An Unexpected Visitor

The kids and I were leisurely enjoying our Sunday afternoon when we got a knock at the door. Much to our surprise it was HANK! We were so excited to see him. His new owner, Larry, was in the area and thought they would stop in to see us. I think he was pretty excited to see us too. He was licking our faces and being very lovey. He is such a sweet dog. We sure do miss him but we know that he couldn't be with a better new owner! We love you hank!

Pine Wood Derby

This morning was the Pine Wood Derby. We had so much fun watch the dads - ahem, I mean scouts race their cars. We started off the morning a little rough - mainly because we didn't know what time the race started until 9:00 this morning when we called and they said 10:00am! So we rushed to get everything together but Dan noticed that Spencer was missing a nail for one of his wheels (okay, so the car wasn't totally put together yet!) so after destroying the house looking for this nail, which was never to be found, we rushed over to the church hoping that they would have some that we could use - they did. So Dan, and Spencer, added weights & wheels as the race was starting.

These are ALL the cub scouts in our ward. They are all pretty cute boys.

Spencer's first race was not so great. He lost... in fact, he lost his first 3 races. On the third race one of his weights fell off so Dan, and Spencer had to do a little pit-stop repair work.

But after that pit - he was on fire! He won the last 9!!!

Ethan and Olivia were trying their hardest to enjoy the sidelines.

In the end not only did he take home the "Golden Wedge" award, but he also took home 4th place! Which means he will be competing at district next month. We will keep you posted on that!

We were having fun

Our first 10 days of March were packed with excitement! March is such a great month - not only is it my birth month but so many great things happen in March - for instance: Baseball, spring, baseball... okay, so you get the idea. I just love this month! Here is a little catch-up of what we have been up too:

My baby brother Chad celebrated his 16th birthday with us! As a tradition we get to pick out our birthday dinner and dessert. Chad picked out Chinese food. We had Kung Pao chicken, potstickers, wontons, pork fried rice, sticky rice & white rice. It was quite the spread - then for dessert we had mint Oreo dessert. yyyyuuuummmmm Oh, and now that Chad is 16 he thinks that he is a tough guy. He told my dad - "I can probably take you now dad - your an old man!" Dan tried explaining to Chad that no matter how old your dad gets you can never "take him" he will ALWAYS be tougher. Chad didn't believe Dan and this is the result:

Chad got taken.

Spencer is a Cub Scout now and coming up on Saturday is the Pine Wood Derby. I don't know who is more excited Dan or Spencer (or my dad). They were out in my parents garage making it nice and purdy. Dan has been researching models of pinewood derby cars and which one has the highest potential for 1st place!

He got that car so smooth! I was really impressed that he was that patient. I will show you all the finished product this weekend after the race!

My brother Tyler is finally starting to warm up to the family. He has been living with my parents since December and has really been kind of a grouch. Finally we told him to shape up and start being nice, and he has - for the most part.

Look Livy is even starting to like him now. She used to cry whenever he would look at her.

We have so much fun together - I am so happy that my parents are moving to Arizona too! I can't even imagine living far away from them again. How did we do it for so long?

Olivia is our little Carb-o-holic. If there were Carbohydrate addiction anonymous we would take her. She is OBSESSIVE, and I am not kidding. She will find ANY cracker, cake, cookie, bread - ANY CARB you have within her grasp and she will open it and devour it. As shown here with the pancake MIX!

oooh oooh! We paid off our black car! So exciting! Here is Dan reading over the title. Nice!

Noelle is really attached to Olivia, we took Noelle with us over to my parents and this is where she rode the whole time! So cute! oh what is that on the window you ask? rain. weird. i .know.

Ryleigh in her little tween-ness is loving the gossip magazines all the sudden. Here she is reading People about the scum-bag jerk of a Bachelor. rrrg

Ethan continues to make us laugh with his quirky little personality. Dan is constantly commenting on how much he reminds him of Cory, Dan's brother. He likes to run through the picture frame when I am taking a picture and see what happens. Here he is.

Dad's are the best!

Happy Birthday Ryleigh!

Today I am the mother of an ELEVEN year old.
It does not seem that long ago that I could hold her little body in my arms and try to snuggle with her (she did not like to be snuggly) Now, she is much bigger but finally wants me to snuggle with her.
I am so grateful for her. She is absolutely wonderful and I could not have asked for a better girl.

Happy Birthday Ryleigh

I LOVE YOU!

Saturday Night Fun

Today was a really fun day. Dan's dad and step-mom live up in Portland and they decided to come down for a visit this afternoon to celebrate Ryleigh's eleventh birthday that is coming up on Monday. They came with a cake and plans! They wanted to take us bowling and to dinner... so here is the proof!
Karen (Dan's step-mom) made this super cute amazing cake! It was delicious too.

Obviously. Livy loved it too!

After eating a mid-afternoon snack of birthday cake we headed over to the bowling alley!

Livy LOVED the brightly colored bowling balls. In fact she loved everything about the bowling alley except for me keeping her from walking on the alley.

Karen (aka Ma'ama) Ryleigh and Livy

Ryleigh is a pretty good little bowler. She gets it.

Ethan was also pretty talented. I was very impressed with their skill level.

Spencer on the other hand........

I don't know how, but he ended up throwing the ball into the other lane!! We got quite the giggle out of Spencer this evening.

Even Olivia could handle getting the ball in her own alley.

Look, I was there too!

So was Dan!

Bruce was dancing with Ryleigh, embarrassing her.

Bruce & Karen ~ thanks for a great time!

Finally, after 2 rounds of bowling we went and got some Pizza.. Livy loved it.

Ryleigh was totally brave and sang karaoke! She was amazing. She sang "Before He Cheats" and "So Small" by Carrie Underwood. She did a fantastic job. We were very proud. It ended up being a really fun evening.