christmas card preview

it all started with us....
and now we are blessed to be many.

they all have such great personalities

{as you can see here!}

he's a natural!

he posed this one himself! after many, many, many, tries,
we might have one that we all are happy with.
but you'll have to wait and see...

Merry Christmas!

Birthdays

Shilo turned 7!

Our family had 3 soccer games on her Birthday. {so i felt kinda bad}

She wanted to go to Ihop again this year for her restaurant choice, so funny.

Daddy brought her home a pack of Littlest pet shop, I gave her the new dress she has on.

Shilo got a sundae at Ihop, but I made her a chocolate chocolate cake, so she got to be spoiled and have 2 desserts!

I love this little girl and am so blessed to get to be her mom. We play games, jump on the trampoline together, read, cook, paint nails and talk all the time.

Chastin turned 11!
His Aunt Joni brought him this Lego and I practically didn't see him the rest of the afternoon!
He chose Beth's Cafe for his dinner choice.
{funny both kids picked breakfast for dinner}
John brought Chastin home a Lego DS game.
he was sooo excited!
I made him a Tahitian Vanilla Bean Cake. yummy!
Chastin is such a good boy!
He is a great big brother {always nice to his brothers and sisters. always.}
He helps me all the time and cracks us up everyday.
We love him tons!

girls trip to palm springs 2010

we did...

some relaxing in the pool

some thrift store shopping

ate delicious food
{cobb salad}

a little more shopping

ate a little more food

had some more pool time fun!

{shannon running through the sprinklers!}

a little yoga

{we watched}

more relaxation by the pool

in a super cool modern house!

it was lots of fun staying here!

i got out of bed @ 8am to sit by the pool ~

ordered dinner with no dishes to do~

went to bed when i was tired...{remember those days?}

played UNO till 2am~

read till 3...

lucky to be blessed with a family who let me go,

and friends to spend time with in one of my favorite places

too many choices

1st choice

monkey costume is cute~{stuffed bottom and hips} especially because he acts like a monkey with sounds and all!

2nd choice
the chicken~ to die for...
super puffy, white tights, yellow boot covers
makes me smile! i just love it!

3rd choice

star wars ewok

a friend's dad made this, it's warm and cute.

he likes all 3! i love all 3!

and there is only one halloween night!!

so i think that he is going to be a chicken for trunk or treat

and an ewok for halloween night.

the monkey goes back {it's too small}

and

he will be cute and warm!

happy halloween!

reverent at 20 months...

I love this little boy Already for prayer

when we sit down to eat, he is first to fold his arms

so sweet...

being domestic

john and i have spent many weekends in a row

canning, making freezer jam and juicing for jelly

lucky to have john, who loves to do this with me! 80 pounds of fresh picked strawberries
50 pounds of yakima peaches
4 pounds of fresh green beans from our garden

skinning the peaches~ i thought they were so pretty

10 pounds of yellow plums

10 pounds of italian plums

juiced to jelly~made in to jam

silverwood 2010

This year we decided to leave the baby at home and take 2 additional kids

we had a packed suv!

chelsea didn't know she was going till we showed up at her door, {jordan didn't know chelsea was going either} and vincent found out a day or two before we left!

i love to surprise my kids!

poor chelsea!

the name of this ride totally describes how she felt!
the panic plunge!

alex borrowed chelsea's sweater!

go victoria secret model!

{no lines at this time}

vincent and chastin played while we waited in line

all six kids had a wonderful time!

and so did we!

the sign at the end of tremors ~the biggest roller coaster

cheese!

giant ice cream at the end of the day!

{i had saved points all week for this, and ended up not wanting any!

bummer!}

Lunch date at Pike place market

Crab pot for lunch
True was so good!
Hot fresh doughnuts
{us seattlites have some market favorites}

$10 bouquets

wreath of peppers ~ so pretty

John came home from work early,

I had the day off,

so to the market we went!

Off to school again

This is the face True makes every time a camera comes out.

Shilo is in First grade and loves full day!

Jordan is a Sophomore and was so excited to go back to school

Alex is a Junior and taking college credit classes

Chastin is a Fifth grader and looking forward to doing patrol again

Our July

Ear buds, soccer ball & a crown.

What else does a 1 year old need?

Top Pot for our moms Fridays this year.

{we decided on a food theme for our mornings together.}

Taking in a sounders game with the Shippers

lunch @ Monicas parents pool

{evey, true, chastin, shilo, vincent}

P.F Changs with old friends.
{Denae & Audrey}

15

john brought jordan home a full bag of her favorite food

CHIPS!

and a ball that bounces 75ft in the air

some oreo treats too!

then i put her to work on destroying the old bathroom tiles
{happy birthday}
actually this is the day before her birthday,
the morning of her birthday she left to Disneyland with a friend
lucky girl!
spuds in kirkland for fish and chips
then off to arthurs house for a movie with eliza

las vegas '10

seeing the sights

Belagio fountain shows

Cravings buffet at 10 o'clock at night
{had to hit this one, food network voted it 'best in vegas'}
we agree

yummy~ all pink purses

fresh made mexican
~delish~

spent a lot of time here in 111 degrees.

pure bliss

saw some show {girls}

bliss for my hubby

stayed at the stratosphere

saw a lot of this

had an old favorite from my past

and decided that this needed to be a yearly trip for the two of us.