We are alive!

I know I've been away from the good ole blog for far too long, but just thinking of trying to catch up was overwhelming. I guess I had enough of blog guilt, so I'm finally updating today.


I haven't taken many pictures lately, but here is some of what we've been up to:

• I took the kids (minus Kamryn) to the magic show that comes to town every Christmas. Wes was bummed he had to miss it due to mutual. The kids absolutely loved it, especially the belly dancer...Hallie does a fairly accurate depiction of the belly dancer that is hilarious. Santa came at the end and gave each kid a toy.



Jax got a bike!






• All of Wes's family came in town for Christmas. We had a great week with them...lots of good food and company. The kids played well together. We were bummed that we didn't get a white Christmas this year, but the kids were all able to play with their new bikes and scooters outside.

• Hallie went to the dentist for the first time! She did great, and wanted to go back the next day! No cavities for her (I wish I could say the same for myself). Jaxson was jealous and wanted a turn but he will have to wait.
• Our good friends gave our kids this jumper thing for Christmas, they really love it! We put it in Hallie and Jaxson's room and they have played with it every day. Hallie and Jax took turns sleeping in it at night, and by day they pretended it was their swimmimg pool, hence the bathing suits.

• We didn't do anything for New Years Eve. Wes was sick, so we stayed home. Although we woke up at midnight when we heard fireworks (our dogs hate fireworks and bark up a storm whenever they hear them).
• Jaxson is now in Primary. He is becoming such a big boy, and talking better all the time. My goal is to potty train him in February. Wish me luck with that! If that goes well, I'm going to tackle Kamryn this summer!
• I have made a few quilts, that sadly I didn't take pictures of before I gave them away. I will have to get some pictures sent to me, so I can have them in my file.

Of course, there is lots of other stuff that has been going on too, but this at least gets me most of the way caught up.

Hallie's 5th Birthday

We celebrated Hallie's 5th birthday at the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale. It was super crowded the day we went, but we still had enough space to enjoy it!

Waiting for the train

Kendilyn, Hallie, and Savanna

Hallie has been talking about her birthday for months, and was so excited to finally be 5! Out of all the cousins her age, she is the youngest (and smallest), so she has a bit of a hard time with that. Unfortunately, she'll probably always be smaller than them. Even her cousins that are younger by 2 years are passing her up!

The only picture of me the whole weekend, taken by my 5 year old niece (she didn't count to 3)

The kids all had a fun time playing, the weather was perfect, it was just a nice afternoon. Skyler and Luke brought a football and soccer ball, so that kept a lot of the adults busy playing too.

Kamryn and Shawnie

Hallie blew out the candles, opened her presents, then we went to get in line for the train ride. I didn't get any pictures on the train ride because all the kids ended up getting in the stock car, with Wes as the supervisor. We also rode the carousel right before we left, but my camera was already in the car at that point.
Waiting for the train

We love you Hallie girl!!

Thanksgiving 2010

We went to Mesa for Thanksgiving. I was so glad to be in some warmer weather! My parents hosted my dad's side at their house, so it was good to see some cousins/family that we don't get to see very often. Now that I'm home and looking through my pictures, I didn't take nearly as many as I thought I did! OH, well.

Don't mind the dirty faces and messy hair!

Jax holding Finley

Wes pulled Kamryn all around the backyard with her in this toy tractor. She loved it! And when he was done, she pulled it around herself.

The kids loved being able to spend time with all their aunts/uncles/cousins/grandparents. Hallie is so attached to Meadow, but Meadow never seemed to mind having a mini me.

They all loved holding baby Finley (me too). Luke blessed Finley on Sunday morning...I know Shawnie has a lot of pictures on her camera of my kids holding him, so hopefully I can get those from her.

We did some shopping on Black Friday (a perk of being in a big city!), and got ready for Hallie's birthday.

We had Hallie's party Saturday afternoon, but I'll post about that later. I can't believe my baby is 5! She is getting so old!

Feeding Kamryn

It seems like Hallie and Jaxson are always fighting...more and more often as they get older. This was one of their latest fights...who gets to feed Kamryn yogurt? (Which is one of the very few things she will eat...she has gotten pickier much earlier than my others kids.)

Hallie just started feeding Kamryn occasionally, and Jaxson had to jump on board too. As long as they don't get her too messy, I'm all for it! One less thing for me to do.

Finley come to Visit

We were so excited when Luke, Shawnie, and Finley came to visit us over Halloween weekend.
The boys went bear hunting on Saturday, but didn't see anything. Luke seemed to like it anyways. While they were gone, Shawnie and I plus kids tried to find some pumpkins to carve. Well, I learned my lesson-never wait until Halloween Eve to buy your pumpkins! They were no where to be found...we went to 2 places, and I called 4 more, and everyone was out of pumpkins!
We made it up to the kids by making pumpkin shaped sugar cookies, and they didn't seem to mind.
Kamryn loved baby Finley, and so did I! He looks just like Luke, I think. We were so glad they came up for the weekend...and best of all (in Wes's mind), Luke and Wes beat the tanks game on the Wii!!

All Star Quilt

This quilt is for a baby boy that our good friends were recently able to adopt. They have been waiting a long time to become parents, and we are so happy for them!

