Wood Family Happenings

I LOVE these 3 kids!!!

2010-11-14T19:16:00.000-08:00

I decided it was finally time to get new pictures of my kids, Brooklyn hasn't had her picture taken since she was 3 months old! I know what a good mom:)

I'm really happy with the way they turned out, they really portrayed my kids personality!

We love St George

2010-05-25T13:06:00.000-07:00

We went to St George for Spring Break ( I know that was over a month ago) and had so much fun!

We got to play with our friends the Tates, Brooklyn was super excited to see her BFF Brynn. We are glad they are home for a little bit!We got to play at the park!
I had to take this picture to prove to Mckinley and Brayden that they do like each other:)
Brooklyn's other BFF Avery bug!

My monkey's

We also went on a really fun hike to some ponds, the kids had a blast and Brooklyn had to walk the whole way back by herself, it took us awhile to get to the car!!!

All the kids, they were troopers!

Miss Independent

The kids had little cages in case they caught a lizard! I was glad we walked away empty handed:)

Playing in some of the ponds, it was still a little cold!

My two beautiful girls!

She was one dirty girl, but she had fun so that's okay!

We also got to play baseball at the park and go swimming. We had so much fun, it was just nice to get away and we can't wait to go back next time!

Thanks Gma & Gpa Adams for letting us stay at your house. Next time we will have to go when you are there:)

Pacifier anyone????

2010-05-08T21:51:00.001-07:00

Let me just start off by saying I HATE pacifiers! They have been the cause of many sleepless nights (because we couldn't find it on many occasions), teeth starting to go crooked, many dollars, and a much obsessed 22 month old:)

So the other day Dale was leaving for work and couldn't find his phone. After calling it many times he finally figured out the ring was coming from our couch, so he pulled off all the cushions, it wasn't there. He called it again and could still hear it in the couch, so he lifted it up, it wasn't under it either. After calling it one more time he figured out that his phone was inside the couch.

Did you know that couches have a trap door?! Well ours does!

Dale had to get his phone out so he proceeded to cut a hole in the bottom of my couch and much to his surprise there was his phone as well as 15 binks (and a bunch of other stuff, no money though!) It was quite embarrassing to see all that had accumulated over the years!

If I had only known that my couch liked them...........we would have seen this face a lot sooner!
This is only a few of them, she had already started to load her mouth and purse with the others!

Can't decide which one so I will have them both

Trying out 2 more

I will settle for the bling, bling!

Okay all of them can go in the purse for now!

That didn't last very long though, she carried that purse around with her all day long and switched them out every so often. I had never seen her so happy as she was that day:)

I was only going to give her one more month with her bink but now I have to get my money's worth, so if you see her well into the summer with it in her mouth, you will know why!

The moral of the story, cut a hole in the bottom of your couch. You never know what might be inside, maybe some of you will be luckier than I and find some money!!!

P.S. I sterilized them before she sucked on them again:)

I'm soooooo ready for this....

2010-04-28T15:00:00.000-07:00

I can't handle this weather anymore, I need 100 degree sunshine so we can do this!!!

FINALLY!!!

2010-02-25T23:09:00.000-08:00

I know that it has been a long time and I've missed many events and important holidays, but this post seemed appropriate to come back with!!!
For any of you that have been around Mckinley in the last 2 years you know how bad she has wanted this day to come. Yes, my almost 8 year old lost her very FIRST tooth tonight!!! Thank you "Wood" genes:)
Mckinley's bottom tooth has been hanging on by a thread for a few weeks now so Dale decided it was time for it to go. He got some pliers, gripped the tooth and pulled it out. Mckinley was a little hesitant to let her dad put pliers in her mouth but didn't even know that he had pulled it out! Way to go Kin, I'm glad you FINALLY lost your first tooth. She is going to lose all of them at the same time, the one next to it is pretty loose now:)

She's going to be super cute with no teeth!!!

My sweet baby!

2009-09-01T21:34:00.001-07:00

Okay so I'm feeling really guilty that I still haven't posted Brooklyn's first birthday. I can't find my battery to my camera anywhere (that's where all of Brooklyn's "1st birthday" pics are) and no one sales it so I have to order a new one. As soon as I get the battery I will post her BIG day, but for now, here are some fun facts about (and pics) of my baby!!!

I can't believe that this sweet thing......has already turned into this sweet thing!!
Brooklyn is definitely one of a kind, while she has certain personality traits of her brother and sister, she is definitely her own person. So many people ask me if Brooklyn ever cries because she is always so happy, the answer is only when she is hungry or hurt. Brooklyn truly is the BEST baby ever (minus the few months we dealt with ear infections). She loves to give hugs and kisses, she is very good at fake crying, she is good at getting what she wants, and she can brighten up a whole room. She is my little angel and when I'm having a bad day all I have to do is pick Brooklyn up and she makes it all better.
Brooklyn is probably the fastest crawler I know, and though she is getting better at walking she still prefers crawling (which is totally fine by me).
Another thing so many people say to me, is how much Brooklyn and Brayden look alike. Her looks are not all she got from her big brother, either. The other day I couldn't find Brooklyn anywhere, I walked into my room calling her name and I heard a little squeal. I was looking everywhere when finally I looked up, yes up. Brooklyn had crawled onto our desk chair, and then onto the desk and was sitting there with a pencil in one hand and paper in the other. She was so proud of herself! Yes, she got her climbing skills from Brayden, I'm in for it with 2 climbers in the family!!!

Brooklyn's stats at 12 months:
Weight: 17lbs-2%
Length: 28.5 in-31%
Head circ.: 17.5 in-32%
So as you can see she is still small!

Brooklyn's words:
dada
mama
grandpa (she says this with a growl)
Avery (her cousin)
Brea (her friend)
Chaco (her friends dog)
doggy
ah oh sgeti do (ah oh spaghetti o)
love you
bye bye
cracker
juice

Here are just a few more fun pics, this is where the climbing began!
She loves to get on the dishwasher while I'm loading or unloading it!

She is always so proud of her accomplishments!

I can't believe how fast time goes, it makes me sad that she is getting so big. At the same time I love watching her grow into a little girl!

We love you Brooklyn!

Our trip to the ZOO!!!

2009-08-27T20:37:00.000-07:00

This is how far behind I am on blogging! We went to the zoo at the beginning of the summer with my dad and Jan, the kids had a BLAST!!!

Brooklyn absolutely had a blast on the carousel, every time we went around and she saw Dale she gave him the biggest cheeser
Mommy and Brooklyn

Why do my children love to pose!?

Love that smile!!!

Are you serious with the posing Mckinley!? I guess I can't complain, my mom said that I posed in every picture (I guess we have the pictures to prove it!!).

The whole clan, minus cousin Bostyn

What a sweet girl, she was so patient riding around in the stroller all day!

My sweet kids, look my bag matches the animals in the back ground!

Dale, Mckinley, Brayden, and Collin

Gma Adams and the kids

Thank you dad and Jan for a fun day at the zoo. The kids always love when you come to town, you always make your visits so memorable!!!

We love you!!!

Prayers by Brayden

2009-08-24T20:23:00.000-07:00

Brayden has always been energetic, crazy, funny, and at times out of control. One thing he is not is moody, and ornery and sassy, that's Mckinley's job. That is until now!
I can't handle it, he is so bad some days that I feel like he spends the entire day in time out. I want my sweet little boy back! Brayden never had a care in the world, now he wants to pick out his own clothes, and when something isn't going his way he throws a nice little tantrum.
With the way that he has been acting these days I literally am counting down to bed time. With bed time comes scripture study and prayers, of course the kids fight over who gets to say the prayer every night. Brayden never waits for Mckinley to say it, he jumps in and starts saying his own prayer and let me just say, when he says the prayer it makes me realize I can make it through another day with him! He no longer needs help, because of course he can do it all by himself, and let's just say the "wit" comes back! Here are a couple samples:

After we took the kids to the Oquirrh temple open house:
"Heavenly Father thank you for this day, thankful for my dad, thankful for my mom, thankful for my big sissy, thankful for my baby sissy, thankful my baby sissy is still a baby so tiny and cute, thankful for my gpa's and gma's I love them so so much, thankful for the temple that we could go to and the diesel I saw on the way....."

Tonight Dale was gone so I did the bed time routine by myself, and this is the prayer we got tonight:
"Heavenly Father thank you for today, thank you that my dad could play paintball, thank you that my mom, and me, and my sisters could eat spaghetti and that I could protect them for my dad, thank you that Mckinley could make some money and sell some cookies and lemalade (lemonade)....

