Happy Valentines Day!

Now that we've been married almost 8 years we have come to the realization that it isn't possible to fight crowds on Valentines Day! So without really sitting down and talking about it we have started a tradition of having our own steak and seafood dinner here at home. The last few years we've done this and I totally love it. We spend the evening with our kids and have a yummy dinner all together. This year I bought a little banner and the kids and I made cupcakes that afternoon. It was a great day and evening spent together with our little family! Hope everyone had a great day as well!!

(Reese's Valentines box he made at school for all his little Valentines treats!)

P.S. Ryan thought he would be sneaky and make me think he bought me a certain type of gift only a bold husband would buy on this holiday but I was thoroughly surprised by the perfume he bought instead!! And he got a Kitchen Aid he's always wanted to start down his road of being the perfect Mormon mom with her perfect homemade bread, ground up wheat and all!! :)

This is just a picture of our chubby happy baby after she got into the frosting that the kids left on the counter next to her!!

Happy Valentines Day!

Now that we've been married almost 8 years we have come to the realization that it isn't possible to fight crowds on Valentines Day! So without really sitting down and talking about it we have started a tradition of having our own steak and seafood dinner here at home. The last few years we've done this and I totally love it. We spend the evening with our kids and have a yummy dinner all together. This year I bought a little banner and the kids and I made cupcakes that afternoon. It was a great day and evening spent together with our little family! Hope everyone had a great day as well!!

(Reese's Valentines box he made at school for all his little Valentines treats!)

P.S. Ryan thought he would be sneaky and make me think he bought me a certain type of gift only a bold husband would buy on this holiday but I was thoroughly surprised by the perfume he bought instead!! And he got a Kitchen Aid he's always wanted to start down his road of being the perfect Mormon mom with her perfect homemade bread, ground up wheat and all!! :)

This is just a picture of our chubby happy baby after she got into the frosting that the kids left on the counter next to her!!

Happy Birthday Lauren!

(Our little eskimo baby, yes those cheeks started all the way up at her temples!!)
Well another year and our little Lauren is one year older, maybe not wiser but definitely older! She turned 4 on Friday and we had a great day with her. Of course it was filled with typical Lauren drama but we had a blast! We took her to a "big girl" breakfast at a classy joint named Denny's and headed to the mall to build her very own bear! Lauren always wants to go to the Build a Bear store but it's not a normal store you just walk in and browse around, so I told her for her birthday that's what we would do instead of a party. We had a lot of fun building her bear which is named so originally Cinderella Newcomer! It was a lot of fun, not exactly cost effective for the budget but fun still the same. We had a family get together that night with our yummy homemade tamales and of course a birthday cake! She got to add to her princess collection with the newest additions Cinderella and Snow White in their very pretty and sparkly skirts! When she opened them she said, "It's just what I wanted!!"

So nothing fancy just a simple day with her and the family and we couldn't have asked for anything more! We love our little Dado so much and can't believe how much she's grown and learned in this past year. She is now in school and taking dance and loves both of those! She definitely spices up our family with her girly drama but we love her just the same. I'm sure Ryan would hope for the drama to simmer down this next year as she's on her way to 5 but I highly doubt it will!!

Happy Birthday Lauren!

(Our little eskimo baby, yes those cheeks started all the way up at her temples!!)
Well another year and our little Lauren is one year older, maybe not wiser but definitely older! She turned 4 on Friday and we had a great day with her. Of course it was filled with typical Lauren drama but we had a blast! We took her to a "big girl" breakfast at a classy joint named Denny's and headed to the mall to build her very own bear! Lauren always wants to go to the Build a Bear store but it's not a normal store you just walk in and browse around, so I told her for her birthday that's what we would do instead of a party. We had a lot of fun building her bear which is named so originally Cinderella Newcomer! It was a lot of fun, not exactly cost effective for the budget but fun still the same. We had a family get together that night with our yummy homemade tamales and of course a birthday cake! She got to add to her princess collection with the newest additions Cinderella and Snow White in their very pretty and sparkly skirts! When she opened them she said, "It's just what I wanted!!"

So nothing fancy just a simple day with her and the family and we couldn't have asked for anything more! We love our little Dado so much and can't believe how much she's grown and learned in this past year. She is now in school and taking dance and loves both of those! She definitely spices up our family with her girly drama but we love her just the same. I'm sure Ryan would hope for the drama to simmer down this next year as she's on her way to 5 but I highly doubt it will!!

Family Pics Back!

I got the final family pictures back just the other day! Some of you have noticed I've changed the kids pictures and messed around with our family picture at the top. These were taken up in American Fork Canyon in FREEZING COLD, we'll never do that again. Poor kids & POOR Amy our photographer! She's amazing and I am so happy with what we got even though half of them have Lauren and her typical scowl! Geez what are we going to do with that kid when she's 13?!? Anyway, hop on over to Amy's blog to see more!

http://www.amychamberlain.blogspot.com/

Family Pics Back!

I got the final family pictures back just the other day! Some of you have noticed I've changed the kids pictures and messed around with our family picture at the top. These were taken up in American Fork Canyon in FREEZING COLD, we'll never do that again. Poor kids & POOR Amy our photographer! She's amazing and I am so happy with what we got even though half of them have Lauren and her typical scowl! Geez what are we going to do with that kid when she's 13?!? Anyway, hop on over to Amy's blog to see more!

http://www.amychamberlain.blogspot.com/

My Doozers!

