Landon Comes Home

On February 11th my nephew, Landon returned home from Japan where he served a mission for our church for two years.  The girls adore him and couldn't wait to go meet him at the airport.  They made him a sign and everything.  After all of our greetings we went to Rosa's for lunch (per his request.)  It was so good to see him.

The Gilbert Temple

In February we were able to go for the open house at the Gilbert temple.  It was a sweet experience to walk through and be in the temple with all my daughters and my sweet husband.  It's a beautiful temple.  It was definitely busy but worth the waiting in line.  I hope each one of them will remember this experience and the way they felt inside the temple.

Afterwards we were able to get together with one of my childhood friends, Michelle Altmyer and her son, Rowen.  We had such a nice visit and would you believe I forgot to take a picture.  We'll just have to get together again.

 

Daddy Daughter Dance

Every year the school puts on a daddy daughter dance.  And every year Tim is a good sport and goes with them.  The girls love it and get so excited about dressing up and going,  I had to take some pics before they left.  

 

 At the dance

The dad took them out for ice

cream after. Lucky girls. 

Night with the "Little girls"

One night Maya, McKenna and I had an evening to ourselves.  We decided to head over to the mall to ride these fun stuffed animals.  They can ride all over the mall in them.  I think it's a pretty brilliant idea,  More fun than the merry go round. 

Basketball Season 2013-2014

This was a rough season for Alexa and her whole team.  They ended up with 4 girls through out the season getting concussions.  Alexa being one of them.  It was a game that neither of us could be at.  Tim got a call and had to go down and get her.  She doesn't remember what happened.  She had the ball and was dribbling and then all of a sudden she was on the floor trying to get up.  She said they didn't stop play and so she thought she better get up and play.  Then she realized she wasn't doing well.  The coach finally got them to stop the game so she could get off the court.  Poor girl.  She was more concerned with getting back out and playing than she was healing.  I guess that's why kids have moms.  I made her stay home and rest.

Alexa is fun to watch play.  Luckily I finally remembered to take a couple of pictures at one of her games.  She is so aggressive on the court.  She fouled out of a few games.  It became kind of a joke.  She looked through the coaches log book and found out that she had more fouls than points that season. 

 

 Olivia decided to go out for the basketball team this season as well.  She hadn't ever played on a team and was thrilled when she made the A Team.  She worked hard and learned a lot.  I have always said that Alexa and Olivia are complete opposites and the way they play basketball proves it.  Alexa is aggressive and is intense when she plays.  Olivia on the other hand is smiling through the whole game and is almost apologetic if she bumps someone or knocks them over.  (I say almost apologetic because Alexa told her she isn't supposed to apologize in basketball so Olivia has decided to listen to her big sister.)  I remembered one day to record some of her game and was able to get this footage of her making an awesome shot.  Way to go, Liv. 

Most people know that I am not a sports fan but when it comes to my girls playing basketball, there isn't anything I would want to do more than watch them play.  It's a stressful time traveling to games and for two different schools but it has all been worth it.

Life through the iphone!

Some of these pictures I don't know what they are since the girls will sometimes grab my phone and take crazy pictures.  So here's some randomness from our house.

First picture on my phone.

 Snuggling.  Our favorite past time.

 Sleeping - another favorite activity. 

 Playing Chubby Bunny one evening after dinner with the GIANT campfire marshmallows. 

Alexa is an expert.

 

McKenna got a hold of my phone.  I couldn't stop laughing when I saw it.

Some people have told me that since I have 4 girls that our house is quiet.  These next few videos are to prove that it's not always quiet around our house.

 

 

McKenna Reading - 1st Grade

  

 One of our favorite bbq sauces we get from Burger and Grandma Smith.  I sent them this picture one day showing them that we ran out and how sad we were.

 Look what came in the mail a few days later.

 For Valentine's day Maya's teacher asked if I would do the bulletin board outside her classroom.  Here's what some of the kids and I came up with.  I made a bunch of stuffed hearts and they wrote what they love about their teacher.  A couple of girls spend a couple of days to draw the picture of the teacher holding the heart balloons.  They were so detailed about what they wanted. I thought they did a great job.

 A great day to go to church.

 Out shopping with Olivia.  She found these shoes that reminded us of Pee Wee's Big Adventure.

 I found this in the pantry one day. 

Someone is serious about their chocolate covered almonds.

 Out with the new, in with the newer.

Our new fridge we bought when we moved into our house had a problem with the icemaker and it was unrepairable.  Whirlpool was willing to replace it. 

So we were able to get a brand new fridge again.

 A typical day of play in the neighborhood.

 Alexa modeling her new dress.

 Can't let a goofy picture go to waste.

 Crazy faces

 Getting ready for girls camp, we went out shopping one day.  Alexa and I found these pants on clearance.  We figured they were perfect for girls camp and a perfect price of $5.  And McKenna can't let a picture be taken without her in it.

 This little guy came right up to our sliding glass door looking for food.

 After church apparel.

 Photobombers

 Not sure where this came from.

 We sent this to Tim one day when he was working late to let him know we missed him and were waiting for him.

 Someone got a hold of my phone.

 A typical dinner made by Tim.

 One night we had dinner at Costco.  The girls were hoping for some ice cream so they came equipped with sprinkles.  Of course I had to reward them for their preparation.

 This is what happens when they are supposed to be doing their work.

 This is how we take care of our neighbors little boy.  Alexa and her friend take him out back to the "lake" and had a mud fight.

 I made Alexa clean up her mess.

 School supply shopping. 

This deserves the ugliest backpack award.