Abby is 11

This year for Abby's birthday she decided that she wanted a Purse Cake. She being the good girl that she is, got on line and found the cake she wanted which again came with great instructions. We had a lot of fun putting it together and I think she really liked it.


Abby decided that instead of a big party this year she wanted to invite a couple of friends over to make homemade personal pizzas and play games. I thought that sounded GREAT! Abby helped get everything ready and they all had a great time!




It is hard for me to believe that she is already 11 and will be entering Young Womans in only one year. I have been informed that I must now teach her how to shave her legs and so I guess we will be working on that this week. Why?! Why do they have to get older? I just love my kids the way they are right now.

The day after Abby's birthday Dave and I took her out for lunch to the restaurant of her choice. This year Abby chose BJs. My kids love it when it is their birthday and know that they can order what ever they want. Abby chose the Shrimp Scampi and loved it. She saved a little to take home and is still enjoying that shrimp.


While eating we told our waiter that we were celebrating Abby's birthday and when we finished he brought her a personal Pazookie! As you can see, she loved every last bit of it. We had a great time and I just love spending time with her.

Camp fire Cake

This year for the Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet they decided to have a cake decorating contest. The cub scouts were to do most of the work so Jaren and I chose a cake that would be fool proof. We chose the camp fire cake and it was perfect. Each time Jaren messed up the frosting we would just add a little more and I would hand him the fork and tell him to make more lines. It was fun and I think it turned out really cute. He won the Best Overall award and was very happy about that.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

Ok,so I know it has been a long time since I last posted and now I am having a hard time. I uploaded all my pictures and while they are posting fine on my blog, I can't see them to write about them. So, I will give a quick overview and you can enjoy the pics.
Last Thursday Taylor and I woke up early for Seminary and when he left it was really cold and by the time he got back, we had snow everywhere. It snowed all day on Thursday. Grace loved the snow and she mostly loved eating it. It was so cute when she first stepped on the snow. She quickly looked at me and said that the snow was LOUD. The kids got home from school on Thursday and played in the snow all afternoon thinking it would be gone by Friday, like normal. To our surprise, we woke up on Friday morning to about 12 inches of snow outside. School was cancelled and the party and laundry began. The Dallas area has not received this much snow since the 1970s. What an awesome gift for us!!! The kids were already playing with neighbors by 8:00am. My front yard was perfect for sledding. We started out with cardboard then swimming tubes and then got smart and pulled out boogie boards. Unfortunately my front yard was not very pretty to look at by the time they were done but they had a blast. Dave talked all the kids into making an igloo and they all worked really hard on it. I think it turned out pretty good and we had lots of neighbors stopping by to look at it and take pictures, so funny.
Anyway, on Saturday the kids finally built a snowman. I had been asking them to build one since Thursday. Here it is Monday and the snowman and the igloo are still standing amongst all of the brown grass. Most of the snow has melted and life is getting back to normal but it sure was fun while it lasted.

More of San Fran

Okay kids, I am almost out of time to use the internet so I have to quickly uploaded some pics for you. Today we decided to bike across the golden gate bridge. I was not so sure about this at first but ended up loving it. I think it will probably be one of my most favorite parts of the trip.

Way Fun!!

Look how far we rode. We started back by all of those building in the background.

Lastnight we toured Alcatraz and it was really cool. Here are just a few pics.

Dad, Irene and I in a solitary confinement cell.

This is a regular jail cell, not much!

San Fransico

Dave and I are in San Fransico right now and we are using this blog to send pics to my kids. We are having a lot of fun and have been on the go ever since we got here. My feet are killing me but it has been worth it. We toured Alcatraz tonight and it was great. I will put pics of that up tomorrow. This first pic is out of the window from our hotel. Our room is a corner room and we have a great view of the city.
First outing of the morning on the trolly

Salt Water Taffy!!!

Of course we had to stop!

Irene and I enjoying some of the best cupcakes I have ever eaten. We might have to stop by there again before coming home.

Cioppino!

Dave had heard about this dish long before we came and he has been craving it ever since.
This soup is filled with all kinds of sea food and he didn't even come close to finishing it.

Blue Angels getting ready for their show on Saturday. We are very excited to go and see the show. Dave and Martin were like little kids watching these planes go by over and over again.

Our Newest Addition!

Ha! Scared ya didn't I?

Carlee has been asking for a dog for the past two years. We finally told her that if she saved up enough money then she could buy herself a dog and she did just that. She bought this cute little cockapoo (cocker spaniel and poodle mixed) for $200.00. Wow! She is very cute and she met all of my criteria. She will probably not get much bigger and will only weigh around 10 pounds. She does not shed, even when I pull her hair to test it, and she is very mild mannered. The unfortunate thing is that Carlee has not been around much since she is on the volleyball team at school so guess who is taking care of the dog most of the day? Yep! That would be me but I am ok with it. I have decided that I don't want to get old and wish I had been a better mom and let my kids have some of the things they always wanted, such as the dog and oh, the hampster. She is a good girl and Carlee is very responsible when she is around. By the way, the dog's name is Lizzy!

Birthday Time

It is hard for me to believe that my baby is 2 years old. While I want her to grow up, I also want to keep her as my little baby. She is so fun to have around. She speaks in complete sentences and always wants to do whatever the older kids are doing. She gets really sad when the big kids leave to go play with friends after being gone all day at school.

Grace loves Elmo and has for a really long time so I knew I needed to make her an Elmo cake. I seriously considered buying her a cake until I saw one on line and decided to give it a try. She loved it and that is all that matters.

Grace was so cute when she blew out the candle.
She was very careful and proud of herself.


One of Grace's presents was this baby doll from her Grandma. She loves her and plays with her all day long. She took her money from Nana and Papa and bought a stroller and little diaper bag to go with the baby. I guess she wants to feel big too.
Notice all the hands in this picture. Poor girl!