Jay learned how to ride his bike a few weeks ago, and I finally got him on video. I'm pretty sure he's the youngest of the four to ride a bike! He's only 2! The others took their time with the trike before moving on.He was having fun riding in circles on our driveway and of course he has to make the "Vrrrm" sound effects. So adorable. The only thing is he thinks he can go where the big kids go and sometimes I have to chase him before he flies down the driveway (bump) or other things!

 
VID00024 from Nicole on Vimeo.

 I am so excited that my brother in law Rick decided to get baptized! 

He has been going to church for years, ever since before his daughter Mia was born, so she was of course totally shocked when she found out a year or so ago that he wasn't a member of our church. She said, "You have been keeping this from me my whole life?!" So funny. So it was only fitting that he got baptized on her 7th birthday.

 I had to be there, and my kids really wanted to go too, so we made a family road trip out of it. It was an amazing baptism and just a really neat experience I won't ever forget. The bishop gave a beautiful talk, and so did my niece Mia. One thing the bishop said was how Rick has always been quick to act (at work and also in his life) when he is moved and believes its the right thing to do. I know that's true and I've seen it. I can't wait to see what great things he does!  

Amazing! Such a happy day! :)

Jay loves to sing! He is amazing at remembering lyrics to almost any primary song he learns, even if he has only heard it a few times. Here he is singing "I am a Child of God" (he was a little camera shy so I had to help a little)

VID00018 from Nicole on Vimeo.

I have been a horrible blogger lately! Some of it is because it's winter and lets face it- there isn't anything fun to do!

Last Friday it was a beautiful day, so when the kids got out of school we went up to the mountains to feed the ducks.

  It's Jay's favorite thing in the whole world, can you tell?

 Until the geese come out, then he is scared! lol

Dad was able to meet us for the last half and go for a little walk. It was fun to have some family time.

 Kevin has been asked to go snowmobiling with one of their contractor for the past few years, and has always been too busy at work. Finally on Friday he was able to go and had a blast! It was an all day event. Pretty fun!

I took advantage of his no cell service to go get my hair cut and colored (to surprise him- I'm horrible at surprises) I was only going to take a few inches off, but after looking into the locks of love I decided to do it. They took off 10 inches, about 11 by the time she even-ed it out. It felt awesome to do that! I have always wanted to do it, and now I have seen first hand these sweet and innocent kids that get cancer and diseases. We are very blessed to have Scott doing so well right now, and it's good to be reminded of that.

Warm weather and a visit from Grandma and Grandpa

On the Friday before Valentine's, we were coming home after I did the kids' class parties at school and who surprised us in our driveway- Grandma and Grandpa! They just decided to jump in the truck and head up to see us. Lucky for them, it was the nicest weekend we have had in 4 months! Grandpa is always too busy helping Kevin with projects, but I did manage a picture with Grandma :)

We had the best weekend! Always so much fun when they come to town. (Plus the kids don't complain about all the good eatin!)

The weather was nice for the first 3 weeks of February and we loved it!

 Jay took advantage of the nice weather and learned how to ride his bike! He has been off and on trying with his trike, but he finally figured out the pedals.

 Pretty proud of himself, that's for sure!

 I took about 20 pictures of Hailey on her scooter. She just enjoys life and is so much fun to watch.

 And Arianna loves to show off her awesomeness of riding the "big girl bike"

 Scott ran up and down our cultasac trying to fly the kite without wind which was really fun to watch :)

 We killed off our yard (aka "weeds") before the snow hit, and so we brought in the tractors to take out the huge hill in our front yard and level it out

 which turned out to be very entertaining for the little ones

 Did I mention Hailey is a clown? This girl is a crack-up

Arianna is 5!

Arianna turned 5 on Monday!

Her breakfast of choice was cereal of course

We have a little generic crown we wear around the house on our birthday, but Ari had to wear one of her real princess crowns of course.

Then she got to go to preschool where they sang to her and she passed out a little treat, then it was McDonalds happy meal for lunch and then off to dance. She had a busy day, and was just enjoying all the attention. 

Dinner of choice was pizza! Then it was time for the party

Notice how she has a little wand in her hand. She is 100% princess, it's so funny. She wanted a crown birthday cake too.

This is too cute

And present time! 

