The Best of Both Worlds

Olivia is my child who is all girl and loves princesses and dresses, but is also very into building traps with Jed and Legos and pirates. Today she decided to combine them and came out with this lovely outfit. It was too good to pass up a picture opportunity.

Disneyland

October was a super crazy month at our house, I am glad to say we survived. At the end of the month, we traveled to California for Meylssa and Seth's wedding, and had a chance to go to Disneyland with the kids. Of course, they all had to try to pull a sword from the stone.

We also had a wild ride with Mr. Toad

Jed got to battle Darth Vader

Liv did her best to keep us on our toes

We had an awesome two days and had some very tired kids. It was good though, it helped them be a little more calm on the 3 day car ride home. Never Again!!!

Olivia's Birthday

Miss Olivia had birthday #4 on Saturday. The first thing she said when she woke up was "Today is my Birthday!" She has been asking when it will be her birthday since about Christmas. I am so thankful it finally came! She requested to wear her zebra dress. She also got a cool zebra fleece,

a camera that already has had hundreds of pictures taken and deleted. She told me "That is a great present!" Funny girl.

Some headphones to go with her new ipod shuffle, (it's gold, which is awesome, because she is kind of a magpie when it comes to shiny things)

And of course she wanted a zebra cake. I wanted to make one that was zebra striped inside, but she said no, it had to be zebra outside, so I found some stuff called sugar sheets and was able to cut it up and make whatever design I wanted. Yes, it was edible.

Blowing out the candles. We are so lucky to have this spunky little girl in our family. She keeps us on our toes, but we also get mass amounts of cuddles and laughs!

Found

I finally found the camera cord, so here is a random sampling of pictures from this summer. This is in reverse order. Above is from last night and the hot air balloon festival we went to. We took another family's children with us.

Fourth of July

Cute Claire

Liv in front of her favorite-zebras

All 4 at the zoo

Dino biting Jed's hand

Grace and Dino

Spray park

Liv telling me how cold she is on the 4th

Claire's first cereal eating. She loved it.

Jed's 6th Birthday

Jed turned 6 on the 12th of this month. The day after we went to Nauvoo, he surprised me and told me he was having a gun party that day with the family that was still here. Since it was the last day, I sprung into action and figured out a fun party for the birthday boy. We had dart guns, so we got more bullets and had "games" of target practice and shooting cans off the deck. I then gave all the kids water guns and let them have at it. And since I didn't have time to make a cake, we got doughnuts and SueAnn put army men all over. Jed loved it and it turned out pretty fun for a last minute thing.

I cant believe that he is already six. They are growing so fast.

Nauvoo

We were able to go to Nauvoo with my sister's family and two nieces on Monday. These pictures are in no order, but I have been slacking in the blogging, so I just wanted to get some up.

Grace dressed as a pioneer

Claire being cute

Jed and his favorite missionary, Sister Pettit. They exchanged addresses and are going to be pen pals. She is Jed's first crush.

Learning how to make rope. The older girls were off to the side.

Liv as a pioneer.

More rope making.

Pioneer Claire

Cute pioneer Jed

Games the pioneer children used to play

Jed turning the wheel to make rope.

Alive!!

We are still alive and kicking. We are in our house and trying to get all the boxes unpacked and find a new home for everything. After we left Alabama we spent a few good weeks at my parents house. We watched the annual fireworks show and had yummy Chinese food for my big 3-0. Very good way to celebrate. We are now learning a new city and enjoying life. Thankfully school will start in about 3 weeks, so we are almost done with out crazy summer. I would add some fun pictures of all we have done, but I don't know where the cords are. Perhaps in a few more weeks!

Father's Day

Poor Chris was all alone in Iowa on Father's Day. At church we made some books to give to dads, so I am writing the kids here so he, and everyone else, can be happy!

They were fill in the blank, so they just had to write what they thought.

Grace
My dad is 5ft 10 in tall and weights 113 lbs. He is so strong he can lift my bookshelf. He has blue eyes and brown hair. He likes to wear shorts.

Favorites
Color-blue
food-chili hot dogs
book-Harry Potter
movie-Tangles
Song-Mean
Animal-Lion
Team-Utah

I like to go anywhere with my dad. When he has time, he likes to play with me. He always tells me to be good. When I go to bed, daddy tickles me.

I love dad because he helps me. I also love him because he is very special.


Jed
My dad is 53 tall and weights 93 lbs. He is so strong he can lift a boy. He has blue eyes and brown hair. He likes to wear hats.

Favorites
Color-blue
food-noodles
book-Harry Potter
movie-football
Song-YMCA
Animal-Tiger
Team-Utah

I like to go camping with my dad. When he has time, he likes to go running. He always tells me to clean. When I go to bed, daddy watches t.v.

I love dad because he is my buddy.

Olivia
My dad is 2 ft tall and weights 3 lbs. He is so strong he can lift a stone. He has blue eyes and black hair. He likes to wear church clothes.

Favorites
Color-black
food-cereal
book-the Scriptures
movie-Tangled
Song-I am a Child of God
Animal-Elephant
Team-Packers

I like to go to work with my dad. When he has time, he likes to take us bowling. He always tells me to go to bed. When I go to bed, daddy tucks me in.

I love dad because he's my dad.


Happy Father's Day Chris, we love you!

Iowa

Who would have thought we would finally be getting closer to family?

After 5 years of being alone, we are now a short 3.5 hours from my parents house. We learned yesterday that we are moving to Davenport, Iowa. We are so excited, the kids can't wait for snow, and I can't wait for fall! Chris will be there on June 15th, the kids and I will stay until the end of June.

Just Cute

Happy Easter!

Swimming

Since there was no school on Friday, we had the chance for the first real swim of the summer. It was 90 degrees and the water was cold, but it was a good combination. All the kids had fun and were exhausted by the end of the day. Even Claire dipped her feet in the chilly water and didn't mind it.


Olivia was checking out all the gear that was available. By the end, she was a little fish in a life jacket and went wherever she wanted in the pool.
Jed was a chicken at first, but after some not so gentle persuasion, I got him to enjoy the water. We are enrolling in swim lessons this summer, so after that, no more life jackets!
Grace trying to show off. I don't think she went under again(on purpose) after this shot!