One Year Old!!

Big B turned one year old yesterday.  He has been nothing but a joy to this family since the day he was born.  He is easy going and puts up with a lot of attention from his siblings!  He LOVES them so much and goes for hugs when they come home from school, especially his big brother Mr. M.  At his one year appt. he was 24 lbs. and 32 inches.  He loves to eat ice and when we turn on music or sing he shakes his head back and forth to the music.  He crawled and sat up at 6 months, walked at 9 months, and can say only "uh-oh" and "all done." He loves to run around outside, play in the sand box and go for walks.  He loves to play ball with the kids, especially when he is at the top of the stairs and he throws it down for them to toss it back up.  He is happy and smiling all the time and is so busy that the only time he is still is when he is asleep.  WE LOVE THIS BOY!!  Happy Birthday Big B!!

Big B with his buddy Mr. M

Happy Birthday Buddy!

Dad was out of town for his birthday so he tuned in via Skype.  Big B was focused on him the whole time.

We had to keep him from touching the candle!

"Chocolate cake is soooo good!!  Who knew!"

A new football!!

A super cute note from Baby R.  She made him three cards and gave him two of her treasures.  The card says, "To: Baby Brian, I think you are right handed...geez Brian (she is a lefty and wants someone else to be a lefty too).  You fill my heart with love"  She is so cute!

These were her treasures that she wanted to give to Big B.  She saw that the book had a picture of a birthday party on the last page and decided that book would be a good present to go with Eeyore (which she has been saving for weeks now just to give to her little brother, so thoughtful!!)

14 Already?!?

I really can't believe that our oldest is already 14!  Dances, Teacher's Quorum, boy/girl parties.  Seriously, I am having a major reality check.  For his birthday we planned a fun photo scavenger hunt at the mall.  8 of Mr. M's friends piled in our van and drove over to the mall to spend an hour taking pictures of ugly shoes, posing by mannequins, rubbing girly lotion on their hands, etc.  It was a blast and the boys were so fun to hang out with and listen to.  After the mall we went home, had cake and then they watched After Earth.  Mr. M said it was one of his best parties ever.

This year he has been saving up for an XBox.  His birthday money from grandparents, parents and friends helped him with the last bit that he needed.  He is so excited to have another gaming system to play some of his favorite games.  Happy Birthday to my not so little son!

The crew outside the mall.

Lemon birthday cake.  Yum!

I love my happy boy!!

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Halloween

We had a lot of fun celebrating Halloween this year.  The kids

Making cookies with the supplies Aunt Katy and Uncle Russ sent.

Decorating the fun cookies.

Carving our pumpkins.

Little L created a trading game that sounded like they were playing Pit (two, two, two!!)

Lady K organizing her loot.

The loot.

Trading.

A well deserved reward for sitting in his stroller for an hour in the cold.

Poof, I am your shoulder angel...Studio C.  She came up with that idea on her own. Thanks for the costume Aunt Bonnie and Wittley!

Volleyball

Lady K had a great volleyball season playing for her school team.  It was a great opportunity to play at a higher level.  She made great friends with the other girls on the team and was a very influential player.  In the end of the year tournament their team won the first game and then lost the second to the team that went on to win the tournament.  It was a great season.  Good job ladies!

Lady K with one of her best friends.

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Mormon Helping Hands

Every time I see in the news that a group of Mormon Helping Hands was able to go and help people affected by a natural disaster, I always wish that I could be part of something like that.  Well, a few Saturdays ago my wish came true.  A friend of mine let me know about an opportunity to go help the victims of the Boulder flooding.  I took the three oldest with me and we got to help a lady named Leslie clear mud from her backyard and level it so that grass could be planted.  It was a great experience for everyone and in the end Leslie wanted to have the missionaries over to hear more about our church.  She was a cool lady and it was a great experience for all of us to serve her!

Everyone gathered around as Leslie showed us pictures and video of the flooding.

Little L and her best friend.

Lady K working hard!

Mr. M was my working buddy for the day.

Our crew.

Uncle Russ's Visit

For Fall Break Uncle Russ came for a visit.  We went to the library, the rec center, and had a lot of fun hanging out at home.  Russ gave all the boys haircuts with some new clippers that he bought and then showed them how to style their hair.  It was a super fun time with our fun Uncle Russ. We love you, come again!

Fooball and Soccer

J Man got to play two sports this season, flag football and soccer.  He did awesome in both and was complimented constantly by coaches on how coachable he is and how quickly he picks up the skills he is taught.  We love going to his games and watching him!  Great job bud!!

Flag Football

Soccer

STEM Trip

We signed Mr. M up to go on a fun trip to Wyoming for a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) trip.  He got to tour some of the Engineering and other classrooms and learn what the students do in class and a little about their research.  It was a fantastic trip for him and motivated him to want to do well in school to get into a good university.

He also participates in a code club at school where they use code to program apps.  They will be going to a competition for that soon.  He has had a lot of great opportunities at this school!

Field Day 2013

At one point we had five kids at the field day activities.  Now we are down to only three.  The kids had a great day doing fun water games with their friends.  Yay for field day!

Traveling Man

I thought I would do a post on Dad for once.  Our dad works very hard and sometimes he has to travel. This was on morning when he was heading out on a trip.  He travels a lot in the spring and only about one week out of the month on the other months.  We miss him a lot when he is gone but we are glad he likes his job so much and likes to travel.  Every trip he brings the kids a postcard from where he was and they put them on their bulletin boards.  It is fun to see all the adventures he gets to have!  We love you Dad!!

Lady K's Cross Country

Lady K had a fantastic first season for Cross Country.  She was consistently the fourth or fifth finisher for her team and kept improving her time at each meet.  In the district meet she almost beat the second runner for her team and was able to beat her best friend who always beat her!  She was super excited about her season and decided to stick with Cross Country in the future.

This was her most difficult race against the best team in the district.

Dad came to cheer at as many meets as possible.

Her best friend Allison who would beat her at the end of  every race until Districts!

Lady K with some of her friends at Districts.  She came in 19th overall for the girls!