FIRST Day of School!

I can't believe that Summer vacation is over and it's time to head back to school. My girls have been counting down the days for the first day of school. Ashley was super excited this morning to finally start Kindergarten. She has been waiting a LONG time to be in elementary school. Everyday we would drop off Madison, she would ask to stay. Let's hope now that she is old enough that she still wants to be there. :)
Madison started Second grade today. She loves school and couldn't wait to see her friends that she has missed all summer.

The girls and their Daddy!



This is Madison's best friend, Boe, who lives up the street from us. We are actually moving this weekend so Madison is bummed she won't be able to walk to school with Boe. We are only moving a few blocks away to a home we just purchased. I will blog more about that later.

Basketball

Basketball season is over and Madison is very disappointed. This was her first time playing and she loved it. She ended up playing in a league where the girls were 1 - 2 years older than her and these girls were GOOD . I was surprised by their dribbling skills and their ability to make their outside shots. In the beginning, I thought Madison might be in over her head, but I think playing with girls that had more experience only made her try harder. I can't wait for next season and hopefully Ashley will be old enough to play too!

Brad Paisley Concert

Last Friday night we headed down to LA and went to a Brad Paisley concert at the Staples Center. I am not a huge country fan, but thought it would be fun since my two brothers and their wives were going, and my parents were going too. Brad did not disappoint. He was so entertaining and of course it helped that we had great seats!

My twin brother Gary, his wife Jen, me, Joe, my sister n law Angie and my brother Steve! My parents didn't get in this picture, but they were sitting with us too!

My parents!

Happy 5th Birthday Ashley

Ashley is turning FIVE this month on the 27th. It's hard to believe that five years have gone by since she was born. We celebrated her birthday a little early this year since this past Saturday, January 16th, was the only free Saturday we had all month!

Ashley wanted to do a "Princess Parlor" theme so we invited all her friends and glamored them all up with finger nail painting, princess art on their arms, crafts, etc! And of course, you can't forget the Princess Castle Bounce House, piñata, and the game "Kiss the Frog" (same idea as Pin the Tail on the Donkey, but with HUGE lips and a frog). You get the idea. I had two of my favorite babysitters come and help me with all the "Parlor" stations, Elena, and my niece Cori!

I dressed Ashley in the same outfit for her 5th birthday party that Madison wore at her 5th birthday party. It's funny to see how they both look so much alike, but so different! :)

Here are most of the little "Princesses" that came to the party. Two little girls had to leave before I could snap a picture of the group!
Ashley wanted a Barbie cake! This was probably the ugliest one I have made to date, but it still tasted amazing!
The only boys invited to the party!
Ashley enjoying her bounce house.
Joe getting the piñata ready from the balcony.
Ashley getting ready to take a WHACK at it!
Ashley was in heaven having all her friends over and opening up all her treasures.

Birthdays and Christmas

The month of December is absolutely crazy around here. There are so many birthdays in my family to celebrate and Christmas to get ready for. But, it is so much fun and I love every minute of it. In fact, I really wish Christmas Day would actually never come around because the preparations, the decorating, the Christmas lights, the excitement on my girls' faces, etc, that leads up to Christmas is magical. I never want it to end!!!

This year for Madison's birthday (December 15th, seven years old) she chose to go to Disneyland. Well, that was easy on us parents since we have annual passes. We planned to go the Saturday before her birthday and it was POURING rain. We spent the day wearing ponchos, but it wasn't crowded. It was pretty awesome to walk on every ride. To make it extra special we got reservations at "Ariel's Grotto" and got to eat with all the princesses. It was so cute how all the Princesses stop by your table, chit chat with the girls and sign autographs. My girls were in complete shock!!!

Christmas was filled with tons of family, food, and fun! What better F's can you ask for! :)

We spent the morning at our home. I made an awesome breakfast with hot chocolate of course! My parents came over and opened their presents with us too and later ALL the family got together at my brother Steve's house. I love my family so much and I am so grateful for parents who have been so faithful in the gospel and been such an example to me and Joe. I thank my lucky stars everyday to be a part of such an awesome family and I hope my girls will look back on their childhood with such love and excitement as I do!

My parents with Tori! Tori sat on this toy and played with it the whole day!
This isn't the best picture of my girls, but I want to make sure I always capture my girls with their grandparents.

The girls were in the Christmas pageant that our Primary put on at our church!
Madison's birthday, December 15th. She turned the big SEVEN. It is hard for me to believe that she is seven years old already and will be baptized next year. Where has the time gone?

This was taken during the Princess dinner at Ariel's Grotto. Too many pictures were taken so I will spare you all and only post one of them with Princess Aurora!
Like I said before, it was pouring rain that day and we all wore ponchos. We still had tons of fun!

