Fun Weekend!

Thanks to this cute family:

we had a fun get away this past weekend up to the Martins cabin in

Pinetop!Thanks again guys for an awesome time of good laughs, food and company! The Marler and Willis families were there as well and we enjoyed getting to know them and their kids better too.

Poor Taylin's sledding experience left her with some bragging rights,

so I made Casey go first on the sled to make sure it was safe. Notice that there are no more pictures of us on a sled:)

The kids had fun on the playground,

until one did a back flip and then face planted straight in the mud.

I had to document the few times I get a snuggle from this kid


Yummy smores! Roast and throw in the fire was Lanes version.



Go to Brooke's blog for way more pictures, she was the official photographer! I am so grateful for such amazing friends. Our life would be boring without them.

Cheaper By The Half Dozen

Daaa, da da da, daaaa, daaaaa, daaaaa, da da da, daaaa. Oh wait, that's the graduation song. Sorry, I meant to put the wedding march . My parents went over to Switzerland to see Christopher my brother get married. So while my parent's were off doing that, Casey and I got busy and had 4 more kids. Just kidding ,instead we were lucky enough to have power of attorney(hehehe) over my 3 brothers and sister for 10 days while they were gone. So we packed up our bags and headed down the road 4 miles to our vacation destination spot on Fairview Cir. The 10 days went down as followed:

A wonderful traditional sabbath meal of mashed potatoes, roast, rolls ,carrots and dessert.


along with the curse of the cheap Sonic ice bags splitting open while trying to break it up and poop ice went flying every where! You think we would have learned by now!!


and then onto the fun sabbath night festivities ... rolling people up in 10 blankets and watching them struggle to get out. So fun and hilarious, a must try for everyone!




poor Marcie got the brunt end of the deal and was put onto the couch. Once she got off she actually managed to...


yep, roll herself out the front door!

No worries, no one got hurt. We didn't get too crazy and like roll anyone down the stairs or something...well ok, maybe we did. But I have you know it was on a volunteer basis!


For FHE we kept it a little more low key with dinner at Island's and goofy golfing at Golf Land. Casey and Austin made sure of keeping perfect scores and who knew they would of tied at the end for the win. I stopped keeping track of mine when Lane hit a whole in one and I had yet to do so myself.







The Tooth Fairy paid a visit to Craig who got a dollar bill, a Rudolph eraser and a cough drop. To bad her cover got blown. (Man kids are good these days)

Later when I was cleaning the kitchen I found these rough drafts. Sooo cute.

Watching Jefferson make an awesome interception at his flag football game. He is our "sporty" brother

Laundry a-plenty. Almost 64 loads to be exact and no mom, I did not use to much laundry detergent. He really fell asleep under there.

David got asked to MORP.Vote for Pedro!


Lot's of yummy smoothies made by the ever so cool Magic Bullet.

and picking up these world travelers at the airport from there 10 day excursion

My mom was hooked on the movie Christmas With The Kranks this year so Marcie and I held these signs up when we went to go get them. Everyone at terminal 3, north curb witnessing our pick up officially thought we were the looniest people alive.

Last but not least, indulging in our authentic YEAR supply of Swiss chocolate.


Here are a few pictures of Christopher and Jael at the Swiss temple. She looked so pretty and they both are happy they found each other.

Well Lum Lums, it was real while it lasted. I want to say thank you to David who was the only nice one that ate my double batch of pancakes for breakfast. To Jefferson and Craig who let Lane play with you and your friends everyday and make him feel like one of the big boys. To Marcie and her closet full of wonderful choices, and finally to Kidsongs who entertained Lane while the kids were at school so I could clean out the pantry and fill up 2 black garbage cans full of expired food. We really did love our mini vacation away from our normal, daily routine. I feel so blessed to be part of a big family. Thanks for birthing all of us mom!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

I see a bird imprint on my back window looking at me.

(enlarge the pictures so you can see it better...if you want to !)

I swear all birds in America confuse our house as an airport. About once every other month I will hear a loud thud on our back window because a bird has smacked right into it. It's not like my windows are sparkling clean like on the Windex commercials or else I might be ok with the fact that these ugly, nasty creatures have mistaken my house as a landing strip! The worst was when one decided to fly right into my bedroom window one summer morning at 5am when Casey was out of town. It wasn't the best way to be woken up since I had been on edge all night with 911 on speed dial convinced that the boogie man was coming to get me( I hate being home alone!)

So as we were cleaning the house today, Casey hollered at me to come see something. After he positioned me at the right angle he asked if I could see anything on the window. I looked and looked and looked and then... I SAW IT and then screamed. You guys have to understand that birds CREEP me out to no end. If a bird comes on tv, I have to close my eyes. I can't support Goldberg and Osbourn because they have an eagle as there logo. So let's just say when Casey said "well I really know how greasy those things are now", I dry heaved.

A Little Weekend Ride

I love the age Lane is at right now because we can do an activity and he can actually participate instead of watching from the side lines. Casey woke up Saturday and told me he was itching to take Lane to the desert for some riding time. No arguing there, I am always up for some fun with the fam. My dad and brothers came along as well and we had a blast!

Lane rode with Casey the WHOLE time . Time to
invest in a helmet!


I of course under-estimated the weather like always. So I
got desperate and rummaged up Casey's work jacket from his truck.

Let it Rock 2009!

Lot's of food and a big bath tub is how we welcomed 2009! Lane almost made it
to midnight but I thought I would be a good parent and go home and put him to bed at 11 instead(time flies when you are having a good time).


I told Craig I would give him 5 bucks if he jumped in the pool.
The little stinker actually did it!

Lane ringing in the new year right.

I hope some of you got a good midnight smooch... I was out cold.

Happy New Year y'all!

SNOW Much Fun!

Casey and I went snowboarding with 2 of my brothers yesterday. We wanted to catch all the good snow from the rain last week and what a perfect day it was! I never thought that 40 degrees could ever feel so warm but it was better than freezing our buns off. Jefferson did manage to lose my gloves off the ski lift on our first run but thanks to David and his skills for retrieving them. That made it only more funny when Jefferson decided to lose his own gloves off the lift our second run. Once again, David came to the rescue and we made sure our gloves were secure the rest of the trip!


David, you look like Willy Wonka

Casey was smokin', literally. You can kind of see it coming off his shoulders but he looked like a fog machine.


Enjoying my smoothie. I told you it was the toastiest 40 degrees I have ever felt.

I am praying for another week of rain so we can go back soon! Lane enjoyed his break from us and got to go on his own trip to St. David with Grammy, Papa and Valerie. He loves them so much...I wonder why?!

Super Saturday

Last Saturday my brother Craig got baptized. He is the youngest of the family so I keep telling my mom that they are empty nester's now:) After his baptism they had a lunch for everyone at their house. Here is the WHOLE family. It will be outdated though in 2 in half months when Stephanie has her baby. Only it will be hard to keep the picture updated when Christopher gets married and moves to Switzerland and Stephanie and Travis being in Buffalo.

An hour after the luncheon we changed gears and set up for Stephanie's baby shower. My mom sure knows how to party and we should just change Leah's name to Fraunk.