Halloween 2012

I am finally back!!  We have been so busy and I haven't done any posting. I hope to get caught up sometime in the next 20 years. Believe me, my blog isn't the only thing I am behind with.  I guess that is how it goes.

We had beautiful weather for Halloween this year. Everyone enjoyed dressing up and carving pumpkins. The pumpkins took over our garden this year. We ended up with about 100. We shared with all the nursery children in our ward and several other families and still have some out there.

Hope you enjoy the pictures. I hope there are more to come soon.

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Video of Kodiak

Hi I'm Emma
I wanted to share a video of my new dog Kodiak. I love teaching him new tricks.

Stomping on bugs

In May on our way to Disneyland we stopped at Grandma Sharp's house.  The children had fun stomping on the cockroaches. I don't think they had ever seen bugs this big, or this many bugs at once.  It was one of our more interesting Family Home Evening activities.  It was fun to have this memory with Grandma and the children.

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Lydia is 18 months old!!

Our sweet little Lydia is 18 months old!! I can't believe how fast time flies when you're having so much fun!! She is such a sweet little girl. She is so adored by all of her siblings.  She is so full of personality. She has a few words and loves to tell us exactly what she thinks. She is a determined little girl who knows her mind. She likes to pick out her own clothes and is very picky about it. 

We tried nursery on Sunday. She let us know quickly that she wasn't going for that. 

Here's a slideshow and some videos of our sweet little lady all grown up!! Hope you enjoy!!

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Conference Track Meet

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Track was really fun for our family! Matthew did really well and we enjoyed watching him run. Neil really enjoyed going to track meets again and talking about running with Matthew.  We can't wait to see what he can accomplish in the future!!  We love you Matthew!!

The conference track meet was rained out on Saturday. It was moved to Monday, which was also Bethany's birthday. It was  a very busy day, but we managed to watch Matthew and celebrate with Bethany.  

Bethany's 17th Birthday

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We had such a busy day on Bethany's birthday, but we managed to get some celebrating in.  Matthew had a conference track meet that day (another post), Bethany taught clogging and it was a Monday so Family Home Evening was also going on.  We fixed Bethany's favorite dinner of enchiladas (two kinds) and cornbread.  She wanted her cake to look like mouse ears since we are going to Disneyland this month.  We figured out how to do a fondant. It looked cute, but it didn't taste that great.  We enjoyed eating the cake after we took the fondant off. 

Bethany we are so grateful to have you as part of our family!!  You are growing up so fast! We hope you had a wonderful birthday!!

LDS Prom April 2012

Bethany had a wonderful time at the LDS Prom in April. We are so grateful that she was able to go with a young man who is a perfect gentleman. Zander is truly a gentleman all the time. He opens the car door for Bethany and Julia each morning at Seminary. He and a friend brought all the girls in their seminary class roses and chocolates for Valentine's day. He really watched out for Bethany at Prom and made her feel special.  The Stake paid for dinner for all the Laurels and Priests at The Terrace in Cody. The young women and young men leaders were chauffeurs to take the couples over to Cody. Each leader took two couples to and from Cody, and to the dance at the Mural Chapel.  The theme of the night was Princes and Princesses. The gym was decorated with castles. 

Bethany had a lot of fun looking for the perfect dress. She started looking last summer and finally found the one she ordered in December.  She bought jewelry with some of her Christmas money. We thought the dress would be Navy blue when we ordered, but it was more of a royal blue. It was the same color of my prom dress and Rebecca's prom dress. Julia says there is no way she is buying a blue dress next year when she goes to prom. I think that Bethany looked beautiful in her modest dress. We had a lot of fun looking at hairstyles for Bethany's long hair.  I think it looked beautiful all curly.  Emma and MaryAnne also had fun wearing their hair in curls. I'll have to post pictures of their hair also. 

I didn't get a lot of pictures of Zander and Bethany before they went to prom. It seemed kind of hectic here when Zander came to pick up Bethany.  All the little children wanted to say hi to him, and even a few of his siblings were over. I didn't take the time to take the inside pictures where there was good lighting, but the ones outside turned out really good.

We are glad they had a good time, and that the Stake provided the opportunity for the girls to be Princesses for a night.

