My cupcake girl

Mia's birthday invitation

My last little baby is one! We had a big celebration for her on Saturday with lots of family and friends. She had a pink, lime and brown cupcake-themed birthday party! I had so much fun decorating and planning her party which is a change for me! I made a DVD of her pictures and videos from her first year that played in the background during her party.





Maybe it's just my imagination but it really seems like she has grown up so much now that she is one! Her hair is longer and starting to curl. She is now standing up on her own everywhere. Last night she totally surprised me after she was done eating -- I said, "all done" and she repeated it with a big smile, like it was no big deal.

The cupcake table

Her own personal 'cupcake cake'

pictures from her 1st year on the mantel

Singing Happy Birthday to Mia!

She loved the cake!!

Showing off her new talent of standing on her own

Mia had some serious competition from Griffin and Morgan with opening her presents and playing with her new toys...never mind that it was her birthday!

And of course . . . here are some of the people that helped us in the celebration!

We love you, Mia!

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve bash at our house---food, family, friends, karaoke, games, pots and pans, and a good time!

It seems like a lot of people have commented that they hope 2009 will be better than 2008,but I must say that 2008 was a great year for our family -- full of the best memories! Here's a little recap--

January

By far the best thing that happened in 2008 was the birth of Mia Kate into our family! She was born in January and continued to be the highlight of our year.

March

Our 2 week vacation to Australia (Gavin, Mia and me) -- Queensland and Sydney. Going to Bondi beach, Gavin scuba diving for his first time in the great barrier reef, Keith Urban concert in the Sydney Opera House.

Mia's baby blessing

May

Puerto Vallarta with Gavin and Mia. A true vacation. Sleeping in. Lounging around the pool. Staying up late talking with friends. Good food. Relaxing.

Gavin competed in the St. George Triathlon

June

Washington DC with Jack, Ryan, Hadley and Mia

Sun River, Oregon with my sister, Heidi's family

Gavin and Scott completed a half marathon

July

Celebrated 12 years of being married to Gavin!!

August

Newport Beach with Hadley and Mia

September

Girl's weekend trip to San Francisco with 2 of my favorites--my sis (Heidi) and sis-in-law (Rae)

October

Family pictures--seconds before the wasp attack


November

Jack and Ryan raced in their first 5k with Gavin in the turkey trot. Thanksgiving with all the Seal family at our home.

Happy 2009!

Skiing fun

My New Year's Eve celebrating began early in the morning with skiing on the mountain! I grew up skiing but never really enjoyed it that much because there is nothing I hate more than being cold! In fact I have only gone a few times in the past 20 years but when my friends called and invited me to go with them I decided to give it a try. It was warm and sunny--the perfect day for skiing! I took Hadley (her first time to ski) and Jack with me.

Hadley and Jack

Matt, Rhett, Hadley, Ellie, Lizzy and Jack

Getting ready to hit the slopes

My friend was so sweet to let Hadley ski in between her skis but then we decided to try a little harder trail and went down this hill that was a little steeper. Hadley fell on my friend which made my friend twist her knees. Then she was so scared she decided to take off her skis and 'slide' down the rest of the hill (Notice her trail all the way down the hill! :) That's when I decided that the best place for Hadley was here--

She loved ski school and her teacher said she is ready for the next class. We went down some runs together and she did great! What a fun way to end 2008!

Christmas Chaos

What's Christmas like with six kids? Lots of smiles, giggles, anticipation, presents, toys, assembling, chaos, messes, boxes, wrapping paper, stockings, candy and FUN! We had a wonderful Christmas. The kids must have been extra good this year because they all got what they wanted . . . and then some!

This is before the beginning of chaos

Santa gave Jack a Nintendo DS and nintendogs, Ryan a hamster, Hadley a dollhouse, Morgan a kitchen, Griffin a big wheel and Mia got some baby activity toys.

But the big surprise for Jack, Ryan and Hadley-- a Mexican Riviera cruise in January with the Seal family

sibling rivalry--Blue vs. Red

Ryan's cute new hamster "Carmel"

Gavin made us a yummy gourmet french bread breakfast with homemade syrup. He got better directions this year and it turned out much better than last year's attempt.

This year's cinnamon french toast
Last year's loaf of bread with baked eggs around it! Apparently the trick was slicing the bread and letting it sit in the egg mixture over night before cooking it. Who knew!?

Happy 1st Christmas Mia Kate!

We went up to my parent's home for brunch and more gift exchanging.

Christmas Eve

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve celebration with the Seal family at our home (and my parents even stopped by for a few minutes, too). We had a light dinner and then all the kids dressed up and presented The Nativity play for us and sang Silent Night. Then we did the wise man gift exchange (red gift is something sentimental/meaningful--my kids got books; green gift is something needed--my kids got pjs ; and gold gift is something fun--my kids got Mr. Fuzzy and Morgan got a Barney DVD) and then we did the cousin's gift exchange.

