The Randy Ferrin Family

Ferrin Family Christmas Party

2010-12-22T10:39:00.004-07:00

hannah, emmee, taylor, ellie, becca and sara waiting for the party to start!

anney and grandpa ferrin...anney loves her grandparents

chloe and anney singing.....anney wanted to sing all night and tried to get anyone to sing with her..

ashlee and kaybree singing "Where are you Christmas?"

anney and grandma ferrin

megan played jolly old st. nicholas

chase was hilarious.....he sang jingle bells and popcorn popping

hannah and taylor played up on the housetop while the other girls sang along

anney performing ANOTHER one of her songs

We always do a white elephant gift exchange....it's my kids favorite part of the whole party.....here is megan with her chocolates...

anney opened this and yelled out...."oh yay, i've always wanted this!" Needless to say nobody had the nerve to take it from her!"

oh my......randy thought he'd be extra funny and wrap up a framed photo of himself along with TONS of candy....of course everyone died laughing and the candy was a total hit.....we secretly left the photo hanging on randy's mom's living room wall....i'm sure she LOVED it!

Ward Christmas Party!

2010-12-16T22:19:00.005-07:00

Save Me Daddy!

This is the funniest thing ever! They had about 8 young men lay across a table singing Jingle Bells. Travis is the one with the pink shirt (he's supposed to be a girl). The funniest thing is my friend who put this all together kept telling me how travis was hilarious and totally got into this. She also said he has the perfect mouth and lips for this! Look closely at some of these pictures...hilarious!

This was the bishopric skit (that the other counselor and bishop weren't there for) So we have the Olsons (who is the executive secretary) and Bishop Wilkins who was a former Bishop. They were great sports. Us wives were blindfolded and we had to feed our husbands cheesecake. Who ever finished the cheesecake first won! The Olsons won, they were awesome! Randy kept saying it's not easy to eat cheesecake fast with it shoved in your mouth. This was also after they all ate dessert! YUCK!

Meg and Anney's Dance

2010-12-16T22:04:00.004-07:00

Last week was parents day at dance.....Anney is in a combo class of tumbling and ballet and Megan is in a tumbling class. Both of them love it. I snapped a couple of pictures "showing off"
Here is Anney stretching out...

Wouldn't we all love to be this flexible?

She can do this bridge so quick...Of course if we were all as little and skinny as she is we would be able to do it also...She's amazing!

Here is her wonderful teacher Miss Wendy helping her

Somersaults

This was their "free dance" time.....She was a crack up showing off for everyone. When the class was over Miss Wendy asked me if Anney ever stops smiling...She truly is so happy and loves dance and everyone in her class.

Here Is Megan stretching out....She is the youngest in her class.

Forward Rolls...

check this out.....No way could I EVER do that! Taylor takes a tap class also but I was teaching piano on her day so that is why there are no pictures......

Holy Cow She's ONE!!!!!!!!!!

2010-12-16T08:29:00.005-07:00

can you believe it's been a year........Holy cow time goes by fast! Boy do we love this little girl and her fun personality....these are a few things she loves or can do...
*Walks and Runs everywhere (she started walking at 10 months)
*Waves Bye bye
*Loves to eat everything
*Loves to play outside
*She loves to carry things on her shoulder like a purse
*loves to laugh
*loves her brother and sister
*Says the word prayers and folds her arms
*loves to go bye-bye
*loves her bottle and blankie when she goes to sleep (she's going to be sad when I take the bottle away in the next couple of weeks)

Grandma and grandpa weight gave her this toy..she loves to carry the little house around.

Great grandma Leavitt brought her this stuffed dr. Seuss animal

Cute little snail from cousins Olivia and Gracie

We got to celebrate Gracies Second birthday the same night...These two little girls will be great friends...

My mom laughed when she looked at Ellie in her high chair cause most babies make a huge mess of their 1st birthday cake and ice cream and are so excited to dive into it cause they've never had such good stuff, but not my kids....unfortunately they've been eating this stuff since they were around 6 months! I know, not the best mommy!

After the party everyone stayed and played Just dance...Katie, Chandler and McKay having fun....

Olivia, Anney and Gracie dancing and singing

Katie, Chandler, Tyson and McKay

Ellie and great grandpa Leavitt.....What an incredible man!

Even travis got into dancing....

Happy Birthday Ellie!!

9 months!

2010-09-14T13:28:00.003-07:00

I can't believe she is 9 months already! Where does the time go? She is such a sweet fun baby that is loved to pieces in our home! I love this stage and I want her to stay little FOREVER!

I took her to the doctor today so here are a few fun things......

* height......28 inches

*head circumference......17 1/4

*Weight.......18lbs. 14oz

*wears 12-18 month clothing

*she has 5 teeth

*crawls everywhere!

*pulls herself up and walks along the furniture

*says mama and dada....(she just babbles it..she's not actually referring to us!)

*has the brightest blue eyes

*has a huge smile

*HATES headbands in her hair

*loves to be outside

*loves her blanket on her face when she sleeps

*favorite toy has to be the dishwasher.....she loves to climb inside and then unload it all over the floor!

*drinks 4-6 bottles a day

*HATES babyfood....

*loves to eat everything that we eat! she loves otter pops and ice cream! (i know we are bad parents) if randy opens the freezer and gets out the carton of ice cream she's right there begging for some!

*still doesn't sleep through the night

*has NO SCHEDULE at all....naps when she wants and goes to bed at night when she wants!

*is loved by everyone!

We love you ellie and are so grateful you are in our family! Thank you so much for all the love and happiness you bring into our home and lives!

Total CUTENESS!!!!

2010-08-28T15:58:00.004-07:00

Let me start by saying that I have the most talented amazing aunt EVER! My Aunt LeAnn makes a quilt for all of her great nieces and nephews.......She has made my kids the cutest quilts ever....but when she came knocking at my door today I about died! Is this not the cutest thing you've ever seen? The front is just amazing and the back is so darling also! Our sweet Ellie is named after LeAnn and I just love how her name is on the quilt! I LOVE all the colors and I'm dying to redo Ellie's room now in all these colors....I want to frame the quilt and never let Ellie use it...but I had to promise LeAnn I would let her play on it, and cuddle it! Oh it's just so cute!

Thanks so much Aunt LeAnn....what a fun surprise...Oh and wait till I show you the outfit she gave Ellie...the cutest thing ever!

Happy 4th!

2010-07-04T12:44:00.003-07:00

carlsbad 2010

2010-06-30T09:51:00.005-07:00

Every summer we go to carlsbad california and play on the beach! My kids love this place and it quickly has become their favorite vactaion spot over the years. All of my family goes so it's quite a group....I took this photo of Ellie and Randy just outside of our trailer. Some years we have camped and some years we've brought the toy hauler...with a baby it's a must to bring the trailer!

Daddy Loves his baby!

These are the stairs we climb down quite a few times to get to the water..Our campsite overlooks the ocean...HEAVEN!

Anney with her new best friend "NITOLE!" She keeps asking about her all the time. Nicole is my cousins wife and Anney just fell in love with her.

Aunt LeAnn....Everyone's favorite and the life of the party!

Ellie loved the water and the sand....

Some of the gang...

Whitney and Megan

My dad.....he plans this whole trip every year and makes sure it happens....He loves it!

Trav-Man.....He is growing up!

Anney

Travis with his favorite cousin Walker!

Tay-tay....She'd live in the ocean if I let her....She loves the water!

Happenings in JUNE!

2010-06-28T12:20:00.005-07:00

Ellie let us all know she HATES baby food so we have to get quite creative in the things we give her....we did find out she LOVES grated cheese!

Megan was a winter fairy in her big dance recital....The put on Cinderella and it was fabulous!!

Taylor is only doing tumbling know so she was in the pre-show....She's gotten really good!

Anney just had to sneak in for a picture....surprise surprise....

Aunt LeAnn came into town and taught the girls how to wear makeup.....They loved it and ask me everyday if they can wear makeup!

Megan....trying to hold still while she applies her eye shadow...

Impressive huh?

Ellie Learned to sit up....she's 6 months old now!

Her favorite is to be on her tummy and crawl!

We celebrated fathers day giving dad all of his favorites!

Such a pretty girl!!! 6 months old and 16 lbs! She's a doll and we love her!

End of The Year Festivities.....

2010-05-30T13:39:00.005-07:00

Here's Mom and Ellie......trying to entertain ourselves as we sit through the awards assemblies!

taylor received Principals Outstanding Citizenship....She has received this award every year since 1st grade! Good Job Taylor!

travis receiving his honor roll award! great Job Buddy!

taylor receiving her honor roll award also!

Ready for 6th grade Graduation! He asked me if it was scary that I was getting so old and I told him heck no....it's more scary the thought of you going to junior high! SCARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Accepting his certificate from his teacher Mrs. Duke!

Travis' great friends Dylan and Elijah!

These are such great kids! Heidi, Dylan, Kaden and Travis

My kids invited some of their friends from school over on the last day for a end of the year swim party.....They had a great time! Here's taylor with Amberlee and Andrea

the Boys all did stunts off the diving board!

travis

Even Megan had to compete with the boys!

And of course....Little Miss Anney!

Kaden

taylor and her friends....these girls have all been friends since kindergarten and are such good girls and they all good along so well together!

Megan doing a little hula and Brooklen thinking she is CRAZY!

happy 6th Megan!

2010-05-25T14:00:00.003-07:00

Happy 6th Birthday Sweet Girl! I can't believe this little girl is already 6 years old and about to graduate from kindergarten! It seems like just yesterday she was born and now she is 6! She is such an incredible kid with such a fun personality......we laugh cause we always know where we stand with her...she's not AFRAID at all to let you know what she thinks about you or something else! Even as a baby we always joked that we could read exactly what she was thinking across her face! We love you Megan and are so happy you are in our family.....Here are 6 fun things about you!

*She is extremely smart and a awesome reader....she reads the scriptures right along with us every morning....

*She loves to play school and write things.....I found it very ironic that 4 months into kindergarten she could recite all of the kids first and last names in her class and in alphabetical order....that's just from her teacher taking roll everyday! She can also spell their first and last names all correctly...I find pieces of paper all over the house with different kids names on them from her class!

*She loves babies and playing house.....she will make a great mother someday.

*She has the best imagination ever...she can play by herself for hours!

*She loves to play outside, ride he bike, and swim...

*She requests I make orange chicken EVERY night for dinner......she loves it!

We love you Megan and are so lucky you are in our family.....you're the cutest and sweetest girl ever!

