Brayden and his MAD cooking skills

Last F.H.E Brayden was in charge of the treat so he decided he was going to make Brownies all by himself. (he measured every thing and even cracked his own eggs :) They were fabulous!!!!!!!! (not an egg shell in sight) I was very proud of him . He even shared some with his teacher the next day and she said they were the best Brownies she had ever had. WAY TO GO BRAYD!!!!!!! he is growing up way too fast for me.

Kaisen, Jaxon,and Tylers pretty fingernails

Girls,(Bri, Chris,and Kirsten) I have a video of Kaisen I recorded just for you, but I can't get it to up load :( however I will keep trying. Anyway here is a little picture of him in the mean time. Isn't he so cute?? Here is Tyler with her best bud Jaxon. She went and had a sleep over at Aunt Shel's while Jax was visiting. She sure misses him when he is gone, but it's nice he comes and visits often.

Aren't these the most beautiful nails you have ever seen????
Tyler has been dying for some fake nails, so while we were in Idaho she got some :)
Boy did she look great!!!!!

Thanksgiving 2008

We went to Cody and Kirsten's for Thanksgiving this year :) It was fun to be up there with them, and amazingly enough NO snow!!!!!! Tyler making place cards??? (after she helped Kirst work, she used the rest of her colored cards)

Earlier they made cookie turkeys. Wish I would have gotten a picture of them :( They were so cute!!!

This is what they did while I cleaned up

dirty rats!!!!

Tyler LOVES her Uncle Cody !!!!!

(I think he is pretty fond of her too)

Look at these HAPPY kids
they were so excited to share a bed


I know sit down......... Trav went shopping on Black Friday. I'm still shocked!!!!
Trav, Tyler and I went shopping...... while I missed Chaw, We had a great time and Trav even scored his first HOT deal a 42 inch TV he was excited!!! The only problem was ,we were in the SUBARU ( he was now wishing we were in my awesome van) But we got creative and the T V made it home safe and sound.

F.H.E 11/24/08 Things we are thankful for

I am a little behind on my post :( Sorry!! We have been gone and then came home to a crazy week. (we went to Kirsten's for Thanks giving) However, this was a great night. Tyler played the piano for us and then we talked about everything we are grateful for.You can tell your kids are growing up by their answers. I thought I would share a few:

Tyler was thankful for: her family of course,Friends and a house to live in. She was also thankful for good teachers present and past(me too)and that I worked at her school. She also is thankful for her piano and clogging teachers,and carpooling. (I thought that was kind of a funny one)

Brayden was thankful for his family and friends too, his freedom of religion, ability(some day) to be able to vote, and freedom of speech. Can you tell what he is learning about in school?? He is most thankful that Trav has a good job so I can always be home ( I bet that will change in a few years, but for now that is nice to hear) .

Trav is grateful for his job too,but he said his family is what he is most thankful for (lucky us)

I can't even start with all the thinks I am thankful for.I agree with Trav my family,the Gospel and how hard he works for us are probably my big three.But I have millions of little things I am grateful for too: Friends, good health, a home to live in, a job that allows me to be home when my kids are,and oddly enough I too am thankful for car pooling :) I am also so thankful for my Grandma and the example she is to my family.

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!!!!!

The kids decorated the "KID" tree.

this is their favorite one to do.

Doesn't she look so grown up!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Grandma Ina Mae

Happy Birthday Bri

We love you!!!!! Hope you have a great day!

Halloween

Halloween was a blast. We had a lot of awesome visitors. (Bri and Kirsten) And we also got to see Tiff and Kaisen. GOOD TIMES!!!! The kids got to be 2 things for Halloween (lucky mom) For school the got to be what they wanted to be when they grow up.Brayd was a professional motor trials rider and Tyler was a mom,then for the trick-or -treat part Brayd was a Zombie and Tyler was a Vampire.

What cute kids!!!!!

Look at this little guy........have you ever seen anything so cute?
I didn't think so!!

Bri, Porter,Kaisen, and Tyler
I have such a good looking family



The scary kids!!!!!



Tyler and her Aunt Kirsten
(we sure love it when she comes to visit!!!!!!!)

F.H.E 10/27/08

This was a fun night! The kids decided to do carmel apples instead of cookies or cup cakes for our neighbor hood treats. They LOVED it (and the apples weren't half bad either) getting ready to dip the apples
decorating with candies and chocolate. Yummy!!!!

Some of the finished product

Now time to enjoy!!! Kind of hard without teeth :)

What a great night.

We are Home!!!

We had so much fun , but I have to admit it is GOOD to be home!!!! We have been home for 2 days and I have my laundry and blogging finished. So now it is really good to be home( Bri the blog thing is for you I know you were waiting for it :) I am always so grateful to be able so spend time with my family and to come and go in safety. Though it is hard to have my kids and Trav go back to work and school........... I get SPOILED when we go on vacation!!!

