Peace, Love & Shelby

We have been under construction around here for the past few weeks. Our goal? Shelby's very own brand new bedroom!

Shelby is all about peace signs, owls, & color. I had a few people look at me like I was crazy when I explained my color pallet - but I think it turned out cute and totally Shelby-styled!

Check out my attempt to be creative, or at least somewhat original curtain tie backs. Is that what they are even called?
Reveal day was today - minus a ceiling fan - and Shelby L.O.V.E.D. it!!! I'm so happy for her to have her own space!

We also have added a small stretch of hallway, and a great big walk in storage closet for all of our *stuff*, but neither of those areas have tile, or even a completed paint job so I won't be sharing pictures of that quite yet. I have major organization plans for in the big closet though, so I may share that soon!

Flat out bragging...

We are so happy that summer has finally arrived, and we are SO proud of our kids! We ended the year by sweeping the awards ceremonies once again!

Shelby and Reagan both made the Principal's list - yay!! I apologize for the photos, trying to get in a good spot at these ceremonies is a full contact sport amongst the parents! Savannah also made the Principal's list, but alas no photos. Her awards ceremony was at the same time as YW, and she really didn't want to miss YW. They are getting ready for girl's camp and having so much fun! I can't wait for Shelby & Reagan to get their chance in a few years!




Shawn was chosen for the citizenship award for being wonderful and charming, and for having his homework in all of the time! (I trapped him for a photo - you can just feel the excitement when you look at him right?)




Genius children I tell you - every last one! Those Baby Einstein videos really paid off ;)

catching up...part deux

Springtime in So Cal of course means we a headed back to the beach! Actually, we don't need it to be spring or any other time, we just like the beach, ALOT.





Totally unnecessary photo of my cute monkey thrown in just because I love him so much. Look how comfy he is sleeping on daddy's chest *sigh*




This week (which means I am caught up, yay!) we declared a ditch day & headed to Magic Mountain. We had a great, wonderful, superfun time - I love Magic Mountain! It is so nice that it is only about a half an hour or so from the house - no long drive there filled with "how much longer" cries from the back of the car, and at the end of the day we are home before we know it! It was a beautiful day & because all of the responsible parents of the world make their children go to school, we never waited in any lines! Can't wait to go back - hopefully we will have some cousins out here visiting that will come along with us????? We went over spring break when Kathy & family were here and Curtis and his family came too - it was so nice! I hope we get lots of visitors from near and far this summer so we can hang out! I think we are heading to Utah at some point this summer too, we just have to figure out the specifics! Yay!


I would like to tell you that I won this beast in some game of skill, but alas, I lack said skills. In reality, when we were in the parking lot loading up the car, some really nice guys stopped & asked if we wanted him - he wouldn't fit in their car! Of course I said yes without hesitation! When can ANYONE say no to a gigantic stuffed gorilla? They come in handy for some many things... none that I can think of, but seriously, he's huge, and huge gorillas just announce that something fun is about to happen. I have no idea what to do with him. I was thinking that it would be fun to share the gorilla love by taking him to an unsuspecting friends house, set him at the door, then ring the bell & run & hide. Then they could decide his best use. Other ideas that involved keeping him were bungee cording him to the top of the suburban and driving around with him pretending that we are in our own little parade, or at the very least stuffing him into the back of the car for trunk or treating? I'm open to creative ideas. Shawn thought we should hang him on the family room wall...I'm not really feeling that.

All caught up! hooray!

Catching up... volume 1

Ok, I am way behind on my blog updates, which wouldn't be a terrible thing except, unlike all of my talented and more organized friends, this blog also is my attempt at scrapbooking, baby booking, and maintaining a journal. I know... I'm bad.

Confession time is over - Happy Easter! We had a great time at home with baskets, then went to G'ma Mathew's for her once again fun filled, fabulous egg hunt! We had a blast!


Since it was spring time, that meant for a moment the desert was bright with orange poppies! We had a ton of wildflowers this year...so beautiful to look at, but we all are still sniffling from all of the pollen. I think this may have been the most colorful year I can remember out here - so pretty!



Springtime 13 years ago brought Savannah into the world, and so we celebrated her b-day with friends & family. She is such a wonderful girl, it is so much fun watching her turn into a wonderful young woman! She is so talented, so much fun, and a great big sister to everyone. Savannah is always there to lend a hand with the baby, and makes everything we do so much fun! Happy Birthday Savannah! We love you bunches!!


