New City, New Zoo..

One of the fun things about living in a new city is exploring new places.  We've had lots of fun getting to know our new home.  The week after school got out, we ventured to the Boise Zoo with some of our cousins.  While it was not as big as some of the zoos we've been too, it was still fun and the girls had a great time.  They had just opened a new butterfly garden which turned out to be our favorite spot.  There were so many beautiful butterflies.  Both the girls had a butterfly land on them, which was both exciting and a bit scary (as you can see by their expressions!)   We had a great time and I'm sure we will make plenty of repeats trips to the zoo.

A backyard and a swing set!

We've waited a long time for this.   All those years in apartments I would say, I would take a backyard over anything, even a washer and dryer.  And now that we have one, it hasn't dissapointed.  We even found this fun play structure on craigslist, took it apart, transported it, re-stained it, put it back together and now we have endless backyard fun.  So far the girls love it, mostly when we're back there with them.  They have a few aversions, namely bees, spiders, wind and heat that will keep them from playing on it but we're hoping that will pass.  We have logged many hours of soccer already and look forward to so much more fun to be had.

Easter

Our cute girls on Easter!!  (this was a horribly difficult picture to get)

Miss Abby!

In all this mass posting and catch-up I've been doing, I feel like Abby hasn't had much billing.  So I wanted to share some pictures of her, mostly because she's so cute.  She is the best baby.  I hesitate to use the word "perfect" not because it isn't appropriate but because I fear she might wake up tomorrow and decide perfection is not her thing.  I don't want to jinx myself.  In all seriousness, she has been an amazing baby.  She's an awesome sleeper, great eater, always happy and so content.  She puts up with a lot: shuttling sisters to and from everything, a crazy schedule, overly loving sisters and a pretty crazy home life since she was born.  Now that we are settled in we're hoping she has desires to roll over, sit-up, grow teeth, crawl....you know, all those baby things. 

I have lots of favorite things about Abby but I just want to share a couple.  She always wakes up happy, even if she cries to get someone's attention as soon as you go in to get her, she is all smiles.  She loves faces!!!  This is probably my most favoite thing.  When you pick her up, the first thing she does is puts both her hands on your cheeks.  When I got to get her in the middle of the night or morning, she grabs my cheeks and then snuggles into my neck.  I love it so much!!!

She's a keeper!

 Her toes...probably her favorite pastime.

Let the Summer Begin!!!

Lauren's school ended the last week of May!!  She has loved her little preschool and is excited to go back again next year.  They had a great preschool picnic the last day of school, complete with games, crafts, bubbles and food.  Lauren had a great time.  When we first got to Boise, it took Lauren a couple of weeks to warm up to her new preschool but she has ended up loving it.  They have a great little program and have done so many fun activites and field trips.   She absolutely adores her teacher. 

Emily's last day of school and kindergarten graduation was last week.  The kids sang in a cute program and then they received their kindergarten diplomas.  I can't believe how much Emily has grown up this year.  It's hard to believe that she will be in first grade next year and gone all day!!  She loves school, seriously loves it!!  Can't wait to go each day.  Makes my job of getting her there pretty easy.  She has made so many new wonderful friends this year and we are so grately we found a house in the bounderies and she gets to stay there.  She especially loved being in class with her cousin!!

Emily and her teacher!

Belated Birthday Party!!

This year was both girls year to have a friend party.  Since we were not in our own place or settled when birthadays came around we decided to postpone parties until we could have it at our house.  So the first Saturday in June we rented to bounce house and partied.  First of all, can I say, the bounce house is the way to go.  I had all these games planned and the kids just wanted to jump.  Can't complain about that.  We had lots of little friends and cousins come, we had the best time.  I will say I had some serious fears about injuries due to crazy jumping down the slide, but we were lucky and escaped with all limbs in tact!!  We had a great time but I am grateful friend parties only come around every other year!

 Lauren and most of her little group!!

Emily's group!  More kids and bigger kids....looks like the bounce house was struggling a bit. 

The Long Wait is Over!

After what we felt like was an agonizing home buying process (I'm sure everyone has their horror stories) and years in apartments we finally got into our own house the first part of May.  I have to say while the buying process of was not much fun, the being in the home part is so much fun.  We are having the best time, getting settled and filling our space.  It's so fun to have so many places to put things and to feel like everything has it's own place.  We, of course, are no where near being all unpacked or decorated but we are enjoying that process and taking our time to make sure it's right.  We really feel like we were blessed to find a home that fits us so perfectly.  We have a great back yard.  We back up to a large open field, so we don't have any back neighbors (unless you consider cows and horses neighbors).  I love that when I sit at the kitchen table with the door open I can hear cows & horses and the irrigation stream behind our fence.  Kindof makes me feel like I live in the country (which compared to L.A. we basically do.)  The girls love their new outdoor space.  We had an initial setback when we first moved it.  The girls spotted a beehive at the peak of the rool and seriously would not step foot in the back yard for a bit.  Jason, being the man he is, quickly took care of that and we are back in business.  We just got  a swing set last week which has helped the outdoor activity a ton. 

