Weekend Trip

We had a great weekend. We took a little trip to Utah to have some fun, see some family, and just enjoy being together. It was great! We started in Logan - saw Clint, Ali and family. Rae and Rylee tended everyone while the adults went to dinner and movie. Valentine Fun! The next day we headed to Salt Lake area. We took the kids to the awesome dino museum at Thanksgiving Point. Kelly always takes his summer school kids here, and has been wanting to take our kids.
Reese and Brady make a new friend! They are friendly kiddos.
The whole gang. Wow! We have a lot of kids now! We are crazy!
Apparently, Brannen is the only smart one. He's saying, "Hey guys, does anyone see that MONSTROUS MEGALADON that is about to eat us?!?! Holy goldfish crackers!!!!"
We met Jen and Kyle and their crew at the Lehi Rec center for some fun swimming. Although, Jude didn't seem in the mood to swim - he wasn't too thrilled with the whole thing.
Brannen enjoyed watching the swimmers
Jen and Juder cuddle at the pool at our hotel. The older kids needed more swimming, so we continued the swimming party at our hotel.

Brannen's first swim! Thanks for the awesome swimming trunks Aunt B! We finally used them.
Hanging out at the pool!
We had a good visit with Grama Marge too! We took her to eat lunch at the Mayan - very fun. The kids really enjoyed seeing her. She is doing so well and looks so good. What a lady!

We also stayed with Jennifer and Kyle one night, and went to the Draper temple open house on Monday. It was really nice, but we didn't seem to get a picture. It was kind of a rush day - and lots of lines, so we really didn't have a picture chance. I wish we would have thought about going back to the temple after the tour for a photo of everyone. Oh well, next time.

It was a busy, fun weekend!!!

Winter Fun!

I keep seeing lots of pictures of cactus and sunny days - thanks to Bekki and Jennie's blogs. I decided I needed to post some REAL winter pictures. It is February you know! My kids have been having a lot of fun after school in the snow. There are HUGE snow hills around this place because of all the snowplowing this winter. They arrive in from school later each day - the snow hills are just too much fun to play on, on the way home. We have had lots of snow. Fun stuff!

Happy Valentines Day

We had a great day of love around here. Well, actually, it was a week of love. On Monday, we wrote things we love about each other and then I hug a few of them on the back door every morning - so the kids could read them throughout the week. It was kind of fun. My favorites were- from Rae: "I like love it like when mom like makes like those orange like drinks for like us" (yes, she's taunting me - we are trying to break her "like" habit). From Reese: "I love Brannen's dreamy eyes" (too cute). From Brady: "I love Reese because she always plays catch with me" -- from Reese: "I love to play catch with Brady."




Oh yea, my valentine gave me some beautiful roses! Too awesome! And he received A LOT of cherry chocolates. He loves those things - and I love Kelly!

The Big Move

We spent the weekend moving the computer downstairs in the room by the fireplace. What a chore! Of course, it turned into an all day project because we had to clean as we went. We re-organized the desk area, and threw out so much junk we never use. Took a load to the dump, etc. etc. We got a new desk for downstairs - that I love and I think it looks really nice. We needed our internet connection to be better, and this way we can plug it right in, instead of using an airport. Not to mention just having it downstairs on the main floor is really handy. Anyway, I just had to put up some pictures! And would you look at that Mac! What a thing of beauty!

Rae the Dancer

Both of my girls really love to dance and take dance classes all year. This year in middle school, Rae has also gotten the opportunity to be a "Jr. Brave Cadette", a group that is sponsored by our high school drill team. She LOVED being a part of this. Her group learned a dance, which they performed during half-time at middle school basketball games (Just like the high school! Squeel!). That Rae really loves being involved! She is an awesome girl!

Brannen Boy!

I can't blog without posting a cute picture of our boy. He is so funny lately. Doing so many cute things.
On Sunday afternoon I asked the kids to take him downstairs and entertain him for a while. When they brought him back up a little while later he was not so happy! They had adorned him in a hello kitty belly shirt and matching skirt. They even made up a dance for him to show us. He was not too happy about the whole thing! What is really amazing is that he actually fits into build-a-bear clothing! What a good thing to find out. Now we will have lots of cute new outfits for the boy!

The Girlie Room

The girls and I just finished repainting their room - it looks so good! They wanted matching bedding for Christmas and we found some that they both like. Blue for Rae and pink for Reese (naturally!) We have needed to update the room since Reese moved downstairs when Brannen was born. So we finally did - and we really like it!

