Dance Recital

Brinley had a dance recital and did AMAZING! She did one ballet performance and a tumbling routine.  Darren and I even participated.  Since it was near Christmas, the instructor want a depiction of the nativity.  So Darren and I were Mary and Joseph.

 Our little snowflake

 Gymnast

Christmas

Christmas was a special one this year.  It was the first time we spent it away from Utah and were able to spend the day together as a family.  Landon and Jen came over for Christmas dinner that night, but other than that, it was just us.  I thought I would be sad about not being with more family, but it was absolutely perfect! There was no rush to be anywhere or do anything but be together opening presents, watching movies and just being together. Nothing better.

 Poor Brinley got sick first thing in the morning while opening her stocking.  She threw up all over, but was still a champ and had a good time opening presents.  Once it was over, she went straight to bed.  She was feeling a little better later that night.  I feel so bad that she felt miserable on Christmas.

 Carter and Beckham playing with one of Beckham's presents.

Brinley got an art kit and was in heaven (when she wasn't in bed)

I didn't get very many picture because our camera died.  Boo.

Christmas Fun

We went to a mall where they had fake snow and Santa.  Let me tell you, that fake snow was a hit with the kiddos.  

Tonsils

Beckham has had strep throat four times this year...Gulp.  A trip to the ENT confirmed my suspicions that this little boy needed his tonsils out.  He was really nervous but was a champ once we told him he could eat all of the popsicles and ice cream he wanted when he was done..

The aftermath was not fun.. Getting him to take his pain medication was a chore! It hurt him too bad to swallow, so he didn't want to take it. Talk about breaking my heart.  Poor boy.  Thankfully after a few days, it eased up and he was back to his active self.

Savannah Turns One!!

I can't believe a year has gone by and my baby is already one!! We had just a small celebration with Landon and Jen's family...

She wasn't quite sure what to think of the cake... But in the end she definitely like the frosting!

We Love Visitors

We love when we have visitors come!! Our good friend, Danica brought her kids, London and Jagger for a visit.  Of course we had to take them to the Zoo! Cheers to the best of friends!

 Feeding the Birds... London wasn't too sure about it..

 The little girls were happy to just watch everything from their seats.

 This zoo is so awesome! You get to interact with a bunch of the animals, including the kangaroos!

 The Best of Friends

 Showing the kids how its done.

 Petting the deer

 Someone is wiped out.

 More kangaroo fun!

 Feeding the giraffes.. Their tongues are SO long!

Beckham wasn't too sure about it.

California

So while we were in California, we also had some family pictures done with the Riley family. 

 Mom, Dad, Darren, Ashley, Brinley, Beckham, Presley, Savannah, Shawn, Linsey, Kayson, Jake, Courtney and Brad

 Brinley, Beckham, Presley, Savannah and Kayson

 Our Family

 Brinley

 Beckham

Presley

Savannah

DISNEYLAND!!!

We went to California a couple of weeks ago and it was THE BEST TRIP EVER!!  Seriously, I don't think Disneyland has ever been more fun than brining my kids for the first time.  They were in heaven from the time we walked through Downtown Disney.  So awesome!!  There are TONS of pictures, so I will just share a few from Disneyland in this post and then post some beach pictures later this week.  I may or may not have had a little tear in my eye seeing my kids so excited and getting to share one of my favorite childhood vacations with them.  So here are some of the highlights: 

 Micky Mouse's House

 The whole group: My mom and dad, Me, Darren and the kids, my sister Linsey, her husband Shawn and their son Kayson, my sister Courtney and her husband Jake and my brother, Brad.  This is just outside of Carsland, which was AWESOME!!

 Grandpa with Presley and Savannah

So Beckham may not have wanted to be in a picture with Minnie Mouse.

 My new favorite ride. Carsland at Disney Adventure was fantastic!! I wish you could see the kids faces in this picture. A mixture of pure joy and terror.  

 Of course, Presley doesn't feel at home unless she is in a Dr. office somewhere.  She just happened to choose to see the one at Disneyland.  She fell and hit the back of her head where she had a nice little divet of skin taken out.  She was a trooper though.  Once we were done there, she was her normal little self and wanted to go on more rides.

 Star Tours was Beckham's favorite ride.  We went on that one a few times

Daily dose of Micky Mouse ice cream.. Mmmm

Brinley got to meet her favorite new princess, Merida from Brave. I wish we would have gotten a picture with just her and Merida but we did one with all of us.  After meeting her, she got to shoot her own arrow.  

Honestly, I wish we could have stayed a full week there. We loved it!!

Long Over Due

So I know I always say I haven't posted forever, but I think this has been the longest stretch.  Things have been a little crazy this summer. We moved into a different house here in Surprise in June.  It's a long story, but it starts by finding out that the house we were living in was a meth lab and it ends with us finding a PERFECT house for us that we are renting from a LDS family who is in Utah getting their Master's from BYU.  We are loving it!  It has a huge backyard with a swing set. I will post pictures.. one day.
After getting settled into the house somewhat, we went to a family reunion with Darren's brothers and their families to Palm Springs, CA.  That was a fun filled vacation that included lots of pool time, golfing for the boys, glow in the dark parties for the kids, and a trip to Knott's Berry Farm.

Then we celebrated Beckham's 4th birthday in June.  What a great kid he is.  He loves everything Batman and Spiderman.  I love that kid..

A couple of weeks after CA the kids and I took a trip to Utah for a couple of events.  My mom's parents had their 50th wedding anniversary celebration. It was so fun to see family that I haven't seen in ages and my grandparents friends that I knew as a kid. From Utah, I followed my parents to Boise, ID for my dad's parents 50th wedding anniversary celebration.  That was also so fun. This one just included family. But there were cousins of mine there that I hadn't seen in years and it was so fun to catch up.  

After the week in UT and a weekend in ID, I came back home to Darren, who was super lonely while we were gone.  It was nice to be back.  It has been 2 weeks since then and today our next adventure began when we sent Brinley off to her first day of kindergarten.  She was ecstatic to go!  We are so happy for her and so proud of her.  She is getting so big.  It was hard to be sad when I dropped her off because she was just so excited.  But then I came home and it was really hard not having her around all day.  She is missed by me and her siblings.  

Well that is the condensed version of our summer.  It has been a crazy one, with lots of stressful things going on in our lives, but those are definitely outweighed by our happy memories that we have been able to make and the joy we have in our lives! 

Here are just a couple of pictures....

All the little cousins getting on one last ride

 Happy Birthday Beckham

 Family pictures in Idaho

Brinley's 1st day of school