Happy Birthday Connor-Man!!

Today my Connor-Man turns two years old...I can hardly believe that 2 years have passed since he joined our family...it seems like just yesterday we were at the hospital having our little guy. Since the day he arrived, Connor has been the sweetest, most easy-going baby, ever! He has some of the best smiles & just wraps my heart around his little hand when he climbs up onto my lap for a little snuggle. Every morning he wakes up & comes into our bed to snuggle with us for just a few minutes before he gets on with his busy day! He loves motorcycles, his camo jammies, playing at the park, "coloring," and his Pooh Bear and "ninknie" (blankie). He puts up with a lot of flack from his big brother but is 100% loved and adored by all of us!!!

Here's a few pictures from the last 2 years....

The day he was born....our biggest baby at 7 lbs. 15 oz! It was an easy labor & delivery (so quick the dr. didn't make it in time)! He arrived at 12:23pm.

On his Blessing Day!!....April 29, 2007...at Grandma Judy's & Grandpa Bill's house.

At about 6 months old..not sure why he's wearing the bath towel, or chewing on the bowl...but it's a dang cute picture!

I love this picture!!!

This was last year at about this time....he rarely fell asleep in the high chair, but I guess this day he was plain tuckered out!

This is from last summer....see what I mean about how darn cute his smiles are?!!?

This is how he likes to "color"....his favorite is random pieces of papers, a pen & sitting on the counter!!

Eating up his yummy breakfast of rice pudding...his all time favorite breakfast is hot cereal!

This one is from just a few weeks ago (sitting on the counter, again!)!

Cute & all bundled up for some sledding!!

WE LOVE YOU CONNOR-MAN!! Happy Birthday Big Boy!!

German Pancakes

I have great memories, from when I was a little girl, of visiting my grandparent's house....it seemed like my Grandma Mae would make German Pancakes at least once during our visit! They were always a yummy treat because it wasn't something my mom made. Don't get me wrong, my mom made lots of yummy breakfasts!...it's just German Pancakes weren't one of them.

Anyway, fast forward to now. Matt is currently teaching 2 evening classes this semester, so on Tuesday & Thursday nights I usually end up fixing something easier to throw together, that wouldn't care much about, and still something the kids will gobble up. So, last week (yes, I'm posting a week later...1) because I thought I had "lost" these pictures and given up blogging about them, and 2) because I had pretty much slacked off on blogging for the last 2 months anyway, so why did it matter...) I decided to make German Pancakes! It was GREAT! The kids were facinated by how they looked & totally curious as to how they would taste. Luckily, I didn't have any fight over trying them because anything with the work "pancake" in it gets eaten at this house! :)

So, here is what the finished product looked like (before it was gobbled up)!...and, actually, if you look closely, you can tell one dish was already finished off....it was just before cutting into the second one that I thought to grab the camera...

And, here are all 4 of the kids, happily eating their dinner!!...

I guess Connor wasn't really eating his German Pancakes in this picture...but believe me when I say he enjoyed them just as much as the others!

I think we have a new dinner favorite for those nights when Matt is gone!

Family Pictures

One of the many activities we did over the Thanksgiving holiday was get family pictures taken...with ALL my family. Not just our "little" family...but all my brothers, sisters, their spouses & kids, etc...30 people in all! Here are some of my favorite shots that we just took w/our little camera...

Just our little family...(you can tell Abbie was a little bit cold)...

Here is one of my dad with all the sons (minus my brother-in-law, Brig...this would have been a perfect picture if Brig would have been able to stay!):

And, my mom with her daughters!

And, I couldn't resist sharing this one...Parks & Connor were facinated by a lot of recycling trucks that kept passing....we would find them standing together watching for the trucks to come by....aren't these brothers cute?

Paramount City

Each year, the 3rd graders at the Abbie's elementary school, have the assignment to build a miniture business & then each classroom builds & name their own subdivision. The business are constructed at home w/mom & dad, while they work on their homes at school. A couple of weeks

ago, Abbie participated & then we all had the chance to go view "Paramount City" that was constructed in the gym of the school....it was so fun to see the creativity & hard work that was put into the project. Our family had fun walking around the city! Here are some pictures...

Abbie chose to build IHOP...

Here friend, Eryn, built Krispy Kreme donuts....

And another friend, Hunter, chose to build Cabela's...

Their class named their subdivision "Star Creek"...

And here was Abbie's house....

I thought they all turned out fabulous!...I'm already looking forward to doing the project with Annie in 2 more years! :)

Four Trick-or-Treaters on Halloween Night

A total brag blog here....I can't help showing off how cute my 4 trick-or-treaters looked! Abbie decided she wanted to be a She-Devil, Annie is our pretty Cinderella, Parker was a handsome little bat & Connor was a puppy (who refused to wear his puppy hat, but was still darn cute anyway!!

Here is Abbie, Annie & Parks posing for a picture!! :)


I know I'm a bit biased, but Abbie was a stunning She-Devil!!

Could Annie look anymore like Cinderella?

Our Bat-boy again...

And, cute little Connor-man enjoying his Halloween candy before we even get started on the trick-or-treating!

We hope all of you had as Happy Halloween as we did!! :)

Fall Fun (Part 2) aka Our Trips to the Pumpkin Patch

This October, we took were able to visit the pumpkin patch 2 different times....I took the boys one morning with all of Parker's preschool friends and then we went again with some of our good friends, the Knox's, for FHE....we had a fabulous time at both of the visits!

