Mothers Day Gift!

Kylee loves to look on pinterest, and she gets some cute ideas there.  This year for Mothers Day she gave me the cutest thing that I absolutely LOVE!  She had Chris take me on a date one Friday night so she could work with the other kids without me being there.  She made these big letters that spelled out the word LOVE.  She had them hold the letters while she took pictures of them and then put them in order in a 4 opening frame.  It is priceless.  It hangs in our entryway.  

I just had to laugh as she recounted how much work it was to get the kids to cooperate and actually get good pictures.  I laughed when I saw the camera later.  There were a MILLION pictures to try to get 4 good shots!  

The looks on Kade and Quincy's faces here are classic.  I've seen them before during family pictures!!  What a great daughter to go through so much effort for her mom!  I do have great kids!! 

Emilee's Band Performance

 Emilee has really enjoyed being involved in the Band in school this year.  Her teacher has been really fun and she has really liked her.  She planned to have a big end of year performance with a dance group from our area.  They worked really hard getting ready for it and it was a great performance.

 Emilee plays the alto saxophone and I think she is sounding really great.

 This was such a funny picture.  As you can see, they had to paint their faces.  This type of a thing is really a stretch for Em and she was giving her Dad a look of death while he was snapping one picture after another of her.  She was not happy with him to say the least!!

They did a great job and it was fun to watch...even if it wasn't Emilee's most favorite thing in the world to perform in!!

Little Miss Brinley & her Bubbles!!

 First bubbles of the season!!  As soon as it was warm enough Brinley blew bubbles!  She had to be a little creative each day to find things to keep her busy while her brother and sisters were at school.  She had afternoon Kindergarten so she had a few hours every morning to herself.

Love this face...that is so her!!

So fun to be 6 and enjoy the simple things in life!!



Kylee's Big Decision!!

I can't believe we are to this stage in our lives already, but is seems to be time for our oldest child to decide where she is going to attend College next year.  This has been a big decision for her.  I told her it was because she has done so well in school that she has lots of options...and that is a good thing!  Kylee has decided, at least for now, that she wants to be a Dental Hygenist when she grows up.  There are only 3 schools in Utah who offer that program so those were the three she was most interested in and applied for.  One of them is Weber State...way to close to home in her opinion.  While they have a great Dental Hygeine program and she was offered the Presidential Scholarship (full tuitiuon and fees for 4 years), she really feels like it would be a good thing for her to have an away from home College experience...and her parents agree!  Sooo...that left Dixie in St. George and UVU in Orem.  Last December Chris and I took her on some campus tours to both schools.  She met with advisors in the Dental Hygeine program and we looked at some housing options.  I can tell you that Kylee fell completely in love with the campus at Dixie and the housing options.  But she knew she would need to wait and see what scholarships she was awarded at each.

We later learned that she received the Presidential Scholarship to Dixie.  Yay!!!  She has full tuition and fees for 4 years.  We also learned however that she was in the running for the Presidential Scholarhsip at UVU and only 25 were presented.  It included full tuition and fees for 4 years as well as a $700.00 stipend each semester for 4 semesters...and if you got the presidential scholarhip you also automatically qualified to live in Honors housing for 1/3 the cost of housing!  How could you pass that up!!  So then began the inner debate.  How cool it would be to get that great scholarship from UVU...but wait, I really want to go to Dixie!!!  And the worst part was that she had to wait until Feb. 29th to find out about the UVU scholarship.  As it got closer Chris and I kept asking her what she was hoping for.  She would just groan and say, "I don't even know".  The day came and it was so funny to see her breathe a big sigh of relief when she found out that she was NOT one of the 25 to receive the scholarship from UVU.  It now made the most sense for her to go to what I believe she has known to be the RIGHT place for her all along.  We kept asking her if she was praying alot about this, and she was.  It has been fun to see it come together now and feel so good to her and to us.

She is going to go to Dixie and live 1/2 block off campus with Allie as her roomate and meet 4 other girls whom she will have in her apartment.  It has all fallen together beautifully.  She also qualifies for the Regents scholarship which will give her more than enough to pay for her housing and books for at least the first 2 years.  I am really proud of her and so grateful that all of her hard work in school is paying off!

