Sweet Pixie

I thought this was Blog Worthy. This morning Macey (almost 5) asked, "Mom, which would you rather have, a genie or fairy Godparents?" So I thought a second, but then asked her, "Which would you rather have?" She said, "I would rather have fairy Godparents because with a genie you only get 3 wishes and they are kind of tricky."

Of course!!

The Sweetness of Sweet Water Tavern

We love this place! Cali's 33rd Birthday Dinner. And that little basket you see on the table is full of pure heaven (aussie rolls)!

33... Yikes

Okay, so today is my 33rd B-day. Not a great thing, this getting old stuff. But, of course, as I get older I realize how blessed I am and have been through my life. Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in the stuff that isn't going right in life and forget about the blessings. Sometimes I get caught up in the fits and fights of my kids and forget about what amazing gifts they are and how cute and sweet they are. Anyway, I am going to take this opportunity, at the risk of being EXTREMELY CHEESY to say some of the things I'm thankful for...

-I'm thankful that I have the gospel in my life.

-I'm thankful I grew up with parents who are faithful and supportive, and brothers and sisters (and sister and brother-in-laws) who are great examples.

-I'm thankful I grew up in a small town, where my friends were great and still hold a special place in my life.

-I'm thankful for the friends who I have met through college and keep in touch with still.

-I'm thankful for the friends who I now have here in McLean.

-I'm thankful for the amazing family I married into.

-I'm soooo thankful for my kids. I can't imagine doing anything but spending my days with them. They are so funny, spunky, sweet, cute, talented, creative, smart, and they give the best hugs!!!

-Finally, and most of all, I am thankful for my husband. He is always thinking of ways to make me happy. I love his sense of humor and how he gets down and wrestles with the kids. I'm thankful for the person he is and the example he is to me. I don't know what I would do without him. Love you Bubbie...

The Beach Part II

Just in case you missed our first trip to the beach "Blog". Here is the second trip we took. All the cousins came this time! It was awesome!!!!

Can I Have That Ball Sir?

My Dad, Cannon, Brandon (his cousin) and I all went to the Washington Nationals game last Saturday night. It was the first time Cannon and I had been to the new ball park. I must say it looks pretty sweet. We had front row seats out in left field (Props to my brother Jimmy for hooking us up with the tickets). We were sitting right next the the visiting team's bull pen. All the kids in our section asked for baseballs from the pitchers and they managed to hook everyone up (Props to the bull pen catchers for making the kids day). It was the perfect baseball night and we had fun eating all the junk food we could find. The Nats lost though.

It has been a while since our last post. So here are some pictures I like.

Mr. Hollywood!!!

Ridding on the Bus!!!

The "Sweetness"

Silly Goose

It Takes Two to Cut Our Lawn

Even if it is a shopping cart.

Mommy Tag- Cannon got tagged too

Mommy tag
This is Macey answering questions about Mom. Cannon's are the second answers
1.What is something Mommy always says? do your jobs Cannon-turn off the TV
2. What makes Mommy happy? hugs and kisses C-hugs and kisses
3. What makes Mommy sad? when I get in trouble C- when we fight
4. How does your Mom make you laugh? tickle me C-when she does weird things
5. What was your Mom like as a child? watch tv, do computer C-playful
6. How old is your Mom? 22 (thanks Macey!!) C-32
7. How tall is your Mom? 35? C-4'8" (close!)
8. What is your Mom's favorite thing to do? clean the house C-spend time with her family
9. What does Mom do when your not around? put babies to sleep C- Sleep/work
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? money (I wish!!) C-money
11. What is your Mom really good at? drawing pictures C- Taking care of our family
12. What is your Mom not good at? figuring problems out (don't know what that means) C-electronics
13. What does Mom do for her job? cleans the house C- being a mom
14. What is Mom's favorite food? meat (there's nothin' like a good steak) C-salad
15. What makes you proud of your Mom? draw pictures for me C-how many kids she's had
16. If your Mom were a cartoon character who would she be? Patrick (great!) C-Jerry
17. What do you and your Mom do together? read C-snuggle
18. How are you and your Mom the same? we have the same mouth C-we both like getting tan
19. How are you and your Mom different? eyes (hers are blue, mine are hazel) C-she's a girl and I'm a boy
20. How do you know your Mom loves you?sings the birdie song to me C-she's nice
Pretty cute!! Now I tag Wyatt Johnson and Annie Stinger
Cannon tags Jaren Marx and Isabell Smith

Beach Week

We spent this past weekend at the beach in Delaware. So much fun!!!! The kids ran wild, nobody got bit by a shark, and we all came home looking like lobsters... Mission accomplished.

Bailey getting some serious air!

As hard as she tried she only caught 3 bugs in her mouth.

Cannon fighting the waves!

Macey collected shells most of the time.

Buster getting sand in his shorts!