Christmas Day FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-03-12T12:31:00.007-07:00

My grandma weight made a bunch of Christmas Wall hangings years ago and decided this year to give them to us kids...This is the one I picked!

Kendall And Olivia

Bethany and Shelby

My mom's brother Kerry came into town for Christmas...Megan, whitney and Laynie LOVE him!

We gave my grandma Leavitt tickets to see Mary Poppins at Gammage...She was so excited!

Lindsay, Bethany, Tyson, Brigham, Shelby and McKay

Grandpa Keith and Grandma Weight

McKay, Travis and Walker

Cute Little Gracie...She's adorable!

Randy, Anney (and her Christmas Baby) and Mommy!

Taylor got so much jewelry for Christmas....she loves every bit of it!

Megan, Whitney and Olivia

For Christmas Bethany and Tyson gave my parents the best gift ever....They had been trying to have a baby for years...They decided to surprise everyone with an ornament with their baby's first ultrasound picture! It was so awesome and we are so excited for them!

Anney wanted a hula hoop SOOO bad...thanks grandma and grandpa!

Walker and Travis got ASU basketball tickets for christmas!

Laynie, Megan and Whitney (I just noticed all of their hair was doen the exact way) All opening their barbies from grandma and grandpa

taylor got a 3 barrell curling iron and some fun hair stuff

Grandma great with sweet baby Ellie who is 10 days old!

The Best Christmas Gift Ever!

On to the Ferrin's now for more presents and fun! All the grandkids lined up on the couch waiting to open presents!

Travis got a HUGE kite!

Anney got ANOTHER baby...she loves them all!

Cute Sweater taylor!

Grandpa and Grandma Ferrin always give the kids a new pair of jammies for Christmas...most of the time they match them with the cousins that are close to their age...

For Christmas us girls all got a 4 day trip to Prescott....this is the second year we've done it and we LOVE it!

Christmas Morning

2010-03-12T12:18:00.003-07:00

Yay...a new scooter for megan, A new pogo stick for Taylor and Travis is proudly sporting the family's new PS3.......They were all so happy!

Anney LOVES her new bike....she rides that thing everywhere and is so fast!

All Anney wanted from Santa was a real baby like Baby Ellie....she loves this thing but it's almost bigger then her!

Such a fun game!

Travis and taylor....

We had a great Christmas morning...things were a little crazy with having a baby that was only 10 days old...but it was the perfect Christmas and the kids were so happy and had so much fun!

Christmas EVE......

2010-02-06T16:05:00.005-07:00

AHHHHHHH.......Christmas EVE......I love this day! We have a couple of fun traditions we do in our home after all the parties and festivities are over for the day.....My kids FAVORITE one is something we started about 10 years ago....Randy reads them "Twas The Night Before Christmas" Before they go to bed.....Even Baby Ellie got to hear the story. They all look so cute in their Christmas Jammies listening to Daddy tell the story....By the way, he's gotten REALLY good at telling the story over the years!

The kids get to each open up their new jammies on christmas Eve......It's fun to have new festive jammies to wear and EVERYONE looks so cute on Christmas Morning for pictures. This year due to having a baby, I only had time to find Pants, so we had to do without cute shirts!

Megan

I think Taylor was the most excited about hers, she LOVED them!

Travis.....

Even Randy surprised me with a pair of pants....they are so WARM though it's like wearing a fleece blanket around your legs!

I think she loved hers!

Reading the story...Megan didn't want to hear the story for some odd reason so that's why she isn't in the picture...

Sweet Little Baby Ellie.....9 days old!....The Best Christmas Present of ALL!

Weight Family Christmas Eve Program and Party......

2010-02-05T10:25:00.006-07:00

We get together with my family and spend Christmas Eve Together. We have a yummy Mexican Dinner followed by the nativity, talent show and then we exchange our brother and sister gifts and the grandkids exchange gifts. This picture above is Mary(Megan) Joseph (Brigham) and Baby Jesus (random doll)

The Three Wiseman....Travis, McKay and Tyson...I LOVE the serious faces

The WHOLE nativity.....Reagan, Anney, Bethany, Megan, Taylor, Brigham, Travis, McKay and Tyson

Some of the audience during the Talent Show....

reagan and Travis playing Jingle Bells as a duet.

Anney singing I Am A Child Of God.....She is so silly!

Olivia, Megan, and Anney singing a song together

Anney got a baby doll from cousin Rayder

Megan got this fun drawing set from Whitney

Walker got Taylor some jewelry and hair things

Laynie got travis some video games and a Harry Potter book

We love our family and so grateful for the time we get to spend with each other especially during the holidays. We are grateful for this time of year and for the birth of Jesus Christ.

Ferrin Family Christmas Party

2010-02-03T20:15:00.005-07:00

This is our sweet Anney singing "I Am A Child Of God" at Randy's family Christmas Party. My kids love this party and have so much fun....it is such a fun time for all ages!

We have a gift Exchange/White Elephant and this is the gift Anney opened up.....She puts it right on back and not ONE person has the courage to take it from her.....Anney LOVED her backpack!

Ohe of the gifts were marshmallow guns and all these little girls cared about were the bags of marshmallows......I think Anney stole Daddy's present here!

Meredith, Randy, Anney and Baby Ellie who is only 5 days old..

Megan, Kaybree, Sean, Taylor, Hannah, Emmee and Grandpa Ferrin (who just had back surgery 10 days ago) sitting on the couch watching the talent show.

We always act out the 12 days of Christmas.....Megan and Sean were 4 Calling birds

Randy was 12 drummers drumming

Taylor and Hannah were A Partridge In A Pear Tree

travis played a violin solo for the talent show.

I know this picture is out of order but this is what Travis opened up for his gift...we tell him year after year....don't open something....he does it EVERY YEAR and ends up always with something he doesn't want. He tried real hard to be a good sport.

Anney's Haircut........

2010-01-13T12:23:00.003-07:00

Look Mom......"I LIKE PORTER"....This is what Anney said to me as she ran out so excited to show me her new haircut! Taylor had accidentally left a pair of scissors out on her bed and Anney decided she wanted to be just like my good friend who cuts out hair. Her Last name is Porter and for some reason Anney calls her by her last name. Anney had taken a big chunk out of the side and a big chunk out of the top....Luckily it was able to be fixed and it looks adorable on her, but man kids.....put the dang scissors away so I don't have to do this again!

Ellie's first photo shoot.................................

2009-12-19T09:57:00.003-07:00

The hospital always takes pictures of your newborn.....After she left we decided to snap a few with our camera....They turned out so cute.....

Introducing....................Ellie LeAnn Ferrin

2009-12-19T09:37:00.005-07:00

Our sweet baby girl Arrived Tuesday December 15th at 3:39 p.m. Many of you know how hard it was for us to come up with a name for this baby......I wanted to do Kennedy all along, but as it got closer and closer it just didn't seem to fit with my other kids names. About an hour before having her we were online looking at 2 syllable girl names.....Ellie had always been a favorite of ours and it just seemed to really fit. So went with it. I wanted to spell it Ellee but after spelling Anney's different, I didn't want to do it again. Anney has her name spelled wrong all the time. The funny thing is we knew from the day we found out we were pregnant that if it was a girl we were going to have her middle name be LeAnn after my Aunt LeAnn. Both Randy and I look up to admire her for so many reasons we both felt we wanted to name our baby girl after her. We are so lucky to have LeAnn in our life and we feel so honored to name our sweet baby after her. We couldn't be more happier and feel more blessed at this time. Both randy and I couldn't ask for a more special Christmas Gift. The Kids are truly in love with her....their favorite thing to do is just sit and stare at her as she is in the swing or laying on the couch. Everything went perfect for the delivery and recovery and we are all home trying to adjust to having a newborn again.....here are a few pictures from the first couple hours of her life.

We had the best nurse ever...her name was Tara and she was so cute and sweet. She really made Ellie some cute "girlie girl" things and she was so great taking care of me also. In this picture she is getting Ellie's footprints....So sweet!

First pictures of those sweet feet.

Tara took the original Baby hat they give you in the hospital and added a cute bow....Both Rand and I LOVED it!

On my way up to my room........

Ferrin Family Christmas Party

2009-12-14T14:30:00.005-07:00

Every Year Randy's extended side of the family has a Christmas party. This party is at his Aunt and Uncle's home...(the Phelps). Everyone loves it and looks forward to it every year. We have goodies, a talent show, and everyone just hangs out and plays and visits.

Megan and Anney love the swing and even love it more when Randy pushes them.

This little train was a huge hit....Kyle pulled the kids around the backyard the whole time. Anney LOVED it!

One of Randy's cousins husband ties balloons....The kids LOVED him. Taylor is sporting her new hat!

Aunt carolei giving everyone directions and announcing the program...

A butterfly!

A balloon inside of a balloon....

Anney amazed.....

Ashlee's sweet sixteenth birthday was this day...Of course we had to embarrass her by singing to her......She was not happy with us!

Megan with another hat creation!

Chloe and Anney....best of friends!

breakfast with Santa......

2009-12-12T13:01:00.005-07:00

This morning we had our ward breakfast with Santa. The kids each got a turn sitting on his lap and telling him what they wanted....I love to listen to there requests cause they always end up being something I've NEVER heard them talk about or something that is completely impossible or totally unrealistic!

Taylor said she wanted Jewelry....Easy!!!!

I love this picture.....Megan told him she wanted a baby swing( after all she is obsessed with all baby products and actually PICKED out our baby swing...(more on that story later!) When we got in the car to leave she said....mom I told Santa I wanted a baby swing but he thought I just meant baby...can you run back in and tell him I want a baby swing or maybe just tell him a cash register, that would be way easier! She is so cute!

Anney did NOT want to sit on his lap until she saw the big bag of candy canes and then she was TOTALLY all about sitting on his lap...She made it very clear that she wants a baby!

According to Travis is is WAY TOO old to sit on Santa's lap! He told him he wanted a football.....totally something I've never heard him say he wanted!

Megan's First LOST tooth!

2009-12-03T10:16:00.003-07:00

About two weeks ago Megan was SO excited that finally she had a loose tooth! Thanksgiving it was really wobbly.....We stopped at Randy's brothers home that night and she was upstairs playing and she came down stairs and said mom I LOST my tooth and I LOST it and can't find it! We all cracked up! She was so excited to come right home and write the tooth fairy a letter and put it under her pillow...thanks goodness the tooth fairy came through that night and brought her two dollars! She was so excited when she woke up!

