Valentines Day pictures

Found a few stray pictures while uploading everything from my camera.

Haili and Emma spent so much time decorating these Valentine boxes for their class party.

In case you can't tell,

Robot

Dog

We wrapped up these yummy Kneaders cinnamon bread to take to their teachers

Valentines Day the girls took the "No candy for 1 year Challenge".

So far, so good!

New books

My Amazon wish list just got a little smaller after these purchases.

We ordered 1,2,4 to complete the set

These silly books keep Emma laughing for days!

Haili is so in love with this series

She borrowed all but the first book from the Library

I ordered the rest of the set, so I could enjoy them:)

Been wanting to read this book for a long time...Recommended by my cousin Elena.

Saw this book on several of my Goodread friends book list

Received a lot of high praise from many of my friends

Love anything by Shannon Hale

One of my all-time favorite authors

A little nervous about this one...some friends absolutely loved the series, while others were turned off by a pretty gruesome scene in the book.







Lynzi gave high praise to this 3 book series

Can't wait to dive in with summer around the corner











Somewhere along the way, my Harry Potter books 1, 4, & 5 disappeared.

I kept hoping they'd turn up

Emma is ready to read them.

Watch! I'll find them the minute these books arrive:)

I am ready for Summer now!

Bring it on!

Ski day at Sundance

After being away from my kids for 10 days, I was very anxious to spend some time with them.

I'm always in awe of this beautiful mountain

The snow was great, my kids were awesome, and we had such a fun time together.

My baby is such a trooper trying to keep up with her big brothers and sister

We spent plenty of time catching air on this "Alex & Sean" made jump

Sean blends into this picture really well

Haili attempting the jump

Sean was so helpful in getting Emma up when she fell

Heading up

Oh, how I missed these smiles...

We topped the day off with delicious food at the Pizza Factory...mmmm!

Baby Brightyn

I am so blessed to be able to see this little girl come into our World

Born February 26th @ 12:08 A.M. in Idaho Falls, ID

She weighed 8 pounds 5 ounces and was 20 inches long

Welcomed home by her sisters, brothers, parents, Grandparents, Great-Grandma, and I

Such a beautiful baby...so in love

I spent 10 days at my sister's house helping her with her busy life while she recovered.

Between cheer practices, piano lessons, Blue & Gold Banquet, baseball, basketball, feeding tubes (for Tucker), homework, catching the bus, grocery shopping, cleaning, cooking, laundry...oh the laundry a family of 7 goes through:)

It was such a privilege and I'd do it a thousand times over again.

{HUGS} to my adorable Bayli, Tanner, Tucker, Bridget, Brightyn, and Jeni & Matt

What a beautiful family you have!

What a week!

I am completely exhausted!

This is where I want to be this weekend....

It's been one of those crazy weeks where we think we have enough stamina and endurance to "DO IT ALL".



Last Saturday, Feb. 13th, I met my Dad at the half way point between Utah & Idaho Falls to pick up my sister's 4 kids. She is getting ready for baby #5 and I wanted to give her a break without kidos, even if it was only for a few days.



My nieces and nephews are so good and we had so much fun at JUMP ON IT in Lindon. Everyone got along great and we left Monday afternoon to take them home to Idaho.



My Grandma has been itching to get away, so I told her I would bring her back with me to Utah. She is a spunky 86 year old, yet she is convinced she can do far more than she really can:) We had a few scares this week with her blood sugar dropping. She also struggles with having to climb my stairs multiple times (I wish I had a main floor bedroom).



Let's just say this week has been um....challenging.



In the midst of all visitors comings and goings, my brother Dane was admitted into the Hospital a week ago with a bleeding ulcer. He spent several days sedated in ICU and gave us all a scare.



My dad came yesterday to visit my brother and it was good to see him...we don't see him nearly enough.



I'm really, really hoping for a nice relaxing weekend, even if it can't be on a secluded beach somewhere.