This isn't a prayer, but while we were grocery shopping today I asked Brayden if he would like some carrots,he said "no I don't love them, but I sure do love you mom" and gave me a big hug and kiss.

So it's times like these that make all the orneriness, and moodiness bearable. It shows me that my sweet boy is still in there and at times he is fighting to get out. I pray that someday he will re-join us for good, I can take the craziness much better than the other.
I love you Brayden, thank you for making everyday an adventure!!!

4th of July weekend!!!

2009-08-20T09:19:00.000-07:00

So I know that I am way behind (to say the least). I'm actually sitting here feeling really guilty that I haven't posted Brooklyn's first birthday yet and that on the first day of 2nd grade for Kin I didn't get any pictures. Why? you ask, I can't find the battery to my camera, therefore I can't upload Brooklyn's birthday or take pictures of Mckinley on her first day of school. I know, good mom, huh!!! I guess it's a good time to catch up.

Our 4th of July weekend was busy, we started off the festivities with our ward party. It was a lot of fun! We had burgers and hot dogs catered by Burgers Supreme, a children's parade, and a firework show. The kids had a blast!!! Christian and Brooklyn getting ready to go in their matching attire!

Me, Brooklyn, Christian, and Melissa
Kin riding in the parade

I was worried Brayden would plow someone over with his reckless driving. He did good though and even did the parade route twice!!!

Brooklyn looking pretty with her daddy

What a cheeser!

Oh and there was some dancing by these two crazy kids!

The next day my dad and Jan came into town and they took us to the Owlz game. You can't have a 4th of July weekend and not see a baseball game, it's un-American. My kids love to go to Owlz games and we have really slacked this year, normally by this time we have seen at least 5 or 6 games, we have only seen 2:(

We got to sit with the Wilde's

Brooklyn learning to blow a whistle, she did it!

Two of the cutest baseball fans I have ever seen

Plugging his ears during the firework show, at least he is watching them this year!

Collin didn't like the loud booms either

The next day was a fun filled day starting with the pool and then a pizza party and firework show at our house. We always have a lot of fun when Grandpa and Grandma Adams come to town.

Weirdo, but he's so dang cute!

Dale and Brayden going down the slide

Collin, Brayden, and Brooklyn

Mckinley and her cousin Kambree

Our 4th of July family picture

Brayden riding his bike while waiting for the firework show

Waiting patiently

Sparkler time

Iliana, me, Brooklyn, and Sarah

The Wilde's and the Gardner's joined us for the show!!!

Look who's holding a sparkler! Brayden is terrified of sparklers but he couldn't let Tyler show him up:)

Collin, Brayden, and Tyler

Stay tuned, I'm starting my "post a day" in an effort to get caught up and to do a better job of keeping track of our family adventures.

Happy Birthday Sis!!!

2009-07-14T21:13:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2009-07-07T21:27:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-01T20:29:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-05-19T20:47:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-04-20T21:30:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-09T20:19:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-07T21:11:00.001-08:00

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!!!

A whole lot of "firsts"

2009-03-05T13:15:00.000-08:00

We've had a lot of firsts around our house the last couple of weeks so I thought I would share them with everyone!!!

This is Brooklyn's 1st time being pulled around the house on a blanket, she LOVED every minute of it.This one was a scary one for mom, but this is Brayden and Mckinley's 1st time down the HUGE hill in front of our house, on the plasma cars. Brayden is my cautious one, Mckinley thinks she is a bob-sledder. She flies off the speed bump and takes the corner like a pro!!! I love Brayden's helmet, but whatever keeps him safe.
This is the 1st time Brayden woke up Brooklyn from her nap, luckily she had been asleep for awhile or I might not have thought this was such a cute picture!!!

Brooklyn's 1st time wearing glasses and isn't she soooo cute?!

Brooklyn's 1st sucker, she absolutely loved it. She was chewing it like it was food.

Mckinley's 1st competition of the year and they took 1st place for both dances.

"Take ya home" dance

Proud of her medal

Getting ready to go on stage

Mom and Mckinley

"It's a small world" dance

My little island dancer

Why you so cute?

2009-03-03T21:42:00.000-08:00

Brayden got to help the dental assistant push the x-ray button for Mckinley's x-rays. While they were out in the hall Brayden turned to the assistant and asked "Why you so cute?". The assistant laughed and told Brayden he had made her day!!!
I love my little boy, he is always making people feel good:)

Random, cute pictures

2009-03-01T21:49:00.000-08:00

Okay, I know that some of these pictures are on or around Christmas but, you know me!!! I just had to throw them in because they are soooo cute, I just love my 3 kiddos. Brayden on uncle Gabes snow machine, he was getting to go for a ride with dad!!!
Cute Christmas pajamas! I love kids in pj's, especially mine!!!

Brooklyn's 1st Christmas party, at Gma Vicki's

Three cute kids on Santa's lap, look none of them are crying!!!

A lot of cousins and Gma Vicki and Gpa Theron. With that many kids you can't get them all looking, not even Gma. (This is Dales side)

Brooklyn loves her saucer and it's nice to have. It's especially nice when I get in the shower and don't want her to go anywhere, now that she's mobile she doesn't ever stay where I put her!!!

Brooklyn's first time sitting in the shopping cart. She loved it and tried to grab everything I put in the cart.

A couple of weeks ago we went to Southtown mall to the HSM3 release party. This is Mckinley waiting for the dancers in the movie to sign her DVD and poster. Yes with my awesome High School Musical trivia skills I won the DVD. We have only watched the movie, oh, 30 times since we got it and it's usually Brayden wanting to watch it!!! He likes the basketball game at the beginning and sings the song all day long:)

Hip hop has officially started, this is Kins class and her teacher Kelsey. They had their 1st competition yesterday (I will post about that tomorrow when I upload the pics to my computer).

My little helper, Braydens job is to vacuum the kitchen. As you can see he even smiles while doing it, I hope he'll always be happy to help:)

Being crazy at "Jump on it"

What a cheeser!!!

I just thought this was funny, she was soooo mad. She was lying there playing with her toys and had, had enough. She started scooting back and got stuck, you can also see her bow was over her eyes!!!

And as a little side note....Brooklyn can no longer be in her bumbo on the counter (supervised or not). Dale had her in it on the ground the other day, he walked away for a second and when he got back she wasn't there. She can get out and crawl away!!!! He found her by the side of the couch:)

Is it summer yet?

2009-02-24T19:08:00.000-08:00

Where should I begin? With these 3 cute kids that can't seem to get better or.... The sweet black mold problem we have above our front porch!?!

Actually, Mckinley is doing much better after missing an entire week of school due to a virus, Brayden is doing better with his sinus infection now that he is on antibiotics, but poor Brooklyn can't catch a break. She started out with an ear infection and after a week on antibiotics she wasn't getting better so I took her back in. Well her ear looked worse so we switched the antibiotic and got a cream for the yeast infection she had (due to the antibiotic), now she is teething, has diarrhea (from the antibiotic) and caught a cold (with wheezing). Needless to say I haven't slept in about 2 weeks!!! But Dale gets home from Chicago tonight, yay!!!

About the mold...Isn't that pretty? Yes our house is only 3 years old. Some of you may have seen my porch sometime in the last 4 months and noticed the sweet, mounds of brown ice forming on it. We have tried to have this taken care of for the last 3 winters and finally they "got to it" last week. After digging into things and pulling things apart this is what they saw, still not exactly sure what is causing it but hopefully they figure it out fast.

The marathon of posts, I apologize!!!

2009-01-20T21:27:00.001-08:00

Over the Christmas break we had the chance to go to St George to visit Gma and Gpa Adams. We had a blast!!!

While we were there we went to the park, to Pirate Island (a pizza place with an arcade, much better than chuck-e-cheese), bowling and shopping. The best part about the whole trip was we didn't have to wear coats!!!

Thanks dad and Jan for a fun weekend (I know this post is a little late), we had a blast and can't wait to meet in St George again. My monkey #1
My monkey #3

Daddy and his little girl

Brooklyn loved the swing after she got over the initial shock

Can't go anywhere without a ball of some sort, Brayden had a blast playing golf with Gpa and he's not too bad either. (Gpa that is:)

Kins favorite trick at the park

My monkey #2

Brayden and cousin Collin showing off their new Boston Red Sox hats, Brayden doesn't' go too far without his on and was so happy when Gma and Gpa bought him a new one for Christmas.

This is the only thing Kin asked for, for Christmas. Santa must have known how bad she wanted it. She was so excited to wake up Christmas morning to a new bike and even more excited when we told her she could take it St George with us.

Trying it out for the first time, she still has a hard time stopping and is ruining her shoes.

Brayden's new skateboard.

