picture.  I think it is quite cute.

 These two are so cute together.  Lauren was going to be a cute little cowgirl.  But she lost the costume the day we needed.  She had been wearing it all month.  We still haven't found it.  Who knows when we will find it.

Lauren is always concerened about her litte brother and Paige just wants to be their mom.

Trick-or-treating at the local college with our good friends.

Ryker dived right into his candy and loved all that I allowed him to eat!

 Paige happy to have candy.

 Lauren ripped off her costume as soon as we go home so she could gobble up the goodies.

curb appeal Oct 2010

 For some time now I have wanted to do something to the front of our house to make it look more appealing.  I passed a nursery that had signs of 50% off and I thought this is the time.  So- I went and took some measurements and looked at plants.  Then Shane and I talked and he said, "go for it."  That lead me to a lot of back pain.  Thank-goodness for heating pads!  It is hard to dig up sod and move it.  Then I went and purchased the plants.  The tree barely made it in the van and weighed a ton.  I think it turned out nice.  Shane was happy that I finished a project before I started another one and really enjoyed that he didn't have to do any of it.

 The tree is a dwarf double blooming weeping cherry tree.   Which means it will not produce cherries and it will bloom in the spring and fall.  Each blossom will have two flowers on it.  I can't wait to see it in bloom.  We will wait until spring to see if we need to add anything else to the garden.

Lauren loved to find all the big worms from the garden.  She made them a nice little home on the walk way.  Then she found a little flower to decorate their house.  The truck that she has we found in the dirt that we dug up. What a treasure!

So- what do you think?  Is it better then grass all they way up to the house?

Summer Camping 2010

 This year we were happy that Shane was able to take some time off of work to do some quality family time out in the wilderness.  He doesn't really enjoy camping but did it for all of the rest of us that love it.  Thanks honey!  Since we don't normally go camping we didn't really know where we should go we asked around but the ones that were suggested were all booked up.  We eventually found one that had flushing toilets and thought that was the one for us because Lauren was potty training.  All of the rest of us really enjoyed having good toilets that didn't stink!

 While we were there we enjoyed going on hikes, cooking on the fire, lots of treats, playing with the chipmunks that loved m&m's, singing camp songs, coloring rocks, finding firewood, making camp flags, listening to our drunk neighbors (NOT fun) and just being together.

Ryker just wanted to be like dad and play with the fire but was a little scared of it.  Thank goodness!

 Brianna put on a treasure hunt for her sisters and they found COOKIES!  Good job sis.

The view was gorgous.  It was really windy when we got out on the bridge and the bridge went on forever.  The kids kept asking when we were going to turn around and go back.  We did make it to the other side and the kids did make it all the way.  Lauren did get carried for a small part of it.

Ryker loves to wear Brianna's sunglasses.  So cute, right?

 I don't know why that picture is sideways but I'm to tired to turn it right now.  Sorry!  Brianna love to collect wood from the mountain.

 On our last day there we found this playground a little ways from the campsite.  I thought it was cute that it was in the shape of a boat.

camping trip 2010

 We had the privilege to go camping with some of our good friends the Roger's.  We went to Roosevelt lake and even though the weather wasn't wonderful it ended up being nice. At night we had fun sitting around the fire and talking fire while the kids slept.  In the morning the kids enjoyed the lake and playground.  We are all looking forward to next summer for more camping.  Hopefully our friends will want to go again with us.

playing at the park

While we were at the pool this summer we had some extra time to play at the park.  The kids looked forward to swing, slide and goof off.  I have such great kids.  We really had a lot of fun this summer.  I'm  a little sad at how fast it goes by.  Yet- there is part of me that is really glad to be back into the school year.

swim lessons 2010

This summer we were able to take two sessions of swim lessons.  The girls all did very good.  This was Lauren's first year to do them.  She loved them and it got her to potty train.  Yes- that is awesome!  Brianna learned how to tread water for 5 minutes and to swim all the way across the pool and back.  I'm very proud of her.  Paige is doing much better with her ice-cream scoops and floating.  The only draw back is for the second session of swim lessens we weren't able to get the kids in at the same time.  Therefore we were there for two hours everyday.  It really stunk!!!!

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Paige had a great time opening all of her presents!  This year she really wanted crafts.  She has been loving all the things she is able to create.  I've loved that she is content with what she has.  Thanks for helping make her day special!