HaPpY 5th BiRtHdAy BoStOn!!!

This is my baby that I brought home 5 years ago on Feb. 21st 2005! I remember it just like it was yesterday! We lived in Phoenix at the time, he is my only baby born outside of Utah! He thinks that is pretty cool! It was a whole different experience having a baby there v.s. Utah! The hospital there was brand new and VERY nice, but the people just aren't the same there if you know what I mean! Don't get me wrong, I loved living in Phoenix and would go back if we had the chance, but there is something to say about the people here in Utah! :) In a good way!

I loved this picture of Boston and Halle! She was so intrigued with his balloons! Boston just adores his little sister, and kisses her ALL day long!

My sister came over on Sunday for dinner on Boston's birthday, he was being goofy and didn't want me to take their picture! I am so grateful that she lives so close and is able to be a part of my kids lives! They just love her to death!

Notice the tired eyes??? Boston had fallen asleep early the night before (on the way home from Chuck E Cheese) and so woke up early Sunday morning! I made him wait till 9 to wake up the kids so he could open his presents! (I know, I'm a mean mom) Anyway, this was after he was done! Even little Halle joined in for the fun!

He chose to go to Chuck E Cheese on Sat. and now I remember why we haven't been there for like 3 years! That place was WAY worse than McDonalds! It was so HOT and smelled like stinky feet, but for some reason kids love that place! :) So, when they all put their tickets together at the end Brinley and Zach let Boston have ALL of them and choose something for himself since it was his birthday! What sweet kids! This was the grand prize! The Chuck E Cheese basketball hoop! It was seriously his fav present! We were laughing!

Boston wanted to hold Halle on this little ride that went seriously 2 mph! You all know what ride I'm talking about!!! It didn't even go all the way around, I swear it used to go all they way around the clock! Halle was fine, she didn't even fall off! :o) I don't even think she knew she was moving! She moves faster than that riding in the van going down Main Street in Lehi!

The big Chuck E himself!

The kids favorite place to go for dinner is Tepanaki Japanese Steakhouse but my husband refuses to take the whole family there anymore! So, we decided on their birthdays that Morgan and I would take turns taking the kids! Well, Morgan got to take Brinley for her birthday, so it was my turn to go with Boston. Well, since they are open for lunch now, I took him on Friday. His most favorite thing there is the fried rice! The waiter and cook were so cute with him and made him his special huge plate of fried rice! They even brought him ice cream and sang to him! It was super fun, and I'm glad it was my turn cuz, hey I like that place too!

So after celebrating all weekend long, he still got to do some fun things this week! Tonight my sister took him to Jump On It! They had so much fun! For my kids birthdays she lets the kids choose something for her to take them to do instead of getting them a present! They seriously love it more than anything! They even went to the Harley Davidson restaurant for dinner on the way home! She had some way cute pictures of the night on her camera that I will need to get from her!

Morgan took him to the Jazz game Wed. night, and they had so much fun with just the two of them! Having 4 kids now we are realizing how important it is to spend time with the kids 1 on 1! Life is crazy! Sometimes I feel like they are all needing me at once and I have to do the best I can to juggle them! Most of the time it is Halle needing me right now, but I really have to make an effort to "talk" to my older ones too! My favorite part of the day is bedtime cuz they will just want to talk and talk to me about their day, or just whatever is on their minds, whether it is at school or just what is going on in life! I Love it! It's like once the house is quiet and they are laying there in bed their little minds just ramble (just like all of ours!)

I love having Boston home with me during the day! I worried about him being bored being home with me and the baby, but he loves it! He talks to me all day long about things! He will bring up things out of the blue, that kid has a mind like no other! He remembers things that happened long ago, that I had even forgotten! He is so much fun, and I'm so glad to be his mom!

Happy Birthday Buna!

5 Things I love about my 5 year old!

1. his teasing personality

2. his laugh

3. his determination to do everything just "perfect"

4. his kind heart

5. he is a good listener and good friend

HALLE'S 6 month pictures!!!

