We Are Family

School Pics

2012-09-12T11:26:00.001-06:00

I know I say this all the time, but honestly I say it because its true my photographer is the best!!! Tammy Hicks does such an amazing job with my kids, and I just love her. I hope you enjoy these wonderful pics of my kids, because I certainly do!!

Super Awesome Giveaway!

2012-06-18T19:41:00.004-06:00

My friend is having a really amazing giveaway on her blog. Check it out!

Utah Mom's

9 yr Wedding Anniversary

2012-06-15T18:32:00.000-06:00

Yep, that's right we have been married 9 years as of June 6!! Crazy how time has just flown by. I couldn't be happier with my 9 years being married to my best friend. It seems like I have known him my whole life, but actually we met for the first time 11 years ago. I love him more and more with every passing anniversary.

We spent 10 lovely days in sunny St. George with no kids! It was so quiet, calm, and relaxing. We didn't take many pictures because we did a lot of lounging.

This is Dave at Smashburger with a yummy rootbeer float!!

This is Dave on our Anniversary. We went to dinner at Anasazi. It was pretty cool, we got to cook our meat at our table on a stone that was like 700 degrees.

This is me showing off my new neon pink skinnies! Love them, they are my absolute favorite!

Minus the fact that we had some car problems we had an excellent trip. We went shopping, we saw MIB3, we went swimming, ate lots of yummy food, found a butcher and made some really amazing steaks and brats, and just lounged around and did absolutely nothing!! It was a great way to celebrate 9 fabulous years being married!!!

Vika's 4yr Pics

2012-05-07T14:31:00.003-06:00

The last Saturday in April we got family pics taken by our wonderful photographer Tammy with Captured Photography. She is amazing and my kids just love her.

We decided to stay true to our 'roots' and stay in good ole EM to do our pics. We found 3 great locations and got some wonderful shots.

Even though it was super windy and freezing the kids did great and still smiled for camera.

We got some really good family shots and actually really enjoyed ourselves despite the cold weather.

I'm still having a hard time adjusting to the fact that my baby is 4. She just has grown up way too fast. She didn't stay a baby for very long, and so she acts a lot older than she should. We love her and wouldn't want to live life without her.

Vika's 4th Birthday

2012-04-22T08:00:00.000-06:00

I can't believe my little baby girl is already 4. Where in the world did the time go? I just love her to death, and I don't even want to think about life without her in our family. She is very spirited, opinionated, and just plain LOUD. She is also very tender hearted and caring, and she is always complimenting someone!! Her personality is getting really big, but she is staying very small and petite.

Happy birthday Vika aka Bebs!! We love you! Enjoy a few pics of her past birthdays!! :)

Vika when she turned 1! I miss all that chub!

Vika when she turned 2! Still very chubby!

Vika when she turned 3! She started thinning out, and honestly I don't think she is much bigger than that today!!

Wordless Wednesday

2012-02-08T09:31:00.000-07:00

Jr. Jazz

2012-02-07T09:19:00.003-07:00

Conner has been playing Jr. Jazz this year! He has been so excited, and just loves to play around with his friends. His team is made up of boys from our ward, and boys he has played sports with before. He was the most excited that his best friend Damon is on his team!

He is still getting the hang of actually playing basketball and not just trying to get the ball. His games are Saturday mornings, and he is either tired or hungry every game. He has been the entertainer, and just making everyone laugh. He is the kid that runs to the other basket to shoot, even if its the wrong basket. And he is also the kid that looks like he has no idea what is going on. He likes to talk to his friends on the bench, dance around, basically anything but play basketball.

This is Conner warming up before the game! Isn't this a 'normal' warm-up exercise?

There, now he looks like a basketball player!

He really does have his moments when he tries his best to play. He is good at blocking, but when it comes to offense he gets shy and timid. He doesn't like to shoot when there are lots of people at the basket even in practice and warm-ups.

