The Big "1"

This face...



I SO LOVE this face!! Every day for a year now we have had this beautiful face, and this beautiful person here making our lives more complete. Small Paul is the happiest baby I have ever known... he has a smile for everyone, and laughs at everything the bigger kids do. One day we were at the doctor's ofc., waiting to check in, when an older woman came over & was staring at him - I was distracted by trying not to lose Shelby, Reagan or Shawn when I noticed her. She had tears in her eyes and told me that he was so beautiful, and that he had just made her day so much better. Just a week or so ago another woman was looking at him while I was waiting for copies at Staples. She told me "you know, I've never had children of my own so maybe I appreciate them more, but your baby is overwhelmingly beautiful..."

I have to agree with them.

A couple of weeks ago, my friend & photographer, Chrissi Richards, got the brilliant idea to have Small Paul, her daughter Julia, and our tortoise, Dorothy, race... Dorothy won - Small Paul kept heading the wrong direction!

One busy summer!

I have to narrow down my pictures to decide what to post... We are having one crazy, busy, fun filled summer vacation!!
We have visited St George where we saw lots of family we love to visit with... the beach, botanical gardens, museums, the aquarium, Disneyland (of course)... the list goes on, BUT - yesterday we went to the Skirball Cultural Ctr in Los Angeles. It was so much fun!! They have a ginormous Noah's Ark that is totally hands on interactive splendor!! I'm making sure that Grandma Mathews steers all of the visiting family with kids towards it. It's not too far from her house, maybe 20 minutes without traffic, and your kids will love it!!!

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!