ONE!?!

Sunday was Sophia's first birthday! I can not believe it! Walking, talking (if telling dad "no" counts) and already 1?
We celebrated the big 1 with an outside, over the top, holiday bash. It pulled together pefectly in the last minutes, Soph slept through the first hour of it but that wasn't her favorite part anyway, she woke up just in time for all the fun...it couldn't have happened without her:)

1. Hesitant at first, she needed a little help opening the first few presents. 2. Caught a glimpse of babies and got a little more interested. 3. Three babies! Is this heaven? 4. Not getting this one out of her hands, even to get it out of the box. She will just cuddle with the box for a while, she doesn't care. 5. More presents than this girl knew what to do with. 6. cleared away the present madness, sang to her, plopped a bright red cake in front of her and she still wouldn't losen her grasp on the babies:) 7. Ga decided to help her with the cake since she didn't have a hand to spare. Sometimes princess' have to be hand fed. 8. Decides to give it a try. 9. Even shared a little. 10. Good food, fires and gifts, lots of pretty stuff to look at and all her favorite people, a good way to turn one!

I have to say how lucky I am to have so many people surrounding me and my kids that love us and want to help us! My totally awesome big sisto hauled all of her kids to our house the day before the party to make this cake with me. It was our first, posssibly took way too long, but we are proud of the way it turned out:) One of my amazing sister-in-laws left work in the middle of the day to come assist Soph's photo shoot (hence the cell phone in one of the pics, we were all dancing to get her to laugh). Another amazing sister-in-law stuck out hours of shopping and a little tending to make the big event happen, even though she couldn't make it;) Codee's mom made tons of delicious food, as uasual and spoiled us all while she was here. Even my best friend helped from the other side of the world keeeping me company while I was haunched over the toilet friday night till 4 in the morning:) So loved, so lucky.

Oh Yeah!!!

Got my first taste of Christmas cheer last night!

Codee pumped up the Chritsmas jams!

Can't wait for the tree and to start putting presents under it!

November already!!

Am I too late? 1-2 weeks isn't that bad! Who can blog right as things happen anyway? October was great, I knew it would be. Aside from our little get-a-way wknd, we had a pumpkin party at our house. I am not that great of a host but i love doing it! Sophie got her two top teeth (that makes 4!) and took her first steps:) and of course...

HALLOWEEN

All the kids costumes were so great and original this year, i loved it!! We have such a bunch of goof balls!
Oh yeah and I know I am a huge dork. I just got an itch to dress up this year, not sure why, so I threw this not at all lame Dot Matrix costume together with some DI finds and a can of spray paint, oh and Eric's chest protector, I am not really THAT weird looking on my own:)

Now the big question...how soon can I start decorating for CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!

Relaxing Wknd and a Beautiful Wedding!

I Have great kids!! I know that you are probably thinking that yours are pretty great, but mine are amazing!!! Yours too? Ok fine, but this is my place to brag :) The drive to Ca. and back went so well! We didn't really have a schedule so there was no hurry either way which was nice for a change. It usually feels like we are rushing through everything to get to what is happening next, to slow down and go at whatever pace we pleased, for once, was great. We let Soph nap when she needed and Jackson swim when he wanted. Jackson got dirty playing in the hot tub and sand at the Kirchhausen's house and at krizi's wedding and I didn't say a thing to him about it (it was hard for me). We ate whatever we pleased, whenever we pleased, paying no attention to a "regular food schedule." Walked to dinner in the rain one night and saw the slight (hour and a half) wedding delay as a photo op. We didn't have a care in the world... we pretended we didn't anyway:)

Everything on the big day was fantastical! It could not have been more perfect and fitting to Krizia. The relaxed feel of the whole occasion was just right for her, she was beautiful and absolutely on a cloud! Houman looked pretty happy as well;) The last minute ceremony was fitting, her dress had to have been made just for her, the kids were adorable (tears and all) and the cupcakes were delicious! The night was topped off with a campfire and s'mores on the beach, such a good idea! Everything, including our 9th grade talent show act, was perfect. Just Perfect!! And they rode off on their tandem bike and lived happily ever, ever after :)

I feel silly posting three pictures of just us but this is my tribute to my best friend:) I love her and she is the greatest! Which makes me the luckiest to have her as my best friend! I am so happy for her and hope for all the happiness in the world for her and her new husband. She deserves it. I can't wait to see her again...maybe in Australia (fingers crossed). And hope that she moves back soon! I love you Krizia!!