My sweet little baby!!!

I can hardly stand that she is getting so big!

I feel so lucky to have my friend/neighbor across the street that is the most awesome photographer there ever was!!! I called her all stressed that Kiddie Kandids went bankrupt and is no longer in business! I have taken all my kids there since I had Zach to get their pictures taken, so what was I supposed to do now???

She assured me that I would like these better! She did a GREAT job!

Thanks Sanae for capturing these sweet moments for me!

I LOVE THESE LEGS!!!

We couldn't get Halle to smile! That's just who she is though! She is very serious, and loves to check everything out! The one of her smiling is the very last picture of the day! I was so happy to get just one!!!

HaPpY 6 MoNtH BiRtHdAy HALLE!!!

My baby is 6 months old TODAY!!! I can hardly stand it! Where does all the time go? My kids think I am crazy, but we have been singing Happy Birthday to her all day long! I remembered yesterday that today was the 21st, but it wasn't until I got the video camera out, cuz she was talking so cute that when I looked at the date I realized it!

I ran to the store quick when the kids got home from school and had Brinley and Halle with me. When I was checking out there was a basket of suckers on the counter so I asked Brinley if she wanted one, I grabbed one for Halle just to hold thinking Boston could have it later or whatever! Yeah right! That girl started sucking on that thing and was going crazy! She was getting the flavor through the wrapper of the sucker she was sucking so hard (these were just the little dum dum's) and she totally had red slobber running all the way down her face and shirt! NICE! She even fell asleep on the way home sucking it! Too cute! But of course woke up when I went inside to grab my camera! So, we decided after we got home from Zach's basketball game tonight to strip her down and give her the "real" thing without the wrapper on it! This was her very first taste of a treat, and funny, but I think she like it better with the wrapper on! It was more of a challenge for her! :) She liked it for a little bit, but kept throwing it on the floor. At one point, the sucker was stuck on her cheek and had us all laughing pretty hard! Oh, babies bring so much joy! I can't think of our lives without Halle, she was for sure meant to come to our family! She has brought so much love and happiness into our home it is unbelievable! I just want to put my kids in a bubble right now, and never pop it!

If I have learned anything, it is to enjoy EACH MOMENT! They are going to keep growing whether I like it or not, so I better just enjoy each little stage that they are in and quit wishing that they were this, or that! I have really tried to do this with Halle, where she is my last baby, and it is so fun!

I look back at her tiny little body when we brought her home from the hospital, and never imagined that she would be a whoppin 20 lbs. at 6 months old!

I miss burping her in the night after she had eaten and just holding her on my chest melting into my body.

But I LOVE sitting her up after I have fed her and having her burp and look at me with those pretty little eyes like "What was that?"

I miss her sleeping ALL day long, and not being able to wake her up for anything, even to eat...

But I LOVE listening to her giggle and jabber when she is awake during the day now, and watching her play on the ground as she rolls around, and is trying to sit up!

Each little stage she goes through is SO much fun! She rolled over for the first time on Jan. 10! I remember the date, cuz when I wrote it down, I thought it was cool! 1-10-10

She is sitting up for a little bit at a time now, but I have to stay close by for when she decides to tip over! She loves to be on her belly to play, the second I lay her down on her back she flips right over! We just love this little girl, I can't believe in another 6 months she will be turning 1!

We love you little CHUVVAS!

(Boston gave her this nickname- we would call her little "Chubbas" I don't know where he got the "v" from, but he thought we were saying "chuvvas" and that's what he would call her, well, now we ALL call her that! Too funny! :)

Halle sucking on her toes! One of her favorite things to do!

