Recent doings....

Once again, just some pictures of what has been going on lately...

 

 This is Ash being held by one of my nieces, Berklee.  Her and her sister, Abbie, came over to babysit Cali and the kids while I took Alex to a doctor appointment.  They are fantastic babysitters!  I took this pic because Ash's hair is crazy!!!

 Colby will be having hernia surgery soon and will be on a non-meat and bread diet for a while, so he asked us all to come with him to Tuscanos (meat, meat, meat!) for lunch.  Starting on the left and going around is Kierra (with her back to the camera - she hates pictures to be taken!),  Mo, Cali, Colby, Alex, TJ, and Brandon.  George went to the temple with a friend and Josh and Oak were jeeping.  Even though we didn't have the whole family, it was still great food, and the servers are very good looking!

 I had ordered a lemonade, which they served with a flask full and a cup of ice.  Alex's drink only came in a cup and he felt jipped.  We asked if he could have a flask of diet drink and a cup of ice.  Obviously Alex doesn't need the cup of ice!!  (I'd like to see you try to drink with your tongue out like Al does!!)

N is sitting by herself now!!  She taught herself how to do this.  She has gotten really good at pushing up on her hands while on her stomach, and one day she decided to just swing her legs forward and

wa-la!  She's sitting!

 Oak was showing N her new mermaid barbie doll and I thought it was cute so I took this picture, then I laughed when I actually looked at it.  Notice how Oak is sitting?  It's a pet peeve of mine.  It's called W sitting, and working in special ed I have never allowed any of my kids to sit this way (it's really bad on the hip joints).  Oak has a mind of her own.  It doesn't matter how many times I have told her to "fix her legs" she continues to W sit.  So notice N is sitting correctly, and Oak isn't!  But it's still a really cute picture!

Alex's 15th birthday!!! My baby is 15!?!

Alex had his 15th birthday the other day, and we celebrated all day long. We started out by going out to lunch with dad, the girls and Heyhey. (I couldn't get Hey in the pic ;-( ) And some men gave us an extra treat while we were there... they painted a sign on our window while we sat there. It was fascinating - OK it was fascinating to all the 2 year old minds at the table, but it was fun to watch - either the guys painting or the kids' faces!



This isn't the best picture, but it was sure cute. The girls would climb out of their chairs just to give papa a hug then sit back down to eat. It's just not fair.... I take care of them all day, but he is their favorite.

Al thought his birthday was the greatest because he got to go out to eat for lunch AND dinner! (The kid would eat out for every meal if given the chance.) IHOP is one of his most favorite places to go in the world. He orders a Rooty Jr. (pancakes with berries on it) and sausage, and more sausage, and more sausage. He can really put it away.

He's showing you two of the guys Daddy Ernie sent him for his birthday. He got to talk to all of Ernie's kids earlier in the day and to Ernie before we went to dinner. Just as we were heading out the door to dinner, a package came for Alex from Ernie and family... and inside were a ton of Star Wars guys. Of course, they had to come to dinner with us. (And just a funny side note, that is Grandpa Scott hiding behind the menu. He didn't want his picture taken.)

He got a lot of cool things - a remote control helicopter, a Halo guy, a Transformer, a yoyo and some church pants, but from mom and dad he got a Pass of all Passes! So after dinner we went to Trafalga for fun, fun, fun!

First stop, the climbing wall. This first picture I took of Alex he's pretty close to the floor still, but I took it that early because last time he did a climbing wall, he only was able to make it a few feet. But this time...

...look how far he made it. (That's him on the left!)

TJ and B had to take a turn, too. They didn't do too bad for an old, married couple. ;-)

Then we went and did a laser tag game, and the black light mini golf. Here's a pic of everyone doing fish faces by the dolphins. I took some other pics, but because it was so dark they didn't turn out well enough to share.

And after all that fun and partying, he got another surprise the next day!! Grandpa Larry and Lexy came to visit!! This is Alex's birth mom's dad and Alex's half sister. You can definitely tell they are related, can't you!? She took such good care of Alex as a baby. We will never be able to repay her for all she did, even as a little kid herself. And Grandpa Larry has a definite soft spot for his little boy! We missed seeing Mommy Dana, but hopefully soon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG GUY! (And just to relieve every one's fears - Alex doesn't get to drive until he's as tall as his brothers. Remember they are 6 foot and taller!!)