Thanksgiving 2009

Last minute, this year's Thanksgiving turned into a FAMILY REUNION. My sister Julie called and said she was coming out for Thanksgiving with her family which lead to my other family members wanting to come as well. Being one of the youngest of nine children I have always admired my older siblings. They are smart, funny, successful, and most of them are great examples! ha ha :)

When all of us girls get together we can talk, shop, cook, etc all day long. The boys can do the same, but also love to watch football. The BYU/UofU game was of course on that weekend!

My sister n law Jen talked me into getting up before dawn to go Black Friday shopping with her. Don't get me wrong I love to shop, but I HATE going out the day after Thanksgiving. It just doesn't seem worth it to me with all the lines and people. But, we had so much fun and we have some good stories to remember of people out shopping for the deals!

Here is a picture of most of us! We are missing Doug and his family due to work obligations. I have so many wonderful nieces and nephews and it's hard to believe that a lot of them are in highschool or graduated already!
Some of the boys. My brother Steve is standing up, my brother n law mark is giving the "thumbs up", my twin brother is in the middle of the couch, and of course my hubby is holding Tori who is freaking out in this picture!
The cousins having tons of fun!
My sister Julie and my MOM!
The girls! My sister Julie, Karen, my Mom, me, and my sister Janine. My sister Karen might kill me for posting this since she isn't dressed up or wearing make up!

Elf Yourself!

I love making these little videos form Jib Jab! They are so cute and so fun! Check out the link below by copying and pasting it and make one of your own too!

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/RuJmwzb5qqYxI02uH9rd

Miss My UOP Girls!

One of my dearest friends from when we lived in San Francisco just sent me this picture to my hotmail! Talk about blast from the past. We took this picture right before our husbands graduated from UOP Dental School in 2006! I think about these gals almost everyday and totally miss these women so much! I couldn't have made it through those grueling years in San Francisco when our husbands were gone all day every day without these girls (and many more gals that aren't in this picture). My Mom always told me that some of her best friends were the ones she had met when my Dad was in dental school. My parents still get together once in a while with old friends that they met while in dental school. I hope MY GIRLS and I continue to get together and have reunions! I treasure my friendships that I made in San Francisco and will never forget these ladies. I just love them to death!

Surprise Birthday!

This year was a pivotal birthday year for my mother n law and I thought we had to do something super fun for it. So I thought how awesome would it be if Joe and his four brothers surprised their Mom, dressed up in suits, and took her to a play and out to dinner. After talking with all the boys everyone was on board and plane tickets were purchased!

All the boys waited on the front door step, with roses in hand and a tiara, they knocked on the door and started to sing Happy Birthday when Susan answered the door!

After the play they all went out for an Italian dinner!
The following day they had a family dinner and my sister n law Julie had one of her friends make this awesome ballerina slipper and shoebox cake. I thought it was adorable!

All FIVE boys grew up obsessed with Star Wars and I found this card that played the "Star Wars" theme when you opened it up. Joe still has all of his Star Wars toys, books, memorabilia, etc. I did not like the message the card said (the front of the card said, "A long, long, long time ago, then when you opened it up it said, "You were born"), but after talking with Todd we agreed that the music it played was too perfect and represented everything the boys remember about growing up. Maybe I should have just gotten a generic card and not tried to go down memory lane!
Joe's Grandma Betty was also there for the family dinner! She still looks exactly the same since the first time I met her when she came to visit Joe and his family back when we were in grade school!

Halloween 2009

We had a great Halloween this year! Madison chose to be Snow White, Ashley was the Barbie "Thumbelina", and Tori was Minnie Mouse.

We went over to a friends home and had chili and corn bread. Below are some of the kids we went Trick or Treating with. My girls were thrilled to go with some of their friends!

Can't Believe Tori is ONE already!

I really can't believe that my baby girl Tori, is already ONE! She turned one on September 30th, 2009. This past year has totally flown by and makes me sad that I don't have a little baby anymore. Tori is such an amazing little girl! She is always so happy, smiling, and giggling all the time. Even in the mornings after sleeping over 12 hours, she doesn't wake up crying. She snuggles with her blanket and waits for me to come get her. She just loves to play peek-a-boo and laughs so hard she forgets to breathe.

She had her 1 year old doctor's appointment today and is 32.5 inches tall and weighs 26.8 pounds. That makes her 2 inches taller and 5 pounds heavier than the other girls were at this same stage. She is officially our largest girl, or should I say tallest girl!

We had a little birthday party with all the family the Sunday before her birthday where she enjoyed her first birthday cake!

Tori just loves this baby doll that Grandma Holbrook sent!


See the cute finger marks on the cake??? Tori stuck her fingers in the frosting right away!
I took advantage of Albertson's FREE cake that they offer to all children on their FIRST birthday! I thought this pink cake was very cute. Tori grabbed the cake right away and loved it! Her first taste of anything sweet EVER!!!