Interviews with the kids

2012-01-17T17:17:00.002-07:00

I decided to interview my kids, mostly because I have never done it but always wanted to. For future reference I need to interview them separately and not in earshot of each other. They were trying to answer for the other person, and getting some their answers from the other person. I had a lot of fun and I am thinking about doing this more often!!

I only asked what their favorite things were.

Conner Edward Armstrong:

Favorites-

Food: peanut butter and jelly sandwich

Drink: diet coke, diet dr. pepper, pepsi

Cereal: honey nut cheerios, honey nut chex, and green chex (Corn chex)

Snack: pretzels, fishies, fruit snack

Fruit: apples

Vegetable: green pepper, red pepper

Book: Spiderman, Batman, Super Hero Squad, Avengers

Game: hunting game (Cabella's Safari on XBOX 360)

Movie: Avengers, Tron, Phineas and Ferb

Thing to do: be funny

Thing to wear: cool clothes

Sport: a lot of sports

Thing at school: everything

Thing to say: nice things

Place to go: St. George, McDonald's, Grandma Teri's, Jojo's

Friend: every boy, and Addie (Willmore), Genevieve, Manessa (girls from school)

Primary Song: Book of Mormon Stories

Thing in Primary: talking about Jesus and Moroni and Joseph Smith

Restaurant: McDonald's

Song: the song from Avenger's

Breakfast: a lot of cereal

Lunch: Peanut butter and jelly sandwich

Dinner: Chicken-on-a-stick (chicken satays from Costco)

Sandwich: Peanut butter and jelly

Viktoria Jane Armstrong:

Favorites-

Food: Peanut butter and jelly sandwich

Drink: soda

Cereal: honey nut chex

Snack: candy

Fruit: grapes

Vegetable: carrots

Book: Froggy Eats Out

Game: candyland

Movie: Rapunzel (Tangled)

Thing to do: be silly

Think to wear: This shirt. All the time. (pink long sleeve)

Sport: Conner's basketball game

Thing at school: play blocks and color

Thing to say: Nice words like, can you please stop? like that

Place to go: McDonald's

Friend: Shaylee, Hunter and Lucy (preschool friends)

Primary Song: I am a Child of God

Thing in Primary: just be silly and be quiet

Restaurant: McDonald's

Song: Firework (Katy Perry)

Breakfast: pancakes

Lunch: peanut butter jelly sandwich

Dinner: noodles (top ramen)

Sandwich: Peanut butter and jelly

I hope you all learned something new about my kids, because I certainly did!!

New Year's Celebration!

2012-01-10T21:12:00.000-07:00

We had the best New Year's party! Grandma Teri took our kids for the WHOLE weekend while Dave and I stayed home and just did nothing. It was amazing! We even went to see the kids on Saturday evening to see if they wanted to come with us to our party, but they wanted nothing to do with us.

We went to my little brother's new house for our party. Everyone brought their kids but us. It was so nice to not have to worry if our kids were being mean, or breaking things. We just got to enjoy everyone else's kids. And man they are so cute, and have pictures to prove it. I didn't get all the kids so I am sorry if missed some, but they were too busy having their own fun!!

Here is Miss Jocelyn! I love this girl with all her attitude and spunk!!

Little Miss Reecey Pie! She is an awesome dancer, and I love her to death!

Nolan in all his cuteness! Love him!

I love Landon too, but he wouldn't let me take his picture without his mommy!

We had an excellent game of Hedbanz going! His card was by far the best of the night. Some of his questions just made for lots of laughs for everyone, but him!! Thanks for all the hilarity Steven!!

It took me far too long to guess this one.

Ringing in the New Year with a kiss from the best looking guy at the party!!

The kids loved the poppers and noise makers! It was REALLY loud!

I also got a kiss from someone else! Thanks Landon!!

I hope you all had a great New Year's night. And that your New Year is starting out great!!

Christmas 2011

2012-01-09T09:40:00.000-07:00

We started our Christmas celebrations on Christmas Eve. For lunch we went to Dave's Mom's house. We had excellent food and even better company. Teri planned some fun crafts for the kids to do. The decorated their own popcorn bowl, and we all got to decorate our own tree ornament!

We then went to my Parent's house for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner. We had a lot of food, and a lot of people. We were pleased to have 2 very special guests come to visit: Santa and Mrs. Clause. Most of the kids were extremely excited to see them walk through the front door. Reece ran downstairs and wanted nothing to do with them, and Nolan was ok as long as his mom was holding him. Funny kids! We were all so excited that no one pulled out their camera. Luckily, Dave gave Conner the Go Pro to wear, so we do have some video footage of them!! We then had a massive gift exchange that started with the kids, and then the parents and then the grandparents! What a fun night we had. We let the kids open their new Christmas pajamas because it was late and they would be asleep before we got home.

I normally like to just get a pic of the kids on the stairs waiting to go open presents, but Vika was really not happy to find out that Santa came while she was asleep and she didn't get to see him. She really loves him. So after us talking her through it, and me taking pics with them she was happy and ready to see what was left for her.

Conner wanted to tear through everything as fast as he could, but we made them take turns opening one present at a time. I'm mean!

Vika is the slowest present opener EVER!

Conner got 4 Ninja Turtles movies! And thats Dave with the Go Pro on his head.

Vika got a pretty new skirt that is just a tad too big. She is just so skinny.

Vika also got new pants, that DO fit her!!

I just love her face here. She holding her very last present waiting for the ok to open it!

Conner is such a stud. He got a new hat that just goes really well with the huge amount of tattoos all over him!

She was ecstatic to open her rapunzel dress! Sadly, it is way too big right now and falls off her.

He was so excited to open his V-neck shirt. This pic doesn't look like it, but he did ask Santa for a V-neck!!

We let the kids ask Santa for only 2 things each. Conner asked for a 2-wheeler bike, and a v-neck. Vika asked for a pink, sparkly bike, and a princess dress! They both got their bikes, but they rode them around the house before we thought to take pictures of them. They were super spoiled and got way too much stuff.

Dave's 30th Birthday Party

2012-01-08T09:19:00.000-07:00

I was so excited for Dave to turn 30 because that meant only one thing. We got to dress up 80's style to celebrate! Words don't even come close to describing how much fun we had!

Here we have My 2 sisters and Me, and No we didn't plan to all wear purple it just kind of happened! The back drop was all thanks to Deb, isn't it amazing?

Left to Right: Deb, Nicole, Me

Dave's Mom Teri and her sister Stacy! Teri came pregnant because in the 80's she was pregnant with Dave!

My Mom and Dad! My Dad's hair is normally combed down, but he messed it up just for the party!!

My little brother Steven and his wife Breanne! Sadly, these 2 were born at the end of the 80's so missed out on most of the radness that happened in that decade!

Here is the birthday boy himself! He came dressed as a paper boy from the movie Better Off Dead. I made him his newspaper holder!!

Here we both are: Me doing a glamour shot and Dave doing his stunts!!

I would like to say thank you to everyone that came to his party it was a lot of fun, and meant a lot to Dave to have people here that love and care about him! We had a lot more people here than we have pictured. Not everyone wanted to get glamour shots! We did have some awesome games that we played. I found Trivial Pursuit 80's Style-we just did trivia questions girls vs. boys and the Girls won! We then played Pin the Glove on Michael Jackson. I found a cardboard cutout of Michael performing Billy Jean at a party store, and I made gloves (paper hand cutouts with gemstones glued to them). It was a very funny game. People were supposed to pin it to his glove hand, or his crotch area. You can only imagine the hilarity that ensued.

Happy Birthday Dave!

Halloween 2011

2012-01-07T11:08:00.003-07:00

I realize that this was so long ago, but I just barely got my pics off my camera. I will be posting a bunch of events from last year so stay tuned!

