Courtney turns 7!

Courtney's birthday was spent mostly in the van driving to Utah this year. She was a good sport about it though! We let her open gifts before we left and after we arrived in Utah Grandma A had a birthday cake and let her pick what she wanted for dinner. Happy birthday my sweet little princess!

Christmas morning

Christmas morning Santa came bearing gifts and then everyone just relaxed and we enjoyed some family time together. It was a great day!

Christmas eve

I have been out of town, and am just now getting around to posting some of our Christmas pictures! On Christmas eve we went to my mom's house and ate lots of yummy food, sang Christmas carols, and opened way too many presents! Thanks mom and Gary for having us over! (My favorite gifts for my kids were their new pajama pants made by my mom!)

2009 in pictures

This was a great year! Here is a look back at some of my favorite pictures of 2009.
(Click on them to make them bigger)

School celebration

Today Courtney brought in cupcakes for her class since her birthday falls during Winter break. She picked to have chocolate cupcakes with pink strawberry frosting and chocolate sprinkles on top. They were a big hit with her classmates! She was so excited to wear the birthday hat and to pass out her cupcakes that she could hardly sleep the night before. So glad I could be there to see her excitement. I just love her!

Christmas fun at the library

Our library had a night last week where you could go and make gingerbread houses for free! We went with some friends and it was a ton of fun! The kids first listened to a story about a Gingerbread Cowboy, then we made our houses and decorated them, and then sang Christmas songs together to finish it off. What a fun evening it turned out to be! We have the coolest library with the best activities!

So much to be thankful for

We had a great Thanksgiving! Brian fried the turkey, and my mom made the rest. She is the best cook and everything tasted delicious! I have a wonderful family and so much to be thankful for.

Tree time!

The kids beg for the tree to be set up as soon as Jacob's birthday is over! It is so fun to see them so excited to put the tree together, string up the lights, and put on their own ornaments. We have a tradition in our family where we get each kid picks out a special ornament of something that they really enjoyed during that year. This year Jacob is got a game controller one, Dillon a Club Penguin one, Courtney a Tinkerbell one, and Evan a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse one. Very fitting, don't you think?

New Moon Madness!

This past Friday I had the chance to go to a private screening of New Moon! It was a blast to go with so many friends! We had a great time laughing and really enjoyed our night out together! (It made all the difference to go with my Twilight mom buddies!). Overall, it really wasn't too bad of a movie either. Don't get me wrong, there were still some "cheesy" parts, but I went there expecting that. Favorite parts: When Jacob cut his hair, Jacob coming into Bella's room, and well, basically anything Jacob. Not so favorite parts: The future scene where they were running through the meadow, and some of the Volturi were quite strange. What did you guys think?

Jacob's 11th birthday

For Jacob's birthday, we had Grandpa and Grandma K over for dinner. Jacob picked Taco Salad and it was yummy! He opened gifts and loved all of them! Thank you Grandpa and Grandma for coming and the fun gifts! Jacob received alot of birthday wishes and gifts this year from everyone and he went to bed with a smile on his face. He told me that he had the best birthday!

Party at the Cheese!

We had this great party all planned out for Jacob's birthday, however plans changed when Dillon got sick and we had to have the party elsewhere. So at the last minute, I took Jacob and 3 of his best friends to Chuck E Cheese for a little fun! They had a great time playing games and just being goofy together! Happy 11th birthday Jacob! You are such a fun kid!

Jacob's now a boy scout!

Last week Jacob had his cross over ceremony at scouts. He is no longer a cub scout and is now a boy scout! Congratulations Jacob! We are so proud of you and all your accomplishments!

My 4 cute kids

I just recently took this picture of my kids and man, how they are growing up right before my eyes!