Hadley was Mary and Ryan was Joseph which only added to the wonderful spirit of this play. They couldn't even get along long enough to make it through a 2 minute play. They were fighting over who got to hold the baby Jesus while we were supposed to be paying attention to the shepherds and the wiseman following the star. Never a dull moment in this house!

Nixon, Kamen, Zach and Griffin.

These cute little cousins are all within 2 months of each other.

All the sisters-in-law
Nicole, me, Jill, Annie and Rae

All of the boys

Gavin, Jeff, Scott, Chad, Trevor and Brendan

Jack surprised all of us (and Lolly) when he pulled out a small little box. Everyone knows that only one thing comes in those cute, little boxes...a diamond --a beautiful princess cut solitaire diamond. He said she had been a good girl and after 44 years she had earned it. This picture was taken after we all kept asking them if they could kiss again because we didn't get a picture of it the first time. So cute!

The countdown to Christmas

Wow! I know this has been a busy time of year for everyone and I feel a little guilty admitting this but I am so relieved to have Christmas over. I kinda fell behind on my advent calendar blogging and even though Christmas is over I am going to finish out the activities that led to Christmas. This year may have been the best so far at actually carrying out the activity every night. We stayed really busy . . . not too sure if all the busyness helped us focus on Christmas or just kept us really busy so hopefully next year we'll be better at making the activities more centered around service and help keep us focused on the true meaning of Christmas.

Day 19--Dinner and Gift exchange with Gavin's family

We went out to dinner with all the adult couples and Nan

Gift exchange time at Trevor's and Annie's house. Little did we know when this picture was taken that we were sitting in some prime seats! Trevor's 2 year old quickly let us know that we were sitting on his car's road and continually asked us all night if we could please move.

Jill is laughing hysterically at the great boxers she got from Gavin--straight from Rome. If you've been to Italy than you are very familiar with all the merchandise available with artwork from the Statue of David! It was a very fun night and I think everyone enjoyed the gifts they got in the exchange.

Day 20--Dinner and a Christmas video with the Ware family

Day21--Go to The Messiah

Gavin took Jack, Ryan and Hadley to the Messiah at our stake center for a nice Sunday evening activity. They only lasted through the first act of three and then came home. Apparently it was a little too much 'opera' for my kids. Maybe next year...or maybe not.

Day 22-- Make chocolate dipped pretzels with Nan in the day

Nan with her grandkids

Peter Breinholt Christmas concert in the evening

We took Jack, Ryan and Hadley downtown to the concert. We first had dinner at PF Chang's and then walked next door to the theater. It was a really fun concert and my kids loved it! Ryan said it was his favorite activity of the month. They are at an age where they now appreciate musical talent and recognize the hard work that comes with mastering an instrument and really enjoyed the vocals, piano, guitars, keyboard, banjos, bass, etc. It was a really fun night!

And of course we couldn't have had this much fun without the Ware's!

Jack, Addie, Hadley, Emma and Ryan

Day 23--Deliver neighbor gifts

It wasn't the most creative neighbor gift but doesn't everyone enjoy a little bubbly (in cello wrap and ribbon) over the holidays?

Merry Christmas!

Day 18 --Glee Club

Go watch Jack perform in the Glee Club at school

Jack was in the 5th and 6th grade Christmas choir at school again this year. He had to wake up and be to school an hour early three times a week for the past few months for choir practice. He did much better this year compared to last year. And got up most mornings all on his own with his alarm clock. The choir went to some fun locations this past week--the children's hospital, nursing homes, UDOT, and our local grocery store--Dan's (I didn't go to that performance, but Gavin did and apparently had a good time--another mom informed me tonight that Gavin was able to spend most of the time 'catching up' with an ex-girlfriend who's daughter was also in the choir! :) We got to go watch him perform tonight at his school and he did great! It's crazy to see him on the stage with all of his friends and think back to the Christmas preschool programs. It just doesn't seem that long ago and here he goes next year off to junior high! So crazy!

Here he is singing about Santa being on a vacation or something like that

The Glee Club (Jack is on the back row, 4th one in on the left)

Tomorrow is the last day of school for winter break so tonight we put together the teachers' gifts. We are giving them a Christmas mug with hot chocolate, candy cane and chocolates. Something I didn't realize before Morgan was born...it literally takes a village (one wonderful teacher, four aides, a speech therapist and three bus drivers) to give her a good education. So check out the kids showing off their teacher's gift. Morgan has nine compared to Hadley, Jack and Ryan's one gift.

Day 17-- Christmas Story

Choose a Christmas story to read around the tree

This activity went a lot like it did last year. No one really cares about what book they choose but just wants to make sure theirs is the LONGEST one.