Thanksgiving....warning picture OVERLOAD!

2009-12-03T09:23:00.006-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving! Randy started the morning off with the Turkey TROT! This year he ran the 10k in 55 minutes....5minutes faster then last year! Great JOb BABE! This year like EVERY year we have our 2 Turkey dinners! We go to Randy's aunts house at 1 and then my parents around 3.....The kids LOVE it......and Randy and I eat SO dang much that we are stuffed! It was great to see everyone and we both are so lucky to have such incredible families and extended families. We truly are blessed!

The Phelps have this old slide that is really high and my kids LOVE it....Here is MEGAN

Taylor....

Oh great.....looked who climbed all the way to the top before Randy got up there to push her down! Crazy KID!

Travis STILL isn't too big for this slide....

Cousins playing on the swings

Emmee and taylor.....I swear they could be identical twins..such good friends!

Megan and kaybree

I laugh everytime I look at this picture....Sara LOVES whip cream and Megan NOT SO MUCH! Megan DOES love Pumpkin Pie...I think she told me she ate 4 pieces that day!

Sean and randy....I love sean's smile...he is hilarious

Now on to my parent's church with my mom's side of the family....Here are my 2 sisters and 2 sisters in law.....Katie, Shelby, Reagan and Olivia and Bethany!

Megan, Laynie and Whitney. Nice pose girls!

Randy and Anney

All the boys LOVE to play basketball

My dad borrowed this box hockey game and everyone LOVED it....Anney loved it so much she played everyone and wanted to play all day!

Randy gets to watch her now so she doesn't hit anyone with that stick

randy and my dad......Pretty competitive

Anney LOVES reagan......She always wants Reagan to come over and make her macaroni.

travis shooting....he's really gotten pretty good!

Of course Taylor had to practice her skills...doesn't want her brother to show her up!

Go Travis!

Taylor made "YOU TUBE!"

2009-11-08T18:54:00.003-07:00

This is Taylor's "On Broadway" performance last night....She is the one on the right in the white shirt. She did such a great job and more importantly she LOVED doing it! Way to go Taylor!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xM5y_ZyPEw

In other news....Today was the kids primary program and they all did so great. Each one of them had their parts memorized and knew all the songs they were supposed to sing. One funny thing that happened that I want to document though....As we are pulling into the church this morning Megan says OUCH! my stomach hurts! I asked her if she felt sick and she said I feel like I'm going to throw up. 2 seconds later my hands and her dress were covered in Cocoa Puffs from her breakfast she had just eaten. I dropped all the kids off to set up the nursery and I took Megan home to change her. She kept saying I'm not sick and I want to do my part in the primary program. Long story short she has been perfectly fine all day, did a great job in the program and seems perfectly fine! CRAZY! Thanks to all of our family who came to watch our kids. Anney sat on Aunt Shari's lap the whole time and when we came home from church she said...I want Aunt Shari to sit with us at church ALL THE TIME! She loved it and of course I loved it also!

"ON BROADWAY"

2009-11-07T22:29:00.003-07:00

Tonight our Stake put on a show called "On Broadway" There were about 12 different numbers all from a Broadway show.....Taylor was asked to be in the musical number "Hard Knock Life" from the musical Annie. It was amazing.....she was so dang cute. I actually cried watching her do this....she was so cute and smiled through the whole thing and sang so loud. It was neat to see her come out of her shy comfort zone and really "get into" the song. Good Job Taylor, mom and dad are really proud of you.

She had a solo with one other girl here singing the part...."Santa-claus we NEVER see"

This is my favorite picture! You can see how happy she is and how much she loved it! This one might have to get blown up!

5 years ago...........Happy Halloween

2009-10-29T12:02:00.002-07:00

I've been cleaning out old emails lately and I found this picture.....This was taken 5 years ago.....Travis was 6, Taylor was 4 and Megan was 5 months! It's amazing how fast they grow up.......Such cute kids!

What A Random DAY!!!!!!

2009-10-28T20:45:00.002-07:00

I PROMISE I don't' dress my kids like this daily! Today was NERD day at school...taylor LOVED getting dressed up for today. She spent an hour last night perfecting her outfit....She was SHOCKED we didn't have any suspenders....(I laughed so hard) So she came up with BELTS as her suspenders! I was proud of her for coming up with her outfit all on her own....As a side note Megan had NO desire to dress up.....She thought that was such a dumb idea! Two different kids..that's for sure!

Travis left for Science Camp this morning....he was so excited to go! I'm sure they are having a great time and hopefully they aren't freezing!

We got to watch baby Jaxon today.....Anney was in heaven! She loves him and always says......."baby Jaxon is SOOOOO cute!" She wanted to hold him so bad, when I let her she said..."mom, take a picture!" I've trained my kids well!

We had our ward trunk or treat tonight....it has been really cold today so we had to revamp our Halloween costumes...our little ballerina ended up with tights, socks, tennis shoes, long sleeve shirt and a warm sweater! She doesn't look much like a ballerina. She is so proud of this Superman bucket, it cracks me up!

Some People are Happy to be Student Of The MONTH!

2009-10-27T21:43:00.003-07:00

So Megan came home from School today ACTING like she was excited because she won Student of The Month in her classroom.....She was so proud holding her certificate, her "my child was student of the month" bumper sticker and her coupon for a free kids meal at Chick-Fil-A. Megan was the most excited about the bumper sticker and couldn't WAIT until she could put it on the suburban.......well I had to intervene and say...HECK NO...that is NOT going on my CAR! She looked at me like she was the first kid EVER to have a bumper sticker like this and wouldn't I be SO proud to have it on my car...UM NO!!!!!!!!!!!! I told her to feel free to put it on any folder, binder, etc. Well a few hours later I find it STUCK to my HUTCH in my dining ROOM....Luckily I got it off..and the poor thing went to the trash!

Anyways...fast forward a 1/2 hour later when Travis comes home and he's like...Megan what the heck was your problem today? I guess he saw her in the hallway crying hysterically cause she DID NOT want her picture taken with the other students in the school who were also student of the month....but more so SHE DID NOT want her picture taken with the principal!!!!!!!! So sorry Mrs. Edman, I guess my kindergartner isn't a huge fan of yours YET!

Family Halloween Party!

2009-10-26T21:45:00.009-07:00

Happy Halloween EVERYONE! Tonight was our big "Ferrin Halloween Party" at Grandpa and Grandma Ferrin's home. This is the party that the kids look forward to EVERY year! THEY LOVE IT! We eat dinner (we have HALLOWIENERS....hotdogs and brats) We decorate Pumpkins, Aunt Shari and Cousin Ashlee make a yummy witches brew and then we let the kids trick or treat through grandma's house. All the adults go in a room, close the door and we let the kids trick or treat.....THEY LOVE IT!

I was in charge of bringing some appetizers so we brought Spiders and Fangy TEETH!

Cousin Chloe and Anney.....They are 6 months apart and so cute!

Becca, Chloe and Anney!

Timmy, Travis and Blake eating dinner

Hannah, Emmee, Taylor, Sara and Spencer

Witches Brew...the kids are fascinated!

Travis was showing off his delicious drink...he loves this stuff

Shari and Anney

Yummy bugs in their drink!

Anney was NOT happy about the bug in her drink!

The kids all have to see who can end up with the biggest bug or rodent in their drink....YUCK TRAVIS

I love this picture...I wanted a picture of my kids with our "witches" and Megan was scared and didn't want anything to do with them....

I told them this needs to be their new facebook Profile pictures....attractive ladies aren't they?

Megan decorating her pumpkin....so cute!

Taylor decorating her "side" of the pumpkin..

These kids are hilarious with their facial expressions.....They all look so cute in their costumes

Trick or Treating at the Bathroom Door!

Uncle Bill was in the pantry handing out dog treats, canned food, v8 juice, all kinds of gross stuff....he was SUPPOSED to be handing out candy! You can see Travis to matters into his own hands!

This was Uncle Rob's room...he made the kids knock on the table and then would give them candy!

taylor's doggie treat from Uncle Bill

Lake Powell Triathlon

2009-10-18T12:40:00.003-07:00

Yesterday randy competed in the Lake Powell triathlon....This was his first triathlon doing the olympic distance. Olympic Distance means a 1 mile swim, 25 mile bike ride and 6.2 mile run. He really wanted to swim in a lake for a triathlon so he figured this is a great opportunity and he loved LAKE POWELL. His time was 3 hours and 9 minutes. If you remember he just ran a marathon 2 weeks ago and he said he still felt some of the effects of his legs as he was biking and running, but overall he was happy with his time. It was beautiful scenery and the weather was awesome. I'm glad I got to come along and watch him....Good Job Babe!

Just starting the bike ride...I actually got to volunteer in this spot telling the bikers to turn and stay in the left lane....I said it a MILLION times, but it really was fun. Look at the scenery also....breathtaking!

Getting ready to start the second loop of the bike ride.

Coming in from the bike ride....Time to ditch the bike and helmet, change shoes, and start the run!

Just finishing the run.....

F.H.E. at the Park!

2009-10-15T21:49:00.004-07:00

For F.H.E. we met at the park with my family. We had so much fun. We ate sub sandwiches, played basketball and football, had a team building activity, and played leap frog. We get together once a month and this time we chose to do it at the park because the weather is so nice.
Anney LOVES the baby swings....Grandpa and Aunt Reagan pushed her for hours.

Great idea huh...did you ever think to double up on the baby swings. Here is Anney with my cute niece Gracie.....

I promise Travis really had a great time...he just hates having his picture taken!

Anney and her Cheesy Smile!

"team building" activity...Everyone gets in a circle, crosses hands and then tries to untangle themselves.

Grandpa played leapfrog with Gracie, Olivia, Anney and Megan.

Phoenix ZOO!

2009-10-13T15:08:00.006-07:00

Yesterday we kicked off our first day of fall break by going to the Phoenix ZOO. Randy took the day off work and came along....It was WONDERFUL having him there. He carried Anney around most of the zoo and if he wasn't carrying Anney, he was pushing Megan and Anney in the stroller. The kids had a great time and LOVED seeing all the animals. If you ask Anney what animals she saw, she can name all of them and the sound each one makes. What a fun day!

The giraffes.....pretty obvious!

I love this picture of Anney's face...She didn't want me to take her picture!

how Anney spent most of the day!

She is counting the zebras...

Petting Zoo!

cute Picture!

Megan

The famous cactus slide...obviously it's a little quick at the end and this is Anney's outcome!

The End of the day....we were in seeing the monkeys and the kids were hot and tired!

saint george Marathon!