Super Mario Bros. Wii

If you don't own this game, I highly suggest that you buy it! My kids got this game for Christmas, and just LOVE it! It is fun for the whole family to play! I love that you can play 4 players at a time, and play TOGETHER! Then they get so excited for each other when the other one does something good or saves their life or something! I think I spent way too much time last week when my kids were sick playing this game with them! But it was SO much fun! I didn't get anything done in the house, but I had fun playing Super Mario Bros. with my kids! And guess what the laundry is still there, it didn't go anywhere! :) It totally reminds me of when I was a kid when we got our first Nintendo and we spent hours playing this game! But this one is ten times cooler! I just wish it had a timer on it that you could set for a certain time and it would go off, cuz it is SO addicting! My kids are on World 7-1 right now, and this is what we ended up doing for F.H.E. tonight... Whoops! As long as it doesn't happen every Mon. night right?

Bryce Canyon- Ski Trip!

I LOVE this picture of Morgan and Z!

This past Friday and Saturday Morgan and Zach were able to go with the scouts/dads/leaders in our ward on a Cross-Country Skiing Trip to Bryce Canyon. They had such a great time! I am proud of Zach for keeping up with his scouts when he is so busy with sports! During football season he wasn't able to go to scouts 1 time and still did everything at home to earn his Webelos and Arrow of Light awards! When he IS able to go to scouts, he always has a great time! This was the first overnighter he has gone on and I am so glad that Morgan was able to go with him! They stayed at the Ruby's Inn Friday night, and woke up early Saturday to start skiing! Neither one of them had done it before, and I guess Zach spent alot of time on the ground...Falling... Sorry bud! I guess they took a wrong turn and ended up going on the 7 mile trail with the older boys instead of the 3 mile trail, so they were a little pooped! They had a great time and even met up with Zach's basketball team on the way home so he could play in his game that night! Way to go boys! Glad you made it home in one piece!

I was home with Brinley, Boston, and Halle, so we decided to hit the mall and go walk around for a bit! My kids LOVE going to the mall, and surprisingly enough, they didn't even ask for one thing! We went to P.F. Chang's and had a YUMMY dinner! (Yes, I got a few looks as I walked in with my 3 kids ALONE on a Friday night!) Good thing they are so cute, and well behaved!

We hit Krispy Kreme on the way home and came home and watched Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and all crashed in my bed! What a fun night it was! Saturday they helped me clean the house, for some reason they wanted to mop the floors, so I said Yeah, let's go for it! They were so cute, I handed Boston a rag and he wiped down all the baseboards for me! Then we ordered pizza when all the work was done! A CLEAN house and not having to cook, what else can I ask for? We finally made it through our week of everyone being sick... and are back to -normal- I hope!

Hittin the Trail!

Beautiful view!

(Thanks for the pictures Bro. Nelson!)

BrInLeY's SpEcIaL bApTiSm DaY!!!

My BEAUTIFUL little girl was baptized last saturday Jan. 2, 2010 and became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! It was a wonderful day! Thank you to all of our family and friends who supported Brinley on her special day! She truly felt like a princess! She even wanted to stay in her white dress all day, and honestly didn't take it off until she got in her p.j.'s that night! She was so beautiful all day long, and never stopped smiling! I am so grateful for Morgan and for the priesthood that he holds! He always does such a good job when giving our kids a blessing! He gave Brinley a wonderful blessing after her baptism! The spirit was so strong! I hope she will always remember the way that she felt that day! We are so proud of you Brin, and for the decision you made to be baptized!

Brinley and her Daddy right before the baptism!

In her beautiful white dress!

All of her cousins that were there that day! (Boston was going potty)!

This was the best family pic we got! Boston was a little tired of taking pictures... can you tell? :)

Brinley with her Grandpa and Grandma Bingham.

Brinley with her Grandpa and Grandma Udy.

With Uncle Matt (Morgan's younger brother)

He flew in from Phoenix for a few days!

My kids absolutely adore him, I'm sure he goes home exhausted after visiting!

Brinley wanted to take a picture of all the gifts she received! Thank you everyone for thinking of her, she loved everything she got!

