February 2014: Jonathan & Victoria

Little Jonny gets HITCHED!!

My little brother-from-another-mother Jonny got married in February!  Road trip with BEN and Braiden!  That alone was worth the trip.  We had a blast.

Day before the wedding.  We had a lovely dinner with all the siblings, parents and grandparents that were in town.

It was a gorgeous, warm day in Los Angeles.

The reception was in Etiwanda at a church building.  I was amazed at the transformation for this reception.  It was so cool.

My dad and Uncle Tim.  These guys are pretty funny. I don't see a resemblance, do you?  

A great shot of all the older siblings that were there.  We were just missing Whitney and Paul!  Its only going to get more and more difficult to get us all in the same room as time goes on.  I am hoping that soon, we can get a picture with all 12 of us.

And of course, a given that we had to take a day to hit Disneyland.  It was particularly fun to go with my brother and Braiden. 

Congratulations you crazy kids.  

We love you.

December...part 1

I have been avoiding all my December pictures like the plague.  Its time to finally post them.  As I was going through them, I realized there were like 465 pictures all taken in December.  This may call for 2 separate posts.

This was too funny and memorable not to post.  Braiden's first infant care project for 9th grade Teen Living class...a 5lb bag of flour with strict instructions (If only the real ones came with instructions).  All I know is that I am pretty sure little "Shorty" died in the first 24 hours.  She had no chance.

Christmas decorating in Grandma's basement.  We did what we could with our little space and the kids had fun doing it, as always, even though it was with one tiny little box of Christmas decorations.

Mother nature played a bit of a prank on us in December of 2013.  On the 5th of December it snowed in St George...and it snowed and it snowed and it snowed.  By 6pm that day, there was like 8 inches of slush all over the roads with no plow or shovel in sight....anywhere!  Nobody owns a snow shovel in St George.  Why would they?  It was nuts!!  People all over the roads, sliding backwards down hills, church was cancelled and people everywhere were SNOWED IN!!  It was insane and quite memorable. So much for moving away from the snow...although the 75 degree weather in January more than made up for it. 

Paige had her one and only dance concert with The Vault in December.  The Vault has kind of a different philosophy about doing dance performances where they do these concerts to raise money for a charitable cause rather than having the parents spend tons of money on costumes.  I really loved The Vault.  I hope more studios follow in their footsteps.

Paige and I discovered the Rainbow Loom in December as a favorite past-time.  We spent quite a bit of time watching YouTube videos to learn how to do these things.  Its was fun but I am pretty sure I pulled out a couple fists full of hair. We ended making lots of them to give away as gifts. It became somewhat therapeutic.

December 20th I went to my company Christmas party at La Caille. Eric couldn't go so Amy was my hot date for the evening.  It was a blast complete with photo booth, yummy food and all the Shirley Temples we could drink. Verisk really outdid themselves in 2013.  

Of course the highlight of the evening was that I was awarded the Verisk Health Q4 Outstanding Employee Contribution Award.  It was nice to be recognized.  I work for a great company that takes good care of its employees.

The next week we had yet another Christmas Party in the St George office (I got to double dip).

Delaney and the whole fam met us at Chili's for a little Christmas lunch. 

I just love this picture.  See the remnants of the snow storm?  That was about 2 weeks later.  A little rain storm eventually washed it all away.  Aren't my kiddos cute?

A picture says a thousand words...for May 2013

The Best Mothers Day Present ever.  Apparently  I haven't been terribly secretive with my "wish".

Happy Birthday B!

14 years ago today...I became mom to this awesome kid.

Birthday Sushi!

Happy Birthday B!

2012 FOOTBALL- Westlake Thunder

Braiden had an excellent season with the 8th grade Westlake Thunder A team 

 last year.

He made some great friends and learned a lot from his coach who is a retired NFL football player.  

I always have mixed emotions when football season begins and ends.  I love seeing my son have fun doing something he loves but its a dang LOT of work, for him and ME but I am so proud of him and his desire to succeed. 

First Days of School

Paige and Braidens First Day of School

August 21, 2012

Braiden- 8th grade

Paige- 2nd grade

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Dark Knight Marathon- July 20th, 2012

The Dark Knight Marathon

Braiden and I, in a theater from

 6pm-3am.

Lots of Batman...

In case you were wondering, yes, I am a cool Mom.

My nightmare begins (Braiden turns 13!)

Braiden is one lucky kid.

The 13th birthday party was easy:  a few buddies, pizza, cake and X-Box pretty much all night.  He picked red velvet cake.  Who is this kid?

Buddies:  Max, Trevor and Nate.  They are pretty good kids.  They haven't caused too much trouble as of yet (that I know of) which is the only reason why I let them keep coming back. 

I love this picture of Braiden.  He has cut his cute Justin Beiber "do" since then but I liked it for the short while that he had it. 

Remember when I said Braiden was a lucky kid?  This is b-day party #2 at his dads house.  More people, more cake, more presents!  I suppose I can be glad that we are all able to get along well enough to have a big party together.  

As you may have guessed, his highlight birthday gifts were his Facebook account and his cell phone (the 2 gifts of MANHOOD, right?)  Well, this is pretty-much the side of him that I have seen since then.  Could I not have waited one more year?

He's a cute kid.  Heaven help me.