Brad Hyland Family

Christmas Eve

2012-01-03T15:53:00.005-06:00

I actually started writing this post right after Christmas, but we had a bunch of computer problems and never finished, but thanks to Glenn (brother in law) we are back to surfing the web, helping with homework and blogging again! We enjoyed our annual progressive dinner for Christmas Eve. We started with appetizers at the Hylands, then dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's, and ended with dessert at our house. I wish I had taken a few pictures of all the desserts I made. I've been eating much healthier this past year so when it was time for me to decided what to make I couldn't decide, everything sounded so good! I made sugar cookies, gingersnaps, mint brownies, porcupine balls, fudge, eclairs, English toffee, and the perfect chocolate cake.

We usually act out the Christmas story at our house before we dive into the desserts. Here are Mary (Emily) and Joseph (Luke).

Annie really wanted to be the star. She made her costume herself.

The Wisemen

Our sheep (Macey) and our cow (Sarah)

The angles and Grandpa the narrator . Sorry -no pictures of the shepherds during their part because I was busy being a shepherd.

Each year our family draws names and we buy $5 gifts for each other. Then we open them on Christmas eve so that they don't get lost in the shuffle of Christmas morning. This year Brad had Luke and got him a memory game. After he opened it we all play a few games together.

Luke had Macey. I think he got her some hand sanitizer and a new hairbrush.

Macey had Annie and she got her some hand sanitizers and holders to go with them.

Annie had Brad. He got a gift card to TCBY.

I gave Kambree some gel pens.

Kambree had Nelson and she gave him a gift card to Barnes and Noble.
Nelson got me some spring form pans. They were more that $5, but I'm worth it!

It was a great night and the kids even went to sleep pretty quickly for such an exciting night. Christmas Eve is one of my most favorite nights of the year!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T01:27:00.002-06:00

December 1st to Christmas

2011-12-25T00:04:00.006-06:00

We started out our Christmas season with the Annual Christmas Parade downtown.

The Grinch

It wouldn't be a Christmas Parade without Santa!

Kambree is in the school choir and we went to listen to her perform her Christmas program.

Nelson's NJHS group volunteered some time to ring the bell for the Salvation Army. Nelson decided to play the trombone during his shift.

After Thanksgiving my sister in laws and I all made crafts together. This is one of them that I had to take home to finish. I thought it turned out pretty good!

We got to watch Annie in her ballet class for a little mini recital. She is doing really well in her class. She has the best splits!

Luke and I attended Kambree's class Christmas party. They started off the party with a relay race.

I was in charge of our ward Christmas party this year. We made lots of snowflakes and hung them from ceiling in the gym for the decorations. I had to take a picture since I was so excited about how it turned out.

Candy Cane the elf came to stay with us for the month of December. She ended up in all sorts of crazy places.

For our last family night before Christmas we decorated gingerbread houses. Here's Nelson's.

We decided to sign up for a bell ring shift ourselves! Annie and Nelson came to help me. Nelson's trombone playing was a big hit! People also loved Annie's elf hat and her cute "Merry Christmas" greeting. We had a great time. I think we'll try to do it again next year.

A few more funny things that Candy Cane did.

It really is the most wonderful time of the year!

The 5K

2011-12-23T13:48:00.002-06:00

Brad asked me if I wanted to run in a 5K. I told him I'd do it with him, but I couldn't run the whole time. Early on Saturday morning he went and signed us up for the 5k Bambi run.

Before the race.

After the race. We did great!

My free T shirt!

Brad won 2nd place for his age bracket! We both had a great time and hope to try a few more races in the future!

Happy Halloween

2011-12-18T19:46:00.008-06:00

Happy Halloween! (Yes, I know it is only days before Christmas!) We had a great Halloween celebration. I only made one Halloween costume this year, which freed me up for some crafting. Most of the kids looked through our buckets of costumes and found something that they wanted to be.

Luke was a ninja

We had our annual spooky dinner on the Monday before Halloween. Here is a bread skeleton.
Witches fingers with blacken nails.

Bloody goblin toes and mashed up guts.

Our traditional putrid punch.

Ready to eat!

For dessert we had mummy cupcakes.

Annie had to make a pumpkin that looked like one of her favorite book characters. She chose the Pink Princess. I think it turned out pretty good!

The Relief Society hosted our ward Halloween party so I got to do lots of planning and preparing. It turned out really fun. We had a hotdog dinner, carnival games, and a trunk or treat.

Annie with her prize

Luke got a prize too!

We attended Boo at the Zoo again this year.

Playing games for prizes

The zoo is always decorated so fun!

Here are our pumpkins! This year we teamed up. Annie, Macey and I did this one.

Nelson and Luke's

Brad and Kambree's

Ready for Trick or Treating

We had dinner and went trick or treating with friends this year.

Checking out their loot

Here are my crafts!

Happy Halloween!

Rose Festival

2011-11-12T19:12:00.005-06:00

This October our town celebrated the Rose Festival. We started the morning out by attending the parade.

My niece, Sarah, marching in her junior high band. She is in the second row the farther away.

Here comes Nelson!

That afternoon I took Annie and Kambree to the queens tea. My friend's daughter was a train bearer. She looks so pretty.

The girls with the Queen.

The queen's train

I love the smell at the rose gardens. It smell so good!! It is fun to go and see all the dresses and beautiful girls.

Back to School

2011-11-12T18:58:00.002-06:00

The kids went back to school at the end of August. We didn't even have a whole 2 weeks from getting home from vacation and school starting, so we were rushed preparing for everything. For some reason I have lost most of the pictures that I took of the first day of school. Nelson started 8th grade, Macey started 6th grade, Kambree started 4th grade, and Annie started 2nd grade. Luke is still home with me for the rest of the year. So far everyone is doing great!

Home Again, Home Again

2011-11-12T17:28:00.003-06:00

After leaving Island Park we headed home. We stopped in Salt Lake City to visit Temple Square. This time we took a tour of the roof of the Conference Center.

Then we headed across the street to see the Statue of Christ. This was our third time seeing the statue and hearing the message. We saw it in St. George and Idaho Falls as well.

After temple square we found a restaurant that we used to eat at before we moved. We loved the twisted bread sticks at the Pizza Factory. Attached to the restaurant is Fat Cats, which is bowling, arcades, and a neon golf course. We all enjoyed a round of golf.

After golfing we went to my Aunt Nancy's to visit and spend the night. After church the next morning we were off to Colorado Springs to see Wendy and her family and finally one more day of driving to arrive home. I love these extended vacations seeing family and making great memories!!

Happy Birthday Kambree

2011-11-03T14:36:00.004-05:00

Kambree celebrated her 9th birthday on the last day of our Nelson reunion. She got to be with all her Nelson cousins and float down a river on her special day. Her Aunt Corrine helped make her the best birthday sign ever! We decorated with a few streamers and put out her presents.
I'm sorry the pictures are so bad. I took them with Brad's phone thinking they would be better than mine...but I was wrong.

Kambree wore a "happy birthday" pin all day so we could all remember it was her special day.

All the cousins watching her open presents. She got some clothes and jewelry and a speaker for her itouch. That night she had her favorite dinner of baked potatoes.

She ordered a candy land cake after being inspired by a picture of cousin Lola's birthday cake. Her cake choice totally fit her, she is a huge candy lover!

Happy Birthday to our middle, of the middle child!!

When its reunion time....

2011-09-14T15:33:00.047-05:00

My Brother, Tim and his wife Corrine.

After spending an unbelievably long time trying to get this post written and ready I pushed a wrong button and deleted this picture from where it was supposed to go. I couldn't get it back to where I wanted, but didn't want to leave it out, so now it gets the top spot!

By the way, most of these pictures were taken by my sister, Alana. Thanks Alana!

Our next stop on our western adventure was Island Park, ID. FYI Island Park has America's longest main street. I think it is about 25 miles long, of course in that 25 miles there are only a handful of stores and gas stations. Island Park is up in the mountains and was really beautiful with great weather.

My sister, Rebecca was in charge of our Nelson reunion this year. We all gathered at the beginning of August for five days of "Nelson's Rock!" Each day had a theme that went with the letters of ROCK!. Each of the kids had folders with activities that helped them learn more about our family and the theme of the day. The older kids really got into it especially since Rebecca offered prizes for completed lists and projects.

Monday evening started with Nelson's are RIGHTEOUS.

Here are Grandpa and Gage waiting for the fun to begin!

Brad and Michelle (with Brad's arm) getting things cleaned up after dinner.

We had a Hawaiian Haystack dinner provided by Michelle and Brad. Then we all gathered to participate in my nephew, Sully's, baby blessing.

Sully waiting for his blessing!

All the uncles and grandpa with Sully after the blessing. How awesome to have everyone together for such a special occasion.

Waiting for the next activity.

For family night each family had to make their own family flag or banner. Here is the Sperry's.

Here is the L. Nelson's.

Here's ours. The girls made sure it had lots of glitter glue!

The Stubb's

The T. Nelson's

The Moss's

The Kutanzi's

Richard's

Grandma and Grandpa's

After making family banners we had family night treats. Each family brought or made their families favorite FHE treat. Talk about sugar overload!!! There were cinnamon buns, red vines, Swedish fish and puffed wheat squares just to name a few. It was also my niece, Alia's, birthday, so we had birthday cake too.

The next day Nelson's were ONE OF A KIND ORIGINALS.

The day started with painting rocks and playing with cousins and toys.

Look at all those blond headed boys!

The girls and the older boys really got into making some fun rock people.

After lunch it was time for some marshmallow fun. I saw a fun idea on the Internet to make marshmallow shooters with balloons and paper cups. They were simple to make and worked really well.

After a really good dinner of taco's made by Richard it was picture time.

Richard

Where Tim and Corrine's pictures was suppose to go :)

Rebecca and Glenn

Michelle and Brad

Mom and Dad

Larry and Sarah

Heather and Wynn

Karalee and Brad

Alana and Jarrett

The Nelson kids

The Whole family

The Grandkids

Every reunion my mom makes the kids PJ's

The next day Nelson's are COMPETITIVE

We got up early and headed to Yellowstone

Waiting for Old Faithful

We spent the day in the park enjoying the sights. Old Faithful wasn't too faithful and seemed to take a long time to erupt. We really like seeing the gyser pools with all the steam and cool colors. The sulfur smell wasn't great, but not too bad either. We all headed home and enjoyed dinner made by Alana and Jarrett.

That night Tim and Corrine hosted "Minute to Win it"

On Thursday Nelson's are KOOKY BUT KIND

The next morning the men took off golfing and the kids decorated pillowcases. We also had another adventure. The people who took care of the subdivision we were at had scheduled some work to be done on the plumbing that provided water to the cabin. They told us the night before that the water was going to be turned off at 8:30am and they weren't sure when it would be back on. Really? we had 41 people in the cabin! We decided to make the best of things and prepared. Most of the women took showers the night before and the rest showered early that morning. The men were up early and got ready before leaving to golf. We filled all the big pots and water pitchers with water as well as the bathtubs. We used the bathtub water to flush toilets.

After crafting, golfing, and lunch, we decided to leave the cabin for awhile since there was no water. Someone found directions at the cabin to a lake that was supposed to have a rope swing and good fishing. We all headed out at various times to go to the lake. The lake was actually in Montana and was beautiful!! The water was a clear turquois color. The older kids and some of the adults swung on the huge rope swing, some went out on the rafts, and others hung out on the shore. I wish we had headed out earlier and spent the entire day there, it was so beautiful.

We all headed home and Larry and Sarah made a delicious dinner of smoked turkey. Luckily the water got turned back on late that afternoon. It did get turned off the next day for a few hours, but it all ended up being workable. After dinner we had a buddy night. Earlier in the day were drew names to pair up as buddies. You had to learn three things about your buddy. How old are they? Where were they born? and What is something they like to do? We introduced our buddies to everyone.

Heather and Grandpa were buddies.

Wynn and Landon were buddies

Tim and Macey were buddies. It was fun to see everyone pair up and learn more about each other. Great idea Rebecca!

Our last day Nelson's are ! STRONG EMOTION

Cute Cousins!

Playing on the swings.

The women found a little time to craft

The boys found lots of time for pool

That afternoon some of us went to float the river. It took a little time to find out where we were going and get everything set. The part of the river we were on was pretty slow and we had to paddle most of the time to keep moving. It was pretty long (2hrs) but it did make some fun memories.

Brad and I made dinner on the last night so we could make Kambree's favorite dinner. Our last reunion day was Kambree's 9th birthday! Happy Birthday Kambree! I forgot to put her birthday pictures on here. We did a little decorating, she had presents, her favorite dinner (baked potatoes), and of course a cake. She ordered a candy land cake.

After dinner we had a pinata. I found instructions for a fun icecream cone pinata on the internet. I think it turned out really fun.

All the kids checking out their loot!

That night we had a carnival. Each family prepared a game to play.

The Stubbs had horseshoes.

Larry and Sarah had a candy sling shot

The Moss's had bowling

The Hyland's did a ring toss

Corrine did face painting

Grandma told your fortune. The Sperry's did a football toss and a shooting range, and the Kutanzi's did a golf hole.

After all the games we turned in our tickets for prizes and food.

After getting all of our prizes we headed outside for some sparklers.

We had such a wonderful reunion. Thanks Rebecca and Glenn for all your hard work! Is it summer of 2013 yet? I'm ready to do it all again!!!

Boise!

2011-09-09T22:10:00.008-05:00

After driving through the night we arrived in Boise in time for Brad to board a plane home. The kids slept the entire night in the car and when they woke up they were excited to see their Nelson cousins!

My sweet niece, Ella!

We went with Heather and her kids to the rodeo! I'd never been to a rodeo before and it was tons of fun!!

My niece, Lola!

My nephew, Harrison, had a birthday while we were visiting. Rebecca had some party games for the kids to play.

Lola and Macey in Harrison's new playhouse.

Lola and Annie

Macey with my nephew, Sully. The girls loved taking care and playing with him.

Kambree and Sully

I celebrated my birthday while I was in Boise. Rebecca took me and the girls to get pedicures and manicures.

Rebecca also made me the BEST birthday cake. It was all chocolate with a chocolate mousse in between the layers.

She even got pictures of me to put in her birthday sign.

Happy birthday to me! Thank you Rebecca for making my birthday so wonderful! (my other sisters were out of town at family reunions)

My handsome nephew, Sully again!

Annie made me a birthday sign.