Anyway, not to ramble, but we love our house!!!

Happy Happy Birthday!

Lauren turned 4 the first part of March.    She is such a big girl now.  She loves her preschool, especially because her cousin Justin is in with her.  Lauren has more energy than the rest of our family combined and more spunk than most.  She can be sweet one minute and painfully stubborn the next.  She is crazy competitive and tries endlessly to keep up with (and beat) her sister at anything. She is a climber and goer.   She hates watching movies...or I should say they don't keep her entertained enough.  She'll ask for me to put on a movie and then 5 minutes later she's at my side wanting to do whatever I'm doing.  It's a double edged sword...I don't want her to love watching t.v but I just need some distractions every once in a while.  She is our helper.  She will drop anything to help...whether help is needed or not.   Right now her favorites are Dora, princesses (mostly Rapunzel), playing outside, riding bikes and scooters and playing dolls with Emily.   She loves her little baby sister.  She is always trying to make her happy and laugh! 

She had to have a Rapuzel Cake!!! 

In May, Jason and Emily celebrated their birthday.  We had just moved into our house a week earlier so it was a little hectic but fun none the less.  Emily turned 6 and is so excited to be moving on to first grade in the fall.  Emily is our sweet peacemaker/mother.  I think this fits a lot of oldest girls.   She is such a good friend to everyone she meets, but mostly to Lauren.  Lauren misses her so much when she's at school.  She is so patient and loving with both Lauren and Abby.  It's fun to have a little one old enough to really help out with Abby.  She's a great little babysitter.  Emily wakes up with a smile and goes to bed with a smile...something I hope she never outgrows.  She too can be very competive, which makes for a great combination.  She and I ran to Meridian Fun Run recently, which was a mile run.  She was so funny, I kept asking her if she wanted to stop and she would walk for 2 steps and start running again.  She ended up running the entire race.  Right now she loves riding her big bike, reading, typing, playing dolls and having playdates.

And of course, not be overlooked Jason shares his birthday with Emily.  He is always so generous to let his birthday be crowded with princesses and tiaras.  He always get teased for only having girl but I think he loves being the king of his castle.  Jason is the best.  I can't even begin to list all of his amazing traits.  But above all he is the perfect husband and dad.  He is the foundation of our family and keeps us headed in the direction we need to be.  He is loving having all kinds of man projects in the house and being able to put his tools to work.   He is so handy!!  We love our Dad!

Soccer x 2!

When we got to Boise, we were fortunately just in time to get the girls signed up for spring soccer.   Lauren has been waiting and waiting to play and she finally got her chance.  And she definately took advantage.  She tends to be a little more aggressive than Emily in life in general but even we were shocked at how quickly she took to soccer.  She started out the season with a bang, scoring 10 goals in her first game.  Minus one off game (where she preferred to be a spectator), she averaged about 6-9 goals a game.  She naturally has some pretty good foot skills and really just love to play.   It's going to be fun to watch and see if she's as excited come fall season! 

Emily played a couple of seasons in L.A. so she was ready to get going again.  Lucky for her, they couldn't find a coach for her team so Jason ended up coaching.  It was a bit of a trial of patience.  Practice was especially difficult where he had to battle grass, ladybugs, birds, the playground for the attention of the girls.  There are actually a few really good little girls on the team, it just took A LOT of instruction to get them where they needed to be. Emily did really well, scoring quite a bit but we're thinking that she is really starting to love defense. She's quite aggressive on defense and always hustles back to stop the play.  In the end, the team had a great season especially the last couple of games.  Jason was sufficiently satisfied with his little team and will be returning as their coach in the fall!

Abby's Blessing

January 2011 was a total blur. We packed up, said our goodbyes, made a very long drive and were welcomed in Boise by our wonderful family. My brother and his wife were nice enough to let us crash at their house while we looked for a home. Emily and Lauren both started school and Jason started his new job. Crazy times!
The first weekend in February we blessed our cute little Abby. It was so fun to bless her in Boise where all 5 of my brothers and both our dads could be with us. It was a beautiful day and Jason gave Abby a beautiful blessing!
So sad...this is the only picture of Abby in her dress. Poor 3rd child!

