SUPER heroes save PRINCESS april

These are my own personal super heroes!
Paden asks me almost every day, "Mommy are you a princess?" I of course respond with yes! Then he says, "I'll protect you princess!"
Not only do Spider man and Batman rescue me from the evil Darth Vader and Joker but so do Iron man, the Hulk, Anakin, Luke Skywalker, and Superman! I am one lucky girl!

This is what goes on every day at my house!

matchy matchy matchy

This is for all of you that are tired of seeing a million pictures of my boys dressed exactly alike! Hahaha!
My brother David has great taste. He bought these cute gymboree shirts for the boys for Christmas!

Christmas Outfits

The snow kept us away from church for the last few weeks so yesterday we were all finally able to dress up and wear our cute christmasy outfits.

Merry Christmas!

For Christmas we took our family over to my
parents' house to spend the night. I assured Paden that Santa would still come, even at Grandma and Grandpa's house! Robby has always woke our kids up early on Christmas morning because he can't sleep. He gets too excited! So, on Christmas morning at 6 am he got them up and surprised them with this!







We had to wait a few hours for my brother Jonathan, his wife Shanna and baby Jackson to show up. Luckily this race track entertained them the entire time!





























Checking to see what Santa left in their stockings!












Finally it was time to open up ALL the presents!




























This remote control dinosaur was their favorite!




















































Jackson playing with a light sabre.












Paden loves to dress up and pretend to be any type of super hero. Santa was smart and brought him this Batman costume and a Spider man costume!









After opening up the presents, playing with them, and eating a ton of food we went sledding!
My parents have the most perfect hill for sledding right near their house and that's where we spent half the day!

Lance and Amber were pretty hard core shooting down the hill.

David and Alyssa

All of us together and having a good time!

Even baby Kai got all bundled up and joined in on the fun outside!

Jonathan and Jackson

Evan and Paden were CRAZY! They insisted on riding all by themselves...head first! It was a scary sight to see them flying down the mountain super fast, laughing so hard! I have some pretty nutty boys.

Paden

Evan

Of course a family gathering wouldn't be complete without someone taking their clothes off and acting ridiculous!

Paden was pushed around by my mom's dog Dusty!

Robby and the boys built this snowman!

While the rest of the family went on a walk, Robby stayed back and plotted!

!!!

I don't think the snowball fight went as he planned So maybe I'll surprise him with a rematch!

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

We were pretty lucky to have Santa Claus visit our family on Christmas Eve, it was the highlight of our night!




































Evan went right up to Santa Claus and sat on his lap. He was so comfortable with Santa, it was like he already knew him! Hahaha!
















Our Christmas Eve night began with a skit by David and Grandpa. This was hilarious!
Maybe I'll figure out how to load it on my computer and post it here.
























Paden and Evan played us some beautiful carols on the piano.

Look how cute...Robby and David posing for the camera.

After our skit, Grandpa read us the nativity story.

Evan was a little distracted with his Grandma to pay attention!

So, Grandpa read, "The Night Before Christmas" and the boys had an easier time listening!

We sang Christmas songs with David the Drummer boy!

Then we opened up our Christmas Eve presents...pajamas! Surprise, surprise!

They were super excited!

David LOVED his jammies!

Paden and Evan in their adorable elf jammies!

I love this picture of my mom, she's so cute!

Kai in his "NAUGHTY" jammies!

Robby and I lookin DANG good!

I'm not sure what was going on here?! As you can see I was just a helpless victim!

Time for bed!

SnOw AnGeLs

How to assemble a candy train...

Step 1- Have a TON of candy!














Step 2- Have your glue gun ready and pose like a sexy Charlies Angel!












Step 3- Choose your favorite candy bar and either place candy wheels on or candy canes if you want to make a sleigh.











Step 4- Think about how to make the coolest candy train ever!

















Step 5- Time to assemble the most awesome, coolest ever, absolutely fantastic candy train in the whole world!































Look what we did!




















Grandpa's looks exactly the same every year!














Grandma made a cute little sleigh thingy!














Amber and Lance's sleigh's!












The Loveland family train!














This is Robby's! He always makes the craziest creation, here he created a Christmas tree on top of his train!

This is my favorite...baby Kai's!

Everyone agreed that David's girlfriend Alyssa's was the best, see the cute little guy in the front!

