Heather's baby shower

Family, friends and fun... and also a ton of baby stuff!!!!

Heather and Wanda back to back...

Heather with Aunt Debbie and Grandma Horton

The Food... always yummy!

Pinewood Derby

Nap

This is pretty much me every day once the kids are in bed... Odie keeps me warm! After my little cat nap Mark and I usually end up staying up until 1:00 am and doing it all over the next day.

My Little Baker

Iree is always and I mean always asking to make a dessert... Here is one of her creations... frozen pie crust helps :)

She decided on cherry because it is Dad's favorite.

She cut out the hearts to make it pretty...

And... the finished product... baby alive (claire) is never too far away.

Iree's missing a tooth!!!

She was so excited! The tooth fairy came that night and left her some $.

It just reminds me of how fast she is growing up!!

Happy Valentine's Day,

This was our "romantic" dinner with the kids... German pancakes, chocolate oranges and orange juice. Then I had to run off to volleyball...
I love my family... I don't need one day only to show them that... but a little reminder here and there can't hurt.

9 year olds are a blast!!!

Each Saturday Jacob has a bball game and afterwards he and his two buddies usually spend the day together... this Saturday it was at our house!!

Jacob got this experiment kit from his grandpa so the boys wanted to give it a try...

The first attempt didn't work so well because they didn't screw the cap on tight enough... there was a big sigh when the diet coke just fizzed out... I ran to the store and grabbed another soda so they could do the experiment again....

This time success!!!

They all thought that was pretty cool... They even got sticky from the explosion!

Here is the video...

Enjoy!

U of U Gymnastics

A friend gave us some tickets to the U of U Gymnastics meet. Mark and I thought it would be fun to do a special little date night with Iree. She got to pick out a place to eat (panda of course) and then spend time with her "cool " parents.

I have never been to a gymnastics meet... It was super cool... Iree's favorite was the uneven bars, mine has to be the balance beam... I cringe the whole way through the routine... they are so talented and amazing. We beat the defending champs UCLA... !!!

The Eagle was funny... he was chucking popcorn at the crowd and then ducking when they looked up... people were all getting mad until they realized it was the eagle. Iree thought that was hilarious. She was also very happy when she got to have popcorn and dibbs... yummy!

We all had a great time!

Ice Skating

Mace is doing great...

I didn't have to hold him at all this time... He skated around and around all by himself.

Smiles!!! It was fun to have both Nash and Kylie with us... things are always better with friends.

The boys playing hockey.

We brought sandwiches for lunch... I loved that Mace couldn't even see but he didn't care because he had his sandwich.

Jacob and Nash Snowboarding

They made a big jump and spent the whole day outside perfecting their skills. These two have a blast together.

I saw a few nice crashes!!! Ouch!

I

Blurry but he got a little air...

Nash hitting a jump.

Happy New Year!!!

I am so excited for 2011...

Every year gets better and better!!

I love change, I love making new goals... I have a long list!!!

I hear so many people say they are sad to see the time pass... not me... Time Flies and I love it!!! I love that my kids are growing and changing constantly... I love every minute of it! We are having so much fun as a family and I look forward to having just as much fun and adventure this year.

Mark and I went skiing/snowboarding on New Years Day with Austin, Kendra, Derrik, and Chuck... It was great! We did the night ski because it was half price and we are always looking for a deal. It was super cold!!! -4 degrees.... my toes and nose went numb, my fingers were stiff but it was all worth it. So fun having some time to hang out with Markos, It was our first "date night" in a long time, we always have a good time.

Christmas Morning

Mark bartered with the kids until they all decided on 7:30 am. ; this is when the kids can come wake us up so we can go downstairs and see what Santa brought for them.

Jacob was standing next to my bed at 4:00 am... I told him to go back to sleep... then he woke me up again at 7:00 am... Mark told him to go back to sleep... finally 7:30 am... we all got up and enjoyed the morning!

Does someone look excited!!!!

Iree was sewing all morning... she made 4 bookmarks and 3 purses... she loves it!

Jacob was making all sorts of project with the snap circuit set...

We all had a great Christmas... Fun and low key!!!

Thinking about our Savior's birth and what an amazing gift he is to all of us. It is great to see the kids starting to understand the meaning behind Christmas and knowing that the best gift we can give to Jesus is to follow his example by being kind, loving, and following his teachings.

We headed to my parents for dinner and games with family...

What a Great Day!

Happy Birthday Dave!

Christmas Eve

Kids in PJs, can't wait to go to bed!!!

We played a family game of Monopoly... It can get pretty vicious!!

Chuck was king!!!!

Time for bed.

Jacob read the Christmas Story out of the Scriptures...

After the story the kids laid out their stockings, left cookies and carrots for Santa, and checked the Santa tracker to make sure he hadn't skipped over us.

Snowman!

The perfect packing snow calls for a snowman... After we got the older kids off to school Mace and I shoveled the walks and then just had to make a snowman.

Odie thought it was a person and wouldn't stop barking and digging... we will see how long our snowman stands with Odie determined to take it down.

Ireland's Dance (Tap) Recital

She was a super excited...and a little nervous! The dance company she goes to is huge... they have tons of dance classes and that makes for a whole aditorium filled with eyes watching her... Not her favorite thing.

Show Time!!

And the big finish!

She did great!!! What a cutie!!!

So I learned a big lesson as a Mom (A Dance Mom that is)... I know most of you wouldn't have made this mistake but I Did!! Whoops! Big Whoops!

After the show... every girl, and I mean every little girl was holding a bouquet of flowers... As I was going to the back to get Iree after the show I was getting a little sick to my stomach, hoping she wouldn't notice I didn't have any to give her...
After I gave her a hug and told her how great she did she said, "Mom, why does everyone get flowers except for me?"

Ahh!!!! Ok, I feel like the worst mom of the year!!!

I told her we better hurry to the car because Daddy was taking us to go pick up her flowers... she smiled and was excited to go.

When we got to the car Mace said in a nice little voice, "Iree you did a good job." That made everyone smile.

Here they are... she loves them and put them in a vase in her room... I won't make that mistake again. I am a little air heady when it comes to this dance thing but I will never forget the flowers again... Never!!!

Here is her little number... she is to the right on the back row...

Enjoy!

Alex's Graduation!!!

Mark went to Colorado for a quick trip to see his little sis Alex Graduate from College!!! She got her bachelors in Marketing... Isn't she the cutest!!! It is crazy to see her all grown up. When I first met her she was a little 13 yr. old that didn't like me taking all Mark's attention!

Now, she is a beautiful grown up woman, graduating from college and has a bright future ahead of her... Good luck on the job hunt... Who wouldn't hire this smart, cute lady?!

Cousin Fun

I had the Perry kids for a few hours while Kevin and Michelle did a little Christmas shopping... We made good use of the new fallen snow.

Scott is a pro at snowboarding on the sled.

Sunny was having a blast too.

Sawyer has the best smile... this tube dumped him every time and he would just trek back up and do it again.

Scott and Mace tried to go fast and reach the finish line at the bottom... they got closer each time.

Sunny and Scott and the double snowboard.

Girl Fort...

Boy Fort...

After the snow the older kids had the TV playing the Wii so we set up a little tent theater for the little ones to watch a movie. Cozy!