The CUTE Shepherd

I just realized that I have recently put a cute picture on here of everyone except for Carson. This is an old one, from Christmas time. We spent Christmas in Utah at Kurt's parents house. His sister lives about a mile from them and his other sister in Idaho. Anyway, they were all there and we decided to do a quick version of the Nativity and let the kids act it out while we read the story out of Luke. Carson was one of the shepherds and he had a lot of fun doing it! It is fun to see the younger kids get so excited about doing things like this! I have the youngest of the cousins on Kurt's side and so it was mainly my kids plus a few of their older cousins. I love making fun memories for the kids, especially when it teaches them about Christ at the same time!

PINEWOOD DERBY

This actually took place back in February, but since I just started this blog, I am backtracking a bit. This was Caleb's first pinewood Derby and Cameron's last. It was a lot of fun. Cameron made a semi-truck and Caleb made this race car with pirate stickers all over it. Caleb had so much fun helping Kurt cut his out and then doing all of the painting himself. I helped him a little with the stickers, but overall, he did most of it himself and did a great job. Cameron wanted this semi-truck and so he and Kurt had to add a piece on the top of it. It turned out great but when we got their to weigh it, it was too heavy. We drilled so many holes in the bottom and had decided he wasn't going to race it because we couldn't get it to weigh in right. At the last minute, with one or two final holes, it fit into the weight limits and he raced it. You should see the bottom of it, it looks like some hungry termites took to it. The boys had a great time together and I am happy they were able to do atleast one Derby together before Cameron graduated to Boy Scouts.

He's growing up way too FAST!

I can't believe my baby is growing up as fast as he is. He loves to crawl all over the house chasing the older kids. He is such a happy baby and we all adore him. He makes us laugh every day!! Heavenly Father sure knows what we need in our lives and Carter is a perfect example of that! I just recently made him start sleeping in his crib for naptime. He has been laying with me on the bed or falling asleep in my arms for me just to put him in the swing or carseat. It is so great to go put a baby in their bed and let them just go to sleep. Any of you who know me and my parenting ways know that I have always (with the exception of Cameron, my first, because he didn't nurse) let my babies sleep with me so i can nurse them easier. Now, I said that he takes NAPS in his bed, but he is still in our bed at night; or atleast part of the night. In fact, we still have a little girl that loves to sleep with us at night! She does nap on her own, but she is finding it difficult to find a way to sleep in her own bed at bedtime! We love it! It is cozy and snuggly and we know that in a few years we are really going to miss it! Plus, we have a new California King Bed and it has plenty of room on it!! If we would let them, I am sure we would have several more occupants in our bed at night, but we have to set some limits right?!!

CAMERON AND CAIDEN

Cameron and Caiden celebrated their birthdays in April. They have birthdays that are only 4 days apart and so occasionally we have had joint parties. I am sure that as they get older they won't enjoy this so much. But who knows, maybe that will be something they continue to enjoy. We shall see! Anyway, if you can't tell by the picture, Cameron's cake is " Logs on a Fire" and Caiden's is a "Hot Dog and French Fries". They were fun to make and they really enjoyed them. Aren't they HANDSOME?

Our PRINCESS turns TWO!!

I know that Olivia's birthday was in February, but better late than never right?! We had a small family party and I made her this cute "ladybug" cake (for those of you who can't tell what it is). It was really easy and really fast to make. My brother Jeremy's little girl had a birthday right around the same time and she turned 5. We decided to celebrate them both together over pizza and cake. I can't believe our little darling is 2 already. It seems like just yesterday that we were all anxiously awaiting her arrival. She is such a great addition to our growing family.

OUR NEW KITTENS

WE GOT 3 KITTENS FROM A FAMILY IN OUR WARD BECAUSE OUT WHERE WE LIVE THERE ARE MICE EVERYWHERE!! WE FIGURED THAT IF WE HAD SOME KITTENS, THEY COULD CATCH ALL OF THOSE MICE BEFORE THEY WANDERED INTO OUR NEW HOUSE. THEY SLEEP IN OUR GARAGE AND PLAY OUTSIDE DURING THE DAY. WE OCCASIONALLY LET THEM INSIDE FOR A FEW MINUTES TO RUN AROUND. WELL, MY SWEET OLIVIA THINKS THAT SHE IS THEIR MOTHER. SHE WILL BRING THEM IN, CARRY THEM AROUND, TALK TO THEM, AND THEN WHEN SHE THINKS THEY ARE DONE PLAYING, SHE CARRIES THEM BACK TO THE GARAGE. ON HER WAY TO THE GARAGE SHE ALWAYS SAYS "COME ON KITTIES, LETS GO TO BED" AND SHE LAYS THEM IN OUR DOUBLE STROLLER WHERE THEY CAN RELAX. SHE WAS VERY ROUGH WITH THEM AT FIRST BECAUSE SHE DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO HOLD THEM. NOW SHE WILL CRADLE THEM LIKE A BABY AND PET THEM VERY SOFTLY WHILE SHE SAYS " I SOFT". EVEN THOUGH SHE IS TRYING TO BE AS SOFT AS SHE CAN, THE KITTENS STILL GET SCARED AND THEY HAVE USED HER AS A HUMAN SCRATCHING POST. YOU CANT TELL FROM THE PICTURE, BUT SHE HAS SCRATCHES ALL THE WAY FROM HER NECK DOWN TO HER TOES!!

MY CRAZY LIFE

WOW, DID ANYONE EVER THINK I WOULD HAVE 6 KIDS? NOT ONLY THAT, BUT THAT I WOULD BE CRAZY ENOUGH TO STILL WANT ONE MORE?! I MUST BE CRAZY, BUT I LOVE MY LIFE. I WOULDN'T HAVE IT ANY OTHER WAY. ALL OF THESE BOYS KEEP ME ON MY TOES CONSTANTLY AND MY SWEET PRINCESS KEEPS THE GIRL ALIVE IN ME!! HOW BLESSED I AM AND HOW TRUELY THANKFUL I AM FOR HOW MY LIFE IS TURNING OUT!!