A Little Getaway

Kevin had a conference in Phoenix this year and with Clara turning a year old, it was a perfect time for me to go with him.  It was a much needed break and chance to have some relaxation and time together.  I sure love being with this guy and I'm grateful he seems to like being with me as well.  The first night we got there we went to the Diamondbacks baseball game, which is fun because we are big baseball fans.  Kevy especially.  Anytime he has the chance to go to a ball game, no matter the teams, he is there.  It was fun to go with him without needy kids. we found a really good little pizza joint that night and then went to the game after.  I was a little tired and when the seventh inning stretched on forever I was done. I just wanted to head back to the hotel.  We watched a movie and then slept in until 10 am!  It was crazy to just sleep and relax for a few days.  We spent that just hanging by the pool and reading before we decided to head to the Gilbert temple.  We thought it would be fun to go to do sealings at another temple that we'd never been to.  We had planned to go out to dinner and were headed to the restaurant on the freeway when  Kevy spotted a sign for Café Rio.  Of course we had to go there for dinner.  Mine ended up being gross but at least Kevy got his beloved Rio.  The temple was absolutely gorgeous and ended up being one of our favorite things about the trip.

After two days together we headed to the conference, which is still fun but not as fun because Kevin is in classes all day.  We at least got to eat together. but the meals were a huge disappointment compared to the last conference we went to, and the big event was really lame with really bad food.  We did however get to stomp grapes which was a new experience.  But honestly it didn't matter if the conference wasn't that great because I got to have a little break from reality and spend some much needed time with the man I love.

All About Annie-3 Years

Oh Annie girl, I knew from about 4 months on that our Annie was a feisty little one and she has only gotten more so as time has gone on.  She has definitely hit the difficult three stage. I know it is called the terrible twos, but I have found that three is much harder than two.   There are times lately where I want to just lose it with her and the crazy fits that she throws. Potty training with her has been a 6 month process.  It didn't even take Nellie this long to potty train. She still has accidents all the time and it is just because she doesn't care.  She will wet her pants and then go up and change herself. Thankfully she doesn't do it with pooping. She is a stubborn one that is for sure.

Annie really loves babies.  Like more than I can even say.  She has a ton of them and she names them and  treats them like they are real.  She will put a baby in the high chair and then she will give it bits of food.  She pretends that they need a diaper change and she talks about them like they have real feelings.  I just love it about her so much that she wants to be a little mommy. 

 Annie has a best friend named Piper who is the daughter of one of my good friends.  The crazy thing is that they have loved each other from the time they were really little even though kids that age usually don't care that much.  They love to play together and they talk about the other one all the time. In fact I can almost always use Piper as a bribe to get Annie to do something.

Annie can also be really sweet too.  one of my favorite things that she does is I will be sitting like on the couch and she will come up and kiss me on the arm or some other random place.  It is funny but really cute too.  She makes this super cute noise too when she is excited about something and I just love the way she calls Clara "Crarabelle". She almost never calls her just Clara.

Annie has a bit of a problem being a bully to Russell and Clara.  She really is the instigator. She will be teasing Russ and bringing him to tears and then she will turn around and do the same thing to Clara.  Its pretty maddening!  She also has had a problem biting lately.  Russ has had some serious bite marks on his back from her.  Although she may have been cured of that little problem because Clara bit her pretty good and the next day she told me that "I'm going to be a good girl today and I'm not going to bite anyone."

Annie is going through a bad eating phase right now.  She doesn't want to eat her dinner and if she does she wants me to feed it to her.  She is totally into fruit snacks and I seriously think she would try to live on fruit snacks alone if I let her. We had to move them up into our bedroom closet because she was eating 10-12 a day.  It was ridiculous!!!

Annie has the most beautiful hair. I have never been attached to my kid's hair until hers. It goes all the way down her back and it is super blond and thick!  It dries so pretty all on its own.  So many people have commented about how pretty her hair is and its true! I would die to have hair that pretty!

Annie is such a little firecracker.  She adds so much spice and life to our home.  Even though I want to pull my hair out a lot. I know that part of it is the age and she will mellow out some soon.  I am so grateful to have her as my daughter.  She is a little sunshine in my life. I love my Annie girl!

Annie's 3rd Birthday

Our crazy Annie had her birthday.  It was fun for her to go to the store and pick out her presents, she picked out six babies of course.  Her birthday fell on a Sunday so it worked out perfectly to do her party that day.

 She liked these babies because they don't have cloth bodies so she could take them in the tub, which is a pretty big deal for her.  She is really into her babies.  None of the other girls had very much of an interest in baby dolls so I think it is just about the cutest thing ever!

