2009 Christmas Card

We did better this year...we did send out some Christmas cards but to those who we didn't get to lick a stamp for we are truly sorry. I hope this makes up for it! You won't be able to tape it to your fridge, save it in a box until next year or cut it up to make a gift tag...but you can come back to the blog anytime you want to take a look our 2009 Christmas Card! Dan and I feel very blessed to be parents to these three beautiful children (if I do say so myself).

Here are the winning "kid quotes" of the year!

Dani asked for a cheese sandwich right after dinner and daddy asked "where are you putting all the food?" She replied, "It's going straight to my thighs!"

After getting out of the Hot Tub, Brock while shivering states, "I'm freezing like a pig!"

Brock jumps into the bed right on top of mommy..."Oh sorry mommy, did I scare the crap right out of you!"

Mia, while playing on her rocking horse, is asked what is your horsey's name? she replies "donkey!"


We wish you a Merry Christmas and nothing but the best for the new year!

Brock Turns 5!

Here it is the middle of December...I better get with it! My boy turned 5 over a month ago and I'm just now getting around to blog about it. OK here is the the play by play. First you must know Dan and I were taking some pictures for a work project and accidentally reformatted the memory card in our camera with Brock's birthday photos on it. I was SOOOO sad! What is a mother to do when she has no photos of that special day. Well I'm going to document it here! We started the day with taking treats to his preschool class. We bagged up some candy, a pencil and stickers for each kid. Brock handed them out along with a capri sun to drink. After school it was home to hear "When do we leave for my pirate party mom?" 150,000 times! We took Brock, Christian, Janice, Rees, Abby, Dani, Mia, Aunt Ashlee, Aunt Jenny, Uncle Seth, Uncle Steve, Melissa, Elle, Cassie and Jordan to Pirate Island Pizza. (so sad that the Barkers were home sick with the flu and couldn't make it.) We reserved the special underwater mermaid room. We ate Pizza and played games and more games. Each kid was given a pirate hat and eye patch along with a loot bag filled with candy. After the pizza and games, we opened gifts and ate chocolate cupcakes that I had made. (I made a version of the photo above.) I asked Brock what he liked the most about his special day and he said "all the tickets I got for the games! and the cake!" My baby boy is growing up too fast! He is so lovable and still loves to snuggle with his mommy...I hope that lasts forever. Hope you had a great Birthday Brocky! We love you!

Happy Birthday Cowgirl!

Mia turned two last Saturday. Can you believe my baby is two already! We love this little girl. There is not a day goes by that she doesn't make us laugh. She is a cuddly, fun loving, very smart toddler. She learns new words everyday. Today she has almost mastered "popsicle". She loves to keep Mom and Dad on their toes. She is not a big fan of clothes as we found that out in the middle of church when she stripped down to just her diaper. Dan quickly picked her up and took her to the hallway and tried to convince her to put her dress back on with out her having a terrible two melt down. She decided that would be ok to put the dress back on but the shoes were out of the question.

We celebrated Mia's big day cowgirl style. We invited family and friends over for bbq ribs and chicken and a little rodeo. I decided to make cute homemade crafty stick horse for all the little party guests. I made 20 of them! I was up pretty late on a couple of occasions but it was well worth it. The kids loved them. Dan came up with special names for all 20 with a little bio about each horse. The kids were presented with an adoption certificate with these names and cute stories on them. Dan is so creative...we had horses named Willow, Stardust, Buck, Rocky and Twilight...just to name a few. We finished off the night with a sheriff badge shaped cake and lots of ice-cream. (Thanks Frys for the yummy ice-cream!)

Family Photoshoot 09

We were all together (minus a brother-in-law)! So what to you do when that happens? Take photos! And thanks to Justin Hackworth Photography we did just that...lots of photos. Here are a few of my favs. I fill so blessed to have such a wonderful family. Pretty good lookin family, don't you think?

By the way...Justin is fabulous to work with and does amazing work! I highly recommend him. Ashlee thank you for the fabulous hair and for making the donation at the "30 Strangers" exhibit. And Mom and Dad thanks for starting this family. We love you!

Happy Birthday Dan!

My honey turns 39 today. What an amazing person you are Dan! I really am the luckiest girl. He is a wonderful husband, a terrific daddy and the BEST of best friends. Happy Birthday Dan! We love you!

Lions and Tigers and Bears Oh My!

On our vacation in Oregon we went to the Zoo in Portland. The kids had a fabulous time. One of their favorite parts was the petting zoo. Mia really bonded with the goats. I thought she would be afraid. I was afraid! The train ride was a lot of fun too. We say lots of animals and finished the day off with dippin dots. Yum!

Home Sweet Home

The kids and I packed up our suitcases and went to Oregon for a week. Daddy stayed home to work. We missed him terribly! We had fun spending time with Grandpa, Grandma, Cate, Justin, Addie and the cows. The kids would go to the barn everyday with grandpa to help him feed the cows. Brock would yell right after Grandpa would "come cavee" The cows were a little afraid of the kids at first but by the end of the week Mia would end up in the manger with the grain and hay right next to the cow's nose. Dani and Brock also learned how to drive the Mule (the Kawaasaki kind not the four legged kind). Both were pretty good at it except sometimes we would have to remind them to keep their eyes on the road. We had so much fun and made some great memories! More to come...we also took a trip to the Oregon Zoo.

He Makes Me Laugh

As I was going through all the photos to load for Dani's birthday these popped up at the very end. This is what happens when Brock gets a hold of the camera when mommy isn't looking. Life is good... and how can you not laugh at these.

Dani The Birthday Girl

We are now in June blog followers! Dani celebrated her 7th birthday movie "star" style. We first spent the afternoon at the movies with friends. We went to see "Up" in 3D. We all loved the show. Then we ended the evening with a family BBQ. Dani requested meet on a stick..aka ribs. I made the two layer star cake which turned out great and we had lot's of ice cream to go with it... YUMMY! Dani also got an ipod for her gift from mommy and daddy. She is in love! Hope you had a great Birthday Dani. We love you so much!