January 2013

Just a few random happenings to finish off our January...

We absolutely LOVE the rainstorms we get here in AZ! It rains so much that everything just overflows with water - even our backyard! It's always so crazy to see that much water flowing everywhere!

Just a cute pic of our Connor being cute! He wanted to pose for a picture with this statue that's outside of the shopping center.

And one last thing I decided to do this month...paint our garage door as well as the inside of our front door! (I painted the outside of that one before - I already posted that one!) I hate how dirty the white garage door always looks from people going in and out of it all day long. SO I decided to paint them black! Here are the "before" pics...

And here are the "after" pics...

I love it so much I decided to paint the inside of our front door as well! The outside was already black so it was just the inside that needed to be done.

Here's the before...

And the after...

I love it so much!!! I am so glad that I took the risk to paint them! I wasn't sure how they would look but I am so happy with it!!!

2nd Quarter Awards

Congrats to our little scholars who once again were given awards for their good grades for 2nd quarter in school!!

Way to go Shawn & Brady!!!

New Car!!!

 This story actually starts out pretty scary and sad...

One night in January while driving home from Costco, the kids and I were in a terrible car accident! The accident caused the front corner of our van to smash into the back corner of another car. (Only because I was trying to pull off the side of the road to avoid hitting the car in front of us.) It was very scary for all of us and I was pretty shaken up (I could hardly even get a word out between my tears to tell the cops my part of the story)! The kids were scared for a bit, but then they were fine. Nobody was hurt - none of us and nobody from other cars. The only thing that was hurt badly...

Our poor van!!! Unfortunately it was totaled in the accident. :( 

The one nice thing that came out of the accident.....we got to buy a new van! It wasn't that exciting bevause we weren't planning on buying a new van anytime soon, but you gotta do what you gotta do. The car place had a fun little playing area the kids enjoyed while we were looking around. It was a pirate ship and the boys (especially Connor) loved it!

And even though we were not excited about having to buy a new car, we absolutely LOVE our new red van!!!

It's the same kind of van we had before (a Dodge Grand Caravan, although this is a Grand Caravan Crew) only since it's a newer model it has a lot more cool features! One of our favorites is the touch screen radio system which includes satellite radio! 

WAY nicer center console than our old van...

 

All the controls for radio/DVD player on the steering wheel...

 

Which leads us to my kids favorite part.....a built in DVD player! With wireless headphones might I add :)

 

Connor loving the new van - such a funny kid! 

 

And I love it has automatic sliding doors and back gait! They all open and close at the touch of a button! So nice and handy for a mom with kids that always has her hands full!

 

So out of this tragedy we ended up with a very nice van that we all love. So I guess not a total disaster after all!!

End of 2012

Just a few extra random pictures to finish off our year! 

One day in UT we went to the new Scheels store they have opened in South Jordan. It was a lot of fun exploring the huge store and seeing all that was there. They have a lot of stuffed real animals that the kids enjoyed seeing. They were pretty cool!

(obviously the moose in this first pic is fake! haha!)

They found these cute furry animal hat/glove combo things that the boys thought were pretty cool too!

Then on to NEW YEARS EVE!!!

 Connor (who was only 4 years old) didn't quite make it until midnight...he crashed on the couch about 10:00 or do I believe! So hard for little kids to stay awake so late!! Haha! 

Then here is Grandma Lesa being her crazy self! And then Emily making fun of her! :) 

{Sure do love my momma! She's the best! And yes, she's goofy but I absolutely love it!!}

Hope everyone had a great 2012 - I know we did! Can't wait to see what 2013 brings for our family!!!

Happy New Year!!!

Brady's Baptism!!!

 While we were visiting in UT we got to have a very special day for our family! Since Brady turned 8 only 2 weeks before Christmas we were able to get permission to have him baptized while we were up in UT. It was so wonderful because that way we were able to share this special day with all our family! 

Brady and Mike

Brady with mom & dad

And with our whole little family

Dad and Brady in their white clothes ready to go!

Brady's cousin Steven was so excited to be a part of the day! He is just (1 1/2 years younger than Brady and him & our boys all get along so well. Plus he loves his Uncle Mike like no other! Such a cute sweet little kid!!)

And the boy of the hour....Brady!

We just love this kid so much! He is such a joy to have in our family! He has such a HUGE personality and loves to be a part of everything. He loves to laugh and make people laugh and is the life of the party everywhere he goes! He is such a sweetheart too and loves to spend time with his family. We are so lucky and blessed to have Brady in our family!! We are proud of him and the choice he has made to be baptized and know that this choice will bless him in his life!

I'm so glad that we got to have this special day with him and that we were blessed to be able to share it with all the people that know and love our Brady!