Tinkerbell, Gingerbread, & Birthday....What?

We celebrated Kelbi's birthday and did our annual gingerbread house party. Kelbi knew exactly what she wanted which was a tinkerbell themed party. She had so much fun picking her decorating supplies out. My new house has never experienced such a mess but it's back in tip top shape and it was absolutely worth it. We had a really great time including pizza & great appetizers, the making of houses, a chime tune played by bopping our heads with cardboard paper rolls, gift opening, blowing out the candles, male wrestling, & watching our little girls sing karaoke. All in all a wonderfully LOUD party for my little sweety and a fun group to spend it with. Thank you all for coming.

Kelbi's Birthday Night

Kelbi's birthday was on a Thursday night & she and Conner weren't feeling very well so we first went to JCW's which is good but not quite our Barry's which is the fast food joint we loved in our old neck of the woods but the kids liked it.

We then went to see the lights which the kids always really enjoy looking at and so do Chris and I

We had a party planned for Kelbi for Saturday but the boys insisted that since she wasn't getting her gifts on her real birthday that we should go to Walmart & let Kelbi pick something out. She is really in love with Panda's these days & she picked a little baby one that moves and whimpers to add to her lot.

She even sleeps with these little guys.

Happy 2nd Birthday My Little Darling

This is a picture of me seeing my beautiful daughter for the first time. A little over 2 years ago I never dreamed that I would get the privilege of being able to have another baby let alone a daughter. I am so thankful for my 3 boys and honestly one girl is enough for me but I absolutely adore her. There are so many things I look forward to doing with her and so many dreams I have for her but right now I just enjoy holding her on my lap and listening to her say
"I love you mommy"

I love the way she wants to copy everything I do like wear jewelry, put on makeup, and clean the house. I love how she looks at her daddy like he is the most special person on this earth. I love how when she goes to sleep she says goodnight to the boys and calls them each by name. I love that she wants to have stories read to her all day long. I love that she snuggles in bed with me and Chris in the morning and at night. I love it when she plays with my hair or rubs her palm on my cheek. Oh I could go on all day long about the things I treasure concerning her but for now I will just say Happy Birthday & I love you!

Book Club Christmas Party

Book Club for me is the one thing I look most forward to each month. It's been so hard for me to move away from these ladies as well as others. When we decided to move Chris promised me he would support me still in book club. I appreciate and look forward so much to seeing these fine women. Our Christmas book club is the one to look forward to each year. We have dinner and a book exchange which is always full of great conversation amongst many other entertaining things.

Julie, Machelle, and Kathryn

Candace who hosted this year and Cora who had a run in with some plastic right before book club and had to have minor eye surgery.

Our table of books for the exchange. I ended up with the world wide Christmas cook book which I really wanted.

Stacy, Melanie, Liz, Kirsten, & Machelle. So you might wonder who will be hosting next year....oh ya it's that sucker named Tandy.

Construction

One of the things I love about having a new house is that I get to design another yard & I also hate it to because I have to pay for it. We had this hill in our yard and we realized that there was a lot of property up there and wouldn't it be fun to put in a fire pit and some grass and things up there. So we decided to destroy the hill and add another rock wall. My cousin owns Rocks & Stuff in Salem and he did one awesome job! So the above picture is the before in the summer.

Tearing the hill out

This is where my daughter spent pretty much every day that they were working.

Woohooo!!! This is after. I absolutely love the dimensions it added and I think it will be so beautiful some day once we have the fire pit, grass, and flowers. Now I just have to keep being thrifty and saving.

This is my kids new sandbox that will have the trampoline put up in it come spring! They are so excited to have a sandbox again to do all of their creative play and honestly I enjoy watching them imagine and make muddy messes of themselves in the summer (well most days)

Winter Fun & Christmas Time

I just love Christmas! I don't like worrying about paying for it but yet I love shopping for gifts for the ones I love. Most of all I love how cozy the house feels and all of the fun activities to do during the month of December. I love reading Christmas books with my children and watching Christmas specials on TV. I love that everyone starts thinking outside of themselves and looks to help others. I love thinking about the birth of my Savior and the light he brings into my life. Christmas is a time of joy and peace.

We have 18 foot ceilings in our new house and I have always wanted a great big tree so lucky me I got a new 12 foot tree.

