Chelsey with her cute blanket my sister made for the girls for Christmas


Notice in the background Jake got a drum kit from Santa and it actually hasn't been to bad and has worked really well when I tell the kids to go play Chelsey a wake up song. She loves it!



We went to Wyoming for our family party and got to stay in a hotel and this was so exciting for the kids. We are lame and never go anywhere so a hotel stay with a pool is the coolest thing for the kids.

As you can see Morgan wanted nothing to do with Santa this year.

Morgan cried on her Dora couch for a while Christmas morning before she realized she could open the presents now and she loves her new mailbox toy that you put the letters in the top and open the door, very cute toy.

Jason and I went to Vegas for our Christmas presents. We went to the UofU and Boise bowl game. It was a lot of fun and so nice to get away from everyday life here. Look at my pant legs though. It rained nonstop the entire 3 days we were there and our legs got soaked everytime we went anywhere.

Malorie in her costume for the Christmas dance recital.

So I was noticing that its been since August since I posted anything so I figured I would put up a few new pics cuz I am sick of looking at the ones that have been on for the last 5 months. A few new things have happened since August, Malorie is in Kindergarten, Jake goes to preschool, Morgan is 17 months and is very sweet and fun, but she is definately a little tornado in our house just walks around getting things out and throwing them on the floor. I am not sure how people keep their houses clean with little kids! I have been doing medical transcription at home and I really like it because I don't have to leave the house. Jason is interviewing for an engineer job at his work this month and hopefully will get this one. Oh and our other big news is that Chelsey is having a baby boy in March. I would have to say that is BIG news. If I make it through her teen years it will be a miracle. We are excited for him to get here though and this is just another bump in lifes road that we will make it through. However, I am really not digging the thought of being called grandma for any reason. I mean really, GRANDMA!! Hopefully gray hairs do not come along with the name and I am working on something else he can call me.

Morgan's 1st Birthday

Morgan turned 1 on August 6. We had a fun little party with cake, ice cream and of course presents and balloons. She is getting so big and it makes me a little sad since she is my last. She has been such a sweet little girl and the best baby I have had so I wouldn't mind keeping her this age forever because we all know what happens when they get older! She has no interest in her bottle anymore and she got a little stroller that has been helping her walk, so I am sure that will be the next milestone. She is so much fun and I look forward to all the fun things ahead.

Sewing Projects

I've decided I love sewing, if only there were more hours in the day for doing it! These are my latest projects. A hat and Easter dress for Malorie.

Chelsey's 16th Birthday

Chelsey turned 16 on the 1st which still seems so crazy to me that she can drive. We bought her a 97 two door Accord. We kept it a secret so she had no idea she was getting a car we kept telling her she could drive Jason's until we found a good deal on one for her. So on her birthday she chose to eat at Winger's then after we had family over for cake. After presents we blind folded her and took her outside where we had her car parked, she really was surprised and said she had no idea, so it was lots of fun to watch. So far she hasn't hit anything and I definately don't miss getting up to drive her to cheer every morning. I also love that for a while she will be more than happy to run errands for me (we'll see how long that lasts).

Malorie's 5th Birthday

All the girls after applying the last layer of make-up


10 of the princesses

Malorie's family party birthday cake

She got the stylin hair salon and her and Jake just love it. I will admit the rest of us love it to. We are all more than willing to sit on the floor and have them fix our hair. I love that!

It's just crazy to think that Malorie is 5 now. I remember when we all just moved in and all these little girls could barely walk, now they will all be going to kindergarten. Once they are school age it seems like time just flies and they grow even faster. We had two days of birthday celebration in a row. Tuesday she had her first ever friend party. She had 10 friends dressed like princesses and surprisingly they were all really good and I think everyone had fun. They were all so cute, they couldn't wait for her to open their present and then they wanted to talk about it and let everyone know how neat it was. The funniest was at the end when we broke open two make-up kits. They were all at the table with no mirror just silently applying several layers of make-up like it was the greatest thing ever. Then they would wash a little off and re-apply. We really enjoyed Elizabeths funny comments also. Then Wednesday Malorie chose her birthday dinner to be at McDonalds. So some of the family went their and then to our house for cake and ice cream. It was overall a good birthday but I'm definately glad to get it over.

Fall & Halloween Activities

I love all the fall and Halloween activities there are to do around here, I look forward to them every year. This year we went to Cornbelly's, the Scarecrow Festival which I recommend more than Cornbelly's if you have younger kids, it was a lot of fun and the kids could have stayed there all day plus you can go in to farm country with your admission to it. We also went to Hee Haw Farms for the first time and It was only $5 and they just loved their different activities. We are trying to establish Halloween traditions for our family and a new one we discovered this year was getting a large real pumpkin, hollow it out and freeze it over night. Take it out and make homemade rootbeer in it with dry ice. Then keep adding the dry ice so the whole time there is smoke coming out of your pumpkin, the kids loved it along with our Pappa Murphy Jack o lantern shaped pizza. So far those are our traditions along with getting our pumpkins in Santaquin on the tractor ride. Now I will say I'm really not looking forward to the long winter with 3 little kids and one teenager who whines as much as the little ones. I definately need some creative ideas to keep them all entertained because you can only go to McDonald's so many times!

UPDATES!

A lot has been going on in the last month, Everyone is finally getting adjusted to having a new baby in the family and I'm starting to get used to the fact that I just don't have enough hands to meet everyone's needs at the same time, I'm just going to accept the fact that my house will never be perfectly clean and with this many kids I am still getting used to having absolutely no spare time, ever! But the baby has been a lot of fun and she is the sweetest, best baby I have had, I'm so glad that I can really enjoy her since this is our last one. We just blessed her last Sunday and I'm so thankful that I've had my dad to bless all my babies. Malorie has started preschool and loves going. She has also started dance and has been playing soccer. Jake has had a hard time accepting the new baby but he's getting better. He is very in to his t-ball set we bought him and is pretty darn good at baseball for a 2 year old. For the most part he just wanders around all day playing with his tools and banging on stuff, he is such a boy! Chelsey has loved being a cheerleader and this week is homecoming so we have this giant sign on our house announcing she lives here, so if anyone wants an autograph feel free to stop on by! We have enjoyed going to all the football games and watching her its been a lot of fun for her.