Have you seen all the feathers in people's hair lately? My girls saw cute feathers in their cousins hair and wanted to get their own. Before we left Boise we found a salon and the girls and two of their other cousins "got feathered!"

Rebecca was in charge of the Nelson reunion this year, so I helped do some planning and shopping. The weekend right before we did LOTS of shopping.

At Costco!

After spending over two weeks in Boise it was time for our next reunion. Brad flew back and we headed out.

We stopped in Idaho Falls to see the sights. Luke in front of the Falls.

Brad by the river

My girls rode with my sister, Heather and we took my nephew, Carter. We had a nice quite ride with the boys napping a little and playing the ds together.

Carter and Nelson by the river.

The boys took some time to play football before we left the park.

After the park we headed over to the temple visitors center and looked around. Then we loaded back in the car and we were on our way. Island Park here we come!

Home for the Holidays

2011-09-08T19:00:00.015-05:00

The Hyland's all assembled together this July in St. George, Utah for a week of "Home for the Holidays" Even though this is a super long post I actually didn't take pictures of about half of the activities that we did. We celebrated a different holiday or two every day. Our first day was filled with "Birthday" fun. We had a pizza dinner and cake and ice cream. We also played some "minute to win it" party games put together by Amy and Jacob.

David, Erica, Stacy, and Jacob stacking nuts.

Kayson knocking over water bottles. After this picture my camera died so I didn't get anymore "Birthday" pictures. The kids also decorated pillowcases which is a reunion tradition.

The next day we celebrated Valentine's and Easter. We actually started the morning off with family pictures. Erica took all the pictures and did a great job. (I didn't take any)

Two nephews are on missions, but they made it to the reunion in cardboard form! They even wore their family reunion shirts!
The Hyland siblings

The original Hyland family

Making a rainbow. My girls are the clouds!

Back view

Craft time! We made Valentine boxes which were put in the valentine room so everyone could write valentines or put treats in each other's boxes all week. Luke and my niece, Emily loved the valentine room and spent lots of time in there writing notes for each other and themselves. We also made gratitude journals.

After crafting we had an Easter egg hunt. Brad helps Luke find an egg up high.

Checking out their loot

In the afternoon we went swimming in the two pools, then we had a dinner made by Brad and I.

That night we had an EGG-cellent talent show. This is Kambree being part of a crazy skit that the Day's did.

Nelson shared his musical talent. Annie did some gymnastics, Kambree hula hooped, and Macey played the piano. Luke just watched :)

Wendy and Stacy did a fun musical number!

Every night a different family was in charge of a bedtime story and turn down treat, before we had family prayer and scriptures.

Bryan shared the parable of the cross for our bedtime story to end our Easter day.

The next day we celebrated Halloween! The men headed out early for a Spooktacular golf tournament. Stacy planned crafts for the kids. They made some scary orange Jack o' lanterns and decorated trick or treat bags for later that night. After scripture and family prayer we a participated in a big Monster Mash Wipeout. We split into teams and did an obstacle course all around the yard.

One of the teams finishing in the the last obstacle of having every member in the hot tub.

After some free time in the afternoon and an awesome Halloween dinner by Amy and Jacob, we all dressed up for a costume parade. Our family dressed up as Grandpa Hyland.

Some of us even took a nap just like grandpa.

The missionaries needed costumes too!

Bryan and Erica and family dressed as Maverick players and Prudy and Dennis were Maverick fans. We all walked down the driveway to the road and waved at all the passing cars-crazy family!

That night we went for a spooky night swim and had s'mores by the pool.

Merry Christmas!! Audrey had some Christmas crafts for us. The kids made snow globes and we all made ornaments. Then we headed outside for a Christmas miniature golf course. All the holes were really fun and creative.

That afternoon the women went Christmas shopping while everyone else had some free time. We had a yummy Christmas dinner of brisket and potatoes made by Audrey and Chris. After dinner the kids played Reindeer games that Erica had organized. The kids played Bingo and when they won they got to put on reindeer antlers and nose.

We had a special visitor (David) come help us celebrate Christmas. Everyone got a turn to sit on Santa's lap and get a cute stocking. We also did a white elephant gift exchange.

To end the night we watched a Christmas movie outside on the patio. The kids used tickets that they earned all week for participating and being kind to each other, to purchase concessions like popcorn, candy, and soda. Brad and I were in charge of the bedtime story and we had everyone sing The Twelve Days of Christmas.

Our last day we celebrated the 4th of July. In the morning the kids decorated beautiful scrapbooks put together by Grandma. After lunch we headed out for some sight seeing.

Our first stop was Brigham Young's winter home. Here some of us are waiting on the beautiful porch.

My kids all love their cousins.

Learning a little history

Our next stop was the St. George tabernacle.

Nelson is standing beside a brick that has been engraved or signed by the man who cut it. The man's name was Nelson. (if you enlarge the picture you can see it)

Our last stop was the St. George temple. Earlier that morning Brad, Wendy, and I went to do a session. I loved the historic feel of this temple.

That night Bryan and Erica made hamburges and hotdogs for dinner. Then we played some lawn games. It was Karly's 14th birthday, so we celebrated with her.

Once it got dark we had an Independence Day Spectacular with family glow stick routines. They were one of my favorite parts of the week. Everyone's routine was so fun to watch!

We had a great week celebrating the holidays. My sister in law, Wendy was in charge and she did a wonderful job organizing everything. I wish I had more pictures of all the fun things we did. My sister in laws and mother in law all had the cutest crafts and turn down treats. I'm so thankful to have married into such an awesome family! I can't wait for summer '13!

On our way!

2011-08-17T22:31:00.007-05:00

We left for our long summer vacation in the middle of July. Our first stop at a gas station was memorable! We saw a man leading a dog around, but the dog was not ordinary. There was a cat standing on top of the dog with a rat standing on top of the cat! CRAZY!! The picture was taken with a cell phone so it isn't very good, but you can see the cat on top of the dog. The white thing around the neck of the cat is the rat, which was sliding off while I took the picture.

We stopped a big rest stop to change out of pj's and use the restroom. There was a playground to try out and stretch the kids legs.

After a night in Flagstaff, we head to the GRAND CANYON! Here is our fist look!

Notice that Brad is holding the girls hands...they were really close to the edge!

Waiting for the shuttle to take us back to the visitor center after we did a hike.

Brad and Annie on the shuttle.

Can you see the Colorado River?

After the Grand Canyon we made our way through parts of the Navajo Reservation to St. George. We stopped at a huge bridge that was built over the river.The view down from the bridge.

The girls looking way down.

BANG! It's July

2011-08-17T22:18:00.002-05:00

Brad turned 40 this July! His birthday wasn't till the middle of the month. Knowing we wouldn't all be together to celebrate, we a had mini birthday celebration at the beginning of the month.

The younger 4 kids and I celebrated the 4th of July with some friends. Brad and Nelson were off sweating at scout camp.

The beginning of summer

2011-08-17T16:13:00.006-05:00

Nelson became a teenager on June 18th!

We celebrated Father's Day with lots of homemade cards from the kids.

Even Grandpa got some homemade gifts.

Grandma's birthday was the day before Nelson's so she got presents too!

My attempt at a Mavericks logo cake. (please do not look too closely!)

We went to a puppet show and foam party place. Can you find Kambree in all these bubbles?

Annie made her way out!!

Luke

We planted a garden this year and it did really well! We enjoyed zucchini, squash, tomatoes, beets, and cucumbers.

May Flowers

2011-08-16T22:08:00.007-05:00

The month of May started out with a visit from my sister, Rebecca, and her family. I did take some pictures, but unfortunately the month of May also had computer problems which included having all the pictures on my computer wiped out. We did have a lot of fun even if there are no pictures to prove it! We celebrated Mother's Day, ate BBQ, visited the zoo, saw Nelson join the National Junior Honor Society (lost those pictures too), ate at Jason's Deli, and did lots of visiting. Thank you Rebecca, Glenn, Harrison, and Sully for coming all the way here to see us!

Luke did Joy School this year. There were 3 kids in his group and they had a great and fun year! In the middle of May we did a graduation for them. They did a graduation march and performed a few songs that they had learned. Then we had some fun graduation treats.

Nelson had an end of the year band concert. They sounded great!

Kambree did great this year. She got some awards at her 3rd grade ceremony including citizenship and AB honor roll.

Macey graduated from Elementary school this year. We all went out to Jason's Deli for dinner before her ceremony.

Her fifth grade class.

Getting her certificate from the principle.

Beautiful girl!

Annie getting her awards.

Annie's teacher had a baby two weeks before school ended. They had a sub that was wonderful and helped the kids make the cutest poster with all the kids holding letters that spelled out the baby's name.

Annie and her teacher, Mrs. Pope.

Macey and Mrs. Jones

Kambree and Mrs. Hopson.

Luke's graduation

The Month of April

2011-06-03T09:48:00.008-05:00

This month was fun with dancing and Easter parties. Annie had a dance rehearsal in the middle of the month. She loved that she got a purple costume! She really enjoyed her class this year especially with a great friend to dance with in class.

Brad came to watch her for the rehearsal since he wasn't going to be there for the performance (special church meeting)

Easter was so late this year that you would think I would have been really prepared, but of course the opposite was true. We did have a fun celebration with egg dying, hunts, eating, and a Sunday family devotional.

Dying eggs

Lots of bright colored eggs

On the hunt

There were a few extra visitors at our party!

My nephew, Jacob

Luke finally was brave enough to hold one. None of my other kids got brave enough!

He even smiled!

Easter outfits

I told him to pose..ha ha

Annie at her recital all ready to dance

On stage, they dance to "colors of the wind"

After the performance

Grandma and Grandpa came to watch too and gave her flowers.

Mrs. Pope and Annie. Annie's teacher came to watch her and another girl in their class. We ended up leaving early, so Mrs. Pope came to our house to let Annie know she had seen her dance and give her some flowers. What an awesome teacher! Annie was just beaming, she felt so loved!

A March Post...Finally!

2011-05-17T21:46:00.020-05:00

Well, now that it is the middle of May I thought it would be the perfect time to post about March. Both Annie and Macey had birthdays this month and they both had friend parties as well. We also enjoyed spring break with a quick trip to Galveston and Houston.

For Annie's party she wanted a Fairy theme..but not a Tinkerbell fairy theme. The girls decorated wearable fairy wings with foam stickers, markers, and glitter glue. They made some really great creations!

They also played pin the wings on the fairy, went on a treasure hunt to find fairy gold, and found all the fairies that were hiding around the house.

They ate cupcakes sprinkled with fairy dust at the end of all the fun!

Here is our first picture of our spring break trip. Luke was so excited he fell asleep!

Waiting for the ferry on Galveston Island.

The kids loved riding the ferry. It was pretty cold and super windy, but a fun and different experience. On the way back we even saw dolphins.

This was the youngest kids first trip to see the ocean. (yes, technically the gulf of Mexico)

Even though it was cold and windy the kids had a great time looking for shells, and playing in the sand and water.

Annie, Luke, and Kambree all ended up soaked. They loved jumping waves with Brad.

My sandcastle.

Nelsons big moat.

We wrote messages in the sand.

Kambree's message was: How are you?

After the beach we drove to check out the boardwalk in Kumah. (still cold and windy)

That night we stayed in a hotel and went out for Jason's Deli.

Our next stop was the Aquarium in Houston. It was cool and a little rainy, but we had a great time.

Can you see Kambree in the bubble?

Photo op!

The view from the Ferris Wheel. You can see Brad and Luke on the bench. We loved our quick vacation. It wasn't the best of weather, but we didn't have any crowds and we didn't have to travel very far. I'd love to go to the same area next year.

Macey asked for an Owl cake for her birthday this year. After checking out the Internet for ideas, this is what I came up with. I thought it turned out awesome!

A new watch.

The gift she as waiting for

Annie celebrated her 7th birthday. We continued with our tradition of a St. Patricks Day themed Birthday cake.

Annie wanted to make it a fairy themed cake before she blew out the candles, so she added her new tinkerbelle.

Macey had an Owl themed birthday party. The girls enjoyed waffles for dinner with syrup, whipped cream, strawberries, and chocolate chips.

The girls made owl hair clips, decorated owl cookies, and made owl shrinkydink key chains.

All their cookies.

Here are Macey's cookies.

Opening gifts.

Cute Owl cupcakes.

Their keychains.

Our birthday month was lots of fun. I especially enjoyed making the cakes and cupcakes this year.

Back to February

2011-03-22T20:32:00.005-05:00

Before I can blog about March and all of our birthday mania I need to get our February pictures on here. We started off the month with Super Bowl Sunday!! I really don't watch the game, but I do make good food! We also use it as and excuse to eat dinner while watching the TV.

Gotta have something healthy!

We always have a cake!

It all looks good!

We did the traditional "Nelson" Valentine's Day exchange again this year to celebrate the day of LOVE! I had Brad.

Luke had Me

Macey had Nelson (I don't know why she's not in the picture)

Kambree had Macey

Dad had Kambree

Nelson had Annie. I told him he had a actually write something nice about her in the card. He needed a little help, but ended up doing a good job.

Annie had Luke. She made lots of stuff, including a pretty cool lion puppet.

Brad got me some beautiful tulips for Valentine's ~ my favorite

The weather started to get warmer by the end of February so Brad decided we should have dinner outside on the patio.

Daffodils from around our yard.

Nelson's school had a night you could come and see all the projects that the students had been working on during the year. His big calculator project for Algebra is behind him. (Pokemon)

That is our month of February! March had proven to be much busier so far. I'm excited to post about birthdays and Spring Break!

Snow Day

2011-01-26T13:51:00.006-06:00

It snowed! It is such a rare occurrence around here that I have to blog about it. After seeing my sister's blog, and my mom's snow pictures the amount of snow we got is embarrassing! Anyway, my kids loved being outside in the snow. They played in it all Sunday afternoon and since it actually stayed cold they went and a played again after school the next day. For me the fact that the snow stayed around for a few days was very exciting.

Happy #4 Luke

2011-01-17T15:58:00.002-06:00

Luke has been waiting all year for his birthday. When he turned 3 I think he thought his birthday was just an extension of the Christmas holidays, he still just didn't quite get it. As all the other kids had birthdays, he begged, and pleaded for his to be "tomorrow!" His special day finally did arrive and I think he had a great day! His dad made him a BIG birthday sign.

He is excited for his day! After decorating in the morning, Brad and I took him to the mall and we had Chick-fil-a for lunch.

Playing with his happy meal toy after all the kids get home from school.

His birthday fell on a Wednesday this year, which is a crazy evening day. We did manage to celebrate though. The night before we went to his favorite place to eat, Jason's Deli. We invited Grandma and Grandpa over at 4:15pm (between getting everyone home and having everyone leave again) for presents and cake.

Checking out the presents

The night before I asked Luke what kind of cake he wanted. He wasn't sure so we look on the Internet for ideas. He liked the lightening McQueen cake we saw.

This was my first time "carving" a cake.

I think it turned out pretty well. Luke kept telling me how awesome it was as he helped me decorate it. He put the candles on himself.

Blowing out the candles on his "awesome Lightening McQueen cake!"

4 things about Luke

1. He loves to point out letters and tell who they belong to. eg. L belongs to him, N belongs to Nelson, but he has to share L with Nelson and Mom

2. When he is bored in the afternoon he tells me "Hey, I think its time to go pick up the kids!" or if he wants to know where Brad is he asks "Is dad working or at the church?"

3. He loves to go to Joy school and playgroup

4. He is the loudest and most outgoing child in our family.

Luke you are AWESOME!

Happy 2011!!

2011-01-13T14:19:00.005-06:00

We had our annual Hyland Family New Years party on Dec 31/Jan 1. We really partied this year! Our family didn't get home till about 2:45am. We enjoyed lots of good food, great presents, and fun entertainment.

Look at that adorable baby in his had made by his awesome aunt :)

Two crazy cousins!

Let the unwrapping begin!

What did Annie get?

Macey opened a whole stack!

Nelson opening his much awaited itunes gift card.

All the grandkids waiting to open their presents from Grandma.

She made them all block night lights

Macey's

Annie's

Kambree's

Nelson and Luke's

Nelson's all lit up.

And, I guess that is the end of the pictures. The night was much to fun and busy to remember to take pictures. I love our New Years parties. I love seeing all the talent my sister in laws have with the awesome gifts they make. The kids love playing with cousins and the adults all enjoy each others company. This year we did lots of dancing too! Happy New Years Everyone!

Friends

2011-01-11T13:59:00.002-06:00

Between Christmas and New Years we were lucky enough to visit with some great friends. Two different families that we were friends with moved away over a year ago, and they both stopped by this holiday season to say hi while they were in town. Thanks everyone for coming to see us, we miss you a lot! (Unfortunately I only took pictures of the first visit)

They were best friends and it was so fun to see them reconnect so quickly. They even made plans to be roommates at BYU :)

Luke would not cooperate, but look at her beautiful smile!

Merry Christmas!

2011-01-09T18:45:00.005-06:00

The tree all ready for the kids to wake up.

Kambree gets a snuggie

Brad gets a new tie.

Nelson got a surprise present!

Yep! He is happy!

I think we all had a great Christmas morning. The kids were excited with all their presents and stocking stuff. I didn't get too many pictures since I was enjoying watching the kids excitement!

Christmas Eve

2011-01-06T22:52:00.005-06:00

Merry Christmas Eve. Every year we do progressive dinner with our family that lives here in town. We start at Brad's brothers house with wonderful appetizers. Then, we head over to the grandparents for dinner. We ended at our home with dessert. We act our the Christmas story before digging in to all the treats. It is a bring your own costume and it is my favorite part of the night. This year Brad's sisters family was in town visiting so we had a great group!

Getting ready for our play.

Waiting to start. Annie decided to be a lamb and came up with and made her costume all by herself.

The shepherds and wise men.

Mary and Joseph

All the beautiful angels. Dennis is in the back narrating.

After everyone went home and before going to bed we opened the presents from each other. Nelson got Luke a small fry bear.

Annie got a bottle cap necklace from mom.

Kambree got snowman earrings that Macey made from her.

Macey got hand sanitizers and holders from her dad.

Nelson got a BYU pillowcase that Luke helped make.

Brad got one too, but Annie helped make his. I of course do not have picture, but I did get a wonderful present. Kambree got me an awesome watch.

Then it was off to bed!

December 1st till Christmas

2011-01-06T21:37:00.008-06:00

We started off our Christmas season at the Christmas parade. This was our third and warmest year to attend. I love this night parade, it is not too long and there is lots of candy.

Brad sitting on the curb with the kids.

We went with some good friends from our ward.

Checking out the candy in their hats.

Even the little guy enjoyed the parade.

My favorite float was this gingerbread house.

Here come Santa and Mrs. Claus. Now the Christmas season has officially started!

Cute elf hats that I crocheted for some of my favorite nephews and friends.

The girls and I made these cute hand sanitizer snowmen for our friends and teachers. I found the idea on the internet, but unfortunatley I lost my bookmarked list so I don't know which blog. (thanks for the idea whoever you are...they were perfect!)

Luke and I went with playgroup to the Christmas tree farm. He enjoyed playing on all the old farm equipment the best.

Luke with some of his friends.

Every year we talk the kids to "Holiday in the Park" where they have a manmade sledding hill. This is Kambree coming down backwards.

Here comes Macey.

There's Annie.

I wish I would of got a shot of Luke's face. It was a look of pure terror! He jumped off and said "that was fun!" but he didn't want to do it again.

The week before Christmas we made time to make gingerbread houses.

I think this one is Nelson's

This is Kambree's.

Making our houses.

Cousin Dane was here to make houses with us!

Macey making her house.

Luke made his all by himself. (I should of taken a picture of the new hot water heater that was installed while we were decorating our houses. Merry Christmas :) )

Annie lost her two front teeth on the same day right before Christmas. You'll never guess what song she learned to sing! So cute!!

Haunted October

2010-11-02T22:23:00.012-05:00

I love the month of October. It kicks off the whole holiday season for me. Plus, we FINALLY get a little taste of cooler weather. We were able to do some fun things this month. So get ready for lots of pictures!

We went to the Pumpkin farm that we have attended since it's beginnings four years ago. Each year it gets bigger and better!

The kids keep getting bigger and better too!

This year there were some new really neat photo op places.

The barrel train is always my kids favorite.

Playing on the tire swing.

Lots of fun!

They always really like the teeter totter too!

Don't forget the tether ball!

The boys on the hayride.

The girls on the hayride.

Checking out the tractor at the pumpkin patch.

Close up...ummm where is Macey?

Nelson caught a grasshopper.

Wow! Cute pumpkins!

During October our city has a Rose festival with a parade. After living here for five years we finally made it to our first one. Of course we had a great reason for being there....Nelson was marching in his middle school band. Here comes the band!

There they go.... Nelson was on the opposite side of us so I didn't get a good picture, but they sounded great!

Watching the parade.

Here are Luke and Brad at the Elementary Family Fun Night.

Still at Family Fun Night. Nelson and I volunteered in the Haunted Hallway and spent the night listening to kids scream at their lungs in a hot sweaty hallway. Annie and Macey went in the haunted hallway, but we didn't see them, I guess they just blended in with all the other screaming kids.

Candy Corn cupcakes for family night.

Getting ready to have fun at the ward Trunk or Treat.

The whole family is all dressed up for fun.

Nelson is Percy Jackson from the Last Olympians.

Kambree is a gypsy.

Annie is a butterfly.

Luke is Captain Hook.

Macey is a Flower Power girl.

Brad and I are thing 1 and thing 2.

Everyone having fun at the party.

Kambree is ready for the Treat part.

Walking the red carpet.

Our trunk

The best part of the night....checking out the loot!

Luke lined his up in a row.

The day before Halloween we went the the Zoo for Boo at the Zoo. Can you tell which butterfly is Annie?

Taking a break and having shaved ice in cool pumpkin face cups.

A picture before we go. Boo at the Zoo is really fun. There are lots of photo ops, a haunted house, and little carnival games. It is also really fun to see everyone in their costumes.

Brad and I dressed up too. We were a big hit and someone even asked to take our picture!

On our way home we stopped at the library where they give you a free book if you are dressed up.

That night we went to our friends home to see if we could find a few houses to trick or treat at. We found a few neighbors at home (remember it was Sat. not Sun.) and then went to Braums for ice cream, because of course the kids haven't had enough sugar!

After church on Sunday we had our traditional Spooky Dinner. We enjoyed bloody monster toes, blackened nail witches fingers, bat chips with brain dip, and putrid punch.

Macey's pumpkin

Nelson's pumpkin

Mom's pumpkin

We had a great October! Happy Halloween!

Stuff we've been up to

2010-09-24T21:57:00.005-05:00

My awesome friend sent this scripture tote to me. It was the first one she'd ever made and she came up with her own pattern and everything! I love it!

Luke started Joy School this month. He is having school with two little girls once a week. He has gone three time and this rotation has been at our house. He keeps asking when he'll get to leave and go to school...next week!

I hosted a baby shower for one of my most wonderful friends! This is the banner I made with the baby's name.

Here is my first attempt at a diaper cake. I thought it turned out pretty well!

Brad got me a cricut for my birthday and I finally took the time to use it this month. I did a bunch of vinyl stuff.

I added some extra things to Nelson's BYU wall.

I finally repainted my game room!!!!! I have been wanting to do it for about a year. There have been paint sample cards tucked into the base boards for at least 7 months. Brad and I finally chose a color, bought all the supplies and I got started.

The game room was a dark red

I started with the primer

We did half of the room and then moved everything to the other side and did the other half. Brad did help me. Do you see those green walls? It turned out alot brighter that we were expecting!!
Half the room is done.

Starting the second half

The finished room! I put things up on the walls pretty quick. I had the wrought iron bar for a long time and had never put it up. I love how the vinyl names turned out. I still haven't put up pictures of us , but I'm happy that I got this far.

Our new IKEA shelf. My dad put it together for me when he was here. (I love it!)

At first I really didn't like the shade of green. It was much more intense than I was wanting, but it has defiantly grown on me. Now I really enjoy this room. (Thank goodness for hosting a baby shower! It was my motivation to get this done quick.) I still have more pictures to hang, but, I feel great about this project!

Back to School

2010-08-29T16:22:00.003-05:00

It's official! We all made it though the first week back to school. The kids seemed to do better as the week went on. To me the week seemed more like a month as all the memories of DRIVING kids everywhere came back. I am very happy that the kids fell right back into the routine of everything. We'll have to see how these next few weeks go as more homework and after school activities and practices are introduced. The pictures are of the kids right before leaving for the first day.

off to 1st grade

7th grade

3rd grade

5th grade (she was so nervous she was sick to her stomach and couldn't eat breakfast. Poor girl! She did great once we were at the school and went into her classroom like a true "oldest in the school" student.

All of them together. Pretty good pictures especially since I made them all get out the car to take them! Here's hoping its a great year!!

The rest of the summer

2010-08-19T19:45:00.014-05:00

I finally sat down to post about the month of July and realized that August was almost over. The kids will be starting school on Monday so I thought I might as well post about the rest of the summer. Since the end of June we have celebrated 4 birthdays, I went to Idaho, Kambree was baptized, we went to six flags, and Grandma and Grandpa Nelson came to visit. As always I have posted lots of pictures to illustrate our summer!

The 4th of July! We had some friends over for dinner. Once it was dark we went outside and set off a few fireworks that they had brought.

In the middle of July I headed to Boise to spend a long weekend with all my sisters, sister in laws, and my mom. There were 8 of us. We did lots of talking, crafting, shopping and eating. The only thing we didn't do was sleep! It was so much fun connecting with all my sisters again and getting to know them even better. I look forward to the next sister weekend in two years!

Some earrings that I made while in Boise

Some necklace pendants. We did some medal stamping, which was fun.

Brad turned 39 this year. His birthday fell on a Sunday so the day before Nelson and I went and got 39 helium balloons to put in his office at church.

I think I actually surprised him! After church Brad gave each primary child a balloon to take home. You should of seen all the happy kids around the church!

The sign the girls made for his door. There are 39 candles all around it.

Brad's birthday sign and his presents.

Brad got lots of homemade cards from the kids.

He also got a new tie, scriptures, and of course new socks!

We filled a laundry basket with 39 of Brad's favorite snacks. The kids put a "love note" on each item to let him know why they loved him.

Brad checking out his treats!

Getting ready to blow out the candles.

Lots of Candles.

Right after having cake we loaded up and drove to attend my nephew's Court of Honor. That night we stayed in a Hotel across the street from Six Flags. The next morning we headed over to six flags to spend the day. We all had a great time. It was really hot, but we stayed hydrated and went on lots of water rides. Luke was tall enough to ride everything with us and it was fun to go on the rides all together as a family.

Flowers for my birthday

Notice that I am wearing a jacket! It was hot outside, but I wasn't feeling very well on my birthday. I was still able to enjoy cake and ice cream and a late dinner out with Brad. Brad gave me a cricut and some guilt free cash! Even with my cold it was a great day.

My cake (notice it is chocolate)

Blowing out the candles

Kambree's birthday is next! These are the gumball cupcakes we had with some of her friends.

Our friends girls came over to play games and have cupcakes. We played games all with a "gum" theme.

Kambree and her birthday sign

Opening presents from Grandma and Grandpa Hyland

A new bike from mom and dad

A Gumball machine cake. Kambree's favorite thing is GUM!

Blowing out her candles

My sister in law took some beautiful "baptism" pictures of Kambree. These are some of my favorites.

The kids all ready to go to Kambree's Baptism (Nelson wasn't ready yet)

Brad and Kambree right before the baptism. It was a wonderful meeting. Nelson gave the talk on Baptism and Kambree's cousin, Sarah, gave the talk on the Holy Ghost. (These pictures are from my mom's camera and I don't know how to change the angle)

Kambree right after she was baptized. My mom made her beautiful dress. After the baptism we had refreshments with the theme "Great to be 8" I don't know why we didn't take some pictures. The favorite were #8 shaped sugar cookies. They were a labor of love, but looked and tasted great. (thanks for the idea Rebecca)

My parents came for the baptism and for a visit. While they were here my dad celebrated his birthday. Here he is looking at some homemade cards from the kids.

Birthday pie. Brad and I took my parents on a drive and while we were gone the kids put up streamers and balloons to decorate.

Blowing out the candles

Luke coloring. While my parents were here, Brad and I left to go to the temple and have a short get-away. These pictures are from when we were gone.

Grandpa took everyone to Wal Mart to pick out a treat and get a movie from the red box.

