Yummy!

Ducati's first cone! Such a proud photo moment :-) See her toes curl...that means she really like it.

Toad's

Toad's is a family fun center in Ogden. We played to go here back in December for Hailey's birthday. But there was another plan in store for us that day- to break down on the side of the road. So we've been storing this gift card for some time now and finally we went.....Hailey was pretty excited to go and re-celebrate her birthday. So first we hit some games...

Hailey was alittle freaked with this roller coaster ride. But she braved it out.

 Even Ducati had fun....

 ....until Dad took over. He was in the zone :-)

And since it's February the most of the things were closed so we played a very interesting game of mini-golf. Besides the freaky black lights...

which lead to Hailey and Lily to cry from the blackness fear for about 5 minutes 

 everyone had fun. Mike and I gave up on trying to keep score since Ducati kept taking everyones balls and putting them into the holes for us. She's so nice to help everyone out. (Cati's chasing after Hailey's ball)

 Mike's sweet shot that he ended up missing since Ducati ran around the whole course.

 

 This was the longest, hardest, loudest, and funniest game of golf we've ever played.

So high five for Toad's! (Mason being silly)

January

It's been a nice pace around our house. Christmas is over. Birthdays are done and yes I am preparing for this years birthday bundles already. But January has been nice and quite. Well not too quite.....

Ducati is a full walker now. On December 30th she took her first step to Mike. It melted his heart knowing she gave him that honor. But now she's walking all the time and even trying to run. She's grown up so fast.

 Mike and I have so far kept to our New Years Resolutions. I have read more books than I originally wrote down as my goal but who's counting?? And Mike he's taken and passed his Utah Vehicle Inspection course. So now we can cross 1 thing off our resolution list.

But the big thing in January was we got our taxes. Yes! After paying down so bills, splurging alittle on the things we never have money for like a new bike helmet and my essential oil kit. We got a new van.  We went to our first auto auction...and WOW was that an experience. After a 4 hour headache from the salespeople  we walked into the auction and loved it! The turkey talking auctioneer, the rush of bids, the fast pace of it all...it was awesome!

We picked up this 99 Plymouth Voyager for a steal. Lily was so excited she wanted to drive home herself. I don't know who taught her how to drive.

So thank you January for coming and going so fast.

A+M

Lately Mike and I have making the time to put ourselves first. At first I thought "This will be easy!" But then life comes and that thought was starting to fade. But not in our house! Since finding a sitter can be a job all in itself we've had some awesome home dates.

This is one of Mike's favorite kid games. Who doesn't love Mouse Trap? But it turns out that we were playing it wrong as a kid....who knew????

But you have to all those high-sugar foods that made you so hyper when you were a kid. But now we just had stomach aches after eating all those treats.

 His favorite kid movie? He picked up Harry Potter and the half blooded prince. This was an awesome home date. 

But we have had some amazing new memories together when we do get out. Mike took me to the Salt Lake City Library. Might sound lame but I'm pretty lame. I love books. I love quiet time. I love this library.

But the biggest surprise date was on my birthday. Mike set up everything from the sitter, menu, outfit, and activity. He did such a great job! We went to see the show Momix:Botanica. I never heard of it but he assured me that it was a dance performance. All I have to say is this show was AMAZING!!!

 Us at Kingbury Hall. He was so tired but he was such a great sport.

We've had alot more dates but these were a few of my favorite ones....so far! I love spending time with my husband. He has shown me so many times how much he truly loves me. I feel so blessed to have him in my life. I feel even more blessed to be his wife. *sigh* He's the best!

New Years 2011

New Years in our house is usually BIG and  LOUD with all our snoring. But this year Mike and I made it a special evening. While he put the girls down I set things up in our living room.

Candlelight, virgin Martini's, favorite snacks, a 2011 resolutions "wish-list", Time Square New Years on TV, and the love~made calendar that I made for him.

(I attached a special photo of us from that month from the previous year and wrote a love note on each page. )

(You can see January's page. )

While enjoying the drinks and watching the 2011 ball drop we talked and wrote down the 4 things we want to accomplish this year. And so far Mike is already headed down the path of marking 1 off. He is attending a mechanic class next week to start his NEW career in automotive mechanics. I am so proud of Mike for taking this step. He has found his calling-the 1 thing he enjoys and that will bring in a paycheck. It can be scary (or at least for me) to change career paths from accounting to mechanics but that's one of many reasons why I love him. He's fearless! This year is going to be wonderful- I can feel it! (I has to be..I started out my new year with a kiss from my favorite person in the whole world)

Christmas Season

This year Mike and I told our kids the truth about Santa. We felt  we had a choice-either focus on Christ this Christmas or make them continue believing in a fairy tale being. But they took it actually well. So during the month of December we did several activities to ensure our children understood the real meaning of Christmas.