Brayden + Skateboard + Huge hill in front of our house = DISASTER

This was his favorite though, two of his friends have them.

Tyler + Brayden + Brighton + Huge hill, will =DISASTER

This is the only sport that Brayden hasn't shown too much interest in, he liked it for a few frames and then he was off playing some hunting game at the arcade.

Mckinley did like it though, but that is only because she won or else she would have hated it:)

Coming soon: Christmas Eve and Christmas pictures

2009-01-20T21:12:00.001-08:00

Look I decided to be a nice mom this year and my kids own snow clothes for the first time in their lives!!! I know what you are thinking but I HATE winter and the less time I have to spend out in it the better for everyone involved. Luckily my kids are old enough to go out in the back by themselves and I just watch them from the window as I am standing over the heat vent.

One night when it was snowing we looked out our window and Brighton and Whitney were building a snowman so the kids and Dale decided to join them (I was standing over the heat vent:) Their snowman was the girl so Dale was going to make her a boyfriend but it turned out a little small so it's her little brother instead!!! The kids had a blast running around and making snow angels.The making of our snowman
Mckinley making her snow angel

I think that Brighton would live in the snow if his mom let him

Brayden eating the snow as it was falling

The finished project

The mighty shoveler, I can't believe how much snow we got that night

This was when they went to Dale's brothers to go sledding, they had a blast being pulled around on sleds behind the 4 wheeler. I love this picture of my kids, it shows me that they really do love each other even if they fight non-stop everyday of their lives!!!

2009-01-20T20:58:00.000-08:00

Brooklyn is 6 months old and we are loving this stage. As I posted about earlier, I couldn't ask for a better baby. She is so happy and so much fun to be around. I love her sweet spirit, her fun, loving personality, and most of all that smile that will melt any ones heart. Everyone is always asking me how she is so happy, and to be honest I have no idea. I don't think it's anything I have done, but she really is the happiest baby and only cries when she is hungry or tired.

Since my last post Brooklyn has progressed in the crawling department and is ready to take off any day now. She did move forward once, and was surprised by it herself, but can't forget how to get all the parts moving at the same time. She is my fastest crawler, Mckinley was about 8 or 9 months and I think Brayden was even later than that. I'm not really sure if I'm ready to baby proof my house, especially since she will be my first with stairs (and a lot of them at that).Here she is doing her push ups!!! She is one strong girl.
Waving to mommy on her 6 month birthday

Eating rice cereal for the first time at 5 months, she loved it!!!

Brooklyn is 6 months

2009-01-15T12:50:00.000-08:00

There is something wrong with my computer and I can't upload my pictures, so for now you just get the stats.

Brooklyn is 6 months old today and went for her 6 month appointment yesterday. She is my first baby that hates the doctor, we put her on the table so the nurse could measure her and she started screaming. Anytime she was put on the table she screamed and when she got her shots I have never heard a baby scream like she did.

Mckinley never even cried with her shots and Brayden only cried at the initial poke, now he asks for shots when he goes.

Weight: 13lbs 6oz-8%

Height: 26 1/2 in.-63%

I can't remember her head measurements but she is in the 11th percentile.

So as you can see she is still a little runt but she does BIG things now!!!

She loves to eat solid foods, sweet potatoes are her favorite and she hates the green veggies (none of my kids have liked the green ones)
She loves to sit in her bumbo
She sits up on her own but is still not too steady
She loves to play with her toys
She gets up on her tip toes and hands (like she is doing a push up) and rocks back and forth, I think she will be crawling soon
She has discovered her voice and screams constantly
She loves to laugh, especially at Brayden and Mckinley
She still loves to cuddle, I hope she always will
For the most part, still sleeps through the night
She rolls everywhere and has even gotten her head stuck under the armoire

She is soooo happy all the time, and only cries to eat or go to sleep. We love Brooklyn so much and are so glad she is a part of our family. She is definitely very loved!!!

I will post pictures as soon as I figure out what's wrong with my computer, I also need to post our holiday pictures:)

Conversations with Brayden!!!

2008-11-15T18:53:00.000-08:00

It's a good thing he is soooooo dang cute or I would send him back!!!! I really think I got sent my brother Jeremiahs son and that is why he doesn't have one. My mom is constantly telling me how much Brayden is like Jeremiah, should I be more worried than I already am Amy?! Just kidding I really do love my brother, I couldn't ask for a better one and if he turns out like him I'm okay with that!!!
Anyway Brayden has been so funny lately and I need to document it or I will forget.

Deciding what to have for dinner:
Me: Brayden do you want a grilled cheese sandwich?
b: No mom I would like a boy cheese one (apparently I say "grilled" like "girl")

Talking to a banana:
b: Banana why did you go get brown and mushy?

Losing my patience (happens a lot throughout the day, this is why I say it's a good thing he's soooo cute)
Me: Brayden if you don't stop I am going to pull my hair out.
b: Mom don't do that it will really hurt.

Del Taco & drivers license:
b: (looking at my drivers license) Mom that says April.
Me: You're right Brayden.
b: Ya it says April Taco.
Me: What?
b: Mom you're April Taco like dad is Dale (Del) Taco.
Me: Oh really so are you Brayden Taco?
b: No I'm Brayden Michael Wood

I LOVE my little boy even when he does something that makes me want to pull my hair out!!! Some guys in the neighborhood ask me (when Brayden is out of control, with more energy than he knows what to do with) what I give him to make him that way. Nothing!!! He is just full of energy, life, and has soooooo much personality and to tell you the truth I wouldn't have it any other day (there is always bedtime right)!!!!
Love you buddy!!!

4 Months old, a new cousin, and Happy Halloween!!!

2008-11-12T19:52:00.000-08:00

BROOKLYN IS 4 MONTHS OLD!!!!!

11lbs 7oz-11%

24in-30%

wore her 1st 3-6 mon outfit this week

wears size 1 diapers

laughs

rolls over

loves tummy time (when she doesn't accidentally roll)

screams to get attention

loves attention

loves to sleep

sleeps almost 12 hours at night

still takes 2-3 naps

is always smiling

only cries to be fed (or held)

holds toys

LOVES her brother and sister

Brooklyn is soooo much fun, she was definately worth all that I went through while pregnant. She is the BEST baby ever and brings so much joy to our lives, I just can't believe she is already 4 months old. Time goes tooooo fast!!!!!

2008-11-12T19:45:00.000-08:00

Congratulations Tyler, McKell, and Paisley!!!

Avery Hendricksen

October 24,2008

8lbs 4oz

21 1/2 inI think they already like each other!
The proud BIG sister!

Hendricksen Family

"So this is my competition? I can take her! (for now)"

2008-11-11T20:36:00.001-08:00

The kids had a blast this Halloween and got way too much candy. We started out the festivities with our ward trunk-or-treat on Thursday and then Halloween on Friday. I feel like Halloween is a little like Christmas in our family, we start out at our house and then spend the rest of the time hitting the rest of the family. We wouldn't have it any other way, the kids love to show off their costumes to grandmas and grandpas and all their cousins. This year when we got to Dale's parents we walked in to see Brayden was in the exact same costume as his cousin Brody, they looked so cute!!! Mckinley and Claire Nuttall at the trunk-or-treat
Mckinley and her BFF Taylor

Brayden and all of his friends, Brighton, Tyler and Stockton (I don't think they were too interested in getting their picture taken)

Isn't she the sweetest witch you have ever seen

Our little ballerina

"Walk the plank" Isn't he the cutest pirate?

Brayden, Brooklyn, Mckinley, Avery, and Paisley

Three of the cutest kids I have ever seen

Brody and Brayden

Brody, Garrett, Brayden, and Hannah (poor Hannah was the first of these four to be born and they only girl, she is 100% girl)

TAGGED!!!!

2008-10-19T21:11:00.000-07:00

Tagged by Haley.....I think this is the 1st tag I have done!!!
Here's how it works...go to your 4th folder and post the 4th picture.
This is me (9 months pregnant with Brayden) and Mckinley at the barn at Thanksgiving Point. We were going on the bumpy wagon ride, I was hoping to induce labor and Mckinley just wanted a ride!!! I can't believe how big my little girl has gotten:( Look at those chubby cheeks!!! I tag Whitney, Melissa Staheli and Anderson, Emilie, Iliana, and McKell

Getting caught up!!!

2008-10-15T22:20:00.000-07:00

Brooklyn is 3 months old today, where has the time gone!!!

At 3 months Brooklyn....

