March

In my attempt to catch up we will keep March brief.

The kids made me a wonderful birthday cake with a little help from Dad.

I attempted to do a small photo shoot with the kids.  Lets just say I learned a few things.  One of them being that its nearly impossible for three faces to all look pleasant and in the same direction.

Sadly, you are looking at the best picture I got.

Benny got a new ride and swanky new helmet.  The helmet fit him for about two days.  That child's head is so large he fits the 5-14yr helmet perfectly.

Nothing gets my kids motivated to clean up the house like the promise of making brownies.

Megan and I have watched a few reality wedding shows lately.  She wanted to see my wedding dress and then asked to try it on.  She attempted to twirl in it but for obvious reasons couldn't so I got in it and twirled for her.  This little girl is so much fun.

A Little Feb Randomness

Never too many pencils and its really hard to think with your mouth closed.

Dad always has a lot of help with any project.

Mark's Birthday and Family Visit

Mark turned 6! Time just flies when you are having fun.  He of course got more lego's.  We had all the grandparents here and one uncle so he got a lotta lovin'. 

He requested an ice cream cake.  The kid never eats cake anyway so I had it easy this time.  We had hamburgers which tie for his favorite with stroganoff and lasagna. 

Since I didn't have any pics of Benny opening presents here is one from Mark's day.  Of course all the kids had to have at least one gift to open so that no one feels left out.  We are so spoiled.

We enjoyed the rest of the weekend with my parents and brother.  We took a quick hike in Red Rock Canyon.

It ended in this small canyon that had a "waterfall" which was really just a drip but we will take what we can get!

Pretty dramatic view, eh?

Uncles are seriously the best and Benny totally agrees.

Valentines!

 We have so many people to love and who love us.  The kids enjoyed having yummy pancakes and making a heart wall for Daddy.

Benjamin's First Birthday!

This awesome little guy is growing up so fast!  He is into everything and loving being mobile.

 As you can see he loves pasta just as much as the rest of the family.

 Here is the cake that the kids and I decorated for him.  We got all fancy with everything, matching the icing to the paper plates and napkins!

 The poor guy was not really feeling great on the big day.  He had been battling a fever the day before and part of the morning.  Dad is always happy to snuggle and by party time he was feeling a little better.  Grandma and Grandpa came for the festivities.

 Look at that face!  If he could talk I bet he would be saying awesome.

 He enjoyed diving into the cake or should I say the icing?

A good bottle of milk washes it all down. This little guy is such a blessing to have around our house.  He loves hugs and kisses.  He gives lots of big smiles that include a wrinkled nose.  He can say Mom and dog and hot but that's about it.  He points and grunts and everything.  He brings a lotta love to our house.

Oh Benny!

Life always gets a little more complicated once the start moving.  Benny was so tickled to get the lid off my flour bin.

I guess it didn't taste as good as he thought it would.

 On the flip side he knows that he is so cute that he can get away with almost anything.

Just flash those baby blue eyes and give a toothy grin.

This is what I see most of the day.  Ben off to find mischief in some other corner of the house.

He loves opening and shutting doors.

And there isn't a vacuum he has met that he hasn't liked.

The New Year

To sum up our January- except for a quick trip to Randi and Al's wedding reception here- we decided to just park it for a while.

Megan is enjoying all of her dress ups and accessories.  She and Mark are loving the tramp and spend hours out there everyday. 

Benny was nice to us and didn't learn to crawl until after I had put the Christmas tree away.  He loves being able to move around and we now have a nice new gate at the top of the stairs.  I caught him sleeping like this- it looks so uncomfortable but he was snorin.

Mark has passed the amazing milestone of losing his first tooth.  For any of you who know him well you know that pain is not easily endured by our little guy.  His tooth was practically falling out but we still had quite an ordeal that nearly scarred Mark and his dad before it finally came out.  You can still see the tears in his eyes, but the excitement of the tooth fairy coming quickly made everything better.

Wedding Number 2

To finish off our holiday celebrations we were lucky to be able to attend Randi and Al's wedding.  We left the thursday after Chirstmas and drove to Phoenix with Grandma and Grandpa.  Grandpa had caught the now infamous yucky bug and so he and Mike rode in one car to keep the germs away from the kids.  Poor guy survived the trip pretty well and when we arrived was sent right to bed.  The rest of us enjoyed a family dinner and had the awesome oportunity to meet most of Al's family.  They were so gracious and friendly it was a great evening.

The next day we were all over the place getting different people to the temple on time and kids to a sitter.  It was pretty crazy trying to do all that in an unfamiliar place. Luckily I had a great guide and we all made it in time.  The ceremony was awesome and after some pictures we all went back to the hotel to take a nap.  The reception that night was really wonderful.  We got to meet some of Al's good friends and his family again served up an amazing meal.  We are so happy to have Al as part of our family.

(Sorry about the lack of picutres.  I still need to get a copy of everything.)

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays!

Christmas

We left Utah on the 23rd after a quick early Christmas with my family.  We made it all the way home just in time for me to get sick.  I spent Christmas Eve in bed (which was really the best gift ever). We did our annual make a cake for Jesus's birthday tradition and opened our gifts to each other.  That part was really fun because this is the first year Mark and Megan really got everyone else gifts (that trip to the dollar store was hands down one of my favorite shopping trips).  

Christmas morning we were all feeling good and had a wonderful time.  We went to church and survived singing for the entire congregation.  Benny delighted everyone by pulling Marks hair and Megan decided last minute that she only wanted to hum.  Hopefully the spirit of the song covered all the mistakes.

Here is Megan with some of her gifts.

Mark, of course wanted Lego's.

We headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house in the afternoon.  We enjoyed an awesome family dinner, time with Aunt Randi and the soon-to-be Uncle All, and some more presents.  Santa visited their house the next morning and the kids got to open presents for the third time.  Unfortunately my sickness decided to visit Mike and Grandma.  Then after we left it hit Randi (so not cool when you are getting married in a couple days).  However, we still had an awesome time and feel so blessed to have such generous family.