Happy Ninth!

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Noah is nine! He's had a fantastic year full of adventures... these pics say it all. Have a ROCKIN' day, bud! We love you!

The GUITAR HERO bday party was a huge success... one of our loudest yet, due to the fact that we were ROCKIN' OUT! They all signed each other's t-shirts, got rock star hair do's, and of course, played and sang their hearts out. ROCK ON!

you go, girl!!!

Austen is one busy gal! She amazes me with her ability to juggle the many different activities she is involved in. I KNOW I am her mama, but I am very proud of her!! This post is mainly for her grandparents to see a couple of the things she's done... (including a cheer performance and part of a speech for her (successful!) run for Student Body Secretary) She's also involved in an upcoming Destination Imagination competition as well as a school play, and just finished participating in an Oral Interpretation performance. It makes me tired just thinking of it all! She also earned straight A's last quarter... ! She really is amazing. I just had to brag. a. little.




I also added a link to youtube...Austen participated this past weekend in "destination imagination"... it's kind of hard to explain, but her team had to create a "music video" set to a book... they chose tacky the penguin, and the result is pretty cute... austen IS tacky... you won't miss her! :)

winter wonderland

wow. We had a seriously fun weekend! The Callaways came to visit and it's always a blast. Saturday and Sunday were spent playing non-stop. On Monday, we had ALL planned to go up to Sierra Summit to play in the snow. The weather report predicted "HEAVY SNOW", so our plans were modified... Clay would stay home with the little ones, and the rest of us would brave the snowstorm.

The weather guys got it right, and then some!!! HEAVY SNOW was an understatement. The mountain was GORGEOUS! The powder was INCREDIBLE. The beginners did AWESOME, especially considering the conditions. Britt and I's TWIN outfits (NOT planned!) made for many belly laughs.... like when Maren asked, "Which one is my mother??", and the way home was absolutely TERRIFYING.

Poor Corey was super stressed to get us all home safely. As the number of accidents we saw increased, the tension in the car also grew. We even got stuck in a snow bank for a few minutes before we were rescued by a friend that was literally behind us. We offered many prayers on this trip down the mountain, and I KNOW they were answered. When we finally made it out of the heavy snow, we felt like we had emerged from a war zone. Good times, for sure. It was a very memorable day, and I hope that the next time we all head up to ski, that it is SUNNY!

happy valentine's day! xoxo

special night

Our school's Father/Daughter Dance was this weekend. Ellie's first.. Austen's last... and the ONLY one where they would all be together.

Poor Corey definitely missed out! He had to teach a statistics class that night, which left my two princesses without a date.... Thank goodness that Papa was available to step in! (He leaves for India today!) Austen actually has attended several of these dances with her Papa, and was thrilled to be able to continue the tradition.

They came home BURSTING with excitement about how AWESOME it was. They had a wonderful time and Ellie told me that she can't WAIT until next year. I wish I could have seen them twirling and giggling, but moms are not allowed! It's strictly daughters, dads, and papas, of course.

family

One of the unexpected advantages of living by my parents is that everyone come to visit Fresno! We love this, because we absolutely love seeing our family, and I love that my kids ADORE their cousins! They get SO excited when they hear that someone is coming...

This past weekend, we were able to see all the cousins on my side... they just couldn't get enough of each other... it was a quick visit, but we had a great time just enjoying being together. A little family GUITAR HERO WORLD TOUR was one of the highlights!!! :)

Piano Recital

I had my piano recital this weekend. This is my group of talented students. I really love teaching all of them... they are awesome! :) Fresno Piano is so great to let us use their gorgeous recital hall. Austen and Noah did a fantastic job, and it was Ellie's first recital! (she was adorable) I just LOVE the feeling when it's all over with... it's such a high! (notice how HAPPY everyone looks!!!) Enjoy!

Weekend at the cabin...

We spent the weekend in Shaver Lake with the gang... we've been going up twice a year since 2005! We all LOVE it and the kids LIVE for it... they have already started to ask when the next trip is. What do you expect when the weekend is filled with good friends, good food, non-stop giggling, games, movies, guitar hero worldtour, and, of course, SNOW! We spent 2 days playing in it.. It went way too fast, and we can't wait for the next time!

SUNBEAM

Our little Aidan is officially a SUNBEAM! He went to his first activity on Saturday, and his first time in Primary was today... he was a little wary... he LOVED nursery and isn't quite sure he wants to leave. It's also during naptime, so lots of luck to the Sunbeam teachers this year! He told me after church that he liked Primary, but that he would probably cry next week when it was time to go. I bet he won't. It is a little strange to be ALL DONE with nursery... I've got all four kids in primary for the next 5 months...
















I couldn't resist posting this picture... Ellie apparently lost her pillow and found Noah to be a good substitute. Don't they look so sweet??

Utah!

We loaded up the car after Christmas and headed to Utah for our nephew's wedding. The week was packed with tons of fun... a family Christmas party, snowboarding for 2 days for Corey, a cousin sleepover, bowling, Temple Square, the Planetarium and a YUMMY lunch with the Ekins, a crazy fun New Year's Eve party at the Calls, lunch with Grandma Ekins, shopping and a manicure, HSM 3 at the dollar movie, and of course, the wedding, the luncheon, and the super fun reception. We never stopped, are exhausted, but SO glad we went and spent the week with family. It doesn't get better than that! We miss everyone already. THANKS! Can't wait until our next trip!

CONGRATULATIONS BJ AND CRYSTAL!