Amazing Girl!!

This post is all about Claire. We just have to brag about what an amazing little girl she is. She has such a strong desire to learn and achieve. Back in December she set a goal to be reading second grade books by the end of the school year. She had to read, answer questions in complete sentences and truly comprehend what she is reading to us and then take the book to school and read it to her teacher.
Today she accomplished her goal. She read her last first grade reading book and is ready to start the second grade books. CLAIRE WE ARE SO PROUD TO BE YOUR PARENTS!!

It's Been Way Too Long...

It was been a long time since I updated our blog. I am not even sure if anyone reads this or not, but I am still updating it. I wanted to update it a long time ago, but my laptop died. This post will be full of pictures and fun times.
Claire is still doing swim lessons. She is doing amazing. I am so proud of her. She is a little fish...if only she would kick really hard while she is doing her strong arms.  She is so great!!

 Mia was quite excited for this swim lesson session to start. She was officially able to take the tiny tot swim level. She did amazing. She was fearless.

 

I missed posing about Easter. Our kids loved having the Easter Bunny come and visit them. Here are some of the highlights from Easter. First off, here are a picture of each girls coloring on their eggs before dyeing them in their favorite colors. 

 

Here are the girls after going on their Easter Egg Hunt. It isn't the greatest picture of them, but it is about the only one I got them to sit still for long enough to take the picture without it being blurry. 

 Here are the girls in their Easter Dresses. I let them pick their own dresses this year. yes they are holding their dresses up like Sophia does in Sophia the First.

 Then I had to throw in some misc pictures of things that have happened. We had a visit from the Pooper Scooper Fairy. We were so thankful for her visit.

 Just one picture of my girls loving their time with their cousin ...Baby Echo (that is what my girls call her...they can't just say Echo ...they have to say Baby Echo).

The last thing to update is us...we finally after at least 2 years got family pictures taken. We had a great time with these pictures. Here are just some of the many amazing pictures we got. 

 

 

 

There are so many more things we have done...we have been busy finishing up the outside of our house. We still have a lot of work to do, but we have now painted the outside of the house completely. Now we just need to get landscaping, sprinklers and grass and then most of the outside will be completed. 

Scared, Nervous and What a Rush!!

This past weekend we went to Spokane to visit with John, LeeAnn and Katelynn (Bryan's cousin and his family). We had so much fun with them...just like we always do. They took us to a shooting range. I have done this before and was excited, but when it came to trying out this gun I was terrified!! Here we all are after shooting the full auto...Kriss Vector .45!!

 The following are pictures to prove we shot it. You can even see the fire as it comes out of the end of the gun. Hopefully soon I can post a video of us shooting as well. Bryan and John loved it...I was terrified and nervous to do it, but so glad they supported me and I can now say I shot a full auto Kriss Vector .45 machine gun!!

 

Here are the videos....

She is 6!!

I can't believe it has been six years already. Claire was so excited for her birthday and her ice cream cake!

Claire wanted to have a princess birthday party. We told her she could have one IF we were in our house. At that point we didn't realize how crazy it would be...we moved in Friday and Saturday, Claire's birthday was Sunday and her party was on Wednesday. I am so grateful to all those who helped us move, but especially to my parents who helped me pull off everything.
At her party, they decorated crowns, dressed as princesses, watched Barbie Princess and a Popstar and then were able to have glitter fingernails and or toenails...then of course presents and cake. Claire loved every minute of it...her only complaint was she didn't get to invite everyone she wanted (if that was allowed she would have had like 30+ kids at her party).

 

Here are the beautiful princesses...minus Mia (she was still sleeping).

I can't believe that Claire is already six years old and she is already talking about when she turns 8, 12 and 16...oh man I hope the time doesn't pass that quickly!

And the Winner is???

The Ugly Sweatshirt winner (by a landslide) was Terin for making the shirt Bryan was wearing. Second place was Bryan for the shirt Josh was wearing.

Votes Needed!!!

Well it has been a few years, but we did it again!! We have done the ugly sweater exchange contest. We need your votes. I will post the pictures of the sweaters and the person wearing them. Please vote for who you feel is wearing the ugliest sweater.

DON

 LOIS

BRYAN

STACIE

CLAIRE

MIA

JON

TERIN

JOSH

Get your votes in now so we can crown our winner of the annual (well almost annual ugly sweater exchange contest)!!

Let The Holiday Fun Begin

This is my favorite time of the year. I love how happy, kind, considerate and loving people are, but most importantly I love all the fun things I get to do with the kids. Here are just some of the fun times we have had so far. First off was our ward party. It was a lot of fun! There was some great music and then some great activities for the kids. My girls both loved to do the games, decorate a cookie, made a finger painting wreath and got to tell Santa what they want for Christmas. Here are the girls with Santa.

As you can tell Mia wasn't all that excited about being with Santa, but Claire was a great big sister and held onto Mia's hand. We decided to see Santa at another place to see how Mia would do. While we were waiting in line to see Santa and his wife, we told Mia she didn't have to look at Santa if she didn't want to, but she needed to tell him what presents she wanted from him. This time we had a different result, but Claire was still helping out her baby sister by holding her hand.

Bryan's sister Janelle, is due this month (we are so excited about this. The girls can't wait to meet their new cousin Echo...) and because of this we all hurried in and got our hair cut before that baby comes. She spoiled the girls and made their hair PINK! My girls were so excited!! We were ok with that because it washed out. Here they are with their lovely pink hair.

As a family we got together to do our annual gingerbread houses. We had a lot of fun doing this. Here are the girls getting ready to decorate their homes. Papa Don helped build them a home at of cardboard so it was easier for them to decorate.

Here is Mia with her home that she decorated!

Here is Claire with her decorated home!

Finally Bryan and I with our decorated house.  We had a great time decorating and love seeing the creations that the family all made. 

Here are all of our homes (sorry it is a bit blurry). The homes were done by the following (starting from the left)--- Don and Lois, Janelle and Jon, Bryan and Stacie, Terin and Josh, Mia and Claire.