Happy Birthday Sis!!!

As always I am a day (or two, or three) late and a dollar short!!! Mckinley turned 7 years old on the 8th. I can't believe I have a 7 year old, she is already counting down to next year when she is 8 and gets to be baptized:)

For Mckinley's birthday we went to Crafter's Corner. I learned about it at the Orem Summerfest baby contest. They have all sorts of cute, unfinished crafts that you can sign up to make. I was on their website one day and realized they did birthday parties, so I decided that would be something my almost 7 year old would love to do. She invited her 2 cousins that are her age (and that live around here, we missed all the other ones she wanted to invite), and 3 of her neighborhood friends. They all got to paint and decorate their initial. It was so much fun to see all the girls choose out their color and embellishments, they were all so original and they had their minds made up, there was no suggestions wanted!!!

We finished the party off with cupcakes, warm sprite (from the really old vending machine that was there) and present opening! Mckinley received a lot of fun things and we want to thank all those who came and made her birthday a day to remember!

Mckinley is such a sweet girl. She has so much personality and she really knows what she wants in life. She is a real go getter! She isn't really shy (as most of you know) and makes friends where ever she goes, she is helpful, a little hyper at times (especially around friends), and the hormones, oh the hormones. Yes they come this early, for all of you moms out there with young girls all I can say is prepare yourselves now!!!

Mckinley loves to read, write, play with friends, ride her bike, and help take care of her brother and sister. She is so good with Brayden and Brooklyn, she really takes on the mother role with them (nice sometimes, other times not so much). Mckinley will do any chore as long as it doesn't involve cleaning her room or the toy room, she begs to do the bathrooms.

Mckinley is always the one that reminds us to have family prayer and scripture study. She has such a strong testimony of the gospel, and I love watching her grow in it.

I love Mckinley so much and appreciate all she does for me, I have been so blessed to have her in my life, she is such a big help to me!

I love you Mckinley and I am so excited to see you grow and mature and gain an even stronger testimony of the gospel as you prepare for baptism.

Happy Birthday Sis!!!

One cute thing about Mckinley's nickname "sis". Ever since we had Brayden we have called Mckinley sis, or sissy. That has always been what Brayden calls her, he very rarely calls her Mckinley, and now he refers to his sisters as "big sissy" and Brooklyn. He will not call Brooklyn "sis", that is reserved for Mckinley, I think it is sooo cute:)

opening presents

eating cupcakes

hard at work

i love how they are all concentrating, my sister mckell came to help so paisley had to participate

what cute girls

birthday girl

the finished projects, they turned out so cute

we went to pf changs for dinner that night, kin opening her present from gma hall

my three july birthday kids, 2 down, one to go

mckinley's birthday flowers from her dad, bright and beautiful just like her

Happy Birthday Little Man!!!

I can't believe my little man is 4 years old! I know everyone says "It seems like yesterday I was bringing him home from the hospital", but it really does. When we moved into this house Brayden had just turned 1 and now he is 4. Where does the time go? It seems like with every age there becomes new attitudes, I really didn't think we would experience the attitude change with Brayden. He has always been so laid back and easy going but the morning of his birthday he woke up a grouch and he has stayed that way since. I'm hoping it's just the whole "it's my party and I'll cry if I want to" attitude, I want my sweet little boy back!!!
I look back over the last year and I can't believe how much Brayden has grown (not so much physically). He is so witty and he always keeps us going. Brayden is really good at making you feel good and he can always put a smile on your face. There isn't a day that goes by that Brayden doesn't come up to me (at least 15 times a day) and tell me "I love you the most mom" or now his new line "I love your stinkin' guts mom". He is really sweet to his sisters and is always willing to play whatever Mckinley makes him play. He wants to do everything like his dad and is always telling me he has to "help dad". Brayden is still really obsessed with baseball and gets better and better everyday. He has no fear, especially when it comes to riding his bike and skateboard and now scooter. I can see the wheels turning in his head as he thinks of new tricks to do. He is currently trying to do a wheelie on his bike! As tired as Brayden makes me, my life wouldn't be complete without him and I wouldn't want him any other way. He is so lovable and everyone seems to like him, I couldn't ask for more, oh wait, maybe he could have better manners, like no burping during the prayer!!! We love you so much Brayden and we are so glad you are a part of our family!!! I hope you had a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Brayden's birthday was on the 5th and that day we celebrated at the park with some family. He got money, some cars and race track, and we bought him a razor scooter.

Brayden really wanted a baseball party, so for the invitations I bought some little baseballs and wrote the invitation on the ball. We played water baseball, where all the bases were swimming pools, it was a little chaotic with 12 kids, ages 3 and 4 but I think they had fun. After we had hot dogs and root beer for lunch (what's a baseball game without a hot dog?),baseball cupcakes and ice cream in plastic baseball helmets, opened presents, and finished the day off with a baseball pinata! I think it was a success because both Brayden and I slept for 2 hours once all the kids went home:) Thanks to everyone that came and brought presents, Brayden is so lucky to have so many friends and cousins his age.

Safe on 2nd

I promise I feed the kid!

Nice hit Paige!

Kin throwing the ball and all the kids waiting patiently for their turn.

