On my parents camera...

I mentioned that I had my parents camera for a few days.  When I went to transfer the pictures I had taken onto my computer, I looked through all the pictures that were saved on it.  I have to say that they made me laugh!  There were so many random ones!  I wanted to share some, mostly for my family, cause we love to laugh at ourselves.  I will try to explain them, but some of them I have no idea about. 

This is a picture of a picture taken in 1995, I think?  It is of me and my sister and girl that my mom couldn't identify.  I didn't remember either,  it was from a trip to Idaho we took to visit my grandparents.  We got to take  a limo to the mall and thought we were pretty special.  That is also the summer I had mono and weighed 105 lbs.  That was the best diet ever! 

A picture of the girls in their school uniforms, they are so cute!

My lovely mother doing a puzzle.

 

I don't even know who these people are.

I am guessing this is the puzzle my mom was working on.

My cute niece relaxing in front of the TV.

????

My favorite brother Matthew

A foot and what looks like Andrew's head.

Brett and Oliver.

Another picture of a picture, My cousins Chris and Josh, with Matt.

A picture of the chair my mom bought.

Cortney

I want a nicer camera.

When my parents took Ellie to Disneyland, they left their camera at my house.  I have to say that I was pretty excited.  I want a new camera! I have stopped using my old one because my phone takes better pictures, how sad is that!  I have no idea what I am doing when I take pictures and I know it, but I also know that the pictures I take with my parents camera turn out better.  So while they were gone, I snapped away and had lots of fun.  Digital cameras are amazing!  I am so glad we can document our lives like we can!  I remember getting our first digital camera after Taylor was born, no more developing pictures!  Developing pictures, what is that??  Our kids will never know, and never have the patience we had.   Sometimes waiting days to see our photos!  Can you imagine.  Anyway, there are many things we need to buy before we get a new camera, but I will be excited when I get one.  Does anyone have a favorite? P.S.  My kids are cute!

Discovery Park

Here are some photos from a fun park that isn't too far from our house.  It is actually in North Las Vegas, but only about a 10 minute drive.  I wanted to check it out and I am sure glad that we did.   The kids loved it!  It was so nice and warm that day that it was pretty crowded, but the kids still had fun.  I thought I would be caught up with my blog by now, but here I am still two months behind.  I wish I had more time to get everything done!  I need more energy and the ability to never sleep, I guess.  Life is pretty busy, but we are having fun.  This park was one of the coolest I have been to here in Vegas.  We should have gone back again, but now it will be too cold for a while.  It is going to be in the 40's this week.  Brrrrr.  I know that Utah got slammed with lots of snow today, and while it is pretty, I never really liked it much.  Enjoy these pictures and I hope to get a few more posts done tonight.  I am still trying to recover from an awesome, but tiring  Thanksgiving break.

The perfect family

Ahh, getting the family together for pictures, one of my favorite things.  Not really, the pictures are great, but the stress that goes into trying to get the family to look "perfect" almost ruins the moment.  I really, really, really, dislike (trying not to use the word hate) taking hours to pose for family photos.  I believe you get the family together for some quick shots and then continue on your day.  Especially when it involves us trying to get 6 little kids, looking, smiling, behaving, all at the same time.  So here is what our family really looks like.  These are the pictures that we will enjoy the most anyway!  I especially love the one of my brother in law Sam.  There will be more of him later, just you wait.

Ellie Sheree is baptized!

We are so proud of our Ellie Sheree for choosing to be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  She wanted to follow Jesus' example and we are so happy for her!  Ellie brings so much to our family and she has really grown up lately.  She was so excited to be baptized, and to prepare we had lots of family night lessons on baptism.  Ellie studied hard and learned so much.  The bishop said she knew all the answers and that she was ready!  I know as parents we do all that we can to teach our children about the Savior.  We read our scriptures every night and have weekly lessons, but I am so grateful for all the wonderful people who teach my children on Sunday.  Some people think that going to church on Sunday for three hours is crazy!  I think it such a blessing.  I was able to substitute teach Joslyn's primary class last Sunday and it was so much fun.  I should explain.  The first hour of church we all sit together as families and listen to prepared talks from other members and our leaders.  The second hour the kids meet together to sing and learn and share messages that they have prepared and then the third hour they have another lesson with other children their age.  So when I was sitting with Joslyn's class the second hour and we were singing and listening to the talks, my heart was so full.  I was in tears the whole time as I thought about how lucky my children are to be taught by such wonderful people and that they are learning about Jesus Christ.  They learn how to be kind, how to share, how to be a friend, how to be honest,  how to be obedient, how to love, how to forgive, and so much more.  What a different world we would live in if we all tried our best to be like Christ.  I know we aren't perfect, my children aren't perfect, I am not a perfect parent, but I hope my kids know how much I love this gospel and how much I love them!  I don't care if its not the "cool thing" or the politically correct thing, its how I feel in my heart and how I get through my day. I am so blessed to be Ellie's mom! She is such a great example to our family! And she just happens to be beautiful as well, Congrats!

 

Happy Birthday Ellie!

Well here are two amazing pictures to go along with the amazing birthday cake that Justin made for Ellie.  We had lots going on during Ellie's birthday because she was turning 8, and getting baptized.  I asked Justin to help me out and make her cake.  Well, I don't really know what happened, but now I know why Justin NEVER cooks or bakes for our family.  I mean don't get me wrong he makes some awesome scrambled eggs, oh and pumpkin cookies, but that's about it.  Okay back to Ellie's birthday, it was a lot of fun, but a little stressful getting things ready for her big day.  My mom and dad also take all their grandkids to Disneyland for their 8th birthdays so, I didn't feel too bad that she didn't get a gorgeous cake that day.  I did however make a delicious red velvet cake from scratch a few days later to make up for it.  Happy Birthday Ellie, we love you so much and hope you had a special day.

While the big kids are in school.

After the big kids are dropped off at school its time to hang out with the littles!  I love it!  We are having a blast reading, playing with play dough, going to the library, and taking naps.  We also go to the Springs Preserve a lot.  The weather has been amazing these last few weeks, between 75-85 degrees.  The park is one of our favorite adventures as well.   Here are some pictures from our latest trip.  The puppet show the kids put on was pretty hilarious!