Ice cream at the boardwalk, where Buster learned first hand what a brain freeze is. (Seconds after this shot was taken he slid out of his chair and we had to push his eyes back into his head. He was screaming like a mad man!)

Tea Cups... nobody puked.

Last day... Buster crashed on the car floor.

Beach 2008

Video Proof that Sasquatch Exists

Here is some footage that will go down in history with Bigfoot, UFOs and Lock Ness. This is actual video proof that there is a Bay Sasquatch. These are the brave scouts from scout camp, that I mentioned in an earlier blog post. They had no idea this was going to happen. This is the video that was shot at the time of the incident. (all managed to survive somehow)

Here is a better quality one on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQdELcq06hU

Cannon Goes to New York

We have started a tradition in our family (inspired by some of our friends a church) that when a child turns ten, they get a trip by themselves with mom and dad (Karah had to come because she was too young to stay by herself). Cannon turns ten this month so he decided he wanted to go to New York. So early Friday we dropped all the kids off with the baby sitter and headed up to New York. Here are some of the photos:


This was us in front of the Statue of Liberty. We took a tour on a boat around the island right after this.



Cannon getting his first glimpse of Time Square. (That is a crazy place! People everywhere)



Here he is living out every kids dream, the biggest Toys R Us around! Even walking around Time Square with a giant penguin wasn't the strangest thing you would have seen that day.



This is Scooter and Sweetness in the hotel at the end of the day. Sweetness was an angel on the trip.



Later that night Cannon and I went out to see the lights of Time Square at night, where he also got his portrait drawn by some Russian dude.



This is a place we spent getting lost a lot. - The NY subway.



Best pizza in town. Worth the whole trip.

Who's this guy? --- This is our waiter at T.G.I Fridays. He said he was working to become an actor and had a extra roll in an upcoming episode of Law and Order. So we said, "Well if you're going to be famous, we'd better get your photo while we still can"

Groovin' at the Farm

Jeff had his Virginia wedding reception at my parents farm. We had the party in the barn and it turned out pretty sweet! Here are some shots from the party.


This is our family picture right before the party


This is Cali getting Chelsea's horse ready for a "Napoleon Dynamite" style ride up to the barn. It didn't end up happening though =(


These are our kids getting giggy with it!


This is what 4 hours of candy, cake, and non stop dancing looks like.




Ladies and Gentlemen... the next Michael Jackson
(oh and Macey is getting down behind him)

One More Down

During Scout Camp I had to head out to Utah for my brother Jeff's wedding. It was great! He finally took the leap. Here are some photos from the trip.
This is right after the wedding.



This is us before getting ready to plow into the buffet.

This was on the plane ride home. I snapped a shot of some dude who thought it would be ok to take a nap on me.

The next day we went to go see Wall-e (good movie). Macey brought her remote in case she needed to pause the movie and take a trip to the bathroom. Fortunately for everyone she made it without incident.

Legend of the Bay Sasquatch

This past week was pretty crazy. It started off Monday morning at 4:45 AM. We took all the boys in the ward to Scout Camp. We had a blast! Kids burning and cutting stuff up in the woods, what more could you ask for. I think I had more fun than they did. I was only able to be there threes days (I had to leave early for Jeff's wedding in Utah). So the Scout Masters decided to have some fun with the boys the last night I was there.

Each night we had a devotional before bed. Everyone gathered around on a porch and listened to the leaders talk for a while. We had everyone gather in a circle to listen to Glen Johnson talk about the legends of the camp we were in. He started talking about the Bay Sasquatch that was rumored to live in those parts. The kids were no very interested in what he had to say.

So while he spoke, like a good Scout Master, I snuck off and left the group. I went behind the cabin and dressed up in the Sasquatch costume, that Cali suggested I bring. Once on, I hid behind the porch waiting for the right moment to jump into the circle of boys. This was going to be the greatest prank of all time or I was going to be stabbed by 25 fourteen year olds with pocket knives. I decided to take the chance and busted out into the circle and made the loudest Sasquatch growl I could. Long story short, kids were screaming, bodies were flying, and cameras were rolling.





Here's a shot off all the boys (with the Bay Sasquatch) acting tough after gaining there composure.

Buddies

These are some photos of my best buds Craig Middledorf and Ben Smith. We go way back. We were nothing but trouble in college, where we met. Now 13 kids later and we're still a bunch of goof balls! They live in Maryland and came down to have dinner with us in Virginia. Ben is moving next week so we wanted to get together one last time.
These guys are the best!!!!

Karah, Cannon, and Easton were kicking it will us on the couch.

Who Wants to Be a Ninja

Here is the game we play at work when we have a free second. One guys sits in a chair and another guy sits in a chair ten feet away with a nurf gun. He then shoots the gun at the other guy who then has to catch the darts. If you catch enough, you become a ninja. Here is my attempt. Not smart - I know...