She got this pillow case and colored it that night, she did such a good job on it, and loves sleeping on it every night! :)

*BTW* This is my 200th post! I thought that was pretty cool! It was exactly 2 years ago that I started blogging! So, I figured that made about 8 posts a month which is an average of 2 new posts every week! Not bad huh? :)

The Three sick kids!!!

(Instead of the Three Little Pigs) Ha Ha!

It all started with this little girl! Sat. night after Brinley's baptism (which I still need to post about- just wait!) seriously right after everyone left, Halle started throwing up! She pretty much threw up all night, and it was mostly on Morgan and I cuz we were always holding her! I just HATE having a sick little baby! It is so scary! She was not herself for 2 days, and finally Monday started smiling, laughing, and talking to us again! But all day sunday she would just lay there and moan and was running a high fever! We felt so bad for her and missed our happy baby! I could tell Monday when she woke up that she felt better and she wasn't running a fever anymore, so I cancelled her appt. that I had made that morning! But this is how she was, just like in this picture for 2 days! Just wanted to lay there and would fall asleep even while I was changing her diaper! :( So, now that she is feeling better, she is TEETHING! And is a BEAR! I don't remember any of my other kids having such a hard time getting their teeth in, I would just give them a few teething tablets, and they would stop crying and be fine! Halle will scream for hours! I will give her Motrin, teething tables, frozen otter pops to chew on, and anything else we can think of! She won't sleep, won't eat, and is just uncomfortable ALL of the time! I know this won't last forever, and we just have to make it through it!

So, yesterday Boston said he had a stomachache all day, and basically just laid on the couch and didn't feel like doing anything. He went to sleep without eating, and I was thinking/hoping that he wasn't getting what Halle had and was just hungry! Sad to say, but sometimes I forget to feed that kid! And he will never tell me he's hungry unless we are driving by a McDonald's of course! So, I finally got Halle to sleep at 1 a.m. lastnight and I had fallen asleep in the recliner with her, and hear little footsteps coming down the stairs, thinking it is Boston, but NO it is BRINLEY! She was crying and saying her belly hurt and that she needed a drink! I told her to lay on the couch so I could go lay Halle down and help her. So what does she do- Pukes all over the living room carpet! LOVELY! Luckily there was a bowl right there for Boston, and she grabbed that to finish in! So, after getting her taken care of and scrubbing the carpet for 20 min. I took her upstairs to her room, and she said she had to throw up again, off to the bathroom she runs, but doesn't quite make it to the toilet! So, hey why not scrub your bathroom down at 2 a.m.? Good thing I hadn't already cleaned it after the in-law's left!

So, needless to say I was a little tired this morning, and didn't even hear Morgan or Zach get up! Boston climbed out of bed at 9, and when I came out he said "Mommy, do you know why I got up?" I said NO. He said "Cuz you were sleeping too long, and I was BORED!" What a cute kid! And no I am not writing this for your sympathy, I know you can all relate, and this is just what part of being a mom is all about! I just want to look back and remember this night! :)

HapPy NeW yEaR!!!

I wish I could add video to the sound of this picture!!! I put a party "helmet" on Halle and all the kids started blowing their noisemakers at once! It kinda freaked her out a little! I still thought she looked cute though!

All the cute kiddos at midnight!

Halle was so funny when I opened this Coke up she dove right for it and kept smacking her lips! It was too funny! Yeah, I just go for the hard stuff now! J/K! Brinley opened this up and I wasn't going to let her drink it, so I had to try it out for myself!

Thanks Madsen's for a fun New Year's party! We all had a blast!

I am actually looking forward to the New Year! I feel like things have been so busy since we had Halle! I'm hoping to relax and ENJOY!

Brinley gets baptized tomorrow! I am so excited for her! It will be a special day for sure! I'm sure I will have lots of pictures to share!

