More catch up for 2011

 So here are some more things that we did the last half of 2011 - not in any order whatsoever

Raden shaved his head like an old man for crazy day at school

Jadie decided she loves a clown costume that Grammy originally  brought  for Koston - that my girl!

 Bailee turned 12! Its been alot of fun having her in Young women with me!

Bailee had her fall orchestra concert and was invited to two honor orchestra concerts

Koston decided his favorite chore is dishes...

and sorting out the utensils ...

and taking piano lessons ...

 and learning to walk.

And of course when it rains in Tucson what do you do?   Grab an umbrella and go stand in it!  Dont worry - there was no lightning or thunder

Lexi lost her first tooth...

And turned 7!

Halloween brought Cleopatra, a little devil, a witch, a fairy and Yugio

We also decided to carve 4 faces in one pumpkin and Bailee had her own little one.

Koston had to practice wearing the devil hood - cutest devil ever!

Early Christmas gifts from Lexi

And "just because" presents  from Lexi too. It says "This gift is love. You can not see love. It is in this bucket"  It seriously doesnt get better than that!

Koston turned one and I think his favorite gift was the balloon

He loved his cake!

 Warning Kahlil to stay away from his cake!

 Now that is one content  little boy!

We had Thanksgiving at Jare'd station with the crew and their families - It was a lot of fun and the boys only got called out once during dinner!

We went up to Mesa and ate dinner at Pete;s fish and chips and then were able to go see the Christmas lights at the temple. Beautiful as always. The kids pointed out that even though the temple didnt have Christmas lights they thought it was prettier than the grounds with the lights.

Then of course we ended the night with Bahama Bucks. Nothing like it! And those are the small size! Definitely a new family Christmas tradition!

2011 Family pictures

I love getting family pictures!!! I am able to freeze time - if only for a moment.

catching up

I have one of those few and far between moments right now - when the older three kids are at school and and the younger two and puppy are all asleep. It is so quiet!  I have been wanting to catch up on my blogging so I can print it out to a book and help the kids catch up on theirs too. So here is the first step - catching up on the last half of the year 2011:

This past summer the Huachuca  Mountains in Sierra Vista by Jared's parents burned 

This is where it jumped the highway

That street sign says Miller Canyon Road - That is Jared's parents and Gina and Kameron live.

I wish I had blogged about it when it happened because now I have forgotten a lot of details, but to summarize it - they were forced to evacuate not once but multiple times and had to stay with friends. There were a couple times that they thought the house had burned down and weren't sure what was going to be there but in the end they were blessed and their house didn't burn although the fire came directly across the street from them and other homes were lost. But of course, just as they got settled back in though, the monsoons started and that mountain flooded - the water and mud came into their back yard and got up to about 4 feet on the back wall before the gate gave way - which was lucky that it did. The bottom of the house got away with about a foot of mud on it, No water had gotten in the back door because the back porch mat had flipped up and sealed it. After days of ward members, friends and families working to clear it, they finally got the mud out and are looking to re do the yard this year. We had pictures of it but I cant find them on the computer - I wish I had them though because it is hard to believe.

Summer fun

Yes its November now - so here in a nutshell is what we did over the summer break:


Lots of swimming...

Fourth of July - watching the fireworks with friends...

yes jadie is in her pajamas ...

Monsoon storms ...

Dinner by candle light during the monsoon storm that knocked our power out...

The homemade tv the kids "watched" during the storm...

Trying to picnic in the shade of our tiny tree

We decided to take some doughnuts and milk to the park one sat for breakfast - the kids rode their bikes.

The kids call this place "Spider man park"  ... Lexi playing on the web - pretty talented with rain boots on!

more playing in the web

racing down the slide

biking in 100 degree weather + doughnuts + strawberry milk = one sick 11 year old

One handsome little man chillin in the shade

Fun balloon hats at the restaurant at family dinner...

 Lots of dressing up!

 Our annual candlelight spaghetti dinner the night before school...accept that it was lasagne

And the first day of school -    Bailee sixth grade, Raden third, and Lexi first

FUNNIES

Yes I need to do some updating but wanted to post a couple funny things  before I forget :

Jadie's version of "Ba ba Black sheep"

Black sheep black sheep have you any wool
yes sir yes sir three bags full
one for the master one for the day
one for the little boy who lives down the drain


oh so thats my problem - I forgot to tell that little boy living in the drain to clean it out so the water drains faster!


Also- we learned an important lesson on rotating food storage -

Bailee - "mom whats wrong with these tacos?"
Me    -  " nothing, they are just store bought shells- not homemade shells "
Bailee " well I like your homeade ones a lot better"
Raden, Lexi and Jadie all agreed too
Me - feeling great that they finally like something I make "thanks guys - just eat these tonight, I was too worn out to fry any tonight."

Kids continue to eat but complaining that they like the homemade ones better - I am feeling really great now and sit down to eat my food. After taking a bite of my taco...

me - thinking " hhmmm - these do taste a little different"

a couple more bites ...

me - " uuugghhh - these are really gross!" I better check the expiration date on these shells!

Yep it expired in March ..... OF 2010!!!! you can do the math but I will just tell you - 1 1/2 years passed expiration date!

Me - " Dont eat any more shells guys! they are bad!"
Bailee - " I already ate a whole one! Am I going to die?"
Of course then the other kids all chimed in too.

Apparently with store bought taco shells, the "best when used by date" really does mean "best when used by". 


So dinner was tacos - without the shells - and beans and rice. Oh and of course one of them piped up " Mom we are actually living on beans and rice just like you said we would have to learn to do if there was an emergency!" 

Radens big day

This is a big deal birthday this year  for Raden -

First he turned 8 and had a birthday party with some friends. They went and watched a movie then came home for cupcakes and icecream.

 We are so glad he has such a great group of friends!

 Bailee made him this great banner for the party

We also had a family birthday .... with chocolate cake of course

The next exciting thing was that he got to start cubscouts! He was so excited he
wore his shirt for two strait days

The third exciting thing was that he chose to be baptized ... I loved seeing him and Jared
all dressed in white and watching Jared baptize him and bless him with the gift of the Holy
Ghost. Our family and close friends were able to be there as well.

 Family pic before the baptism

 Having lunch afterwards with the cousins

 New scriptures and journal!

 Congratulations Raden! We love you so much and know you have made a great choice to be baptized! We are so thankful to have you in our family!