Maddie and Sydney's new room BFF

Well, Maddie and Sydney have been getting along so well lately, something as a mother I have been waiting for for 8 years or so... anyway, they wanted to share a room, so since they are preteens.. (well maddie is) I thought I would let them choose something not so kid "ish"

Just got this sucker done today, im a little unhappy with the taping job on the straight black line I used to cover those dots.. but I will figure out a way to make that look better.
Also, I had to take the closet doors off because one is broken but we will fix that soon too..
What do you think??

Good job McKay !!

So McKay made a Mormon message with the YM in his ward and sent it in to a worldwide church video contest. Today he came home so excited because he found out he is one of the top ten finalists in his division(13-17 yr old). So proud of him!! And I'm so happy that he is so happy with it. If you go to lds.org you can see it, it's the church video contest and click on it, then go to the US Canada 13-17 yr olds and his video is the one with the basketball player and coach. (the player is our wonderful home teacher;)

Anyways, what an accomplishment for a boy from a little town!!

Grandpa's 100 dollar beard

So my Dad wrote each of the grandkids a letter for a contest to see how long his beard will be by Christmas.  Each of the kids gets one guess and whoever gets closest, wins 100 dollars..

When we told each of the kids about this, my sister's middle child and my middle child both 8 had the exact same reaction... (Crying, I won't win, I never win anything...) LOL

This is what it looks like now and he's been growing it since Dec. 15th.  This picture was taken last week.  Hopefully one of my kids wins!!

Happy Birthday Baby Jack!!

 Ready for church last week!!

 The Big Birthday Boy!!

 Really? I can have the whole thing??

 Didn't we just do this??

It's hard to believe that a year has past, we are so lucky to have had the chance to have Baby Jack in our family!! He is such a good boy, loves his mama and dada and siblings.  He likes to crawl super fast, especially up the stairs. His favorite toys are mom's cell phone, her ipod, and the remote. He is not a fan of toys he is supposed to play with. He weighs over 24 pounds, likes to read, likes to eat and loves to be held.

Happy 16th Anniversary

Well, 16 years ago was a very special day... I can't believe how fast time has flown. Just to think in another 16 years, Jack will be the only baby at home (and 17 years old btw) really scares me.. but Happy Anniversary. I feel very lucky to be married to my best friend, to someone I still really like to be around everyday, someone who makes me laugh all the time, and someone of course that I love and am in love with.. and is the best husband or father I know.

Sledding

So my wonderful sister and brother in law gave us a great new sled for Christmas, and our home teacher Mike called and asked us if we wanted to go sledding with his family a couple of days ago. We don't need to be asked twice!! It was a lot of fun, even if we aren't what you call an "outdoorsy" family... We all had so much fun. Thanks Amanda and Mike, and Sara and Christian for the great present!!!

Maddie was lovin it! She brought her friend Lizeth along, and they had a great time! 

What a pretty girl! She is almost 12 and growing up way too fast!

Amanda and I went down, and we hit a bush thing. I didn't at first to lean back, but after much laughing, we brushed ourselves off, and tried again.

I still fell over at the end. I am not the most "graceful" sledder.

Mike and Amanda

Ryan and Summer

What fun!

Abby and Delaney having fun!!

Sydney and Ryan. She got hurt a couple of times, but kept on sledding.

My little family just loved it! Jackson was sick and Amber Wardell watched him for us.  That was so nice of her. We don't think he would of done so good in the cold...We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and had hot chocolate stirred with sticks. If that wasn't camping, we don't know what is! What a fun afternoon, on the first day of vacation!!! Thanks again everyone!

more christmas card pictures..

Ok, this is so hard, because well let's face it. I am pretty vain. And I wish I were about 40 pounds lighter, but since that can happen.. (by Christmas) I guess we will have to choose between these two and Jackson didn't like being cold, so we might have to put some cute pictures of him in there too...