Talks, screams, laughs, and smiles at anyone who will give her attention
LOVES her bath
HATES getting out of the tub
Likes to eat her hands
Likes her binki
Hates tummy time but can lift her head and look around while on her tummy
Sleeps at least 6 hours at night and takes at least 3 naps a day
Loves her brother and sister

And overall is a very happy baby!!!Eating her hands (if her binki isn't in her mouth her hands are)

Trying to talk to mommy

Loving her binki

At 2 months Brooklyn was 8lbs 12oz and 19&1/2 in, which was about the 5th percentile for both. Brooklyn is about 11lbs now and I don't know how long she is (I weighed myself and then weighed us together and 11 lbs was the difference). We will see for sure next month!!!

2008-10-15T22:07:00.000-07:00

Brayden has been begging Dale for about a week now to take him fishing, so despite the cold weather they went yesterday afternoon. Grandpa Theron, uncle Kevin and cousin Garrett went with them. Once they were there I don't think Brayden remembered they went to fish, he just had a blast playing with Garrett, they even got in trouble for throwing rocks in the lake. That is an absolute "no no" especially if you are with gpa Theron (Dale is the one who got mad though).
When they got home I asked Brayden how many fish they caught, he replied "We caught five fishies mom (holding up three fingers) and they were slippery". I think he had a fun time, he loves spending time with his dad!!!

Holding the slippery fish
Fishing with daddy

Hangin out with Garrett

Cheesy boys!!!

2008-10-15T21:50:00.000-07:00

So I did this post backwards, you get the finished product first!!! A couple of weeks ago we had family fun night at my moms. She invited all of us over for dinner, to carve pumpkins, and decorate a haunted house. I think the parents had more fun than the kids, the haunted house decorating turned into a friendly competition to see who could decorate the best house.

Here are the kids with their pumpkins (and me helping Brooklyn sit there)
Brooklyn couldn't keep her head up for the picture (Kin helped her decorate her pumpkin)

Our Haunted house (I know it's pretty frightening)

My kids have to do some pose in every picture

Getting the guts out!!!

Kin hard at work

Brayden not enjoying the guts (I love the look on his face)

Cornbelly's

2008-10-07T21:10:00.000-07:00

We had a fun night at cornbelly's last week. There were soooo many things to do and the kids did it all!!! They have everything from pedal bikes, big trampolines, dress-ups, to corn mazes, hay rides, and pig races. Yes pig races and aunt Amy even got to kiss one of the little pigs, (not that she was wanting to) she was chosen as the prettiest mom in the crowd!!! Here are all the kiddies in the HUGE rocking chair, Paisley was NOT happy that Brayden was standing next to her, and of course Brayden takes any chance he can to bug her. Heres Dale and I in the big chair
Our little princess Mckinley, this was of course the 1st thing she did

Two of our three little piggies

Brayden trying to rope the cow

Kin and Paige (I need a new camera) riding the pedal bikes

Dale and Brayden on the pedal bikes, it was quite a work out

Kin on the big trampoline right after she was bounced

Brayden and Lexi jumping on the little trampoline

Our other little princess

Our little family

Daddy and Brayden

Mommy and her girls

All and all we had a blast!!!

Swimming, Swimming, and more Swimming

2008-09-14T12:12:00.000-07:00

We did a lot of swimming this year, more than Dale ever cares to do again!!! My mom and Steve moved to a community that has a swimming pool so they bought a grandparents pass and that is where we lived this summer. Mckinley and gpa in the big pool
Paisley and Brayden in the little pool

Paigey poo

Getting warm

Yes he even finds a way to play sports in the pool

She didn't get much swimming time but she sure looked cute in that suit

Thanks aunt Amy for the swimming suit

Brayden loved this fountain

Alexis Adams aka Michael Phelps
While the olympics were on Lexi would watch Michael Phelps swim and when they got out of the car to go swimming she turned to her parents and said "I am going to be Michael Phelps today" and she was!!!

Taylor, Kylee, Mckinley, and Emmye

Back to school!!!

2008-09-14T11:48:00.000-07:00

I know i'm a bit late on this post, but life never seems to slow down anymore.
Mckinley is now in the first grade and loving every minute of it. I can't believe she is gone all day, I really miss her around the house and all the help she is to me.
As you can see in the first picture we decided to get a haircut for the first grade, however this picture is taken the 2nd day of school. Mckinley gets migraines occasionally and ended up having one on the first day and couldn't go to school. She was devastated!
The other day I received a phone call from Mckinley's teacher (Mrs. Riddick, or Widdick as Kin pronounces it, we still are having a hard time with our "R's" but they tell me not to worry), I was a little nervous that she was going to tell me she was talking too much. She started out "Mckinley is such a delight to have in class", so now i'm waiting for the "but", it never came. She proceeded to tell me that she absolutely adores her (and why wouldn't she) and appreciates all the help she is in class. She told me that Mckinley is always including others and asking them if they need help with anything. I was such a proud mom, I hope she continues this throughout her life. She is a big help and it doesn't matter where we are she is always making friends. I am so proud of her!!!
The week before school started Mckinley wanted to have a back to school sleepover, so we invited her two cousins Kylee and Emmye and her best friend Taylor. First we had pizza at her gma and gpa's swimming pool and then went swimming until they were prunes. We had each of the girls bring their favorite treat to share and went back to our house for a movie and treats. They had so much fun and all got along great, which is surprising with that many girls!!!
We love you Mckinley and hope you do well in the first grade!!!

Emmye, Taylor, Mckinley, and Kylee watching their movie

I think I might have a cheerleader on my hands

Brooklyns big day!!!

2008-08-31T22:55:00.000-07:00

Brooklyn was blessed Sunday by Dale. He gave her a very nice blessing despite his worries. He calls her Mckinley all the time so he was really worried that he would get up there and name her Mckinley. I was worried she would spit up, cry, or let stinkers for the microphone to pick up, but she didn't, she behaved nicely!!!
She was so cute that morning, first of all she slept all morning which made it easy for me so I could get everyone ready and when she woke up and I was getting her ready she sat and smiled and talked to me.
We feel so blessed to have Brooklyn as a part of our family and are so grateful for her. She has brought such a peaceful feeling to our home. We like to say she sees angels, I will walk into a room and she will be staring off and smiling as if she sees someone. We are so grateful to our Heavenly Father for trusting us with our 3 beautiful children and couldn't ask for a better and more supportive family.
We want to thank everyone who was there to share in Brooklyns special day, we love you all and are grateful you're a part of our lives. Here are some pictures with us and her grandparents. First is gma and gpa Hall, gma and gpa Adams, great gma and gpa Adams and gma and gpa Wood.

My sweet boy

2008-08-28T21:54:00.000-07:00

This picture has nothing to do with this post but I love it. One day he decided he wanted to be a cowboy, but he still had to be a baseball player.

Anyway, today my sister McKell and I decided to take the kids to the park for a picnic. Brayden and Paisley got done eating and headed for the slides. They were playing, minding their own business when a little boy started yelling at Paisley, she started to cry and Brayden became concerned. He turned to the boy and yelled "don't be mean to my friend Paisley" and then gave her a hug to make her feel good. Next thing I hear is the little boy telling Brayden he is stupid and with not a moment to waste Brayden yelled back "no you're stupid". I just love the park!!!

I just thought it was so cute how he stood up for his cousin, I hope he is always that way and not the one making the little girl cry. See he does have a sensitive side!!!

I am in love with this girl!!!

2008-08-27T20:43:00.001-07:00

I am so in love with Brooklyn, it just amazes me how much love you can have for a child. Brooklyn is now 6 weeks old and she weighs a whopping 7lbs 8oz. She is the most perfect baby and brings so much joy to our family. She has acid reflux and has to be on medicine for it but other than that she is a really good baby. I know she really loves me because she sleeps for about 5-6 hours at night. I couldn't ask for a better baby!!!

As you can imagine I have a lot of help at my house, Mckinley is really good with her but I still get a little nervous when she brings me Brooklyn and i'm in a completely different room. Mckinley also likes to let me know when Brooklyn needs to be fed or tells me if i'm holding her wrong, sometimes I wonder how I cared for her and Brayden without all this help. It is really cute though that she is so concerned with her. Brayden doesn't really care for her too much unless someone else is showing her attention, he mostly likes to give her hugs and kisses.

These are few of the hundreds (literally) of pictures my friend Lisa took of her. My favorites are the two B&W ones, I also love the one of her yawning.

Brooklyn is here!!!

2008-07-17T08:49:00.002-07:00

Brooklyn was born July 15 at 3:46pm. She weighed 6 lbs 2 oz, and was 18 and 1/2 inches long.

2008-07-17T08:48:00.001-07:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Happy Birthday to Mckinley!!!

