Cody Turned the big 4!

My Cody turned 4 years old on August 11th. I can't believe that he is 4 years old! He and I had a very special day together since the older kids were already in school. I think he really felt like "the king" for the day. We celebrated with cake and ice cream that evening.
Cody is such a sweet kid. He never denies me hugs and kisses and I take full advantage of that since I know that someday he will be too "cool" to hug me. We love you Cody and we are so glad that you are a part of our family!

Some of his favorite things:

Color-blue

Toy-bakugans

TV Show- Go, Diego, Go

Movie-Kung Fu Panda

Animal-dinosaurs

Food-hot dogs and frozen waffles (he really does eat them frozen)

Game-Lego Batman on the Wii

Thing to do with mom-cuddle and read stories

Things to do with dad-fish and go golfing

His birthday wish for 2009-"I wish that all the dinosaurs would come out of the ground so that I can play with them"

Taylor's bear hunt Aug. 2009

It's that time again.......HUNTING SEASON. YAY! Can you hear my enthusiasm?! Well, despite my sarcastic remark, I really am excited. I just wish I could actually go hunting WITH Taylor every now and then. He went bear hunting this last week and yes, he came home with one. We cleaned out our deep freezer a couple weeks ago in preparation for some game meat to move in. So far all we have are 2 bear heads, but I look forward to some "edible" meat. Here is a pic of Taylor's bear.

First Day of School

Summer has come and gone.....way too quickly if you ask me! Natalie and Cooper started school on August 10th. It was a bitter sweet moment for me. The kids love school, especially getting to see their friends every day. Plus, they were starting to get bored staying home with me. So, I guess it is a good thing, but I sure miss them!

California Trip....beware lots of pics!

Taylor and I took the kids on one last vacation before our summer ended. We first headed to Thousand Oaks, California. Taylor's sister was blessing her twins there and we wanted to attend. The trip to Thousand Oaks was interesting with the kiddos, to say the least, but we survived. I had no idea throwing 4 kids in the car and driving for 12 hours could be so "fun". Ha! We are glad we went though. We really enjoyed spending time with Tash and Leland and the twins. Leland's family was so wonderful to us and made us feel very comfortable.
Me and baby Liam

Shane and Liam

Proud Parents: Tash and Leland

Natalie and Liam

Cathy, Tash and Me

Natalie and Tylie doing a Puppet Show

The Monday after the blessing we headed down to San Diego to continue our family vacation. We stayed in the most beautiful hotel right on Mission Bay. The kids had a great time visiting the beach, Sea World, and Legoland. We had an amazing time as a family and I really hope we can do another trip like this soon!
View from our Hotel room

Cathy, Me and Eli on the beach

Cody playing swords on the beach

We made it to Sea World!!

Sea World: Waiting for Show to start



Legoland

Train ride

Me and Eli waiting for kids to get off of the ride




I am so glad that we took the kids on this trip. It was so much fun and we created a lot of fun family memories.

Yada yada yada.......

It has been a crazy and busy summer full of swimming, play dates, and family time. I don't have the time nor the energy to write a long post so here are some pics from our last few weeks.

My parents came to visit us a while back. We took them to the zoo and the aquarium. The kids had a great time being spoiled by their grandparents.

Cooper finished his last season of Rookie (machine pitch) baseball. Now he gets to move up to Minors!

Taylor took Cooper fishing. Cooper came home so excited and grateful to have spent the day with his dad. After watching this video I sure am glad I was not there to witness this. Poor Cooper was freezing!!

Random pics from this last month

A couple pics from my weekend in AZ. I went all by myself and thoroughly enjoyed shopping, going out to eat, and staying up all hours of the night. It was so nice to hang out with my sisters and not have to worry about my kiddos! Thanks Taylor for watching the kids while I was gone! This is a pic right before we went out to dinner.
Mom, Marlene, Steph, and Karen (Tracy is taking pic)

Me and Reagan

I also went to watch my brother and his band perform. They were awesome!

Taylor was given tickets to an arena football game at the Santa Ana Arena. We had a suite which was nice because the kids didn't have to sit in a seat the whole time. They got to run around and act crazy.
Natalie brought her friend Abbey

Our family minus Cooper. He was at a friend's house that night.

Cody enjoyed watching the cheerleaders!

A couple home projects......

Taylor has been listening to me curse my kitchen sink for 4 years. He finally gave in and let me buy a new one. I splurged and got a new faucet too! I am in love with it! It "only" took us 10 trips to the hardware store and 3 days to install it! I am so glad that it is finally done.


About 6 weeks ago we planted a garden. It has really come a long way! I think the funnest thing about having a garden is the joy it brings the kids. They take such good care of it. Don't be surprised if you find bags full of veggies on your doorstep, I am afraid we planted way too much for our little family! Especially considering I am the only one that eats vegetables in our household!

These pics were taken 2 weeks after we planted. The peas and corn were from seed.
Zuccini


Corn


Peas


Here is the garden now. And it is growing by the second!
Zuccini and Tomatoes

Peas and Corn

Eli loves the garden. He especially likes to water it with his daddy.