Chuck-E-Cheese Birthday

The week after Jaxon's Birthday we went out to visit my sista in Colorado. We had oodles and oodles of fun. We had a birthday party for Hallie and Jaxon's birthdays while we were there, because their cousins missed them. SO we bought a cake and headed to chuck-E-cheese.

The kids had a total blast and with the coupons we found it wasn't too expensive.

So here are the pics I promised Caro from the photo booth. Aren't they cute? Don't my girls look more like Carolina than me?? ...

Christian gave Jaxon this really cool Lego Star Wars ship to build and we had a really good time putting it together. And Caro gave us a great tip - super glue the Legos together when you have the finished product or else you have a box full of tiny Legos that you don't know what to do with. But make sure you glue every single piece down, cause I made that mistake and I still find little pieces everywhere. What a fun toy though - Legos are a whole new thing for us and I think they are here to stay.

Isn't that cool? We had a great time at Caro's - I wish we could go more often, but with my husband would be nice...

My big boy is already 5!!!

Jaxon and Best Buddy (Christian)
Nov. 2007
My Jaxon turned five on Friday March 14th, and I can't believe it! He is growing up way too fast!

Birth Announcement

One of my favorite things about Jaxon is that he is such an early riser and likes to get his bed made, practicing and reading done all at the crack of dawn so he can play video games the rest of the day. I just love that he does first things first. He's a great example to me (I like to sleep in as late as I possibly can).

One Year

Another thing I love about JJ is the relationship that he has with his Dad. He loves Dad. Loves to be with Dad, do everything that Dad does etc... It is so cute. They go golfing together, camping, four wheeling, hiking, play baseball together, clean the cars, work in the garage. I love the relationship they have. Maybe I'm a little jealous, but I can't compete with Dad and I'm just glad he can have a relationship like that with his Daddy.

Walking - 14 Months

Jaxon is an awesome reader. I love to watch him grin from ear to ear as he is reading because he knows he is totally "getting it". And its amazing the progress he has made just in this last month. He is also rocking it on the violin. He just passed off all his twinkles and is starting to learn "Lightly Row". He loves to play for us, but does not like us to clap or be "happy" when he is done. It's so funny.

2 years 3 Months

We are so blessed to have Jaxon in our family. He is an amazing little person and we love him so much!!

3 Years - Easter Pics

Jaxon had a little party on his big day with his two cousins that he loves - Chandler and Marcus - and with his little best buddy Jarret Bawden (who has the exact same birthday) and Hallie's boyfriend Ethan Dorny. They had a Wii party with a pinata and then his cousins slept over. He had a great birthday.

4 Years - Boating

Fun Facts about Jaxon:

Favorite Color: All of them, but really I think its blue

Favorite Food: Angel Hair Pasta & Salad

Favorite Treat: Kit Kats

Favorite game: Mario Olympics on the Wii

Favorite Place to Visit: Christian's House & Chuck-E-Cheese

Favorite Superhero: All of them, but really I think its Transformers

Favorite thing to do: Play video games, ride bikes, boating, & anything with Dad

Favorite Restaurant: Brick Oven

5th Birthday Party

Happy Birthday Jaxon James!!!

Finally...

You won't believe it, but it's true. . . We finally closed on our house yesterday!! I am still in shock myself. We've been back and forth so many times, we just couldn't decide if we should or shouldn't. Then in December we got the ball rolling and started using a family friend as the loan officer, well... she was not working out. Let's just say she probably still thinks she's working on our loan - she was soooo slow. So the first of February Caro gave us the number of her loan guy out in Colorado and he was amazing - it was like night and day. He was so quick and upfront. We got it all done within a month and a great interest rate and payment to boot! If anybody needs a loan guy - he's fabulous. They even sent a notary to our house to close! How cool is that?

Anywho, thanks Caro!!

So the house is finally ours. Three years and 7 months later, its ours!

So now come the projects, which I am so excited about. I want to tile the master bath, paint the kids rooms and my room, fix up the basement apartment, get a vinyl fence, elevate the backyard(Alan fights me on this one, but I want it dang it!). Anyways, there are many things that will be underway as soon as Alan finishes school in April!! I can't wait for that moment in our lives!

