the last five months...

 We are tired...we have been busy! We can't wait for summer !!!

Here is a small update on the past five months...

 Our BABY turned three! Jilly had a Tangled party- she loved the attention and the presents. So much so that we talk about her birthday almost every day and she is always saying, "Can  I get this for my birthday?", "Can I have my birthday part at... Disneyland, Sea World, Pump it Up, and Chuck E.Cheese (just to name a few). "AWW I wish it could be my birthday again". (at everyone else's birthday).

 This is the real shocker...Rigdon is ELEVEN! He is the cutest boy in the world and I couldn't love him more! He is growing up way too fast!

 Speaking of growing up, this is my soon to be kindergarten grad! She loves school and her teacher, she always does her whole homework packet by herself without telling me and sometimes her interpretation  of the assignment is pretty cute (and the teacher probably assumes that I must be a stay at home because I don't know how to do kinder homework.)

 Rigdon is the happiest kid and so easy to please, traits that I hope he keeps his whole life. I have cried multiple times this year as I watch the person that he is growing into. I am so proud of him and cannot believe how fast time flies.

 Here is my little Easter Bunny after pre-school.

 Snow ball fight So Cal style.

 Took the kids to their first "real" concert. The Fresh Beat Band in Anaheim.

 I call this "a rite of passage" going on ALL the rides at Magic Mountain.

 Last Cub scout meeting.

 Here is Rigdon earning his arrow of light award. ( It is always presented as an Indian Ceremony where the cubs get their"wings").

 Livi- her favorite sport is basketball!

 Jillian is taking up two new instruments at once.

 No your eyes are not deceiving you. We are the proud new owners of not 1 but three Easter bunnies!

 Caroline's 6th birthday and the second time it was on Easter. She is my sunshine!

 Rigdon's FIRST band concert.

Hooray! Summer is almost here and what better way to get ready than with a good old fashioned baseball game. (and $15 worth of fingers!) (That's what happens when you start giving kids an allowance).

Europe...Finally

So Rangi's brother was living in Switzerland and we figured that was a great excuse to visit Europe for cheap. Well I don't know if cheap is the right word, but awesome definitely is! Here it is 13 days in 3 minutes. (My french speaking husband made this video.) OK so he served his mission in France but I am not sure he still qualifies as fluent, although his mission was my favorite part of the trip and I am so grateful that he served a mission and we were able to visit. I am also so grateful to my sister Jessica who may never have more kids after this experience for graciously watching our kids.

Nicknames

So it turns out that Rangi and I are huge nicknamers of our kids and we recently decided that Jillian had the best name for nicknames. Some of our faves have been, prime "Rig", Rigonometry, Big Rig, Livin' it up, Line upon Liney, and lately for Jillian from Rangi ..."Jiller" . He said he wished she was playing in Livi's basketball league so we could put Jiller on the back of her Jersey. For me I was watching her play doctor with Caroline with a butcher knife from her kitchen set and I started calling her "Dr. Jill". (P.S. I don't know where she got any ideas like that about Dr's. )

Let the feasting begin! (candy that is)

Here is the whole gang of gouls and guys on Halloween night. We were lucky to have my parents and Charlee go Trick or treating with us while my grandparents stayed home and handed out our candy.
Rigdon- the headless boy!
Caroline the Prima Ballerina
Tangled up in LOVE for my Jillian... Rapunzel
Our Indian Princess Olivia

Hope you all had fun...and hope your household hasn't eaten as much candy as this one has...SERIOUSLY!

Sugar and Spice

This is my sweet Olivia getting her baptism pictures done. She was baptized on September 3rd. It was a beautiful day and we were so lucky to be surrounded by family and friends. My favorite part was hugging her as she came out of the font. She has the sweetest spirit!
Anyone that knows Livi will say that she is THE sweetest thing. As the second child and a very easy going and responsible child, she sometimes gets the short end of the stick when it comes to attention. Needless to say she adored being the center of attention with just me and the photographer gawking over her. She also loved playing in her pretty dress in the fields and flowers.
There isn't a day that goes by that I don't thank Heavenly Father for sending her to me and our family. She has added 8 years of sunshine to our life! Olivia, always put your trust in the Lord, we look forward to watching your life unfold!

