Happy 4th Birthday Mason!

My Big, Handsome 4 Year Old

Mason's Superman Cake

Enjoying his favorite food-Pizza!

Playing Duck, Duck, Goose!

Opening his presents-FUN!!!

Mason celebrated his 4th birthday on February 7th. He has seen Jakob go to birthday parties throughout the past year and that was all he would talk about, when his birthday gets here what kind of party he was going to have. He really would have liked to have it at Chuckie Cheeses or Pump It Up, but we ended up going to Disneyland, so he had to settle for a Superman party at home. It turned out really fun though! He invited his friends over for pizza, a few games and cake and icecream. He got some really fun gifts and was simply extactic just to have a party all centered around him! It was his first friend party and he really loved every minute of it. We are glad you had a fun day bud and we love you tons!

Happy 1st Birthday Hannah!

1 week

3 Months

6 Months

9 Months

1 Year!!!

Wow-I cannot believe my baby is already 1! It seems like the year just flew by us. Looking back through her baby pictures makes me kind of sad that she grew up soooo fast! We celebrated her 1st birthday on the 6th of February. We had all of my family and Wade brother's family over for some munchies and cake and icecream. It was a little crazy because we had just gotten back from Disneyland at midnight the night before and Wade and I were both feeling miserable, but we made the best of it. Hannah got some fun gifts and attached to one of them was a little dum-dum succor. That made her night! She really could have cared less about her cake, she was completely satisfied with the succor. When we tried to take it away she threw a huge fit. We finally had to put her hands in the cake for her and that sparked her attention enough to play in the cake for a little bit.

Hannah seems to be ahead of her game in life and I really wish she would just slow down. She began walking at 9 months and hasn't stopped since. She loves to give and blow kisses and it is the sweetest thing and melts our hearts. She also is very good at folding her arms for the prayers and sits very still for a 1 year old (she even sits more still than her big brother!) She loves candy and knows where I keep it and will stand at the cabinet and point and cry until someone gets it for her. She is learning where everyone's eyes, ears, nose, mouth and hair are. The only thing she is lacking is talking and that would be because she is very good at pointing and screaming and someone will get her what she needs, so what's the point, but we are still trying. We have loved having this little one in our home and she makes us smile and laugh often. Mason loves to tell people that his Mommy got our family a funny baby! We love you Hannah!

Disneyland 2009!

2 weeks ago we were able to spend 3 days at Disneyland. We decided to take a trip in honor of Mason and Hannah's birthdays. We had a ton of fun the first 2 days, and then the last day was horrible. Wade and I both ended up sick and feeling miserable, but trying to be in good spirits for the sake of our kids and then there was the rain, that was a whole other issue. It began at noon and never let up. We had umbrella's and ponchos, but those only cover your top half, so needless to say our feet and up to our knees were sopping wet and extremely cold, so we ended up calling it a day at 4 pm, which turned out to be okay, because we had to drive back that night anyway. Hannah was quite a little pill. She really prefers to do her own thing and not be strapped down in a stroller, but she did enjoy the rides and luckily none of the lines were extremely long. She was absolutely terrified of the characters, must be a girl thing, because both the boys loved them at her age. She didn't mind talking to Cinderella though, she was the only princess we got to see. Mason was kind of funny the first day. I think he wasn't quite sure what to think about anything and kept telling us he wanted to go back to the hotel. Towards the end of the day, he warmed up and decided he was having fun. The 2nd day was even better! Jakob surprised us the most and went on all of the big rides and loved them. He conquered his 1st big, upside-down roller coaster and loved it so much he went on it 3 times in a row. He and Mason also braved the Hollywood Tower of Terror (even their mom is too chicken to ride that one)! We had a such a great time and can't wait to go back again!

Dress Up Already?

Hannah loves to play dress up! It doesn't matter what it is: her own clothes, the boys clothes, old halloween costumes, washclothes, backpacks, purses, shoes, hats etc. You name it. If it can be worn or carried she's all over it. She is constantly in the boy's dresser pulling out clothes and trying to put them on, getting shoes out of her basket trying to put them on, lugging around Jakob's backpack that is the size of her, putting washclothes on her head, etc. The other night Mason got the "dress-up" box out and she carried this football jersey around and kept trying to put it on her head and screaming in frustration that she couldn't get it, so I finally helped her out and then she found a hat to go with it. She walked around the house as proud as a peacock for the rest of the night and threw a huge fit when I took it off to get her ready for bed. She's not even 1 yet, am I in trouble or what? Girls are fun, but I don't know if I could handle another one-the drama of one is going to be more than I can handle!

So Sweet!

