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!