The Birthday Princess

Our little Sarah turned three years old! When we named her Sarah, I didn't know it meant "princess", but it absolutely fits her. She is so fun and knows she is the belle of the ball. Aunt Carla gave her a Birthday Princess crown, and made our Sarah very happy on her birthday.

Rachel and Katie were so excited to give Sarah her presents, they could barely let her open them. We kept having to tell them to let Sarah do it. Rachel and Katie picked out a princess umbrella and a pink tithing/savings/fun box. Grandma and Grandpa Z sent a fluffy tutu that Sarah was all about wearing, Nana Foley sent a darling dress and pajamas, and Aunt Carla sent the hat and a cup. We tried to take a picture to see it all, but it didn't work too well.

Sarah holding Aunt Carla's cup. She loved it!

My cake was embarrassing. The blob at the bottom was supposed to represent Sarah. But, she loved it, and that's what counts.

Sarah and Nathan. They are the cutest. Happy Birthday Sarah!

Thanksgiving

These last couple of weeks have been full of fun and family. My sisters Carla and Melanie came up last weekend and I'm kicking myself that this is the only picture I have of their visit. Mel brought Brooke and Maylee, and my three girls had a great time with their cousins. Sarah loves Carla, and the feeling is mutual...so Sarah got to do Carla's hair and this is the finished product...so cute.To start off Thanksgiving, David's dad flew out from Michigan to spend the holiday with us. It was so fun to have him here and see the girls play with their Grandpa Foley.My mom and dad drove down on Friday night with Carla and Steph to spend the rest of the weekend together. David was called as the second counselor in the bishopric, and so our families got together for the occasion.Dad holding Nathan. They bonded quite a bit.

Stephanie is our family stylist. She cut all the girls hair, including mine. Her skills are amazing.

Sarah would hold still while I took pictures, so she got a lot of them taken.Katie got a little bob. I love how her hair looks short, she is so cute.

This is a before and after shot of Rachel's new haircut. She told me a few weeks ago she wanted a cut. I like the change, but she looks so grown up, I can't believe she is almost seven year old!

I also got my haircut, but you can't really tell. Steph gave it a lot of layers, but I'm happy with it.

We went to see the petroglyphs in Parowan.
Last night for FHE, we went to the Heritage Center. They had Santa Clause and Princesses. Those two things combined made for a hit with our girls. Cinderella was an especially big hit, because she lives across the street. The girls love our neighbor Maddie.
Snow White, Cinderella, Belle, and one lucky Prince. Sarah just kept crying for "Princesses" as we were trying to leave. You had to pay five bucks to get your picture taken with Santa...so no Santa picture for us.
David and Nathan thought the penguins were much more manly to get a picture taken with.

Communities are so great to put together things like this. Our family had a great time!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

The Bootie Party

Okay, when me and my siblings were little, and my mom and dad were gone, we'd have a bootie party. Which meant that we got in our pajamas, and all slept in the front room, maybe watched a show, played games, and laughed a lot. I don't think many of us even had booties to wear. Since I moved so far south, I have missed all the get togethers lately and have really missed my family. So, we decided to have another bootie party with just the six of us.

We played "Imagine Iff", "Time's Up", "Pinochle", "Speed Scrabble", and laughed hard. I think I laughed more than anyone...but hey, we all have our place and mine is to laugh at whatever anyone says. My brother and sisters are the best in the world, and I'm not even bias. I have a great relationship with all of them, and it was fun to just get together for a night of fun.

Joseph playing with Nathan.

Carla made a birthday...peach cake for Cynthia's birthday coming up!

Cynthia and Mel

Steph and Joseph

Steph, Mel and Carla

Steph and me

Good times!

Bobo the Clown

I am not an interior decorator, but even I know that this picture is probably not the envy of all the neighbors. So why do I have Bobo the Clown up in my beautiful home? Pure sentimentality.

Many of you know that I grew up on a farm, by my Grandpa and Grandma Z. Grandma was a spunky old woman. I remember her riding motorcycles with my cousins, coming downstairs with her sister to play tea party with us, and trying out roller blades. Even when she got Alzheimer's, I loved it when she would forget she gave us candy for mowing the lawn, and would come out several times, then there was the dead cat she displayed on her fence, stories she would retell, and her just watching me on the trampoline. She made me feel like I was putting on an acrobatic show.

Needless to say, I loved my Grandma Z, and when she passed away a few years ago, one of the things I inherited was this painting. Her artwork was all over her home. This particular picture was on your way up the stairs...and to many of my cousins, it was a scary picture. I also have to admit that it was not my favorite picture, but Grandma painted it...and so it is displayed in my home. Bobo the Clown reminds me of my Grandma Z. I miss you Grandma!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! We had fun this year. Lots of treats = Lots of fun. Rachel wanted to be Tigger, again. Katie, the unicorn. Sarah wanted the Care Bear. And Nathan fit the Monkey. I never go all out, and usually we just wear what we have, but it was a fun weekend anyway.

Katie asks to take pictures every day. She is getting better, so this is me with our two youngest, Sarah and Nathan. Cute.

Then, we got out the snow clothes, and there was this hat that we decided to put a flower in...and Katie wanted a picture with Nathan...and they just looked perfect.

Snow, Snow, Snow. What more can I say?

Snow is Falling All Around

Hey, we've got snow! I love it. It doesn't even matter that I don't have grass, because the snow makes my yard look immaculate. We got up at 6:30 this morning, and Katie got herself all ready to go out, so by the time I dropped off Rachel at school this morning, Sarah and Katie were ready to go play in the snow. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Our Little Man

I needed to show what my sweet little baby is turning into. He gets this grin that makes me think he's up to something. He is into everything right now, but in my mind, there is still no competition on who is the cutest baby!

Pumpkins

Family Home Evening this week was carving pumpkins. It wasn't too messy, because the girls thought pulling the seeds our was gross, and it wasn't too dangerous, because they just told us the shapes they wanted and David and I carved them. They turned out good!

Nature at our Door

We've had a doe and buck in our yard the past week. The girls have been so excited to see them...even though Katie keeps calling them kangaroos. I'm glad we didn't plant many new bushes or trees. The deer are no respecter of shrubbery.

World War III

My cousins brought over their four children for about 3 days. I have to admit that it was a bit overwhelming. Then, the two oldest boys made friends of our two neighbor boys, which brought the grand total up to 10 children running around our house. The boys posted signs that read WW3 all over our house, and that pretty much sums up the weekend.