2008-07-09T22:27:00.000-07:00

Isn't she beautiful? I can't believe how fast time flies. It's hard to believe that six years ago yesterday I was holding my first born child, weighing in at 7 lbs 2 oz and now look at her (my scanner wasn't working so I couldn't put a baby picture of her on here).
Mckinley is so much fun to have around and such a big help. She dances her way through life and is always singing. She can put a smile on your face instantly. She is also our little nurturer, she is constantly loving her brother and cousins, picking them up, hugging them, and comforting them when they are sad or hurt. She has a motherly way about her. She is also our little social butterfly, she makes a friend out of everyone. We can be at the store, the park, or anywhere for that matter and before I know it she has found someone to talk to and be-friend. When I went to parent teacher conference a few months ago her teacher made the comment "I can tell you work with Mckinley on including and being nice to everyone, Mckinley never leaves anyone out". Mckinley has always been this way and I don't think that it was anything that I taught her. She hates to see someone sad and will do anything to make them feel loved or included.
We love you Mckinley and are so glad you are a part of our lives, we hope you had a Happy Birthday and as your dad would say "stop growing up so fast"!!!

WHAT? an update!!!

2008-07-06T21:20:00.000-07:00

I know what you are all thinking, April doesn't blog!!! Well I decided that since we have had such a busy couple of months I should update you on our lives, so here goes.
I will start with Dale, as most of you know the housing market hasn't been the best over the last year and back in March it proved itself to us when Dale was layed off from Equity Title. After many applications, interviews, and job offers he finally found the one he wanted (it didn't come quickly or without hardships but after many nights on our knees praying we know it is the right one). Dale is the Assistant Dean at the School of Computing and Technology at Utah Valley University. He was lucky enough to start there before they became a University on July 1st so he was there for all the festivities. The 2nd week there they sent him to Kansas City for Skills USA (don't ask me) where he was able to meet and interact with all the professors and students in the schools he will be raising money for. So far he is in heaven and it is so nice to have your husband come home from work happy because he loves his job.
We are so grateful for all of you out there that helped get Dale leads, and interviews with companies while he was out of work. We are so grateful for all of our friends and family that kept us in their prayers, you don't realize how many people care and are on your side until something like this happens. Looking back I can finally say I am grateful for this trial in our lives, it really helped us rely on each other and in the process brought us closer together.
Now Dale is getting ready to go to scout camp for a week (not so happy about it), which leads us to me.
I am two weeks away from having a baby, we are just glad I made it this far but now I am ready and if she comes while Dale is gone, oh well (just kidding Dale)!!! As most of you know this pregnancy has been nothing close to normal for me. I have always loved being pregnant, with Mckinley I was 4 days late and although it was hot I wasn't too upset going over. When I went into labor it was long but I had her within 24 hours. With Brayden I didn't have a single contraction and I was induced a week early so not such a hard pregnancy either. But Brooklyn on the other hand has been nothing but trouble since 32 weeks, that better mean she is getting all of her naughtiness out of her. I went into preterm labor at 32 weeks and after medications to stop my labor and shots to develop her lungs I was put on bed rest for a little over a week. I was told that I would have a 50/50 chance of delivering her within 2 weeks but then my Dr told me that since I was such a good patient I would most likely go the whole time. If I would have known that in the first place I would not have been good!!!! Here I am 6 weeks later, still pregnant and still having contractions, so needless to say I am READY. There is light at the end of the tunnel though, if I don't have her by the 15th I will be induced (my actual due date is the 21st). Thanks again to all of our friends and family who watched our kids, made us meals, and cleaned our house while I was down!!!
Mckinley finished her kindergarten year and is turning 6 on July 8th. She continues to dance her little heart out and improves with each performance. She is such a girl and has hit the "I have an opinion about everything" stage, not sure I really like it. I will post pictures and more about what she has been up to later.
Brayden just turned 3 yesterday and continues to wear me out. He has a major love for sports but none compare to baseball. He tells me all the time that Brooklyn came out of my tummy and she was a baseball. We think that is all he dreams about. I must say though he is pretty darn good. He has hit the "why" and "what" stage, not sure I like this either, our neighbor has changed his name to Brayden Why Wood. I will also post pictures and more on Brayden later since I am sure those of you who asked me to update my blog are wondering why you did.
There you have it, and update from April, maybe I can keep it going!!!

Brayden and Mckinley's Birthday Party!!!

2008-07-06T20:37:00.000-07:00

Brayden turned 3 yrs old yesterday and Mckinley turns 6 on Tuesday. We decided to get it all done and over with in one party since Dale leaves for scout camp Monday (ya you heard me right he is leaving me in my big, pregnant condition for a whole week, hopefully she stays in). The kids invited their cousins and a few friends to go swimming at the pool where grandpa and grandma Hall live, and they had a blast. Once again they were completely spoiled!!!
After the party and when we got home Mckinley informed Dale that for her real birthday she wants to have a girls night out and go to dinner, get her nails and hair done, and maybe see a movie. No big deal, right!!! Where did I get such a high maintenance daughter?
I can't believe how fast time flies. It seems like just yesterday I was holding Brayden in my arms as a newborn and now I am getting ready to have another one (I know i'm crazy having them all in July) and my little boy is 3 years old.
Brayden is so much fun to have around the house, he is constantly pulling me in a hundred different directions, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
Here are just a few things about Brayden you may or may not know:
*he LOVES baseball
*he loves to play outside with his friends
*he LOVES baseball
*he loves to read books
*he LOVES baseball
*he looks tough on the outside but on the inside he has the most tender heart, especially when he gets told "no"
*he LOVES baseball
*he HATES fireworks, or any loud noise for that matter
*he LOVES baseball
*he is always waving at people and telling them "hi" even if he doesn't know them
*he LOVES baseball
*when he wakes up in the morning he comes into my room, gives me a hug, and asks me "how you feeling mommy"
*he LOVES baseball
*he loves his big sister and can't wait for his baby sister to get here
*did I mention that he LOVES baseball? All he ever wants to do is play or watch baseball and if you don't want to play with him he will find someone who will. His favorite team is the Boston Red Sox and he has to put his hat on first thing in the morning.

There are so many things about Brayden that make him the happy go lucky boy he is, but if I named them all I would be here all night. We are so grateful to our Heavenly Father for trusting us to raise such a sweet, fun loving boy. Brayden brings so much joy and love into our home and there is never a dull moment when he is around. Happy Birthday little guy, we love you!!!Emmye (cousin), Taylor (friend), and Mckinley having fun in the pool

Mckinley and her cousin Emmye opening presentsMy little cheeser!!! She is always posing for the camera

Ashlynn (friend), Tyler (friend), Brayden, and Brody (cousin) taking time out of the pool for a picture!!!

My tough looking little boy!!!

Waiting for more presents!!!

Alexis, Brayden (with water in his ear and not liking it), and Brody

We had baseball cupcakes for Brayden and flower ones for Mckinley, not such a flattering picture of their mom though!!!

Our famous little Dancer

2008-04-08T20:15:00.000-07:00

Well today was the BIG day!!! I think that I was more excited than Mckinley was, I rarely get to watch GTU but I love the show so I was really excited to go see it live. Mckinley did so good, we were so proud of her. Being on tv didn't seem to bother her, she got up there and did it like there was no one even watching.
I was a little worried yesterday when Mckinley came home from school with a note reminding us of her field trip. She wanted to go on her field trip more than anything (it was only to Thanksgiving Point) and cried when I reminded her she was dancing on tv. I told her it was her decision to make and after a long day of thinking about it you can see what she chose. Tonight when I put her to bed she said "mom can I be on tv everyday?". Oh no, not a movie star to, I can barely keep up with all the dancing!

BRAYDEN WOOD!!!!

