Growing up to fast!

In the car today, Abigail said to me, "Mom. I need a cell phone so I can call my friends and set up my own play dates." Abigail is 7 going on 17!!

Quick Year in Review

This past year has flown by so fast. It's been a good year filled with lots of good times. Here's a quick and brief review. :) Jeff is still working for the same company but has just recently accepted a new position as a Consultant Manager. He's really looking forward to the new job and is excited about learning some new things. This new position will require more travel than we are used to but hopefully we will all adjust to it easily. (and by we I mean ME!) Jeff still really enjoys riding his quad and gets out as often as he can. We hope to take some family riding trips this summer! I love staying home with our kids. It is challenging but I wouldn't want to be any where else. I still love running and I completed my first sprint tri-a-thalon this summer. I loved it and can't wait to get training for some more races. I'm continuing to play soccer once a week and I even picked up an extra night each week playing co-ed with Jeff. It's been a lot of fun and a nice little date night for us. I love to quilt when I can but right now I don't have much time for my own hobbies. That will come later! Abigail is in 1st grade this year and loves it. She is growing up so fast! She took horseback riding lessons this year and really liked it. This fall both Abigail and Wyatt played soccer. I was their coach and it was a blast. They both really liked it and Abigail showed some amazing natural abilities with the sport. She liked it so much that she wants to keep playing. Of course I'm super excited about that! Also right now she wants to start up piano lessons and I'm thrilled about that to. Looks like we'll get going with that in 08'. Wyatt had fun with soccer but I think is still a bit young for it. He couldn't understand why the other team kept taking the ball away from him! Not sure that basketball will be much different but he's signed up for that and he can't wait. He's always been a hoops guy! I'm sure there will be pictures to come on the blog of his games. He goes to preschool 3 days a week and loves it! It's fun to see him learning so much and enjoying it. Shane turned 1 year old last month. He is changing and growing way to fast. I just want him to stay little forever. He's been such a pleasant and loving baby and we have all fallen in love with him. The kids rush to be the first to see him in the morning when he wakes up and they love to play with him and make him laugh. He is a perfect fit in our family and we are so lucky to have him! We bought a boat this summer and had so much fun using it while the sun was here. It has been a wonderful family activity that we can do all together and we look forward to being able to get out in it again when the sun returns.
To all of our family and friends who visit our blog we want you to know how lucky we feel to know you and rub shoulders with you. You bless our family's life with joy and happiness and we will be forever thankful for your love and support. We wish you all a wonderful and blessed new year to come. Love you all!
Here are several pictures from trips we've taken this year and fun family outings. Enjoy!


Trip to Utah and Colorado this summer to visit friends and family.





Boat trips....





Jeff riding...
Trip to Bend Oregon.

Beach trips....

Sleding

We bundled up today and went sleding! The kids got new snow clothes for Christmas this year so we thought we better break them in. It was a great day, the sun was shining and we had a little hill all to ourselves. We went with our friends the Moulton's. It was so beautiful...what an amazing world we live in. Can't wait to go again!




I think Wyatt found something he REALLY likes!

Play time

Who knew laundry baskets were so much fun! (Why isn't DOING the laundry as much fun??)

Christmas 2007

We had a great Christmas! It's so much fun to watch the excitement in the kids faces while opening their gifts. Each of them were thrilled with the gifts they received. Santa brought Abigail a Barbie RV, Wyatt a T-Rex, and Shane an animal train. This year we had a very nice dinner with the Sligh family the day before Christmas eve. It was lovely to see them all doing so well. We spent Christmas eve with several of our friends whom we are so blessed to know. Christmas day was spent at our home with Wayne and Opal and the O'Dore side of the family. We had a great time eating, playing games and eating some more! Below are some pics from all of these fun gatherings. We are so truly blessed with the most wonderful family and friends anyone could ask for!

Well, no criers this year!! Everyone was happy to sit on Santa's lap and smile for a photo. Abigail and Wyatt were anxious to tell Santa just what they've been wishing for and as you can see Shane just wanted to share his cookie!