Halloween 2009

We had a great Halloween this year! Here are some of my favorite pictures! A couple days before I dressed up as a witch and went out with some of my friends to dinner. It was very fun! Friday before Halloween, the kids had their parties and parade at school. Jacob was Albert Einstein, Dillon was Obi-Wan Kenobi, Courtney was a mouse, and Evan was a cowboy. Halloween morning, we made homemade donuts that were super tasty! My favorites were the ones with the eggnog glaze. Yum! That night we made our making our own pizzas and went trick or treating with my mom and step-dad in Longmont. What a fun Halloween we had! (to enlarge the picture, just click on it)

Winter fun

The first big snowfall of the year and my kids couldn't wait to get out and play in it!

The big "Three-Four"

Yes, I turned 34 this past week and I had a great birthday! I received alot of birthday wishes, cards, and fun gifts from so many wonderful people! I felt very spoiled and loved! Brian made me eggs benedict for breakfast (my favorite), I went to lunch with some of my close friends (it was a surprise and very unexpected... Thanks Liz!), Brian made me a very delicious dinner and then my friend Kris B made me the most awesome lemon cake for dessert! Yummy!!! The next day I went out shopping with my mom. We had a great day and found some really good bargains! I love my mom and we had such a fun time together. Thanks mom for everything! You are the best! I only had these 3 pictures from my birthday, but here they are! Thanks everyone for making my day so nice!

Daddy's big helper

If you know Evan, you know that he is always trying to help out whenever he can. I snapped these cute pictures while he and daddy were changing out the battery in the Jeep. Brian is so patient with him and for me, it is so neat to see them working together to fix something.

Puffle Party

Dillon turned 9 this past week and wanted to have a Puffle cake. (For those of you who don't know, a Puffle is a fuzzy little creature that you can own on Club Penguin, an online interactive Disney game). He was pretty happy with the result and I was happy that it was easy to make!

Lots of awards!!!

Tonight, Dillon received his Wolf badge for cub scouts, and Jacob received his Webelos badge and Arrow of Light as well. We are so proud of these guys and all that they have accomplished! Dillon is excited to move onto the Bear den where he will have my best friend Liz for leader! What could be better than that? Jacob will be a boy scout next month and I can hardly believe it! His shirt looked so big on him when he was 8, but now just barely fits! My advice to all new cub scout moms: Buy extra big! They grow up way too fast!

Celebration of differences

Jacob with his Germany display

Jacob with his Grandpa Gary

Jacob's school had a "Celebration of differences" day last week where they got to pick a country from their ancestry line and do a display about it. Jacob picked Germany from Brian's side. I made Krautburgers for the taste table and Jacob made some fun signs about Germany to go on it too. His step-grandpa just happens to be from Germany as well and brought in German money to display. It was a fun day and we got to try alot of different food and meet all the other kids and parents.

Minnesota Memories

This past weekend I went to Scrapfest at the Mall of America in Minnesota with my friend Liz. Here are a few pictures of the highlights of the trip. Liz and I took some great classes, did some make and take projects, met up with our friends from DCWV, did some shopping, rode a roller coaster, saw a movie, and I even got to see my Aunt and Uncle too! The bottom left picture is of my friend Erin Madsen from DCWV (Die Cuts With a View). The pictures in front of her are ones I took and sent to her to use for her scrapbooking layouts. The front one is Courtney and the back one is of Witches night out. (Some of you ladies that read my blog remember that picture!) It was neat to see it displayed at this big event! It was a fun trip that I will always remember. Lots of fun new memories were made.

So much fun in San Francisco!

Brian went on a business trip to San Francisco this week and so I decided to join him for the last couple of days so we could tour the city together. I have to say it was a very fun trip!

Day 1: Brian picked me up from the airport in the afternoon and we walked around downtown looking at all the stores. That night we went to his company party. We ate yummy food, went bowling, ice skating, played around scratching records, went to a Foreigner concert, rode a mechanical bull, saw some really cool ice sculptures, and had our pictures taken together. It was a lot to do in one day, but we had a great time just enjoying each others company.