2008-04-05T19:27:00.000-07:00

What can we say about Brayden? He is so full of life and even more full of energy. This kid keeps me on the move from the minute he is out of bed in the morning until the minute he closes his eyes at night. He has the sweetest personality there is and not a care in the world. He loves his "sissy" Mckinley and is understanding that he has another sister on the way and loves her very much. Every morning he wakes up runs in our room and gives everyone a hug and then pulls my covers off and talks to "Blooklyn", when I leave the house without him he has to give "Blooklyn" a hug and kiss. I can tell already he is going to be so much help, anytime he sees a baby he talks in a soft, sweet voice and wants to see it or hold it.
Brayden is really into singing right now and comes home from nursery every sunday singing us a new song. His favorite church song is "I am a Child of God" and he sings it every night before he goes to bed, but his all time favorite song is "Take me out to the ball game", he knows it word for word and is constantly asking people to sing it to him.
Braydens hero at this time (and I don't see it changing anytime soon) is his cousin Tanner. Tanner is 9 years old and Brayden idolizes him like no other, Tanner is one of those kids that is good at everything he tries and Brayden tries anything Tanner does. Everytime Mckinley tells me about a friend Brayden jumps in and tells us about his friend Tanner, everything he says or does is about Tanner.
Brayden is officially potty trained and loving every minute of it. He was so easy to train, I almost feel guilty for having it so easy with both my kids. One day he put on his underwear and went without an accident and the rest is history. Now i'm not saying we didn't have any accidents because we did but they were few and far between. It did however take us awhile to get him to call them underwear and not panties but now he loves his "undies". I love having him out of diapers (he still wears them at nap time and bed time) and he is so good about letting me know when he needs to go (even when he's playing). I have two problems with a potty trained boy, first, public bathrooms. I thought it was only a girl thing to want to check out every public bathroom we came upon, but no Brayden has to as well and he touches everything, I have finally got him to flush the toilet with his elbow and not his hand though. Second, is pee everywhere, aaaahhhh! Can't they aim that thing? Brayden no longer feels it necessary to sit on the seat, he has to stand like his dad, and need I say more. Don't worry I keep clorox wipes in every bathroom.

Brayden reading a golf magazine, do all guys read while they go to the bathroom?
The face says it all!!! You can just tell he's up to something, and it usually involves bugging his sister!

I know I said he is 100% boy but he does have his weak moments of wanting to dress up like a girl. This is his attempt at mascara:) Do you like the stools in the background? Obviously they aren't doing me any good up there since I found him on the counter in my purse. Climbing, another thing Brayden is really good at!!!

Here he is being all boy! I think saying he loves baseball would be an under statement. Last night Dale had his first softball game of the season and Brayden was in heaven. When we got home last night he went in his closet, got out his baseball glove and ball and put them next to him in bed, they are there again tonight!

Baseball is first and basketball is second. Everynight before he goes to bed he has to shoot a few baskets. The other day I caught him on my bathroom counter using the hand towel ring as a hoop, he stuck the ring straight out so it looked like a hoop and proceeded to shoot hoops.
This is him and gpa Adams shooting hoops at gpa's house in St George, the basket was a little high!

Good Things Utah!!!

2008-04-04T08:40:00.000-07:00

Well as many of you know Mckinley is on the hip hop company at Center Stage and we have hit the season of performances (I never knew how busy dance could be). Last friday they opened for the hip hop group "Bounce" at BYU and the crowd went WILD!!! It was so cute to see them up on that stage and then hear all of these BYU students go crazy at their performance. Mckinley was really nervous because her teacher told her they would be performing in front of college students so on the way down her and Taylor said a prayer to help them not be so worried (I heard them whispering in the back but didn't know until a few days later they were praying). Well little did they know that their would be one of the GTU ladies there as well (not that they know who she is, but many of you may know I love this show so I was excited).
After they performed we watched a little of the BYU performance and then Brayden had had enough so we left. When Mckinley got home from hip hop yesterday she had a yellow note that read: "Our mini hip hop squad will be performing on GTU Tuesday April 8th and they need to be to the studio at 9:00am". How cool is that? Ok maybe I just think it is cool because it's my daughter and I love the show. Let's see how nervous she gets now, performing live on t.v.!?! I would be terrified but we've decided that Mckinley secretly loves to perform and I don't think she gets as nervous as she says she does.
So everyone be watching GTU Tuesday April 8th @ 10:00am and you will see Mckinley and her friend Taylor Staehli perform their hip hop dance "Big Bad Wolf" (they are the only two girls and Mckinley is the short one so she won't be hard to miss).

Easter

2008-03-27T09:35:00.000-07:00

We had a really fun Easter weekend, but you wouldn't know it because I'm a horrible mom and forgot my camera. The only pictures I got of the kids were the ones Easter morning in their sunday clothes.

We started saturday morning off with an easter egg hunt at gma Vicki and gpa Therons house. The kids all had a list of things they needed to find and then there were some extra eggs they could find, one was gold and the other silver and they had money in them. All of the kids (all 23 of them) set off to find them, there were only two so you can imagine the disappointment among 21 of the kids when they were found and not by them. Mckinley decided once again she was smarter than her mom and wore high heel flip flops after she was told not to, needless to say she did not find much. Brayden had fun and found the most but decided to share with his sister.

After gmas house we were on our way home when Jer and Amy called to see if we wanted to have an easter egg hunt with them. We headed over to their house to find more eggs but when we got there and realized how many eggs aunt Amy bought (for 4 kids) we realized it was going to be an easter egg "pick up",much funner that way. She went to walmart and bought 250 eggs. The 3 girls were really into it but Jer and Amy have a really fun backyard so after picking up a few eggs Brayden decided it was time to play and gave up. The kids had a blast, too bad I forgot my camera:(

Thanks guys for a fun saturday afternoon, you're awesome and the kids always have a blast together.

After our much needed naps we decided to take the kids to see "Horton hears a Who". We met our cousins Tanner, Kylee, and Holly there and enjoyed the movie (as much as you can with kids asking you every 5 min for a drink or more popcorn), we then headed over to their house for some easter egg coloring and a couple rounds of rock band (for the adults).

Sunday the kids woke up, found more eggs and their baskets from the easter bunny and then it was off to church.

I think the kids had a blast this Easter holiday and I think they even understand why we celebrate easter. We are so grateful for our Savior and for all that he did for us so that we can return to our Heavenly Father and be together as families again. We hope everyone had a great holiday, now let's bring on summer!!!

A coke for mom!!!

2008-03-27T09:25:00.000-07:00

We had to go to the bank yesterday and as soon as we pull up my kids start yelling "we want a sucker, we want a sucker". We got up to the window and I sent the check over, the teller asked me what she could do for us? I told her to put the check into checking and then asked if they had any suckers, she said yes and asked if I needed anything else, before I could say "no" Brayden yells from the back seat "Yes, I need a coke for my mom please"! I started to laugh and Brayden got embarrassed, he thought he was being such a big help. I don't think she heard him though, I didn't get my coke:(

It's pretty sad when you pull up to any window and your 2 1/2 year old son asks the person for a coke for his mom, maybe I should stop drinking it? Um I don't think so!!!

Private Blog

2008-02-02T21:14:00.000-08:00

I have decided with the way the world is and some recent events in our neighborhood I am going to go private on my blog. I want to protect my family as best as I can and I feel one of the ways is to do this. If you would still like to view my blog please send me your email address and I will add you to my list. I will probably be doing this in the next week.

My sweeeeeeet little boy!!!

2008-02-02T20:46:00.000-08:00

Brayden has been a total crack up lately, you just never know what he's going to say or do next! Here are just a few things in the last week or so he has said. The other day he and Mckinley were upstairs playing and he came down to me with a cinderella dress up in hand and said "mom, is dad here?" I replied "no he's at work" and Brayden said "ok I wear this then" and he put it on and went upstairs. Later when Dale came home from work I yelled up to Brayden to come down, when he got to the top of the stairs and looked down, he saw Dale sitting on the couch and took off upstairs as fast as he could. Dale gets so upset when his boy has anything to do with girly things, sometimes I think Brayden does it just to get a reaction out of his dad!!! (I won't tell Dale that Brayden put make-up on the other day while I was getting ready). We may however be in even more trouble with the girliness, my sister-in-law works in a doctors office that has a ultrasound tech so I decided this last week I would go have an early ultrasound, just to see if they could tell (I was only 15 weeks). When she was doing the ultrasound there wasn't anything there that would resemble a little boy so we are pretty sure it's a girl. POOR Brayden, or POOR dad. We will confirm that ultrasound on Feb 20th so for Dale and Braydens sake pray it was hiding!!! No, I think they will both be fine with another girl, that just means Dale will have to work extra hard at doing "boy" things with Brayden.
Why is it that kids are always the loudest during the sacrament? We were sitting in sacrament meeting last week and during the sacrament I was whispering in Braydens ear that it was time to think about Jesus and how much he loves us and we need to thank him for all that he has done for us, when he turned to me and pretty much yelled "mom Jesus naughty at me" and I said "no Brayden Jesus loves you" and he yelled back "but mommy I said a bad word". That's when you want to crawl in a hole because you know everyone heard! Before I had kids I always laughed at the kids (in primary especially) that always shared too much information, well I'm scared now because that is going to be my son.
He does have a very sweet and polite side to him as well, whenever he does something he's not supposed to (or hurts his sister) he will automatically turn to you and say "I so sorry".
We love this little boy so much and appreciate these moments with him, one things for sure, I never have a dull day!!!

