Happy Birthday to Drew, J.D. and Jenn.....

Happy Halloween!!

We all decided to be traditional Halloweenies this year, the idea started with Morgan half-joking saying that she wanted to be a pumpkin. The idea stuck, so we ended up with a vampire, a scarecrow, a mummy, a black cat, a pumpkin and the cutest witch ever - Baby Ji-ji is our skeleton. (Poor kid, sleeping when it was time to take pictures)

Me and my best girls!! How I love my sisters and my mom....I am so thankful that we can all be such good friends and enjoy being around each other. I don't think those kind of relationships come along all the time. They are all such blessings in my life.

Morgan, and one of the MANY boys that come around. I urge her each and every day not to get too serious with one over another.....a hard and fast rule at my house is NO BOYFRIENDS!! Okay, maybe not a rule, but a strong suggestion. She is happy with that situation because she does have lots of opportunities to know and meet lots of cuties...

(ah, to be a teenager again,....NOT)

One of the rules of our annual Halloween party is that we don't tell each other what we are coming dressed up as. The surprise at the front door when you see grown-ups dressed up is most of the fun. We always have such a good time laughing at what everyone comes up with - I have to say, the last 4 years of this tradition has been one of the highlights of our year. The thought of getting ready for the party is full of dread, but during the party there is nothing but fun.

I guess great minds think alike, because this year Corey and J.D. both came as vampires.

Leah and Ella-Bella - cute little cousins.

Unfortunately I don't get nearly as many pictures of the little ones as I probably should. I don't know if it because they all disperse so quickly when they get to my house or if it is that I am too focused on all the adults that I get side tracked. Either way, I must try harder next year....

Happy Birthday to Drew!! I now am the proud mother of 3 teenagers....how handsome is he??
He is the reason for our strange and silly Halloween tradition. I figured if I am going to have a birthday party we may as well make it interesting.

As most of you know, Drew and I share the same special day. He was the best birthday gift that I ever received 13 years ago!! I tell him that all the time and I am pretty sure that he doesn't mind sharing his day with his mom. I love you Drew. You are an amazing example to your family. He has the kindest and one softest hearts of anyone I know. He is a big strong boy that thankfully still needs his mom and dad and I pray everyday that he will continue to need me as much as I need him.

We had a small family birthday party with cake and presents earlier in the week for J.D.'s birthday (October 21) - he had been out of town all day so our party started at 9:00p.m. that night. Ella and I went birthday shopping for our dad and she picked out one of his gifts all by herself. No joke, she went up to a rack, pulled down a shirt and brought it over to me. It was his size and I knew the minute I saw it that he would love it. Obviously she did too.

We came home later that afternoon and 'built' him a cake, wrapped his gifts, bought his balloons and made a 'happy birthday' banner that we all signed. Hopefully he had a nice day - after all, most of it was spent in Minnesota and on a plane, but we did what we could.

We love you J.D. thanks for being the best dad and hubby a family could want!! You rule!

Six months old.....

Well, it is official, baby Ji-ji is half a year old!! Where has the time gone?? From such a rough beginning this boy has turned out to be one of the healthiest (the nice way of saying 'fattest') and happiest babies in town. We went to his 6 month well baby check today and I am pleased to say my boy weighs in at a whopping 18 pounds 6 ounces and is 27 1/4 in long. He now sits comfortably in the 75% of babies his same age - a long way from the 20% he started out in at 2 months old.....he has gained just about 4 pounds in 2 months! Yeesh...

He is rolling from tummy to back, enjoying the rice cereal, and is learning to talk and babble - and sometimes scream in excitement. He enjoys each one of his brothers and sisters equally and he is never lacking for attention. They can all make him laugh and giggle with just about anything they say or do to him. He loves to look at his big fat hands and chew on them like they are desert, and is working at getting his feet in his mouth also.

He woke yesterday with his first official cold, sad, but it has to happen sooner or later - I guess we have been lucky that it has taken this long. Jiles is a dream, he is an amazing baby and I am thankful everyday that I have been blessed enough to be his mommy.

Homecoming, part two.....

Round two of Homecoming for Morgan!! The Bingham dance was this last Saturday night.
Her date, a boy named Charles....I call him Charlie.

She was much more able to put on his boutonniere this time around, a suit goes a long way, (especially when there is a slit in it that you are able to slid the flower into) and he also brought her flower to the door (unlike date #1, who left it at home)....

Morgan has gone on several dates with Charlie, but has never kissed him - she has not been so sure if she wanted to...
She came home from the dance, was telling us all about her night and how there was no good-night kiss because other people were in the car (I can totally understand, that is weird). A few minutes later we heard a soft knock on the door, it was 12:30 at night, so really it could only be one person.....Charlie. He came back for the kiss. He had his friends drive down the street and park somewhere else where they wouldn't be able to see and he got the kiss he has been wanting. Morgan came up to our room and threw herself on our floor and just started to laugh, I started to laugh. This was something that I had never experienced and also never heard of - I thought that kid has guts, good for him.

The dance was fun for Morgan and I love having my teenage girl that tells me so much about her life, that is willing to share so much with me and talk to me about nearly everything.

Soccer Monday.....

So Ella's little soccer team has had a winning season up until this last Monday night, the "Pink Panthers" played the "Orange Dandelions" (what kind of a name is that anyway??). I don't think that any of us could have known what was coming at us for this game. These cute girls of ours got rolled over like no other. After about the 20th or so goal I thought that the other coach should have layed off a little bit, but no. It was quite a slaughter but as is should be, 4 year old soccer, and Ella's team either didn't know the difference or quite frankly didn't care. Good for them, they had a great time, and they were excited for the Oreo's and Capri Suns at the end of the game.....

My beautiful boy.....

The dimples.....
The eyelashes.....

The soft skin.....

The smile in his eyes.....

Oh snap!!!.....

Jensen was getting out of the car after I had picked him up from school and this is what I saw.....the tag on his shirt. "Wait," I thought for a minute and then I realized, his shirt was on inside-out! He wore it like that all day and even had a few of his friends comment on it. Nice. What kind of mother am I to not realize this before he walked out the door this morning? Good thing that this boy is comfortable in his own skin, because if that happened to me in the 3rd grade I think I would have rather died.

More scores.....

Jensens game - Alta vs. Highland 0-28 (yeouch!!)

Drews game - Alta vs. Riverton 20-21 (stinker, lost in overtime by 1)

9 Reasons to smile.....

1. Baby Elephant Zuri - so cute!!
2. Biggest sister and littlest sister spending time together.

3. Teenagers that aren't embarrassed to pose in the trees with their crazy family at the zoo.

4. Baby Jiles, still sleeping and being the angel that he is wherever we decide to go.

5. Ella watching the world in quiet ponder.

6. Breakfast with the team - Drew sitting with me until I told him it was okay if he wanted to sit with his friends.

7. Ella making the most of all situations that she is put in. Hours upon hours of football and still she can find the time to dance and smile about it.

8. It doesn't matter whether you win or loose, it is how you played the game.

9. Conference Sunday - watching an assortment of DVD's, eating cookies and wearing a witch costume that was just dug out of the Halloween box!!

My cute girl.....

Brenna and her friend Lindsay took pictures yesterday with her old Young Womens leader....she is learning how to take pictures and needed some cute ,young "models" - it was fun for the girls and fun for the moms who now have some really unique pictures of our daughters.