2009-10-07T13:26:00.005-07:00

Randy ran the Saint George marathon last Saturday....Yes I said marathon and yes a marathon is 26.2 MILES! Why anyone would want to do something like that is beyond me, but he loved the challenge and worked so hard to achieve his goal! He had so many early morning runs and lots of sweaty runs, but it was all worth it in the long run!

Randy and I left the kids home with my sisters and mother in law and headed up Thursday night and stayed a night in Vegas before we made the trek to Saint George. We had gotten a hotel off priceline for $45 and we kinda assumed it would be a dump.....We stayed at the Golden Nugget hotel and let me tell you we have stayed in A MILLION hotels and this was the nicest hotel room we have EVER stayed in.....It was a two room suite, 2 -50 inch plasma screens on the wall, 2 bathrooms (one even had a TV in it!) Jacuzzi tub, kitchen, etc.....IT WAS AMAZING! I wish I would of taken pictures but I left my camera in the car that night. WE got up the next morning, had breakfast and headed towards Saint George. It's only about 2 hours from Vegas so it was a quick trip. When we got there Randy checked in at the race expo, we attended a mini workshop class about the marathon and then we went and drove the bike and run course for the Saint George Ironman next May.....Yes My husband is CRAZY...first he does a marathon, but who in their right mind would ever want to do an IRONMAN????? CRAZY! After that we headed to Outback for Randy to have his famous prerace meal of chicken and pasta. We then headed to our Hotel to check in. We stayed at the Travelodge....it was okay but after staying at the Golden Nugget the night before, this place was a DUMP!

Randy had to wake up at 3 the next morning to be at the race by 4 am. We ended up running into Denny's early in the morning so Randy could grab some pancakes for breakfast before his race. Nothing like getting Denny's takeout at 3 a.m.

The race started at 6:45 and Randy did awesome! He completed the marathon in 4 hours and 29 minutes! Amazing! I sat at the finish line for about 30 minutes waiting for Randy and I was so amazed watching these athletes. Everyone of them were amazing to watch cross the finish line. Some limped in, some couldn 't walk, some ran hand n hand with their spouse, etc.......Then there was the 9 year old kid that flew on in! CRAZY! It was quite emotional watching the whole thing.

I'm so proud of Randy and how hard he has worked...I remember the day 18 months ago that he struggled to run a mile......and now.....he has run a marathon! Good Job Babe and thanks for the inspiration to all of us! I LOVE YOU!

Start of the finish line

The front of his shirt says....."If You're Going TO BE DUMB....."

This is a saying his dad has said for years and that saying ended up being our team name when we ran the Ragnar Race last February.

All done...wearing his medal proudly around his neck!

mom.....LOOK at my BIG bandaids!

2009-09-30T13:15:00.004-07:00

can you tell what these are? Anney came to me earlier today and said...."mom, look at my big bandaids!" This kid is obsessed with bandaids...she loves them. Somehow she was under the bathroom sink and found some pantyliners and thought they would make great bandaids! I cracked up laughing and had to take a picture! We love our little Anney!

No More Cub Scouts!

2009-09-24T21:02:00.003-07:00

These pictures were taken at Travis' last pack meeting as a Cub Scout.....He is 11 years old now and officially a Boy Scout! He is so excited and is looking forward to his next adventures. He has Incredible leaders that he loves and they are so motivated and he has done so well already. Good Job Travis.....mom and dad are proud of you and all your accomplishments as a cub Scout. We are excited to help and support you on the path to your Eagle! We love you!

Brother Milczarek his new 11 year old Scout leader.

Bishop Montierth presenting Kaden, Kyle and Travis with their religious Knots!

Less then 100 days!

2009-09-12T22:40:00.002-07:00

Everytime I get on my blog I watch the little countdown to the right of my blog that tells me how many days until my due date.....It's always seemed so far away until I realized that we have less then 100 days now! These next few months are so crazy with all the holidays as it is, I'm sure it's going to FLY!

Things are still going great with this pregnancy. I can't believe how great I feel and how much energy I still have. I know it won't be this way until the end, but I will continue to enjoy it while it lasts.

We still don't have a name picked out, I really like the "EE" or "EY" at the end of a name for a little girl, so I think i'll start focusing on that! I'll take any suggestions....

Megan suggests about 10 names a day.....EVERY girl name in her class or any girl she meets, etc. Some of them are quite interesting, and some are quite common, and some are just plain hilarious cause she makes half of them up!

If anyone has any name suggestions.....send them this way!

Travis and Taylor want to be in charge!

2009-09-04T13:34:00.005-07:00

Travis and taylor are wanting to be elected as student council officers of their school. Travis wants to be the President and Taylor wants to be the Treasurer. Last night we wrote up a little paragraph on why they would make good candidates for their job and we included a picture! The general election is next week and then the primary election will be the week after. Here is what they said......(both of them wrote the majority of this themselves....I had to actually cut some of it out cause not everything would fit on their papers they were given.

This was Travis'

I feel you should vote for me as your President because I feel like I am qualified to be the best president ever! I am a natural born leader because I am the oldest of 5 kids in my family, and I have many responsibilities at home caring for my younger siblings. I also feel that you can depend on me for anything, and you need that in a president. If you ever need anything from me, I will do my best to have it ready as soon as possible. I am a great people person; I can get along with ANYONE so I know I can relate to everyone in our school. I have been involved as a student council class representative and I always made sure my class was aware of what was going on, and I would do the same for the school.

I am actively involved in orchestra, mustang fiddling and video club at Madison. In my spare time I love to go to the sand dunes, play sports, attend scouts, hang out with friends and cousins and just have fun!

Please vote for Travis Ferrin as President and I promise you will not be disappointed!

This Was Taylor's

You should vote for me because I would be a very responsible Treasurer. For example, do you like the pencil machine? If you didn’t have a responsible and dependable treasurer, you wouldn’t have any pencils! Another reason you should vote for me is I am a very good at Math and I am also a straight A student. I also work very well with other students and I love to be around other people.

In my spare time I love to ride quads, dive, swim, shop and hang out with friends and my family.

I promise I will be the best Treasurer. Please VOTE Taylor Ferrin for Treasurer and you will have the best school year ever!

Ward Swim Party!

2009-08-28T21:26:00.005-07:00

Tonight was our ward swim party. It was so much fun! We had it at 4 houses right in a row. 2 of the houses had swimming pools, 1 had kids games, and 1 had all the food! Everyone could just come and go as they wish and everyone had a great time! This picture is Anney and Joshua playing in the little swimming pool at the beginning!

Travis playing some water games!

Taylor and Alexis doing a water relay

Megan swimming!

taylor and Paige

Anney had so much fun swimming with all the kids......She loved it! They all catered, played and spoiled her. She had a blast!

Megan getting ready to dive!

Ashley throwing Anney in the air!

Snack Time!

Dillards huge extra 40% off sale!

2009-08-27T12:54:00.004-07:00

hey everyone....it's my favorite sale of the year! The dillards take an additional 40% off everything that is already on sale. I picked up some deals today! I went to the Dillards at Chandler Mall and got all of this for 90 bucks! 2 Billabong swimsuits for Travis, 2 shirts for Travis, 2 pair of Roxy flip flops for taylor and megan. 2 hurley shirts for taylor, 1 shirt for megan and 2 shirts for Anney. And.......I actually bought myself another Kathy Purse. These are my favorite purses and this one was normally 110 and I got it for 17.93! Awesome! I think the sale goes through the weekend......So if you are in the market for some clothes, they have some great things, Especially if you have a boy size 8-20...I could of bought travis 20 shirts and 20 swimsuits if I wanted! crazy! Just a tip......the best deals are the items that are already marked 70% off and then you take an additional 40% off that! The sale has already been going for a couple of days, so it might be picked over!

ETA: I went to the superstition springs dillards and they NOTHING for any of kids except ANNEY...if you need baby clothes, they have TONS!

We have a new addition to our family!

2009-08-23T15:44:00.002-07:00

Today in nursery Anney learned how thankful she was for fish and that Jesus created fish! SO CUTE! Our cute nursery teachers gave all the kids a goldfish to take home and we got so lucky to come home with 3! We put them in this cute bowl and so far they are all still alive! Don't know how long it will last, but for now she loves them and checks on them every second of the day. Our 3 fishies are named Professor Peanuts, Barney and Mrs. Guppy! Quite the combo huh! Travis is already hoping for babies soon.....don't think that will happen!

It's a WHOLE LOTTA DAY>>>>>>

2009-08-22T14:13:00.003-07:00

Today we've done....

A Whole LOTTA...Yardwork (started bright and early!)
A Whole LOTTA...Swimming (with friends)
A Whole LOTTA...Running (randy started off with a 12 mile run!)
A Whole LOTTA...MESS in the kitchen....(feeding 5 extra kids today=MESS!)
A Whole LOTTA...Nursery Stuff............I'm rearranging the nursery starting TOMORROW!
A Whole LOTTA....NAPS!..........(randy and anney are asleep..hopefully anney will sleep a while)
A Whole LOTTA....Laundry! (it's never ending)
A Whole LOTTA...Articles of Faith...(travis and taylor are working on them)
A Whole LOTTA....money being spent!...(gotta make a trip to COSTCO...need I say more?)
AND........

by
The Time the day is over.......

We'll be doing a WHOLE LOTTA cleaning.........this place is a disaster, but we've gotten LOTS done!

Cute Pictures of the Kiddos........

2009-08-21T13:45:00.005-07:00

Anney fell in love with this dog and wanted to pet it so bad....thank goodness the lady was so friendly and let her!

This is my favorite!

Such a cutie!

Travis was climbing this tree while we were waiting for Randy on the bike. I think he looks so big and grown up!

Anney

Megan and her buddy Tyson. Tyson's dad did the triathlon with Randy.

While we were watching and cheering him on this past weekend, I took some random photos of the kids.......they are so cute, I had to share them. I'm so grateful for such good kids, there are days that they push my limits and make me insane, but they are good kids and I'm proud of the choices they continue to make. They have great friends and are great examples to their friends.

Okay.....time for a baby name poll/opinion! Most of you know we are having another girl and coming up with names is the hardest thing for us! I've come up with 4 I like and would be happy with any of them (If I could get Randy to agree with one of them, I'd go for it!).....So tell me your opinion on them......If you have other suggestions, I'll take those also!

