Random Things

Bella is now smiling like crazy here is a picture of one of her smiles! She smiles a lot bigger than this, but I always seem not to have the camera out when she does.
Here is proof that my kids do LOVE each other most of the time. I just love it when they snuggle and get along
This picture of Bella and her Uncle Brent is great! Brent loves to hold Bella when he comes over on Sundays and Bella loves to just stare at him. This is a picture of her doing just that.

This picture also makes me think of the surprise baby shower that my sister Michelle threw for me a couple weeks back. I thought that we were getting together for a girls night and when I showed up they were having a baby shower for me. Mostly my sisters and some close friends. The outfit that Bella is wearing is one of the ones that she got from the shower. I don't have pictures of the shower, because I didn't know it was going to happen. Thanks, Michelle for the party!!My sister Vicki surprised me with a visit yesterday with her baby Abby. Bella and Abby are only a week apart (Abby being older). We put the two girls down on the play mat and they sat there for the longest time content, though not really looking at each other.
Here is a closer picture of Abby and Bella. They were both wearing pink onies and we didn't plan that.

Drive-in!!

So I am a little late blogging this, but I wanted to share the pictures and how much fun we had.

We decided one night that we were going to go to the drive-in in Newberg. I actually got the idea from Pricilla's blog when they had went to the drive-in with their kids. I thought it was a great idea to be able to go see a movie with young kids. "Shrek the Third" and Transformers" is what we saw. The kids watched the first movie and then we put them in the back to sleep, while we enjoyed the second movie. I remember going to Drive-in's as a child I forgot how fun it can be especially when you don't have to worry about your kids being too loud. The part that wasn't fun was how long we had to wait for the movie to start Spence was getting restless, so I will have to remember games or something next time. Bella on the other hand was great she pretty much slept the whole time. Lexi was great too she was so excited to be there and seeing a movie. Above is a picture of the kids in the back seat before we moved them to the front so they would be able to see the movie (I sat in the back with Bella for the first movie, so I could feed her).
Bella being a complete angel in her car seat
Jared and Spence snuggling in the front seat before the movie started

Happy Birthday Me!!

Today I had a great birthday. It started out with my mom coming over and watching my kids for a couple hours while I rested for a while. Then she treat the kids and I to lunch at McDonald's. It was so great just to get sometime to myself with out kids fighting or whining. I know that is not what all my kids do, but sometimes it seems like it. Then after Jared got home we all went out to dinner at Red Robin. I love their chicken strips and fries. Then we went to Target and walked around picking up a few things that we needed. Overall I had a great day mainly because I got to spend time with my family and enjoy their company.

Thanks for all those that gave me Birthday Wishes!!!

Happy Birthday Jared!!

I have liked what others have done for peoples birthdays so I decided I would brag a little about how wonderful my husband is since it was his birthday this last week.

* He is such a great father to our children

* He is a hard worker who works without complaining

* He is a handsome man, that I am glad that I will have to look at for eternity

* He loves his Family

* He loves to take road trips

* He is very smart and knows facts to just about anything

* He loves me for who I am

* He loves to read books and to write them too!

* He holds the priesthood and has a strong testimony and is a strong member of the church.

* He is always willing to help people out if he isn't busy himself

* He is the best dad and husband anyone could ask for!!

There is a lot more that I could write, but this is just a small bit of what makes Jared so special to me and makes him who he is.

I love you, Jared!!

July 4th!!

Jared and the kids at my brother, Robert's house

"Happy Birthday, Honey"
Isabella on her 1st 4th of July
Every year since Lexi was little we try and go buy flag shirts at Old Navy to wear on the 4th of July, because we all have matching shirts we always try and get a family picture in them. Not only is it great to celebrate the 4th of July, but it is extra great because we also get to celebrate Jared's Birthday.

This year we celebrated Jared's Birthday early by going out to dinner at the Olive Garden the night before with friends. Then on the 4th we went over to my brother, Robert's house and had a BBQ with his family and my sister, Michelle's family. As you all know it was a hot day and even though they had AC, the kids spent most of the day out in the pool. Below is a picture of them having fun. Then we threw some water balloons with the kids and then got ready to watch the fireworks. Since my brother lives in Vancouver all we had to do was go out on his porch and watch the fireworks all around us and also the neighbors were putting on a small show in front of us. We also did some sparklers and pop it with the kids. We had a great day and especially enjoyed the weather for a nice fourth.
Lexi, Spence, Billy and Logan having fun in the pool
Jared, Lexi and Spence doing some sparklers (Lexi has smoke in her eye)

Isabella's 1st Trip to the Zoo

We decided to take a trip to the zoo the other day with my sisters (Michelle and Vicki) and sister in law (Jana) and their kids Megan, Ally, Billy, and Abby. The weather was great it wasn't too hot or cold. Just perfect for bringing a baby out in. Isabella was in the carrier the whole time and did so great. Above is a picture of Bella and me at the Zoo.
Spence, Billy, Lexi and Ally in the a pretend eagles nest
Spence riding a wooden horse
Lexi and Ally waiting for us to get going after lunch
Lexi getting ready to go down a tree trunk slide

The kids had so much fun at the zoo and really enjoyed the bears and the monkeys. I also had fun spending time with family and enjoying the weather.

Isabella's Blessing

We blessed Isabella this past Sunday. Having your child blessed is always a blessing and makes me feel the love that our Heavenly Father has for our daughter and the wonderful daughter that we have.

Jared's mom made the blessing outfit (dress and bonnet) for Bella, just like she did for Lexi and Spence. It is so nice to be able to have a unique keepsake outfit from their Grandma Cheney. Also the blessing blanket was made by my family friend, Laura, who is like a sister. She also has made blessing blankets for our other two.
Family Picture at the Church
This is a group picture of friends and us. These two couples come down for every baby blessing and in return we attend their baby blessings. These are friends of Jared's from his mission. Daniel and Amy on the left and Nathan on the right all served in Jared's mission (Mara is Nathan's wife) It is so great to have them come to our children's blessings and to be able to enjoy their company and catch up (since even though we say we want to get together more it always ends up once a year at a blessing).

The night before the blessing we decided to get a babysitter for the kids and us adults go out to dinner. I wasn't sure who I was going to get to watch 7 children under six (Lexi being the oldest), but I decided family would be best, so my sister Kimi and my Parents watched the kids including the baby while we went out to dinner. It was great to get away and I know we were a grateful for them watching them.
Lexi and Spence holding Isabella on her blessing day!

Cheney Family Reunion

We had a small family reunion with the Cheney family at the coast at the end of June. Even though Jared had grown up at the coast and we have been there many times we had never riden the Astoria Trolley. So we decided that the kids would have fun doing that, so we rode the Trolley with the kids. Below are some pictures of us on the Trolley and above is the Trolley.


Afterward Jared and the kids walked on the dock to look at the boats and look around. The kids had fun. Below is a picture of the kids on the dock in from of an anchor. We enjoyed our time with Jared's family as always and loved showing off our new little one to the ones that hadn't seen her.

Look how she has grown!!

Left is Lexi at the begining of the school year and right is the last day of school.

I know that her last day of school was almost a month ago, but things have been crazy and I haven't found the time to post the things that I wanted to so here is a catch up.

On Lexi's last day of school they did a preformance for the parents where they sang and danced a little. She had such a great year at school and has grown so much it is amazing. She has started to learn to read and much more from this school year. She also made a bunch of friends. She can't wait to for school to start again so that she can learn more and make more friends.