Happy Halloween 2009

Davis and Grant as Robin (from Teen Titans) and Snake Eyes from Wolverine!

My girls are so adorable! I guess they are a bunny and Pebbles.

Snake Eyes and Robin--don't they look fierce?

Our own sweet Alice in Wonderland!

Happy Halloween!

Carving Pumpkins

Scary! Taylor with a knife!
Davis and his Vampire pumpkin.

Lauren imitating her pumpkin. It took her 2 minutes to carve it. She was really fast!

We loved this pumpkin because its teeth look kind of like Grants. :) Too cute.

This pumpkin is a cat head--if you look closely you can see it.

We had a lot of fun!

Joe's Crab Shack

While we were in California we ate at a place called Joe's Crab Shack.

It was a lot of fun.

The waiters and Waitresses dance in the aisles when certain music comes over the speakers.

Taylor, Lauren and Tyrel decided to order crabs to crack--hence the bibs.

The rest of us opted for food that didn't require work!!:)

It is a happening place! Fun times!

Taylor and Allie
Grant and Lauren



Sweet Taylor

My man, my littler man and me!:)

Disneyland

We had a gret time in Disneyland during Fall Break. As you can see, I immediately went for the Mickey Mouse pretzel. I only had two while I was there--I had great restraint!!

Here are my princesses in front of the Castle.

We were so busy riding rides that we took very few family pics. We finally got one on the last day! It was so crowded--we think all of AZ must have been there. We still had fun, though!

Davis and Grant loved the Jedi Training. Grant's favorite ride was "Star Tours".

It was the first ride we went on and he kept wanting to go on it again and again!!

Here are the kids by the "A" of "California" in front of California Adventure.

Fun was had by all!!

Homecoming 2009

Garrett Shelley asked Taylor to Homecoming this year.

Doesn't she look beautiful??

Her favorite part was putting on the corsage--it took her ten minutes.

She is such a perfectionist!

Poor Garrett--he was very patient.

They had a wonderful time.

Taylor was even able to wear heels. (She is not wearing them in this picture.)

We really loved the comment Allie made after they exited.

"He's smokin'"

This has us a little worried.

Allie can't wait to be 16.

Oh Dear!

Twilight Fan!!

Okay--I am a huge Twilight fan. Love Stephanie Meyer and love her books. After the previews of "New Moon" I can't wait for the movie. I know the books are always better but I sure enjoy the movies. In honor of my Twilight mania I have posted the countdown to "New Moon". Can you say "Midnight Movie?" My husband thinks I'm nuts but he loves me anyway.:) He is one smart cookie--and definitely my "Edward"!!

First Day of School 2009

The first day of school is always a little bittersweet for me. I know I will miss the freedoms of summer--less strict schedules, sleeping in...etc. I do like getting back into a routine and schedule so that is nice. This year is interesting because my oldest will be going to school for her final year while my youngest, Grant, will be going to the school for the first time. How did we do that?? It certainly wasn't planned. Anyway, here a few pics. of our sweethearts getting ready to go! They are precious!!:) Lauren, Allie, Taylor, Grant, and Davis.
Our sweet senior!!

Davis is going to third grade.

Lauren is going to 9th grade--her last year at Poston!

Cute Allie--she will be in 5th grade.

Grant is going to Kindergarten. What a cutie!

Wonderful Book!!

If you have teenagers or will have teenagers or you like to understand the reasons behind some of the things we do as LDS people, this is the book for you!! It is wonderful. If you can't read my scan, it is called: "Why? Powerful Answers and Practical Reasons for Living LDS Standards". We love it!

Some of the topics discussed are: "Why should I fast?" "Why does it matter who my friends are?" "Why should I keep the Word of Wisdom?" The introduction even answers the question, "Why ask Why?"

It is a good thing to be obedient and "when we understand the logical reasons behind what we are being asked to do, we are more likely to obey. " (I got that from the book!)

We hope you like it as much as we do!

Schools Out!

Okay so it is finally here--no more school for the summer. (Am I the only one who thinks time flie faster with each passing year?) I have mixed feelings--I am such a creature of routine--I do laundry on Mon. and Thurs. I grocery shop on Mon., I try to do office work on Wed. and Friday. Now that school is out I need to get used to a whole new routine that involves five children home ALL day. I need to put "making lunch for five kids" into my routine. Part of me is so happy they will be home and another part is counting the days until the first day of school. (Actually, not yet!)

I guess the only constant in life is change. I'll make sure to put that into my routine.:):)

My Mom

For those of you who don't know, my wonderful mother passed away on April 19, 2009. She was 79 years old. Her wonderful second husband, Buford, took great care of her until the end. She was a wonderful mother of 7 children--I am the youngest and I will miss her greatly. I don't think it has hit me yet that she is gone. One comfort is that she is in a much better place and she is with my dad. I'm sure they are celebrating together. I love you, Mom!



Mom and Buford. They were together for 14 years.



Mom, Buford and baby Taylor!




