New Year's Eve

Gingerbread Tree Decorating

Uncle Birke came over and made a gingerbread tree with the girls. 

They think he's such a fun uncle!

Wuggle Pets

My girls have been asking for Wuggle Pets for a long time,

so I got one for each of them for Christmas.

They're kind of like Build-a-Bear, but the quality isn't as high, hence, they cost less.  But my girls love them!

Sam is filling her little unicorn with the Fluffy Stuffing.

 Alison is putting the Magic Dust inside her little blue dog.

Now she's filling it with Fluffy Stuffing.

Each Wuggle Pet comes with a bunch of Personality Charms,

so Alison chose "Sweet" and...

 and "Cool".

Samantha chose "Caring" and...

and "Loving".

Love'n their Wuggles!

Crawdad Fishing as Big Break

Birke came over the day after Christmas and took

Sam crawdad fishing at Big Break.

Sam had fun, but was bummed because she didn't catch any.

Disneyland Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to us!  For our 8th anniversary, we planned a trip to Disneyland.  Of course, we couldn't actually go on our anniversary because Jason was teaching, so we waited

till he was off for Christmas break.

My awesome sister-in-law Jamie came over and watched the kids so that Jason and I could go by ourselves. 

Mums the word because the kids don't know!

Sam's Christmas Program

Here are a few cute pictures of Samantha and her friend

MacKenzie after their Christmas Program at school.

Making Gingerbread Houses at School

I volunteer ever Wednesday in Sam's first grade class.  Usually I sit in the backroom preparing projects and doing paperwork, so I was really excited when such a fun activity landed on a Wednesday.  Here are a couple of pictures of Sam (and the little boy she sits next to) working on her gingerbread house.

I look into my children's eyes everyday and yet, I still can't get over how beautiful they are.

Happy Birthday Samantha!

Jason had to leave for work today at noon and wouldn't be home till 10:30, so we decided to have a mini birthday party breakfast to start off the day. 

Samantha LOVED it!

We had a little donut cake and sang happy birthday.

          

           

 Samantha LOVED her new owl hat and Wii game! 

I strung some pink and white balloons up to liven up the room.

 Was doing this at midnight the night before--so tired!

She wore her cool new owl hat to school. 

She told me later that it was so warm and cozy.

After school we went to Carl's Jr. for lunch and playing with some of her besties, Jared and Madie.

And now she's TOTALLY engrossed in her new Wii game.

And Alison is watching.

We love you so much Sammy!  You are such a joy!

Football Player

I think he looks like a little football player.

So cute! 

 Er...I mean, handsome and rugged.

Time Out for Women 2011

This is me and my cool friend Jen. 

We had the opportunity to go to Time Out for Women in Reno on the weekend of Oct 14th - 15th. 

It was so nice to get away and recharge.

I left all my kids at home with Jason.  She left her oldest three with her hubby and brought her newest little addition, Mason.  He was so pleasant and easy the whole time.

The theme was Choose to Become, and the scripture to go with that is: "All things are possible to him that believeth." -Mark 9:23

We were blessed to hear from some amazing people: 

Matthew Baldwin

Kris Belcher

Laurel Christensen

Amanda Dickson

Virginia H. Pearce

Macy Robinson

Anthony Sweat

Emily Watts

Hillary Weeks

Click HERE to read their bios.

Each had his or her own special qualities and messages. 

It was the perfect thing for me!

I really needed a boost like this, especially after my crazy-long battle with post-partum depression.

Thank you to the TOFW presenters for inspiring me, my awesome friend for coming with me, and my sweet husband for holding down the fort while I was gone!

Here are some more fun and random pictures from our weekend:

Dinosaurs on Highway 80!

Trying to take an elevator picture in the mirrored ceiling.

Oh my gosh...good thing we didn't have any of our big kids with us.  They would have rummaged through all the overpriced snack tray goodies and then we would have been charged for them.

We HAD to stop at Cabela's!

The legendary Jackalope!

Jen's looking fierce.

Okay, so my "fierce" isn't very scary.

The aquarium.

Mason loved looking at the fish.

Chillax'n in the mini camping chair.

This was just a few minutes after Mason rolled over for the first time.

(Jen, I'll let you tell everyone about that on your own blog. hint hint)