Kenadee

Marlee

Hallee

Ellie

Tri In The Pines

2009-08-20T16:23:00.003-07:00

This past weekend Randy participated in the "Tri In The Pines" which was held in Showlow Arizona. He did so well. He took almost 6 minutes off his time from last year. Good Job Babe!
He did this race as part of his training for his marathon in October and Ironman next May! He is working so hard and doing so well in his training!
This is him getting ready for the swim....he's the second one from the right.

Joking around with the guy in his lane!

Getting ready to start the bike.....12.5 miles!

Coming in from the bike...He looks like he's having so much fun huh?

The Run was 3.5 miles.....randy cramped up really bad the first 1/2 mile and even ended up throwing up, but I think he felt better after that! Poor Guy!

Almost done...keep up the great work, this high altitude takes a toll on you!

The FINISH LINE! I love this picture cause you can see Anney running behind him trying to catch him! Everyone couldn't believe how fast she was! She was so excited to see Randy and was so cute to all the other participants in the triathlon. She would cheer everyone on and would tell them "Good Job and Keep it up!"

Wellness Challenge!

2009-08-18T12:05:00.003-07:00

Yesterday I started a wellness challenge with some friends and family. This seems to be the "new" thing going around. When I read the rules and requirements I actually thought this IS something I can do...and it's something I can do being pregnant! Maybe it will help me not gain 50lbs. Here are the rules.....

Each item is worth 1 point, with a possible 10 points per day
1 48 oz. of water
2 30 minutes of exercise (not necessarily consecutive)
3 2 servings of veggies, 2 servings of fruit
4 No soda, beer, wine, unhealthy snacks (ex: potato chips), or bad fast food (anything fried)
5 No sweets. (Desserts, pastries, sugary snacks & cereals) * ONE item with a Sugar-Free alternative is OK (as long as it doesn't conflict with #4 above)
6 No eating after dinner/9pm
7 15 min. of scripture reading (or spiritual text if you don't do scripture)
8 One journal entry (any length)
9 Express sincere appreciation, love or praise to a family member or close friend
10 Personal Goal

Let me explain the personal goal. Each week, you will come up with your own point/goal for the week. So, for the first week, my goal might be to read to my kids for 15 minutes every day, provide service, fix dinner each night that week. Or it could be going to bed before 9:30 every night…etc, etc.

Note: You have one free point, PER CATEGORY, PER WEEK. One free point for exercise, one free point for soda/fast food/unhealthy snacks, one free point for sweets, etc. You do not have 10 free points to use however you choose -they are NOT interchangeable and if you choose not to use a free point in a category, it is gone at weeks end. You could also just choose to have one "free" day where all points are free (which is less confusing), but we are allowing for flexibility and success!

The goal obviously is to get 10 points each day, every day. On your “free” day, you can automatically count 10 points. If you choose to have a free day on Saturday, then Sunday you eat dessert, then you would only get 9 points for Sunday. You can choose to have one free point every day if you choose to do it that way too. So if you go out for dinner on Wednesday and feel like having a soda, then you can use your free soda point.

Exceptions:-You are excused from the sweet rule on YOUR BIRTHDAY.-You are allowed three sick days where you are excused (only) from exercising and eating veg/fruit/water [if you can’t eat/drink] This is ONLY to be used if you are indeed sick.

Yesterday I did so GOOD....I was perfect. I ate a whole wheat bagel and cream cheese for breakfast, tuna sandwich loaded with spinach and 2 whole tomatoes on the side and for dinner we had spaghetti and a huge salad! It was awesome.....I ate fruit as my snacks and I wasn't even hungry. I walked a total of 6 miles yesterday and it felt so good. So far today I have had a bowl of grape nuts cereal and a Ham sandwich at subway LOADED with veggies and I got their sliced apples also! AWESOME! I'm hoping I can stick with this challenge so I will have more balance in my life and feel better. You all might see lots of posts on my blog in the next few weeks, I plan to use my blog and a small journal on my computer as my two forms of journal writing.

So here is to a healthy next 12 weeks....Please don't bring me cookies, cinnamon rolls or ice cream!

Anney's Lunchbox

2009-08-17T13:10:00.003-07:00

Every night when the older kids pack their lunchboxes for school, Anney has to pack her lunch also. This Barney bag came with 3 Barney DVD's in it and for some reason Anney is determined it is her lunch box! She is so dang cute with it! Today as she was eating lunch, I heard her say.....

"I got my juice box"

"I got my granola bar"

"I got my CHEETOS" (these are her favorite chips ever)

"I got my sandwich"

I just had to grab a picture of it cause I thought it was so dang cute!

~It's the MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR~

2009-08-12T14:29:00.005-07:00

All you mom's want to sing with me? Can I just say how much I love The First Day of School? There just isn't any other day like it. I love the excitement to wake up, everyone is always so happy and cooperates so well, and I love seeing all the kids in their new school clothes. This year was no different at our house, Travis and Taylor were old pros at going to school and the early morning routine and Megan who is brand new to all of this did really well. I was a little worried since she hasn't woken up before 9 a.m. all summer long, but she hopped right out of bed and did great! Everyone had a great day and can't wait for tomorrow.....As far as the mom goes, I came home cleaned up a little (house stayed spotless all day) showered and then went to lunch with a couple of friends! It was a great day for all and I'm so glad to be back in a routine!

If you are wondering what the heck I fed my kids for breakfast, one of my good friends emailed me a recipe for "pop-up" pancakes last night. They are just like German pancakes just in a muffin tin. Everyone loved them and they were so quick to make!

Pop-Up Pancakes
Ingredients:

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

6 eggs

1/4 cup melted butter

dash salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a blender, and blend until smooth. Pour into extremely well greased muffin tins (makes 24). Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown - "pop" them out of the tins, and top as desired.

back to school trims.......

2009-08-05T12:58:00.005-07:00

These three cute girls were REALLY starting to look like ragamuffins! Nobody wants their hair done in the summer and some don't even want to brush it at all! Anney has NEVER had a haircut and I was SO sick of seeing it always in her eyes. As soon as I do her hair, she pulls everything out and it was so frustrating.

Megan's before shot

Megan's after shot!

taylor's finished product I LOVE her hair short, it looks so cute on her.

Anney's before MESS! This is how she looks most of the time at home...at least when we go somewhere I'm able to do something cute with it, but as soon we get home, she rips everything out and prefers this look!

Becky TRYING to get Anney to hold still so it's cut straight. We cut her some bangs hoping that would help her hair stay out of her face.....We shall see...

She loved it and looks so cute! She's growing up so fast! Thanks Becky for doing such a good job!

It's a...................................................

2009-07-21T09:44:00.004-07:00

ANOTHER GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These Three will have another sister to hang out with and share clothes with......

and this guy NEVER has to share his room and is THRILLED!

WE found out today that we will have another girl joining our family in December! We are so excited and happy that everything looked great and she is growing stong and is healthy!

Of course we have NO names picked out (like we ever do....) so if anyone has suggestions we would LOVE SOME!

Happy Fathers Day Randy!!

2009-07-14T20:42:00.005-07:00

happy fathers day randy! Yes, I know this picture looks a little odd.....but randy had been gone for 2 weeks prior to germany and our assignment for dinner at his parents house was homemade ice cream.....so yep, Randy got to make it! He actually doesn't mind making it at all, and he makes the best ice cream EVER!

Taylor did NOT want me to take a picture of her and the card she made. Once I told her she better smile cause this was going on the blog, I got half of a smile......

Cute Anney

I think Megan made Randy like 5 cards....she loves to write and make cards and letters for EVERYONE in the family. I remember Taylor going through this same stage, and as much as I hate finding paper everywhere, it really is cute.

Randy and the kids. Aren't homemade cards the best?

Anney made this in nursery....so CUTE. She would say "I Love you THIS much" and then she would throw up her hands in the air!

Randy wanted a jersey and riding shorts....He is getting ready for his IRONMAN next year, and he needs to LOOK COOL while training!

Now doesn't he look COOL and look like a future ironman......

Happy Father's Day to the best husband and dad anyone could ask for. The kids LOVE and look up to him so much. He truly is their HERO! Love you babe, and thanks so much for everything!

~Germany~

2009-07-14T20:17:00.007-07:00

Randy travels to Munich Germany 3-4 times a year for work. He manages a software team over there so he is lucky enough to travel to such a beautiful country. This last time he went I made him take our good camera so he could get some pictures of some of the beautiful places. One of these days I will be lucky enough to tag along.....

This was taken at Ralf's house...Randy was invited over for a "grill" party. This is their grill (just like our BBQ). They are all roasting bread on a stick....Amazing!

Cooking their dinner...

~Havasupai~

2009-07-14T08:56:00.008-07:00

randy had the opportunity to hike havasupai in June. Our ward took the teachers and priests and randy got to go as "the bishopric member/leader/person who REALLY wanted to go" This is Randy's favorite activity to do with the young men. All of these boys he had as scouts and they hiked every month....so they KNOW HOW TO HIKE! He had so much fun and loved being with the boys.

EGG NOODLES ANYONE?

2009-06-30T08:28:00.002-07:00

taylor has this little friend and they LOVE to run into the grocery store for me. They are dying for me to give them a WHOLE list and send them in to get everything.......Last night I was making dinner and I needed some EGG NOODLES so I ran the girls up to Sprouts to grab some. I reminded Taylor that egg noodles are the type of noodles we use with stroganoff, etc. and she understood what I was saying. Plus I figured since they were at sprouts and that is such a tiny place, they could always ask an employee to help them.

Well I ran and picked up my other 2 kids a mile away at my sisters house and came back to get the girls at Sprouts.....well when I got there both Taylor and Brandi were standing outside just waiting for me with nothing in their hands! They both jumped in the car and said........Mom they don't have egg noodles, they only have ENRICHED EGG NOODLES!! I about died laughing.......I said that is what they are go grab a package! Then Brandi says but they are $6.99 a package....I was like holy cow it must be a huge bag! Long story short, they came out with a box of EGG fettuccine noodles...and they read the sign wrong, they were only 3.98. Thanks Taylor and Brandi...maybe I should not be lazy and just shop myself!

Memorial day/Megan's birthday!

2009-06-18T22:21:00.004-07:00

Megan started the day off with a new bike from mom and dad! This kid LOVES to be outside riding her bike. Randy took her to Toys R Us and she picked this cute "I Carly" bike! She loves it and rides it everyday! I love that Travis is in the background mowing the lawn, typical weekend around here! That afternoon we went to my parents and to Randy's sisters house for a bbq and swim party. Megan got to have 2 birthday parties with both sides of the family.....my kids are so lucky to have so many family members who love them and support them in everything. We had such a fun day! Happy 5th Birthday Megan!

