Bradley loves Star Wars...

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Mackayla's 5th Birthday

She finally turned 5! This is the year I've been dreading, when I'll have to send her off to kindergarten! Mackayla was so excited for her birthday to finally arrive! She's been talking about January 3rd coming for an entire year. She got to choose everything about the day and had so much fun planning this special event!

She wanted cinnamon rolls for breakfast

She got to open one present before Daddy left for work. Her dad spent over three hours putting this doll house together for her the night before. She was absolutely delighted with the gift.


She got to take treats to preschool for her birthday and had a fun time there. Then she got ready for her Tinkerbell birthday party!

We ate dinner at Texas Roadhouse. This had been planned by her for a long time. We always drive by this restaurant and the kids always want to go. This summer Mackayla asked why we never get to go there. We told her it costs a lot of money to eat out so we only do it on special occasions. A few minutes later she asked us if her birthday was a special occasion. We told her it was and she had been looking forward to her birthday dinner since then.

The Nelsons joined us back at home for the party.

-Opening gifts-

Swinging at the pinata

Time for the Tinkerbell cake

Mackayla has grown up so much this past year. She's very mild mannered and well behaved. She rarely causes any trouble and is usually being a HUGE help to her mom. She is a great big sister. She tries so hard to take care of her two little brothers and always wants to share everything with them. If she ever brings home any type of treat from preschool she has figured out how to divide it into three by the time she gets home. She's getting more and more independent all the time. She loves going to preschool and her primary class. She likes to pick out her own outfits and is sometimes very creative when doing so. She loves to dance, sing, laugh, color, and draw. She loves playing with her doll houses, barbies and dress-up clothes. Her brothers love her so much as well as her Mom and Dad!! We are so grateful to have her in our family!

Christmas 2010

I'm finally getting my pictures on from Christmas. We went to Arizona this year to spend Christmas with Jared's family. It's hard to travel for Christmas, but we loved getting to spend it with family. We had a wonderful time.

Looking at the Christmas lights at the Mesa Temple grounds.

Dinner on Christmas Eve


The other end of the table


Getting ready to open pajamas on Christmas Eve

New Christmas Pajamas

The kids were great all year so we just knew Santa would come...

Ready to go see what Santa left on Christmas morning

Here are a bunch of Christmas morning:

Uncle Jason gave the boys light sabers that they LOVED

taking a little break for some breakfast

Bradley was SO excited for the gift he made for Jared. He colored this picture of a nightmare (dragon) for him. They share a love for the movie How To Train Your Dragon. Bradley just knew his Daddy would love this gift.

Mackayla made Jared and I this beautiful hand print at preschool. It was a WONDERFUL gift that we'll always keep!!

Having fun with the new play-dough stuff on Christmas afternoon.

The only thing Bradley specifically asked for this Christmas was this Dragon kite. He wanted it so bad. Since we were in Arizona, the weather was perfect to try in out on Christmas day.

Trying out her new hula hoop

We had Christmas dinner at Grandma's house. She always has a gift under the tree for every family member. We are always so grateful to be able to spend time with her on our trips to Arizona.

Mackayla is wearing her new "diamond" necklace from Nini and Papa.

Handsome little Bradley. (Jacob fell asleep on the way home from church so he didn't get a picture)

Sitting in the back, feeding the dogs tangerines.

Mackayla worked hard building this nest out of sticks

Jacob playing the piano with Nini

Jared with his mom and grandmother

Spraying whipped cream into Bradley's mouth. Jared and Bradley both thoroughly enjoyed this activity.

Mackayla loves her little princess bed she gets to sleep in.

A few other fun things from the trip for memory's sake:

• we spent a day at the Arizona Science Center learning about weather, electicity, magnets, penny smashing, bodies, dry ice and magnesium fires, and lots more;
• we went to the movies with Nini Papa to see Tangled
• we played on the school playground almost every day
• we put the kids to bed and left them with Papa & Nini, and went out with Jason & Elena. We stayed out 'till the wee hours of the night (12:30 - I know, wild!)
• Papa and Nini made some really great gifts for Christmas (a camp chair for Jared, a marble track for the kids, a nativity set for the family, and blankets for each of the grandchildren)
• Jared destroyed everyone playing dominoes - we'll try to forget the score Papa

Overall we had a great Christmas!