2009-- Year in Review!

Okay, so rather then conitue to be overwhelmed because of how much I have to get caught up on... I am going to keep it simple and show the pages I've made for 2009 year in review!  Of course it's only a glimpse and doesn't do the memories justice, but it's a taste!  Here are the my little boys, who are not so little anymore!  They are the best of friends and play for hours with trains, cars and dinosaurs.  Don't get me wrong, there are messes, and fights and lots of learning but they REALLY do play so well together.  Here is a little of what their world looks like...

Now, my girls are a different kind of energy!  School and dance and drama...  They look out for each other. It's fun to see each personality progress and become independent while still desperately needing each other!

One of the highlights of our year was Mikayla's baptism.  She is a beautiful girl and has such a good heart.  She finished the Book of Mormon before her baptism which was completely self motivated!  I wish I could take credit for it but she really pulled that one through on her own!  We are so proud of her...

The holidays were so much fun!  I can't believe how quickly they come and go every year and time continues to be accelerating!  Halloween wouldn't be complete without two Spidermans', right!?  And Thanksgiving was a much needed time of reflection and Thanks.  We had Christmas here at home and then joined Nana and Papa Marriott and Mike and Marnee in Palm Springs for New Years.  We really had a great year...

And believe it or not, we got a good family picture this year, all smiles and everything, even from McKay! Thanks Marnee, for the great shots.  We can't wait to do it again!! 

My Birth Day

Hi! This is Mikayla and I would like to talk about my 8th B-Day!(Birth Day) I was excited! I would be Baptized!I had a party day. It was the last day of school! Yay!



This is my cake! Everyone (at my party) gathered around to see it!
It was delicious.










I woke up with curlers in my hair!This is me after breakfast trying out my new bike! Rebekah wanted to get on it but I would NOT let her. I loved it! It was higher and had a kickstand! I wanted to ride it badly but I had to get ready for school. :( I ate breakfast and went to school.


My B-Day was a BLAST! I got alot of fun presents! :) :) :)

Mikayla's Big Day...

I am WAY behind on posts but I had to get this in today because it is such a special day and one I want to remember and want to keep the feeling I feel right now forever...
Mikayla was baptized today. As her mother it has been an incredible journey to watch her make this choice and follow through with one of the biggest decisions of her life! She is beautiful. In every smile I can see how pleased she is with herself and as a parent, nothing brings me more joy than to see her happiness based on the truths she is living and feeling.
She finished reading the Book of Mormon this morning. She woke up as the sun did and finished reading the last two chapters and then brought her scriptures along with her book marker completely filled in with every chapter she had read. That is what I woke up to, her scriptures on my dresser with the book mark frosting on top! It was a marvelous way to start the day! I am so thankful for her pure goodness and for all that she teaches me. I am the luckiest mom in the world!!

Happy Birthday Spencer!!

I love this little guy! He's something special... and we have the blue eye connection! We went to the park and spent a fun evening at Xtreme Play with cousins (thanks for coming Mike and Marnee!)
You can see why I'm so in love with this kid!! Here are some favorite memories of his first two years in life so far...

Spencer's Nursery Sub...

8:00 AM: I got a call this morning to sub in nusery. You know when the phone rings at 8:00 AM Sunday morning that someone is in desperate need of a sub! I loved hearing Sister Sanchez's voice on the other end inviting me to nursery! Afterall, I do have a pretty dang cute son in there and why not go spend some time with those adorable kids! I warned her that I was getting a cold but she said, "those kids are tougher than we are!" So I planned on subbing in nursery until...
9:40 AM: right after Sacrament mtg. ended and Bro. Allen came running up to me with "The Box" of singing time stuff! Apparantly Samantha may or may not be in labor but was feeling enough contractions that she couldn't teach singing time today! So I asked McKay to go and sub for me in nursery so that I could fill in for singing time.
8:32 AM: We were singing the opening hymn in church. I'm counting to make sure all four of them are there and I see Sis. Sanchez walk in with a beautiful, tall red head following behind. I lean over to McKay and say, "that's Wynonna Judd, the lady on the commercial yesterday that you asked me about!" McKay is not so sure but that fact is later verfified when Bro. Sanchez bears his testimony about "their good friend staying in there home who is a famous singer but first a mother"!
9:45 AM: Spencer is playing with all of his buddies and could care less that Wynonna Judd was over sitting on a tiny primary chair texting while McKay was busy breaking up nursery sized fights!
So, I'm thinking that singing time in primary didn't go quite as well as singing time in nursery!! What do you think!

Super Bowl Monday!!!

Yep, you read that right, Super Bowl Monday! Here, at the McKay Marriott house, we have a tradition of recording the game and watching it very early on Monday morning. Luckily today, it wasn't until 4:00 AM! McKay had set his alarm for 3:30 but then didn't manage to actually get up until thirty minutes later! When he finally woke up, he shook me softly and asked if I wanted to join him. I got up with him and we snuggled on the couch with our favorite blanket and ate homemade banana muffins. Unfortunately the outcome wasn't what we had hoped for but it was a GREAT game! Thanks to TIVO, we can watch a four hour game in about an hour and a half!! We watched every play but were able to fast forward all the "other" stuff! McKay left for work and I was able to fall back asleep for about 45 minutes before the kids got up! It was a great way to start the day!

If I have time later today, I might just go watch the commercials! Which one was your favorite!?