Ring in the new year!

I love New Year. We partied at home. Then partied at our neighbor's house. Then we partied more at home. It was great! Rootbeer floats, as usual, for New Year's Eve.

And funny faces.

More funny faces.

More.

And more still.

This was Lily's first time to stay up until midnight to ring in the New Year. Usually we celebrate midnight at about 7:00 p.m., put the kids to bed, then go to bed ourselves. But this year I decided to stay up until midnight and invite anyone else to join me. Lily joined in immediately. Aaron finally caved at the last minute and decided to stay up with us. We played dominos, drank sparkling apple cider, and watched our neighbors' fireworks from Lily's window. It was fun!

A few days later we got to see my brother, Jordan, and his family! They drove across the country for his internship. We were soooo excited that their drive took them through Flagstaff.

Hazel and Ian were excited to see each other again.

Jordan was excited to see LaMar's donuts again. He discovered these when they were living down here. So we surprised him with some. Yum.

Trick or treat!!

Trick or treat!!

"Trick or treat, smell my feet! Give me something good to eat!" Carter discovered that song this year. He thought it was pretty funny. Apparently Lily already knew the song, with the second verse, "If you don't, I don't care..." Carter heard it once and thought it was hilarious. Surprisingly, they sang it once, and, at my request, that was all. Now we just make knowing allusions to it and all smile at each other, rather than sing it over and over again.

I usually like to have a family theme for our costumes, but Lily knew early on that she wanted to be a vampire for Halloween. I was so surprised because we don't usually do "scary" things for Halloween. But Lily was set on it because she and her pals play vampires during recess. So she and her closest girl friend dressed as matching vampires for our church trunk-or-treat activity. Unfortunately, I left my camera at home, so I don't have a picture of the girls together. :(

3, 2, 1...blast off! I can't get enough of Carter the astronaut! I just think he's so darn cute. He wasn't dreaming of being an astronaut for Halloween, we just found this awesome costume and chose it on a whim. After we bought the costume he told me several times, "I don't really want to be an astronaut. I want to be an airplane coyote." Gosh, I just didn't know what that was. He explained that it's an airplane that looks like a coyote. I'm still trying to figure out how to make that costume...so we stuck with the astronaut!

Carter had a super fun party at preschool. I'm so glad I could go. I loved watching him play and do the freeze dance. It was the cutest thing. What made it so stinking cute was that he was watching his teacher, Minnie Mouse, for cues on how to dance. She'd swing her hips and move her arms up and down, and Carter would do the same. His eyes were almost always glued on her. It was adorable!

Can it get any cuter than this?!!? I had two costumes for her to choose from: a cute little witch or this rooster. She wouldn't have anything to do with the witch dress and hat...but she loooves this chicken suit. I love seeing her walk around in it...the tail bobs back and forth over her diaper-bum and the little wings flap as she runs around. I love it!

Ask her what a chicken says, and she'll tell you, "Bock, bock."

As happens more often than I'd like to admit, we took care of the kids and sort of neglected to take care of ourselves. :) At the last minute I pulled out these witch accessories that I've worn a million times, and Aaron pulled out these scrubs, and voila, there we are! Not too exciting, but at least we're dressed up and ready to go trick-or-treating with our kids!

As is tradition, we visited our good friends on Halloween night. They had some extra special surprises for the kids. Four years ago Lily told them she loved Pixie Stix, and they've never forgotten. They give her a stash of them every year! (My kids love their cute dog, Scooby. He brushes his own teeth and loves to wear sunglasses!)

Mother's day

Mother's day was very sweet. Aaron and the kids took good care of me. I love my kiddos immensely. Sometimes it feels like my heart will burst.

I also enjoyed thinking about my sweet mom. My gratitude for her grows more as the years move on. She is wonderful!

I call it an eskimo kiss. He re-dubbed it the ladybug kiss.

Another great treat: my brother and his family are staying with us for a couple of months this summer! We got to have Mother's day together.

This is Kelly's first Mother's day. Her little boy is so cute. We love having him here. He's so easy-going and laid back. He just fits right in with all the kids here.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!