A Blessing...

For any of you that don't know I am a Mormon, which means that I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; one of the things that sets our religion apart is that we believe that there are still prophets on the earth. Just like Moses and Abraham- men that speak to God and tell God's children things that are important for our day and age.

I do believe that God still has prophets and apostles on the earth like in ancient times, and we are blessed to be able to hear from them twice a year. It is called General Conference and thanks to modern technology it is televised, so now anyone that has any desire to see what a modern day prophet is saying can! If you are interested look for it on T.V. tomorrow Oct. 1st and Oct. 2nd from 9-11am and 1-3 pm. It will probably be called LDS General Conference on your TV guide. It is very uplifting and is one of my favorite weekends of the year!

A good reminder

I like this because it is easy to get so busy with homework and soccer and helping at the school and church that we forget what matters most. I want to be the mom who hugs her child when they spill a bowl of spaghetti on the floor. I believe that "the things that matter most are truly what bring us closer to Christ".

Lofty Goals

I used to set high goals each summer for my kids...for instance reading and math every day. Learning new sports and music skills. Chores. This summer I honestly didn't buy a single summer enrichment book from Costco-we were just going to live it up. Rigdon asked if he could earn a Nintendo ds- I said sure if you read 1500 pages this summer ( thinking no way in heck was that happening). Guess who just got a ds? Thanks a lot Harry Potter!

Happy Summer!

I hope you are all enjoying the simple pleasures that summer has to offer. Fresh fruit.
Family Vacations
Summer Camp
Cousins
Pony rides
Long hot days to swim to your hearts content
and when it is too hot (or too cold in this case) disco skating!

Happy Summer from us to you!

Happenings...

Seriously this is what is really happening in my life! (Jillian wants to be held all the time so I have to get creative sometimes).
Some of the more exciting things include season passes to Snow Valley.
Rigdon making his cake for the cub scout blue and gold dinner.
Sea World with the Bishops. The kids sat in the soak zone and they were not disappointed- they got soaked! It was so fun to watch them.
Caroline and Macie getting even wetter !!!
Jillian does not like the soak zone at Sea World but she LOVES her umbrella and raincoat and out enjoying the rain in the backyard.

P.S. If you did not see my mother's day post you better check it out to see my MOST RECENT happening. I can tell you it is NOT vacuuming!

Happenings...

Rigdon giving me that, "seriously mom another picture" look. He played great defense in his first season of organized b-ball.
These pics are out of order!!! The end product looking pretty cute!
Aunt Roxanne did the girls hair in super tight curls before they went to bed (which didn't go great at night but after persuading C to keep hers in until morning, J was unconvinceable) - I took out all the rubberbands and showed Caroline the end result and she just started balling... "I look ugly." I thought it was hilarious and thought it looked cute, she begged me to take a shower but I told her I wouldn't let her look ugly if she would just let me try some things. In the end the girls looked adorable... I had to get pretty creative with J because we took her rollers out the night before and so had an interesting look in the morning.
Jilly is obsessed with American Girl Dolls!
Good night. Sleep Tight! Hope this little update helps.

Double digits!

Yes this is a very belated post for my son who is now 10!!! I am trying to catch up... so here goes! I wanted to throw a party but already following in his father's footsteps he said no, he just wanted to invite his best friends to Laser Island. It was a blast- the whole family and a couple friends came.

Rig is such a great kid and he is growing up so much. Some of his great accomplishments this year include, 3rd place in the science fair- he loves science. He went on a field trip to Sacramento where he flew on a plane both ways in one day and was so excited and grown up! He loves Harry Potter and Diary of a Wimpy Kid (he wants to reread them when I am not forcing him to branch out and read real literature!) He is an awesome brother and son. His greatest accomplishment this year has to that he summited Mt. Whitney which is the highest peak in the continental U.S. We are so lucky to have him in our lives!