 

Her face says it all! The only thing she wanted was an Elsa dress from Frozen (we are a little behind with the Frozen obsession lol) It was from Hailey and as soon as she opened it she ran over to Hailey and knocked her down with a big hug! So cute!

Kevin and I got her a Frozen karaoke machine which turned out to be pretty cool...you can plug it into the tv for the words. We had some fun with that, along with some yummy cake and icecream. (confetti flavor with hot pink icing), and then she got to stay up past bedtime with Mom and Dad and play with her new things.

It was a fun day! 

Arianna is so sweet. One thing I just love about her is that when I drop her off at preschool (you drop off at the curb and the teacher gets them out), she skips her way into the doors. Every single day. We have been in school since August and she still does it every time. Skips into school with a big smile on her face. She is very social and she loves going to preschool, doing her dance, and just running any kind of errand. She likes to be out doing things. 

Another thing she does is when we put her to bed at night and are about to close the door she will say, "Wait I have to tell you something!" and then she will say, "I love you with..." and say a word like "sprinkles" or "hugs" or "flowers" or "bubble gum". Just anything she feels like. I guess its just her little way of expressing her love and it's pretty cute.

Lately she has been way into playing with baby dolls. She does a very good job hushing all their cries, nursing them, feeding them, and of course letting them cuddle with her at night. Just a sweetie pie.
Happy Birthday Arianna! We love you!

Kevin has been working a lot of hours lately, and decided to give me a much needed break from kids to my sister Brooke's house while he stayed home! I told the kids that the real plan was for them to spend time with Dad and that the only way I could get that to happen was by leaving town. lol

We had a weekend in SLC planned in October which just happened to be the exact same time we found out about Scott's condition. So we cancelled our trip and Brooke used her ticket to come watch the kids for us while we were at Primary Childrens. It ended up being a huge blessing in the end to have her with my kids during our time of need!

I feel like because I was the first one to have kids, I never got to be that Aunt that comes to "save the day", play with the kids, help around the house, etc. because lets face it- when I come to town with my four kids in tow it's not really a break for the host! Ha!
I told Kevin I wanted to drive to Brookes (6 hours of peace and quiet), play with the girls and get to know them better, and of course have fun with my Sista and try to repay her for all the times she has saved me!

Oh AND he used his points to get me a rental car- so that made it extra fun!

 Marlee and Laya are such cuties!! And really Laya could totally pass off as being mine with all that dark hair. She is such a cuddle bug! So sweet!

 We played with the girls, did some shopping, took a really fun pilates class, made some meals and some cookies, organized a few rooms in her house and just had fun hangin out! I would love to have my own organizing business some day. I think it's so much fun to organize things....I'm crazy I know. 

Sisters are the best!

And... it was just nice to have 6 hours of driving each way to think about all the things that have been a bit crazy in my life during the past few months. I feel like we had to be so strong for Scott and everyone around us that I never really worked through my feelings. I will leave it at that- it was just nice to do some thinking on the road. 

To be continued in San Diego in May with all four of us and Mom! Can't Wait! :)

Look who took first place in the pinewood derby!!! Yeah! Last year Scott had a blast, but I know he was eye-ing those trophys! He was pretty determined and read up on all the coolest designs and tricks. And I probably shouldn't say this, but the others weren't even close- he got 1st place in every run. 

Pretty awesome! Way to go Scott!

Hailey's latest project has been her habitat. In 1st grade they put on a "zoo" and all the kids pick out a stuffed animal from home, research that animal, build a habitat for it, and then they bring them to the school for a fun little program. She picked out the stingray (mom and baby) that she bought with her birthday money from the Living Aquarium.

So cute! :)

My last post about Jay was about him carrying around his baby doll everywhere, and how that babydoll was keeping him up all night. He had a handful of stuffed animals along with the doll that had to sleep with every night. Well...we were at Kohls the other day and he spotted this adorable dinosaur, so I let him hold it and he ended up passing out cuddling with it. So adorable! Of course I had to buy it! lol

The good news is that the dinosaur replaced all of his other animals and baby dolls, so that's nice for bed time! ha!

Arianna is doing her thing- dancing each week, coloring and spending her time dressing up and taking care of her baby dolls (even nurses them in her shirt! lol)

 Don't let the picture fool you- we have NO snow here! It all melted forever ago. But since our house faces south our backyard is always shaded and so the kids still have their little snow ramp off the stairs.

 I couldn't resist this one of Hailey- she is such a sport!