Katie, Olivia, Taylor and Megan in the Hot Tub.

Birthday girl who is so excited to have everyone sing to her!

Is this not the cutest baby? My brother Kendall and his little baby Gracie. She LOVES the water!

Now it's off to Aunt Shari's for party #2

Cousin chase ready to squirt someone

Anney and Cousin Emmee

Jump megan!

Cousin Zack swam with the kids and threw them in the air for over 2 hours! He was SO SORE the next day! Thanks Zack!

Anney!

Megan jumping, this kid NEVER stops!

Singing Happy Birthday AGAIN!

make a wish and how nice that anney helps you!

Happy Birthday Meggers!

Megan's birthday doll from grandma great

2009-06-18T14:04:00.003-07:00

For Megan's 5th birthday my grandma has talked about this special gift she has made for megan......megan has been SO excited for her birthday so she could see what grandma-great made her. So my grandma comes over the morning of her birthday and gives her this porcelain doll that she made. It is beautiful, she made everything on it, including her clothes. My grandma tells megan all about it, how precious and breakable it is, how she needs to be so careful, how she can't push it in her doll stroller, on and on.....Well I think she scared megan cause after all the "rules" my grandma wants a picture and megan is like "NO WAY"...it might break! We had to bribe megan to hold the doll for some pictures. Long story short, the doll has stayed in my room cause megan is scared the doll will break if it's in her room!

Grandma-great also brought over many other fun gifts from the dollar store and megan was thrilled with each of them!

Also, had to throw this picture in since I'm not ever in any pictures. grandma also brought over these cute rooster salt n pepper shakers for my birthday.....thanks grandma!

Feeding the baby.....her first bottle!

Conversation at the carwash!

2009-06-12T18:58:00.002-07:00

Megan: mom can we PLEASE sell the suburban and get a minivan?

Me: If we sell the suburban we have to sell the trailer and all the quads cause we need it to pull the trailer

Megan: So, I don't care!

Me: We wouldn't be able to go to Showlow or the dunes or Mexico if we had a minivan

Megan: Can we still go to the gas station for treats (megan's all time favorite thing to do when we are traveling)

Me: Nope we wouldn't be able to go to the gas station for treats

Megan: Forget it....let's keep the suburban!

It's all about the gas station treats!

A few minutes later.....

Megan: mom, dad REALLY needs a new car!

Me: Yep he does but we aren't getting a new car anytime soon

Megan: I have a great idea......Dad can drive the suburban everyday and we can buy a minivan!

Just a side note.....we went to california last year and rented a minivan and since then my kids are set on getting a minivan! I laugh at the idea of randy driving our suburban everyday to work.....the thing gets 8 miles to the gallon, not the most efficient when he drives 40+ miles a day! I told Megan when she gets married she can have a minivan and she said she will have 2! one for her and one for her husband!

End of the Year Awards Assembly

2009-06-12T12:59:00.004-07:00

Both Travis and Taylor received awards at the awards assemblies the last day of school. Taylor received Principal's Outstanding Citizenship award and Travis received Honor Roll. Taylor has received the citizenship award every year and we are so proud of her. Travis has received honor roll the last two years also. (they start honor roll in 4th grade) We are so proud of Travis and Taylor. They both have worked so hard to be good students and they have done so well. Keep up the great work guys!

This is our great friend Amy....while we were at the awards assembly, she decided to make this face for the camera! I told her it was going on my blog! Love ya Amy!

Megan's Preschool Graduation......

2009-06-11T16:16:00.004-07:00

Megan completed her second year of preschool. She has so much fun and loved every bit of it. Her teacher was Miss Christi and she was wonderful. (if any of you are looking for a preschool teacher she is awesome!) Megan went three days a week and learned so much. She is so ready for kindergarten...she knows all of her letters, knows the sounds and how to write each one and even learned how to read! We are so proud of you megan and your desire to learn! One of megan's favorite thing to do is write everybodys name on paper. If you go in Megan's room, you will always find TONS of papers with names and letters written all over them. I am constantly throwing them away, but I think it really has taught her how to write all of her letters!

For Preschool Graduation they invited all the parents and they put on a short program. They sang songs and were so cute. This particular song is called the "BOB SONG" and is Megan's favorite. The kids were hilarious to watch sing it.

Here is Megan getting her diploma from Miss Christi....so cute

Megan and Bo went to preschool the last two years together. They are such good little buddies and I know they will do well at school next year. One of Megan's classmates gave everyone these graduation doggies, they were so cute. They came with a pen so all the kids could sign them. It took Megan a while to figure it out, but once she did she thought it was the coolest thing ever!

Merry Christmas!

2009-05-28T20:10:00.002-07:00

Hey everyone....I know I am way behind on my blog, but I thought I'd throw in a tid bit of news! Merry Christmas to us! Baby #5 (and the VERY last one!) will be here at Christmas time! I'm due December 21st (nice timing huh?) All is well, I went to the doctor a couple of days ago for the first time and heard the heartbeat, and everything looks good. I told the girls tonight (travis is gone with Randy to a diamondbacks game) and taylor said in this very confused look, "mom, did you TELL dad yet?" Megan said, oh man Travis is going to be ticked! (he is the one that is so proud to say he will never have to share a room, etc.) Megan is SO excited, she has asked me a million questions already about the baby, I'm waiting for the how are babies made mom? Heaven help me!Thanks for all the well wishes, we are excited!

Day 4 in Hawaii.....Mother's Day!

2009-05-13T22:47:00.003-07:00

Some people might think it's odd to spend Mother's Day away from your kids, but it truly was the most relaxing day I've ever had. Isn't it normally true that your kids are the worst behaved on Mothers Day? Well in my mind, my kids were perfect on Mothers Day! We slept in and went to Sacrament Meeting. It was so nice to sit by myself with just randy. I don't even know the last time I sat through a sacrament meeting and listened to all the speakers. Since Randy is in the Bishopric, it was a nice treat to have him sit by me also. After the sacrament they had all the men (including visitors) come to the front of the chapel and sing "Love at Home" while the youth of the ward handed out long stemmed roses. It was really neat.

When we got home we took a 3 hour nap and then Randy prepared the greatest mothers day meal for his mom and I. He had gone to Costco the night before and bought everything he needed. He made Pork Tenderloin, scalloped potatoes, spinach salad, shrimp cocktail, and roasted garlic bread. For dessert we had long stemmed chocolate covered strawberries. So DELICIOUS and I didn't have to do one thing!

After dinner we played cards and just relaxed....it was a wonderful day. I am so grateful for my own mom and the wonderful things she has taught me, I know I owe so much to her and I appreciate everything she has done for me. I'm also very grateful to have a wonderful mother in law that I got to spend Mothers Day with in Hawaii....we have such a great relationship and I'm so lucky to have her in my life.....I honestly couldn't ask for a better mother in law......Thanks for my wonderful mom and mother in law for all their help love and support and helping me become the person I am today!

Last but not least I am so grateful to be a mom....I love my kids so much and am so grateful for each one of them...they teach me so much and I love being with them. I've missed them so much while I've been gone, but I know they are well taken care of. Travis, Taylor, Megan and Anney, mom loves you and loves being with you...thanks for choosing me to be your mom, I know i'm not perfect but I try hard everyday! XOXOXOXOX

Day 3-Wiamea Canyon

2009-05-12T23:44:00.002-07:00

I just wanted to put a few pictures from Wiamea Canyon. It kinda reminded me of the grand canyon, so beautiful! We drove 8 miles up a windy road and got to see this beautiful piece of scenery. I can't believe how beautiful everything in Hawaii is.....I never thought I was much of a "scenery" type person until I"ve come to Hawaii...I can't believe how breathtaking everything is.....

Day 3-NA PALI COAST

2009-05-12T23:14:00.004-07:00

what a beautiful place! We left early in the morning and headed out on a Catamaran Boat. We saw cliffs, waterfalls and sea caves. We also got the opportunity to see the porpoises and dolphins in the water. One of my favorite parts was snorkeling. I've never snorkeled before, so it was quite a treat. On the way out the water was calm and great and on the way back it was REALLY rough......I got sea sick coming back, but it was still worth it! If you've never done this trip, it's incredible and well worth the money.

Randy snorkeling......he still says snorkeling in the Philippians is better, but he still had a great time!

Day 2 in Hawaii

2009-05-11T19:38:00.002-07:00

Today was our day to make our plans for the week and just relax. We started the morning having breakfast by the pool and learning about different activities we could sign up to do. We signed up for the Napoli Coast Tour and a Zipline. After breakfast we went to costco and then dropped the guys off to play golf. Randy LOVES to play golf and hasn't played in a while so he was in heaven. The course was beautiful and they had a great time together. Diana and I went shopping while the guys were playing golf and went and got smoothies also.

Getting some instruction before they go....

After we picked the guys up we went to dinner at Bullshed and Randy ordered this monster prime rib.....He loved it ate pretty much all of it. We have had a great time so far and are loving being here.......

ALOHA!

2009-05-11T01:22:00.002-07:00

ALOHA! We are finally in Hawaii! We had a great flight and were so glad to finally be here...Randy and I have planned and dreamed about coming to Hawaii for years and we are so excited to finally be here. We met Randy's parents at the airport and Diana presented me with a lei. I was so excited! We are staying with them in Kauai in their timeshare and then heading to Honolulu.........

We were starving when we landed so we went to bubba's (a hamburger place). It was really good.

Randy and Larry ordering......I love going and seeing the locals and their restaurants...

stay tuned for more.......

Travis receives his Arrow of Light!

2009-05-01T20:40:00.005-07:00

Travis and 2 of his best friends all received their Arrow of Light. What a neat honor for them...The Arrow of Light is the highest award a cub scout can receive and I'm so proud of travis for all the hard work and dedication he put into this. I'm also so grateful for wonderful leaders who push him and make sure all this gets done, they are amazing! They had the Arrow of Order come present his award to him and they made it so special. Here are some fun pictures of the evening.

Travis, Cameron and Colton

Mom Getting ready to pin the Arrow on his shirt

give your mom a hug buddy! I'm so proud of you!

Checking out his arrow

thanks so much Grandpa and Grandma Leavitt for coming and supporting Travis. They said it had been 40+ years since they had been to a pack meeting.

You gotta love when you go through your pictures and you find something like this!

Congrats boys....Keep up the great work

Happy 40th Birthday Randy!