Before and After

The BEFORE picture!
And the AFTER!
This boy was really in need of a haircut! His hair was crazy long, and he was getting really tired of mom combing it all of the time. Maybe I should just buzz everyone else in the house too - myself included. Life would be a lot simpler!

Da Boys

I forgot to post a picture of the NFL trip for the year. They guys went to AZ this year to see the Vikings beat the Cardinals. Of course they had a GREAT trip, as always. I think those guys could enjoy doing anything, as long as they were together. I'm glad Kelly has such great friends.

Vacation highlights

We had a really fun holiday break with Bekki, Adam, Dallin and Maura staying with us. We also got to see Jen and her family. They came to the valley and stayed with my dad. We had such a great time just being together. Now we are back to real life and enjoying winter. Here are some highlights of the vacation. A little late - I know - internet problems. Say no more.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! We had a really great Christmas! Santa found us - we must have been good this year. Here are the favorites:
New boots and barrel reins- what more could a girl ask for?!
New clubs! Yes! Hogans - just like my dad's! Now, when the heck is spring break?!
Reese has wanted "toe shoes" for years and years. She is just such a dancer and she thinks they are sooooo cool. She now dances - on her toes- all around the house.
Brannen got a car to ride on - and later push around when walking becomes more important. Also, thanks for the way cool green slipper boots, Aunt Jennie!
At Grama Chris' Christmas party. We had such a fun time with them.
Grama got Brannen this awesome "Frog in a Box" - and it really scared Kelly when he was helping Bran open it. It was pretty funny. Notice-- that IS the frog flying out of the box in the upper corner of the picture.
Christmas at our house, after all of the opening was finished. So much fun! How many days until next year?

I like to eat dirt!

Bran found one of my plants upstairs - ate lots of dirt - made a big mess. I guess I'm going to have to start baby proofing!

I Do Take Requests!

So I got a call last night from my very favoritest cousin (oh, well, Jordan - if you are reading this - of course, YOU are my favoritest cousin! Oh yea, Stevie - if you are reading this - of course, YOU are my favoritest cousin! Oh yea, Nate - if you are reading this . . . Aaron . . . Diana . . . Melanie . . . Cameron - oh well, I can't pick a favorite) So, last night I got a call from my GREAT cousin Jonathan. You see, Jonathan's fondest dream is to move to Wyoming, change his name to Butch Roper (a real cowboy name), and spend all of his time in the saddle, while simultaneously reading every Louis Lamour book that has ever been written. So Jonathan can't figure out why I don't have more pictures of Rae on horses on my blog! I think my answer would be that it is WINTER, really COLD and not quite the peak of horse riding season around here! However, I dug through the 'ole iphoto and found some really cool horse pictures for my favoritest cousin (there I go again . . . .) Jon. If only we could all just ride horses all day long, everyday . . . . . right Jon!?!

Kelly really likes to ride too. He took the kids on some fun rides this summer. He kept trying to keep his favorite horse, Belle, in shape. She tends to fatten up too well.
A normal sight from my kitchen window in the summer.
During her try-outs for Jr. Princess, Rae had to "work" a cow in the arena. She did a great job - she was just wishing that she could have been riding her Grampa Barry's awesome cutting horse, Peppy. He has some serious moves. But Peppy is getting old, and she's trying to do more with Lady - the horse she rode this past summer for Jr. Princess. I love her look of focus. She is really trying here!
This is Rae's favorite picture in the whole world. I should get it made into a poster for her. She just thinks it is the best thing ever. This is a picture of her - coming around the 3rd barrel - taking it home! She really has gotten into barrel racing. She loves it, and is trying to get better and better at it.
I like this picture of Rae too. She is competing in pole bending in this picture.
Oh, the Princess wave!! She has been practicing this move her entire life. Rae definitely got her love of horses from her Grandpas. Kelly and I are just not into the rodeo thing like Rae is. She really wishes that we would love it and be into it as much as she is. We try to support and help her as much as we can (without getting a second mortgage on the house for buying a truck, horse trailer, horses, pasture etc. - this stuff is pricey!), and then we are grateful to Grampas (and Colleen too) who help us out by actually owning these horses! Taking care of and feeding these horses, and also taking her to events - hauling her horse and her around and such. Let's just say, there is no way that Rae could do all these fun things without help from Grandpas! We really do appreciate them!

Thanks for the call Jon. It was so great to hear from you! I really miss not being able to see all of you more often. You are the best kind of people there is. Get a blog or something! I need to see your own cuties more often!

Tiny Tim!

Kelly and Brannen have been getting in the Christmas spirit with their Tiny Tim impersonation. Pretty cute stuff! We are all in love with this baby!

Cute Baby Pictures of the Day

Baby Bran!