Congrats Gabe and Haley!!!

2007-12-21T17:01:00.000-08:00

Congratulations Gabe and Haley, Bostyn is beautiful. We have a new little niece in the Adams family, but we really need some new boys for Collin and Brayden. She is a little sweetheart!!!

Ballet, Ballet, Ballet!!!

2007-12-21T16:54:00.001-08:00

Mckinley had her Christmas ballet concert on Wednesday. She did such a good job and we were really proud of her. Mckinley loves ballet for so many reasons, she has a great teacher(thanks Melissa), her best friend Taylor and two cousins Jaiden and Kenedy Kallas are in the same class, but most of all she just loves ballet. She is also in mini hip hop and on the hip hop company. I never knew a 5 year old little girl could be soooo busy, it's a good thing she likes it right!!! We love you Mckinley.

Gingerbread houses and cookies:)

2007-12-21T16:43:00.000-08:00

We invited Jer and Amy over a couple of weeks ago for family night and decorated cookies and gingerbread houses. The kids had sooooo much fun with all that sugar in front of them. Brayden and Paige just wanted to eat it all but Mckinley and Lexi had fun making their houses. Lexi had so much candy on her roof that it didn't make it to the car to go home, but they had fun anyway. As you can see we even got Jer and Dale to participate even though there was a game on (they weren't very excited). Thanks Lexi and Paige for having fun with us, we always love it when you are over!!!

Our first snow fall (I know I'm late)....

2007-12-21T16:33:00.000-08:00

This was the 1st snowfall of the year and the kids were really excited to get out there and build a snowman (they didn't care that they didn't have snow clothes). Dale took them out and they threw a few snowballs and built a tiny snowman. We didn't have anything for its eyes, mouth, or nose so it was sad looking!!! The kids took after Dale and they like to be outside when it is 20 below unlike their mom who likes it 100 degrees all the time. We decided that we need to invest in some snow clothes since it doesn't look like the storms are going to stop anytime soon:(

Best buds!!!

2007-12-21T16:21:00.001-08:00

Brayden and Alexis are starting to have so much fun together. Whenever we go to gma and gpa Hall's he asks if cousin lexi is going to be there. Everyone always tells us they look like twins and they do look more like brother and sister than Mckinley and Brayden. They are 3 months to the day apart and stay very close to the same size. The pictures were at the zoo in November and they had so much fun chasing the birds together. I loved the last picture of Brayden, Paige and Alexis, they all look so cute standing there!!

HALLOWEEN!!! (finally)

2007-11-10T14:54:00.000-08:00

This is our Halloween night from the end of the night to the beginning, one of these times I am going to remember to post pictures the right way!!!

Wood cousins that have birthdays all within a few months of each other. Brody, Garrett, and Brayden.

Emmye, Mckinley, and Kylee,they also have bdays within a few months of each other.

Brayden is out numbered so he decided to sit on the arm of the couch!!! Brayden, Paisley, Mckinley, Paige, and Alexis.

Trick-or-treating with Peyton and Brighton, these are Brayden's friends, we never caught up with Mckinley's but she had fun helping the little ones!

Who's that handsome cowboy!!!

Paige, Mckinley, Alexis, and Brayden. Mckinley has to pose in every picture she is in. Hmm who does that remind you of mom? People always ask us if Brayden and Alexis are twins, they are 3 months to the day apart but they are the same heighth, weigh the same and both have the beautiful olive skin, plus they look alike

My little cheerleader and football player (I think we are going to encourage baseball instead). I really need a new camera, sorry about the blurriness!

Mckinley's halloween parade at school, they just walked up the hall and back down. That's my kind of parade!!!

Mckinley's pumpkin, she drew the face all by herself, she even drew stars on the back. Dad had to improvise a little on the carving!

Brayden's fininshed product, he had so much fun helping Dale clean the pumpkin out.

Mckinley and her friend Taylor drawing the face on the pumpkin.

Brayden doesn't care about the yucky stuff inside just as long as he can get dirty.

I know I have been a major slacker in the blogging department. Life has been a little crazy these last couple of weeks (and I know it's not going to get any better), so while Dale and the kids are fishing I will blog!!!

The kids had so much fun on halloween. We started the day off going to Mckinley's school to watch the halloween parade. Every year some of Dale's clients have a huge halloween party so after school we headed over there for lunch, a costume contest, and trick-or-treating. I took the kids home for a much needed nap and from there we started our evening. We went to great gma and gpa Adams' house and saw them and nammy and papa Adams who were here from Canada, then we went back home to hit some houses in our neighborhood. We could have stopped then and been fine with the amount of candy we got but we still had two more gparents to go see. We headed to Lehi to see nammy and papa Hall and then to Alpine to see gma Vicki and gpa Theron. While in Alpine we went trick-or-treating with all the Wood cousins and this is where we ended. My kids got soooooo much candy that by the end of the night Mckinley had to have one of her older cousins carry her bag it was so heavy. If my kids have one piece of candy a day it will probably last them until next halloween. Maybe while they are fishing today I will throw it all away!!!

STITCHES, OUCH!!!

2007-10-24T21:33:00.001-07:00

I have been waiting for this day to happen, not that I wanted it to. Brayden and Dale were playing football and Brayden tripped and hit the couch, he cut his head open right above the eyebrow. Of course he immediately started crying and wanted his mom. I was cooking dinner and trying to get things ready for our ward halloween party when Dale brought him to me. He lifted his head off Dale's shoulder and there was a puddle of blood all over his nice shirt. Of course I panicked (and almost started crying), I knew he needed stitches so we called the doctor. I love after hours so we don't have to go to the ER!!!

After waiting for 20 minutes they got us back to the room and sure enough the doctor took one look and said they would be doing stitches. I wasn't really sure how I felt about my little boy getting poked with a needle right by his eye, but then they told me that they don't use needles. They have a new gel they rub all around the wound and it takes about 15 minutes and then it is numb, that is if someone comes in to put the gel on. Once the doctor left the room the nurse forgot about us and we waited for 20 minutes, the doctor came back in to get started to find out they hadn't even put the gel on.

They finally got it all numbed and he ended up with 5 stitches on the outside and a few on the inside. He was such a good little boy and he really didn't cry too much (that made it easier on mom and dad). I think he is proud of his wound because he wants to look in every mirror he walks by. I know that this is probably just the beginning of stitches and war wounds but I hope we have a big gap between them, I'm actually surprised we made it this long without stitches!!!

Moms and Muffins!!!

2007-10-24T21:25:00.000-07:00

I had the chance to go to school with Mckinley yesterday. It was "moms and muffins", we got to read books and eat muffins together.
It was so fun to get to spend time with just her and see what she does while at school. She has a great teacher and she is doing so well in school.
My little girl is soooo BIG!!!

Our little monkey!!!

2007-10-18T21:36:00.000-07:00

As you can see my little boy is into everything, and he loves to climb. We have nicknamed Brayden "monkey" because everytime we turn around he is climbing on something or doing something he shouldn't.
This morning I didn't get in the shower before Dale left the house so that meant I would have to put Brayden in the bathroom with me (thats never a good thing). I cleared everything off the counter and shut the door to the toilet and jumped in. When I got out I realized I didn't clear everything off, Brayden was putting soap all over his arms and telling me it was lotion. I cleaned him up and went about getting ready when I realized my wedding ring was missing.
I yelled from in the bathroom "Brayden where's mommy's ring?" and in his ever so sweet voice he yelled back "down da hole". Brayden came running into the bathroom and I made him show me where he put it, I lifted him up and he pointed inside the sink. You know the little hole at the top of the sink that drains the water so it won't overflow? Yep that is where he put it!
I didn't know whether to get mad, cry or laugh because he then said to me "it went down and a water and then boom, down da hole mom". Just when you think you are going to get mad and then you get the explanation.
Don't worry there is a happy ending out there for all of you who are wondering why I am so calm. Dale and a friend from work were out visiting clients and they stopped by home so I told them what had happened and they took the sink apart and got it out.
I am so greatful for my little boy, he keeps things interesting and he keeps us on our toes.
We love you little man!!!

Brayden climbed the cupboards in the laundry room to read some books!

Climbing into the baby swing!

Brayden loves to play on the computer, I think it's because he knows mom and dad don't like him to!

Why do you have to take your clothes off to get in the tub?

The result of his first climbing incident! (8 months)

I LOVE these kids!!!

