Suprise!!

Well, after realizing that we love our Christmas puppy princess SOO much, Spencer suprised me with a new puppy. As busy as we can be sometimes, I was feeling bad that Princess was left at home alone, so, this second puppy could keep her company when our life gets CRAZY. His name is Chewbacca. Chewy for short. He is offically Princess' boyfriend and according to our kids they cannot have puppies until they are married.....so keep checking for ceremony pictures to come!! We will be breeding these as they are purebread shihtzu pups. We should have puppies around Christmas time!!!

Kindergarten Promotion

This is Caleb at his Kindergarten Promotion this year. I cannot say how SOOOO sad I am with the thought of him going to school all day next year. I told Caleb how much I am sad he will be leaving me next year all day and he sweetly stated "I know mom, but that is just the way life is." I replied, "I do not like it". He then told me that he knows if I was to talk to the principal that I would ask her to change it so ALL kids could just do 1/2 day school. Boy....he is right on the money! I just hate it that my kids are growing up so fast.......

Lets Play Music End of the Year Program

I sure love this program. It teaches the kiddos how to get started on the piano SO young! Here is Caleb preforming some songs with his class of 6 other kids.

Here is Caleb and his class performing the singing part of the program. This is his 2nd year. He has only one more left and then he will graduate to PRIVATE lessons!!This is Braiden performing his singing part of the program. He is SOOOO COOOOL (and he knows it!). He is a 3rd year student and this was his last year in the program. He composed his own song and played it for everyone. He is now in PRIVATE piano lessons.

Father and Son's Weekend!!

Gotta love camping with the DADDY!!
Dayson looking SOOO cozy warm!

Caleb, Tyson(a friend whos dad was not able to make it, so Spencer took him along too), and Braiden all nice and warm in their sleeping bags!!

All smiles!! Thanks for the RHINO RIDE PAPA! They love it!!!

Owie MOMMY

Look at our lastest injury. Poor girl......

Mother's Day

Normally I dont like to post anything without a picture...but my computer has not been really cooperative lately so I cannot get anything off my camera. HOWEVER, I wanted to make a little entry about this day. I really believe that I am the mother that I am because of the GREAT children and GREATER husband that I have. Spencer is so very patient with me and is always so very helpful. I am not the easiest person to live with....and he never seems to mind it! Sometimes I dont think I could even live with me! My children are so wonderful as I continue to learn from them as they learn from me. For Mother's Day this year I asked only for rest, and I got it, along with a wakeboard, and a new boy puppy! Pictures will be coming as soon as I can get my computer to cooperate! I am so thankful for a wonderful family that my Heavenly Father has blessed my with.

Our latest "investment"???

This is actually more of an investment in making fun memories for our kids while doing something we ALL love! Our first trip out this season, water was too cold to get in but look at all those smiling faces!!

That is one happy man!

Oh, brown eyes.....

Abby CANNOT wait to try out her new wakeboard!

Nothing but smiles!

Did not think I would.....but I do!

I was a lot nervous about having a puppy around this crazy house, but I have to say...she is the BEST. We all just love her. This is her after her very first haircut. I love her so much we are in the search for a male and are hoping to breed her. She has the greatest personality and is very loving to ANYONE. So instead of being a baby breeder...I may now become a puppy breeder!!

Love this weather and the PARK!!!

Emma and Coleson!!!

Ok, so I stole these pictures off of Lindsey's blog...(she was the good mom that brought the camera and actually took pictures). These were too cute to pass up! I am so lucky to have a great group of friends that are even better moms that love to party with the kids! Look at all these GREAT kids!

Happy Birthday Caleb Joe!

I love this picture of Emma looking at her silly brother!

I set out a little treasure hunt for Caleb around the neighborhood. He got clues to the next spot where there was another clue and a present. The last clue sent him back home to get his HUGE present along with a list of the things each member of his family likes about him. He got a gecko as his big gift. He is our animal/insect/reptile boy! He loves to catch these things and take care of them. We just love this 6 year old boy!!

So this is why we live in good ol AZ. It was a little warm these last few days so we had some pretty tough boys come swim. We have NOT heated our pool yet, so it was pretty chilly water. Tena told the boys whoever stayed in the longest would get $1. Oh the things they will do for a buck. They would not give up and after a while she started feeling bad for them and told them all she would take them to the $1 store to get something....(the store has just opened across the street from our neighborhood and has been a HUGE hit).

After the dollar store offer they all quickly RAN to the tramp to get some sun and warm up!!

Spring Break 2009

I took the kids to Tucson for a few days to visit my parents. While we were there we went to "Old Tucson". I remembered LOVING it as a kid, but I was not sure how great it would be since some of it was burned down a few years ago. Well, as an adult now I thought it was dusty, dirty and totally lame.....BUT my kids LOVED it!!! So, there ya go! That all that matters!

Braiden with his shotgun driving the car!

Emma and Abby...cute girls!!

Mom and Dayson!!! (I am doing the pedals, but Dayson is driving)

"Billy the Kid" and my kids minus Braiden. You know when you have to pick your battles...Braiden did not want a picture with "Billy".

Cute train ride around the park.