Look at all those presents:)

This was the best shot I got of all the kids, they are all spread out eating their hot dogs!

Who needs scissors?

Brayden and Tyler opening the motorcycles Tyler gave him. Brayden has slept with these everyday since then.

Brighton couldn't wait for Brayden to open his present!

Itty Bitty Baseball

These 3 STUDS finished itty bitty ball a couple of weeks ago and loved every minute of it. I think they really just enjoyed playing together. They all ended up on the same team (probably because they all have the same last name), the Yankees!!! After the first day Brayden asked his dad for a Yankees hat and that put a smile on Dale's face. Dale is a Yankees fan and has been since he was probably Brayden's age, my dad however, is a Boston fan. Sorry dad!!!

They had six days and each day they learned how to throw, how to hit, and some baseball terms. The very last day was kind of lame (okay lame for a 3 year old that just wants to play baseball), they played duck, duck, goose. Brayden had to be taught how to play because he had no clue why they were hitting each other on the head saying duck, and then goose and running in a circle, finally a few minutes into it he went up to his coach and asked if they could play baseball again. He made his dad proud!!! Showing off their guns on the last day!
Brayden hitting

Waiting patiently for their turn

Throwing the ball at the target

This is all three of them hitting the ball off the tee
Brody, Garrett, and Brayden

What a stud!!!

Saying the team cheer, "go Yankees"

Time Flies!

Where does the time go? It just hit me the other day that my baby is almost one. Brooklyn is now 10 months old and getting so big, okay she is still only in the 5th percentile for her weight, but she seems so BIG to me. She brings sooooo much joy and happiness in to my life, I just can't even imagine not having her. She has only been in our lives for 10 months but I feel like I've known her forever.
Some facts about Brooklyn:

• has almost 5 teeth
• crawls really fast
• loves the stairs (can go up just not down)
• walks along furniture
• has had 6 plus ear infections since February, 4 since her tubes
• is the happiest baby ever
• sleeps through the night, most nights
• loves people food, not so much baby food
• loves the tub, even tried to join Brayden in the tub the other day by falling in head first
• says grandpa or should I say growls grandpa
• also says "go" while pointing her finger, "ah oh" and "roll it, roll it" while rolling her hands for patti cake.
• loves to give kisses
• waves "bye, bye"
• snuggles

I'm sure I've missed some things since I'm such a scatter brain these days. I just can't believe how fast time goes. Brooklyn is so much fun to have around and I'm excited for the next couple of months. This is my favorite age, I love watching them learn how to communicate with you and watching them discover new things.

Brooklyn at 1 1/2 months

Brooklyn before her ear tube surgery in April

Brooklyn and her BFF Brynn, playing in the sprinkler the other day
Playing in the sprinkler, she loved it

Look at those chubby cheeks!!!

Brooklyn loves the park!

Climbing the stairs

LOVES strawberries!!!

Dad finds it easier to give her a bath in the kitchen sink, and she loves it!

EASTER!

Easter is probably my favorite holiday. I love why we celebrate and I love that it means it's almost summer. Every year we start off the Easter weekend with gma Vicki's Easter egg hunt. The kids love getting their list of things they get to hunt, but best of all if they find gold or silver coins they get to exchange them for "real" money.

The day before Easter we had a Easter egg hunt with gma and gpa Hall at our house. The weather wasn't the greatest so the kids ran out, found their eggs, and were back in before we knew it.
Paisley thought you had to crack the eggs to get them to open, it was so cute, she would hit the egg on the side of her bucket and then pull it open to see what was inside.

Mckinley making it look extremely difficult to open an egg

Easter Sunday the kids woke up and found the eggs the Easter bunny hid for them. Then went through their baskets to see what was left for them. Kin got a barbie doll, Brayden got a spider man bucket and shovel, and Brooklyn got a cute tea set.

Yay, another coloring book
She really does like her tea set

"Here's my bucket"

Getting ready to go to church

Our 3 cute kiddos

CHEESE!

Scentsy's

I have the new spring/summer scents at my house this week. If you would like to smell them or order come by or call me this week, my phone screen is broken so I can't get texts. My sister will be placing the order next week. There are new warmers too, here is a list of the new scents.......

Beach
Coconut Citrus Parfait
French Lavender
Grape Granita
Herb Garden
Leather
Lush Gardenia
Meadow Pear
Pima Cotton
Pineapple Paradise
Sweet Tea Magnolia
Tea Blossom
Twilight

Kangaroo Zoo for Collin's Birthday

Happy Birthday buddy!!!

We hope you had a GREAT day and thanks for inviting us to your party, we had a BLAST!Collin turned5 years old on March 2nd and was lucky enough to have all of his cousins at his party
Mckinley and Brooklyn playing in the "4 and under section" I think Kin is a little too old to be in there

The kids and I went down the slide together, it was a lot of fun

I just love my girls!

Brayden and Collin were MIA most of the night but I caught up to them long enough for this cute picture.

Kin looking so grown up

Brooklyn wasn't sure what to think about the night

Daddy and his little girl

Brayden and Lexi

And last but definitely not least, Bostyn had so much fun in the "4 and under" section. There was a hole so air was blowing on her and I happened to take the picture at the right time. I love how her hair is sticking up all over!!!