2007-10-11T21:40:00.000-07:00

I was looking through all the pictures on our computer and came across these cute kids (well actually all of our pics are of them but these are some favorites). As I was looking at them I realized how lucky we are to have these two beautiful children in our lives. We are apparently having a hard time getting pregnant with baby #3 so when I think about the two that we have I feel blessed to have them. They are constantly teaching us new things (patience, love, patience, humility, and more patience) probably more than we teach them.
Mckinley is such a good big sister, she is always helping Brayden (even when he is screaming at her to stop), she loves to dance and is always making up new dances, she loves to be the center of attention and does well at it but most of all she has fun. She is the happiest, funnest, most loveable little girl and we love her so much.
Brayden is ALL boy and does it well. He makes his dad proud when he wakes up in the morning and asks to watch "bootball or beesball", and if Dale doesn't turn it right on for him he will turn it on himself and flip through the channels until he finds it. He is constantly going and keeps me running. I am always scared to go into whatever room he is in, it's always a surprise. He loves his big sister and follows her around asking her questions but mostly bugging her. My favorite thing to hear is him yelling "hi sissy" when he sees' her.
They might not always get along but at the end of the day when we say goodnight to each other they always hug each other and say "I love you" to each other. What more can you ask for as a parent than to have your children love each other. It is so much fun to see them grow up together, they are best buds and I love it.

2007-10-10T20:56:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when Brayden has a girl over to play. He loves to dress up with Mckinley, well maybe he doesn't but Mckinley loves to dress him up. I was watching two of my friends kids today and Brayden and Ashlynn came down looking like this. Brighton didn't want anything to do with it but he did get Braydens princess shoes for him.
It is so much fun to have so many friends in our neighborhood and we all have kids around the same age.
The last picture is Brayden and Ashlynn hiding in the cupboard, it is Brayden's favorite hiding place! I love my little boy, he keeps me on my toes and is always finding new things to do, I'm amazed at his imagination.

Our first cruise....

2007-10-10T20:04:00.000-07:00

Dale and I went on our first cruise the first week of October. Some of Dale's clients were going so Dale's work sent him and a couple other guys to teach some classes. This was the ship we were on, it was called the Elation. We had so much fun!!! It was a new experience with the all you can eat buffets, to the shows, to all the crazy people on board. I guess the Carnival line is more of the "party" ship and let me tell you it lives up to it's reputation. Our first morning there Dale woke up and looked at his phone for the time (not taking into consideration the time difference), and he realized he was going to be late for his meeting if we didn't hurry to breakfast. We got up got dressed and headed for the dining room, as we were on our way we noticed we were the only ones in the halls but we didn't really think about it. We got our breakfast and sat down and then started looking around and realized we were eating with all the gma's and gpa's, so we found a clock on the ship and it was only 6:30 am. Needless to say I went back to the room and went to sleep. Being on this ship is a lot like being in Vegas, it's party all night and sleep all day, but a cruise is a fun adventure if you haven't been on one. I didn't really get sea sick, I just felt like I was on NyQuil the whole time. I recommend if anyone is thinking about going, to schedule a cruise with more ports. We only had one so it made for a lot of time on the boat. The best part of the trip for me was when we stopped in Cabo for the day. We went snorkeling (that's a different experience) and shopping and had a blast. I think I could have done without the snorkeling though. It was cool to see the fish but it made me panic, I didn't like the fact that there were fish and sharp rocks right below me. Dale had a blast snorkeling and took a lot of cool pictures (I will post later), I tried to be a good sport and I forced myself to do it, I think eventually I would of liked it until we got stung by jelly fish. Dale got stung about 15 times on his back and chest and I got stung 3 or 4 times on my legs, it feels like you're getting stung by a bee. No I did not pee on Dale nor did he on me (I guess that is a way to make the stinging go away), they sprayed vinegar on Dale and after about 30 minutes he was fine. We were very lucky though, one of the girls we were with had an allergic reaction and couldn't breathe, they had to give her a shot of who knows what and about an hour later she was fine. I probably won't go snorkeling anymore unless there are no jelly fish. We really had so much fun and it was nice to get away just the two of us. Thank you so much to all of you who helped out with our kids, I didn't worry about them at all.

The sunsets were beautiful, this picture doesn't do it justice

Dale and I inside the ship, it's amazing to me, you feel like you're in a hotel until you step outside

This is us on the snorkeling boat with Cabo behind us, the water was beautiful

I thought this was a beautiful hotel and I couldn't believe it was right there on the beach

These were some huge rocks right in the middle of the ocean

I thought this was so beautiful with the arch and the blue water

Summer 2007...

2007-09-19T21:31:00.000-07:00

I decided that since I didn't start blogging until our summer was pretty much over, I would post some of our summer fun. I can't believe that it is over, anyone who knows me knows that I hate the winter and I pretty much go into hybernation. That is why during the summer I have to make up for our boring stay in the house all day long unless we have to go out winter!!! This summer I made up for last winter, we had such a funfilled summer starting with our trip to Southern California in March (i guess that is in the spring). Other trips we made were to St George and Bear Lake, but most of our summer was filled with going to the swimming pool and playing with our friends around the neighborhood. The kids would actually rather do that anyway. We also had two very important birthdays in July, Mckinley turned 5 and Brayden turned 2. I can't believe how fast they grow up and they just keep getting cuter with every new day. I love my kids so much and enjoy all the fun we have together. They make my life complete!!!

Our recap of summer 2007...

2007-09-19T20:36:00.000-07:00

Our first "summer adventure" was actually in the spring. We went to Disneyland and San Diego with gma and gpa Hall, McKell and Paisley, JC and Kathryn and fam, and James and Becky and fam. Dad stayed home to work, he was all Disneyland and Sea World out from going 6 months prior to this trip. It was a lot of fun but it made me realize how much Dale does for me and the kids. It was hard not having that other parent to get some reassurance from, we had lots of help from gma and gpa though and it was greatly appreciated.

Here are some pics from Disneyland, only gpa and gma, and McKell and Paisley went with us there: Mom, Mckinley and Brayden in front of Cinderella's castle

Mckinley's favorite part about Disneyland...finding the princesses

Winnie the Pooh ride (gma, Paisley, McKell, gpa, Brayden, April and Mckinley)

On the carousel

This is our trip to San Diego. We went to Sea World, the beach and the Wild Animal park. I think that out of everything we did my kids loved the beach the most (so did mom). The best part of the trip was spending time with our cousins that we don't get to see very often. Thanks for all the fun, we love you!!!

Brayden keeping his distance from anything that was not in a covered cage. Mckinley on the other hand....

Mckinley and Carter touching the shark!!

Mckinley touching the sting ray!!

Mckinley touching the dolphin!!

Mckinley holding a star fish!!

We couldn't keep Brayden out of the water (gpa was a good sport)

Mckinley with cousin Brittany and Oakley

Gpa, Mckinley, Paisley, Gma and Brayden

Brayden loved following the ducks around (now he won't come within 5 ft of any animal)

Mom, Mckinley and Brayden (dad stayed home to work, that's why he isn't in any of the pictures)

Thanks Laura....

2007-08-30T23:15:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my friend Laura I am officially a blogger (mine won't be anywhere near as good as hers). I have had so much fun reading her blog and keeping up to date with her family that I decided that it would be fun to start one. Like I said I am new to this whole blogging thing and I don't know how it will turn out so please be patient with me while I figure it out.
Thanks for introducing me Laura!!!

I can't believe I have a kindergartener....

2007-08-30T22:52:00.000-07:00

Mckinley's first day of kindergarten....

She was so excited to go to school, she set out her outfit the night before and told me exactly how her hair had to be done. She is so funny about details and everything had a place on her bedroom floor. When she woke up on Tuesday morning she got dressed (without me asking her), went downstairs got her own breakfast and when she was done eating told me it was time to do her hair.

We pulled up to the school and I wasn't ready for her to go so I walked her in. She has been in some kind of preschool group since she was 2 so I don't know what my problem was, there is just something about that big school and my baby going there. Maybe it's because it means that I am getting old.

She was so cute how she walked into her classroom, hung up her backpack, and sat in her seat just like she had done it a million times before. Once she sat down she gave me that look like "it's time for you to go mom", so I left and I was okay. I didn't even cry, and now after a few days I am good. I'm excited to have that one on one time with Brayden that you don't really get with 2nd children. Mckinley goes to school from 9:15-noon and then we have lunch and Brayden goes down for his nap so then I have time to be with Mckinley. It's really fun to be able to have time to spend with both of them individually and do the things that they like to do without the fighting that goes on when they are both trying to get my attention.

(Mckinley's best friend Taylor, she brought Mckinley some High School Musical pencils for good luck. Taylor misses the deadline by 1 week so they were bummed out.)

(mckinley in front of her table)

(putting her apple name tag on)