A close up of the stippling

The quilt was made from 7 fat quarters of Riley Blake's new line, All Stars, and Kona Cocoa, Peridot, and Cyan. The pattern is from the Schnibbles Time Two book. It measured 35" by 42" before washing. This is also the first time I tried free-motion quilting...it's far from perfect, but good enough for my first try! The back is just brown fleece, which should be good for the upcoming cold weather, even if it does attract lint/stray pieces of thread!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!

A clown, a power ranger, and Blue

Jaxson's 3rd Birthday

Jax's party was a couple weeks ago (I'm trying to get caught up). We were excited that Lindsey and Camie and their families were in town to help us celebrate.

This was Jaxson's present from his dad. Its never too early to start soccer practice! The kids love this. Even Kamryn will kick the ball.

I don't know why this picture is turned sideways, but this is Jaxson's other favorite toy. And it just so happens to be orange, his favorite color. Now he can go rabbit hunting with his shot gun! (Wes takes the kids rabbit hunting sometimes, they rarely see anything, but they both love to go.)


I made two cakes for the party, and both had their troubles. I made a death by chocolate cake that fell in, and then Jax's cake got stuck in the pan. We rescued it by putting inside a trifle dish with cool whip and strawberries. He had asked for an orange and green cake, so that's why it's layered like that.Happy Birthday Jaxson boy! We love you!

Here are a few things you may/may not know about this boy:
-he never calls Kamryn by her name, she is always "baby"
-he likes to push Hallie's buttons
-he likes to claim lots of things as his "favorite"
-when I ask him to put clothes away/pick up he tells me "i sick", or "my tired" or "my busy".nice
-I sing him and hallie a song of their choosing every night. right now it is Old MacDonald, and he rotates what animal he wants to sing about. Usually it's "oinky"-pig.
-He adds "ie" onto lots of words and it drives Wes nuts. juicie, Gussie, oinkie, stinky (blanket)
-His favorite animal is a zebra
-He likes to sing
-He always worries where Kamryn is. A lot of times I lay her down without him knowing, and a few minutes later he asks "where baby"
-He talks a lot but most people can't understand him...he is getting better though
-He always sucks his thumb and has his finger in his belly button/"moles"...if you really know him, you know what his moles are!
-He is not potty trained, but likes to wear underwear

That about does it...he is loud and rough, but we love him still! He calls me his buddy, and that just melts my heart.

Primary Colors Quilt

I made this quilt earlier in the summer, and just gifted it to a new girl in my ward and her new baby boy. (I love having a couple extra baby quilts around, for things like this). I used a quilt-as-you-go method that made this really fast to whip up.

Utah Trip

We got to go to Utah for General Conference a couple of weeks ago. One of Wes's favorite people from his mission flew up for Conference, so we met him up there. It was so good to see him, as well as my sisters and Skyler.

I really wanted to drive through the canyon to see the fall colors, but we ran out of time, so this had to suffice on the way out of town. (Much prettier in person).


We have always come up with ridiculous types of competitions. This game was invented a few years ago, when Hallie and Tai got these shape sorters. You basically just try to get all the shapes in as fast as you can. We forgot about it until Saturday night when we were hanging out at Meagan's house...we all got in on the action this time!


We went to the best place for Tai and Tag's birthday. It's called the Incredible Pizza Company or something like that. They had an all-you-can-eat pizza/salad/dessert buffet, arcade games, bumper cars, laser tag, race cars, goofy golfing,etc. We definitely got our money's worth. The kids (and us) had so much fun! We would go there again, if we were ever up there.

The kids table

The race cars were actually pretty fast for being for little kids

They had this virtual game where you watch the video and you could feel everything in your chair (going up and down, bumps, etc)
Kamryn was really sick on Friday, throwing up all day. It was such poor timing, and slowed us down on our vacation. She was still very lethargic on Saturday...I basically held her all day. But she did love a couple of the little rides in the kiddie area. I wish she had felt better, because there was a lot to do there, even for kids her age!Jaxson participated in the dance party. This picture doesn't show it, but he does the "Jaxson boogy" aka dancing like a robot.

We strolled around Temple Square on Friday afternoon. Meadow met up with us there for a little while.
The guys (Wes, Omar, and Edgar) rode on these race cars...they are really fast.

I waited in the lobby with the kids and tried to keep Kamryn from puking everywhere (she saved that for Wendy's just after we left).

The weather was so warm and beautiful, we never needed the jackets that I brought.
Edgar is Omar's cousin who is going to school in Provo. Hallie and Jaxson loved playing with him, he was such a good sport.

Thursday night we were to an authentic Ecuadorian restaurant in Salt Lake City. We met up with one of Wes's old companions, Elder Denby, Omar, and Omar's mother-in-law. The kids weren't too sure about some of the food, but we found some things for them to eat too.
We ended up being there for quite awhile, and the kids were definitely antsy. We were watching some kind of International channel that was showing all the political turmoil going on in Ecuador. I was glad to have Omar there to tell us what was really going on.
The whole group at the restaurant. There were lots more past missionaries that we didn't know.
It was really good to see Omar and get to tell our kids about him and his family. I was glad he got to meet our kids. Hopefully next time we will get to see his wife too!

And it was really good to see my sisters (we never go to Utah), and Sklyer and his girlfriend who drove up for the weekend. We packed a lot into the weekend, but it was so much fun.