Happy Birthday Mimi!

Another year, another year younger! Happy Birthday to a wonderful mom and "mimi." We love you!

Ballerina At Last!

Today was Ava's 1st day of dance and she absolutely LOVED it! She actually did much better than I thought she would...she loved all the other little girls. Everyone was so patient with her and she did her best to follow along. Too cute!

Ava and her instructor, Miss Heather

Into the Sunshine!

The kids were so thrilled to go to Palm Springs as they haven't been yet this winter. We kept them very busy and had lots of fun. Needless to say I was pretty tired when we got home.

Jake & Ava...after a not so child friendly dinner! We tried a new restaurant with gorgeous grounds, but they haven't quite perfected the menu! It wasn't a very good choice for anyone with gluten allergies! We had to get a little creative when ordering for Jake. I can't even remember the name of it! It was nice though, since it was so close to the house!

My little munchkins!

Jake swimming with Conner! We had a special brunch after church one day and invited some friends to join us. It was great to see Jenny & her kids (and her parents too!).

Little Lou... enjoying the 82 degree weather! We were blessed with unusually hot weather. It was about 10 degrees hotter than normal!

One night we decided to go to the go-cart place in Cathedral C1ty. They had these amazing go-carts that could accompany a child too. We still got to go fast and race each other, yet we knew Jake was still safe! Maybe Ava can try in the next year or so. Grandpa & Jake were pretty speedy with that go-cart!

Our little water dog! Jake had so much fun swimming this time! He gets braver with every trip and LOVED being in the pool. He swam around with his "boats" (floaty chairs). It was so great to spend so much time outdoors.

Ava loved the water too, but not quite to the extent that Jake did. She would usually stay on the first or second step and throw all the toys in the water. She's quite the character!

We enjoyed lots of golf carts and this time Jake drove! He's kind of a scary driver and only came close to getting in a couple of accidents. Mimi is much more patient than I. He was doing pretty well by the time we went home. Next time he will probably master it!

Just the Girls!

It was lots of fun to get to spend some time with my friend Rachelle and her newest addition (and only girl) Lauren! We (at the last minute) decided to leave all of our boys at home (and Ava) and go spend the night in Bellevue! We had lots of fun hanging out, shopping, and of course eating at the Cheesecake Factory! We took a few pics of Ava and Cameron holding baby Lauren when we got home. Thanks for a fun time Rachelle...sometimes it is so nice to get away, even if its just for a night!

Merry Christmas 2008!

Here are a few shots of Christmas morning....every year we seem to go a little overboard on gifts, but the kids sure had fun! What a great time to keep the real meaning of Christmas in check though...we had to explain it to our children several times and hopefully it stuck!

Oh Christmas Tree...Oh Christmas Tree...

We finally made it to the tree farm!

Daddy and Jake in search of the perfect tree

Jake and Ava having lots of fun!

This is the one!

Jake, Mommy, & Ava

On the train ride back!

The caboose with all the trees!

All ready for the car ride home!

This year we had very good intentions to go as a family up into the mountains (like the good 'ol days) and pick out a perfect Christmas tree. Our crazy schedules didn't really allow for that this year however, so we just went to one of the tree farms in the area and picked one out. It started off kind of rocky though....we drove 20 minutes and got there only to look back and see Ava sleeping and that is also when we realized we forgot to bring a coat for Jake. What?? We drove all the way home (allowing Ava to sleep a little longer), grabbed Jake's coat, and headed back to the tree farm. It actually ended up being a great day because we found this fantastic tree farm that lets you pick out your tree, then you take it to the "train stop" and they haul it (and your family) back to the entrance. The kids LOVED the train ride and were so excited to pick out their tree.

Hunting with Daddy

Jake has been so excited to go hunting with Daddy this year. They had a great time at the "Farm" with Uncle Josh, Ty, U. Ed, Justin, & Bryce. They (meaning Josh/Eric/Justin) shot several ducks and pheasants and we had a little feast when they all got home. The boys were real troopers and surprisingly kept up with all the dads, but were really exhausted by the time they left. Here are a couple of photos they took.