good morning!

we decided that since dave doesn't have to leave quite so early, we would have breakfast and scriptures in the morning.

Elder Oaks said, "what your kids want for dinner is YOU" so i was pretty sure that's what they would like for breakfast too! so far so good:)

swimming

swimming lessons were hard to come by in this little town. i opted to take max to park city for a private lesson once a week. when he was a baby and i put him in the tub, he would kick and kick. i was convinced he was naturally a swimmer...and he is!

look mom, no hands!

grandpa jr.

what a classic photo of abe and my dad! i am so happy we live close and my kids can hang out with grandpa!

teenager!

where has time gone?

this cute little girl...

is now...a beautiful THIRTEEN!

it was a regular "special" day!
she woke up to the usual...
b-day table and candle in her pancake.
WHAT???? texting at the table, already?

even though she had school, violin lesson and young women's, we tried to make it a day full of surprises.

a cupcake was delivered to her during each period at school, pizza and embarrassment delivered at lunch (delivered by the two cutest delivery boys ever...max and dave, supposed to be kai, who got embarrassed himself at the last second).
fun presents (who wouldn't love sparkly pink toms, and harry potter movies?) and thoughtful brothers! they have been very concerned about her gifts. abe picked a disney violin book, kai- a cake with tangled decor and max- the tangled movie.

i tried one last surprise at yw/ym but when i tried to sneak in, she was standing right there and caught me!

sadie:
you make life happy and meaningful! i love being your mom and sometimes crying, but mostly laughing with you. it has been another move and transition year which are not easy! you have had a lot of those. you have so much courage and i am impressed that you always dive in with faith and create good things around you! you make life better where ever you go. i hope you felt how much we all care about you on your birthday and every day!!! i remember when you were born and so little, holding your little tiny body, but yet feeling what a big and amazing spirit you had and have! i hope you always remember that you are remarkable!
HAPPY THIRTEENTH BIRTHDAY!!!!

happy birthday my max!

after a persuasive power point presentation from sadie about ALL the reasons we should go to disneyland, we caved. we decided to have the kids save money for three months and make it a birthday trip for max.
max woke on his birthday to his four-year-old birthday table-celebration and then we piled in the car...destination disneyland. dave and i agreed to go, solely on the well thought out presentation and the desire that sadie had for max to experience disneyland at the perfect age of four. she prepped him by showing him disney movies and telling him stories. her desire for him to have a good experience was worth the trip!

our kids are pretty great travelers. i really love being in the car all together for long drives. my favorite part: we got out to eat dinner and abe said, "my bum hurts." and kai said, "yah, my thumbs hurt!" he had been playing his nintendo ds in the backseat by himself, the whole drive.

we ate lunch at a bbq place and they had a show while we ate. the lady asked if it was any one's birthday and max took off, ran right up there on stage (that's what you do in primary if it's your birthday, right?) the lady was surprised and so was i! she had him ring a bell four times and let us take his picture and he was as happy as any boy i've ever seen.


we thought max would be tall enough to ride mostly everything, but he was just under the bar. the boys kept stretching his head and re-measuring. miraculously it worked once and he got to ride. later he told me, "mom, i should have worn my cleats!"

dave got a couple naps! disneyland really is the happiest place on earth!


it was a great time-out for our family.






happy birthday max! you are truly a delight!

dance off

dave started his "real" full-time job, AND he was able to come to church with us. it felt wonderful to spend the day together.

we ended the day with a DANCE OFF!

every once in a while we do things that make our kids wide eyed and think we're crazy...maybe we are, although they got into it themselves. a little too serious:) our kids LOVE when we play music we liked when we were tweeners. i'm so glad dave remembered tiffany, i forgot about her...brought back many of memories, and i might add some pretty sweet dance moves!