The year of the OX

Last night we went to Jing Mei's house and celebrated the Chinese New Year! For those of you who like fish, and I don't mean just fish I mean EVERY kind of fish you can imagine, you would have loved this night! BUT, for those of you like myself the thought of fish makes my stomach turn, not to mention the smell, AHHH hardly bearable. So this is how it works, there's a big pot in the middle of the table, a million different kinds of fish, meat, spinach, and other items I have never seen before. They toss a bunch of it in this pot and let it boil. When it's done they dish up and start round two. This process goes on for quite some time. Jay's Dad and I and some of the kids prefer the better tastes in life so I made chicken enchiladas for the rest of us. The kids had a color the OX contest. They thought that was great fun! There's a chinese tradition that the adults give the children red envelopes with money in them. I have to say they made out like bandits! It was a great time had by all!

Tia and Aliya are the best of buddies

Jalin receiving her red envelope, you can't tell she's excited!

Haydon was pretty enthusiastic

Tia had to give kisses before she could get hers

Aliya wasn't quite sure what was in this strange envelope, she just knew she wanted one if everyone else was getting one

Aliya talked Uncle Russ into playing barbies with her, it was so cute!

An adorable picture of Jalin and Jing Mei

Aliya and Jalin eating apple pie YUM!

The feast

The pot and some of the fish...

Conner, Haydon, Aliya & Tia

Nevaeh and Mommy!

ohhh Navy sure loves her Daddy!

Nevaeh and Grandma. You would have never known Navy wasn't feeling well.

My Grandpa and Me!

Oh the things they say...

The shower is on and awaiting the banging of toys on the walls and water strewn from one end of the bathroom to the other. It's time to hop in the shower Aliya. I take off her shirt and to my surprise she plops on my lap and says in a very matter of fact voice "Do you want to tickle my back or something". I couldn't help but giggle and tickle her back before sending her off to the shower. I love the silly things that come out of a 2 1/2 year olds mouth. This reminded me of something Haydon said at about her age. One day we were sitting at the kitchen table and he said "Mommy, i'm going to marry you when I get big". I said "well I would love that, We should tell Daddy of your plans". So later that night I said to Jay "Haydon said he's going to marry me when he grows up". Jay asked Haydon "What about me"? Haydon said "I can't marry you Daddy, your not a princess". Oh how I absolutely love that boy! I only wish he would always have that perception of his Mommy. When he's fifteen and forgets that he's going to marry me and that I am his princess, I will surley remind him. ;O)

Dancing with Giggles

Today we woke up with everyone feeling well again. A day at home with no where to go, no work, no playdates, no errands, no sick kids, and nothing to get in our way of a FUN day together. I listened to Haydon and Aliya play together in the playroom, how lucky they are to have each other. The best of friends. Aliya asked Haydon to play barbies with her so he did only he played "hero barbies" he plays with HULK and she's barbie. While she is dreaming of dancing with a prince, Haydon in scheming up a plan to save her from the evil witch. I love knowing that they enjoy being with each other so much. Aliya says to Haydon everyday, "Haydon you are my bef friend". It doesn't get much sweeter than that. I turned on some music and Nevaeh giggled and giggled as we bounced around the room. Oh how I love her smile. She has a way about her, so even tempered and peaceful. She is truley a joy to have, how blessed can one person be. Apparently Haydon and Aliya heard our fun and came to join us. We danced and laughed until my legs hurt and my stomach ached. Jay heard the fun and left his office to join us. The kids ran to get their instruments and sang and danced. We all crashed on the floor in exhaustion. I grabbed the camera for some quick shots but of course little miss naughty pants was only being herself. Uncooperative, stubborn and cute as ever. Aliya asked daddy for a "woopie doo ride" and being that Daddy is wrapped around her little finger, despite his recovering back, couldn't say no. She demanded him this way and that way and he obeyed her every command. If she could she would "bippity boppity boo" everyone to her tune. Family home evening was "fire safety" we talked to the kids about what to do in case there was a fire in the middle of the night. Afterwards they wanted to try out our new plan. So Jay set off the fire alarm (which Nevaeh thought was funny) as the kids pretended to be asleep in their beds. Surprisingly they did exactly as we had explained. They thought is was so much fun to role play and we felt better knowing they're more prepared. We ended the night with a little raspberry sherbet and tucked the kids into bed. It's amazing to me how fast they grow. Jay and I look at them and just can't believe they're ours. What beautiful amazing children. I only wish this precious time with them wasn't going by so quickly. How truley blessed we are.

