Blake's Baptism~2/5/2011

On February 5th, 2011 my son Blake was Baptized a member of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
What a wonderful, amazing & spritual day it was for our whole family!!!
I'm getting choked up just thinking about it, even though it was 6 months ago.
I am so grateful/happy/proud/joyful that my son decided to make this choice in his life.
Some people might say that an 8 year old is too young to make this kind of decision, but we know as members of the
church that 8 year olds are a lot smarter & in tune with the Spirit than we give them credit for.
My son Blake showed me that again on this wonderful occasion.
We do stake baptisms so we were lucky enough to have a room full of lots of people celebrating & supporting our awesome primary children in their decision to be baptized. We were also lucky because Blake was the only one from our Ward & the 1st one to be baptized.
My dad, Blake's grandpa was able to baptize & confirm Blake that day. Blake was beaming from ear to ear after he was baptized & then after he got dressed back into his suit we went into a different room for the confirmation. My dad gave him a wonderful blessing & I could feel the Spirit so strong it was hard for me to keep my emotions in check. The best part was that I know that everyone in that room felt the Spirit as well. Especially Blake. This boy of mine was so overcome by the feelings he had, he was crying. He came over to me right away & I hugged him so tight so he knew that it was ok to have these feelings. It was a wonderful teaching moment that Naunie (grandma, my dad's wife) & I were able to share with Blake. It was so sweet...I feel all warm & fuzzy just remembering it too. He's a sweet boy, a good big brother, a pretty good boy (most of the time) & has a wonderful spirit. I feel especially lucky to be Blake's mom & hope I can be the best mom for him!!!! I know this church is true & feel grateful every day that I have the gospel & I'm able to share it with my children!!


Blake's Baptism day!!


We don't take pictures of the actual events because they are very special.
But we can take before & after pictures. Click on the collage above & you will see just how happy & excited
Blake was on his special day!! Just beaming from ear to ear

Nature's Critters~Sonny's Preschool Class 2011

Sometime in early 2011....maybe February (it's been a while) Sonny's preschool class had a
lady from "Nature's Critters" come to his classroom for an in-class field trip. It was sooo cool
She brought a tortoise, a parrot, cockroaches (ewww), a snake-lizard thing, a tree frog, & a boa constrictor.
The kids had a fun time ooohhing & ahhing at all the cool critters & even got to pet a few of them.
I'm so glad I was able to be there & watch Sonny & take pictures.


Nature's Critters

Happy New Year!!! 12/31/10-11

Finally!!!!
The year 2011 has been rung in on my blog.....so far behind!!!
We celebrate Blake's birthday in the early evening & anybody who wants to stay & hang out to bring in the NEW YEAR with us
hangs out. It's fun!! Sometimes we have a big bunch & sometimes we have a tiny bunch. This year it was
just a tiny bunch but we still had fun. The boys always love to stay up late & this year they played video games with dad, & Uncle Bryan.
Lots of fun!!! One of these years I'm gonna be really prepared & have a most excellent game night planned & send out invites for Blake's party & also the New Year's Eve party.
One of these years!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!

Blake's 8th Birthday!! 12/31/2010

We celebrated Blake's 8th Birthday on 12/31/10!!!
I can't believe that my oldest childe is 8!!
We had a fun time & I know he did too. We had some family & friends over
& celebrated with pizza, soda & an Oreo cake. I asked Blake what kind of cake he wanted & he said he
wanted an Oreo cake.
I thought it would be fun to make & although I really wanted to make it look like
an Oreo cake...........this is what I came up with instead.
It turned out great & Blake loved it. That's all I can ask for!!!
Anyway...as always it's a fun day to have a Birthday & we usually try to celebrate on his acutal Birthday.
What better day to have a party than New Year's Eve.
HAPPY 8TH BIRTHDAY BLAKE!!!

A Windy Day & a New Helicopter

The boys got this really cool Helicopter toy from their Great Uncle Robbie for Christmas.  The one day I decided to take the boys up to the school to try it out was really cold & windy.  But...what are you gonna do when they are bored outta their minds & driving me nuts??  Take them somewhere...anywhere!!!
  Even though it was really windy they had a lot of fun & the helicopter was easy to figure out, so that's always good :)



Sonny retrieving it from one of its flights.

Blake getting ready for take off.

Launch!!

Another try.

Sonny bringing it back again.

