Boy oh boy could the kids be any more excited about Santa coming?

Brookelynn and Rylie try to catch snowflakes on their tongues! As you can see ther is no need for a jacket here at our house. not like back home.

Here is what our house looked like when we came home from riding the Polar Express!! what a treat!

The Snow was a fun surprise for the kids. Shelby has never seen snow befor. We are not prepared for snow here in the desert. The kids came in from playing in the snow soaking wet!!

Thanks to mom for the snow man making kit.

Since Christmas is coming we decided to take the kids for a ride on the Polar Express. The kids had a great time and they got to see Santa, sing Christmas songs and drink hot chocolate. What a fun way to get us all in the Christmas spirit.

Everyone received a bell from Santa as "the first gift of Christmas. We were hearing bells all night long. All the kids were wearing their pajamas and slippers and bathrobes. The train took us to the "North Pole" where Santa boarded and wandered through the train for picture taking opportunities.

Rylie has a swim meet this weekend. This was her freestyle.

check it out!

We got everyone involved in Jake's birthday party. Rylie, Lindsey and Brookelynn walked around yelling "PEANUTS, POPCORN, PRETZELS!" The boys would take a little break for a snack and then they were right back at it... throwing the football, racing through the tires and tackling the blow up dummies with the referee shirt on it.

Brent spent most of the afternoon running them through plays and timing them on the tire run or keeping track of their points on the football toss.

Jake had asked for a "FOOTBALL" theme birthday party. Brent was so creative and built a miniature goal post to place in the back yard. We had tires laid out so the kids could run through them and Brent also made a game of football toss, where the kids had a chance to throw the football through several holes marked, Touch down, 30yd pass , 20yd pass...ect. They all got to put a little black under their eyes like the big leaguers do. They looked to cool!

They all showed off their muscles after running through a couple of plays. They look pretty tough eh?

We had the opportunity to celebrate Brent's parent's 50th wedding anniversary on the same day as Jake's birthday. It was a huge party in our backyard. We hadn't had a family picture taken for probably 10 years and so we took this time to have one. We were all there except one. (Mark's daughter Sarah, was at college and couldn't make it down.) We had some fun shots taken of the kids. Between Shelby and Maddie we were lucky to get a shot where we all were smiling. The photographer did a great job!

I love this one of Brent's parents!

Jake's birthday is coming up he's going to be 9!

He's real excited about this one for some reason. With his birthday so close to Halloween it's like a 2 day celebration for him. Candy, Candy and more Candy. Don't forget to throw in a cake too. He wants a Sports themed party this year. We're thinking about a tailgate party. he wants all his buddys to come on over for some backyard football, basketball, baseball... whatever kind of ball they can find. Sounds like dad better warm up that throwing arm.

The kids have already had one Halloween party and there are still two more to go. here is a preview of what little trickers and treaters will be heading your way.

Rylie went to a fun " end of year" banquet for the swim team last week.

She was dressed to the nines as were all the swimmers at this event. ( strange to see everybody dry and cleaned up)

We are so proud of the progress she has made as a swimmer these past few years! She is accumulating some awesome times and has really rocked the backstroke! way to go Ry!

The School schedule has been hectic but everybody seems to be finding their way.

Well after Rylie's birthday we took a little trip. We drove up to Laguna beach and played in the ocean for a few days. The kids love to play in the sand and find shells. Jake took up boogie boarding this time. Rylie made a few attempts this time as well. She was the experienced one because she had a chance to do it at sea camp in San Deigo last year. Jake quickly found his groove!



That water was a little cold.

After the beach we headed up to the sequoias and saw some big ol' trees! They were amazing!! We tried to all hold hands and see if we could reach around one of those huge things. We couldn't do it.
We trecked our way up to Lake Tahoe. We thought we'd only stay for a day and then head home but we liked it so much we decided to stay 3 days. It was beautiful there.
I think I'd like to go back there again sometime. Anyone want to join me?

When we finished up the summer and school began, Life got crazy again.

Rylie continues to swim, Jake does scouts Brookie is loving half day kindergarten and Shelby hangs around with me until the kids get home!

party girls!!!

