The "BIG" kids trip to DISNEYLAND!

Rich decided to take just the big kids back to Disney so they could ride all of the rides with out having to do stroller swaps and wait for 2 shifts of people to ride. He invited his parents to go so that they could have FUN at Disney this time instead of pushing our strollers and carrying our kids like last time -sorry, but thank you again! One photo from our last trip will show what I am talking about.......

:o) We had A LOT of FUN last time too, but Rich just wanted to take the kids who were tall enough to ride everything. Anyway, these are a few of the pictures that Connie sent from her phone from the trip.

The kids in front of the LA Temple

On the Temple grounds

With the Big Man himself!

Rich's family has a tradition that the 1st ride of every trip is the Jungle Boats & then through the rest of Adventure Land. So here is Dallas & Micailey on the Jungle Boat.

Enjoying Pineapple icecream by the Tiki Room

Everybody on Tower of Terror

Dell, Connie, Dallas, & Micailey on Screamin

Mackenzie on the carousel at California Adventure

I don't know exactly why they sent this one, but this is why we go during the "off" season! Note how few people are there. It didn't look like this the whole day I'm sure, but they hardly waited in a line. The longest line was the new Toy Story ride and Rich says it was only about 20 minutes. They had a lot of fun! I hope Grandma & Grandpa didn't go too crazy with 3 hyper kids who were really excited to be back at Disneyland but THANKS for going with them and hopefully you were able to enjoy a little of it too.

Happy Birthday Mackenzie!

Our little Mackenzie is 6! I seriously can't believe how fast time goes! Ever since she was little she has loved to snuggle her cheek on my bare arm. She would also lay on my lap and caress ("pinch") my arm as a baby, she just loves touch. She is probably the child that is most like me! She has always loved to take care of babies & "be the mommy", she loves to play with dolls and be a princess. She loves to draw and be creative. She is my little organizer! Ever since she was little she would put things in color order, lines, patterns, - you name it! She loves to help me clean and set the table or do the dishes. She is such a funny girl! We love having her in our family! We love you Mackenzie!

Mackenzie at about 2 months old

I love these pictures! This is her at about 4 months old

This is her helping set up the Christmas trees

Jan 06

Halloween as Sleeping Beauty

This is her FAVORITE ride at Disney! Tower of Terror!!!! She has loved this ride since the first time she was able to go on it and we had to stuff socks in her 2 inch heeled boots to even get her on. Adults were laughing because they were scared to death before the ride and she was so excited and happy to be able to go on it again!

This is Mackenzie's preschool picture that I told her she was so beautiful in and she said "I know!.... I've been staring at my self all day!!!"

These are her preschool teachers that she loved!

Mackenzie at Christmas 07

Playing in the snow last year
Her birthday last year. We took her and her friends to get their hair, make-up, and nails done at a salon. They all got to wear their princess outfits and they felt so beautiful!

First day of Kindergarten.

This is another picture that I love.

Mackenzie and Micailey after receiving their gymnastics awards.

She begged to have her face painted at DisneyWorld. She loved it so much and was so sad when we had to wash it off.

This is Mackenzie's Kindergarten picture. This turned out so good! I love it!

We are so proud of our Mackenzie! She is turning into such a good and beautiful girl! It's so fun to see her grow up and discover & develop her talents!

I hope you have another wonderful year!

Happy Valentines Day!

We had a really fun Valentines Day this year! There are quite a few photos but 1st- i asked everybody why they loved our family and these were their responses.

Dad loves our family because everybody is so excited to see him when he gets home from work and he loves their hugs and kisses.

Mom loves her family because there are 8 people who love her unconditionally everyday and give her lots of hugs and kisses.

Dallas loves his family "because we are usually nice and he would be bored if there weren't so many kids around".

Micailey loves her family "because they always take trips to Disneyland".

Mackenzie "loves Macie because she has chubby cheeks" and she loves her dad "because he lets her watch movies and she loves that we always go to Disneyland". (Can you tell that they are going to Disneyland next week :o)

Brinley lobes her family "because she likes to play Princess & Charming with Jordan".

When we asked Jordan he didn't really understand but he kept saying "I like family" & "love family" and nodding when we asked him why he loved his family.

And Cohen & Macie are obviously too small to answer but I'm sure that they love having a family too!

This is our "heart hair" that we do every Valentines day for school. We did this on Friday this year since Valentines was on the weekend.

Everything we did today had a Red theme to it. This is Micailey eating our delicious Strawberry Cream Cheese French Toast. Yummy!

This is our crazy clan waiting for their Valentines treats from mom & dad. Sorry if it's blurry I don't know why they turned out that way.

Cohen getting a treat

Brinley with a treat

Everybody after their treats

Jordan looking so cute that you have to put it on too

Mom's flowers from dad :o)

Our yummy RED Dinner - Lasagna, Jell-o, Beets, & a little bubbly for the special occasion!

The kids thought this was fabulous!

Dallas & Micailey even tried out a toast

Cheers!

And a Valentines movie night.

okay- a positive winter post :o)

One good thing about the winter is the view of the mountains that surround my house. We have a beautiful view here. Mountains wrap almost in a complete circle around us. *It's even prettier in the spring and fall :o)

Out front

out front to the right

straight out back

out back & to the right

Ahhh! The dog days of winter!

Winter is dragging for me this year! I can't wait to see if the tulips that I planted in the fall come up and what they look like. I can't wait to get outside and let the kids play and meet more of the neighbors! I can't wait to pack away 9 x 3 winter coats, 9 x 2 (sometimes 4) winter gloves, 9 x 2 winter boots, 9 x 1 (sometimes 2 ) winter hats, & 9 scarfs so that I can actually see the mud room and (sad to admit) some times it's floor! I can't wait till we can leave the house without spending a half an hour "bundling up" first! I actually can't wait to finally get to plant a garden for the 1st time in 3 yrs. I can't wait to be able to hang up the snow shovel in a hard to reach place and know that I don't have to touch it again for a long time! I can't wait to go to the pool and soak in some hot sun and smell the smell of sunscreen again! I can't wait to be able to open our windows and let a cool breeze blow through in the morning. I can't wait to not be cooped up in a germ infested house with sick kids every week!

I think I need a vacation that doesn't involve adding more kids :o) These pictures are from one of the cruises that Rich's old job used to take us on - ohhh how I miss those!!! Especially right now! So I'm posting it so I can think warm thoughts and maybe it will melt this snow away a little faster! We'll see :o) FYI- yes, I am 7 months pregnant in these photos so don't mind the mid section

Ohh... Reminiscing

So the other day I was trying to load some of our old photo cd's that we had on our old computer, and some aren't working, but one did and I just wanted to post some of the cute pic's off of it since I didn't have the blog when we took them. You always hear it- but wow time flies by!

The kids in January 2006

Brinley's hand


Brinley's Toes

Brinley on her Blessing Day

Mackenzie on her blessing day

Mackenzie

Macie -January 17th, 2009
Do you think we have a Smith mold that they all fit into yet?

Brinley -January 2006

Brinley on Valentines Day


This is Brinley too. I thought Macie kind of had her own look but the other day Macie wore this same outfit and this is basically "exactly" what she looked like. I didn't think I would need to label my pictures because "I would always be able to tell which child it was" - It's actually harder than I thought.

Mackenzie after enjoying the chocolate cake batter age 4


More to come....

ps. thanks to Kim for taking all but 4 of these pictures :) I think you all can tell which ones SHE took.