Small Fry

Caden-- he brings so much laughter to our house!

Recent Pictures

Last week was teacher conferences for both Ellyx and Mikey. It was fun to go and hear about what all they have been doing and how much their teachers adore both of them. Ellyx is one of the top students in her class and her teacher has mentioned having her tested for the Gate program next year. This would be a program for kids that are more advanced for their age. I was very proud. Mikey's teacher made me cry telling me that he brings such a positive light and energy to the classroom. He does it to our family too. Good job kiddos!

Wedding weekend in San Fran

Alex and Elizabeth were married on February 21st. Michael and I enjoyed our weekend without kiddos to the fullest. :) It was our first time leaving Caden so there was a few worries about how he was doing but he did great with the Dyer's and Drucille. Ellyx and Mikey always love spending time with them so we weren't worried about them at all.

The weekend was amazing from start to finish. Seeing the family is always the best part... I have the best family ever! I was dying to see Abbey's baby Geneva and get in my Tia time with her. She is adorable and so super sweet... I don't know where she could have gotten that from. :) Alex was as sweet and calm as he could be and we enjoyed the time we could share with him before his big day. Liz was the most beautiful bride I have ever seen and she shines beauty both inside and out. We celebrated Friday night at the rehearsal dinner where the food was delicious, then finished the evening off at the hotel bar. The next morning we had breakfast with Alex and the family and then Michael and I toured the bay with my mom and dad. The wedding was Saturday night. The wedding was gorgeous! We had an EARLY morning flight the next day which made for kind of a whirlwind weekend but we had such a great time!! Thanks Alex and Liz and all the family for putting on a fabulous weekend!

Seattle and the Lion King

What an amazing weekend we had!! We went to Seattle Thursday night and took Mikey and Ellyx to the Lion King. It was unbelievable!!! We planned the night with Adrianne, Kale and Jackson as a way for us to celebrate a late Christmas gift for each other. I love this plan. We get to all hang out, and do something amazing that we aren't going to find in the Tri-Cities. Caden stayed with Drucille during the show and she spoiled him, of course! :) Thanks Dyer fam and Drucille for a super night! I am mad at myself for not getting any pictures of the kids all decked out in their fancy clothes but here are a few pictures I found on the web from the show.

Friday morning Michael and I left for San Francisco to celebrate Alex and Elizabeth's wedding. We feel so lucky to have Adrianne and Kale to help us out with our kids. Our kids absolutely love spending time there and we have no worries and know they are having a great time. Thanks Adrianne and Kale!

Sunriver, Oregon

We went to Sunriver, Oregon with our good friends. They have two kids, a girl Ellyx's age and a boy Caden's age. We all get along great and had a fun time together! Ellyx, Leah, Michael and Thatcher went skiing for a day at Mt. Bachelor. It was Ellyx's first time and she did amazing!! We put her in a ski class and she moved up quickly to the third level. Before we knew it she was skiing down the mountain and riding the chair lift! We are so proud of her!!!! The kids had fun playing in the snow, sitting in the hot tub and exploring the children's museum in Bend.

Super bowl Sunday 2009

We watched the super bowl with our friends the Nye-Felts. It was full of good friends, food, drinks and laughs. Of course I had to dress the kids up in their football jerseys. I had fun playing with my new camera and backdrop for some fun pics!

Our toothless wonders

Mikey and Ellyx have the best smiles right now! They are both missing their two front teeth and Ellyx is also missing a tooth on the bottom.

Guitar Hero

Grandma and Grandpa gave us Guitar Hero World Tour for Christmas. We have quite the little rockstars in the family. Notice the concentration!

Mikey loses another tooth

Mikey lost his front tooth while we were in Idaho. His other front tooth is pretty loose so pretty soon I will have two kids with big window smiles!

Mikey is 6!

We celebrated another birthday for Mikey in Idaho. This is becomming a fun tradition! Grandma baked the cake and Ellyx decorated it. Grandma found the party hats and Mikey was thrilled! He wanted everyone to wear one. Sooo cute!

Idaho

From Nevada we travled to Idaho were we were able to spend time with family and friends. Gram looks amazing as always! Dad is a great cook as always! And mom spoils us, as always! Our friends Sam and Steph were in town with their two sweet girls, Ellie and Izzy. It was fun to see them and our other college friends Mike and Laurel. We had to leave a little earlier then we had planned to get back to Washington to beat some bad weather but we had a great time and can't wait to get back. We had an all around perfect trip visiting both of our families! Thanks everyone!

Katie, Tyson, and Evan's house

On our way to Nevada we stopped in Boise for a night and stayed with Katie, Tyson and Evan. They have a new gorgeous house and two super cute puppies, Bella and Crook. Thanks guys for letting us crash your house for a night!

Ahma and Papa Joe

We packed up the day after Christmas and headed to Nevada to visit Ahma and Papa Joe. We had questioned whether or not we were going to be able to make it but the road conditions were fine and we made it there safe!

The kids had a great time playing in the snow, making snowmen and sledding behind Papa Joe's new toy.

Christmas Day

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Card 2008

Thanksgiving

The cooks... pretty scary huh? We had a small deep fried turkey and also a small turkey on the grill. We hadn't tried a deep fried turkey before so I was a little nervous about it being dangerous to cook. The cooks were prepared though... notice Papa Joe in the back of one of the pictures with his fire extinguisher... pretty funny!
The kids... being hams as usual. Notice Caden dancing on the table...
I guess he gets that from his dad.

The family... We feel so blessed to have such a fun, loving family

and to live close enough to each other to spend some of the holidays together!

Thanks Ahma, Papa Joe, Adrianne, Kale and Jackson for the visit!

The many faces of Halloween

Since there was a couple of opportunities for our kids to dress up this year for Halloween, they changed their minds on costumes between events. We went to a Harvest Festival at Ellyx's school where Ellyx was a Jack-o-lantern (which fit her smile perfectly), Mikey was Woody and Caden was Woody also (of course). They had fun playing games and decorating pumpkins with Mr. Potato Head pieces. Mikey loves Mr Potato Head so this was a fun activity for him.

Mikey had originally wanted to be a rocket for Halloween and after searching for one with no luck, I had talked him into being an astronaut. Well, we found an astronaut costume but it was really too small so Michael set his mind on making a rocket.... So, for trick-or-treating we had Ellyx as a witch (same as last year, but she makes a pretty cute one), Caden as Woody (once again, of course), and Mikey as a rocket. It was quite the humorous experience.... Mikey had a hard time walking in the rocket so we had to have him "blast off" after each house for him to run to the next house where he would then suit up again at each driveway. All in all we had a pretty eventful Halloween and look forward to next year... we will see if Caden is still a die hard Toy Story fan!

Ellyx and Mikey School pictures

Why do my babies look so old??????