Some friends of mine have done blogs about their kids looking alike and fitting into a mold. I agree with that when it comes to our kids but if you've ever seen the 80's&90's cable show, Fraggle Rock you would agree with me on one thing. Since Reese was a baby we have said Ryan and I make "Doozer" babies. The Doozers were the little miniature "people" that built things in Fraggle Rock. They were so stinkin cute with little bulb noises and tiny beads for eyes! Here are some comparisons, you tell me what you think!

My Doozers!

Some friends of mine have done blogs about their kids looking alike and fitting into a mold. I agree with that when it comes to our kids but if you've ever seen the 80's&90's cable show, Fraggle Rock you would agree with me on one thing. Since Reese was a baby we have said Ryan and I make "Doozer" babies. The Doozers were the little miniature "people" that built things in Fraggle Rock. They were so stinkin cute with little bulb noises and tiny beads for eyes! Here are some comparisons, you tell me what you think!

Birthday Trip to Palmyra

Palmyra Temple

( The only temple with clear glass windows. President Hinckley wanted members to be able to look out over the Sacred Grove from inside the temple!)

I'm sorry I'm such a bad blogger! I think I've hit a rut in blogging! I don't like blogging about dumb stuff and I try to find interesting witty things to blog about when I do get around to doing it! So since my birthday was on Sunday I guess that's interesting enough to blog about, especially since we were able to have a little "get away"!

Ryan had to do some business in Rochester, New York right around my birthday and so he asked if we could make a get away out of it. I thought it would be fun after figuring out there was a H&M at the mall in Rochester, so I said sign me up!! :) But that wasn't the only reason I said yes to the trip. Palmyra, New York is about 20 minutes away and we had both never been to see the church history sites. Granted no one really goes there in the dead of winter but I think it proved to be just as beautiful, colder but beautiful. We left all three kids with Ryan parents and left for NY on Friday. Saturday we got to go and see the Smith Family farm, their log home and the frame home they built as well. It had snowed about a foot a few days before so it was quite the trek into the grove. It's a very peaceful serene atmosphere and Ryan and I really enjoyed ourselves. Driving through the town or "downtown" of Palmyra was so awesome we just loved it. All the houses are so beautiful and it was so fun visiting a place as old as Palmyra. We of course did all the LDS tourist things and went to the Grandin Publishing Company on Sunday after church. Oh church... it was a REAL ward with all the cooks to go along. Awesome spirit and wonderful faithful people. That was fun! I'm so glad we were able to have a little trip with just the two of us. It was really hard leaving the kids but I'm glad they got to spend that time at their grandparents! Thank you Fred and Debbie and Ryan and Lacey for helping take care of our kiddles. Here are some pictures from our trip. Of course there is only one of me and none of Ryan and I together. We got one picture when we were at the Grandin Publishing Company but the cute little sister missionary doesn't know how to use a digital camera with all the bells and whistles, oh well!!

The Smith Family Log Home where the angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith

Inside the log home

Entering the Sacred Grove on the south end

I just fell in love with all the homes in Palmyra and some of the adjoining towns like Pittsford

I loved this funky green building!

I had to take a picture of this house with the red door! A lot of the homes there have red doors I LOVED it!! I'm thinking of changing my front door color!!

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANEY, MY OTHER HALF!! LOVE YOU!

Birthday Trip to Palmyra

Palmyra Temple

( The only temple with clear glass windows. President Hinckley wanted members to be able to look out over the Sacred Grove from inside the temple!)

I'm sorry I'm such a bad blogger! I think I've hit a rut in blogging! I don't like blogging about dumb stuff and I try to find interesting witty things to blog about when I do get around to doing it! So since my birthday was on Sunday I guess that's interesting enough to blog about, especially since we were able to have a little "get away"!

Ryan had to do some business in Rochester, New York right around my birthday and so he asked if we could make a get away out of it. I thought it would be fun after figuring out there was a H&M at the mall in Rochester, so I said sign me up!! :) But that wasn't the only reason I said yes to the trip. Palmyra, New York is about 20 minutes away and we had both never been to see the church history sites. Granted no one really goes there in the dead of winter but I think it proved to be just as beautiful, colder but beautiful. We left all three kids with Ryan parents and left for NY on Friday. Saturday we got to go and see the Smith Family farm, their log home and the frame home they built as well. It had snowed about a foot a few days before so it was quite the trek into the grove. It's a very peaceful serene atmosphere and Ryan and I really enjoyed ourselves. Driving through the town or "downtown" of Palmyra was so awesome we just loved it. All the houses are so beautiful and it was so fun visiting a place as old as Palmyra. We of course did all the LDS tourist things and went to the Grandin Publishing Company on Sunday after church. Oh church... it was a REAL ward with all the cooks to go along. Awesome spirit and wonderful faithful people. That was fun! I'm so glad we were able to have a little trip with just the two of us. It was really hard leaving the kids but I'm glad they got to spend that time at their grandparents! Thank you Fred and Debbie and Ryan and Lacey for helping take care of our kiddles. Here are some pictures from our trip. Of course there is only one of me and none of Ryan and I together. We got one picture when we were at the Grandin Publishing Company but the cute little sister missionary doesn't know how to use a digital camera with all the bells and whistles, oh well!!

The Smith Family Log Home where the angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith

Inside the log home

Entering the Sacred Grove on the south end

I just fell in love with all the homes in Palmyra and some of the adjoining towns like Pittsford

I loved this funky green building!

I had to take a picture of this house with the red door! A lot of the homes there have red doors I LOVED it!! I'm thinking of changing my front door color!!

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANEY, MY OTHER HALF!! LOVE YOU!