Max turned 2!

We sure do love this cute little guy. He is full of personality and is constantly making us laugh. Happy birthday Max.

Here he is in a timeout. He's obviously a little upset which makes me laugh because he rarely gets upset.

Mr. Cool often sleeps like this. Especially when we are driving in the car.

I would say his chocolate cake was a success!

Disneyland!!

Family Wrap Up!

I regretted that I didn't write an actual Christmas card this year to send out so I thought I would just write a bit about everyone here so we won't forget what we did for the past year.

Mitch is working at Fusion-io which just got bought out by Sandisk. He likes it there for the most part and just got moved to be an outside sales rep which is great. He's picked up mountain biking this year and has enjoyed getting out. He is easily the parental favorite this can be seen anytime he comes home from work and has all the kids running to give him hugs.  He loves taking the kids for 4 wheeler rides and teaching them new skills.

Stacie spent most of her summer training for Pyper's marathon. She tries to do one after each baby to help her get back in shape. She did it with two of her favorite past USU teammates and loved training with them. Motherhood is suiting her well. She loves being with the kids and teaching them. They are continually surprising her with how much they learn and how easily they pick up new skills.

Ellie is 5 and is a beautiful, kind little girl (which is a far cry from her terrible twos when she was scratching and biting other kids faces.) She spends every warm day outside riding her bike up and down the neighborhood. She has a pink princess bike with a non matching seat and a wobbly back tire from a mishap when she left it behind dads car. :(  She loves her younger siblings and is fiercely loyal to them.  She never bats an eye when Max wants to tag-a-long and actually prefers it as it reduces her occasional anxiety. She played t-ball, and soccer this year and i 'm happy to report that she is quite competitive.

Max is 2 and is full of Christlike love.  Max melts everyone's heart that he comes into contact with. He is quick to give hugs and does not like it when others are in pain. However, he still is very boy. This is seen as he rides his Strider bike down the road with a binky in his mouth, cowboy boots on, and a sword coming out the top of the back of his shirt. At the start of the year he barely said 3 words but by the end of the year he has become quite chatty. He suddenly started talking in full sentences in about July and has never gone back. We love hearing his little voice and I melt when he say's, "I love you Momma".

Pyper Grace came to us in March and we could not love her more.  She is a wise spirit that loves looking on. She's not overly smily, or frowny but she always seems to have a peaceful look about her. She loves her Mom and prefers her over anyone (a curse and a blessing). She is starting to eat with us at dinner and loves to babble!

We love our little family and everyday I find myself stepping back in awe in how lucky we are. The world is full of endless opportunities and plenty of good if we only seek them out. How blessed we are.

Elsa's House

Mitch is such a good dad. He loves being with the kids. We got this cute little kitten named Elsa and he dicided to make a cat house with the kids for her. They loved it for 30 minutes or so then got bored and finished it himself. Go figure. Anyway, we are sure lucky to have him as our daddy!

Happy Birthday Ellie!

Can you believe this girl is 5! She has grown and learned so much in the past 5 years. She becomes more and more kind each day and I love that. She's a great helper and is always trying to choose the right.

 Ellie had an Elsa birthday party with our family. I out did myself and made this cake myself. I was surprised that it actually was not that hard! Elsa is all the rage this year and Ellie loves being part of it.

 Darn it, a blurry picture! but for history sake I must throw it in. Here are Grandpa and Grandma Dorius bursting with pride over their 3 new Granddaughters, Pyper, Kate, and Lillian. These three look like their going to be trouble!

 Here is cute Ellie with her birthday stash. Oh, see that snowflake pinata, I made that! I took an old diaper box and pulled out some craft skills I learned in the 2nd grade and whalla!

 I let Ellie take 2 friends to classic skating for her birthday. We went in the day time and we were the only ones there. It was really fun.

 Maddie and Addie are Ellie's best buds. They run the cul-de-sac everyday from house to house. Max always plays along with these three girls. What great buddies.

Happy Birthday Ellie!

Happy Holidays!

I love Thanksgiving. It's such a low stress holiday that's complete with all the yummy pies. My mom and I make pies the day before thankgiving each year. I love that day almost more than thanksgiving itself. This picture is fun because you have Aimee, Mom, and I looking lovely as ever from all of our hard work. Then you have Robb making sure to be awkward in the background. Then you have Kiley who was the master 'snitcher' of pies. We love snitchers at our house so we filled her fingers with whip cream and sent her on her way! Below we have Mom showing off her pie perfection!

 This time of year is absolutely wonderful. I never would have imagined that Christmas with toddlers would be so much fun. Sammy the elf has once again returned and I kid you not Ellie has been on her BEST behavior. That girl is what we call a true believer, and I love it.

