New Years Eve

For news years, we spent it at Scott and Jenny's with both our families, Jenni & Brickley and the Moody's.

We ordered outback takeout for the adults and pizza for the kiddos. We played games all night. I put together bags with crafts and activities for the kids that they got to open each hour. 

The last bag had hats, poppers and silly string. 

2013 was a great year filled with many ups and down and we can't wait to see what 2014 brings us! 

Thank Heaven

7-11 free slurpies on 7/11...yum

Cousin Fun

Paul's brother's wife and kids came to visit for three weeks. They have kids all my kiddo's ages and they always have so much fun together.  The first week we were busy...

Water fun in the front yard with cousins

We went to the zoo

Movies and saw Escape from Planet Earth

Played duck duck goose at a park before going to another cousin's bday party.

Swimming in the back yard...

Playing superheroes (Jaxon is batman with a cape) saving the girl with cousins...

At the Splash Pad at the Gateway Mall this afternoon...

Cousins

Our nieces, Bre and Haley (Paul's sister Becky's girls) flew into town for EFY and we got to keep them for the weekend before. It was so much fun and they were such good sports. They kept the kids entertained and my kids loved it! They are already asking when they will be back. On Sunday night, we took them over to Scott and Jenny's and had a BBQ and all the cousins played.

We loved seeing them and hope they'll come again soon!

Swimming

Swimming with cousins before they move back to Texas on Friday. We sure will miss them 😔 but it was a fun Sunday afternoon. 

Addie's play: Seusical the Mysical

Addie was a in a play for her school and did such a good job. It was so much fun going to see it. 

Cousin Time

Paul's brother's wife, Stacy and her cute girls were in town this week and we got to have dinner with them. It was chaotic at the Applebees (I'm sure the staff hated us) but so fun!

This is the Place Monument

Got in a little Utah history ("This is the Place" monument) to celebrate pioneer day then to liberty park... It was a fun day with cousins :)

New Cousin

Tonight we met the newest cousin on the Chalmers family, Ellie. She's the 28th grandchild :) We already love her to bits.

Before we saw Ellie, we went for some Mexican food. Jaxon was so tired, he fell asleep eating his tortilla.

Halloween Festivities

Halloween Night
For Halloween this year, Nana made the girls costumes and bought the boys. She's amazing and I wish I had gotten some of her awesome sewing genes.

Kylie: Ladybug

Bailey: Ariel

Kade: Frankenstein


Jaxon: Dr. Frankenstein

Thanks Nana for the amazing costumes!

 all the kids...

 

We went trunk or treating with our ward and our friends, the Barons. Then went back to their house, ate pizza and went trick or treating... such a fun night!

 Friday before Halloween
We spent Friday night at our cousin's house for a family dinner and went trunk or treating at their church. It was such a fun night and the first time we've done trunk or treating with cousins!

Friday before Halloween
Kade's Preschool always has a fun Halloween party and program. The kids dress up, pass out treats to each other, sing Halloween songs for the parents and have a costume parade around the neighborhood. 

We ❤ Halloween!

Fall Break Fun: Cousins Weekend

Growing up I had great cousins. We always had so much fun and made so many great memories. Paul didn't have cousins he was as close to. Our kids have 23 cousins, 11 live nearby (2 are in Idaho but thats kind of close right). I love that they have access to family and know how important family is. This weekend, three came and stayed with us while their parents went to Texas and it was so much fun! They are amazing girls and I loved having them around.

Friday, we went to a park and poor Kade fell off the monkey bars and landed right on his nose. We thought it was broken, it swelled and bled but luckily the next day there weren't black eyes and the swelling was gone. Phew.

 Jocelyn helped the kids make a super amazing fort in the living room and they watched a movie.

On Saturday morning, Taylore helped all the kids get their hair done: Jaxon, Kade, Kylie, Addie. It was awesome!

Addie and Kade did a little singing performance. It was a cute song Addie knew.

Kade had been begging me to make Halloween Mummy Dogs I found on Pinterest. So for lunch we had mummy dogs... it was a big hit.

The most fun part was carving pumpkins. They all came up with great ideas and had so much fun.

Great weekend!

Meeting our new cousin

Paul's brother and wife adopted another beautiful baby at the end of August. We were all so excited to meet Carter at a family dinner. Isn't he a cutie?

While the Moody's were in town looking for their new home here in Utah, we got to spend a lot of time with them. This is one day we went to the park and the kids made a sandcastle. I love all these guys and am so excited they are going to be around.

Chuck E Cheese

This is from when we went to Chuck E Cheese with Keith, his girlfriend Taffa, her neice and nephew, Scott, Jenny and Paige. It was a fun filled night.

  How many cousins can you fit in a car at Chuck E Cheese?

Graduation

Last Friday, our nephew Ken graduated high school. We were all so proud of him. I think his poor parents still can't believe it, I know I can't Ken was only 9 when we got married. I think I'll always think of him as that nine year old but he really had grown up into something his parents should be so proud of. I hope my boys are that amazing when they are his age. Love you Ken!

Graduation Party... I didn't get many pictures. He're Jaxon, Brickly and little bo playing...

All the kids afterwards and the balloons Aunt Jenni gave them. They played with them the entire time much to my dismay (I had a huge headache and they almost didn't make it home lol.)

Weekend Fun...

I get 3 personal days every year that I either use or lose. I never use them! This year I decided to use 2 of  them while Kylie and Bailey were off track. The first day (Monday) we went to the dentist, had a picnic in the park and played at IKEA (while mom shopped, it was awesome!). Then today, we went to the Zoo with my sister in law, Jenny and her sweet baby Paige.  Now being raised in California, I've been to the San Diego Zoo/Wild Animal Park a bunch and the Hogle Zoo just doesn't compare (I think I may be a zoo snob) but it was a ton of fun! 

All my kids...

The kids with their cousin, Paige, and the camels. We had to move around so we wouldn't see the back ends of the camels.

Kylie and Bailey...

Kade~ its pretty hard to get a three-year-old to look at me and smile when there are animals in sight but this one was pretty cute even if it did take 6 tries.

Jaxon before lunch...

Jaxon after lunch... I wish I could sleep like that.

The babes... these two are going to be best buddies (I hope)

The tiger with Kylie. We had to track up the hill to see these guys and they didn't disappoint. They were wrestling before this. It was pretty cool to see.

The giraffes were so close.

 All the kids... I love them having cousins so close by!

 The super cute baby elephant (my favorite).

~So to sum it up~
Bailey loved the giraffes.

Kade loved the monkeys/gorillas.

Kylie loved the giant turtle.

New cousin

About six weeks ago, Paul's brother and his wife adopted a sweet baby girl, Paige. They've been waiting a long time for Paige to be a part of their family and she's perfect! She's the 23rd grandchild on the Chalmer's side. We all waited patiently to see her (we were all super sick when she first got here) and my girls love holding her.

During the winter Kade always has a runny nose and thats why theres no pictures of him... But he has asked us if he could take her in the mystery bag at school (its pretty much show and tell at the preschool). We had a long talk about how you can't put people in bags. Kylie and Bailey think she's a little princess (just like the princess and the frog!). They all love Paige and can't wait until she's big enough to play!