Macey

While we were gone we bought a bookshelf from Ikea. Nelson made a little house for Luke out of the boxes.

While Grandma and Grandpa were here we went Bowling. Here is Annie

Luke

Macey

Nelson

We had a great visit with my parents. I wish we were able to see them more often. I guess we will look forward to seeing them again next summer. Our summer really has been good. I'm not quite ready for it to be over, but we went to "meet the teacher" this afternoon and on Monday morning they will be back in school. I'm thankful of the memories and experinces that we have had this summer!

June 2010

2010-06-27T22:42:00.009-05:00

So what have we been up to? Nelson has been playing tennis, going to Fasst camp (flexibility, agility, strength, ?, training) volunteering at the library, turning 12, and going to scout camp. The rest of us...well, we haven't been that busy. The girls, Luke and I, have done lots of swimming and we just went to visit some friends for the weekend. Brad has been busy with his church calling and work. So far the summer has been great! Now for the pictures. There are lots of them!

Macey getting her end of school awards. She finished on the A honor roll. Kambree had an end of the school award thing to, but I didn't bring the camera. She finished on the AB honor roll.

Kambree and Mrs. Mosley

Macey and Mrs. McCarter. Macey told me that this has been her best year of school!

Annie and Mrs. Jordan

Annie and her good friend.

Annie and another one of her cute friends!

I painted this BYU on Nelson's bedroom wall. He has wanted a BYU room for a year now. Last spring I painted the room the BYU blue, and now I have finally gotten this done. The next project is curtains. I painted it while Nelson was at scout camp so it was waiting for him as a surprise. He loved it!

Teacher gifts already to go. Thanks Alana for the Country Time tags.

Close up!

I made this quilt for my parents 40th anniversary. It was my first attempt at machine quilting. I learned alot and hope to make another quilt soon.

I love the colors!

I made these purses too. The brown and blue one is mine and I made the other one for my mother in law's birthday.

The inside of mine. Macey does not think it matches.

The inside of Prudy's.

I thought they turned out really well. If I make it again I think I'd make it a little bigger.

Cute kids during a rare moment of getting along.

Nelson and I snuck into Brad's office to decorate it for Father's Day.

I think this is the first time I actually surprised him!

Nelson turned 12 on the last day of Scout camp. I went to the camp to have dinner with him and pick him up(it was parents night). Once he was back home and cleaned up we had a quick little family party.

Nelson got 12 presents for turning 12. The girls made his Happy Birthday sign

The girls all made lots of cards and crafts for all the birthdays and Father's Day.

For the extended Family birthday party I made Nelson a BYU cupcake cake.

Waiting to open presents.

Nelson was ordained a Deacon last Sunday and today he passed the sacrament for the first time. He also gave his first talk as a youth speaker. He did a wonderful job on both! I am so proud of him.

Just hangin out and lookin cool! Now we will wait and see what July brings us!!!

Backyard Finds

2010-05-23T19:25:00.002-05:00

Recital Time

2010-04-27T19:58:00.004-05:00

Annie had her 3rd recital this past Saturday. The theme was "When I Grow Up!" Her class was Train Conductors. ( I highly doubt even one of them has ever thought of growing up to be a train conductor haha)

Here is Annie after her show holding flowers from Grandma and Grandpa Hyland.

All ready to Dance.

Her class.

She loves dancing and is already talking about what class she'll be in next year. (I'm very happy for the break!)

Annie is missing something!

2010-04-21T19:59:00.003-05:00

Annie lost her first tooth!! She also got a new bed on the same day, so she had her first tooth fairy visit on the same night that she slept in her new bed for the first time!

Easter!! (I know I'm late!)

2010-04-21T19:05:00.004-05:00

The day before Easter we had some friends over for a party between conference sessions.

We started out with a big potluck lunch...yum!

After lunch we dyed eggs (outside...yes no mess!)

Luke turned blue before any of the eggs.

He did get some eggs colored!

All the girls loved using pink!

I don't know how many dozen we dyed....but there were lots of colorful eggs.

After egg dying the kids went on a egg hunt.

Luke found his 10 really fast!

After the candy egg hunt the older kids hid the dyed eggs in the backyard for the younger kids to find.

Kambree and her friend.

The weather was beautiful! We had a great time at the party. Thanks to my friend for suggesting it!!

Kambree on Easter with her basket.

Nelson had most of his basket gone before we even ate breakfast!

Macey

Annie. I think Luke was asleep when I took these pictures, but I assure you he has a basket full of treat and he loved it. He told me the next Saturday that we had all better get to bed so the Easter bunny could come again. Sorry, not till next year!! We finished our Easter weekend with a wonderful dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Hylands with some cousins and a wonderful meal!

Birthday Mania!

2010-03-18T16:34:00.007-05:00

This post is a little of everything that we have been doing the last couple of days in celebration of Macey and Annie's birthdays.

On Sunday night we made a peace sign cake for Macey. She wanted to invite her friend over for cake. We invited the friend and her whole family over to sing Happy Birthday and have some cake. Macey liked how her cake turned out!

Macey had a hard time blowing out her candles. She kept laughing and it sounded like she was panting. She did finally get them all out!

Macey and my nephew, Jacob, share the same birthday. So on their "real" birthday we had Jacob and his family, and Grandma and Grandpa over for pizza. We also celebrated Annie's birthday since Wednesday's (her "real" birthday) are too crazy to try and get everyone together.

Jacob opening his present from Grandma and Grandpa

Macey opening a book from the family.

Annie checking out her card from Grandma and Grandpa.

A picture that Luke took.

Another picture from Luke

Erica brought the cake. She got a HUGE cookie cake that had all three of the kids names and ages on it. It was very fun.

The birthday kids checking out the cake.

Macey's traditional birthday sign picture. (she was upset with me because I forgot to take it before she changed into pj's) Macey is now 10 years old. I have two kids in the double digits!! She is sweet, helpful, and kind. I'm very happy that she is my first daughter!
10 facts about Macey

1. She is the oldest daughter

2. She is a talented card maker

3. She writes creative stories

4. She is learning how to be a good cleaner

5. She can do her own hair

6. She loves to go to Activity Days

7. She wants to be a teacher when she grows up

8. All her teachers love her

9. She has learned to enjoy reading books on her own

10. She is learning to play the piano.

Now for Annie's Birthday/St. Patrick's Day!!

This is Kambree's St. Patricks Day hair do.

Here is Annie's. Can you tell they are 3 leaf clovers?

Almost every year Annie gets a St. Patty's Day themed birthday cake. This year I did a rainbow cake inside and out. (Heather I heard you made one too!)

First I made 6 bowls of batter in the colors of the rainbow.

After they were all baked I had them cool on the counter.

All stacked up.

Annie's traditional birthday poster picture. See her hat? She wore it all day and didn't take it off till bedtime, even when we went out to dinner!

Opening presents.

Checking everything out.

Now back to the cake. I finished decorating it. I had a few problems because I tried a new icing recipe and it was too runny even though it tasted really good! The layers kept on sliding around and it didn't stick to the sides very well.

Blowing out the candles.

It looks pretty fun inside! We actually didn't eat the cake for a few hours after she blew out the candles. First we went out to dinner at our families favorite restaurant, Jason's Deli, then we split up. Brad took Macey to her thing and we took Nelson to his thing. A few hours later after picking everyone up we finally had cake.