So I guess we will be here for a while longer, but I do hope to someday settle down in a quiet little town somewhere with my best friend next door. Wouldn't that be perfect?? We can't have everything at once thought, I can be patient - I hope!

As an exciting side note - Alan has accepted an amazing offer from his former employer of 7 years - Ortho Development. Apparently they really wanted him back and he is incredibly excited to go back and be a Hip product Line Manager working in the marketing department. We couldn't be happier. He has been so stressed out lately with his current job and so unhappy. It is good to see him smiling again and with hope in his eyes. He will be starting April 1st and then graduating the end of April - so we really feel like a new and improved chapter of our life is beginning. We are so looking forward to the future.

Bring Your Dad to Dance Week

This week was bring your Dad to dance week at Hallie's studio. So Alan went with Hallie to Mini Ballet! Hallie was so excited to dance with her Daddy! Apparently the Dad's were doing lifts with the girls while they danced to 'Swan Lake' music. That would have been a sight to see!!

This was a day Hallie and Daddy will always remember.

Thanks for taking Hallie babe!

Suzuki Graduation

Summer graduated from Suzuki Book 4 last Saturday! They have these graduations once a year where you can graduate from a book and the kids get a little certificate. It's pretty cool. They play the graduation piece for their book in a big group. Summer played 'Concerto in A Minor-3rd Movement' by Vivaldi. She did great! Afterwards Sandee and I took the kids for milkshakes! It was a great afternoon.

I am so proud of Summer. She is becoming quite the violinist. She can learn a new piece so quickly and it always amazes me at how fast her fingers move. She plays beautifully. I just wish she liked to share her talent more (she's a little shy).

It's really rewarding seeing all of our years of hard work paying off.

Thanks for coming and supporting us as always Abu & Papa!!

The PeePee Crew

Sandee called me last week to tell me that my fabulous friend Kallie was coming up for the weekend, so I invited myself to hang out. I love Kallie to death and I hardly ever get to see her. So, like Sandee said, we put our party hats on and headed out for a night on the town. We had a yummy-yummy dinner and then went and saw 'Step Up 2 - the streets'. It was soooo good and we enjoyed it so much in fact that we thought we would form our own Crew (which I call the PeePee crew, because we had many incidents of peeing and near peeings). We danced in the snow with the car stereo blaring at midnight (a moment that will never be forgotten) and we made up our own moves. There are millions of pictures & video documenting the event, but I will share only a few of my faves (you can see the rest on Sandee's blog).

Thank heavens for great friends. What would I do without them? I seriously felt like a 12 year old girl last night being crazy with my girlfriends. I am so lucky and grateful to have two of the most amazing friends in the world, who I have the best time with everytime we get together.
I love you guys! What a rockin' night out we had.

P.S. I am still the best but shaker ever!!

Are we 12 or what??

Sandee has some serious upper body strength!!

Happy 30th Caro!!!

My amazing, beautiful sister is turning the big 3-0 today!! Holy crap, we are getting old!!!! Here are 30 wonderful things I love about her. . .

1. She got all the good looks in the family (don't you think?)
2. She is the smartest woman I know
3. She has a Masters degree (what? are we even related?)
4. She loves her kids
5. She loves my kids and they love her
6. She is fun to be around and always positive - she is not a complainer!!
7. She is my best friend and I don't know what I would do without her
8. She has one mean karate kick!!
9. She is incredibly fit and looks hotter than ever even after having two kids!
(defiantely the hottest 30 year old I know!!)
10. She married an amazing guy that we love to death - He is sooo funny and the smartest guy I know.
11. She is incredibly frugal
12. She loves to go shopping and not buy a darned thing (she lives vicariously through my bad shopping habits)
13. She always has the right answers
14. She can be nastier than I am - if you can believe that!
15. She can party hard - but only before 10 pm - then it's all over!!
16. She was the best older sister growing up - I always looked up to her and she would always do my hair
17. She has great hair
18. She has great style sense and she looks good in everything.
19. She has a honing device for great deals
20. She knows how to get what she wants. And when she really wants something -she'll get it!
21. She reads to her kids
22. Her kids are sooo smart (it runs in their genes, plus they have amazing parents)
23. I love her kids like my own and I would do anything for them and her.
24. She comes to visit me all the time
25. She doesn't mind sleeping with us on our bed
26. Caro is Summer's role model. I think she wishes Caro was her mom and wants to be like her. She's more like Caro than she is me.
27. She has strong political opinions and can debate with my brothers and Dad.
28. Caro loves to cook and try new recipes.
29. She changes her mind all the time
30. She supports and loves her husband and will follow him wherever he goes - and she will be happy about it.