Look at that nice leather jacket we got for Blake....he begged & begged for that thing & I got a really awesome deal at Macy's for it & he's only worn it a few times!!!  Dang that kid...he prefers his Old Navy Hooded zip up sweater!!!  Oh well....

More launches

A fun few hours until I was just too cold & wind blown & couldn't handle it any more.
Maybe it was only 1 hour...can't remember...it was 5 months ago...haha!!!  Still...we had fun!!

Bounce U...Christmas Break 2010

One day on the Christmas break I decided we needed to get out of the house.  Blake had gotten a "FREE" pass to this place called BounceU.  It was time go go & use it because it was going to expire.  It's a really cool place for kids to play when it's rainy & cold outside.  They have 2 huge warehouse rooms with different types of infatable bounce houses.  It was fun to take the boys.




Giant slide...Blake was so excited & it took FOREVER to get Sonny to finally slide down!!  He was up at the top forever.  Blake & other kids kept going & going & I finally had to tell Blake to help Sonny.

Blake full of pure excitement & joy!!

Sonny...they just come down too fast to get a decent pic...once he finally got over the fear...he went several more times.

Waiting in line after not being scared anymore.

Sonny really liked trying to hit the ball that was floating in the air.  He had tons of fun at this station!!

A fun few hours for the boys & a break from them being bored for me!!

Christmas Collages~2010

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December Fun~2010

We had lots of fun in December!! Here's a recap of some of our festivites.
(for some reason my pics are not showing up so I will put them on a different post)


1.Near the beginning of the month we decorated the Christmas tree at our house. It's kinda weird when you're using someone else's decorations but we pulled it off. And it looked great. Then a few days later Naunie invited Blake & Sonny over to help her & our other cousins help decorate her tree. It was really fun watching all the boys decorate Naunie & Grandpa's tree. Grandpa even let Blake be his assistant photographer for the day. It was a fun day.

2.We attended our Ward Christmas at the beginning of the month as well. It was fun to visit with friends from the ward & for the kids to meet Santa & tell them what they hoped they'd get for Christmas.

3.We also got to go over to Naunie's & Grandpa's to make Gingerbread Houses. This has become a fun tradition. Colby & Kylie got to join in on the fun too since we did it during the day. It's always fun to see what the kids come up with & how much candy they can sneak too.

4.Another family tradition is to visit with the Johns family a few days before Christmas. It's so nice to get together with my crazy & fun family to eat & visit & watch the kids perform the Nativity. My kids never participate...the little stinkers. I'm so glad that my grandparents do this every year a few days before Christmas...that way we get to see everybody without as much rushing around.
Blake, Sonny & Gabreal were having so much fun together & I got a few great pics of the 3. It was cute!!
Another family tradition is that we go to Brad's Uncle's house for Christmas Eve & eat a ton of Mexican food. It's always fun to get together with them & enjoy the holidays. I've gotten used to not having turkey on Christmas Eve & now I look forward to the food...especially the refried beans....mmmmm....sooo good. No pics...maybe next year.

5.Here are some pics from Christmas morning at our house. The boys were very excited to see all the loot that Santa brought them along with all the other gifts. Sonny was pleased with all of his candy & decided he needed to lay it all out. Blake got a fantastic leather jacket & a Jets shirt (his fave team). They got lots of stuff to keep them occupied & happy....for a few days at least.



6.We also went over to Grandpa & Naunie's on Christmas morning to celebrate with my family. I love being around my family!! We all have our little quirks & that's what makes it great. I always feel like we don't get to spend enough time with each of our families...I guess that's what happens when both of our parents are divorced. More love to go around I suppose. Anyway it was fun watching my boys & my nephews open their Christmas gifts. We usually do a Yankee Swap with all of us adults. There was some good stuff this year. I got movie tickets...yay!! ( I still haven't used them yet). My Aunt Jeanne brought this peppermint pig & what you do is put it in a bag & say what you were thankful for & hope for the upcoming year & then hit the pig with a little hammer. Everyone in the room does it & then you take it out of the bag & eat the peppermint. It was really fun & I hope we do it again next year. After that Brad & I went to the movies with his brother Bryan while the kids went home to rest with Grandma Lisa. It was a nice day.

I'm so grateful for Christmas time. I love that we get to celebrate the birth of our Lord. I feel so blessed to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life & the opportunity to teach it to my children as well. I only hope that my children gain as strong of a Testimony as I have throughought their lives.

