December 1st

First time in 6 years that I didn't write a lot in November. I really do feel that Caden brought a part of my Dad with him when he was born. I have felt him here more and I love it.

We just spent Thanksgiving with our family in Utah and it was wonderful. I would love to be closer to family. Shelly drove up to visit as well. We were in the temple together yesterday. Here are a few pictures from my camera.

November 1st

I love November and the opportunity to really think about my blessings. Today I am grateful for nature. It has been beautiful weather and I am soaking it in as much as possible!

Caden, Caden, Caden

Caden is 6 months old. I have been playing with the camera to try and get better shots, but I still have no idea what I am doing, as you can tell. Here are some things about Caden:

He got his 1st tooth around 4 months and the second came pretty quickly. He loves eating real food now and begs for it all the time. He gets up on all fours, but is thankfully not crawling yet. He rolls everywhere, which none of my other kids did. He loves being on the changing table and he loves bathtime. He knows the "sign" for splash, splash and will do it for us sometimes. He is a huge smiler and loves to entertain strangers. He is very responsive to his family members and Bryce especially loves to try new tricks to get him to giggle. He started sitting up around 5 months and now only falls down if he propels himself to get to something. 

He loves playing with toys, but gets bored in the exersaucer.

He is not a great sleeper at night and won't take a bottle, so this means Mommy is the most important person to him. :-) He is a great napper though, so Mom gets some nice quiet time when the kids are at school. He has been a blessing in our home and we love him so much. 

Happy 9th Birthday, Emily!

I am not a fan of birthday parties, so we were on the every 3 years schedule. It was Emily's turn this year and boy did she go big! She wanted to have it at a local pizza/arcade place and also a movie night. Whew! She invited 10 girls and I think they had a blast. The only bummer was that I was really sick with a sinus infection so I was not myself, but luckily the arcade place took care of most of the details. :-)

On her actual birthday, she wanted to take part in a walk for congenital heart disease. Then we went shopping and had lunch and just spent the day together.

I love this girl so much! She is my partner in crime. She is smart, spunky, thoughtful, silly, kind, and so much fun to be with. I am so glad she is my daughter and I hope we always have a special relationship!

End of Summer Fun

I get overwhelmed when I am behind, but I remind myself that this is not a race. :-) I just post when I can. We ended the summer with our traditional combined family trip. For the last 10 years we have gone with the same families to the beach, but this year we decided to mix it up and try out Sunriver. I have heard so much about this place and wondered if it would live up to the hype. How about you tell me?

 Everyone brought their bikes and this place has more biking trails than roads. It was awesome to spend so much time outdoors. I pushed Caden in the stroller since he is not quite big enough for a helmet. :-)

 Even the Moms joined in the biking!

 Constant entertainers for Caden!

We went hiking to a natural rock waterslide. I was proud of my kids for being brave.

 Jeff and I even joined in the fun. 

 Our cute family of 6. Caden was a trooper!

 Here are all the kids. From 2 kids under 1 years old in 2003, to 18 kids from 4 months to 11 years old. Definitely outnumbered by the boys. I love how good of friends they have all become.

 Caden fell asleep in the backpack, just like he was supposed to.

 We went to natural lava springs that weren't too impressive. Jeff wouldn't even get in.

 Jeff and Caden having some bonding time. 

 A huge hill of Obsidian rock. My kids were in heaven! They love rocks!

 We went in a lava tube cave. 

The house was a tight fit for 5 families, but as you can see we didn't spend much time indoors- just to sleep. And I will admit, we had it easy because they gave us the Master Bedroom. (Thanks Caden!) The only thing I don't have pictures of is the awesome pool. I didn't want to bring my nice camera, so I took some phone pictures, but I don't have them on here yet. Maybe next post!

Family Fun Summer 2013

It is hard to believe the summer is almost over. It has been pretty low key overall, mostly staying in our little town.

 4th of July, we had a neighborhood potluck party. I attempted something crafty and made this flag cake. I was pretty happy with how it turned out, but it was a lot of work!

 Caden was passed around by all the neighborhood girls.

 The kids rode bikes and played while we waited for it to get dark.

 Sparklers for the kids.

 Even Dallin still gets into the sparklers.

 Sparklers were followed by the adult fireworks. It lasted 3 hours total for the fireworks!

We spend a lot of time find places to get wet!

 Jeff got to join in the fun of one of our local splash pads.

 Bryce got a special trip with Jeff to go to the Boston Red Sox game in Seattle.

 When we go to splash pads, Dallin finds a way to set up a baseball game on the side. :-)

 We have been able to get some boating in. This trip we met up with friends with a boat.

 We went to a great pool in Porltand. Here is Dallin in the middle of a front flip.

 Emily performed in the local production of Little Mermaid as a guppy!

 Caden loves interacting with his siblings. I love this picture of him grabbing Dallin. He is such a special addition to our family.

 Our trip to California began with a trip to the beach! We met up with my sisters Shelly and Heather and their kids and my aunt Marlynn and her kids. I LOVE the beach!

 The kids spent a lot of time doing my favorite past time- looking for sand crabs. They ended up finding 40 or more of them!

 Then we headed to a cabin in the mountains to spend time with all my siblings and their families!

 There was lots of room to run and Emily loved getting to know her new cousins, Don Asia and Cristina.

 The 4 girls all had new additions to their family this year! 3 new babies and 2 new girls!

 Here are the 3 babies- we were each a trimester apart!

 We did the annual family softball game!

 The kids loved finding lizards.

 They also skipped rocks in the little lake by the house.

 It was awesome cousin time!!

 I loved watching Emily body surf and enjoy being in the waves.

Here is Emily and Cristina singing in the family talent show. We had a great time together!