Happy Birthday Ella!

Ella Bella turns 4 today! Last night she was asking, "mom, am I gonna be bigger when I wake up?" Thats all she wants to do is grow up as fast as she can and be like her big sister. If only we could keep our kids little forever! Here's to 4 wonderful years with this sweet little girl in our lives! We love you Ella Bella!

So Long Summer.... Hello School!

Well, the days of eating watermelon, going to the beach and pool anytime, wearing our swimsuits all day or staying in our pajamas until noon are over! School has begun and this year even Ella gets to go to school! She is so excited to be in preschool and go to the same school Avery went to. Avery is a big 1st grader now and couldn't be happier! After her first day back she said, "mom, I love school!" (I sure hope that sticks with her until college!) I can't say that I love school starting at 7:45 am though! Avery wanted to have an alarm clock wake her up but we talked her into just letting daddy be her alarm clock. I didn't need Logan and Ella waking up at 6:45 am too! Mornings have totally changed at our house.... and sad to say, I am NOT a morning person. Maybe this will help me start waking up to go running! I love my sleep and I stay up too late.... something's gotta give. I better get to bed!

We love to eat watermelon all summer long!

Just hanging out in my trunks!

Love to swim!

This is the life!

Ready for preschool!
Ist grade here I come!
Avery and Ella on their 1st day
Ella and Mrs. Marissa
Lily and Avery

Cruisin the Caribbean!

I think we just had the best vacation EVER! This was our first cruise and can I just say WOW! We left the kids at home with Darren's mom (thanks mom) and went on a 7 day Western Caribbean cruise. Our ship was amazing! We rode boogie boards and surfboards on the "flowrider" climbed a rockwall, played volleyball, relaxed by the pool, ate delicious food, slept in, read books, ate some more, went to shows, met interesting people, saw beautiful places, ate some more, swam with stingrays, hiked up a waterfall, took a nap in a hammock, did I mention eating? We did that ALOT! We got to see Labadee Haiti, Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel. They were all beautiful but I think my favorite stop was Cayman Islands. The water was so blue and so clear! Ahhhhh so much fun.... now back to "real life." We were so lucky to have grammy here taking care of our kids and they had a blast with her! We love her, she is the best!

Safety check on the ship to make sure we knew what to do in case of emergency.

The ship had 2 formal nights where we dressed up and had an amazing dinner in the dining room.

Our first port was Labadee Haiti.

This is pretty much what we did the WHOLE day!

Darren sizing up our ship from the beach. This ship was amazing!

Enjoying the nightlife on the ship!

Our 2nd stop was Jamaica where we hiked up Dunn's River Falls.... really fun!

This is Jamaica! Yah mon...no problem!

Darren is ready to snorkel at Stingray City in the Cayman Islands! (our 3rd stop)

Yes, I am kissing a stingray!

We were actually feeding these stingrays squid and they would suck them from your hand from underneath...pretty crazy!

relaxing on the beautiful beach!

We sat with the same couples every night at dinner and we had such a fun group!

We ran into Nacho Libre in Cozumel while shopping. (our last stop)

The shopping is always fun in Mexico! We ended up with maracas for the kids!

The Flowrider was so much fun!! This was a popular thing to do on the ship so the line was always long.

Darren showing his skills on the wave! He actually did a flip and landed back on it!

The last day on the ship we went all out and played in a volleyball tournament together and even climbed the rock wall!

This may just be the very best thing on the whole ship. Soft serve ice cream anytime, who could ask for more!

Every night we had a new surprise waiting for us (made out of towels)
They cleaned our cabins 2 times a day!

We had such an amazing time! I am ready to book another one..... anyone wanna come?

9 Wonderful Years!

9 years ago today was the best day of my life!
and here's to 9 Reasons Why I Love You......

1. You are such a hard worker and take such good care of us!
2. You get so upset when the Utah Jazz lose that I just have to laugh at you.
(Actually, you get so upset when any of your favorite teams lose... it is pretty funny!)
3. You are the best daddy to our 3 kids that I could ever ask for!
4. You love a date night with me.
5. You are an amazing athlete...seriously, there isn't a sport you don't play!
6. You help me fold the laundry all the time and wash the big pans.
7. You are incredibly smart (I am so glad you will be able to help the kids with math homework.)
8. You plan vacation getaways for us to great places.... I can't wait!
9. You LOVE me the way you do!

Happy Anniversay sweetie!

I LOVE YOU!

Sister Slumber Party!

To celebrate my little sister Jacqueline's 14th birthday, we had a slumber party!! Darren was such a trooper to take my kids and go have a daddy slumber party with 6 kids, and my brother in law Greg. (man, I wish I had pictures!) We just wanted to talk and hang out so we went to a casual dinner at Corner Bakery and then headed back to my house for some cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory! We decided to skip the movie and just pamper ourselves with waxing and pedicures. What a fun night! We stayed up way too late, but got to sleep in the next morning. We had a yummy breakfast before we hit the street to shop all day! What more could a girl want? (besides a date with David Archuleta)

Happy Birthday Jacqueline!

We missed you Katie and Kim! You better be there next time!

Summertime Chores

Last week I was talking to my sister about chores and how to teach our kids to do them, and she gave me a great idea...... (it's really her sister-in-laws idea, so thanks Christy.) We wrote up a chart with the days of the week. Each day goes with a chore... (the deep cleaning kind.) So Monday ~Mirrors, Tuesday~Tub and Toilets, Wednesday~Windows and Walls, Thursday~Throw out Dust (vacuum and dust) Friday~Floors and Fridge and Saturday~ Sinks and Storage (organizing.) When they do their chores they get a star sticker and we made rewards up for goals they can reach. For example 5 stars=Frozen Yogurt 10 stars= Chuck E Cheese 15= Go to a movie etc.... So, we started last week and Avery thinks this is the best game ever! She will remind everyone what day it is and what chore goes with the day! We will see how long it lasts but for now, I am happy to have some help scrubbing the toilets!

The mirrors are sparkling!

Logan was there for encouragement

She's even smiling!

Little Miss Ella loved to do anything that required a spray bottle!