Why I love BOYS!

I had to leave early Monday morning for an appt with Madisen. Mike was left to get the younger 2 out of bed and ready for the bus. When Dallin walked off the bus later that day, he was wearing these jeans. You see, last week they got caught in his bike chain and ripped. They were never to be worn again as jeans. Seriously....look at them.
I asked Dallin why he wore them to school. He claimed he didn't have anything else to wear. I reminded him that I had set his clothes out the previous night. "Oh, I forgot".
The best part is Mike claims he didn't even notice them on Dallin. Really?
The girls would have never left the house is such an outfit.
I laughed to myself at how different each of them are and how much easier to outfit boys are. :-)
I can only imagine what his teacher thought of his jeans.
Please tell me Dallin is not the only one who has slipped out of the house looking like a disaster!

School Time!

Our new school year has finally begun! We were delayed a week due to the hurricane. All the kids were extremely excited for the first day. Brilee and Maddi are picked up by the bus at 6:45. They start school at 7:10. Lauryn and Dallin are picked up at 7:40 and start around 8:10.
Our first day was a rainy and cold morning.


Brilee is in 7th grade
Maddi is a freshmen. Dallin is in 3rd grade and Lauryn is in 6th.
Waiting anxiously in the garage for the bus. If you notice the 3 drive ways, the bus stopped at each individual one for the kids. We thought that was quite funny. The bus making it's way through the rest of the cul de sac. We are excited for a new school year here and are happy with the teachers that have been chosen.

Spring break 2011

We did it again! Another great spring break spent together. The plan was 4 days at Disneyland then one day in Paris. We wanted this trip to be nothing but fun, without an itinerary to follow. Knowing that this would be our last trip into Paris with little ones, we wanted a good family picture to capture the trip. I think we were pretty successful with the pictures!

Maddi's sweatshirt summed up our day. We LOVE Paris!
These next few pictures are some of my favorites. Since it's time consuming keeping up a blog and Facebook for the family to see us, I'll spare you the boredom of viewing the pictures twice and just post the majority on Facebook. We sent the kids to go on a ride while we sat on the curb to secure our spots for the 5pm parade. Mike quickly ran to the kettle corn cart and grabbed us each a box with a cold coke. We giggled like little kids while enjoying our treats sitting front row on the curb looking like Disney Die-hard Nerds. When the kids came back and noticed our empty popcorn boxes, they were NOT happy with us. hee hee!

When the Disney Studios park opened it's doors at 0930, we sprinted for Crush's Coaster. This is probably the most popular ride in the park. Unfortunately, it does not have a fast pass, and the line is always 60+ minutes long. We were about 6th in line, what a treat!

Happy 11th birthday Lauryn!!

Our April Fool's baby is 11 today! On their birthdays, they get to choose what the dinner will be. Lauryn wanted a "Korean/Asian" night. We had 2 types of kimchee, spring rolls, kimbap, bulgogi beef (didn't have the right meat but ours did the trick) and noodles.
Showing off some of her presents.



We sure think Lauryn is the sweetest, spunkiest NEW 11 year old in our family! (have to be careful because remember...she and Brilee are 11 for 2 days together) hee hee!

Dallin's Baptism

Dallin was recently baptized by his Daddy! We had special friends and neighbors come out and show their support on his special day.
There were 2 other girls baptized with him. We all enjoyed some yummy snacks afterwards. What a beautiful day it was!

Taylor Swift Surprise!!

Here the girls are, waiting at the park- n -ride for the other girls to arrive. They've been told we're meeting to go to Köln, Germany to visit the chocolate factory, go shopping and then to a dinner theater. The only reason dinner theater was mentioned was because while packing I almost ruined the surprise. I said to Lauryn "ok, that's a cute outfit for the CONCERT but what are you traveling in????" AHHHHH! I was able to avoid a total fail by saying that concert was the wrong word to use, I meant we were going to a dinner theater.... WHEW! The secret was still in the bag!


Some of the girls were told they were going shopping, some were told to pack for a Mother-Daughter weekend, one was told she was going to a "Mother -Daughter relationship building seminar". All of us adults laughed at the "stories" we told our daughters. It was a miracle that we were all able to keep it a secret for as long as we did. Most of the girls knew Taylor was in Germany that day, and most had asked to go. Those that had asked, were terribly disappointed that they were not going. They were truly surprised when they received their tickets!!At the hotel, our room came with 2 baby cribs instead of cots. The girls were determined to sleep in the cribs. In the end, I didn't want to hear the creaky beds squeak, so I had them sleep on the sleeping bag we had brought.

We shopped at one of Germany's largest malls. The girls were excited to be inside such a huge mall. The arena was directly across from the mall.
Waiting to go inside the arena.
As soon as we got into the arena, we bought t-shirts.
Brilee with one of her bestest buddies.

You didn't find hot dogs being sold in the arena, coke and pretzels were only to be found. I found it quite funny!


She had come down from the main stage to one of the stages by us. We all ran down and got pretty close.




This was taken right after the house lights came back on.
Lauryn and Brilee had made their way through the crowd on the floor and ended up in the front row with a few of their friends. Lauryn was handed the guitar pick from one of the security men. She was THRILLED!
We had the BEST weekend!! Seeing the excitement on each of their faces made the weekend priceless!

Very Satisfied

Did you know that Big G cereal's provide America's # 1 source of Whole Grain? And, because of this, I felt GREAT about my decision to serve Reese's Puffs with skim milk for dinner.
Thank you General Mills for making such healthy foods for our health conscious family! :)

The little car that could errr.... uh....didn't

Dallin and Mike spent hours getting this little car ready.Mike had the car cut out at the hobby shop on base. Due to safety regulations, he couldn't use the cutter, they had to do it. The guy cut the car a bit too narrow at the wheel base. Hoping it wouldn't be a problem, they sanded, painted, sanded and painted it to perfection. It was a smooth red finish with a black stripe.


We arrived at the church just in time to take a picture with the gang. After the picture, Mike ran over to the table to add the wheels and graphite. This is when tragedy struck the "little car that couldn't". Because the wheel base was too narrow, the screws kept breaking through the wood, which meant the wheels couldn't attach. Sad and frustrated the only hope was to open up a new car and hammer in the wheels before it was Dallin's turn to race. Dallin was quite embarrassed at his new car "the block".

Two cars down from "the block" is the" little car that couldn't"
"The Block" getting ready for it's debut. We won first place on this round, and 2nd on the next round. Another 1st place then a 2nd place. This "block" was the hit of the show! Dad's who had spent hours figuring out a car design, were in awe that all they really had to do was take it from the box, slap some wheels on it, and cheer it on.
Third place over all, not a bad finish for an out- of -the box car. We enjoyed a million laughs as we cheered on what we thought was going to be the hands down loser. AT 8, being cool is everything. This car was NOT cool, but because it won some races and beat the odds, it became a legend, one that will live on forever! :)