12 Years and I still like him

I cannot believe that we have been married 12 years. I am so lucky to say that it truly just gets better. I have been blessed with one amazing man. He is truly an example to me and makes me want to be a better person. We were lucky to spend our anniversary in St. George. Poor Joey was not feeling well but we still went out to dinner. Darolyne was so nice to come and watch the kids. We went to Pizza Factory and enjoyed a little alone time. We are going to go to Zermatt on January 31 so this will be our belated anniversary celebration. So grateful to be able to spend eternity with my best friend. Here's to another 12 plus years...

Our quiet engineer

It is no secret that Tag is no the loudest kid! He is always so busy and loves to figure things out. The other night we were taking apart a table to take down to St. George. Joey walked away from the table for a minute leaving behind the screwdriver. Tag went over and went to work. He put the screwdriver in the hole and tried to get the screw out. What a smart boy. Now if we could only get him to say Mama!!

Date with Mimi

The Monday after Harlee's birthday, my mom planned to pick up Harlee and take her to do something special for her birthday. Harlee was so excited to spend some time with her Mimi! She picked her up and took her to Build a Bear. Harlee has been wanting to go there for so long. She was so excited. She got a pink bear (of course pink!) in a dance outfit. She then went to Sonic for some ice cream. What a special day! I can still remember spending time like this with my Nannie and I am so grateful that she gets to do the same!

No more bottles

Well I think I might deserve a little more recognition for the getting rid of bottles than Tag. He really was ready and could not care if the milk comes out of a bottle or a sippy cup. It is so me! I did not want to give up bottles for the last time. I love snuggling with him and I was afraid that this time would be tossed out along with the bottles. To my surprise we still get our snuggle time and he is drinking warm milk out of a cup. His therapists will be so proud! I am so proud of you Tag. I promise to try hard to not hold you back as I try to hold on to my baby!

Our Princess

Today Harlee was invited to go to Addie's birthday party. They were asked to dress up in their favorite princess dress. Harlee is not too into princesses anymore but thankfully she had one dress left. She dressed up as Cinderella and looked beautiful. She even wanted her hair in a bun and a little makeup! Such a pretty girl. She had a really fun time at the party. So grateful for all the wonderful friends she has in our neighborhood.

Still loving the Cars!

n my way to the basement this morning this is what I found. This boy can entertain himself for hours with his cars. He still loves them! Here's hoping he is still loving them when we go to Disneyland in September!

Seriously Seven?

Happy Birthday my sweet Harlee! What a wonderful day to celebrate you! Martie was so sweet to come watch the kids so that I could go and surprise Harlee at school and eat lunch with her. What a great moment! I love that she walks with me into the cafeteria, holding my hand! Then we went to dinner at Chick Fila! Harlee insisted that we go and eat inside! We came home and after I got home from teaching, we watched her open her presents. She got hello kitty press on nails, a cute outfit, new earrings and a camera! So fun to watch her get so excited. Then we all enjoyed a very pink cake! I so badly want to freeze time! Right now Harlee still loves me, thinks I am cool, wants to spend time with me, is not embarrassed of me, rarely talks back to me, all things that I know will change over the next few years. I am so enjoying having such a wonderful daughter and I love this day to celebrate her. I was expressing this to Joey in an email and this is what he wrote about her: Harlee is truly one of the greats. I just love her so much and am so lucky and proud that she is my daughter as well. We both feel so lucky to have such a caring, loving daughter. She is such a blessing in our family.

Birthday Beauty

For the past few months Harlee has been planning what she wants to do for her birthday. Since it is not a party year for her, she wanted to plan a night out to enjoy some pampering! She wanted to invite Grace and Martie to come and we were all so excited. We went to Pizza Pie Cafe for her dinner. Harlee was so excited because she wanted the cookie monster the give you on your special day. Then we went to the beauty college to get pedicures and our hair shampooed/styled. For two and a half hours we sat and relaxed. All of that fun for just $56! Such a fun night. I cannot express how grateful I am that Heavenly Father blessed me with this little girl. She is honestly one of His best! So grateful she wanted to spend her celebration with me.

Should we be worried?

The other night Harlee came in the living room to tell us that Gray can do the splits. Right then our funny kid slid down to show us his talent. He is one flexible little guy! So funny! He was very proud of himself!

Our view from the Cheap Seats

For New Years Day we decided to make our way to Heber and go to the Dairy Keen. The kids were seriously on their best behavior! We had a very enjoyable early dinner and then we made our way to see the Ice Castles. Since they charge $10 a person we decided to drive by and view them from our warm car. We then decided to drive to show the kids the Zermatt hotel. Right across the way is the Homestead and they have their own Ice Castle that you can walk around for FREE! We must have been being blessed for our choice to be frugal! The kids loved getting up close to the ice and I got to stay in the warm car with Tag! After our bonus we went back to Dairy Keen for shakes! It was such a fun little trip. I so love this little family of mine. I cannot wait for more memories to come!

Welcome 2014

Another year is beginning and the Childs are excited! We have made some really great goals and can't wait to start working on them. We have decided to work on strengthening our physical, spiritual, and education. If we complete the goals that we have set by the end of August then we will go to Disneyland in September. The kids are so excited! Our physical goal is to run from Utah to California and back. It is a little over 1600 miles and we are going to do that as a family! The spiritual goal is to complete the Book of Mormon. The educational goal is to read a couple books a week. So excited to work on being our best and then enjoying a much anticipated Disneyland trip at the end. We have been promising Disneyland to the kids as soon as the baby was close to three. I remember Luke once telling me to stop having babies! Well that shop has closed and now we can actually see the trip in sight! This is going to be a great year!