Go Green Fest

On Saturday, March 21st we attended the "Go Green" Fest at Paramount Elementary. We walked along the hallways of the school where they had all kinds of carnival-style games set up.

There were a few crafts to do as well.

And a toilet paper toss!!

They got to dig in a pool filled with Lucky Charms to find some treats...

Maylie enjoyed just "hanging out" with the crew!!

Abby and Landon even had their hair styled and dyed green!

We ended the afternoon in the gym/cafeteria where the kids enjoyed the inflatable bouncers and even won a cake in the cake walk. It was a fun way to spend the afternoon!

St. Patrick's Day

The kids set up the traditional Leprechaun trap on the night before St. Patrick's Day. No leprechauns were caught, but a trail of gold coins and some green skittles were left behind!!

A green dinner was also served that night!!

Nothing too fancy, but the kids sure do enjoy these little traditions!!

Maylie's Many Faces!!

This little five-month-old has stolen all of her hearts with her cuteness and sweet personality!

It's hard to imagine our lives without her in it!!

She has started eating solid foods and is doing great with them (and sleeping better at night now too!)

She loves her older brothers and sister and my heart melts watching them all play and laugh together.

Maylie is a perfect addition to our little family. 

We love you little Maylie-Magoo!!

11th Anniversary

Today marks our 11th wedding anniversary!

It was a gorgeous "first day of Spring" day in Utah. Now sitting here with snow falling outside and four children running all around us, I couldn't be any happier!! I have so much to be grateful for and I am thankful a million times over for my forever family!!

Sleeping Baby

It was a long time coming, but this girl finally seems to be on a pretty decent nap schedule these days.

She usually takes a 30-45 minute nap in the morning while I workout, a 60-90 minute nap in the afternoon after lunch and then another 30-45 minute nap in the late afternoon before dinner. Now if we could just get her to start sleeping better at night!!

New Camera!

I decided to get a simple digital camera with my birthday money that would be easier to haul around than our big DSLR but would take better pictures than my cell phone. I have been pretty impressed by the quality of the pictures so far, and the videos it takes have been crystal clear as well.

Here are a few of my models while testing the camera out...

Landon earned this LEGO kit for his good behavior over the last two weeks.

And Nolan is equal parts adorable and exasperating right now. Gotta love the 3-year-old stage!!

Jumping for Joy!!

I found this Jumperoo at a local consignment store and this little girls is in love with it!! She just loves to bounce, bounce, bounce all day long!!

It's hard to get a clear shot of her since she is almost always in motion!!

But sometimes all that bouncing just wears a girl out!!!

Oh how we love this bouncing little ball of joy!!

Just Hanging Out...

This girl has become a pretty terrible sleeper at night....but she sure is sweet during the day!!

These two little ones sure keep me busy during the day...but I love it (most of the time anyway!!)

Birthday Part 2

After the snow fiasco from the week before, we were grateful for sunny skies on February 28th so Abby's birthday party could finally be celebrated. Our wonderful neighbor made this amazing cake for Abby's "Harry Potter" themed party and it turned out so well. Abby LOVED it!!

It was a pretty crazy party with roller skating, a moon bounce and indoor play arena. Plus several parties were rescheduled from last week so the place was packed. I was so busy herding children that I didn't have time to take too many pictures, but everyone all seemed to have a great time.

A quick moment of semi-quietness with mouths full of pizza and soda!!

Here is another blurry shot of that amazing cake!!

This little girl was quite the party animal too. I think she had her eyes on the popcorn basket!!

Now time for some cake and ice cream!!

A perfect pose for the camera before blowing out those NINE candles!!

And a few shots of some of the roller skaters in action!!

So even though her party had to be postponed a week, Abby still had a great time celebrating with her friends. She really wanted a "destination" birthday this year, but afterwards decided that she wants to have her party at home again next year. Oh and she's already decided on a theme..."Spa night!" Should be fun!!

Birthday Part 1

It doesn't seem like that long ago that we were celebrating Abby's 8th birthday with grandparents and aunts and uncles who came to celebrate her milestone of being baptized. This past year flew by and February 20th arrived again with this little girl of ours now turning NINE!!

Her birthday was on a Friday. I decorated her bedroom with streamers and balloons and she loved waking up to all the hoopla that she usually arranges for everyone else in the family. I took the two younger kids to school that afternoon and ate lunch with her and her two friends up on the stage (always a special treat!) After school she eagerly waited on Daddy to come home from work so she could find her presents via a scavenger hunt all over the house and open them up. Her dinner of choice was "Golden Corral" and we all stuffed ourselves silly before coming home and watching a Swan Princess movie on Netflix that she has been dying to watch but Landon has always poo-pooed (birthday child always gets dibs on their movie of choice during family movie night on Fridays!)

The next morning we were supposed to have her birthday party at a local roller skating rink but 6-inches of snow derailed our plans. We called everyone to tell them we would be postponing her party until the following week. We still had this cake that wouldn't last until then so we invited her neighborhood friends over for some lunch, cake and several hours of playing that afternoon.

She was a little bummed about her birthday party being postponed for a week, but now she just gets to have a long, extended birthday!

We sure do love our creative, spiritual, smart, beautiful and fun little nine-year-old. 

Now just stop growing up so fast, will ya!!