The morning that we went with all our preschool friends, it was SO, SO cold...but we had loads of fun as well!

Here's a picture of most of the kids after making their way through the straw bale maze...I think they liked running through it because it helped them stay warmer! :)

I loved this picture of all the kids on top of the wagon after going for a hay ride...it was picture perfect! Aren't they a cute bunch of kids?

And, of course, one of Parks with his prized pumpkin! He spent a lot of time searching for just the right one!

When we went with Knox's, we had the chance to see all the animals in the petting zoo. Boy, was that a hit! All the kids (9 between both families) loved seeing the horses, donkey, dogs, camel, and sheep! All our kids got a kick out of being able to feed all the animals, and Parker didn't even cry very hard when one of the sheep got a little bit of his finger!

As always, the hayride is a big hit! I love how happy all these girls look! :) Could they be any cuter?


And, the final ride before heading how was a trip around the pumpkin patch in the "cow train"...Parker & Connor had been waiting the whole night for this! Annie was a great big sister to sit with Connor & keep him safe!

Thanks to the Knox's for being such great friends & sharing your FHE with us!

Fall Fun (part 1) aka Abbie's Halloween Party

Well, we have had a busy October...after a quick trip to Utah, we got back & the next weekend had Abbie's 9th Birthday Party...we went with a Halloween theme & I think all the girls had a blast!! We sent out 12 invitations, thinking there are always a few that can't make it to the party...well, not this time! So, we ended up 14 girls (adding Abbie & Annie) at our house...it was wild, busy, a little bit crazy, quite a lot of laughs & loads of fun!! :) Here are most of the girls...I took the picture before the last few arrived....

We started off with the classic "pin the tail on the donkey", but changed it to pinning the nose on the jack-o-lantern.....talk about the girls laughing like crazy....it was hilarious. After that, we had a crazy scavenger hunt....I loved watching a pack of girls running around outside, in the snow, no less...having the time of their life. After that, we came back inside to play bobbing for apples...which was definitely the hit game of the party...every single girl played at least twice....

And a picture with all the girls with an apple in their mouth! If you're ever having a halloween party with a bunch of 9 year old kids, definitely think about bobbing for apples...what a blast!

Before sitting down to watch Monster House, we had "dirt cake" for dessert, complete with worms (gummy of course) sticking out!

I had a great time & I think our birthday girl too!! We love you, Abbie!!

Random Pictures from Conference Weekend

This weekend we took a trip down to Utah...we spent some time with my family, then spent some time in Park City with Matt's family. Here's a few fun pictures from our weekend...I wish I can been better & snapping pictures, but oh well.....

My little brother, Nate is playing tackle football right now. Parker found his pads & tried them on....pretty handsome, huh?

Here's Nate....he was being cool doing the "peace" sign, but in this picture it looks like his finger is up his nose...LOL!

Grandma Judy made homemade Mac & Cheese for dinner...Connor totally digged it! I thought this was a cute picture of him... :)

My cute "little" brother (he's 8 yrs younger than me, but towers over me by about 6 inches...or more!) and his son, Jefferson! Jefferson totally loved the Mac & Cheese too! I love Jefferson's curls & smile!

While we were in Park City, Connor was so cute. He took every chance he could, to walk around in Abbie's slippers! Notice the truck too...Connor found it at Grandma Judy's house and HAD to have it ALL.THE.TIME!

Here's another picture of Parker....he was building a "fort" for his Rocky-dog....you can't see much of the fort or Rocky underneath, but you can tell Parks was having fun!

Here is Matt's brother, Kyle, with his cute wife Christy & daughter Gabbie! The weekend wasn't nearly long enough to hang out & visit with them, but we sure enjoyed seeing their family!!

And, finally....a view out of our room in Park City. The weather was cool & rainy, but I loved watching the clouds move in over the mountains as the day went on....you can't see the mountains, but they are there, hiding behind the clouds!

We had a fun weekend & are already looking forward to the next time we'll be able to get together with our families!!

First Day of School Pictures!

Yeah, yeah, yeah...I'm know I'm a month behind on these...but, hopefully you'll enjoy them just the same! :)

Abbie and Annie LOVE school! They have great friends, great teachers & a fun time learning. So, there were no tears shed when school started again!! Here was our "group" picture before the girls headed off...

Abbie (wanting to not just smile for the camera, but show off her Hannah Montana backpack as well...LOL)!!

Annie....adorable, as always...

Here are the girls getting off the bus after school...did I mention they love riding the bus?!!? They do! And, I love that the bus stop is just 2 doors down from our house!! If you look close, you can see the back of Parker on the left side of the picture...he was way excited to see the girls come home!

And Parker smiling cute right before he heads off to his first day of preschool!

Corrupting Connor

As I was making lunch today, I accidently left the fridge open while I placed some items on the counter. Before I had the chance to turn around & close it, I notice that Connor had taken the liberty of getting stuff out for himself....actually, not stuff, just one item in particular....a can of Moutian Dew!! Apparently, he knows what to do with the can, because this is what he started doing...

I tried taking the can away from Connor, but he wasn't too happy about that, so I let him just carry it around for a bit before we had lunch...this is how I found him a few minutes later...

...still carrying around the can & playing on the trampoline! :) He's one cute kid, huh?

Funny enough, as of June 1st, I decided to stop drinking soda. Now, I've done this on a few different occassions, but I'm REALLY serious about it this time...as long as I don't give in to "social drinking"...that seems to be when it's the hardest. Wish me luck! :)