Cruise!!!!

Adam surprised me with a cruise trip! Neither of us had ever been on one but we had both always wanted to go! We had such a great time! I loved being rocked to sleep every night by the waves. They had so much to do on the ship! We went to comedy shows, Broadway shows, casino (I have to admit I played a couple penny slots...and of course lost everything. lol). We went dancing, played mini golf on the top deck of the ship. We worked out at the gym everyday followed by some time in the steam room. It was really relaxing and so fantastic! We stayed up late and slept in! We never get to do that with 3 little ones, so it was quite a treat. For dinner you are assigned a table. Since each table seats 6 and there were only 2 of us we were sat with 4 lovely ladies. They were probably the 4 funniest ladies I had ever met! They were so much fun and we looked forward to dinner every evening so we could see them and talk about what we did that day. They had us balled over laughing every night. We also had the same waiter each evening. We all became good buddies. Each night our waiters would dance and it was just so funny. We had a great time! I hope we get to do it again soon!

Thats our ship!!!

This is Manny- our waiter

Our 4 ladies!

Adam lookin so handsome in Mexico!

That's me--don't i look relaxed! haha

Our first day on the ship!

Trip to California!

Kids ready for the trip!

Michael ready for a pillow fight at the hotel!

Hailey loving the fishes in the pond at the library

Michael got to touch a fish!!!

Emma taking it all in with Boompa

Boompa & Hailey enjoying the dolphin splash pad @ the library

Oh Emma....water baby.

Michael showing Hailey the floor to ceiling fish tank at the library

Hailey was born for the beach!

Michael building his sand turtles

Adam had to go to Virginia Beach for Wrestling Nationals a few weeks back. The kids would miss him terribly so I decided to plan a trip of our own to take their minds off of it. My mom had a day off work so we left Friday for California! We stayed in a hotel close to the Ocean. We did trips to the worlds most awesome Library (in my opinion :-) and the beach! We had such a fantastic time! We got to visit my grandma in Chino as well, but I forgot to take my camera in. My mom got some on hers so I'm hoping to get those updated to my computer soon. I think it's amazing that my kids not only get to see their great grandma but also their Great-great grandma! She is not in the best of health but she still enjoyed visiting with the kids. Its always great when my mom can come cause my grandma and her are just the best of friends. When they get together it's like nothing had changed. So anyways...I'll get those photos up ASAP. But for now...here are the pictures from library and the beach!

Visit with Pratt Family!

Autumn

Ellie & Emma (already best buds)

Uncle Scott & Aunt Niki

My Uncle Scott lives in California and I have not seen him in many many years. Probably 10 years. We lost touch with each other awhile ago and then thanks to facebook we found each other! My uncle was planning to come out here with his beautiful, sweet and wonderful wife Niki and their two adorable girls Ellie and Autumn. They were staying with friends in Mesa so they could go see the baseball training out that way. I was so excited to have them over for Sunday dinner. It was a wonderful time! I love them all so much and can't wait until we can see them again! Being close with family is wonderful and I will make sure to never lose contact with them again. :-)

Christmas Morning!

Christmas was wonderful this year. Christmas Eve was spent at my mom's house. We celebrated my grandpa's birthday enjoying delicious food and dessert. We opened presents and had a wonderful time! When we got home we got the kids ready for bed. Michael and Emma has helped me make Santa cookies early in the day and we got those ready with a big glass of milk as well as some carrots for the reindeer. Michael insisted that the reindeer needed to be fed too. We also wrote Santa a little note thanking him for the presents and telling him that we hoped he enjoyed the cookies and to have a safe flight. Michael told me what to write and then he signed it himself. Emma made a little signature on the bottom as well. We read the kids the story of Christ's birth to remind them the real meaning of Christmas and then sent them to bed. Adam and I had a BLAST being Santa's helpers the rest of the night. We both agreed that it was more fun preparing for our children's Christmas morning than it was back when we were kids waiting for Christmas morning to come.

