Jade

Since my camera is broken and not much is happening at our house, I thought I would post a few pictures taken before my blog existed.

In no particular order:

She makes a perfect devil!

Easter 2007

Cousin Makayla, Jade and Aunt Brookie

Posing with Dr. Daddy (who claims to be a hero for fixing her arm after Noelle broke it).

Modeling mom's pageant earrings.

Best Friends!

Piano recital May 2008.

Voice recital May 2008. You should hear her sing!

Hanging out in Goofy's chair.

Telling Santa what she wants. Who says she's too big to sit on his lap?

School play "The Princess and the Pea". 3rd grade (2006).

Cute! Disneyland, January 2007.

Playing with Mya in the snow.

Jade and Noelle in the Chorus of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat."

Noelle

Daddy's shoes. They almost fit!



Scarecrow Festival 2003.


Easter 2007

Noelle sleeping with Barkley and Woofy, her two favorite dogs.

Creepy! She fell asleep in the tub!

She is the craziest sleeper......keep looking and you'll get an idea of what I mean....

...kneeling on the floor...

...on the couch...

...in the car...

...and in the car again (You will see Woofy in most of the sleeping pictures. She doesn't sleep without him!)...

With her daddy on her Baptism Day. January 2008.

Fancy birthday hair for a night on the town!

She was a little bit unhappy about this costume. The hair was just not right. Note the swollen eyes. I had to threaten her to hold still for a picture. Smiling was just too much to ask!

With cousin Ani at Newport Beach. Summer 2007.

With cousin Zoey at the Shirley's cabin in Bear Lake. Summer 2007.

Ellie is the best cheerleader! She's obsessed with it and she has some serious talent! (Not sure where she got it from. Maybe Ryan. Have you ever seen his high kicks? Ask him to show you next time you see him!)

Grandma Bette made dozens of Disney costumes for Christmas 2006. This is Noelle as Tinkerbell.

Noelle and Jade in the "Wheat and Beat Days" parade. August 2005. They were in a play called "The Granny Awards". (Jade is the one in the background with the extremely sunburned face. Great picture, huh?)

Mya

This picture sums up Mya perfectly. Pajamas, messy hair, a pirate hat, a sword and mom's boots!

Indian Girl. Halloween 2006.

One of the few times Mya has played dress up and actually worn a dress!


Hiking in Zion Canyon with her "stick".

Cowboy Mya.

With cousin Ani.

Super Mya! Now this is dressing up, Mya style.

Beautiful!

Sleeping on the kitchen chairs!

Good birthday, dude!

Doesn't everyone unload the dishwasher in the nude?!

How Cute is That?

Mya and Chandler sporting their Disneyland souven-"ears"!

The Merriest Place On Earth!

These are two of my very favorite things!

As my family can attest, I love few things more than Christmas and Disneyland. I am what my cousin Char calls, a "Christmas Pervert" (I'm pretty sure she will also be calling me a "Disney Pervert" after she reads this post). So when Disneyland puts on their Christmas cheer I am giddy almost to the point of needing medication!

This past weekend Ryan and I took a quick vacation to California. Ryan had a medical conference to attend and I needed to shop, so we left the kids home with Jana and headed for warmer weather! (Much warmer, to be exact. It was 90 degrees when we left for home on Saturday!)

We got to spend the entire day Thursday in Disneyland and California Adventure without any kids! If you've never done this, I highly recommend it! No strollers, no crying, no packing snacks around the park. You get to ride whatever you want, whenever you want, and it doesn't require a mortgage on your house to get lunch in the park. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE to take my kids there, in fact I consider it one of the most awesome privileges of parenthood, but this is also pretty great. Also, if you've never been to there during their holiday festivities, it is a must!! They go all out and, true to Disney tradition, leave no detail un-done. "It's a Small World" is completely remade and plays "Jingle Bells" mixed into the regular music, "The Haunted Mansion" is converted to "The Nightmare Before Christmas", and lights and decorations are hung from every possible surface. It even snows, leaving icicles and patches of frost on Snow White's Castle! YOU MUST GO!!!

The rest of our trip was spent relaxing, shopping and, of course, driving. We stayed with Ryan's sister Ginger and her family. She's a great hostess and we always have so much fun when we stay there. Since Ryan went to a medical conference, his boss would have paid for us to stay in a hotel, but we love the excuse to see the Akins. She's a great shopping partner, the best tour guide and an awesome cook! What more could we ask for! Not to mention their adorable kids that we don't get to see enough of. Thanks for a great time Akins!

You'll also be happy to know that this post only took me about 2 hours! That's a great improvement over the last one. I even learned how to drag pictures but the line spacing is giving me fits! I may figure this out eventually.