Ben Turns 10!

Ben celebrated his 10th birthday on March 24. This year was a "party" year for him, so he got to invite some friends and we went to Boondocks where they did the go-karts and laser tag. We all had a great time celebrating Ben's birthday! I just can't believe he is already 10!

Rachel Turns 2!

A couple of weeks ago, Rachel had her birthday and turned 2 yrs old. It's hard to believe that 2 years have already gone by, but time goes fast and she's growing with it! I definately see signs of the terrible twos, but she is such a joy in our family. She's usually pretty happy, loves her brothers, and is especially fond of her Daddy! We are so glad she is a part of our family!

This is before church as she got to celebrate her birthday wearing a new dress!


We had cake, ice cream and gifts at Grandma and Grandpa's house. At first, Rachel was more interested in the dog Gary, than opening her presents!

Taking a minute to pose with Gary! This is classic because she hardly poses for a picture!

Not too happy about posing for a picture on her new wagon...but she does love the new wagon!


Blowing out the candle! We actually used a hand me down cake from a friend's baptism party the day before and just put a candle in a piece of cake. The cake was still delicious....and Rachel didn't know the difference!

Skirts for Haiti

Recently my sister was visiting and had brought with her some skirts that she had collected from a friend, to donate to the Humanitarian Center to be sent to Haiti. She took them out to show us and had the boys try them on to see how they would fit on kids. They thought it was the funniest thing to be wearing a skirt, but they sure got a kick out of prancing around the house and showing them off.

Quilts of Love!

I have been such a blog slacker lately. I really don't think anyone really cares or has great interest in reading anyways, but for me it is a great way to record what's going on with us and a neat place to keep my pictures in cyber space! Anyways, being the slacker that I am, I never blogged about the neatest gift I got for Christmas. I know it was 3 months ago, but I thought I should record it now or never!

Anyways, a little background on these presents is that my dad had quite a collection of hawaiian print shirts and was often seen wearing these shirts. I have very fond memories of him in these shirts. Well, after he passed away, my mom wasn't really quite sure what to do with them since they did have quite of bit of sentiment, even though they were just shirts. Anyways, she was about to get rid of them when she asked my sister if she would be interested in using them to make quilts. From there, my sister took on this great project in making 9 quilts in all which literally took her about 18 months. She was really excited for Christmas and made sure we were all there to receive our presents.


Each quilt is very unique and she even made a name for each of them (which I'd have to ask her for since I could never remember. ) It was fun seeing them all and remember my dad as he wore each of those shirts. I know my sister put so much time, effort, and love into each quilt and I am grateful to have something of my dad's made into a beautiful quilt.


I have pictures of all the quilts except for my sister's since she hadn't wrapped it up for herself and I think wasn't finished!

This is the back of my mom's quilt. The neat thing about this is that the handprint is actually my dad's, traced from a cement block of the sidewalk at our house with all our handprints! There is a handprint made out of each of the shirts.

Christmas Morning

We had a great Christmas this year. We went to San Diego again and had a great time enjoying one party after another. Santa did not dissapoint the boys this year...although some might question his rules for evaluating which kids get put on the good or naughty list. I guess Santa looks at the heart and knows their true intents! Anyways, Ben finally got the XBox 360 that he had been asking for 3 years...finally his wish came true. Lucas wanted a drum set, which Santa could only come up with an electronic one that would allow ear phones to be plugged in to block out the noise. Rachel got a baby with a stroller, high chair, and bassinet to help develop her natural motherly instincts!

We all had a great Christmas, especially as we were able to visit with so many family members. The kids have a great time just hanging out with their cousins. We had a couple of big family parties...one of them included close to 75 people with cousins and 2nd cousins. There was never a dull moment!

Christmas Card 09

Every year before Christmas, I somewhat dread the thought of doing Christmas cards and getting the perfect family picture, but for whatever reason, I continue on with the tradition each year. I guess I think that despite the trouble of getting the picture and sending out the cards, it's a good way to get a family picture each year for the sake of documenting our own family history. Anyways, this year I asked a kind and friendly neighbor who has interest in photography if she would be so kind as to take our picture. Since it turned out to be a snowy day, we just took a few shots in our house. Rachel was only cooporative for the first few shots, and then turned into the cute monster that she is, so we were lucky to get at least one good picture. Zac was kind of bummed though because we didn't realize until after, that his collar was not turned down the whole way...oh well! Here are a few of the out-takes....

And the winner.....

Glad to have it over and done with for another year!

Temple Square

The Monday before Christmas, we headed down to Temple Square with some friends and had quite the experience. We decided to take the train down since neither of us had ever ridden before (Zac was the only experienced rider since he occasionally rides to SLC for work). As it turns out, we weren't the only ones who decided to enjoy temple square for family night that night since there were crowds of people everywhere we went.... Front Runner, Trax, Crown Burger, and Temple Square! Anyways, despite the crowds and the way too cold temperatures, we had a great time and it was definately a night to remember.

Halloween 2009

I'm finally getting around to posting some Halloween pictures...I guess better late than never. This year for Halloween we had Zoro, a knight, and a Spanish dancer! My mom brought Rachel's dress back from Spain, so it was fun for her to be able to wear it!

Not too happy about this dressing up thing! Later..when she learned there was candy involved...she was all smiles!

Rachel got over her crying fit and luckily gave us a smile.
Checking out the pumpkins
The boys with their cousin Lydee at the trunk or treat! Zac's family came over for dinner and the 3 of them went out later for some trick or treating. Everyone had a great time and I think we've finally seen the last of the candy!

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Recently, we were able to take a trip back East to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. My mom had a week at the Marriott Resort there, and needed someone to help her use it! None of my other siblings were available to go, so we decided we could help her out! We took the kids with us this trip...which was good and bad...but over all I'm glad they came and were able to see someplace new. We had a great trip with lots of fun memories. I broke it down into many posts so I could remember everything....so sorry if it's a boring travel log!

The view from our balcony

On our balcony..we are in one tower of the resort with the other ones behind us also part of the same resort.

Another view of the resort taken from the beach

Walking out to the ocean. It was still a little chilly that day, but it didn't keep the kids from getting wet!

Checking out the beach

One of the many sea shells that Lucas brought back home with us!

This all started are very innocently getting their feet wet until they went all the way in with all their clothes on!

This was taken our last day which turned out to be the warmest at about 79 degrees. I enjoyed laying out, watching the boys play and swim, while Zac stayed back for Rachel's nap!

Growing up on the west coast has made me naturally favor the Pacific Ocean. However, this was a very nice beach with miles of sand. The boys thought it was weird that there weren't too many waves, but they liked that there wasn't any seaweed! Either way, Atlantic or Pacific, I love the beach and it definitely is my happy place!

USS North Carolina

One day we drove an hour north into Wilmington, North Carolina to visit the USS North Carolina. We had a fun time touring the ship and were amazed that over 2000 men were able to live aboard it at one time. This ship was used during World War II.

I think this was in a kitchen area

Lucas testing out the ovens

Sitting down in the eating area

Climbing up on the chain link bunk beds....I have no idea how they could sleep so close together!

Hanging out in an Officer's chair

On deck

This was one of the favorite things for the boys on this trip. You really get to see all aspects of this ship and was well worth our time!