Day 2: We had bought tickets to go to Alcatraz and so we decided to do that first thing in the morning. The timing couldn’t have been any more perfect. It was a beautiful ride to the island. Alcatraz was amazing! It was very interesting to walk through and I learned a lot about how the people there were treated and how desperate some of them were to escape. I would recommend going there if you ever have the chance and taking the audio tour. After we were through there and rode back to San Francisco, we walked down to Fisherman’s Wharf and got a clam chowder bowl for lunch at Boudin’s. It was so good!! After lunch we walked over to look at the sea lions. It was neat to see so many all in one place, but the smell? Not so much. We then decided to get in the car and go see the Golden Gate Bridge up close. I had never been before and so it was a fun touristy thing to do. It is such a big part of the city and pretty incredible to look at. We then drove up to Muir Woods to look at the redwoods. To tell you the truth, we were very disappointed. I knew they weren’t going to be the really big redwoods, but to me they were just tall trees. Anyways, we still had a nice drive getting there and we decided to stop along the edge of a cliff and take some pictures of the beautiful scenery. There is something about having it go from forest to the ocean so quickly that was just so pretty! After we were done at the beach, we drove down Lombard Street and then went up to Coit Tower. We did a lot of things today too and we were pretty tired by the end.

Day 3: Today we only had the morning to do things since our flight left right after lunch. We had breakfast at Mel’s Diner, walked around China town, went to Ghirardelli Chocolates, did a little shopping, and then hit In & Out Burger for lunch.

It was such a great trip to take with my hubby and I will always remember the fun things we did and saw together. Thanks Brian for the great trip and to Scott and Liz for watching our little munchkins while we were gone. It was nice to have some quality time together and we really appreciate your kindness and willingness to help us with our kids. They had a great time and loved all the fun things you did together! You are the best!

My new quilt

A little while back I had told my grandma that I would love to have one of her handmade quilts for my bedroom in red and tan. This week, I received this beautiful quilt from her! She had finished it awhile ago, but wanted to enter it into her local county fair. She won 1st place on it! You probably can't see from the picture, but the detail work is amazing! She truly has a talent for quilting! It made me start thinking about talents. I feel like for some people, they have an easy time finding their "main talent". My grandma is an amazing quilter, my mom is an incredible seamstress, and yet I have no sewing qualities whatsoever. Is this so we can all have different talents to contribute to each other and those around us? I guess it would be pretty boring if we all had the same talents. :) What fun would that be? In the meantime, I am happy to have found the couple of little talents that I have and they keep me busy enough.

Back to school

Another year of school has started for my 3 oldest kids. Jacob is in 5th, Dillon in 3rd and Courtney in 1st. I think all of their teachers are going to be wonderful and I am so happy with the school they are attending. I have to say that my kids and I had our ups and downs this summer, but I miss them when they are gone to school. It is strange having Courtney gone all day this year. I know she will do well and make lots of friends. She has already gotten an award at school on the second day for being a good worker. Dillon's attitude about school gets a little better every year, so this year I see him growing and maturing and I can't be happier. This is Jacob's last year in Elementary. How fast life can go sometimes. He has turned out to be a great kid and is so smart! I am so proud of all of my kids. Here's to a great school year!

Butterflies, spiders, and a whole lot more

I took the kids down to the Butterfly Pavilion and they had a great time. We saw many beautiful flowers, butterflies, fish, insects, and Rosey the tarantula. Evan, Courtney and I were the only ones to hold her. I usually would freak out about having a big hairy spider like that touching me, but it wasn't that bad. However, if I saw it in my basement, I would totally scream and run away! (Guess it must have been the environment that made me feel ok about holding her.) We had a fun time walking around and pointing out all the different kinds of butterflies we saw there too. They are so beautiful and I am amazed at the vibrant colors and designs each of them had.

They are growing up too fast...

