8 is GREAT!

This past week we celebrated Alyssa's birthday...If it seems like I've posted a lot about birthdays lately it's because I HAVE!  Fall and Winter are the seasons of our family birthday craze! This year Alyssa's birthday fell on Martin Luther King Day and so the kids had the day off of school. For an activity, Alyssa decided she wanted to have a picnic at the park and have a play date with her friend Ashlyn. Here she is opening her present from Ashlyn. They both love anything Monster High. She got a Monster High pet, and a Monster High bag that Ashlyn sewed for her. Alyssa and Ashlyn are cute friends. They love to be together and they look so much alike. In the evening Charlene and her family came over to celebrate. Alyssa decided that she wanted Chinese Food for her birthday dinner.  Jason showing off his dinner.  Here's the Birthday Girl with her new boots. She has been asking for months for boots. I guess they're the rage now. She loves th...

Jason's cousin Lana and Kurt White came into town to attend a wedding. We were able to meet them at the Mesa LDS Temple and catch up a little.  Alyssa is our tree climber. If there is a tree to climb, she'll be in it. Lauren and Brynlie are trying to climb trees too.  I love this shot of Alyssa.   After visiting at the temple, we went out for lunch. It was so much fun to catch up and visit together. After visiting with Lana and Kurt, we headed over to the park to enjoy the beautiful afternoon weather. Kamary, Alyssa and Lauren love playing in the sand. Hanna and Kohler played baseball and threw around Kohler's football. Brynlie conquered the slide--it truly is a feat! Kamary buried waist deep in sand. It really was a great winter day in Arizona. Time together as family with plenty of sunshine and places to roam and explore.

Here are some random pics and things that we've been up to. First the dogs. We have a huge English Mastiff named Minnie and a Chihuahua/Maltese mix named Little Smokie. We love having opposite dogs. The little one is feisty, the big one is a gentle giant and they are best friends. They love to cuddle. Every time we try to take pictures they move. So here's our attempt at capturing our sweet puppies.  Smokie loves to lay on top of Minnie. This is a common sight. (Yes, I know my floor needs to be vacuumed). Here they are on the couch.  Sweet Minnie. She really is such a sweetheart. I don't remember when it became okay to lay on our couch, but somewhere along the line we gave in. Minnie often sleeps with her tongue sticking out-- silly dog. Another shot of Smokie and Minnie. It's really funny because Smokie freezes in the Winter so we have to keep her warm and Minnie gets too hot in the Summer so we have to keep her cool. I guess it goes with the polar opposites of s...

For Christmas this year we had the pleasure of spending several days with Jason's parents and his sister Charlene and her family. It was a fun-filled 4 days and although we were all exhausted afterward, we sure did enjoy being with family. We left our camera over at a friend's house and so we didn't get that many pictures. We took some with Hanna's old camera, but a lot of them are blurry. The first day we spent making gingerbread houses. I made real gingerbread for the adults and my house smelled fabulous! Putting together our houses with all the fixings. The adults got real gingerbread and the kids got graham crackers.   Char decorating her house. She put cereal on the roof. It looked like a country cottage--so cute.  Kamary and Alyssa Jason, Brianna and Sam Kohler and Alyssa The kids loved being creative and decorating their houses.  The house was full of activity, which made things really fun. Brynlie preferred just eating the candy....