Colin turns 7!

On July 17th Colin turned 7. All he wanted for his birthday was legos. He had a sports birthday party at the house and we set up the waterslide. Then for the next few days he did not leave the dinning room table and got all of his legos put together. He is really amazing at the dedication he has. I would have given shortly after starting.

THE NEW KITTENS

Ok, so it has been a really long time since I updated this blog. Yesterday I went through my pictures and am ready to blog the rest of last years info. It will be short but hopefully everyone can get caught up on our adventures. Last April Alyssa's class project was to write a persuasive letter to mom and dad. In the mail I received a letter pleading for a kitten, it also explained how she would care for it, pay for it, and if all failed we could give it back. (Yeah right!) For some crazy reason, we agreed. All of us went to pick out a kitten, we could not bring him home that day so Mark had to go back the next morning and get him, sweet little Max. It was so exciting for everyone, we all loved him. Eight days later, Mother's Day morning, he died. This was very traumatic for our household. We ended up replacing him with not just one, but new new kittens. Now we have an orange tabby, Sophie and another gray tabby, Sampson. Sophie is a timid and quiet kitten; Sampson it a gigantic and crazy boy, but we love them.

Ian turns 5!!

Today is Ian's 5th birthday. We got him a basketball hoop and ball and he loves it. It has been raining most of the day so he hasn't played it much. It was very hard to make this a surprise. We had to cement part of it in a few days prior. The kids had to go to bed real early the night before so Mark could put it together. However, they all woke up at 6:15 ready for Ian to open presents.

Newport Coast

Well, I know it has been a long time since I updated this blog. I will try to get caught up today. In February, we we to Newport Beach. We love it here. We stay in our time share at Marriott's Newport Coast and it is amazing. We did so many fun things including Disneyland and the Beach. Because Mark and I grew up so close to here, we were able to visit many friends and family.

Happy 10th Birthday!

I can't believe Alyssa is already turning 10. Every New Years Day we celebrate her birthday and the holiday becomes about her. She loves it. This year was her first year not having a big birthday party and she was pretty sad about it. It is just a crazy time for us and she had just gotten together with some of her friends so we didn't really do much. We are so luck to have such a sweet girl and she is so special to us. It's really hard to believe only 6 more years until she is driving and then looking at colleges. Time goes so fast.

Best Friends Forever!

On December 26th we had Bryn and Luke Olsen and Sydney and Kylee Houghton spend the night. It was a crazy night with 8 very excited children. All these kids have grown up together since they were born. Now we have all moved away. The Olsen's and the Houghton's moved south and we moved north so we are about an hour apart. It is really sad that we don't get to see them very often but when we do everyone has a great time. Mark and I took them all sledding at the hill by our house. It was a great time!

This is for you Marnee!

Our tree is nothing fancy this year but my good friend Marnee has been upset with me because I do not have a picture of it on our blog. It is just plain red and silver but I would love ideas or suggestions for any of you decorators out there. I finally get to have a tree I get to decorate while the kids have their own little tree for all of their beautiful ornaments they make.