Christmas Day

We had a wonderful Christmas! The kids always look forward to acting out the "Nativity" scene on Christmas Eve! Boston was really into his part as the Shepherd this year! He was so cute! The picture above is just precious to me! The kids were so excited to have Halle be "Baby Jesus"! She was so sweet! Brinley even wrapped her in swaddling clothes! I wish I would have gotten it on video. But only half of my brain cells are working right now!

(Morgan as the donkey!) :)

Happy Birthday Brinley!!!

Brinley turned 8 on December 14th! We had her party the Saturday before and she got to invite 10 girls to come get their hair and nails done with her at the Paul Mitchell Hair School in Provo! These girls were all so cute and so excited! They had a great time! Each girl had their own stylist and got a full manicure, nails painted and all and then got to choose how they got their hair styled! :) Most of them just told the girls to do whatever, and they all ended up so cute! They came and got the girls one by one and called their name out, and made each girl feel like a superstar! I thought it was kinda funny, but the way cute stylists didn't do near as good of job as the girls that you would look at and think they wouldn't know what they were doing! (Does that even make sense) So, basically the not very cute girls did a way good job on the girls! Ha ha! I just thought that was kinda backwards!

Brinley and her friends just seemed so grown up! It is fun having my "little" girl caring about styles, hair, nail, clothes, etc. Anyway, enough about that! We came back to the house after (there was a huge snowstorm this day) and we decorated gingerbread girls and boys! I made 2 batches of gingerbread the night before, and cut them all out! They were so yummy! We had all kinds of things to put on them! Morgan went and got us pizza and we put Brinley through the spanking machine (for some reason my kids luv this!) and we opened presents! We ended up running out of time to do anything else! She got some of the cutest presents from her friends! She loved them all! Thanks so much everyone for the nice gifts!

My little girl is going to be baptized on Jan. 2nd! She is so excited! I took her to her bishop's interview on Sunday and on the way I was saying to her in the car that I couldn't believe she was old enough to be baptized, she was just so excited and was skipping into her interview! It made me realize that I need to enjoy where my kids are at right now, and enjoy the things they are doing NOW instead of wishing they were still little, cuz guess what? They are going to grow up whether I like it or not! So, thanks Brin for teaching me a lesson of "Enjoying the ride"! I love you little girl!

8 things I love about my 8 Yr. Old!!!

1. Her smile

2. Her love for her brothers and sister

3. Her love for reading

4. Always wanting to Choose the Right

5. How kind she is to everyone around her

6. Her silliness (especially when it's bedtime!)

7. How she would never say a mean thing about anyone

8. Her willingness to always help out when I need her

Happy Birthday sissy! We love you!

Below is a little blub from her "spotlight" that was in our ward newsletter:

Brinley turned 8 on December 14th and is so excited to be baptized!

She loves having her birthday in December because she knows when it's her birthday that Christmas is only 11 days away!

Brinley has been the little princess in our family for the last 7 years, and

has brought so much joy and love to our home! She prayed and prayed for a little sister

and in July her little sister Halle was born! Don't get me wrong, she LOVES her brothers,

but there is just something about having a sister! She is the caretaker in our home!

She loves to make sure everyone has what they need and that everyone is happy!

She is a great little mommy to Boston and Halle, and looks up to her big brother Zach, he is a great example

to her, and teaches her between right and wrong.

Brinley loves to do what is right and doesn't like to get in trouble! She loves school, especially

MATH and READING! She loves to DANCE and do GYMNASTICS! You can expect to find her doing

cartwheels, and tumbling around the house! Brinley is a great friend and is nice to everyone!

We are proud of her for choosing to be baptized, and are truly blessed to have her in our family!

We love you Brin!

FuNnY pIcTuReS!

A couple of Sundays ago we were just hangin out and Brinley was being silly and put her glasses on Halle! We all got a good laugh out of it, but Halle didn't find it too amusing!