Gingerbread Fun

Tonight the kids decorated a gingerbread house. We all really had a lot of fun! Abigail and Wyatt each took a half and went to town. Abigail took great care in the placement of all her candy pieces and it turned out beautifully. Where as Wyatt took great care at making sure that most of his candy went in to his mouth!! (3 for me, 1 for the house) Shane made sure to catch any stray pieces of candy that accidentally landed on the floor. We played Christmas music and had fun as a family.

Wyatt - ism!

Wyatt was singing to us in the car this evening his own lovely version of "We Wish you a Merry Christmas". Here's how it went..."We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Ear"!!! He sure makes us smile!

Shane's strange allergy

This morning Shane woke up very hungry. So after feeding him a full glass of milk from the fridge he was shivering quite a bit. I think the milk just made him cold. So we grabbed a blanket from the family room and wrapped him in it. He was very content to be held on Jeff's lap while warming up. After about 10 minutes he was ready to leave the blanket behind and come eat some breakfast in his high chair. He started eating and quickly began to sneeze repeatedly, nose running, itchy eyes, face and ears and was just generally miserable. Jeff said maybe he's allergic to something but we couldn't think of anything new that he'd eaten. So after eating a very little he was so tired and miserable that we decided to see if he wanted a nap. He gladly layed down and slept for 3 hours. When he awoke his face and eyes were so swollen that it was hard for him to see. We realized it was an allergy and gave him some benadryl. After thinking it through we have concluded that the only new thing he'd been introduced to this morning was the blanket...it was a down feather blanket. Who knew!!! We won't be wrapping him up in that blanket for a long time. :)

Abigail turns 7!

Abigail celebrated her 7th birthday this past weekend. We can't believe how big she's getting. We celebrated on Saturday with family at the Family Fun Center. It's one of Abigail's favorite places...lots of pizza, games, rides, and prizes. Grandpa Ron came up from California to celebrate and Wayne and Opal joined us there as well. It was so much fun. Then Saturday night we did some more celebrating with family at our home. Grandma and Grandpa Sligh came over for cake and presents. Uncle Derek came made a special trip on Sunday to come wish Abigail a happy birthday. She received so many phone calls on her birthday with lots of well wishes and love...Gma + Gpa Cribbins, Gma Drees, Auntie Brandie, cousins Bryce + Chandler, Gma + Gpa O'Dore. Lots of family and friends that love her. Abigail is way into Webkinz, Barbie, Littlest Pet Shop, just to name a few. Here's some pics from her special day.


Family Fun Center pics

Wyatt likes the letter "D"

Wyatt is feeling better, not quite 100% but well enough to go back to school today. This week they are talking about the letter "D". "D" just happens to start the word of one of his most favorite things right now...Dinosaurs!! Here's a picture of him with his dinosaur picture and a pair of "D"og ears that he made himself! Wyatt LOVES preschool and is learning so much. It's fun to be 4. :)

Winter is here!

It's been a while since I posted anything...there are lots of reasons why. :) We've been hit by the cold bugs! It's that time of year and my kids just can't stay healthy. Wyatt and Shane have already had croup. After finishing off that Shane went right into a bad ear infection for which he's on meds for now. And now, Wyatt is sick again with some kind of nasty virus that's really hitting him hard. I feel so bad for the kids. The bright spot is that Abigail, Jeff and myself have managed to stay pretty healthy. In the middle of all these illnesses we did have a wonderful Thanksgiving with family, lots of good food! We had dinner with Thelma, Jeff's grandma, and his parents on Thursday. Then on Friday we had another dinner with Jeff's other grandparents, Wayne and Opal. Now we are preparing for Christmas and getting in the holiday spirit. We had our first snow of the season just this past weekend. It was only a couple of inches but it was lots of fun and the kids were super excited. Hope we get more snow for them to play in! Abigail just celebrated her 7th B-day. I'll post more about that soon with some pics.

Here's a couple of pics of my sick kids!