Making candy trains is one of our favorite family Christmas traditions! It's so fun getting together laughing and competing with each other on who can create the best candy train. Yesterday was the perfect day to get together. We were snowed in and spent the entire day playing around, eating, and acting crazy! After making our trains we played a few games including, pictionary, charades, and a game where one person starts a story and then it goes around a circle with everyone continuing and changing the story. We were all laughing so hard. I was trying not to pee my pants and cry at the same time. Actually I think I did both of those things. This game got a little scary when my dad's face turned bright red from laughing so hard that we were nervous he was going to black out like last Sunday! I'm not kidding either! It's a good and bad thing when your family makes you laugh so hard you almost die! Hopefully next year isn't as dangerous!

Eight Weeks Today!

Thank you Lyhea for the adorable Christmasy outfit!

It snowed! Did you...?

Did you shovel a gigantic pile of snow together?

Did you take your clothes off and jump into the gigantic pile of snow?

Did you land straight on your feet because the snow was like powder? Ouch!

Did you throw your kids off the roof into the gigantic snow pile?

Close up!

Did you jump off your roof with your other kid?

IF NOT....you didn't have as much fun as the Lovelands!

As for my cookie dilemma. Plan A didn't work out. There was no monster truck that came to my rescue, soooo plan B went into effect. These two boys loaded up a cooler full of the cookie plates I made and walked up and down our street and delivered them to our neighbors!

Most of our neighbors were really surprised and grateful and wanted to continue to talk to Robby and Paden. On one of the doors they knocked on a teenage boy answered and when he saw the plates of cookies he exclaimed, "AWESOME" he grabbed the plate from Robby and slammed the door! I thought that was pretty funny!

It was a really fun day being snowed in. Robby and the boys spent most of the day outside and then came in to a warm bowl of the yummiest homemade split pea soup for lunch and then a just as yummy bowl of chili for dinner! There's nothing better when you are so cold.

I hope you had a wonderful snowed in day!

Christmas Baking

For the last few days I have been baking like CRAZY! Gingerbread cookies, sugar cookies, peanut butter cookies with chocolate kisses and Reece's peanut butter cups, coconut macaroons dipped in chocolate and yummy nanaimo bars....all wasted!!!! Scroll down to see why!

Twenty plates of cookies that were meant for our friends and visiting and home teaching families.

Snowed in!

I am praying for a Christmas miracle in the form of a four wheel drive monster truck! If I don't get my Christmas miracle I'm afraid I will be resembling a snowman from eating all those cookies.

"Who's got a beard that's long and white?"

"Santa's got a beard that's long and white!
Who comes around on a special night?
Santa comes around on a special night!
Special night.
Beard that's white.
Must be Santa,
Must be Santa,
Must be Santa, Santa Claus!"










Yesterday we took our annual trip to visit none other than Santa Claus! Last year Paden and Evan were both unsure of the scary man with the long white beard but this year they loved it! Paden walked right up to him and rambled on and on about what he wanted Santa to bring him for Christmas. Evan acted a little nervous but he was happy to see santa too!

Dessert in Fairhaven!

After our visit with Santa Claus, we went over to Fairhaven to check out the cutest little toy store and then over to the Colophon Cafe for dessert.

My Three Little Elves!

This little Elf was not too happy!

Ready to Decorate!

Yesterday was a pretty busy day. We visited with Santa, played at the Fairhaven Toy Garden, ate at the Colophon Cafe, and then came home to decorate our cute little gingerbread houses! This is one of my favorite Christmas traditions ever.
Robby wanted me to decorate gingerbread houses with all of his siblings when they came to visit but I was unwilling to make 10 different houses...that would have been a little time consuming!
Paden was super excited and helped me unwrap all of the candies and then very carefully decorated his little house! Evan on the other hand was only interested in eating the candy NOT wasting it on the gingerbread! I love this time of year!

Look what I've been up to!!

It's been a Christmas tradition with our family to decorate gingerbread houses every year. Most years we've bought them already made at Costco and all there is to do is assemble them. Sounds pretty simple huh?! Not for our family. We always ended up eating the gingerbread and candy off of broken houses. The first year my brother Jonathon and sister in law Shanna were married they were the only ones with a perfectly put together house and all of ours were broken in pieces. I guess Shanna was smarter than the rest of us and didn't want to share the secret of how to properly put a gingerbread house together!
So...last year I was watching Martha Stewart on TV as she put together the cutest gingerbread houses ever and I thought to myself, I can do that! So I gave it a try and guess what, they actually worked! Not only did they not fall apart but they were WAY cuter than the ugly broken store bought ones.
For the last few days I have been baking and assembling our gingerbread houses this year! Paden has been really excited about this too he even remembered them from last year. Now all we have to do is decorate!
One more bonus to baking your own gingerbread is that your house smells delicious...cinnamon ginger, cloves, nutmeg! Mmmmm

Goodbyes and Bowling...

