Coming out of hiding

I can't even remember the last time I blogged. Too many kids keeping me busy!
Things have finally settled down (as much as they can) for now. Ky is finishing up with school, Marley is done with dance classes, and the twins are on a pretty predictable schedule. Matt is super busy at work, especially since his boss bought another kiosk about an hour away from us that he manages also.

I am looking forward to summer time! I am hoping to get the older kids in a swim class in June. Go visit Shelby and Tracy in July. And get ready for school to start again in August. I am thinking about putting Marley in preschool in the fall, she would totally love it! Ky just finished up his guitar and soccer lessons, and will be doing baseball soon. He is really excited about that!

Ahhh... Vacation!

We had a great time on our cruise. Our ship is the furthest one in this pictures - The Oasis of the Seas.

The kids loved being on our balcony. Every morning Katie would wake up, look out and say "we're still moving."
This was at Atlantis. We definitely want to go back! It was great - pools, water slides, lazy river with rapids, water slides connecting pools, beach... and that's just what we saw. The hotel also has swimming with dolphins, an aquarium, casino, shops... so fun!

This is St. Thomas, just before we docked. It rained for a little bit while we were there, so our beach day was a little wet.

This was at St. Maarten. We had much better weather, just a passing light shower as we had lunch.



Mikey passed out at our "Formal Night" dinner.

Vacations, vacations, vacations!

Went to San Diego for Jarom's Birthday weekend. Visited the Mormon Battalion Building in Old Town San Diego - awesome with little kids! Walked around till Charlise started the "too tired" tantrum. We were excited to not have a stroller after years of needing it, but maybe it would have been helpful with her . . . She survived.
Saw the Sunset on San Diego Bay and went on the "ships" tour. (7 old military ships/submarines you can walk thru) Way cool!
Made our own candles in Old Town. Fun! No one burned off a finger, thank goodness. Saw the old school house, pet some donkeys, rode fake horses, etc.
Jarom and Darius went on a Kayak ride while the rest of us played at the park on the beach.
We had a great time camping on the beach last month! Kids played beach volleyball - got some funny pictures from it! Don't you love this one of Eli?!

Mexico!

Matt convinced us to rent a 5 person jeep for the eight of us to drive to a local water park cause it was cheaper..lol ya fun the kids didn't mind so much though!

So we had a blast on the cruise last week!

The weather was hot like i wanted and the food was GREAT!

You will not see any pic of me because im sure i gained 100 lbs eating so much lol.

We got to swim with the dolphins, shop in mexico, and swim. London has a blast!

Got hair braided with the cousins!

Londons first look at the beach...true happiness!

Katie Hair Chronicles

Some day Katie will have long flowing hair like all her cousins, but for now, it's a mess we can't seem to tame. Here are some highlights.

Katie wanted me to put ALL her barrettes in her hair.

After the pigtails are pulled out.

Just a regular day - modeling her new rain boots.

Bed Head at it's Best.

Another rough night.

Good Morning! This morning she said she wanted to put on her shoes and coat, get on an airplane, and see Grammy. Very Sweet.

My best friend from high school just had a little baby boy, Jack. Here's my latest creation.

That's it from this side of the Mississippi. Mikey doesn't have school this week, so we're heading to Grand Rapids to visit Jackie for a couple days, then the 4 of us are heading to Chicago at the end of the week. Have a good week! Happy April!

March updates

Eli is loving playing the recorder at school. He's still doing really well with piano, too. Yeah!!!
After the haircut.
Before the haircut.
Darius after racing his car in the Pinewood Derby. He did well, but not placement this year.

We LOVED having mom and dad come and visit!!! We took them to the Japanese noodle shop, the farmers market, the Japanese market, and ate tons of yummy food while they were here. Jarom made these cinnamon rolls. Naughty! Joni, you got me thinking about sewing after seeing your cute blanket you posted. So, I had mom teach me how to sew a baby's blanket while she was here! I love it, but its not getting posted. It's pretty, uh, not straight. But I want to keep trying!

Papa's Birthday

We were sooooo excited for Mom and Dad to come for a visit! As soon as Dad got here we shuffled him into the car with Jason and Ross to go shooting out in the desert! What a blast, Ross finally has someone to talk guns with besides Jason and myself....which I hardly know NOTHING about. Then on Dad's birthday we woke up and went down to the Pawn Shop to meet Chumlee. We got in right away, no line haha. But there was no one from the show there. We asked where Chumlee was and got the generic answer....."I haven't seen him lately". They must get sick of people asking that. Five minutes after we were told to get out of the shop because they had to film a clip of the show and it would take 30 minutes. We went outside and got in line so we could maybe see Chum after they were done filming. Well, when we finally got back in, only the Grandfather was there taking pics with people. We got up close to him and then they shuffled him out to the back of the store....meaning no more pics! KAKA! Oh well, it was fun anyways. Cool place to visit. Lots of cool things in their shop. Then I took the parents down to old Freemont street and made them eat fried Twinkies and fried Oreos. They loved it. Might have gained a few pounds, but well worth it. Also wanted to throw in a picture of Jasmine and her competition cheer squad since they won first place in their division for the best dance/cheer. Wish you guys could have seen her, it was so great!