I JUST CAN'T BELIEVE SHE WILL BE 6 HOURS AWAY FROM US...but we are so excited for her.  She will have a great time.  And she has Uncle Dan, Aunt Jan, Lily and Kara right there close by!! 

Quincy's 9th Birthday!

Quincy's Birthday was on a Saturday...and it just so happened that it was the same Saturday that the USU Piano Festival in Logan was scheduled.  She didn't think she wanted to participate but after a little prodding from her parents and her piano teacher she agreed to go.  She had to get up early that morning and dress in her Sunday clothes.  She had asked for a new dress for her Birthday.  We thought it would be fun for her to open her presents that morning so that she could wear her new clothes to the Piano Festival.  She got a beautiful new purple dress and some fancy silver sandals.  She loved them.  She hurried and changed the dress she had already put on and it helped her be a little more excited to go.  (Good thing she did, because we found out later that of all the kids in her age group she got an honorable mention.  It was a competition with cash awards and this was the only level with no cash...bummer!  But her piano teacher said she is her only student to ever actually win a cerfiticate.  Good job Quincy!!

 On the next day we had her family Birthday Party.  We had dinner, which was Chicken Taquitos because they are her favorite with Cheesecake for dessert.  She got some sidewalk chalk, a princess activity book and another cute new dress from Grandpa Tom and Grandma Barb as well as some money.  She also got some nice cards in the mail with money in them from her Grandpa and Grandma Southwick and Grandma Wyatt.  What really mattered was that Ethan was at her party...her and Ethan are like twins!!!

We love you Quincy.  You are turning into a beautiful young girl with such a fun personality.  Quincy is our jokester.  She is always teaching Brinley some good 3rd grade humor. She is really doing well at piano and gymnastics.  She just learned to do a backhandspring all by herself if her teacher is there to spot.  We are sooo grateful that you are part of our family and we really do love you so much.

Some of the things Quincy likes to do at the age of 9 are...

* Watch TV - she still loves to relax in front of a good show or movie

* Do round-off''s in the backyard

* Play with her frinds Kaitlyn and Annika

*Swim - she got to take 2 friends swimming at the Nat for her Birthday and she was in heaven!

* Do anything with her cousin Ethan!

*Go to the Dollar Store - she is always asking to go.

* Play on the monkey bars during break at school.

*Eat corndogs for hot lunch at school.

Happy Birthday Quincy!!!

Hike & Roasting Hot Dogs in Mantua

This night has gotten funnier as time has passed...but it didn't seem that funny then.  We decided the last night of Spring Break...Monday...for Family Home Evening that it would be fun to go as a family to Mantua and hike around the reservoir and then go into the campground and roast hot dogs and marshmallows.  Kylee turned down a shopping trip in Salt Lake City at the new big mall with a friend to be with us, and Chris turned down a Jazz game with his brother Bill.  We had great expectations for our evening together.  Well.....the first part of the night went anything but smooth.  The "walk" (not hike really) around the lake is almost 5 miles.  I thought if we brought the little girls bikes that we would be perfect.  Kade thought otherwise so pouted most of the evening.  Brinley was just having a bad night. She sat down on the ground and threw a fit every few feet, would not keep up with everyone and when she did ride she kept crashing!  Quincy was hot and tired and slipped in the rocks and crashed a couple times as well.  The bugs were absolutely horrible.  In some places you felt like you were being attacked!! We were not making good time on our 5 miles!!  Chris and I just kept looking at each other wondering where we went so wrong with our great idea!!  Finally about 1.5 miles into it and almost 2 HOURS later we turned around and headed back to our car.  There was no way we were going to make it 5 miles.  We decided next time we would make it our date and come alone!!

 Luckily we did find a place to stop and skip rocks and have races up the side of the mountain.  This brought a few sparce smiles.  Thank goodness!!   It was a tough crowd to please this night.

 But....luckily our night was not all a waste.  We had a great time once we got to the campground and built a fire to roast our hot dogs and marshmallows.  Everyone was sooo much happier and it was much nicer.  We had a whole big group site to ourselves.  We decided next time (except the time Chris and I come alone on our date) we will skip the walk around the lake and just get to the camping experience.  I must say it kind of put a damper on our hopes to do some hiking with our family this summer.  We just might not be ready for that quite yet!!