My 4 sweet kids are growing up way too fast! I just wanted to take some pictures of them while they are still in Elementary school, still love hugs from their mom, will still let me take their picture, and the list goes on... I sure love them and am sad that time goes by so quickly. If only I could find a way to stop it.

Wacky Wednesday

So, we had gotten these fake mustaches and I thought it would be fun to get them out while our friends the Lucas's were over to play. At first they looked at me like I was weird, but after they put them on, I think they liked them and even agreed for a picture! Don't you think the kid in the middle looks like Mario with is mustache and red hat on? So cute!

5...4...3...2...1...

Our family loves to get together and shoot off rockets from our backyard. We have this huge open field behind us and the kids love to go back there and try to catch them as they parachute down. We had been waiting for the perfect weather to launch a few rockets and we finally got some! (At least for a little while anyways... It has been raining here almost every day) Here are some of the pictures from that day and a video of.. well you see what can happen sometimes when launching rockets... :) There is much anticipation and then...

Alot like Dairy Queen...

My kids have been asking to go to Dairy Queen alot this summer... They love the blizzards and who can blame them really? I told them that DQ can be expensive and we already have ice cream in the freezer. (They didn't like that answer of course.) So on Friday I came up with a plan that made everyone happy! I took them all to Safeway where candy bars were on sale for 50 cents each. They picked out their favorite kind and then we came home and made our own blizzards! They loved them and thought it was fun activity and treat!

DQ blizzards for all of them = around $14
Ice cream + candy bars (made mom's way and alot bigger I might add) = $4

Same result! Happy kids with ice cream treats on a hot day!

Sidewalk fun with Grandma K

Drawing around Grandma's body... They just found her like this. I am just kidding of course! They had a fun time tracing around her and then making her outline into a gingerbread lady!

Drawing caterpillars with Evan. My mom is so patient and sweet with my kids.

Drawing "puffles" from Club Penguin... a favorite Disney online game they like to play.

Dillon's puffle.

Who knew sidewalk chalk could be so much fun? I guess everything is better at Grandma and Grandpa's house! We are so lucky to have them so close to us.

Fun Friday!

Last night we went to the Rec Center for family night swimming with Brian's younger brother Dave and his family. The kids had alot of fun with their cousins! It is nice that most of our kids feel comfortable in the water. It was fun to watch Dave's youngest daughter (which is 2). She is like a little fish and just couldn't get enough of having water splashed on her. I love that my kids love their cousins so much and get along so well. We are blessed to have family so close to us.

Summer water fun

I surprised the kids and made some water balloons for them to throw around the backyard. I am always shocked how long it takes to fill them and then they are gone in just a few minutes. It was still worth it to see how much fun they had in that short time!

Fireworks, Friends, and Fun

This year for the fourth of July we went down to our friends parents house in Arvada to swim and barbecue together. We had a great time! It rained and was chilly for a little while, but the swimming pool was nice and warm.

Got just a few pictures of the fireworks we did this year. The kids had fun with the sparklers, and the pop-its too! When we were finished, it looked like it had snowed in the front yard from all the pop-it wrappers! Thanks Lowrys for inviting us down to spend the day with you! We had a blast! (Thanks to your neighbor... we really did have a BLAST!)

Remodel pictures (Jacob's room)

Once again, this room did not exist before and it is still weird to look down the hall and see a new room there! Here are the beginning stage pictures.

Painting the walls with Evan! He loved helping put the primer on! We also found this awesome fan at Home Depot that matches Jacob room colors almost exactly!

Jacob's finished room! It is the perfect size for him! He has his loft bed with a desk underneath, a book shelf, and lots of free space too! Wish I could have backed up even further so you could see the whole room. We let him pick out his own colors for his room, and I think he did a good job!

Remodel pictures (craft room/loft area)

There were really no "before" pictures since this is a complete new addition, so here are some of the progress pictures.

Love my green walls and all the fun space I have to scrapbook and craft in! Thank you honey! I promise not to spend ALL my free time in here, but it will be hard not to!