Amara is 7!

Sweet Amara turned 7 on January 22, 2010. I can't believe it! It just seems like yesterday she was a baby! She was THE cutest baby too! She had the squishiest chubby cheeks ever and beautiful blue eyes and a smile that went for a mile! What am I saying, she still has the eyes and the smile, just not such chubby cheeks anymore :) She is a joy to be around and she LIVES OUT LOUD for sure. She loves life and takes advantage of everything she can. She is always laughing, dancing, singing, twirling her hair around her finger, sucking on her tongue (a weird habit she has) and making everyone happy in her wake. I love her to pieces, and so does everyone who meets her. She is truly a blessing to have as a part of our family.

Here she was at her first birthday party, she had a ladybug party, and I had to convince her to eat the cake!

Here are the cute little girls who came to her party...

Amara, Macie, Aubrey, Haley, Ashlynn, Emery and Elle

Amara had a horse birthday party.  She wanted to go and ride a real horse, but it was so rainy and muddy, we couldn't :( Oh, and she wanted a REAL pony for her birthday, that's not too much to ask for huh?! ;)

 

Amara was so excited to get more makeup.  She loves to get dressed up and put gloss on.  She would be a great fashion designer.  I don't know where she gets that from, I'm the farthest thing from matching most of the time!

 

 The girls had a lot of fun painting some ceramic horses and making candy necklaces.

Making a wish...

 

 Blowing out the candle...

We love you Amara!

Christmas 2009

Christmas Morning started out at 3:45 A.M., yes you heard me right!  We had to yell at the kids to go back to bed!  At about 5:20 A.M. we stopped pretending to sleep and told the kids we would get up.  Here they are waiting in the entryway waiting to go and see what Santa had brought.  Aren't they cute? Sinjin is showing off his new flashlight.

The kids were very excited to see that Santa brought everything needed for a guinea pig!

Here is Thane opening some new hiking boots.

And, by beloved new computer :)

Here is Tiernan and her presents.  Her long lasting present seems to be the bop it!

Here is Amara with her presents.  The present she has played with the most? The treasure box from Nana!

Here is Tait's presents.  His favorite gift?  I'd have to say the new Heely's.

And Sinjin with his presents.  His favorite?  The Sponge Bob Lego Set, much to my surprise :)

See what I mean?

Oh yeah, he loves his new BIG bike too!  He is so good at riding it without training wheels. 

He doesn't turn 5 until April!

On Christmas Night, our kids sleep out on a blow up mattress by the lit Christmas Tree.  One of their favorite things about Christmas.

A few days after Christmas we went and picked out our Guinea Pig.  Her name was Ebony Sweetheart Belnap.  I said was because she died a few day's later.  We think she was trying to have babies. :(  More on that to come on later posts.  She was for sure a sweetheart, they loved her very much!

Here is me, just messin' around.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve 2009

Our Christmas Eve tradition is to open up new PJ's.  Here are the kids ready to go!

The girls got these cute sleeping masks with their PJ's and the boys got flashlights.

Here are the kids sporting their new duds!

For Christmas eve dinner, we only eat finger foods and have a picnic in the living room by the tree.  It's a lot of fun!  After that we drive around looking at the Christmas lights and look for Rudolph's nose glowing in the sky.  When we get home, we read the Christmas Story from the Bible and if there is enough time, we watch "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas", the Jim Carey version of course!  It's a little sad to not live by our big families.  Sometimes I miss the big Christmas Eve parties we had at our house in Lindon, but I love these little moments with my little family!

The Nativity 2009

On December 19th we had our Ward Christmas Party and we were able to go out to Staheli Farm and be part of the Nativity there.  Tait was a Shepherd and Thane was a Wise Man (a perfect part for him to play!).  We had a lot of fun in the cold outside with the real farm animals.  We could really feel the spirit and it really made the birth of Jesus more real to us.

Here is Tiernan and Sinjin playing with the kids...

Sinjin loved these chickens!

Here comes the shepherds...

I just love this picture of Tait.  Standing under the new star looking like a real shepherd.

Thane, Iuri and Jace, the three Wise Men, or more like Wise Guys!  Or maybe the 3 Stooges?

Tait and Thane, posing for a picture, of course!

Afterward we stayed for a little while to ride the invisible horses :)

It was a great night.