The kids had fun finding the eggs and baskets left by the Easter bunny. Lily darted through the backyard gathering the eggs. We had to remind her to leave some for Carter and Hazel too!

The eggs were a hit. My kids had fun playing with the empty eggs after they extracted their loot.

Hazel was adorable! I put the basket in her hand and she took off for the eggs. She picked them right up and plopped them inside.

She loves sunglasses. She tries to wear mine but they slip off her face. When she got this pair, she was so happy!

I included this picture simply because I love it. Aaron took it and captured my cute Carter (and his love of trains) well.

Grandma Ford was here for our early Easter celebrations. I'll post pictures of her visit later. We had soooo much fun with her here. I keep telling her she needs to just move down here, but I haven't convinced her yet!

We enjoyed our religious Easter celebrations as well. I love Jesus Christ and am indescribably grateful for his Atonement and resurrection.

In addition to Easter, this Sunday brought a significant change for our family. Our bishopric was released, including Aaron from his position as first counselor. It's been a privilege for our family to serve the Lord in that capacity. It wasn't without challenge, having Aaron away from our family a lot. I'm thankful for the growth it has afforded us. I'm absolutely, 100% ecstatic to think that now we'll be able to drive to church together, sit together in Sacrament meeting, and have Aaron home more on Sundays and weeknights!!! We'll enjoy the reprieve, short as it may be!

Our new bishop is a family friend. We adore him and his wife. I look forward to how our ward will be blessed by their love and dedication. His counselors are great. Their wives (my friends) are babes, I might add. God bless them all!

Mele Kalikimaka!

My parents traveled to Hawaii to celebrate their 25th anniversary last year. Needless to say, they fell in love with the islands. My parents adore flowers and while in Hawaii, my mom was smitten with the exotic Protea flower. My sweet dad surprised my mom on Christmas Eve with a fresh arrangement of Protea flowers sent from Hawaii.

When my mom dressed for the day she put on her Hawaiian dress and shell laie. I wondered if she knew what would be arriving at our house, so I asked her why she decided to wear her Hawaiian dress and laie. She responded, "I just love them and wanted to wear them." She had no clue, but it fit my dad's plan perfectly!

They were both excited and she was so surprised! I loved watching them. It was sweet to see my parents like this together.

Since there was one Hawaiian gift on Christmas Eve, we went ahead and opened a Hawaiian themed gift my parents brought back for our family.

Jewelry for the girls, presented in gift boxes made of sea shells.

The boys got t-shirts. Carter was not impressed with a t-shirt and my mom could tell. Earlier in the visit, Carter noticed a zipper pull on my mom's purse that had their cruise ship floating in it. Carter loved it when he saw it. My mom had my dad stealthily run and get the zipper pull for Carter. When he received it, his face lit up and he said, "It matches Grandma's!" He still doesn't know that it is Grandma's!

My favorite thing in the package was a book my mom made that detailed their cruise and excursions. The pictures were beautiful.

It was fun to have a Hawaiian gift on Christmas Eve.

Our Christmas celebrations were wonderful. They started out with a package from Grandma and Grandpa Ford.

It was full of nativities,

advents,

homemade suckers, and crafts.

Shortly after the package arrived, my mom arrived in person! Just in time for Lily's school Christmas program and her class Christmas party. It's a treat to have Grandma here for Lily's school activities.

Lily's party was so much fun! The classroom was mayhem! Which is wonderful because normally they are calm, quiet, and very well-behaved in class. It was fun to watch the kids run, play, shout, and just have fun!

They made carameled apples. The kids loved dumping sprinkles, m&ms, and crushed candies on their apples.

These pictures cracks me up! This is her crush. And it's reciprocated. Although they've got a thing for each other, they were sooo uncomfortable standing by each other for a photo. Lily told me one day, "I'm so scared of Sean cause he loves me!" I think it's really cute. I pray that she will always talk to me about the boys she likes!

Lily was so happy to see her teacher excited about the gift cards the class gave her.

We have a hard time keeping our house tidy. The kids throw things every which way and don't give them another look. Now, how ironic is it that Lily keeps her desk organized spic and span?? If only she'd do the same thing at home!

Her neighbor's desk in contrast. Lol.