 Santa at station park was the real deal. He sat and talked with the kids and told them all about the north pole, reindeer, elves etc... and his beard was beautiful. I could have reached out and stroked it. But I didn't and he probably appreciated that.

 Let's not forget Mrs. Clause. She was adorable too. We visited the Clause's with our cousins Elise and Cooper.

 This is the everyday life with Pyper Grace. She loves her bouncer and can get really get that thing a rockin. She looks more and more like Ellie each day.

 This December has been incredibly warm with temperatures in the 50's to 60 all month (I love it) We were out swinging and I told the kids that it's almost warm enough to pull out the pool! Max went inside for a few minutes then came out looking like this. He obviously was ready to hop in! It's not quite that warm little guy.

 Natually we had to go to temple square. Ellie told me that if I sat quiet enough that I could hear the Lord in my heart. She has a beautiful simple testimony.

This is what Temple Square usually turns out like. A human Totem pole. Grumpy kids by the end and tired parents. It's all for the pics sometimes. :)

 We enjoyed a new tradition this year at This is The Place park with the Dorius cousins. They have a live nativity and it reminded us of the true meaning of Christmas. It was lovely.

Ogden Temple and A Random but Great Life

You'll have to forgive the randomeness of all this posting. I just don't want to miss a thing!

 This picture took me a second to figure out if this was Max or Ellie. But Alas, it is Max, dressed up like a unicorn. Looking just beautiful as ever in pink.

 We went to the Ogden temple open house with my parents and grandma. Isin't Grandma (90) adorable? I was really excited to have my kids there and teach them of such a wonderful place. However, it didn't turn out that way. The line through the temple was incredulously slow, and I tried to keep the kids reverent but even I started to feel for them. Max was insistint on being a 'doggy' and crawling on his hands and knees. It was making me crazy. It really was not a spiritual experience for us but it was lovely to see. Oh, and the Ice cream and Farrs was (as always) terrific.

 These two little besties love torturing each other. :)

 Families really are FOREVER and boy am I glad.

 ....and this is Mitch in a casket. Weird and freaky and I hope I never have to see him in one. But he took his young men to the mortuary to learn all about it. He and the other leaders thought it would be fun to give the boys a few scares.

 I am so happy to report that Mitch has found a sport that he actually enjoys.  He went to Southern Utah with my brother Robb and some friends and had a terrible but good time. He crashed a few times, and it was super long, but if you know Mitch, he will always say that he had a good time in most any situation.

 Here they are again, looking their toughest.

 Mitchell! Get off that ledge!!!

 Ellie played on a t-ball team this fall. She was one of 3 girls and totally owned it. She's awesome in every way to us.

 I ran a race and won this awesome hammock. Pyper and I spent a sunday afternoon napping in it. Could life had been any sweeter this summer? Good health, good babies, good life.

There is the adorable and overpriced train station by our house. My kids absolutely loved it. It's only open 3 times a year so we had to try it out. Max is very into trains so this was heaven to him. 

Living Outdoors!

As you already know, we love the outdoors. If we have an open weekend we are trying to figure out if we should head to the mountains or to the lake. We enjoy making these memories and everyone made we deeply cherish.

 Here we are up at Mitch's parents condo. What is it about kids in goggles that makes them so darn adorable!?

 This picture makes me laugh every time. I love that Grandpa Larry is playing checkers with Ellie and how she is wearing her cute nightgown and how she is still little enough to sit indian style on the table. Then there is Max. Why on earth does he have that bucket on his head? I have no idea, but I love it. He is such a ham!

 Is there anything better than being with Grandpa in a fishing boat? Perhaps it would have been a little better if they caught something... :) It's all about the memories though right?

 This summer we went back woods camping with some our neighbors the Swains, Guiles, and Pecks. Our kids were by far the youngest but they graciously invited us along. We really had a great time shooting guns, avoiding oodles of stinging nettle, and sitting around the campfire.

 Here are Mitch and Ellie shooting targets while camping. Just for the record, I loathe guns. They scare me. I would be fine if we never touched one. However, Mitch likes them. So sometimes they make it on the trip and sometimes they don't. :)

 Up at Grandpa Ricks capin we decided to go on a hike around Hinckley Pond. There is a cowboy (no really, like a legit cowboy) who patrols the property on horseback. He caught up to us and let the kids go for a walk on his horse.

 I love the Ranger because the whole family can be in it together and Mitch loves the 4 wheelers. He insists on teaching the kids how to drive, shift, etc. I keep reminding them that they are 2 and 4. I kinda like how this picture shows so much of his SEXY leg. ;)

Here we have Max sporting my snowmobile helmet. I get worried that they have to much of their dads adventurous side sometimes. I suppose that's what originally made me like him so much!