Goin' to school.....

I am pretty sure they did NOT have these in the old west, but Emma sure loved it!

Hey! I will give you $1 if you can catch this!!!!

Oh Spencer just loves to get the kids all hyped up right before bed...whats up with that???

Anal Fizzures

I began writing this post with a nice comment about how great these ladies are...but then I remembered what I learned on girls night out....anal fizzures! Thanks Susie for the picture and the VERY informative night!

My first black eye

After all these years of volleyball, skiing, wakeboarding, and ALL the other crazy things I love to do I haven ever had a black eye until now. It was not any of the above activities that put it there. It was given by playing with my kids! I was playing with Emma and its kinda funny when kids have so much trust in you that they assume you will catch them even when you are not looking. So, Emma's head ended up in my eye socket. This picture is not great....but man it HURT!!

Valentines Day

I normally do not really care for this day...I think it is just more of a "Hallmark Holiday" (an excuse for stores to advertise "sales" and to get you to buy stuff you dont need....) but this year one of my FAVORITE aunts dropped this by my house. This was SOOOO yummy!! My cousin Erin (who is a pastry chef) and my aunt Connie spend all day baking and this is what they came up with. It looks like a box of chocolates,but it indeed a box of mini cupcakes with mini rolos inside and topped with candy like hearts and chocolate covered marshmallows.....It was SO GOOD. It was just the "pick me up" I needed as I was in the middle of packing to go up north for some skiing that weekend. THANKS ERIN AND CONNIE!!

Another park day...

One of my favorite things about living here in AZ is all the fun I am able to give my kids by taking them to the park. This is just another one of those GREAT days.....

Swimming with the turtles??

So, Caleb heard that Papa had gotten more turtles in his pond and he was DETERMINED to go swimming with them and catch some. After SEVERAL days of persistence I just had to take him over there. Remember it is still February and the water is still a bit chilly. I was curious to see what he would do. He put on his swim trunks, his goggles and grabbed the net. He got in about waist high. I was pretty proud of him for going that far in!!! He was disapointed, however, that he was not able to catch one. Better luck next time buddy!!!

Aruba, Jamacia oooooh I wanna take ya.....

Ok, well we did not go to Jamacia too, but I really think this song fits our trip well. Spencer and I had a BLAST on our trip. We missed our kids terribly but we also had lots of fun to keep us busy. We were on the Princess Caribbean (I would not go on this cruise line again fyi) and it took us to 5 stops in 7 days. The stops included Aruba, Bonaire, Greneda, Dominica, and St. Thomas. We had only one sea day and it was the first day of our trip. SO, I was able to catch up on A LOT of sleep that day. After about my 3rd nap that day, Spencer walked in our cabin and said (imitating Forrest Gump), "that Caroline...she sleeps alot....". Yeah, needless to say, my kids make me really tired. We were able to go on plenty of adventures: Scuba diving (spencer), Kiteboarding (spencer), Snorkeling (both of us), Massages on the beach (caroline), Hiking to a BEAUTIFUL waterfall in the rainforest (both), shopping (more for me), Moped riding (both), eating eating eating (more me than spencer), and of course much much more. Here are just a few pictures....Waiting at the airport.....

The "Mothership"

Octopus in Aruba (no I did NOT eat it)

Hot Springs in Dominica

Waterfall in the rainforest in Greneda

Snorkeling EVERYWHERE!!!! This was Boniare.

Riding the Moped in St. Thomas

One of my favorite beaches in St. Thomas. GREAT snorkeling!

Kiteboarding in Aruba. Yes, that is Spencer. The instructors told him it would take at least 3 lessons to catch wind and get up...it only took Spencer 1.5 hours. He's a natural! He caught the wind and literally TOOK OFF down the ocean dodging windsurfers in his way. I was beginning to wonder if I was going to see him again.....

Sweet Abby

We had a special opportunity to be a part of a baptism. Here is a quick version of the story. We have been taking 2 girls who are daughters of good friends of ours, who are not members of our church, to our ward with us. One of the girls turned 8 last month and begun reading the Book of Mormon every day and expressed to her parents that she wanted to be baptized. Spencer and I then got the missonaries over to her home and have been teaching the family. Last Sunday Spencer was able to baptize her. Her whole family was there...tearful and feeling the spirit. We pray that the family will follow in this little girl's example. The REASON I titled this entry "Sweet Abby" is about 20- minutes before leaving for the baptism I found Abby in the office writing on paper. I asked her what she was doing and she said she was writing a letter to Madison (the girl who was being baptized). This is the letter she wrote (all on her own):

Dear Madison, I hope you had fun getting baptized. You are now the cleanest person on earth. I am so happy to hear that you are reading your scriptures everyday. Now if you make a sin you can ask Heavenly Father for forgiveness and that sin will be washed away. If you continue to stay clean and repent of your sins you will go and live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in the Celestial Kingdom. I'll see you in the Celestial Kingdom! Love, Abby.

I was touched by Abby's letter to this girl that I told her she needed to write it in the new Quad Scripture set that we bought for her. I just love this sweet Abby girl and feel very blessed and honored to be her mother.