Navy has just learned how to wrinkle her nose, it's so dang cute!

Giddy up Daddy!

I am now short one eye! ;O)

Nevaeh thought it was just as much fun to suck on the tamborines as it was to bang them together.

I can't tell if Aliya is singing along or the reality that her brother has gone crazy is just setting in.

Shake your bootie!

My trip with Nevaeh to Utah

Nevaeh and I had so much fun in Utah. We went to stacee's wedding on Friday, it was beautiful. We had so much fun at her reception Nevaeh danced with Aunt Tracey and giggled, and giggled, and giggled. It was priceless. Saturday was Tracey's Birthday we met Dad for breakfast at the one man band and then headed out on a shopping spree with Derik and the two babies. Derik is a good sport! Korey met us all for a late lunch at Olive Garden. When we got home we put the babies to bed and Cory hit the hay, he was exhausted from guard. Tracey and I made a little birthday apple crisp and played a good ol game of yatzee. It was so fun to spend time with my sis again, we have such a good time together. On Sunday Tracey, Mason, Nevaeh, and I went to Grandma Snelson's, Derik me us there we had pizza and played skip bo. Tracey took Navy down to visit Grandma Cindy. Grandma Snelson came back to Tracey's house with us for Mason's Birthday party. Mason had his own little chocolate cake to eat and eat it he did. He was so cute. On Monday I cut my hair off and Navy and I hopped on an airplane and headed home. We REALLY missed our family. It was so nice to see them again and Aliya could finally stop saying "I want my Mommy". What a fun trip!!!

We LOVE Great Grandma!

We got to spend some time with Great Grandma while we were in Utah. We went to her house and played skip bo and ate pizza. It was really fun!
Nevaeh absolutely adores her Great Grandma. She was so tired at Mason's Birthday party but didn't want to miss out on all the fun. After her bath she snuggled up in Grandma's arms and fell asleep.

Utah here I come!!!

Mason and his HOT Mama on his First Birthday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MASON!

Nevaeh loved spending time with her cousin Mason when he wasn't crawling or walking on her they were fighting over toys. It was very fun!

Jentry wrestling with Uncle Derik!

Quinn wrestling with Uncle Derik, i think Quinn's winning!!!

Good Morning at Aunt Tracey's house!

My Handsome Prince

Aliya thinks Haydon is her prince and most of the time he treats her like a Princess!

It Snowed!!! again...

We didn't have a hill so Daddy pulled them around the neighborhood instead!

Cute little Chica's

Aliya and Makenzie in their matching pink hats! CHEEZE!!!

Pirate Navy

ARGH MATEY! Navy lookin like a pirate tongue and all at Haydon's Pirate Party!

Well today was a pretty laid back day. The kids and I hung out most of the morning. Once Aliya was down for a nap Nevaeh and I went to Costco with Holli and Tysen. Do to my loss of memory with each and every child I forgot my purse so for me it was a pretty pointless trip. We dropped Holli off and picked up my purse and headed to D&B for a much needed shovel. And then off to our daily trip to wally world. We had a very fun dinner with Holli and Darin and their fam. She made a pretty amazing chicken tortilla soup. We played a little ticket to ride, which they were pretty good at for their first time. And the kiddos made candybar cookies. YUMMY!!! Haydon had watched a scary movie a week or so ago at his cousins house and had nightmares for a couple days and couldn't go to sleep at night because of the "demonds". So tonight we overheard him telling Tysen that if you think of Jesus then he will take the place of all the "demonds" in your head. I thought that was so cute! What a big boy he is. We headed home and bathed the kids and got them into bed. Tomorrow we are back to the grind, Mom and Dad back to work and Haydon back to preschool. On the other hand for Aliya and Navy they get to play tea party and spend time with Grandma which is funner than what the rest of us are doing. Aliya really looks forward to her Grandma time!

Our Kiddos

So we are officially bloggers. I know way behind the eight ball but better late than never. We are all officially back in Idaho and love spending time as a family!