The fun has come to an end and we were all really sad to have to say goodbye. Just before sending the last two of Robby's family off to the airport we went and did a little bowling.
I loved having my in laws here, it was so much fun and I only wish we could spend more time together. This was the first time I actually thought that living in Utah to be closer to them wouldn't be such a bad idea. I felt an incredible amount of love for them, just the same as if they were my very own brothers and sisters. It's crazy to me how my feelings for them have changed and grown so much stronger. I really love them!
It's a good thing that families are forever and I want them FOREVER!! Thank you to all of the Loveland family for coming and making Kai's baby blessing so special for us.

Blessing Day!

Yesterday was a very special day for our family, we blessed our third boy...Kai Thomas Loveland!

Me and my sister in laws, Tracee, Beverly, and Cathy. I love these ladies and am incredibly lucky to have the most fun and sweet sister in laws ever! One of the things I enjoyed the most while they were here was going on a walk at night along the trails near my house. I only wished we lived closer so we could have more fun times together.

The whole gang!

These last few days have been wonderful, all of Robby's five siblings, a brother in law and his mom came to visit for this special day. It has been so fun having them here and a little crazy too. The plan was to have them all sleep here at my mom's house but when they arrived we were having way too much fun that no one wanted to leave so we threw down blankets and they camped out on the living room floor!

Paden and Evan have been really spoiled while they were here and won't know what to do with their boring mom when they leave.

We've been having fun!

Taking each other on rides?!












Doing the worm!!


















































Balancing on the excercise ball!!

Leg Wrestling...

Round 2...

Dustin wins again!
























































I love the girls in background!

Playing PIT!

This game got a little out of control!

Pictures at Whatcom Falls Park

All of Robbys siblings...Robby, Jim, Tracee, Beverly, Cathy, and Dustin!

Look how cute, Uncle Jimmy taking Paden on a little stroll!

Robby's mom, Grandma Janice!

The brothers!

The sisters!

ahhh, Robby and I!

Eating...

Something that we seem to do a lot whenever we get together!














Aunt Tracee and Paden!













Aunt Beverly and Evan!



















The whole gang!

The Loveland's have Arrived!

Here is Robby's entire family minus his dad.

My house has turned into a crazy place. The windows walls and floors have been shaking out of control from all of the wrestling, running, stomping, and laughing! Hopefully our little house can survive!

ROUND 1...

...DUSTIN!

Let the Fun Begin!

The party has started and the guests have begun to arrive!

All of Robby's family is coming to visit from out of town for Kai's baby blessing this Sunday. Yesterday his mom and brother Dustin were the first to show! We have been having a ton of fun with them as you can see by Robby's expression. Robby has been SO excited to see his family especially his brother Dustin who just returned home from a mission in Mongolia and brought along some very cute outfits!

Look at my little Mongolian boy!

There was already a little competition going on with the grown up boys!

It's been really sweet seeing Evan and Dustin together, Evan has found a new best friend...stay tuned for more fun and craziness!

A Great Man Passes

I just read that Elder Wirthlin an Apostle of God has just passed away. I loved this man!

1. Elder Wirthlin was one of my favorite Apostles ever! Whenever Conference time would come around I looked forward to listening to his voice. He had a very beautiful recognizable voice and whenever he spoke I listened. It will be sad not to hear him speak and enjoy his funny humor. I remember at the last General Conference he gave a great talk entitled "Come what may and Love it". He shared a funny story about his teenage daughter that mistakenly jumped in the car with what she thought was her blind date but was actually a married man coming to pick her sister up to babysit!! It's funny to me that at age ninety-one he was still so fun and hilarious. I will definitely miss him but I am sure he is having a wonderful reunion with his wife. It's also comforting to know that whatever is happening in the world around us the Lord provides these wonderful inspired men to lead us and we will be lead by another equally as wonderful new Apostle!