Jason turns 40!!

For Jason's 40th Birthday, I threw him a surprise party at the roller rink. It was so much fun! I rented out the rink for just our group for a 2 hour period. We had friends and family near and far come to celebrate. When we walked in, Jason was blind-folded. Everyone was there ahead of us and yelled Surprise! They all had their skates on and were ready to roll! It was great!
Many friends told me they were nervous at first and weren't sure it would be fun... but that once they got those skates on and got out on the rink... they felt like a kid again and had a blast!!! After our skate time we met back at our house where we had dinner. Darren had worked hard while we were gone to set out all the food and decorate for another surprise for his Dad. All in all, it was a great night!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAY!
p.s. - Jason rocked it out on the rink!! He's still got it!

L.A. Zoo

Recently I realized that Allison had never been to the zoo. What?! What kind of mother am I? By this same age my other children had been to the zoo MULTIPLE times! I'm really slacking with poor kid #4. But I did redeem myself by tagging along with some friends to the zoo. Allison LOVED it! I knew she would. I just don't know what took me so long! It was a great day with great friends and amazing sunshine! Love California!



1/25/11

Dad's Cool Job

One Saturday, Dad called us up and said to hurry over to the college - the helicopter was landing. He had to be there with the fire truck as a safety backup, so he was able to have us join him. The kids thought that was pretty cool to see the helicopter land and then take off a little later. They got a thorough tour from the pilot and Darren was excited with lots of questions as he is considering becoming a pilot in the future.






12/4/10

The Happiest Place on Earth!

This truly is one of our favorite places to be as a family. It's the perfect time for us to visit Disneyland - everyone is brave enough & tall enough for the rides, nobody is in diapers, nobody cries. We love Disneyland! Sadly, this was our last trip before our annual passes expired. It will be a LONG time before we shell out money for that again.

I love this pic of my kids:


We spent a couple days here, camped within walking distance. I love when it is decorated for Christmas.


This is my attempt at a last minute family Christmas card photo. Alli wasn't very willing.




Dec 2010

California City - December

One of our favorite family activities is to go riding in the desert.
We went here for a couple nights during Christmas break. It was FREEZING! The kids don't seem to mind though. They still have a blast!



DARREN:



RYAN:



BLAKE:

Christmas 2010

Here is a quick review of some December activities:

Allison's Preschool Christmas Program. She worked hard to learn the words to all the songs and did great!




My Sunbeam Class: I'll sure miss them in 2011. I loved teaching Alli's class!


Sugar Cookies: A favorite tradition with the kids!


Christmas Eve at Grandpa's: My family tradition. It's fun to be with all my siblings and my kids get to spend time with their cousins!


Christmas Morning: Santa was generous as always!


Santa's Ornaments: Each year, Santa chooses an ornament that reminds the kids of something exciting from their year. Here's what he picked this year.

Cute!

 

 

 

 

After seeing similar drawing of my friend Rebecca's kids, I called the artist and had her do these drawings of my kids. She's a 14 year old girl who has a lot of potential! I think these are adorable and I'm so glad I had her do this. How cute!