This is at the Port of Call

the entrance to where the ships load and unload

This was the FUN customs line.

The FBI,and Immigration were all over the place , so it was full of nice happy helpful people who loved kids. NOT !!!!!

The first look at our ship

you could feel the excitement in the air

As we are taking off from Long Beach

on the lido deck

This is a better look at the ship as Riley was driving us back from Catalina

It is a lot bigger than it looks

What we did on the ship.

I just wanted to post a few random pictures of what we did on the ship, but it would take pages and pages to do it individually . So I did it with slide show .( You can put your mouse on the picture and it will tell you a little about what you are looking at.)We hope you enjoy, I know we sure did!!!!!

Catalina Island !!!

Isn't this beautiful?!?! Catalina has a lot of cool things to see and do; however you just don't have a lot of time to do it in.(5.5 hours) So since Trav and I have been here before, and the kids REALLY wanted to go snorkeling , that is what we did most of the time. We spent a few hours in the morning shopping and looking for a good place to snorkel. (that is also kid friendly) We finally found a beautiful spot with a nice beach and bathrooms close by:) (with Tyler around it is all ways a good idea to know where one is close!!!) We all had a blast!!!!We are in a little boat headed for Catalina. Just like the one you see coming toward us in the picture.

(It is to shallow for the ship to dock there so we have to take little boats to shore, it takes about 5 mins or so)

We all sat in the back of the boat ,because they said you get a little wet!!!!

(and of course the kids were all over that)

The boys are going to try out the water for us

cold!!!!

Brayden was a little nervous so he rode piggy back on Trav's back for a few mins first.

(anyone who has been in the ocean knows how intimidating the under toe can be ex specially when you are in the deep water!!!!)

Awe, there you go Brayden. There were a lot of cool fish and things for them to look at. It was so much fun. They did this for hours and hours. Time flies when your having fun !!!!

Catalina Island part 2

Tyler about got attached by a bird and didn't like snorkeling ( it kind of scared her) so we did other things...........
We relaxed on the beach in the shade for a while

(It was around 100 degrees)

Then the kids went looking for crabs and shells

Tyler and I played in the sand while the boys snorkeled some more.

Here are two shells Tyler found on the beach

Catalina Island part 3

What in the world ?????

(these shells move!!)

I guess they are not just shells after all .... they have little crabs inside of them.

(darn it now we can't take them home.)

This brave boat driver let Riley drive us back to the ship.

It is not cool to let people know how excited you really are about this..... so not trying to smile is the best idea :)

FINALLY , after much pleading we got him to look at us. What a great job he did!!!!

As everyone got of the boat they told him what a great job he did, and because he was the 1st one off ,and we were the last ones off ,he got to talk to every one ! WAY to much embarrassment for a 13 year old to take.

Back to the ship to get ready for Mexico .

Ensenada, Mexico

Ensenada is a Beautiful place!!!!! In spite of the fact that it is so poor, It has some of the most beautiful scenery you will ever see. The people are so nice ( the ones who are not begging you for money) And there culture is fascinating. It is very interesting to me any way to learn about other peoples culture.though it is also kind of sad to see little kids begging in the streets, and playing in who knows what. (we are glad we don't know what) Good lessons learned this day........ Very HUMBLING!!!!!!!!!This guy was playing some cool ocean type music, The guy(pollo) who showed us around said these guys (native Indians) don't speak English or Spanish they have there own language only the Natives know.

cool outfit huh???

Riley enjoying the view waiting for La Bufadora

(the blow hole)

This is La Bufadora one of only 3 natural blow holes in the world

It is a cave below sea level and when the waves come in, it builds pressure until it finally blows!!

And there she blows !!!!!!

This picture just doesn't do it justice , It was cool

Ensenada, Mexico part 2

After we watched the blow hole for a while, we went shopping. Now everyone knows I like to shop, but shopping in Mexico is a whole different ball game and a real eye opener. It sure make me appreciate all that I have and how thankful I am to be an American with all of our luxuries that we take for granted every day. It was a good lesson for the kids so see that not every one is as lucky as we are. And we should be so thankful for the life style in which we live. We may not have every thing we want but we have every thing we need and so much more!!!!!

Look at the beautiful back ground.

We are approaching Main Street

(the main shopping area where you get attached by shop owners begging you to stop by their store . It can be very over whelming and a little scary!!!! )

Yep this is it !!!!

Aren't you glad you don't have to shop here every day.

This is the store where Tyler bought her sandals.

The girl who she bought them from was about 10 years old

This is Trav's new friend :)

(Tyler thinks this is so funny)