We had a great Halloween! If you can't tell Conner is Batman, Vika is Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas, Mine was very last minute but I called myself a Nice Vampire, and Dave was the guy from Teen Wolf (his name has slipped my mind)!

The reason my costume was so last minute was because the costume I was making for myself didn't turn out. I made Vika's dress, yes thank you very much! And I was trying to make one just like it for me, but I wasn't very smart about it and didn't try it on until I was almost done with it. I know I am very smart some times! And I do have my fair share of 'blonde' moments!

Halloween night we invited my whole family to come have dinner and trick-or-treat with us! People were a lot later than expected so it just ended up being me and my 2 kids and my sister Deb and her 2 kids. When we got done everyone was at our house FINALLY! We had a lot of fun even though it was a school night, so it was a very shortened version of the norm. Thanks to everyone that came out and brought food!!

Complete and Utter Randomness

2011-12-19T10:29:00.004-07:00

I was going through my pictures and found some that I haven't blogged about. They are in no particular order and are just really random!

The kids thought it would be fun to completely empty the bookshelf. Needless to say I was NOT happy about it and took awhile to clean up.

I went to check on Vika before I went to bed one night and this is how I found her. She was out cold and didn't even flinch when I put her back in her bed.

Grandma Teri bought Conner this Captain America helmet. He loves dressing up in his Super Hero stuff!!

Conner decided to see how many tattoos he could put on his stomach. He put them all on by himself!

Conner has been doing really well on his drums! He is learning something new almost every time we meet with his instructor!

My Dad gave me this old window forever ago. (I forgot to take a before pic) I finally stained it and put flowers in it! It's now hanging in my stairwell.

Conner was just being crazy, and begged me to take his picture!

Instead of taking a nap Vika made a road with her books! She makes me laugh!

Happy 6th Birthday!!!

2011-10-18T06:33:00.000-06:00

Conner is 6! When did he get so old? I love this boy more and more everyday! He makes me laugh, cry, smile, scream, you name it. He keeps me guessing everyday, and honestly he changes everyday! I really don't want to know what my life would be without him in it.

Some of his favorite things:

*superheros - he loves them all and it changes everyday (sometimes every hour) which one is his favorite!

*School - he loves school. He would go on the weekends if he could.

*His sister - They have a love/hate relationship, but for the most part he just adores her and wants to spend time with her!

*Doritos - He loves to eat them any time of day. Sadly, because we are all trying to support Daddy he doesn't get them as often as he would like.

*Babies - well small children in general. He is so good with little kids and loves it when he can teach them to say things!

*Friends - Conner has become very social since he started kindergarten, and loves all his new friends, and his old ones too.

*His Daddy - he has his Daddy wrapped around his finger. They are best buds, they even call each other 'Brothers'.

*Halloween - His all time favorite holiday! In his head its like a gift to himself to have such a fun holiday right after his birthday!

I love my duders even when he makes me want to pull out my hair! He really is such a sweet boy, and loves to make others feel good.

1st Day of Preschool

2011-09-10T19:58:00.003-06:00

Wednesday was Vika's 1st day of preschool. She was so excited that she woke up super early and got dressed right away. She didn't realize that she wasn't starting until 11:30, funny girl. She loved that she got her preschool shirt just like Conner's, and she got her own bag with her name on it!

She looked so pretty all ready to go and meet her new friends!

I can't believe that my baby is starting preschool already. She grew up way too fast.

1st Day of Kindergarten

2011-08-30T11:20:00.006-06:00

Today was a very big day for Conner. I can't even express in words how excited he was that today he could actually go to school. I am very excited for him too, but I'm also nervous and sad. I just know he is going to love it and have so much fun, and learn a lot!!

Last night he couldn't wait to lay out his new school clothes! Dave told me he used to lay out his clothes just like this! :)

He was so ready to go that he practically left us all behind!

It was super hot when he dropped him off, that he is sweating! He kept pointing for me to come stand by him. I wanted him to adjust without me, so I refused. He seemed to be ok.

