What we've been up to

My goodness time flies when you're having fun! I have been trying desperately to get caught up on orders and to prepare for the Queen Bee Market at the Snap Conference. In the mean time my little ones have been busy as well.

Bryce played in a little Basketball league and he did amazing. He still is a little shy and that equates to a lot of running around. I can't wait until he realizes that he is one amazing young man and takes the bulls by the horn to go after that ball!! Each year he gets closer and closer to that goal :)

A few years ago I dabbled in making these onesies for friends who were expecting. I was asked by my BFF's mom to make one for her friend and I was excited to do it. Took me a few tries to remember how I did it, but I thought it turned out super cute :) I was happy to see that I still had some sewing skills!

I can't believe that one year has passed and Bryce now has his Wolf. Cub scouts has done amazing things for him and I am so thankful for such an amazing program!!

Jayna and Bryce had their first piano recitals and I can't even explain how proud of them I am!! They did an awesome job and I was completely devastated to find out that my camera didn't record Bryce :(

Good thing we'll have another one in a couple of months!!!

The girls had to get to dance right after so they were dressed a little differently than everyone else, but I thought that added to the character of their pieces ;)

And that's a little snippet of what we've been up to.

Giddy up ya'll...let's dance!

The annual Dixie Round-up just happened to fall on Miss Maddie's Birthday this year and boy did she want one whopper of a present. She wanted to ride in the arena before the rodeo. She has heard many stories of me doing that when I was her age and so she was determined to see it happen for her as well. In the last couple of months she has been able to ride the horses on bridle. We are so very proud of her and must say she looks darn cute on a horse. Because she was so new to riding by herself, I didn't know if Papa J would go for it. I told her she was old enough to ask him so she took her big beautiful imploring eyes to Papa J and he was all in. Not without his trepidations, of course. Love his horses, but they aren't usually calm when it comes to things like this. He wanted to make sure I would be there and would help if I was needed. I did not want to ride in front of all the town, but for Maddie how could I say no. It was her 11th birthday after all, lol.

Needless to say all went as well as could be expected. They weren't able to stay out there long because of the horses becoming a bit to excited, but she was happy either way. She's already planning next year's ride and how she'll be able to stay out even longer, lol. Gotta love the young at heart!

Along with the Round-up comes the rodeo parade and for the first time we had someone actually in it. We made the hard decision to switch Jayna from Westside Ballet to Super Steppers and the consequences of that are endless performances. I don't mind to much, actually, because it suits her personality far better. Well first on the performance docket was the parade. They had the cutest theme and Jayna was just so excited. A little worried about not getting any candy, but after a lot of assurances that we would all share the spoils, she was more than willing to jump on the float.

As she passed us I took about 25 pictures and this is the only one that she actually was looking at the crowd. The older dancers were performing on the street behind the float and it was like they put her into a trance. No waving, no smiling, nothing. She could not stop staring at them. When I asked her about it afterwards she just said that they were just so cool and she couldn't wait to dance just like them. It was so cute and I can't wait for that either!!

Blessings, Birthdays and Baptisms (part 2)

Tuesday brought Bryce's 8th birthday. I can't believe he is that old...he is growing up so fast. He has such a quiet sweet spirit about him and brings so much to our little family. Though he is not fan of cleaning his room, he really loves to take out the trash and for some reason to scrub the toilets. Which for me is a trade off worth having ;) We really wanted to make a big deal out of this Birthday and really went out of our way for him. We started the morning with some very special pancakes which I think The Hubby had more fun making them then eating them ;)

Bryce was so excited to bring treats to school to celebrate his birthday. They always do this cute little thing to celebrate and I love watching it. It really makes the kids feel so special and it's something I know he'll always remember. Afterwards Noah and I helped Bryce pass out his store bought Sugar Cookies.

 Luckily I was able to talk him into store bought since I was spending the day surprising him with this:

Sharks were the theme this year and I really had fun making this little guy. Bryce was over the moon when he saw it and I was happy to see his big smile :) Later that evening we had family over and celebrated together. It was very fun and Bryce was so surprised when he was given a DSI. We had always told him that if he wanted one he would have to earn it on his own. Well two years later he was still trying to earn the money and I couldn't bear to watch him wish for it any longer.

It was such a great day and Bryce really felt the love that surrounded him! Happy Birthday, Bryce!!!

Blessings, Birthdays and Baptisms (part 1)

I had one mega week last week and I think I am finally settling down and rested enough to write about it. Last Sunday Sallie and Micah blessed their beautiful baby boy Ali'i Toa Ka'ena and it was an amazing day! Micah did a fantastic job and Sallie is truly blessed to have such a wonderful example and priesthood holder as a husband. Toa was great for the whole blessing and the whole meeting for that matter. He is such a good little baby and has such an easy disposition. They are truly lucky parents!! Sallie asked me to take pictures to help document the day and I was happy to oblige. 

Toa patiently waiting to get his blessing outfit on:

Sallie and her little bundle all dressed and ready to go:

Sallie pulled out all the stops and really made everything look beautiful right down to the water bottles. She found a cute little shop on Etsy called Mason Jar Holdings. It's a cute little shop and she does some really amazing stuff.

Here's the table all prepared for the guests:

And of course I had include a close up of the water bottles and muffin toppers:

All the men who surrounded Toa and participated in the blessing:

The cute little Andresen family on Toa's big day:

Mama and Papa J with the happy parents:

And of course I had to get a picture with my little sis'. I love this girl and am so very proud of her!!!

Spring Break 2011

We are in the height of Spring Break and it has been a fantastic week! Jill and the kiddos had the same week off as us so she hightailed it up here to hang out and enjoy the weather! There is nothing like having all the sisters together! Sunday dawned and it was beautiful!!! After church we all headed to the park to let the kids burn off some energy. I tell you I just never get to the park these days. Since my friend moved away and we bought our house, it just hasn't been the same. It was nice to go!!! We brought some baseball supplies and some played while some sat and watched. I was lazy and just took pictures ;) which ya know includes a lot of sitting, lol.

While Sallie helped all our kiddos, we got to enjoy snuggling Toa. He is just a chunky bundle of joy!! He's 1 month old and bulking up fast ;)

Isabel and Maddie sat and through the ball back and forth for what seemed like forever! They were in there own little world and were so cute to watch. Maddie is good with her cousins and makes sure to spend time with each one, though due to her love of all things DS, Ethan gets a fair chunk of it ;)

The boys did a lot of this...

They were walking all over the park just visiting! It was so adorable...of course they thought they were being too cool to hang out with the little ones, but all the same it was cute!

And no picture taking day is complete without one of Matai. Just love all those curls!!!

The Desert Tortoise

It's always a fun day when we get a call from Papa J saying he's got some fun animals to see. The BLM brought a few Desert Tortoise's in for testing and another one that had been run over. Noah was quite fascinated with them and Bryce was so excited he could hardly stand it. Especially when he was able to hold one.

This little guy was hit by a car and when  they brought him in he was missing a few important pieces to his shell. Luckily when the workers went back to the scene of the crime they were still there. My Dad was able to piece him back together and once healed he will be released back into the wild.

Before we left he showed the kids how Turtles tuck into their shells for protection. They sure got a kick out of that one and I don't think the Turtle minded hiding ;)