Family home evenings are our favorite night of the week! This time (sometime last month) we went to Mountasia in Valencia where we had a blast! Because it was a weeknight the place was empty! We had the golf course to ourselves, then the arcade, and finally we had dinner at Farrel's (and ice cream of course) where we were still alone so it didn't matter that Small Paul was screaching his happy scream throughout our meal!

I will post more soon - I am still pulling together my activity for our Primary Activity day that starts is 3 hours...yikes! Thank goodness for the last minute - I'd never get anything done without it!

Small Paul's first photo shoot...

OK, I'm posting this everywhere....so here it is again! Of you go to this site you can see my little snuggle buggle boy, aka Small Paul, and his good friend Dorothy the tortoise. If you leave a comment on her page (there is a link after his photos) and I get 15 comments total, I get a free 8 x 10 thrown in - yay!

http://chrissirichards.squarespace.com/

check it out - I think he's very cute!

What a spring break!!

We had such a wonderful time this past week hanging out in Tahoe (thanks again Debbie & Craig!!!) and OH MY GOODNESS did we have fun!!! We went sledding, built a snow-woman named Lily, visited Circus Circus where the kids won a ton of stuffed animals, learned to ski (well, the four bigger kids did), and had some great family time. It is always so beautiful up there and we are all always sad to leave.

As with any event with our family, there were a few casualties...

#1 - upon our arrival, Paul bonked his melon on a cabinet corner and we found a great urgent care just down the street that stapled his forehead back together again - it looks like it is healing well now...hooray!

#2 - on our second night, Small Paul came down with the flu that I had suffered with the week prior. He went from being totally normal, to throwing up 8 times in an hour & a half. At that point I said a little prayer for him & when I handed him over to Paul so I could take a break, he said one too, and that was the end of the flu! He went to sleep and woke up several hours later hungry and acting as if nothing had ever happened! Yay!

#3 - the car was a two for one event - on the way to Tahoe the CD player died, which made things a bit more boring around the Mammoth area when we had no radio reception and Shelby made up wonderful rap songs with creative lyrics such as:

Pancakes, they're flat, they're round, they're awesome (repeat 3 times)
Pancakes, got smooshed by a car (repeat 3 times)
Fried on a griddle


We endured about 15 repetitions of the above song when I requested that we play the quiet game, which, by the way, doesn't work once your kids catch on to the real point of the game...

We also had a headlight burn out which wasn't a big deal, in fact the super nice Napa employee even changed the bulb for us! Paul has informed me that neither of these events count as a mechanical failure and therefore cannot be used in any future discussions debating the need for a new vehicle.

#4 - The most tragic of all... on the last day in Tahoe, as I was packing up the car & running last minute errands...my ipod touch dissapeared *SOB* I L.O.V.E.D. that ipod. It was my most favor-ist toy. I downloaded so many apps which I used ALL THE TIME but alas, there is not an app for a careless ipod owner. Maybe someone will find it, see that my last map gave directions to our house from Tahoe & they will deliver it to me?

Overall, not a bad trip for us - only one visit to urgent care (two if you count the staple removal), and now we know where to take the kids if we have a future event with the kids. The kids were all afraid of the ski lifts, but were willing to walk their skis up the beginner hill at Homewood over & over for hours, so we're encouraged. We will be watching craigslist & garage sales etc for skis so next year we won't have to rent them. Not sure where we will put them though, this was our first trip that involved a huge cargo pack on the top of the suburban - we probably looked a bit like the Griswolds, but at least there was not a dog being pulled behind us...

Family Home Evening at our house...

So we are doing really well this year at making sure we have FHE every week, and so far, we haven't missed once!! I'm really excited because the kids are really into it (who knew) and look forward to it, which is great! Shawn always asks what day it is when I pick the kids up from school in hopes that it is Tuesday (our FHE night)!

All of the older kids love it, and Paul & I have fun - I love finding fun lessons & trying to create a fun treat to match the lesson - i.e. the fruits of the spirit = fruit loop cake etc. Much to our surprise however, is that the person who seems to enjoy this the most is Small Paul. He loves sitting at the table and screaming as loud as he can. The rest of us can't help but laugh, which makes him do it again & again, smiling and shaking with excitement. Unfortunately this behavior has moved beyond the FHE table and out into the world. Any time he is sitting on anyone's lap at a table - in a restaurant, while I'm conducting sharing time, during a Primary Presidency meeting, the school office etc, he sees an audience & goes into his screaming routine. I am sure that this will only be cute for a short time & then I will try to figure out how to break him of this habit, but for now this is how we start FHE every week, and greet the world.

We always end with a treat, and this week Small Paul has decided that he too should be part of the treat eating...