I thought this was a cute picture of the boys after the Utah v.s. BYU game! Poor little Boston and my cute little nephew Nate had to take it from these 2 BYU fans the whole game! They stood their ground though! They were so cute and stood behind Utah the whole game! They weren't very happy at the end though, there were even a few tears shed! Sorry boys!

I love Boston's face in this picture!

Turkey Trot Winners- Thanksgiving 2009

Brinley- 1st place winner for the 2nd grade

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving was a BUSY day! It was the kids last day at school and their annual Turkey Trot that they look forward to every year! My kids have always done good (they get their speed from their dad believe it or not!) But this year, my little Brinley came in !st place in the whole 2nd grade! She was so excited! She won a t-shirt this year instead of a turkey when she won in kindergarten! She wore her shirt proud though! Zach did awesome and came in 3rd for the 5th grade! Way to go kids! It was fun to come and watch you! So, after spending a couple of hours at the school we went back home to packing our bags to leave for St. George as soon as Morgan got home from work. This was our first trip away from home for that many days since we had Halle, it's amazing what one little body can do! We were packed to the brim! Leaving as late as we did the kids slept most of the way which was nice, we were so happy to be going to St. George! We love visiting every chance we can! We grew up as kids going to St. George visiting my grandparents (that's where my mom grew up) so ever since my parents bought their condo we have been having Thanksgiving there which brings back alot of memories! We had a great time with my family, we were all there except my brother Ryan and his family who live in Tennessee and my other brother Matt and his family who live in Idaho. We missed you guys! The weather was beautiful while we were there! The kids were able to play outside alot, and Boston learned what "street ball" was! :) The kids played alot of football, and played at the park that is right up the street! The dads took the kids to Dixie College to play football Thanksgiving morning so we could help my mom in the kitchen.

I realized once I got home how much sleep I DIDN'T get while I was there! I was worn out cold when we got home! Thursday night I didn't even go to bed and left the house at 3:45 a.m. with my sister, my nephew, and my cousin to go shopping! I met my sister in law and my cousin at Target at 6:00 and they were already done and had a place in line! So I grabbed what I needed and hopped in line with them, it was great! Then we headed home for a couple hours of sleep before the kiddos woke up!

These are just a few pics of the weekend, but couldn't stand not posting about Thanksgiving!

Zach, Brinley, and Boston after the Turkey Trot

Zach- 3rd place winner for the 5th grade

SISTERS!!!

We took the kids to Tuachan to see the live Nativity! It was really short- only lasted about 20 mins. they LOVED it and didn't want it to end!

I can't remember if I ever posted about my cute little nephew that was born exactly a week before Halle. We waited a LONG time for these 2 little precious babies to be born! They are both so healthy, we are truly blessed! This picture above is the first time they met at Lance's baby blessing when they were just a month old! How sweet are they! We had a major photo shoot with them and got so many cute pictures when they were just so tiny!

This is them now at 4 months old in their bumbo chairs together! They are so much fun to have together! They bring so much JOY!!!

This is all the nieces and nephews at my sweet aunt's house who had all 33 of us over for pie Thanksgiving night! Thank you Darla for having us in your home! We love you!

My sister always takes the kids to hike the Dixie rock and the Narrows while we are there, but this year she took the kids to the Sand Dunes! They had a blast! She is always so good to take them kids and do something fun while we get our Christmas shopping done! I don't have any pictures, cuz they are on her camera, but the kids had so much fun burying each other in the sand and playing football too! Thanks Sonn for taking them, they always look forward to doing something special with you!

Boston was really looking forward to going to the Dixie rock, cuz he has never been old enough to go with all the cousins. The kids begged us to take them on our way out of town, and it was so much fun! Morgan and I hadn't been there since we dated in College and needless to say we have grown a little since then and couldn't fit through the Narrows this time! :( Our kids zipped up there in about 2 mins. and we just figured... why squeeze?

The view of the St. George Temple... so pretty!

The famous "Dixie rock"

Morgan with the kids on TOP!

I'm feeling Christmas in the air... Bring it on!!!