Mason turned 2!! November 2010

Our cousin Mason (my youngest sister's son) turned 2 on November 30 2010 & we got to go celebrate the occasion. It was fun eating pizza & cake & watching his face when he opened all his presents. What more can you ask for. I still can't believe he's 2!!  Time sure does fly!!


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November 2010

November 2010 was a fun month!! Here's a couple more things we did.
Right around Thanksgiving we headed up to Apple Hill with Bryan, Kimi, Libby & Lisa (Brad had to work) to cut down a Christmas tree for Grandmother & Grandad. Burrrrr!!! It was freezing but fun!! The kids had fun running up & down the hill & around the trees until we found the right one. Here's some pics to see all the fun!!!


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After cutting down the tree we stopped at another area in Apple Hill to get some hot chocolate & donuts & hopefully warm up.
The kids got to look at the pond & some of the ducks that were there & then they found some left over ice & thought it would be fun to throw it at eachother. They did have fun & it was funny to watch. I'm glad they had fun. It ended up being a nice day.

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Blake's soccer season also came to a close in late October. We had our team party at a nearby Roller Rink. It was so fun. I love to roller skate. We are nowhere near professional but it is always fun. The boys had tons of fun & it was good to see the whole team one last time.
Way to go Scorpions. Eventually at some point I will put up actual soccer pictures.

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Disneyland~November 2010

Of course a year cannot be complete without a trip to the
"Happiest Place on Earth"!!!
We were able to go on a fun but quick trip to Disneyland in November with my family.
We were able to find some decent prices to the park for 2 days with a lot of searching.
It can be done!! Of course I wanted to be there for more days but was willing to settle for the 2 days in both parks.
It's always so much fun going to Disneyland!!
We stayed in the time share that's within walking distance to the park (my parents hooked us all up) & it was awesome!!!
It was fun to swim & sit in the warm jacuzzi on the day that we left. So, here's my pictures from our Disney Adventure!!!

All packed up in the car & ready to go.


Lights out!! We have a big day ahead of us!!

One of the 1st things we do when we get there is eat breakfast at the "Carnation Cafe". It is a tradition & the food is great!!
Glad my dad was awake & got to join us.

Here are some of my favorite shots with the family. I wish I would've taken more of my sisters. They were there a couple days before us & they went to a lot of the shows while we were riding rides. I don't get to see a lot of the shows because Brad doesn't think the kids will like them. I did go watch one of the parades though & I was in heaven. One of these days I'm gonna go with a bunch of girls & do the whole Disney Princess thing :)

Blake did a little bit better this year....I don't know why he has to go & freak himself out. The ride he freaked on the most was the Grizzly Rapid Ride in California Adventure & I do believe that my brother in-law Erick was about to lose his mind because Blake would not stop crying. The ride attendant even said that if he didn't stop they wouldn't launch our raft!! Ha!!! I made the poor kid suffer.
I am truly the BEST Mom EVER!!!

While I was watching the parade with my parents, Alicia, Amelia & Mason,

Brad took the boys over to Tom Sawyer's

the Pirate's of the Caribbean play area (I seriously can't remember the real name)

& took them to get this...

and then I received a text saying that I was needed asap....to clean them up of course.

That's ok...they truly enjoyed the cotton candy.

We had a really fun time & learned that yes, Disneyland & California Adventure is still fun even if you only go for 2 days & are on a really tight budget!!  Glad we got to go & maybe next time I won't forget my Disneyland t-shirts.  Still can't believe that I left home without them!!  Haha!!

Breast Cancer 5k~10/2010

Back in October we signed up to do this Breast Cancer 5k since Brad's work (Bank of America) was gonna be out there along with a whole bunch of other businesses. This was a HUGE & I mean a HUGE 5k. It wasn't like the typical 5k that I'm used to where I would be racing against myself to get a decent time. There were thousands of people there...swear...so there was really no space to even pick up the pace to a slow jog. It was still fun to be there with my cute little family. Blake did great walking with me the whole way & of course Sonny got to hitch a ride in the stroller. I wonder how much longer we will do that for...hmmmm. It was cold & a little rainy but we all survived!! I think it took us 1 & 1/2 hours to walk 3 miles....Seriously the longest 5k I've ever done!!! Oh well....they raised a ton of $ & that's the whole point :)


We started at the State Capitol & went through old town. It was a nice scenic walk.