FIFTEEN!

For Maddi's 15th birthday, I surprised her with a trip to NYC. To pull this off, I had told her we would get up really early, leave the house at 6am for breakfast. Then, we'd go shopping at the mall. She thought the plan sounded nice and went along with it. She never questioned why we had to eat breakfast that early. I kept switching the shopping locations around, not really sure where to say we were going. We left the house on time and drove an hour to our "breakfast" location. We drove to the New Haven train station. She then began questioning why I had a back pack and was bringing a book to breakfast. I went up to the ticket counter and asked for 2 round trip tickets to NYC. She was completely thrilled! We arrived 90 mins later into Grand Central Station.
I had never been into NYC and was a bit stressed over navigating by myself. I was happy, we did not get lost! It did help that we were able to ask for directions from anyone.
After eating some breakfast, we walked to Times Square.
Then, we walked over to Rockefeller Plaza.
We had to make a stop into FAO Schwarz for some browsing around.


Central Park was next on our list. We only touched the surface of this massive park, just staying to the South End.
The Manhattan LDS Temple is close to the park so we walked over that way to see it.
Then walking to see Julliard was next.
Another Central Park picture that did not upload in the correct order.
Then, we hopped on a subway to head towards Macys. I was blown away at how HUGE this store was.

We took a break to gather our thoughts and figure out our next site to see.
After walking and walking, somebody (Maddi) had very sore feet. I had told her to wear comfy shoes as we would be walking a lot. Her idea of comfortable was a pair of ballet flats. Not wanting to give away the surprise, I let her wear them. We stopped inside this "fancy" Kmart near Macys. We found a cheap pair of comfortable shoes, she was happy again. :-)

We then jumped on the subway to see the 9/11 Memorial Site. We did not plan ahead and couldn't see the site because we did not have tickets. No biggie..

We headed back to Times Square to see the lights. I was getting tired and ready to head home. We stopped into Forever 21 to shop then headed back to Grand Central just in time to hop on the 6pm train back home. It was such a fun day, filled with lots of laughs and exciting times. I am excited to go back to see things that we did not have time to see.

We arrived home at 9pm, with time to open up some presents. We enjoyed cake on Sunday! I am pretty sure she would agree that her 15th birthday was one of her favorites! We are proud of the beautiful young lady that Maddi is turning out to be. She is such a sweet girl, filled with smiles and laughter. XOXOXOXO

I LOVE early morning Church!!

Early church meetings are just the BEST! We get home, have lunch and then it's family time! Today we took a walk around a park. It was fun enjoying the beauty that we are surrounded by. There was a thin layer of ice on a small lake. The weather was cold but not freezing. The sun was shining, it was beautiful!
Famous last words said by Dallin " LOOK, the water's frozen solid!" Lauryn snapped this picture with her new camera at the perfect moment of Dallin falling through the not so frozen water. Don't worry, no children were harmed. :-)

We love all of the rock walls here in CT.
Look, we both had our eyes closed. Retake!


I just love these kids! They are good children who always amaze me at their kindness and determination to do what is right. We are blessed!

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!