The next two pictures are for Grandma Merrilee. She loves her Fairies book!

Her new outfit fits great!

Annie is now 6! She is very lovable. She loves Kindergarten! All year I have heard "Miss Jordan says...." To Annie everything her teacher says is THE LAW! What a fun girl she is! I am so very happy to have her in our family

6 facts about Annie

1. She has beautiful long blond hair

2. She is learning to read

3. She loves to play with her sisters

4. She talks alot!!!

5. She is very good at dancing

6. She still loves to cuddle

Well, our Birthday mania is over. It was very busy around here for awhile especially when you add in our Anniversary the week before! (13 years) I do enjoy making cakes and trying to make sure the kids feel special on their day. Macey and Annie we love you!

Spring Break!

2010-03-14T21:42:00.007-05:00

The kids were able to enjoy Spring Break this past week. We started out visiting with our friends. The Walters stopped by to visit before heading to Megan's gym meet. We sure miss them!

Best buds!

After a rainy day, some dentist appointments, and a wonderful lunch out with Grandma, we headed to the fish hatchery. This is Luke enjoying a tram ride around the hatching ponds.

Nelson, Luke, and Kambree with the alligators in the background.

All the kids that were with us on our outing (3 families)

After checking out some exhibits, walking a nature trail, and watching a dive show, the kids set out to do some fishing.

Annie is ready to go.

Nelson relaxing while he fishes. (he was taking things pretty seriously!)

Annie again

This is Macey's reaction to her first catch!

She tried to get a little closer for a picture. My friend was brave enough to take the fish off the hook. Thanks Nicole

Annie's first catch. Unfortunately, Nicole wasn't by us to get out the hook. I tried, but the hook was way down in the fishes mouth so I ended up asking a man the was by us to help out.

The next day we were off to the zoo. The girls are all standing in the elephants footprint. Nelson didn't come, he got to go to work with Brad instead.

Luke's favorite are the giraffes. He wouldn't pose by them though. He hasn't like being in pictures lately.

The next shots are of a place called "Mrs. Lee's Garden" Its a private property full of daffodils. For about 6 weeks each spring they allow people to drive the property to see all the daffodils. It is about a four mile drive through the property.

Luke still didn't like being in pictures!

This is how Nelson looked most of the trip. He was not impressed by the beauty of the daffodils.

The week is over...back to getting up at 6:45, practicing lessons, and doing homework!

It's a warm 54 degrees

2010-02-27T23:04:00.003-06:00

Do you see the girl in her bikini soaking up the sun on her roof? This is what we saw around lunchtime when we looked out the window. The funniest thing is that it isn't even that warm here. The temp at this time was 54 degrees (12 celcius)!! I guess she wanted to get a jump start on her base tan!

I went out to the back of the yard to get a better picture, but the tree was in the way. I guess I could of tried harder to get a better shot, but I didn't want any of our neighbors seeing me trying to take pictures of the sunbathing beauty! Haha...it really was too funny not to take pictures of and post!

Happy Love Day!

2010-02-14T21:51:00.007-06:00

Macey and I started our day decorating Brad's office for Valentines Day. We also brought muffins, juice, and fruit for the Bishopric.

Alana... did you notice the picture on the desk? It is of the kids spelling LOVE U-thanks for the idea!

We also left Valentines on all the chairs for them to enjoy.

I made a cake for my laurel class. ( It was part of an object lesson....thanks Heather)

Of course the girls all wore V-day hair do's! This one is thanks to "Adopt a do Cute Girls Hairstyles" (Link on my sidebar) Can you tell it's an X and O?

Macey and Annie's do's are thanks to "The Story of a Princess and her Hair" (Link on my sidebar)

For the second year we exchanged names. Luke had dad.

Annie had Nelson

Kambree had Luke

Macey had Kambree

Nelson had Macey

Mom had Annie. Brad had me and he made an awesome Valentine, but we didn't take a picture.

Dinner included some Love Potion. Annie wanted to know what the potion made you do!

We had some decorations!

What a fun day! I hope you all had a happy love day too!!

SNOW!

2010-02-12T12:52:00.007-06:00

Do you remember on Christmas Eve how excited we were that snowflakes were falling? Imagine how we felt this morning when we woke up to this!!!! (6 inches)

We have not seen snow like this since leaving Utah over 4 1/2 years ago! Luke has never been in snow like this before. He has played in it the most of all the kids (though I will admit he does actually have snow boots) The kids have been in and out, building snowmen and forts. What a fun snow day!

Surprise Christmas Gifts!

2010-01-13T22:55:00.002-06:00

My kids, like lots of others out there, had seen all the commercials and were convinced that they needed Zhu Zhu pets for Christmas. They asked for them all thru the Thanksgiving holiday and a week or so after before I decided I'd better give them all a little reality check. I of course had seen the news and been to the stores and new they weren't readily available. I even checked on ebay and did find some for $99! I explained to the girls that it looked like Santa wouldn't be able to make enough Zhu Zhu's for all the kids who wanted them, so what else did they want for
Christmas? They asked for a few other things and were still excited for Christmas. Well, Christmas morning came and we were in the middle of opening gifts and Luke opened a Zhu Zhu pet!!! You should of seen the look of shock on Macey's face (I wish I had a picture of that!) She looked at me and asked "Did Luke just get a Zhu Zhu?" "How?!?" I replied, "I guess he asked Santa for one." Then she wondered it she was going to get one, so I asked her if she had asked Santa for one. She said she was going to, but I told her that there was no way Santa could bring her one. (She was getting a little upset!) I told her, Oh well. We continued opening gifts and it wasn't long before all the girls had a Zhu Zhu! It was a fun Christmas surprise!!

I spent an afternoon making some Zhu Zhu condos. The kids opened these before the Zhu Zhu's and just looked at them and said thanks. I don't know what they thought they were going to use them for!

For Luke's New Years gift exchange he got a Zhu Zhu exercise wheel.

The Zhu Zhu's in their condos and sleeping bags.

Here is Kambree's

This one is Luke's, he named him George

The critters and their condos

Luke got some more accessories for his birthday. These little things really are pretty cute. They actually did even more than I thought they would. You can put them in this thing and they will go down the tunnels. The pink tunnel leads to the exercise wheel. They go on their own on the floor as well. They go forward, backward, turn, and make noises. Cute stuff!

Happy Birthday to my Baby!

2010-01-07T21:31:00.002-06:00

We have been talking about Luke's birthday for about a month now. He had consistently told me that he wanted a Diego cake, but he was a little confused since Christmas was so close to his birthday. He wanted Santa to bring him a Diego cake. Santa didn't pull it off, but since he brought other great stuff, Luke as OK. Mom did pull it off and this is what I came up with.

I made the Diego by doing a "butter cream transfer" (I learned about it on the Internet)

Luke was happy with his cake!

Luke enjoyed opening presents. After Christmas and New Years he was really good at it!

He loved this car from his Hyland cousins!!

Getting ready to blow out the candles.

I can't believe my baby has turned 3! This is the first time I've had a 3 year old and not had a baby as well. Luke is such a fun kid. He has a great sense of humor and knows how to make us all laugh. He is smart and it is so fun to watch him figure things out. He had figured out how to always have his turn and he does a great job at being the caboose of our family. I'm so thankful that he came to be with us!