Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Randall took the boys camping with the scouts over the weekend (and froze!  It rained and snowed on them. Yuck!)  So Lainee, Ashlin and I had ourselves a little girls weekend.  We made cookies, snuggled up on the couch and watched a movie, and did manicures and pedicures.  Or, as Lainee would say, "We pinked her toes!"

Snowy President's Day Ride

For days leading up to President's Day we had planned on going on a horse ride with some friends. When President's Day finally arrived, we realized the weather was not cooperating. So, we changed our destination, but not the activity.

If I had to do it all over again, I probably would have found a babysitter for Ashlin. She enjoyed the first hour of the ride, but after that she became cold and tired. Needless to say, the first half of the ride was more pleasant than the first. Lainee got cold and tired as well, and I had to get off and walk with her for a bit to wake her up for fear of her falling asleep and falling right off the horse! The boys each took a minor tumble, but all three of the older kids (Cooper, Carson and Lainee) said they enjoyed themselves despite the cold and snow and speak our snowy horse ride frequently.

Valentines Day 2012

I had high hopes of making this day a fun and memorable one. It was fun, and memorable, but not quite in the way I had originally planned.

I made heart shaped raspberry pancakes for breakfast. While Cooper was at school, Carson, Lainee and I (Ashlin was napping) made heart shaped crayons out of our old broken crayons. So fun!!!

Randall gave me some flowers, and also gave Lainee and Ashlin their own flowers. Lainee was grinning from ear to ear! I think my girls definitely have their Dad wrapped around their little fingers!

For dinner I made heart-shaped finger jello to go along with our baked potatoes, stroganoff, cheesy cauliflower, green salad, and cran-apple juice.

Unfortunately, just as I was getting the table set there was a deadly car crash just a mile from our home. Randall was asked to come help, because there were a couple of dogs trapped inside the vehicle. The kids and I ate by ourselves as we watched about a dozed emergency vehicles converge on the scene. After dinner we read books and snuggled on the couch, and then I sent them to bed. Randall arrived home just as I was tucking them in.

So, not the Valentine's evening I had imagined, but I find myself counting my blessings and being grateful for my wonderful husband and 4 beautiful children. I truly am blessed!

Happy 3rd Birthday Lainee!!!

My little Lainee bug turned 3 yesterday! She's turning into quite the little lady. Her hair has grown quite long. I need to get it trimmed, but I'm afraid when I do it will cut off the curls and not be curly anymore!

Lainee frequently get to accompany me to help Carson's preschool class. She loves "going to school" and actually behaves better than some of the preschoolers! She can get a little bossy at times, though :)

She likes to draw, and recently has begun drawing family members. I must say, she draws quite well for a 3 year old! When my internet gets working better I will post a picture of one of her drawings.

Happy birthday Lainee! We love you!

Happy 1st Birthday Ashlin!

Wow! Where did that year go? My baby girl turned one year old yesterday! She is such a smiley little girl, always on the go, and is becoming a bit of a tease. She is not walking yet, but is very close! She likes to climb (heaven help me!); I caught her trying to climb in to the tub the other day. She loves her bath!

She says Mama, Dada, Hi, bye, does a few signs, especially the sign for milk!

She has the pudgiest little cheeks that are just perfect for kissing. I sure do love my baby girl! Happy birthday Ashlin!

For her cake we made little bug cupcakes: butterflies, ladybugs, and bees. Ashlin had fun licking the frosting off, and then quickly disposed of the cake in her high chair. Funny girl!

Where did we go?

No, I have not fallen off the face of earth. Rather, I am having internet issues. Long-term issues. Since before Christmas, issues! I can get on the internet, but I cannot upload or download anything. It is so annoying! I have a backlog of posts I've started, but I can't upload any pictures so I haven't finished them. Who knows when they'll get my internet working properly, so I'm going to just post and hopefully go back and add pictures later.

Viva Las Vegas!

Randall's cousin chose to get sealed in the Las Vegas Temple to her hubby. This event just happened to coincide with the NFR (that's National Finals Rodeo for all you non-rodeo fans). When we realized we could attend both, Randall immediately declared, "We're going!"

Randall's parents were generous and came to our house to stay with the 3 older kids. Ashlin was lucky enough to take a trip with mom and dad---- she's still nursing. I think she really enjoyed her one-on-one time!

While we were in Vegas we met up with some of Randall's co-workers for a steak dinner at Circus Circus' award-winning The Steakhouse.

And what would a trip to Vegas be without stopping at In 'n Out be? I don't do burger joints very often, but man does In n' Out have a good burger!

The NFR was really fun! We got in on one of the Finals Nights. We were too cheap to pay for regular tickets (over $100 a piece!) so we did what they call the "Mad Dash." You buy a ticket for $49 and then you go find an empty seat. If someone comes and has a ticket for that seat you have to move. We had Lettie and Wayne with us and managed to find 4 seats together, and we didn't have to move a single time! Plus, 2 other guys who had already moved twice came and sat buy us as well- that means there were 6 empty seats together! It was a little nerve-racking everytime someone came up looking for their seat, but all-in-all, it was fun and we saved ourselves a ton of money! Ashlin fell asleep about 40 minutes into the rodeo and stayed asleep the rest of the night. She was such a good traveler the whole trip. I think she enjoyed not having any of her siblings around to pick on her for a few days!


The Vegas temple is beautiful, and I'm so glad we were able to share that special day with Lettie and Wayne. We couldn't be happier for the two of them!

We took a drive up to Hoover Dam to see the bypass bridge (officially called the Mike O’Callaghan – Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge). The last time we were in Vegas the bridge was still under construction. Wow! That thing is amazing!!!


I really wanted to go see a Cirque du Soleil show or The Lion King. Unfortunately, most of the shows were sold out and they also excluded infants- since we had Ashlin with us that automatically counted us out. So, we went to see Jabbawockeez. It was fun, and definitely kid-friendly, but it wasn't an amazing show by any means. Randall just reminded me that next time we are leaving ALL the kids home so we can be foot-loose and fancy free!

Finally- you cannot visit Las Vegas and not go see the Fountains at Bellagio! My favorite! They also had a really neat winter display up inside the Bellagio. These polar bears were made out of thousands of white carnations. Pretty cool, right!?