Mom fixing my hair on a camping trip at Yellowstone Park.





Our kids with Mom and Buford at Quartzsite, AZ.
I miss her!

Birthday/Twilight Bash

We threw Taylor a surprise birthday/Twilight party on March 21. It was quite a surprise because her birthday isn't until April 24--but since she loves everything Twilight--especially Edward, we had a little party. It was so much fun. We decorated the room with streamers, black, silver, and red balloons, and quotes from the book were hanging around the room--as well as posters from the movie. As you can see from the pictures, we had a special guest--Edward!! Almost.

This cut-out was scary because it looked like a real person from your peripheral vision. Freaky. Taylor now keeps it in her room. After eating pizza, the girls ate cake. Heidi made the cake--isn't it glorious?! She did a fabulous job.

Cutting into the cake was the best part because it was a red velvet cake! Very cool.



After the cake we watched the movie, of course. It was so much fun!

Too Funny!

My good friend, life-coach, Heidi Eaton, put this on her blog and I couldn't resist putting it on mine. We've never laughed so hard!!

Drivers License

Okay--I'm trying to deal with this--my oldest daughter, Taylor, took her drivers test last Thursday and she is now a licensed driver! Can we just take a moment to say AHHHHH! I have very mixed feelings about this event. On one hand it will be wonderful to have another driver in the house--less taxi-service from me:). On the other hand, this is my baby girl and she can now drive--how did that happen so fast??? Then there is the helpless feeling of distress as she heads out into the world driving amongst people that aren't so careful! I pray everytime she leaves the house. So I have mixed feelings of happiness, helplessness, distress, and a little sadness that she is growing up. How can I feel so much at once?? Is this normal? I guess, upon reflection, I feel this way whenever Taylor crosses a major hurdle in her life because she is my first. Even if she is my first, she'll always be my baby!!

Window Sticker

I have had my window sticker for years and it is finally showing it! All my attempts at trying to paint eyes on because they had fallen off were in vain. I found some more at Michael's. I was sorry to see the old stickers go but I like the new ones! I guess the one thing we can count on is change! The top sticker is the new and the bottom is the old! I like the old one because we are all holding hands--we are all connected! Oh well! I still need to get two dogs for Ping and Brewser. Too fun!

Quotable Quote

My beautiful daughter, Taylor, came home with a quote I thought I would share--her teacher always puts quotes on the board and this is the one for today:
"Life is not like a box of chocolates, life is like a jar of jalapenos...what you do today, might burn your butt tomorrow."
Quite true! Hope you enjoyed that one as much as I did!
TTYL

Happy Valentine's Day!

Well, I guess my only tribute to Valentine's Day (on this blog) is the background! It has come and gone and I said not a word! So I am saying now--Happy Valentine's Day. This is a great day because we were engaged on this day nineteen years ago!! I don't have pics celebrating, but I learned something new for this day--Heidi taught me a few things--the one I will mention is cake decorating! Yes, I can now decorate a cake with yummy frosting. My first attempt was a three layer--chocolate, strawberry, chocolate--pink-frosted cake. It was pretty with roses on the top--Heidi's roses looked much better than mine! When we served the cake on Valentine's Day Tyrel said it was the best cake he had ever tasted! He is very upset with Heidi because cake has never been one of his favorite things but now he is rethinking that--I guess it depends on the cake???

My children received chocolate hearts and a shirt--Davis was extremely happy with his Phoenix Suns jersey! It was a good day but Tye was struggling with allergies and it was awful--for him and me! He got me the greatest card--see above picture! This card is so me--I often eat goodies or sweets--chocolate in particular--and I get caught and the guilt is written all over my face! Tye gave me this card with--what else--but some chocolate! This man loves me!! As far as his gift goes--he received his favorite thing!! Enough said! :) Hope your day was great!!

Grant Rides a Bike!

Grant learned how to ride a bike! What a brave boy--he makes us nervous--notice the helmet, and biking gloves. (Believe me, if Tye had knee and elbow pads available, they would have been on Grant!) Tye practiced with him one evening and the next day as soon as Grant got on the bike he asked Tye to let go. Tye was nervous to let go but sure enough, he was riding the bike! He doesn't pay close attention and he is fearless--that's why we are so nervous!! We may just go get those elbow and knee pads!!

Winter Formal

Taylor went to Winter Formal last Saturday (1/31/09) with Preston. Here is a picture of them. This was taken with Lauren's camera phone. More pics. are coming but I just had to put this one up! Aren't they a gorgeous couple! Taylor had a lot of fun and she was with a wonderful group of kids! Taylor is so beautiful!

Our Family at Davis's Baptism

Davis's Baptism

Our oldest son, Davis, was baptized this year on Sept. 6, 2008. A good friend of mine had her camera there and took some great photos as we were leaving the baptism. It has taken me forever to ask her for the CD of the pics. so I could get more copies. Since I finally got them, I am posting them for you to see. Isn't he handsome!? What a wonderful little boy. We are so blessed to have him in our family!