Rylie had a birthday and turned 11. She will be going to Leavitt Middle School this year! I'm so excited for her! She had a few friends over for a movie night on her Birthday and it looked like super fun!! They played the toss the whip cream toss game and everybody got CREAMED!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYLIE!!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

:)

Rylie had a swim meet last month it was called "last chance qualifing". She already has two events that qualify her for the Junior Olympic times and this was her last chance to qualify befor the big J.O. (junior olympic) meet in California. We aren't going to be able to go to that meet but we still wanted her to get a time for these events. She brought home one more ribbon and a 3rd place medal! We are so proud of her. Her hard work is paying off!

Well our little Brookelynn had a birthday! She definately had it planned out exactly what she wanted. It was going to be a Hannah Montana birthday and everyone should look like rockstars! We played pin the sunglasses on Hannah Montana, and sang kareoke to her latest album. There were purple balloons (Hannahs favorite color) and blow up microphones. All party goers had glitter in their hair and rockstar tattoos. We know how to PARTY LIKE A ROCKSTAR!!

After cake and ice cream they chilled out in the theatre room and watched a little movie and ate a little popcorn. She kept saying throughout the night " This is the best birthday EVER!" I guess she was a happy girl.

Now comes Kindergarten! She's growing up so fast it's fun to see the changes happening right befor my eyes.

She has been asking and asking and asking for a love bird ever since a friend from preschool brought one in for show and tell, so can you guess what she ended up getting for her birthday? yep her name is TINKER BELL!

The story is this.. One day after several months of asking repeatedly "Can I have a love bird?" we were at Jake's baseball game. Out of the blue Brookelynn came up to her daddy and said, very matter of factly... " Dad I have been very patient and I think it's time for you buy me a love bird." ( this was back in May, her b-day isn't until July 20th, we really had to make that poor girl wait a long time in 4 year old years)

We aren't big pet people around here. I have enough things to take care of without adding a pet to the mix. But as you can see we gave in.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROOKELYNN!!

We did a little

swim-ming yester-day.

check out these kids!

They've got Moves!!

High five in mid air!!

We spent the 4th of July in Boulder city. We hook up with Brian and his family to watch the parade. As you can see a good time is had by all!

Rylie loves to hang out with the little ones. she's got a hold of Maddie here.

Jake and Brayden are waiting for the show to begin!

Shelby was getting the hang of waving to the parade entries.

That's the whole crew! We even got Heidi in this picture.

Brookie was ready and waiting for the candy!

AT GRANDMA AND GRANDPA JOHNSONS WE SPENT TIME OUTSIDE WITH THE CHICKENS AND HELPING GRANDPA WITH SOME SUMMER TIME CHORES.

LOOK WHAT THE CHICKENS CAN DO !!! ALOT OF TIME WAS SPENT GETTING

TO KNOW THE CHICKENS!

EARLY MORNING MUFFINS MADE BY THESE BAKING

BEAUTIES

I haven't see Mandy for probably 12 years or more and there she is sitting on the couch with Aunt Bonnie and Whitney hanging out behind them. Aunt Bonnie is smiling because she has a date tonight with a fellow online dater. We were all so excited to help her get dolled up for her big date!

Pauline taught us a new game with whipped cream. you're supposed to put it on the back of your hand and fling it at someone and they're supposed to catch it in their mouths.

How'd she do?

AMIE DECIDED TO GIVE IT A TRY

WITH HELPER SHELBY ON MY HIP.

WAY TO GO JESS AND RYLIE!!!!!

LOOKS LIKE MANDY GOT A LIITLE OF THAT ONE TOO!

EVERYONE ENDED UP A LITTLE STICKY!

The Miller kids had fun getting to meet some cousins we didn't know we had, and we missed Aunt Sharon and her family, Aubrey had to stay home this time with a sick baby and Pili couldn't make it this time either. We missed you!



There was always someone there for Brookie to play with. That girl had the time of her life!

THERE WERE WATER BALLOONS AND HOSE FIGHTS (BEFORE THE WHIPPED CREAM OF COURSE) WE DID THINGS A LITTLE BACKWARDS THAT DAY.

JUST COULDN'T RESIST SUCH A CUTE PICTURE OF SHELBY, MADISON BROOKELYNN AND BROOKE

THESE GIRLS PLAYED LIKE THEY HAD BEEN BEST BUDS FOR EVER

THANKS TO MOM FOR PUTTING ON SUCH A FUN WEEKEND! WE MISS YOU ALREADY!! HUG AND KISSES!!XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX