My Birthday Girl Turns 6!

My computer has been down for 2 weeks and we just got it up and running just in time to wish my sweet Avery a very Happy Birthday! I can't believe she is 6 years old! These years just go by way too fast! Avery has been such a joy to have in our family. She is the best big sister to Ella and Logan and such a sweet friend to everyone. She has brought us so much JOY and we love her so much! Happy Birthday my little Love Bug!

Spring Break

I don't even know where to start! We were just busy having too much fun! I thought it would be fun to plan little adventures for the kids and by the end of the week I was EXHAUSTED! We went to Disneyland, the pool, the beach, the pool again, & Avery even had a "mommy daughter date" to the Spectrum. She was so excited! We had so much fun and didn't even get home until 10:30pm! She was so cute and held my hand the whole time. I will be so sad when the day comes where hanging out with your mom on Friday night isn't "cool" anymore. Ughhh, do they have to grow up? We did have lots of fun, now to get caught up on laundry, sleep and cleaning!

Logan and Lucas LOVING the water!

We saw an octupus at the tidepools

Avery even did some rock jumping


Logan was so funny in the sand. He still isn't walking and decided to do the crab crawl.



What could be better than cotton candy and the Disneyland parade!



Our "mommy daughter date"


While we were there, we let the lady try that amazing Gemelli curling iron on Avery's hair... so we had to take a picture when we got home.

Welcome Baby Braden!

My brother Derek and his wife Katie had their first baby on April 4th. He decided to FINALLY come on his mama's birthday. (10 days late) He is a little butterball weighing in at 10 pounds 20 inches! He is precious and it was fun to see them at the hospital! The girls couldn't wait to hold their new cousin. Congratulations Derek and Katie!

I love a good deal!

Cereal for $1 a box! (if you buy 4 or more) Albertsons is having a sale on lots of General Mills cereal until April 8th. I went a couple of nights ago and came home with about 30 boxes of really good cereal. Just make sure and take the ad with you to make sure you get the right oz. size. For example... Golden Grahams 12oz. size is $1, not the 13.5oz. Also, there are certain kinds of Chex that are still full price. Take your Coupons for General Mills too and you will walk out with a few free boxes! Have fun!

Surprise!!!!

This past weekend Darren and I flew to Oregon to surprise his dad for his 60th birthday! We left the kids with friends and family and headed for a quick weekend getaway to join the rest of his family. We spent the first day in Portland and decided to go up to Multnomah Falls up in the Columbia River Gorge. It was beautiful, although we were only there about 20 minutes because it was freezing! We headed to Eugene where we were meeting up with everyone for dinner to surprise dad. We had a yummy dinner and spent the rest of the weekend relaxing and being together. Darren and I slept in on Saturday morning until 10:15 am!! What more could I ask for! We had lots of fun.....Happy Birthday dad!

This was his face when he walked into the restaurant to see all of us waiting to surprise him.
The whole gang except for Darren's brother Ryan who was flying in late that night.
Multnomah Falls..... that's us way up there!

Freezing cold in the rain and hail.

Spring is in the Air

This year it felt like St. Patrick's Day and Easter were in the very same weekend! It has been so busy around here, that I haven't been able to post any of the fun things we have been doing! I love the spring....(except that it means I am running out of time to get in shape for summertime!) Yep, and that big ham and cheesy potato dinner last night, along with the Easter candy sure isn't helping! We did have fun this Easter Weekend though. My brother blessed his sweet little baby Hudson on Sunday morning and then we spent the day at dad's visiting and of course....eating! The little cousins had lots of fun together hiding the eggs and surprising grandpa with a huge Easter basket!

The Silly Leprechauns left a big mess in the girls' room and some Lucky Charms!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We went to the park to have a little Easter egg hunt with the some friends

Egg salad anyone?

Logan's bunny Ears

having fun with cousins

My cute little sisters Jacqueline and Autumn

Happy Easter!

My brother Brandon with his new baby boy!

Grandpa's Easter basket

Happy Birthday Mom!

What an amazing woman! I cannot put into words the love and appreciation I have for my mom and the impact she has had on my life. Today would be her 57th birthday. I could write a book about the many things she taught me, but I will just list a few of the memories I have of her......

She loved parties and any reason to celebrate! She loved making us feel special! She always made holidays so much fun. She would put together the best Halloween costumes every year and take us to all of the fun parties. Here she is pregnant with Derek and still making sure we were all having a fun day.


I will always remember the sweet things she would do for my dad ..... she loved him so much and she taught her children to love.

I will always remember her hands. Those hands that were always reaching out to help someone else in need.
I will always remember the brown velvet rocking chair and her sweet smell as she rocked me to sleep or comforted me when I was sick.

She loved children... everyone's children..... she would have 12 of her own and still invite the other kids to come along. She would always have a loaf of bread and peanut butter and lots of fun snacks for us to take to the beach or the park.

She loved travelling and staying in hotels on vacation....even if it was just a hotel 2 miles from home. This was our first big vacation as a family back in April 2004. We took a trip to Maui with all 24 of us, grandkids and all!

She loved her children more than anything.... she called us her "Darling Dozen." Here we are in Maui right after Brandon came home from his mission. Mom and dad and all 12 of us!

She made our weddings beautiful! She always wanted them to be just perfect and went without a wink of sleep to make them that way.

Avery loved to snuggle with grandma and read stories with her.

She loved to be with her grandbabies! My little Ella had such a short time with her but she will always know her grandma loved her!

She taught me to work.... I will always remember her telling me that the kitchen was not clean until the sink was scoured and the countertops and faucets were sparkling.

She also taught me to play. She was so much fun...she was always up for something spontaneous and adventurous!

She taught me how to be a "lady." I always remember as I got older she would remind me that I needed lipstick or my hair needed to be curled. I think I went overboard on the hair curling in high school, "hot sticks" ring a bell? I had the ultimate "hot sticks hair"...... with big bangs! As you can see.... mom had the cutest natural curls. What a sweet little picture of her!

I will always remember her smile.... she was so beautiful!

She LOVED the beach! This was her last trip to the beach before she passed away on August 3, 2005. It was one of the very last pictures I took of my mom. (July 13th 2005)

There isn't a day that goes by that I don't miss her like crazy! I miss her phone calls in the morning to see what I am doing that day and her advice to me when I am having a hard time with my kids. I miss her love for HARD ice cream and ice cold drinks with lots of ice. I miss her doodling on paper as she talked on the phone. I miss her hours on the phone to try and get a super deal in a hotel somewhere by the beach for all of us to have a little vacation. I miss her creativity, she could turn anything plain into something fancy. I miss her singing to my kids when they were babies. I miss her love for going out to lunch or dinner with her family. I miss her treasures she could find at a garage sale and then she would tell you (with a cute smile) she got it at Nordstrom. I miss her love for swimming in the summer and just being outside. I miss her quiet way of teaching her children by example. She was the center of our lives and she brought so many people happiness by the love she shared! I feel so blessed to call her my mother and as short as our time was on this earth together, I know I will get to spend an ETERNITY with her someday! Happy Birthday Mom......I love you.