It snowed the other day and I enjoyed sitting on the deck watching my boys and their friends go sledding. It's all melted now but hopefully next week we will get us a bit of another winter wonderland.

Thanksgiving 2009

This year we had a wonderful invite to have Thanksgiving in San Diego with Chris' Dad and his family. We desperately wanted to go but every time we look outside and see our yard incomplete we know we need to spend it on grass instead so hopefully next year. We did however have dinner with my family at my moms new home. This is the adult dining room, my mom went all out with her table setting.

This is the kids table and she made little turkey cups that held crayons for the kids to color on the paper tablecloth which they loved. Cade didn't appreciate being sent to the kids table so he downed his food as fast as possible to come hang with us. Some day I know that we will miss him wanting to hang out with us.

Chris then participated in this activity

My sister in law decided we should have a pie contest which ended up being so much fun! They really were all so good. I made a strawberry cream one and a homemade from scratch banana chocolate cream pie. The banana cream won! Honestly I couldn't believe it, I like the strawberry one the best but I was pretty pleased.

Grandpa can't ever resist smearing someone with whipped cream

We blew up balloons and let them shoot all around the room....the kids loved that! And then we had all had it with that Becca came out with her "game" which is the biggest looser challenge for all of us to do. We all put money in a pot and at the end the one who has the most points and the one who has lost the most weight splits the cash. I think a little crazy for December but if it gets me off Diet Coke then I'm all about it. I have been running around like a loon with a caffeine headache.

Then to end off the evening we watched our old home movies on the projector. I love to watch them and boy I was sure an obnoxious singing dancing girl.

It was bound to happen

We have lived in our new home for about 2 months now
& we are trying to get settled in our new ward. It's been very hard to get to know people being that it's now cold and everyone is inside. So far we have liked everyone we have met and we are hoping to make life long friends here just like in our old neighborhood.
As you all know I have 3 boys so scouts has and will be a big part of our lives. I knew eventually I would end up a den leader in scouts since I do have 3 boys. Well, that time has come. I have to admit that it isn't something I looked forward to and I didn't jump up and down for joy when I received this calling but I am making the best of it and really going to work. Each week I grow to enjoy the boys more and more, they really are cute good boys. The best part is that I will get to spend time with Conner & he is soooo excited to have mom in there with him. I think that I will end up really enjoying this, maybe even the gorgeous yellow scout shirt I get to sport each and every week.

Halloween Fun

Let's just say that I can be kind of a Halloween-Humbuggar (made up my own word). I don't like spending so much money just for one night but I must say that every year it ends up being really fun and it is more than one night.

We had our annual pumpkin carving & dinner party at my mom's house. The boys absolutely look forward to this every year and it was extra fun this year because Grandma and Cal where in town to participate.

Coby carved both he and Kelbi's this year since she would rather play babies with her cousins.

The final product!

We went to our ward party where the kids had a yummy dinner, played games, and best of all got to do trunk or treat.

No masks for the ward party or the parade at school so Conner got major painted up and we did transformer symbols on Coby's cheeks.

Does this just make you want to pee your pants laughing? My dad has been driving the school bus since he retired and he dressed up as an 8 ball for the junior high kids he drives around.

Speechless...............just speechless! I love it, he is the best dad ever!

This is my scary skeleton, Transformer, and my little lady bug! Cade was way to cool for dressing up and trick or treating this year!

We had a great night trick or treating, then Grandpa and Grandma came over with a special treat and we watched bat man until the little ones all fell asleep and darn why did I not take a picture of that! I do really love holidays!

Bear Lake 2009

We went to Bear Lake with my family for UEA weekend. My sister-in-law's family owns a cabin there. The kids had fun running through the woods, building a tepee, riding wheelers, and swimming. The adults had fun doing all of those things and sitting and eating everything in sight. We celebrated my mom & Halley's Birthdays by going to a mexican restaurant where they got to wear a gigantic sombrero and be sung to. It was good to get away and relax a bit after this move.

New House

This is our new home. I didn't get pictures of the kids rooms because they are never up to my standards for clean but I will try. I will post Kelbi's room after I paint it lavendar. We live right by the river and the kids are having so much fun building forts and playing air soft gun wars. When it was warm they have a place called dry creek where they rope swing into the river. This is a boys paradise. We have much work to do but we are enjoying it so far.