We did a few acts of charity. We did 27 days of service. Most were for neighbors,friends, or family members but one of them was feeding the homeless. I borrowed this image from Google. I sat down with our kids and explained what homeless meant and how it's our responsibility to help care for all of Heavenly Father's children. So the next day we made sack lunches. The kids were so happy to do it. But when it came time to drop the lunches off at the shelter we were alittle scared so Mike went into the shelter to drop them off.

Next was Temple Square. Mike's family had a wonderful Christmas party at Daina's house. Laughs, Food, the kids ran crazy but afterwards most people had to leave except us and Daina and Aaron. So we headed to Temple Square to see the fantastic lights.

 Hailey was stuck on Daina the 95% of the time.

Another wonderful way to express Christ in Christmas was being with friends. Or I should say help making friends. My Primary co-teacher helped set up a small Christmas party for our kids. It was so nice to see everyone having fun with each other. Each child holds a special talent or skill that we all have learned from this past year.

We hope that they remember this day and continue to be friends with each other even after they moved on to bigger and better things.

But this season we tried to take the focus OFF of gifts and remember the story of Christ. The 3 wise men brought 3 gifts to the Savior. So we copied that...3 gifts. 1 big one for each one and 2 smaller ones. Besides books (which our kids love) they each were happy with their gifts.

I am so proud of Mike. He made our girls this kitchen from an old dresser. 2 ovens, 2 stove top burners, 1 sink. He is so creative. And they loved it!

 I made the aprons from on old pillowcase. That's all I really did to contribute to this gift.

 Cati was so happy for her nesting/stacking blocks and pillow pet that my mom gave her.

 Our little elves. They are so cute!

 Mason was so happy for his Bionicle Lego's. Boys and their Lego's.

Mike and I didn't get each other much this year. Actually we didn't get each other anything.  Since he's been working on our van for the last few weeks we haven't seen much of each other. So on Christmas night we had a date on our couch. He picked up some movies for us. I picked up our favorite snacks and we enjoyed each other's company.  Mike has a quote that is fantastic-Christmas is about presence NOT presents! 

I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas.

Hailey's 5

Hailey is the last birthday in our BIG stretch in birthdays. But after thinking it over I think she had a pretty awesome birthday. On Saturday 12/11 she had her Ballerina Snowflake party. It was a huge success.

I had a total of 8 girls in our living room that all had so much fun. (The boys went shooting. They reallly missed out on all the girlie-ness) 

We all snacked on some food ( I never knew young girls can eat so much :-)

 They had some much needed girl talk....

  played a few games...

opened presents....then opened the wrapping to play with them

 Sang "Happy Birthday".....

I wanted each girl to have their own cupcake with a candle to blow out. I figured it would be more fun to everyone and less spit from Hailey blowing on everyone's cake.

But then came the entertainment....a dance lesson with a local ballet teacher. What's a Ballerina party without dancing?  I made each girl a white ballet skirt to wear during their lesson. They loved them! So well worth the pokes and burns on my fingers.

Here's a group photo of all the girls who came and helped make Hailey's birthday a special day. Thank you girls.

(Each girl went home with their skirt, a copy of the music...hopefully they have showed you their dance & a small goodie bag)

But on 12/14 (Hailey's actual bday) we were going to go out and have fun but our van had another plan for us. Since it broke down we stayed home. (But weird enough Mike fixed it later that evening) But in the morning I made her Waikki meatballs for breakfast (the joys of picking your  birthday menu)

Then she opened our presents-

She picked her favorite movie, Shrek 3, and enjoyed a good movie morning. And of course we had cake! But this time I made a "less sugary"cake. Strawberry Shortcake with Angel Food Cake.

She was so sweet and understanding when our van wasn't working. She really showed Mike and I how mature she is really becoming....well for alittle bit at least-

She and Cati dived into the cake after everyone got a scoop and pretty much at the rest of it.

Our Sweetheart is now a whole hand. Happy Birthday Hailey!