Airport Stop

One of my best friends in the world had a layover here way to and from Hawaii. It was so great to see her, even if only for a couple of minutes (about 10-15 to be exact). I was especially excited to show off my new little baby princess to her!

Marta, Tracey, H, Cheryl, KL, Lily, A

A, Lily, Tracey, H and KL

Marta and H

Tracey, KL, Cindy, Marta and H

Me and Tracey

Happy Valentine's Day!

As always, we had our "fancy" family Valentine's Day dinner. It is always fun to use all the fancy dishes. I didn't go "all out" as I have in the past, but having a 2 week old baby can do that to you. Still, we had a fun dinner. We usually do this around Christmastime too, but with basically everything packed, it made it a little hard.

Here's to the best 8 things that have happened to me that I love with everything I am!

(just a "pre" of our fancy table)

Thanksgiving, 2011

Thanksgiving was filled with everything we love best! Food and family. I didn't manage to pull out the camera until later in the evening, but we were still going strong!

Here are some of the younger crowd enjoying the pie.

B and Zach. One of my favorite things that happened this Thanksgiving, is that when everyone was asked to go around and tell what they were thankful for, Zach said he was thankful for Brandon. These 2 really are the cutest little buddies and I love them both so much!

Ava and A

At one point, we noticed all the kids were missing. We found all of them here, hovering around my darling sister in law Beth as she told them stories. This went on for quite awhile. She is so cute with the kids. They have always adored her, and it is easy to see why!

Ava was having lots of fun with the dog.

Christmas, 2011

As always, Christmas was wonderful! As anyone who knows me knows, Christmas is my most favorite time of the year and I look forward to it for 364 days a year!

Because Christmas fell on a Sunday this year, we had to alter our schedule just a little. We required the kids to be dressed for Church before breakfast, then we would go in to see what we got from Santa, then we would open presents after church.

Here are all the kids lined up and getting ready to come in to be wowed by what Santa brought.

CK's excitement!

A with Dave

D with his favorite present... a new Ipod Touch.

L with her presents

CK

B

A with her new Wagon

A also got a toy kitty cat that moves and meows. While she has come to love that cat, you can see the terror she felt due to it at first.

KL

A had fun with KL's presents too, especially since the new shopping cart that they got to share was over by KL's things. Of course, A was also really also really like the Repunzel Vanity desk that Santa brought.

As promised, after church, the kids were able to open presents. Here is KL opening a present, sporting her new Repunzel princess dress.

A opening...with some help from CK

CK

D

B

L

D opening his new Ipad...which he enjoyed taunting the boys with.

Hope you all enjoyed your Christmas as much as we enjoyed ours!

Halloween, 2011

Despite missing some Halloween Festivities and Parties because we were in Colorado, we still got to get all dressed up for some trick or treating.

I bought this Wonder Woman costume when CK was 2 and I've been able to use it now 3 times and each time I put it on one of my little girls, I just get giddy because I love it so much. I will admit that it is definitely showing its wear, but I love it still! Here is our little A as Wonder Woman, 2011.



As we have always done in the past, we had dinner at Jill and Scott's house before going out to get candy. Here are all the kids with Grandpa Pug.

CK: Our Geisha Girl

Wonder Woman after trick or treating. She was so excited when she got home to show me her bag (all of our traditional pumpkins were packed) and what was in it! How wonderful is this!?!

Dave, A and B in the background. I'm sorry to say that this is the only picture of B I got!

L (a "punk" bride--this is actually the bride costume my mom made for me when I was 10!) with her friends. Kasey, L, Anna, and Ashlyn.

KL: The cutest little witch out on Halloween that night.

Grammy with CK, KL, and A after they had been out trick or treating.

Scott caved to the demands of his kids and made a "haunted porch". L had fun haunting as the Zombie Bride.