One thing for sure...it was a memory!  I'm not sure which kind, good or bad, but it is always good to spend time together. 

Easter & Spring Break 2012



Easter was a three day Celebration this year.  Rohn and Camille and their family came from Gunnison to spend the weekend and it was one BIG party!  Our kids were out for spring break from Thursday to Monday.  Thursday we just hung out and played with friends.  Friday we went shopping in Ogden for summer clothes...all except for Kade.  He hates shopping with 5 girls so much that he opted to sit at his Dad's work for 5 hours!  Us girls had a great time shopping.  When we were done we went to Grandpa Tom and Grandma Barb's house because the cousins were supposed to be there...and they were!  The kids had a great time playing together and they all mixed up that night for sleepovers. 

Saturday we all ended up back at Grandma's house after awhile and had pizza together that night.Camille has opened up a beauty shop in her home so she spent a lot of the weekend graciously practicing on all of the cute little girl cousins.  All four of my girls ended up with some pretty cool gel baked on toenails and Kylee scored her first pair of fake nails!  Not too sure if she is going to like them, but she couldn't pass up the opportunity to try them out.

Sunday morning we woke up to see what the Easter Bunny had left us!!  It wasn't as exciting as the kids had hoped.  The girls all got flip flops and Kade got a new swimming suit...and of course a basket of candy.  That's OK because the gifts and candy aren't really the most important part of Easter.  Going to church was a great way to celebrate Easter and think of the Savior on this day.  Later that evening we ended up back at Grandpa and Grandma's for Sunday Dinner.  Ham and turkey...delicious!  After dinner the big kids hid prizes for an easter egg hunt and then the little kids hunted.  They had baskets to overflowing.  They loved it.  It was a great weekend spent with family.  I do believe Grandma might be happy to have her quiet peaceful home back though!  We are a big crowd!! 

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Brinley's Scripture for Family Home Evening!

Oh my, we laughed so hard during our Family Home Evening tonight!!! We have been having the kids take turns picking a favorite scripture and reading it aloud after which we try to discuss it a little bit. Well, tonight was Brinley's turn. She was pretty excited and felt very important. She had the page number and verse all written down on a paper. We prayed, sang and then it was time for her to share her scripture. She can read most of it but has a little trouble with some of the words. Quincy was so kindly helping her...which made this all the more funny. This was the verse that they were reading out loud together:

Leviticus 20:17 - And if a man shall take his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness; it is a wicked thing; and they shall be cut off in the sight of thier people; he hath uncovered his sister's nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity.

When Quincy came to the first "nakedness" her eyes got so big I thought they were going to pop out of her head. She went ahead and whispered the word to Brinley and then I thought her eyes were going to pop as well. Needless to say we lost it from there. We were laughing so hard that we were all crying!

Oh, it was a good Family Home Evening. We might not remember the great lesson Quincy gave on the Holy Ghost tonight, but I am pretty sure we will never forget Brinleys scripture!!!

Birinley's "sick" day! NOT

A couple days ago Brinley was coming down with a cold so I wanted her to lay low for the day and not play with friends.  The other kids got busy and she was the only one left home a couple of times.  I also got busy and just let her do her own thing for awhile.  Oh man, that girl has an active imagination and she makes some MESSES!!  After asking a million times to clean up various messes that she had made, I walked in the room to find her yet again laying out a big plan.  I said to her, "what are you doing now?" to which she replied, "Sorry, I'm sick - I have to entertain myself". 

Just for the record, here are a FEW of the things she did to "entertain" herself during the day...
    
     - got out about 15 small plastic cups and poked shishkabob sticks into them to create something
     - popped her own popcorn in the air popper...complete with melted butter and salt
     - dragged out loads of books to read to herself
     - dug a box and milk jug out of the recycle and drew all over both of them with permanant marker
     - painted her own fingernails...pink and white stripes!
     - made snowcones with our snoopy snowcone maker
     - drew on about a thousand pieces of paper
     - found an ice cream bucket in the garage and cleaned it out with a half a bottle of dish soap
     - chopped up part of a block of cheese to make herself a snack of cheese and crackers
    

I thought kids were supposed to lay around and watch TV when they weren't feeling well!!  It's just a good thing she is sooo cute and we love her so much!