2009-04-17T10:18:00.004-07:00

Happy Birthday Babe! I hope you have a great day......I'm excited to spend the weekend with you and celebrate!

happy easter!

2009-04-13T12:38:00.003-07:00

Coloring Eggs

2009-04-10T22:08:00.004-07:00

Tonight we colored eggs for Easter. We've had such a crazy day and we will have such a crazy weekend, I wanted to get these pictures posted real quick. The kids LOVE coloring eggs....Anney was so funny and cute this year. She made randy help her with everything and she was amazed at the results. It was a fun night!

daddy's home from china!

2009-04-09T20:19:00.008-07:00

YAY! After 11 days of daddy being gone, he's finally home! Randy went to the Philippians for a little while and then onto China. He went to train some guys from work and he had a great time. He has tons of pictures that I will post as soon as I get them all! The kids and I missed him so much and we are so glad he is home....(well I'm probably the most glad, but we all missed him)

the kids waiting for dad.....

Travis sees him first!

Hi dad!

I love this picture...anney was SO excited to see daddy. She is loves her daddy so much and asked about him every single day. She would tell everyone that daddy was in an airplane in china!

Megan twirling as we are walking down to the baggage claim

waiting for dad's luggage

Anney was determined she had to pull randy's suitcase....it was heavy and she took forever, but she was determined to do it.

Randy brought home so many souvenirs for the kids....he made them close their eyes and would place in their hand their gift. These are real fans from china....anney broke hers in 2 seconds!

A steve nash jersey and shorts....travis was thrilled!

Randy brought home pearl necklaces and bracelets for all the girls....he even brought me a beautiful necklace and some gorgeous earrings.

Anney's necklace which she broke right away also!

Here she goes.....pulling it like crazy till it snaps!

thanks dad for all the toys, jewelry and candy you also brought....we love you and missed you so much!

Just some cute pictures......

2009-04-08T21:21:00.003-07:00

Megan got this hat yesterday at her American girl party and she is very possessive of it. Before Megan left for preschool this morning she asked me where a very safe place would be that she could leave it so Anney wouldn't get it. Not five minutes after Megan had left for school, Anney comes running into the family room so happy she has megan's hat on! She looked so stinkin' cute that we had to take a few pictures.....I know the pink hat and red dress aren't the best combo, but she still is cute!

An American Girl Party!

2009-04-07T21:54:00.004-07:00

Megan got invited to my grandma weight's home today for an American girl tea Party! Megan had to bring her American girl doll and make sure she was dressed all cute for the party. My grandma had some other girls there also that love American dolls and she put on the funnest party. Megan had a great time. For those of you who don't know, my grandma LOVES dolls and especially American girls. In fact my aunt gave my grandma her own doll for Christmas this past year and she loved it. She carried it around all day like Megan carries around her baby dolls. When Megan got to the party my grandma had her go to the backyard and she had it all set up like a tea party. It was so cute...she had all kinds of finger foods and yummy things to eat and drink. After the tea party they watched an American Girl movie and Megan LOVED it. My grandma is amazing and loves her grand kids and great-grand kids so much. I'm so grateful that she has such a neat relationship with me and my kids, she is so special and fun!

All the American Girls lined up on the bench!

A 5K for A Good Cause!

2009-04-06T21:17:00.005-07:00

Last Saturday the kids and I participated in a 5K to benefit
Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance. Our good friends baby was diagnosed 6 weeks ago when he was born. He is their 7th child and his name is Nash....hence the "Team Nash" and number 7! We raised money for them to find a cure. It was such an incredible and fun experience. We joined many walkers along with their friends and family and walked! Thanks Merrills for letting us be a part of this.

The back of the shirts....

Getting ready to start the walk.

Anney loved the balloons, she didn't quite understand that the balloons were there to mark the course.

"team Nash!"

the Merrill Family

after the walk we got to play at the park, and Anney was in heaven!

WEEEEE! She calls the slides the wees!

Meg with her capri sun drink

Anney climbing up the rock wall to go down the slide

taylor hanging from the monkey bars

Travis and a friend walking.....

Meg pushing Taylor, shouldn't it be the other way around?

Wonderful Day!

2009-04-05T21:21:00.005-07:00

Today and yesterday was general conference and it was incredible like always. I enjoyed every bit of it, and I feel like my testimony has been strengthened even more. I am so grateful that we have a true and living prophet who leads and guides us and speaks to us. All the speakers were so good and my kids were incredibly well behaved. They sat and listened so well, I think travis got so much out of conference. Today at dinner he was talking to my dad and grandparents about the speakers and what they talked about. I couldn't believe how much he remembered. I always make my kids sit and listen to the morning session and then the afternoon I make them watch it but they can bring a blanket or pillow and lie down. I always have high hopes that they will fall asleep so I can watch in peace and they never do, but today they actually did! The three girls were crashed and Travis just sat and watched conference. We had a great day and I know the spirit was in our home as we listened to the words of our leaders. After conference we enjoyed a great dinner with my parents and grandparents at our house.

Travis taking notes.....

taylor crashed!

Megan slept for 3 hours!

he is growing up so fast!

12 YEARS Of PURE BLISS!

2009-04-04T15:14:00.007-07:00

I know some of you are probably laughing at my title, but I would be lying if I didn't say these past 12 years have been pure bliss! Today is our 12th Anniversary and I couldn't be happier with the man I chose to marry and be the father of my children. He is the greatest thing ever, we are so happy and so in love! Here are some recent fun pictures!

We went to Chicago last year for our anniversary....this was taken in front of Wrigley Field.

Part of our trip included Miller Park in Milwaukee!

This is at a Chicago White Sox Game. We went to 3 different stadiums in 3 days! Some think we are crazy, but it really is our favorite thing to do. We joke and say we want to of visited all of the baseball stadiums before we die! We've actually seen most of the West Coast ....we just need to hit the East Coast. We are hoping New York is our next trip!

Randy and I participated in the Ragnar Relay. Along with 12 others we ran from Prescott to Phoenix. (204 miles!) We had a great time training together and being with each other. Randy has continued to keep running, and me not so much!

We have 4 beautiful children together and I am so grateful for the wonderful father he is to our kids, he is their best friend!

Thanks babe for 12 wonderful years, you are the best and I love you!

Here are 12 things I love about him:

1. He is my best friend

2. Our Date nights.....we've always been so good about weekly sometimes twice a week date nights)

3. Vacations together....we go somewhere at LEAST 4 times a year.......our next one is HAWAII!

4. His ability to fix anything and build anything.....

5. Watching and going to Baseball games together..

6. He works so hard to provide for our family.

7. His ability to teach me and our children the gospel...

8. His example of Christ Like Service

9. His SMILE

10. His CALFS and ARMS!

11. His ability to never give up....once he committs to something, he gives 110%

12. The last 12 years.......thanks babe for everything...I love you!

Planting and Receiving Flowers!

2009-04-03T22:07:00.002-07:00

my sweet hunny sent me flowers for my anniversary! 12 years tomorrow! The card said Happy Anniversary. I love you. Love Randy. Well travis looks at it for a few minutes and says, "mom, who sent you these flowers?" He couldn't figure it out. I've been teasing him all night about it!

Beautiful Flowers that smell so good!

I spent my afternoon planting some new flowers, trimming some older ones and weeding the flower bed. They look so pretty now!

Good Luck Elder Tate!

2009-04-02T22:47:00.006-07:00

Our family (minus our daddy) with Elder TATE!

Bill and Julie and their family

I don't' know what we were laughing about but something sure was funny. I love anney and megan's expressions!

Rob and Jen and their kids

Tommy and Anney.

Grandpa and Grandma with the first grandson entering the mission field!

The whole gang!

Bye Bye grandpa, thanks for everything!

Anney ran up to Daniel and said Bye Bye Daniel as she was patting him on the back. It was so stinkin cute.

Travis (with a black eye from baseball) and Daniel.

Taylor KNEW Aunt Shari needed a hug! Taylor is always good for a hug, she's awesome!

One last hug from the crying girls! I think they will be okay!

Good Luck Elder Tate and we will see you in 2 years!

Cousin Daniel's Setting Apart

2009-04-02T22:16:00.005-07:00

Last Night was Daniel's setting apart. It was really good......I have no doubt he will be an incredible missionary, he is so ready to go. Pres. Thornock gave him a great blessing and explained the "mantel" as missionary wears for the next two years. I know my kids listened quite a bit and were really impressed. We are excited for Daniel and his family these next two years. Good Luck Daniel!

Zack, shari, daniel and Sean

Oh these girls are so cute! They are so tender hearted and will miss Daniel so much. They were pretty emotional and they love him so much. I'm sure he will get lots of pictures and nice letters from them!

Daniel and President Thornock

We called this the "crying couch" These girls cried so hard the whole night. At one point my Brother In Law had to come tell them that it is "OKAY" Daniel is NOT DYING and you will see him again. "this is supposed to be a happy thing not a sad thing!" Poor things. You'll notice Taylor is fine. She told me "mom, I"m so used to my uncles leaving on their missions and I know Daniel will be happy and have a fun time!" guess me having three brothers serve missions in the last 7 years has helped!

Happy Boy ready to serve!

cousin Ashlee and Anney

Daniels dinner at MiAmigos!

2009-04-01T22:07:00.005-07:00

Daniel (my nephew) leaves tomorrow for his mission. He will be serving in the Jacksonville Florida Mission. Before he got set apart tonight he requested MiAmigos for dinner with everyone. We reserved the back room and had one big party! The kids were hilarious and loved eating with their cousins. Daniel is a favorite cousin and the kids (especially these GIRLS) LOVE him to pieces! This is their sad and crying face that Daniel is leaving. Really you need to see the pictures of these girls really crying.....it is so sad!

Taylor, Hannah, Sara, Ashlee, Emmee, Becca, Kaybree and Megan. So cute!

This little stinker kept running all around back and forth from grandma to Shari.....she was so cute and funny.

Shari is sitting across from her and is trying to get her to smile for pictures!

Anney sat on grandma's lap and ate TONS of chips and guacamole

The BOYS table...Travis, Spencer and Blake all shared Nachos and downed it in like 5 minutes!

Anney with her water

Shari getting more pictures of anney....everyone she would take anney would want to see right away. We had such a great time tonight and tomorrow will be the good-bye at the airport!