There Goes The Neighborhood

Looking for some "good guys" to harass?
Plotting their next crime?

Maybe just KILLIN' time?

I can't be quite sure what was going through their funny little minds but I think it was something pretty cool!
They invaded my house with as many weapons as they could round up, even had Sophie hostage at one point,
but Soph and I didn't mind one bit. It was the funniest thing I saw all day and Soph just sat and watched in amazement.

It's over!!

Today. Was. Long. I am not 100% sure that I could have made it to right now (the end of today) without this little dress-up time Sophia let me indulge in:) While jumping on the trampoline was a good suggestion (thanks for your input Jay) this activity was just the pick-me-up I needed to get me to the end of my week from hell! What can I say, I can not sit still.

Along with this never ending week coming to a close, so does this years official longest month!! I realize that I am not making a whole lot of sense right now but stay with me. Not to say that September was uneventful, it just seemed to be seriously dragging on forever! The whole school thing is screwing with me...yeah, I'll blame it on that. Well October, I greet you with open arms. Bring it on!
p.s. don't feel the need to say "it's already been broughten", I got that one covered for you.

WE MADE IT!!

We made it through the first day of school, with no crying (on either end). There was a little rebellion at first but he quickly came around. Watching him walk up to his school by himself was bitter sweet, what a big kid. Cute too!

Good bye summer :(

Kylie's parents have this awesome pool that they so generously invited me, my sisters and ALL the kids over to for a last day of summer pool and pizza party!! It was a great way to end the summer! Thanks Kylie, you Rock!

It wouldn't be a REAL party without Soph in a little polka dot swimsuit there:) She is such a trooper, she went the whole time without a nap, smiling and laughing all day. She did almost fall asleep once in the pool (as illustrated below) until she caught a glimpse of me trying to get a picture of it, then she sat right up and smiled at me!!

A few things I love

#1. a) I love that our friends are our families. b) I love Oscars!
#2. I love the crazies that I live with, they make me laugh.
#3. I love when Soph does new things, this time it was how to make a lovely little mess.
#4. I love pudgy little painted toe nails!

Our Weekend

We left our house late Friday night (guess who drove and who slept) and pulled into Orem at 1:30 am. I can't complain though, night is my fav time to drive, especially if everyone is sleeping;) Even though Soph was wide awake from 1-3 she woke us all up bright and early Sat morning to begin our fun; Breakfast with our fav Sievers fam, took Jackson to Toy Story 3, hilarious!, took Codee to Cabelas, not so hilarious, then to the Richmonds for a rockin' party! Bucky was hilarious! He totally loved me, I think it may have stemmed from jealousy of Sophie getting all my attention. I'll take his love however I can get it. Big and Little Kenny put on a mini Stadium of fire, Jackson barely lasted to the end of the show. After all this excitement we finally headed up to our next hotel in SL, arrived there just after midnight, a small improvement over the previous night.

Jack and I decided to let the babies nap Sunday morning while he and I hit the town via Trax. He was a huge fan!! He did not care even a little bit where we were going or what we were doing, he just wanted to keep getting on and off, so we did:) We got our favorite snack at Starbucks and played some checkers. After some lunch we all set out for the Zoo. Jackson really enjoyed it, he loved the bird show and the baby elephant Zuri and paid tribute to CoopsCar by making a huge fuss over the penguins and alligators, I think they could convince him anything is cool. Soph didn't care about anything but Jack's blue icee and Codee was a trooper. I, on the other hand, am a huge dork, I know. I love the Zoo!!! I always have. I am pretty sure that I liked it way more than the other three combined:) Jackson was having to tell ME to settle down, I was running around like a little kid, embarrassing Codee the whole time. When we got to the Zoo the parking lot was completely full, when we left the park there were only a handful of other cars left. They all but had to kick us out, needless to say, we were pooped. Unable to pry ourselves off the bed for dinner, we ordered room service... best decision ever... at that moment anyway:) Delish! The hot tub ended day two perfectly, it even put Soph to sleep.

