all 9 of us in Utah!

 My parents are leaving for 3 years to serve a mission for our church. My dad has been called to be Mission President in Mexico. So, all of us siblings enjoyed a long weekend with my parents. There were some of the in-laws there too but it was the first time in a LONG time that all of us siblings were together without kids all around. It was a really fun weekend! We ate lots, exercised, had a surprise bday for mom because she turns 60 in August and won't be here to celebrate. We also went shopping, played basketball, ate lots of treats, played games and mom even had some cleaning out and organizing to do (no surprise there!! ha! ha!). It was a very special weekend and I'm so happy we could pull it off!!

If you know our family you know we love to compete and have a way of making a competition out of anything. It is really funny! So, we enjoyed playing lots of games while we were together! Here are Matt and Adam sporting their hats during a game!

 Enjoying dinner at PF Chengs

 Mom is always so nice to treat us to pedicures. This is such a treat and we all LOVE it. Look at the cute little baby cousins hanging out waiting!!

 

Choir Sing Along

Lucy was selected to participate in a 3rd grade sing-a-long for the district. She was one of a few kids chosen from her class to participate. It was really exciting for her. This is a picture of us after we got home from it. Unfortunately Andy was out of town so couldn't be there. I loved every minute of it. I was in lots of choirs growing up and especially in high school. So, seeing my little girl walk out and take her place on stage - standing on the risers brought back lots of memories and made me wonder how it is that I have a daughter old enough to be doing this!!

Disney On Ice

Lucy and I had a fun night together going to see Disney on Ice. We joined a couple of moms and their daughters from our ward and had a great night out!

Grandma's in Town!

When my mom came to help Alisa with her new baby we got to see her a couple of times. Bonus!! The kids LOVED it when she offered to take them to the nearest Walgreens and pick out a treat. In my mind I was thinking a sucker or a small candy bar you might find at the check out. No! The kids walked out with bags of candy! Oh my! If you know my mom she is a total sweet tooth and she knows the way to any kids heart....candy! (Matt and I went along to "help" but we might have ended up with a few treats ourself!! ha! ha! ) We all spent a good amount of time in the candy isle. The kids had a hard time making decisions - how do you choose between all that candy!!

pinewood derby

Ethan participated in his very first pinewood derby! It was really exciting forhim and being competitive I think he was kind of disappointed he didn't win but he still had fun and loved his car!

Baby Olivia!

Alisa finally had her baby. It is so fun to live near her and fun to have a baby around. My kids are loving her too! It's also a bonus to live by family because we enjoyed seeing my mom a couple of times when she came to help Alisa with the baby. Welcome baby olivia!

Love Visitors!

We LOVED having our friends (Amber, John, and kids) from IU come to visit. It was a quick trip and unfortunately I didn't have my camera out until they were getting ready to leave. It's always so good to be with friends! Thanks for stopping at our house!

8 Years Old!!

Get ready for a lot of pictures! In just a hadful of days we had relative visit, threw a birthday party, did some fun family outings, had a baptism, and had my brother and sisters families over for Sunday dinner! This was a VERY exciting birthday for Ethan! He turned eight and got baptized! We had a fun weekend starting with Andy's mom and Ethan's cousin Blake arriving from California. It was so fun having them here. Ethan and Blake got along so well the summer we lived in California and it seems they picked up right where they left off. They had so much fun together. It was funny have a little California boy visiting us in Minnesota. We asked him to pack a warm coat and a swim suit. Strange request right? Amy sent the suit and said the warmest thing he had to wear was a sweatshirt. Wow! Rough life he has! ha! We hooked him up with a coat which was much needed. With the windchill it was -19 degrees one morning. Do you see Ethan's smile? He was all smiles all weekend. It was great!

We always love having grandma come and visit!

An birthday party for a bunch of 8 year old boys.....much different than a party for girls. However, we did have fun and the best thing we did was reserve our community center for the party! We ate pizza, cake, and played lots of fun games. We did an animal themed party.

Here is Clayton playing the "elephant game"

Once again, Ethan was all smiles at his baptism! He got a new suit along with a real tie (not the zipper tie!) We all kept mentioning how handsome he looked. Just as he was walking out the door he took a peek in the mirror. Out of the bathroom we heard him exclaim "Oh wow, I really do look handsome!" He said it with such surprise. It was darling!

Blake and Ethan

Aunt Alisa and Uncle Matt spoke at Ethan's baptism. They were both great talks and what a treat to have uncles and aunts at his baptism. Everyone came over for dinner after the baptism.

Here was another important dinner guest....owen! When you are this cool you can wear your sunglasses at the dinner table!

Here are Jane and Wyatt cracking themselves up....as always!

On Saturday we had fun going to an indoor (of course!) pool/water park and indoor playground. The kids had fun and we had fun wearing them out each day.

Don't be fooled! Jane did not need help going down this slide but when it comes to indoor jungle gyms and water parks Andy is just as excited as the kids!!

Happy Birthday to ME!

Another year older...another year wiser?!??! Not sure? I had lots of fun going out with Camie and Alisa for my birthday this year. It was so so nice of them to make the trip to my house (on a weekday) and take me out to dinner. Thanks to Ryan who made it possible and stayed at our house with the kids! After eating we ended up in the grocery store buying donuts  - random I know but really good! Here we are eating our donuts! Thanks ladies for a great evening!