Did I really not post my boys Birthdays?

I am completely embarrassed that NOT ONLY did I not post about my boys Birthdays, but I also didn't even mention it on the blog.

Even worse, I didn't snap any pictures of these two blowing out candles and opening presents.

Here they are in their cuter, cuddlier days....

Alex was 2 and Sean was 9 months.

Sean turned 17 on November 20th. He still looks like he's only about 14 to me, and not too long ago when we were sitting down at a Restaurant, the waitress handed Sean a kids meal menu:)

He didn't think that was very funny, but we sure got a laugh.

For his Birthday, I went with Sean to pick out a new snowboard. He loves to snowboard and has enjoyed the season at Sundance this year.

Sean continues to amaze us with his bright mind and excels at everything he does. He is preparing for college and has lots of ideas for what he wants to do with his life.

We are so proud of him and how determined and goal oriented he is. He really has a good perspective on life and understands what it takes to become successful.

Alex turned 19 on February 2nd.

He celebrated by hanging out with friends, but we surprised him by delivering In & Out burgers to them at his girlfriends house.

He has matured so much over the last year and we are seeing our son come back, slowly but surely.

When he had his brain injury, we were told that time heals and waiting is the hardest part. It has been worth the waiting. Lately, he is so appreciative of us and tells us how grateful he is for all we do....amazing!!!! He is still working on some challenges, but has made so much progress that I don't worry nearly as much as I used to.... Such a blessing.

We are so grateful these two boys came into our lives!

They will always be my babies....

Sean & Alex

Let's catch up...

Starting with Christmas.....

We opted for a snow less Christmas and spent the break in St. George. My mom's 4-wheeler accident (read here) made it hard for her to leave her house in St. George so, rather than have her spend Christmas alone, we brought our chaos to her.

It was a wonderful, relaxing Christmas for us anyway:)

Girls making their way down to see what surprises await them.

Can't you tell how excited they are? Very long, sleepless night.

At least the boys were bright eyed and cheery smiles

Now this is a little better

Crisp new dollar bills found their way to decorate the tree
(There is only so much room for presents in a car with 6 people:)

My favorite present.....A jewelry box made by my amazing son, Sean.

Snuggies for the whole family from Grandma Llewelyn...ahhhh, we'll love watching movies with these.

A lot of time was passed by ALL, yes boys even took their turns, riding this wiggle car on the concrete basement floor.

Even more time was spent playing the new Rock Band and Guitar Hero

Um....Scot and I were really here, but how did I not get one single picture of us?

New 2010 goal - Get a few pictures of us:)













The next event that came around was Haili's 12th Birthday.
Let me say that again, 12th Birthday!

She is such a fun, smart, spunky girl and we are lucky to have her.

Rather than leave ANYONE out, she pretty much invited everyone on her dance team, and several girls from school to her Birthday party.


If you are a facebooker, you'll remember the craziness I put up with, alone....all for the love of this Girl! Scot, Emma, and the boys made plans to BE GONE.




Pizza and soda as the girls were arriving

Masses of hair bows and headbands were made

Zebra (Haili's fav) was definitely the theme for tonight

Pre-teens are really into their bedding items

Dad's homemade cheesecake...mmmmmmmm

On to the next event....Girls trip to Boise

My sister Jeni and I started a tradition last year of meeting in Boise for Bayli's Cheer competition. We make a weekend out of it, shopping, eating, laughing and just having fun together. This year Jeni was 8 months pregnant with baby #5, but we weren't going to let a little thing like that interrupt our girls retreat:)

Are we almost there?

This is just too much fun back here

Getting ready for her Cheer comp...Go IF Elite!!!!

Hanging in the Hotel room

eating Iceberg shakes

pool time

Bayli performing her Duo - learned in a week and took 2nd place!

Bayli's team setting up for their final stunt

Fun, fun weekend!

See more pics on Jeni's blog here