(I can't get this to move to the middle)

OK, you caught me. That is actually Sunday nights dinner, I didn't get any pics of Mondays happenings. It did start with more room service though. It's a good thing we didn't stay any longer cause we were hooked! After one more nap for the babies we checked out and made one more stop before heading home, Cowabunga (or Bingaha) Bay. Vicki, Tyden and Hadlee met us there and I am so glad they did, Jack and Tyden always play so good together!! A fun little park, key word, little. They seriously need an expansion pack for that place, still a good time though. Jackson even got to have an ice cream, churro and 44 oz. (or something ridiculous like that) soda for lunch, not sure how he talked Codee into that one:) He must have learned it from his mom;) I am so glad we went, it was a great little trip for our fam! Just what we needed!

Happy Half Birthday!

Our little princess is 6 months old! Well, closer to seven now but when these photos were taken a few weeks ago she was :) For her birthday she picked out her own toy for the first time and I didn't gripe the next time Jamie tried to sneak her a little something sweet. Still no cans of pink icing, but i will let a taste of ice cream slide now that she is half way to 1!! Jackson helped me get a few pics of her, she will always laugh for him:) She is totally a ham until I get out the camera, then she just wants to try to get it from me, so it' s a good thing I had Jacks help. I swear he can do anything and she will laugh, he must be the funniest person she has ever met!

If that is not total admiration I don't know what is.

B-A-N-A-N-A-S

(i am not sure why but I never published this post, it's 2 months old. there are 2 new posts, don't miss 'em!)

Now that she is four months old and so over being a tiny baby, she decided it was high time she had some real food. So with my assistance, she plopped herself down into her bumbo, put on a super cute bib (even big girls can be a bit messy) and prepared herself for a new and exciting taste adventure!

The shiny black camera posed a bit of a problem, it is very hard to concentrate on the task at hand when there is something screaming for your attention in the background. While bananas are fun to spit out immediately after being fed them, you gotta look good for the camera!

It turns out that on top of being a great toy, these things actually tatse good too... as a matter of fact she would like some more... and could you hurry it up please.

back from a small break

SO, we broke our laptop a while ago which resulted in a little time away from the internet world, but we got a new one and our back in buisness:) With all of our spare time I talked Codee into remodeling our down stairs bathroom/laundry room, actually I talked him into quite a few weekend projects, I don't know how I managed that. And almost everytime he talked Billy into helping, even with his busted ear, thanks Bill! Here is the bathroom then and now. I love it!

The problem with this is that now I want to redo the other bathrooms:) I need a good color scheme for my master bathroom, any suggestions? Codee gets on my case about using too much brown and he hates red and I am not a big fan of green, what's left that is appropriate for a bathroom?

He's 5!!!

I can't believe it! He is 5! It was a long, eventful day for him, filled with as many blue things as we could think of:) It started off with a big bright blue breakfast, BLUE eggs, toast and milk. Hold up, it actually started with him sleeping in till 10, this boy knows how to enjoy a birthday! When first offered blue eggs his response was "mom, that's impossible!" but Jessica proved him wrong and he was impressed. After the colorful breakfast, with only a little hesitation to try it, he moved on to sqiurting everything he thought he could get away with drenching with his new color blaster (blue water, of course). Next on the agenda was the water park then nachos, blue ice cream and 5 candies of his choice from judds, some of which were also blue, to wrap up the afternoon. A few hours spent with his Aunt Misty and some cousins, i think there was even a piece of Asphalt pie involved. He partied hard till after 9 with that crazy crowd and came home to blue balloons, blue cupcakes and sparklers!!!! Finally crashed in my room watching star wars to end the day. I think it would be safe to say he was one happy boy today! I sure love my hilarious, nutty, entertaining and super sweet 5 year old:)

4 months and 27 years.

We had two birthdays in our family this month!! Sophie turned 4 months old:) and I turned 27, ahhhHHHH!!! Sophie is hilarious these days! She can almost sit up on her own, she eats bananas and gags when I try to give her rice cereal. "Sof" is what her big brother calls her and she lights up when he talks to her, she is VERY tickleish and just discovered her tounge some time last week:).












I, on the other hand, have not had so many cute mile stones lately. I did take Jackson to register for Kindergarden and that was quite a moment for me. On my birthday my sisters, mom and I went out for lunch, froyo (did I get it rigth Chloe?) and some light shopping. Thank you for the lovely evening girls! Codee managed to pull through with an awesome gift and a sitter so the two of us could go out, well done Codee:) While waiting for the sitter we had a mini photo shoot and niether of us are at all photogenic so it started getting a little out of hand, good thing Jamie showed up when she did! All in all, a great day!!