We are having a...

BOY!!!

Happy 30th!!!

Bryan turned the big 3-0 on saturday. To celebrate, we went out to a fabulous dinner with some even more fabulous friends. And, I know, I am such a bad wife, I didn't even get a picture with him. I dont even have any new pictures of him on our computer and our scanner doesnt work. So, a pictureless blog entry will have to do. Anyway, happy birthday to the love of my life!!!!

1 year later

Has it already been a year since my family lost this little guy?

"We love you,

We miss you,

We will never forget you"

"Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam"

Chloe is a Sunbeam (the 3-4 year old sunday school class at our church). I no longer have any children in the nursery. Not for a while, at least. I think she was the most excited out of the girls to be in Primary. She was so happy to get out of nursery and join the big kids! And, she has been doing great. She even goes to class with no tears! Now, if only I could get her to let me do something with that hair....

Here are the new Sunbeams being welcomed to Primary. Seriously, my child could at least let me brush her hair!

Camping

When Bryan mentioned to me last week that some families were going camping, I have to admit that my first reaction was not one of excitement. Personally, if we are going to spend a night away from home, I would rather go to some hotel or Grandma's condo on the beach....not camping. I guess since I had never really been before, I just had bad expectations. But, things started looking up when I was preparing for the trip and Bryan told me not to worry about anything, he would take care of it all. Groceries, gear, everything. All I had to do was get the girls things together. I like the sound of that!!

And that is how it went. The kids were occupied the whole time with their friends, the men cooked every meal. Bryan set up the tents and I didnt have to do anything...not even wash the dishes after we ate! (He cooked us steaks and snow crab claws...how is that for camping food?) The only thing I really did was make s'mores. Rough, I know! This was Chloe's spot for the evening. Right in front of the fire!

One couple was there who dont have children at home anymore, so they brought their toy instead...They gave the kids rides all day and all night...it kept them entertained for hours!

The men cooking dinner...they even made a bunch of cobblers for dessert.

Saturday, the boys brought out thier toys. Bryan got the tiniest little pistol I have ever seen. We were sitting there making fun of it, saying if he ever pulled that out on someone, they would just laugh at him...until he shot it and it shut us up...that thing was loud. I even tried to shoot it and my ears were ringing for ever. Thats the last time I ever make fun of a pistol again! We all said how we wished we had been able to do it for a few more days. It ended up being a lot more relaxing than I expected!

Disney

My best friend of about 25 years was in town doing Disney with her family. I was not about to brave the parks with the girls...way too busy for me. So instead, we opted to go to Disney's Marketplace for lunch and shopping. I ended up getting down there a few hours before she did, which was fine. We walked around, shopped, had lunch, the kids rode the train, and we finally got to see some of Bryan's work from the past year!

This was one of several things that Bryan had been working on at Disney this past year. I was impressed seeing the final project! This one was taken from behind the bandshell... And this is obviously the front.

When Lisa and her kids got there, the first thing was of course, the train again, and then off to Goofy's candy shop! The time spent was short, but it is always so good to see her and the little ones!

Christmas

Christmas came and went with very few pictures being taken. Christmas day, my mom and her husband Mike came out. We had our traditional Swedish meal that I grew up with and Bryan does not like very much, but he got over it! The kids got way too many toys, as usual! Even baby Melick got gifts. "Santa" had left the baby a "Bass Pro Shop" t-shirt in my stocking!

The next day, Bryan's family came out and we did Christmas all over again...with way too many gifts and so on!

It ended up being a great weekend, though.

Maybe next year I will take more pictures!

School Christmas Programs

Each of the girls had Christmas programs at school...on different days. Hana's was first. Of course, we had to do a short photo shoot in the car before we went in to see her performance!

When the kids started lining up, I noticed right away that there were LOTS of parents in the room and Hana was in the second row, right in the center. She is NOT a performer. She doesnt like the fact that people look at her. I told her, no one will be looking at her, they will be looking at thier own kids. But, sure enough, right after I snapped these pictures....

...she started crying. Not horribly, but enought that her teacher felt bad and let her come down. So, needless to say, I ended up watching a bunch of other kids singing Christmas songs that day!

Maddison was next and I wasa so nervous that she would end up doing the same thing. She ended up being in the very back...so far that she couldnt see anything, which helped her not be nervous, but I could hardly see her either. I was able to to get a few pictures of her before she was blocked by all the others. The whole time, she just smiled and waived!!!

I did, however, get the cutest little Pratt boy in front of me singing...little Anson. So, since his parents were too far away and couldnt see him, I snapped a few for them!!!

And of course, Maddison and her "BFF" Zoey had to pose for a bunch of pictures!