Happy Birthday Sis!! I love you forever!!

My Baby Girl is 4!!

Hallie turned 4 on Sunday and I can't believe it. She's my baby girl. She can't be 4! I am so sad at how fast they are growing up. Can't they stay this way forever?

Hallie is an amazing little princess. These are my four favorite things about Princess Hallikins:

1. She always tries to find ways to make others happy by saying nice things to them. She is the peacemaker in her preschool class (who would have thought??)

2. She loves to snuggle with mommy in bed all the time. It totally melts my heart. I hope she stays that way forever.

3. She has amazing style and fashion sense. What 4 year old likes to pick out her clothes and picks stuff that actually matches and looks great together? She loves to dress like a girly girl, which I love. Summer was never big into skirts, so I'm really glad Hallie is.

4. She is always the first person to run and help if I say I need something done. I don't know if she does it just to beat Jaxon to it, or because she really wants to help, but either way, it is greatly appreciated by me.

There are so many wonderful things about Hallie. We love her so much and are so grateful that she was sent to us. We are so lucky!!

We had an Ariel party on Saturday afternoon with her favorite friends - Ethan, Sammy, Deana. and Jarret. We did fishing under the sea, a mermaid race (this was a big hit), and of course an Ariel Pinata. It was a great party. Thanks for the ideas Stacia!!

He really loves me!!

How could I ever doubt? Especially after getting these?

I love you sweetie!! Thanks for being my lover and my best friend.

What do you think??

I finally broke down and chopped Jaxon's hair off!! I was trying to grow it out for the shaggy look that's totally in now. And we made it really far- farther than I've ever been able to go before. But one day I was looking at his calick (is that how you spell that?) and how it made his hair part down in the front and lay weird, and I just couldn't handle it anymore, so I just cut it!

Before After

Then he looked so different and I thought, 'What have I done?' Did I make a mistake? Should I grow it back out again, or does he look better with shorter hair? He's handsome no matter what, but you know how we worry. I need your advise. I don't know what to do.

More like snow rabbits

Alan and I took Summer skiing again at The Canyons on Saturday !! I haven't been skiing in like two years. So it was really fun. I have never been a fabulous skier, but I love it anyway. I think I have never gone often enough in one season to really progress, but maybe this will be the year. We are going to try and go a few more times, but to Sundance, because The Canyons is not a great beginner resort(not many green runs). Summer had kindof a hard time, so we are headed to Sundance in a couple weeks. I can't wait. Granted my legs felt like jello and I could hardly walk for two days, but it was all worth it. That's why I call myself a 'snow rabbit' instead of a 'bunny' (I am not nearly as graceful as a beautiful bunny).

Anywho, it was an incredibly beautiful day up there. I am so grateful that we can do fun stuff like that as families. I love this season in my life.

Life Rocks!!

My little Ballerina

Well, we finally did it. We broke down and signed Hallie up for dance. She is constantly dancing with Summer's old ballet slippers and tries to teach herself the moves from Barbie and the Nutcracker and Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses. So we thought it was time. She was soooo excited for her first day and she asks just about everday if she has ballet class. She was very excited to try on her new dance clothes too!! Isn't she darling?

She has loved her class and I really love her teacher too. I am loving the studio also, because it is very low key, but they still have great teachers and amazing dancers there. Thanks for the referall Sandee! It was a perfect fit for Hallie.