 I love decorating the kids cake and trying to make them something extra special for their birthday.  I let the kids use the extra frosting and decorating bags and practice decorating.  They absolutely loved it.

Annie wanted an Ariel cake so I looked online to get some ideas. And while it definitely is not perfect I was really proud of how it turned out. And Annie was absolutely thrilled, which is really all that matters.  She was napping when I made it so when she woke up and saw it she was so excited.

 We decided to buy Annie a present that she didn't pick out so that she had something to open and she was pretty excited about it.

 She also got a present from Grandma and Grandpa that she got to open as well.  She was really excited about opening presents this year.  It's always so fun when they really start to understand the whole birthday thing, and get so excited about it. 

 She got some pretty necklaces and stickers.

 And she got a cute new outfit that she loves.

 Man do we love this crazy Annie girl.  She gives us a run for our money but our lives would not be the same without her!

Field Trip with Lizzy

One of Lizzys field trips this year fell on a flex Friday which was perfect because then I could go!  I feel bad because with having all these kids I just have never been able to do any volunteering at the schools with the kids.  I figure eventually when they are all in school I will be able to but unfortunately by that time Lizzy will be in high school and it will be too late.  In fact this was really the last year I would be able to do much with her. So of course I jumped at the chance to go, thinking that I would get to be a help, but I ended up doing absolutely nothing.  I felt really just in the way, but it was fun to get to go with Lizzy and see how she interacts with her peers, and it was a really cool field trip.  They got to pretent they were working on a space ship and they had certain tasks to do.  It was really neat. 

It was really fun watching Lizzy in action.  She is such a smart beautiful girl and I am so proud of the person that she is.

All About Clara- 1 Year

Oh my goodness do I love this sweet baby!  It really doesn't even feel like she is the same baby that was so darn hard that I almost didn't make it.  She is just the most fun, sweet little girl there is.  I think maybe partially she knows she is the sixth so she is pretty content to just hang out.  She is a very good passenger in the car, which of course is amazing.  She absolutely loves her siblings and really loves the attention that they give her.  The oldest three especially love their baby sister.   She really adores them and especially Lizzy.  It truly is amazing to really have felt that completeness once Clara arrived in our home.

 She is gotten so busy, and right before she started walking she started walking around on her knees.  It really was quite an interesting sight.  She got really hard to take pictures of too because of her busyness and because any time I pulled out my phone she thought she needed to have it.

  Clara started walking at about 12.5 months and ever since she has gotten infinitely more busy.  Church has gotten unbearable as has taking her shopping, because she is no longer content to ride in the cart or be held.  No she has to be down walking on her own, doing her own thing.  It is so frustrating at times and I have to say it is the hardest thing about this age. 

I have always had great eaters but I honestly don't know if any of them could rival this girl.  She is amazing how much she can pack down.  And I love how I can give her anything that we eat and she will eat it. The funny thing that she will not eat though is dry cereal.  I try and give her a handful and she just turns her nose up at it.  She wants real food.  She absolutely loves fruits and veggies.  She will eat all of them, I cant think of any that I have given her that she hasn't just scarfed down.

One thing that absolutely drives me nuts is that she paints her entire body when she eats.  And it is getting worse!  She immediately starts rubbing her hair with food when she gets her hands covered in food.  I am not kidding that it is every. single. meal. I bather her daily but honestly she really needs three baths a day.  I mostly have to ignore the filthiness of her hair because I will literally have just bathed her an hour before.   

 I realize that these pictures are all about the same, but I just loved her face in each one and I couldn't decide which one I liked the most.

One of the funniest things about Clara right now is that she loves to sit in this dolly stroller and let her siblings push her around the house.  She will sit there forever even if they aren't pushing her around.  I think she loves it because it is a little seat just for her.

My good friend Amy asked me of Clara could be a model for her for a teething toy. Of  course I said yes, and she also took a bunch of other pictures at the same time since it was around her first birthday. They are all so good! I feel so lucky to have a friend that will take such awesome pictures for me. I love this one because we were asking her to fold her arms and that is one of Clara's big tricks,  if she sees someone folding their arms for a prayer, or if you say "fold your arms"  then she immediately does it. It is pretty much the cutest thing EVER!

I just adore all of these pictures and I am so grateful to Amy for taking them for me.  She captured Clara's personality so perfectly!

I am SOOOO very grateful that Heavenly Father had one more sweet spirit to send our family.  I just don't know what I would do now without this beautiful girl in my life!  I love her so much!