4 is More

Every Little boy dreams of having a Disney Cars party! Corbin is no exception...

"Welcome to Radiator Springs"

Ramone's House of Body Art

I think they would have tattooed their whole bodies if I let them.

Bingo

we will hang on to this game for a rainy day!

Fillmore's Organic Fuel and Oil

Luigi's Casa Della Tires

We build out own leaning tower...

Ashlyn stacked the highest...We went down to the race track to help lightening McQueen. As his pit crew we had to pin the tires on lightening...

Flo's V8 Cafe for some goodies

It was terribly fun to entertain these guys! We had so much fun.

Corbin is now 4. Somehow 4 seems WAY older than 3 for some reason. Like it's official- he's big now. I love Corbin's hugs, they are the best! I have enjoyed watching him learn how to dribble an adult size basketball and write his name. He wants so badly to hang out with Dylan and his friends when they go to the creek or play football. Kamryn calls him "buddy" since she can't pronounce his name. She adores him. He is also one determined little man which can be good, but also it can be REALLY bad. I am sure as we learn to channel this tendency it will become a great strength. Love you buddy!

8 IS Great

I can't believe how fast 8 years has gone. I also can't remember what it was like without Dylan in my life. Sure, we endured some "difficult" years with Dylan when he was an infant/toddler, but now he is a pretty GREAT kid. I am so proud to watch him reap the rewards of his hard work. I am also amazed to watch him help his siblings struggle, he notices and then finds a unique and fun way to help them. I am so happy that I have such a great example for my other kids to follow!

Dylan requested a Skylander themed party. Sadly, they are too new for me to copy any party ideas off the internet. I also got really lazy with the cake as you can see, but I am not sorry.

Each guest created and original Skylander. They drew their pictures and wrote a bio for each one. This was pretty cool to see how creative these guys can be...

We then played "guess the Skylander." I didn't realized how much these kids knew about the characters!We did what all Skylanders do... we search for "things." We had a two team "Treasure and Eternal Sources Quest" (aka scavenger hunt.) This was one serious game!

Presents were a hit of course! Thanks everyone! Thankfully, only one present was Skylanders...Since the boys were literally bouncing off each other, as if I had pumped them all full of sugar or something, we had to head outside. Of course, Dylan put together a game of football...Happy Birthday My not so little man!

30

I turned 30 last week. I was more worried about it 6 months ago. The sad part- when I drastically cut my hair one of my biggest worries was turning 30 with such a horrible hair do! Let's just say I got over that one. In one sense I was excited to turn 30. Totting around four kids, being twenty and some change made heads turn. 30 sounds so much more mature and worthy of four kids. I am also hoping my "older" friends will not feel such a big age gap between us anymore - wink, wink!

Luckily, MLK landed the day before giving Connor a big fat day off of work to celebrate ME. Breakfast in bed with cinnamon rolls and all (Ashlyn and I practically ate the entire pan.) Jane, one of my idols, had us over for dinner. What I didn't know was that it was a decoy. Connor planned a surprise party with some of our favorite families. He also had worked long and hard creating a movie about me. A slideshow of pictures from birth to the present as well as interviews with all the kids about how they felt about me. I can say that he did a great job- there were only a few pictures that I cringed at as we all watched the video.

Success? I say so! Corbin had cake for dinner, my house was filled with people I love and Connor didn't have seminary the next day (meaning, I got to actually hang out with him after the kids went to bed.)

But the celebration doesn't end there...dinner made by my bestie with a bunch of other super amazing gals!

Thanks for making my 30th super amazing everyone!

Photo mania

I have some budding photographers at my house...
carpet...

Kamryn who goes everywhere with her sunglasses...

corbin took a picture of his own black eye...

I am pretty cute...




Connor drooling over his parent's neighbor's yard..

We have an awesome diaper bag, don't you think...

These are a select few. I deleted hundreds last night. As you can see most of them are from the backseat of the car.

I am sure you are all enjoying Connor's postings. I am sorry I have been a little lazy/busy lately, so it was good to have him bridge my gap. The kids and I have been having so much fun lately since they have been tracked out. More to come.

Utah wins the Sun Bowl!

Utah won the 2012 Sun Bowl vs. Georgia Tech in dramatic fashion. Down 14 points in the 4th quarter, they came from behind, forced overtime and won the game. Check out the video! GO UTES! 8-5 is a pretty decent year, especially considering all of their injuries and first year in the Pac-12.

4x4 party in NC

It's Tacoma vs. Jeep vs. Tracker. Actually, just a few dads and their kids having a fun Saturday afternoon in the dirt and mud. Check out the pictures and videos. These are some short trails in Raleigh with some mud holes. John Patrey got a Jeep Unlimited (4 door) and left his sun roof off and ended up getting a ton of dirt in the interior. Fun New Year's Eve party.  Hopefully many more to come this year. Great to have Robert back from Afghanistan so we can resume our 4 wheeling adventures!

Dylan brought along his friend Alex who enjoyed his first time 4 wheeling! He wanted to keep going so bad!

Check out this videos of us getting dirty!

Happy New Year everyone!

Hair Update

I wanted to make sure I posted an update on my hair- since the journey has been surprising. I went in for a trim a couple weeks ago. Christy, my hair dresser, made a comment to the hair dresser next to her about me growing out my hair- since that was the original plan. The statement made me feel like it was official- I was growing it out. At that moment I realized I wasn't quite ready, I think I am actually having fun with this new mop I have. I don't know when it happened, but I have really come to love my hair now. I have tailored my new cut to just the way I like it, longer here, and short there. I have figured out how I like to style it so that I still feel cute and girly, but then hip and edgy too. I have noticed that I have changed the way I dress, they way I do my makeup and I never leave the house without a pair of earrings. These originally were all my desperate acts to look more feminine with my "devestating cut." To be honest, I feel much more fashionable. I can't say if I have just built up more confidence or if my ability to pull off more trendy styles has increased.

I recently had my first modeling gig. A friend of mine makes these awesome pendants.

Ugly Sweater Party

You know you have great friends when the highlight of your holiday season is an Ugly Sweater Party. Especially when your friends feel at ease enough to come dressed like this...

Ben borrowed some of his wife's fake pony tail to create his own creepy do. The scary part was that he pulled if off too well...

Ali as...

Amazing that they found these just the other day at Steinmart...

The awards begin...

"An Innocent Toy Had to Die For Your Sweater" Award went to Jake (this is a very poor picture of Jake, but the best of his sweater- you can see the end of his reindeer on the back of his sweater) ...

The "Dickie-rific and Creepiest" award goes to Ben and Annie (she made her own Dickie since they are hard to come by now-a-days)...

The "Best Couple Sweater Combos" award goes to Andrew and Michelle (she will be shipping them off to her Mother-in-law who thinks they are cute, if you want a pair of your own you can find them at k-mart)...The "Knowing The Owner Of Your Sweater" award went to Kim and Kevin (they snuck them out of his parents house)...The "You Need a Tie With That" goes to the one and only Connor (I have to keep watch around the clock to keep him from burning it)...The "Best 80's" award goes to Dan and Janet...The "Ticky-Tacky" award goes to ME...

The "Grand Prize" winner goes to Ben and Megan. They get the coveted gnome that will be the grand prize for next year's Ugly Sweater Party...

And the people who made it all possible, our lovely hosts, Julie and Patrick (Patrick got his very chic mug on amazon)...

I hope your holidays have been just as cheery!!