In the morning we had Orange Rolls, turkey bacon and hot chocolate (our breakfast tradition). Then we went to open presents. Santa had left each of the kids a special present and filled their stockings. They got way more presents than they probably should have (haha) but Santa left Michael his first bike, Emma her first Barbie doll and Hailey some baby toys and touch and feel books. Hailey was mostly just excited with the boxes and wrapping paper. :-)

Christmas evening we spend with my in-laws. We again enjoyed a wonderful meal and dessert and opening presents with wonderful company.

Our Christmas all around was fantastic! :-)

Michael started primary!!!

Michael has been in nursery since he was about 12 months old. He started early because Adam and I were primary teachers and he was becoming a distraction to all the little girls that we taught. They wanted to be little mommies. :-) At the beginning of January he got to go into primary for the first time as a sunbeam! :-) He was very excited and just so adorable! He put on his little suit that his Boompa got for him and sat down at the table to eat a cookie before we left for church. He thought the pictures on the comics section of the paper were cool so he sat there reading the paper and eating his cookie in his suit. He looked like a little man about to go to the office. He does wonderful in primary! He helps hold things up for singing time and he participates in class saying prayers and answering questions. He is a little shy but is adjusting well and seems to be coming out of his shell little by little. We are so proud of our little sunbeam! :-)

Hailey & Sibling Love...

Hailey has been growing like a weed. Michael amd Emma just adore her. They are constantly trying to teach her new things. They never want to go outside in the backyard to play without their sister. Emma loves to help get her dressed and change her diaper. She also loves to pretend to brush her hair and do her makeup with makeup brushes. They are total sisters. Hailey just lights up when Emma comes near her and loves to giggle with her. She is the same way with Michael. Michael loves to play animals with her and read books to her that he has memeorized from me reading to him. He always is desperate to get her to walk. He tries to carry her around and get her to move her feet so that she can run around with them. His hard work is starting to pay off. haha. Hailey is side stepping on the couch and standing up on her own and she is not even 9 months yet! She wants to run and play with them just as much as they do. I love watching the sibling love that they have for each other. It's awesome. :-)

Art Work

The kids and I have such fun when we do arts and crafts. Michael recently learned how much fun it was to take different paper designs, cut them out and glue them on to make another pictures. Kinda of like a scrap book. He has been having a blast making all sorts of fun pictures. Emma is just learning the love of drawing and coloring in the last few months and has been enjoying helping her brother and creating her own ideas.

Cub Scouts

Recently I was given a new calling. I was asked to be a den leader in the cub scouts for the 8 year old wolves. I was unsure about it at first. My brother and I are 8 years apart and my son is only 3 years old, so I really had no experience with the scouting program at all. I decided to give it a shot though. I have been at it for a month or two now and I love every second of it! Working with those little guys is so much fun! We have great activities and we are teaching them such amazing skills and life lessons that will help to mold them into wonderful young men. This is probably the best calling I have ever had the pleasure of being a part of. :-) Plus, now I will have great experience in helping Michael when he gets to the cub scout age.

Hiking

We are very blessed to have a beautiful mountain with hiking trails very close to our home. Lately we have been taking the kids everyone morning we have to go hiking up the mountain. They are getting better and better at going down the steep hills and climbing up the mountain. We have a great time hiking together as a family and enjoying this beautiful earth God created for us.

Family Pictures 2010

We finally got our family pictures done for 2010. It was quite an interesting afternoon. We got some great action shots but getting the kids to actually settle down enough to talk photo's was very difficult. In the end Adam and I just kind of threw our hands up in the air, laughed, and said "well....at least they will show what a circus our life is...and just how much fun we have living it." We had probably 80 shots but here is a little snap of what the day was like. We were also really excited because we took some shots up next to a mountain and a coyote came down really close to us. Michael was so excited! He was off searching for the coyote with daddy half the time. ha ha.