My sister visited in May

Here are a couple of pictures from May when my sister visited us.

In a fort.

She was shocked and appalled that Sean's education had been sorely lacking. She set out to amend the situation, and by the time she left he finally had learned some animal sounds. I don't know how I could have overlooked such an essential aspect of a child's life. Thank goodness for sisters.

Sean's 2nd Birthday

Sean was so excited to have a birthday after all the fun that he had with Abby's birthday.

"Cheese" face.

Looking at a new book from grandma.

So cute. He was thrilled.

Abby's 5th Birthday

Better late than never, right?

Abby and Sean enjoying presents from Grandma.

Playing pin the tail on Eeyore. Now a birthday classic.

Decorating cupcakes.

Lot's of fire for a five year old.

I had to post this. Darrin was leading a party game, and all of a sudden he's giving all the girls a sobriety test. I made the cupcakes, but maybe he slipped something in there I didn't know about. I believe they all passed. (Sean didn't though.)

A trip all by myself

I was able to go, all by myself, to visit my sister and her husband for five days. Darrin was awesome with the kids, and the trip was wonderful for me. Almost my whole family, minus one on a mission and two in-laws and all the grandkids, were able to go to be at my brother-in-law's baptism. It was really amazing.

Here is the family plus his parents.

Brother-in-law and my Dad, who baptized him.

And then my they treated us to a fun day at the Science museum. I never have pictures of me, so I figured I would post them this once since I had them.

Christmas Trip to California

So I'm a little late, but here are some pictures from our trip to California in December. I've resolved to be better about blogging this year. I'm not starting out well, but I know I can do better. I love to read everybody else's blogs, and I love to share our pictures. So here's a start.

We had a wonderful time in California. We were able to see my brother on his mission. We took him to lunch and took some pictures.

We also were able to visit my cousin and her adorable kids (and husband too, of course!)

Sean's not happy about this, but he stayed long enough for a picture.

Preparing for Christmas dinner. Those are my kids looking for handouts.

Christmas morning and Christmas oranges.

Knott's Berry farm with the fam.

Not quite warm enough for the beach, but it was fun anyway.

We went to the Aquarium with Grandma. Dad of course has to explain about the fish. The kids loved it. I think Grandma had a good time too.

Happy New Year!

Visit from Asher in June

While I'm at it (blogging I mean), I'm just going to throw a random blog in here. These are some pictures from Asher's visit last summer.

Here we all are close to Asheville with beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains behind us.

We hiked up to a water fall that was very neat.

Here we are at a nature center. Of course, Darrin had to take the slide too.

Looking at butterflies.

And our trip to the beach.

Worn out after the beach.

Christmas Nativity Pictures

I offer a sheepish and apologetic hello as I try to enter the blogging world again. I think I will try to post a kind of catch up blog, but if not, I will at least do better in the future. I'm sure of it.

Here are some early Christmas pictures. We are enjoying Christmas here for a little while, and we are so excited to go and enjoy more Christmas in California visiting family.

Decorating the tree.

Decorating each other.

This is at our stake Nativity Celebration. Sean is pointing and saying Jesus.

The flowers are also nice.

Here's Darrin as a shepherd in the live nativity. If you look closely you can see the attempt at facial hair. It really added a realistic touch. (He shaved about 5 minutes after getting home.)

Our little Mary and Joseph in the Children's Room still at the Nativity Celebration.

Abby taking care of Baby Jesus.

Sean wouldn't put on a robe, or unfortunately a sheep costume, but he was very happy about the little bit of material around his neck. He kept pulling it tight and acting official.

I love this picture.