2009-03-31T20:54:00.003-07:00

This guy had a great game tonight! He is on the "storm" and loves it! He is the starting catcher and has done incredible! He is like a block wall back there....he blocks and saves so many balls and prevents runs from scoring! He is awesome and we are so proud of him...he has worked very hard for the last 2 years learning how to catch and getting beat up behind the plate. I don't know how he can squat that long, my legs get so sore just watching him! Keep up the great work Travis! Oh yah, they did win tonight 12-6!

We were watching American Idol tonight and one of the singers is blind this year. So as the judges are praising him for his incredible song, taylor reminds us about him being blind. Well Megan has this really confused look on her face and says.....mom if he is BLIND, why can I still SEE him? We laughed and told her, megan he is blind not you! You can see him, but he can't see you! She is hilarious and I think she really is starting to feel better. No fever since yesterday afternoon. WOOOHOO!

This poor kid.......Still Sick!

2009-03-30T14:36:00.002-07:00

Poor Megan......this is how she has spent pretty much the last week of her life. She has been fighting a really high fever off and on. Just when we think she is better, the fever spikes again. One minute she is playing with her toys or riding her bike, and the next minute she is wrapped up on the couch under a blanket asleep. I took her to the doctor today to have them check her throat and ears and all is fine. The Dr. said it's just a virus that EVERYONE has and it's just got run it's course. He told me if she isn't any better by Friday to bring her back in and they would test her for mono. I feel so bad for Megan, she is just so mellow and quiet cause she doesn't feel good. She's missed a week of preschool, lots of fun playdates and all kinds of other fun stuff. I made her take a nap today hoping that the fever wouldn't spike tonight and so far it hasn't.....so we are crossing our fingers that maybe we are making a small recovery.

First Ponytail and an ANNEY FUNNY!

2009-03-29T12:45:00.004-07:00

My baby is growing up! Today I put her hair into 1 big ponytail and it all fit! It even stayed all day! She is just so stinkin' cute and fun! After I did her hair I asked her if I could take her picture and she said, "go outside!" so we went outside for some photos!

Also....last night we were saying family prayer and Megan said it and did a great job. After we finished Anney said, "anney say prayers (which she does often) so Randy helped her say her prayers, etc. Well we have been working very hard to get her to sleep in her own bed all through the night. She starts off great in her bed and sometime in the middle of the night she will climb out of her crib and will come into our bed and want to sleep with us. Well this is how the prayer went...

Dad: Help us to be nice

Anney: be nice

Dad: help us to be like Jesus

Anney: be like Jesus

dad: Help us to sleep well

Anney: sleep good

Dad: help us to sleep in our OWN BED

ANNEY: help us to sleep in DADDY's BED!

The kids and I laughed so hard! She is so stinkin smart and I'm beginning to think this is going to be a lost cause getting her out of our bed! We do love this little girl to pieces!

Back view of her cute ponytail!

Travis' LAST pinewood derby!!

2009-03-26T10:22:00.004-07:00

Oh happy day! This is the last pinewood derby for Travis, he might not be as happy as me, but I'm thrilled! He really loved making his car this year. He had this great idea to use sharpies instead of paint, and he spent forever coloring and drawing on it, it actually turned out great. In fact he won for the most colorful car and most "gun like" cause Randy used little bullets as his weights. I think he got like 5th overall, but he had a great time.

look...a smile from Travis!

Kyle, Bryce, Jaxon and Travis.

The "bosses" brother nelson and brother gardner

Megan and Anney as spectators

Gordon's Well!

2009-03-26T09:55:00.006-07:00

For spring break this year we went to the dunes. We went to Gordon's Well and had a great time. This will probably be our last trip for the season cause it's getting so warm. It was really warm during the day here, but at least it cooled off at night. We went with randy's brother and a bunch of people from their ward. Anney learned to drive the quad with Randy sitting behind her helping her steer.

Frozen Icee's are always a favorite. Here is anney with her cousin chloe who is 6 months younger.

Megan was really into collecting rocks for some reason. She was not happy with me when I made her leave them all there......

Waiting for Dad to fix "mae-mae's" (megan) quad so Anney can ride it!

Aren't these two so cute....she is such a daddy's girl!

Learning how to drive

Travis loved video-taping Anney driving! We had such a great time!

slippin and slidin!

2009-03-25T13:36:00.005-07:00

One day during spring break we had about 15 kids over and they were bugging me to go "swimming." NO WAY was I going to watch all these kids so we compromised and pulled out a slip n slide I had bought last summer on clearance and let them slide away! they had so much fun!

Megan

Even Anney loved it......she couldn't wait to change into her swim suit so she just got her clothes all wet!

happy Anney!

See the line forming?

taylor loves everything that has to do with water!

down on the funny farm!!!

2009-03-18T19:20:00.004-07:00

Anney loved all the animals..she just watched them and would wait for them to come close to her so she could pet them!

YUMMY!

Megan didn't love many of the animals, but she did love petting this huge fluffy bunny.

Bo and the chicken! this poor chicken was held and strangled by so many kids! what a good sport

Waiting in line for some yummy milk.

the preschool kids singing a song while they were waiting for the presentation to start. Megan has loved preschool and mad so many friends.

All the kids got to pick from about 15 flavors of milk...Anney picked Banana Cream and it was really good. Megan picked butterscotch and hers wasn't bad either.

Megan's preschool class went to Superstition farm this past week. They had such a great time and learned a lot about animals and how a farm is run. I got to go and bring Anney and she loved it so much. In fact, she loved it way more then Megan did! We had a great day and I'm glad we got to go!

A New change!

2009-03-08T12:23:00.007-07:00

Doesn't he look handsome in his new 'suit"? This morning randy was called to serve as the Second Counselor in the Bishopric. We are so excited for him and our family. We met with the Stake Presidency last Sunday and were issued the call, and it's been an expensive week outfitting him for this new call. We had a couple of suits but one was way too big and one was a little too small, so it's nice to have some that fit him perfectly. I keep making such a big deal about how handsome he is etc. and he about died when I pulled out the camera at 7 a.m. this morning.

It was a wonderful Sacrament meeting and day today. Randy was also ordained a High Priest today by his dad and then after that was set apart for his calling. I have so many overwhelming feelings that are personal and hard to share on a public blog, but since this is my journal I did want to record this event. Let me just say that the Lord does know what is in store for us and has a plan for us, we knew things in our life were changing and he prepared us for this. I do want to thank everyone that came to support us today, we really appreciate it. We have the greatest family and they are always so supportive. Good luck Randy and I know you will be incredible!

EDIT: This is what Randy did when he got home for the day....poor guy!

happy 9th birthday tay-tay!

2009-03-02T22:05:00.003-07:00

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl! Tay-tay is 9 today! 9 years ago I gave birth to this beautiful baby girl, who was always so sweet and good. She has always been such a good girl and we love having her part of our family. Here are 9 things about taylor!

1. She loves to eat at nice restaurants. She'll pick outback, olive garden, cafe rio, any day over fast food! Find by me. Her favorite food is Ribs from outback!
2. She participated in her first triathlon last summer and placed third in her age group, she can outrun any of us! I always say I need her to run with me to help pace me.
3. She loves to go to the dunes or mexico and ride her quad.
4. She loves her family, especially her sisters and she takes such good care of them.
5. She is very loyal and caring to her friends.
6. She strives to do well in everything she does. She has perfect handwriting and is such a good student.
7. She has won the outstanding citizenship award every year in school since kindergarten.
8. She loves to shop....her favorite thing to do is to go to the mall. Her favorite stores are Aeropostale, Justice, Dillards and Tilly's.
9. She hates to eat breakfast early, she prefers it about 10 a.m. in the morning.....therefore she hates to wake up early!

We love our Tay-tay and are so grateful she is part of our family. She has been such a blessing in our lives and we are so grateful to have her in our home. Thank you Taylor for always setting such a good example to your family and always choosing the right...we love you and hope you had a happy birthday.

I'll post pictures of all the birthday celebrations soon.....taylor got a digital camera for her birthday and she loves it and has taken TONS of pictures!

Travis earns his webelo

2009-02-25T13:38:00.002-07:00

Travis and his good friend Colton

They had a guy come present Travis and Colton with their awards....they are awesome!

Brother Nelson presenting Travis with his craftsmanship pin.

YAY TRAVIS! Another scouting accomplishment for you! Last Thursday was our Blue and gold Banquet. Travis earned his webelo badge and we are so proud of him. Travis LOVES scouts and we are so fortunate he has had such incredible leaders. I hope the love for scouting continues on and he his eager and willing to earn his eagle quickly. Good job Travis, your mom and dad are proud of you!

~fyi...these don't flush well down the toilet!~

2009-02-23T13:27:00.002-07:00

this is the culprit of how randy spent his Sunday night.......taking the toilet apart and digging one of these bottles out! Sunday morning our toilet was clogged and after trying numerous things to unclog it, Randy went a got the "snake" out to see what the heck was blocking the toilet! Well after taking the whole thing apart and probably gagging of the awful smell...he pulled one of these out! Yah....these don't flush well! Who knows which one of my "angel children" flushed it down the toilet, but one of them did! After Randy showed the kids what it was, Travis says....oh yah, I saw that in the toliet! I swear kid...do you have brains? When you see one of these in the toilet please pull it out!!! The good thing is our bathroom got a very thorough deep clean last night and it sparkles now!

We are BINKIE FREE!!!!!

2009-02-17T08:17:00.003-07:00

Oh happy day! I can't tell you how excited I am that we don't have a binkie baby anymore! Anney LOVES her binkie and I HATE the thing! Don't get me wrong, I love that it soothes her, I love that she falls asleep really easy with it and i love to hear her say...I want my binkie! But I hate that she wakes up 3 and 4 times a night because she looses it or what......

So last Friday she comes in our bed around 3 a.m. which she does often since she can climb out of her crib....and she has NO BINKIE! I thought...hmmm this should be interesting and since I was too dang lazy to get out of my warm bed to go get the binkie I just laid her next to me and she fell right asleep! I figured okay this is my clue, get rid of the binkie! I knew if I was going to get rid of it, it would be a week from heck but it would be worth it in the end.

She never asked for it all day and then when it came nap time she was ticked at me! In fact she has been ticked at me all weekend. She only wants Randy and the best is, he has had to deal with her crying at night for the binkie, etc. I lay in my warm bed laughing while he is up rocking and soothing her trying to get her to stop crying and go to sleep! Well fast forward 4 days and last night she slept through the night in her own bed. She went to sleep at 8 and woke up at 7 this morning! That is record for her, of course I kept waking up all night thinking I can't believe she hasn't woke up. She is so happy this morning so let's hope this is the beginning of sleeping better and a good nights rest for mom and dad!