He is waving Goodbye as he walks into his classroom! He is kind of smiling! :)

I'm super excited that he is in his classroom, and no one was crying! Yea!

I am just waiting for the time I need to leave to pick him up! I can't wait to hear all about his first day!! Vika of course is really whiney, because that's what she does when I'm not giving her 100% of my attention.

Slimming Down

2011-08-17T09:09:00.002-06:00

Since October Dave has been losing weight. He currently sits at a 70 lbs weight loss, and is still going. I am so proud of him. He started out just watching what he was eating, and counting calories. He has now added some gym time to his routine. The kids are learning more about what it takes to be healthy and stay healthy, and its been an adjustment at times for them when Daddy isn't able to be home because he's at the gym. We fully support him going to the gym, and are very proud that he is choosing to go. I love Dave so much and I'm glad he is choosing to be healthier and stick around longer with me and our family!!

Before pic was July 2010, Current pic was August 2011.

Our 24th of July Fun

2011-08-03T15:54:00.003-06:00

For the 24th (well actually 23rd) we went to the Salt Lake Bees game! We went with Dave's family, curtesy of Bro-in-law Matt!! It was a really good game. In the first inning they hit 2 homeruns!! They ended up winning 18-8, they played amazingly well.

Dave's aunt took the kids to get their faces painted. Vika got a girl bee that was glittery!

And Conner got a boy baseball bee, notice the baseball bat and hat!!

After the game they had a very awesome firework show, the kids loved it! Right at the finale of the fireworks Vika had to go potty. She was very bummed when she heard the crowd cheering at the end. :( It was a very late night, but we had a ton of fun!

Our 4th of July Fun

2011-07-28T08:56:00.002-06:00

Our 4th of July was lots of fun. We had a great BBQ at my parent's (tradition). The kids had fun playing together, and the adult kids had fun as well. Deb brought really yummy festive cupcakes, my Grandma brought her delicious chocolate cake, and I made 2 apple pies. We definitely had our fill of awesome desserts. Not to mention all the other yummy food we had. :)

My parents had fun with the grandchildren, pictured are only 6 of their 9 grandchildren (we really missed the oldest grandchild Devun who wasn't able to be with us)! This pic was taken while some of the grown-ups were playing football or volleyball.

My sweet little girl had so much fun playing in the muddy garden. I had to take a pic so that I wasn't yelling at her for getting so dirty in her new white skirt. I guess I have only myself to blame for buying her white!!

We ended the night with a pretty good firework show, with a little bit of rain!! On the drive home we enjoyed even more fireworks!

St. George

2011-07-06T16:06:00.002-06:00

Dave and I celebrated our 8th Anniversary in June by taking a 9 day trip to St. George! It was fabulous. We went to the gym together, which we are never able to do at home. We lounged and watched movies, and basically did whatever we wanted to do without kids!!

We even took a couple days and drove to LA for a Dodgers game. The game was at noon so basically we roasted for 4 hours, but it was a lot of fun. And we totally lucked out by going on throwback day. The concessions were all half price, they wore old school jerseys, and they were even calling themselves the Brooklyn Dodgers for the day!!! :)

We had excellent seats! We were front row on the 3rd base side! That is Matt Kemp signing autographs!

We forgot to take more pics so you get stuck looking at this awful phone camera pic! We are just hanging out on the nice comfy couch!!

All in all we had such a great vacation! We will definitely be doing this every year!

Big Happenings

2011-05-16T15:52:00.003-06:00

Vika had her 3 year well check! She absolutely loves going to the dr, and she was by far the happiest person in the whole place! She had the nurses and the dr cracking up. The dr even said he would hang out with her all day long if he could!! :)

She is still really tiny. 25 lbs 5%, 33.5 in 1%, BMI 54%. At least she is healthy, and potty trained, and also very happy!

Its time of year! Conner will be graduating from his last year of preschool. I am kind of sad to see my boy grow up so fast, but it will be fun to see how he does in kindergarten next year!