All the men!!

Moving Day!!

Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures of moving day. It had been a very long, emotional week and I guess that just wasn't what I was thinking about. Plus, the camera was probably packed. Moving week was crazy...trying to pack, clean, say all our goodbyes, etc. But is was great at the same time. My sister was kind enough to take Emily and Lauren for a couple days, so we could finish up. Some of our great friends threw a little party for us. Countless friends came moving day to help ease the burden. It was amazing..we had our truck pack in an hour and a half. I think that's some kind of record. In the end, we walked away feeling so blessed. We had 6 wonderful years in Torrance. While we were not super close to family, we had an amazing ward family. So many great friends were made. People that supported us and loved us and our kids. So many wonderful memories. And while change is not easy, we are so grateful for the experiences we had there and will always remember those times as being so amazing. Our little family grew in Torrance, we came with just one little baby and left with 3 beautiful girls!! Thanks to all those who made our experience so perfect!!!

Merry Christmas!

Since we had just had Abby, we got to spend our Christmas at my sister Deborah's house. We love spending holidays at Deborah's. Jason and I, for some reason or another, have spent every Thanksgiving but 1 since we've been married there. That is one thing we are already so sad about, but who knows, maybe we can find our way down next year :) Here's to hoping. Anyway, we had, as usual, a wonderful time down there (a little bittersweet knowing we would be moving in 2 weeks). The girls made their cookies for Santa, left carrots for the reindeer, woke their cousins up early and of course loved their loot!!
Here's the traditional gather on the stairs picture. Apparently Jason wasn't super excited about being woken up early and Lauren was also still tired.

PILLOWPETS!!!! The gift of the year, I guess.

This is how Abby spend her Christmas morning :)

Goodbye to our Besties!!!

So many goodbyes, I know....it was a hard time. These cute little kids have been my kids best buddies for the past few years. We met by chance when all of our oldest kids started Lollipop Tree and it just went from there. We all had two kids, the same ages and they loved each other and I loved their moms. We had so many fun playdates and great memories!! We love these cute kids and miss them so much!!!

Goodbye, to the Happiest Place of Earth!!!

I have to admit, while living in L.A. we were a little spoiled. We lived so close to Disneyland and went there almost weekly. Our girls love, love Disneyland. So along with so many other goodbyes we also had to say goodbye to Disneyland (for a while, at least.) I was kindof glad we moved around the holidays because I loved that our last trip to Disneyland was while it was decorated for Christmas. It's my favorite time of the year at Disneyland, with all the decorations and lights. We went for our last time on a Friday night and stayed late so we could see Santa (the best Santa I've ever seen), be in the snow on Main Street and of course, see the castle all lit up. I have a confession....the fake snow on Main Street always makes me cry, can't tell you why but it never fails!!! I love it. I can't even begin to include all the fun memories or pictures that we have from Disneyland but it will always be very special to us!

Last Day of School!!

Really this was just the last day of school before Christmas but since we were moving it was much more for our girls. I think I underestimate how strongly our girls felt about their schools in L.A. and therefore didn't think much of this day! Let me tell you, it was much more emotional (for all of us) than I had imagined.

Lauren had her last day first. She was a little less aware of the event but was none the less sad to leave her sweet teachers. This was the third year we had been at this preschool (between Emily & Lauren) and we loved these wonderful women. They devoted so much time to these kids. And my girls loved them. While Lauren seemed adjusted to the idea, I struggled much more. I think on Lauren's last day, it hit me how much we had loved living in L.A. and how many amazing people we were leaving behind. I have to admit many tears were shed, both at the preschool and in the car later!!











Emily's last day was much harder, although for some reason I didn't plan on it. I had told Emily I would come to school in the morning and take pictures of her and her friends while they did all their fun Christmas activites. That went really well. She was so excited and loved taking all those pictures, so I thought she was ok. But when I went back to pick her up later that day, she was devastated. Apparrently, she had cried most of the day after I left and by the time I picked her up she was heartbroken. I can't even explain how sad it was. Lots of tears were shed by both of us and many of her cute friends. Her cute, amazing teacher had all prepared a bag of gifts for her to remember her friends. It was amazingly sweet. Emily's teacher is L.A. was one of those very special people. Emily loved her and she had a way of making every child feel very special. Emily's class had a pet monkey (stuffed, of course) that each child took home for a week during the year. Emily's turn happened to be her last week of school and on her last day, her teacher presented her with her very own monkey, Bono, that she could take to remember her class by. As a mom, I think nothing touches me more, than to see someone else loving you child as much as you do. It was a very special experience for Emily and all of us!!!