Brinley's 6th Birthday!

Wow! My Brinley is 6 years old!!  Hard to believe.  No more babies around this house anymore.  Brinley had a great birthday.  On the day of her birthday she got to open a box of "sugared" cereal and some candy and a cute princess singing card that her Dad picked out for her.  On the following Sunday we had her family party with the Hadley's.  We had dinner, she opened her presents, and ate her yummy dessert!

 She got a pile of presents.  Some from Mom and Dad and some from Grandpa and Grandma.  She could hardly wait to see what was inside.  It took alot of patience to wait all day until it was time!

 She mostly got clothes.  Luckily she still thinks this is OK.  She got some really cute summer shirts and a pair of shorts.

 You have to have at least one toy on your birthday so she got a pack ot 6 different 3D princess puzzles.  Her three older sisters were soooo jealous.  Anything princess at our house is pretty hot stuff.  She was excited to try them out.

 Brinley didn't want the traditional cake for her birthday...she chose ice cream cookie sandwiches rolled in sprinkles!!  Doesn't that sound so much better.  They were really yummy!!

 Brinley loves her Grandpa Tom.  She isn't quite as willing to snuggle with him now that she is getting a little older (much to Grandpa's dismay) but he can still get her to pay him a little attention sometimes!

You are so much fun Brinley.  We all love you so much and are sooo glad that you are a part of our family.  You make everyone smile and we love your funny outgoing personality.

Some of the things Brinley likes at the age of 6 are...

* Playing with her cute freinds Kate, Olivia G, Brooke & Breeanne.

* Going to Kindergarten and especially Mrs. Kimber

* Winning - she has one competitive spirit.  She will beat you at anything even if it takes her a lifetime.  It should be fun to watch her as she grows up!

*Being 1st in the bus line every afternoon - those poor other little Kindergarteners don't have a chance.

* Ipods - she is always sneaking the older kids away and begging to play them.

* Her sister Quincy - they are best friends (well, most of the time)

* Still loves her "zone" time.  She will make believe, draw, add with a calculator, play with her baby dolls all by herself.  She loves her mornings with just her and I so she can do whatever she wants.

* Riding her bike incredibly fast down the road without a helmet...we have to work on this one.  It makes her Mother crazy!

* Riding on her plazma car outside and shooting hoops in the basketball hoop.

Happy Birthday Brinley...We Love You!!

Quincy's Valentines Box

Quincy created this awesome Valentines box mostly by herself with a little help.  I am not sure where she got the idea but this was what she wanted to do.  I thought it turned out pretty cute!!

She is very creative and pretty darned determinted when she comes up with an idea!!

Kade's 12th Birthday!

I do not know why we don't have any pictures of Kade's Birthday...but we don't!!  So sad!  I know one thing for sure...even though we didn't take any pictures we had a great birthday party and he got his favorite ever Birthday present.

For his Birthday dinner the most important part of the meal was...we had "whole white" rolls.  He's kinda a funny kid. He doesn't like anything to do with my wonderful whole grain foods!!  So that was his main request!  

He actually already had his Birthday present because we let him get it early.  He got an IPOD!!!!  He was sooo excited to finally get that thing.  We told him he had to be 12 first and he had finally arrived.  We cheated a little though and let him get it early so he could have it for the long drive to California in January.  He even earned half the money to buy it...but according to him it is worth every penny!

Some things Kade loves at the age of 12...

* Soccer - indoor, outdoor, any kind

* Golf - his Dad has him completely brainwashed!

* Playing on his Ipod...now it's my job to limit the use!

* His friends - hangs out mostly with Chayse,  Justin and Trevor.

* Finally being out of primary...He is a deacon!  Yay!!

* Math - he is so smart at math!

* Teasing his sisters - he never seems to get too old for this one!

Happy Birthday Kade!  We love you!

We are so proud of the wonderful young man he is becoming.  He got the Priesthood with the coming of this birthday and it was a great experience for him.  I was so impressed to see how excited he has been to participate in collecting fast offerings and passing the sacrament.  Very cool!!