If you would like to come see him graduate just let me know and I will give you the address! :) BTW this pic was taken at school for his graduation invitation. It says "School is cool, and so am I!"

Vika is 3

2011-04-22T08:00:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday Vika!!! My little girl is not so little anymore. She is already 3. I can't believe she is that old, mostly because she is so tiny. I am so glad she is in our family, I honestly couldn't imagine not having her in my life.

I love that she dresses herself, and loves to pick out her own clothes (even when she doesn't match). I love how independent she is becoming. She has to brush her teeth every morning by herself, and then at night after I do it.

I love that she reads books to herself. She has gotten really good at memorizing her books and then reading them to herself at night before she falls asleep. Its really cute to hear her over the baby monitor reading all her books! I have even found her snuggled up to her books in her bed, instead of her mounds of stuffed animals!! Funny girl.

I love her fiery personality, and that you never know what is going to come out of her mouth. She has the biggest vocabulary, and since she was a baby has been copying everyone. I love her temper and that she can get so mad at something so fast and then quickly forget about it. She can get an attitude with people, usually me, and I still find it hilarious. She is way too much like her mom, and sometimes I wonder if thats really a bad thing.

Her most recent accomplishment is being potty trained! She passed with flying colors! She only had 2 accidents in 3 days and loves to sit on her princess potty because it plays music when she goes in it!!! I am so proud of how fast she picked up on it, and that I am no longer dealing with diapers all day long!

I love this little girl to death and wouldn't trade her for anything. Some of her favorite things include, but aren't limited to:

*Hello kitty everything

*Princesses-right now its Rapunzel (Mapunzel), and Cinderella

*Coloring especially with markers

*Looking pretty

*Fruit snacks

*Chocolate

*Grandma

*Playing with her brother

*Going to lunch with Mommy

*Getting a treat for going potty

*Girls Scout Cookies-Tagalongs, Thin Mints and Dosi Dos

*Getting her nails painted

*Books

*Wearing her princess cape and calling herself BatGirl

*Watching movies

*Playing with her cousins

*Going to nursery-so that she can sing the songs

*Bagels with strawberry cream cheese (because its pink)

*The color pink-she thinks that anything that is pink is hers

There are tons more things I could name here, but I will spare you hours of reading.

A Man's Best Friend

2011-04-18T08:15:00.000-06:00

Conner likes dogs. Let me rephrase that, Conner REALLY likes dogs. If it were up to him we would own a dog. Thankfully for Dave and I he is not in charge of those kinds of decisions.

Conner likes to hang out with Deb's little dog Kaya. He really wanted his picture taken right here, and yes he posed himself like that!!! :)

Picnic Day

2011-04-14T08:10:00.001-06:00

My kids love it when I let them have a picnic in the living room. This is usually something I do when its rainy, and dreary outside so that we can all get in a better mood.

Pineapple Bread

2011-04-12T17:42:00.003-06:00

My awesome calendar this year has a new recipe every month. The recipe for April sparked my attention enough to try. This pineapple bread was so yummy I am going to have to make lots and lots.

Pineapple Bread

Ingredients:

Cooking Spray

2 Eggs

1/2 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3/4 C Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

3 T Orange Juice

1 1/2 C Pineapple Chunks, drained

2 1/2 C Flour

3 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Sea Salt

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 C Walnuts, chopped

Directions:

1. Spray Bread Pan

2. Beat eggs, oil, sugar, vanilla, and orange juice together. Stir in pineapple chunks.

3. In separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

4. Add dry ingredients to pineapple mixture.

5. Fold in walnuts.

6. Pour into sprayed pan.

7. Bake at 350 degrees F. Check at 50 minutes. Test to see if toothpick comes out clean. If not, check every 5 minutes until done. Cool in loaf pan for 15 minutes and then move to cooling rack.

8. Store in refrigerator.

We all love this bread, my kids are big fans! :) I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!