A couple nights ago I had been bathing all of the kids and as I was in Hannah's room getting her dressed and ready for bed, Wade was so kind to go in and clean up the bathtub from all of the kid's toys and dirty clothes, etc. He took care of everything and shut the light off and I never went back in there that night. The next day I went to get in the shower and found this sweet message written on the shower wall with the kids bathtub crayons! It truly made my heart melt! I thought it was so sweet and thoughtful of him to take time out from the everyday chores that he and I are endlessly doing to let me know he loves me! It was a very simple act, but it meant the world to me and helped get my day off to a better start that day! I love you Wade-thanks for all you do for me and the kids-you are the BEST!

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve is usually very uneventful for us, with Wade's profession he is never home to celebrate with us, but we make the best of it! This year I was planning on going over to my sister's to help her throw a party for my niece and her friends, but Hannah wasn't feeling the greatest and she likes to cling to me when lots of people are around, so I decided to spare myself the irritability of dealing with her and stay home. Jakob ended up going over there for a sleep over with Ben, so I brought Andrew home so Mason would have a buddy! We ended up going over to my neighbor, who graciously opened her home to us! We ate some junk and more junk and talked while the kids played for a couple hours. When we came home I let Mason and Andrew go out in the backyard and do some poppers and yell "Happy New Year!" They thought it was the greatest. They had a little campout in the playroom and watched a movie, while I got Hannah to bed and turned on the news in hopes to see my hubby patrolling the crowded streets of the LV Strip-and guess what-I did (just for a brief second though)!

My little New Year Princess! (The hat barely lasted long enough for a picture!)

Mason and Andrew with the streamers from the poppers-cute, little buddies!

New Year's Day was spent hanging out at home, Wade watching football and my parents coming over for some yummy, homemade Baked Potato Soup in bread bowls and playing a couple games of Sorry Sliders! It was a fun, relaxing day, minus the fact that I started coming down with a cold, that Wade and Hannah also had-bummer!

So our New Year got off to kind of a bum start. Hannah started with her cold Christmas day and I finally took her to the doctor last week after almost 2 weeks of being miserable. She ended up having an ear infection. As her, myself and Wade were on the mend, Jakob came down with a bad cough and fever this past Friday and has had a fever off and on all weekend, so I finally took him to the doctor after church today and he has a yucky sinus infection. Hopefully he will feel better soon, so he can go back to school and hopefully we will have some luck in the New Year with Mason not catching any of this, I really don't want to make another trip to the doctor's office, if I can help it! Maybe when I don't have to play nurse anymore, I can sit down and make some goals for myself-I have plenty I need to work on!

Opa, Jakob, Oma and Mason playing Sorry Sliders!

Christmas!

Christmas morning the kids woke up around 7:30 and could hardley wait for us to get out of bed! I, myself, couldn't wait to see the looks on their faces-that is probably my most favorite part about Christmas morning-seeing the happiness and joy on their faces! Santa was pretty good to the kids-they all got everything they wanted and probably more than they needed!

Jakob with his pocket flyer! (not recommended for young children-they break easy). His favorite gifts from Santa were Guitar Hero for his DS and Sorry Sliders!

Mason was super-duper excited to finally get his very own cowboy boots! (Now he won't have to stalk his buddy Jack for his!) His favorite gift he got from Santa was the only thing he asked for and that was PBR-Bull Riding for the Wii!

Hannah's favorite gifts were the only 3 she got-she loved everything! Santa brought a very cute babydoll! She surprised both Wade and myself with the sweet way she carried her baby around and gave her hugs and kisses. It was so cute to watch her!

Her other gift from Santa was this fun, little car. It has a handle on the back and she doesn't mind one bit being pushed around, I don't think she would mind if that's what she got to do all day, she loved it. Spoiled little, stinker!

Later in the afternoon we headed over to my parents for Christmas dinner and let the cousins exchange their gifts! With 18 kids and 12 adults, it was complete chaos, but also lots of fun! Wade and I ended up staying there way to late playing my Dad's new Monopoly on the Wii-it was fun! We had a really fun and enjoyable day! The day after Christmas we packed up and headed to Panaca to visit Wade's family for a couple of days and have a yummy prime rib dinner with them. There was some snow on the ground, but it was so cold there that the snow was really hard and crunchy, but the kids didn't care-they had fun playing outside in the freezing cold with their cousins-I just observed from the window-once again, not a fan of being cold!

Afton and Hannah hanging out and chatting on Afton's new Dora couch-aren't they cute?

Uncle Neil giving Jakob, Mason, Dallin and Afton a ride in the trailor of Grandpa's lawnmower. (I'm glad he doesn't mind being cold because the kids had a blast!)