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Prom excitement

Our Stake does a Prom for the Priests and Laurels. They have a nice catered dinner and then the dance. Bethany bought a beautiful dress a few months ago and really cute silver glitter shoes. The kids can go without a date so there is no pressure, but having a date makes it more exciting. Last week we heard that Zander Andreasen was going to ask Bethany.  We were excited for her to have that opportunity. It was fun to keep the secret from her until he actually asked. He came over on Tuesday while she was at work and left a surprise in her bedroom.  All day I kept waiting for her to go down to her room, but she just didn't go. About 3:30 (while I wasn't home to enjoy to surprise) she finally went down to her room.  She was excited to be asked to the Prom. Bethany loves chocolate so he picked the perfect way to ask.  She baked a Pizza and spelled out "yes" with the pepperoni.  It was a fun day!! 

Results of learning to walk outside

Lydia loves being outside

Lydia loves the nice spring weather. She wants to be outside all the time!! Even when the weather isn't so nice. Spring time in Wyoming comes and goes. Some days have been nice and some days have been pretty wintery.  She is getting to be a pretty good little walker, but the sidewalks outside still give her some challenges. The other day she feel three times on the sidewalk. She really didn't like it when the cat waved his tail in her face after she fell.  Her poor little nose was pretty scratched up from all those falls.

A little late posting..Julia is 15!!

Julia had her birthday on February 12th. She was excited to turn 15 and get her drivers permit.  Neil took her over to Cody to get her drivers permit. She passed her test and Neil let her drive part of the way home.  She was been wanting to drive for about 5 years I think. She has always been interested in getting to drive.  We are so pleased for her. Now the fun begins. I don't really like letting children learn to drive. It makes me nervous. Luckily, Neil is good about teaching them and I am happy to let him do it.

We love you, Julia!!! You are a special daughter and we are grateful for your goodness and the sparkle in your eyes!! Congratulations on getting to drive!!

Following in her siblings footsteps

Lydia loves books!! When I ride my exercise bike she brings a book and wants to sit on my lap. She loves to be read to and to sit and "read" books to herself. She just jabbers away while turning the pages. It is so cute to see her reading a book.

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Dallin's new hair cut

I have been holding out for a long time on buzzing Dallin's hair. I loved his hair and how cute it looked. He was so good about combing his hair and keeping it looking nice that I really didn't want to buzz it off like the older boys. Last week he asked if we could buzz his hair so I finally did it. It wasn't a fun experience. Our clippers get loud and seem to have a mind of its own. He didn't like it at all when the clippers got really loud right by his ear. That was the end of wanting his hair buzzed short. Unfortunately, you can't quit with only part of your hair cut. It ended up with him trying to hide behind me, and me trying to talk him into letting me finish his hair. He finally gave in, but it wasn't an easy decision for him.

He still looks cute, and I am glad about that. We'll have to wait and see if he wants to grow his hair out or face the clippers again.

Look who's walking

Lydia has been walking for awhile now and she is getting really good at it. I love watching her walk around babbling to herself. She sure is cute!!! What a fun stage she is in right now. She is happy just to walk around exploring the house. We all love to watch her and smile at what she is learning. She loves to babble and talk to us all day. I think every baby should have older siblings to tell them how cute and adorable they are. Lydia sure gets to hear it lots.

Hope you enjoy the video of Lydia walking.

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Lydia's birthday!!

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We enjoyed celebrating Lydia's first birthday!! She sure is an adorable and sweet baby girl. She loved her presents, but wasn't too sure about the cake part. I thought these cupcake duckies turned out really cute and they weren't even very hard. Happy Birthday sweet Lydia!!

Joshua is three!!

Joshua was so excited for his third birthday!! He was finally big enough to sleep out on the floor and watch movies all night with the older children for New Years Eve. Rebecca was still here from Christmas to enjoy his special day with us. He loved his robot cake and robot blanket from Grandma. The robot out of cupcakes was really easy and fun to decorate. We are so grateful to have sweet little Joshua as part of our family. He really keeps us laughing and smiling. We love you, Joshua!!!

I hope you enjoy this slideshow of Joshua's first three years.

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