More pictures from Christmas weekend in Burley

Sophie checking herself out in the mirror-

The little fairies Kaisa and Maddie made with grandma Sue-

My cute mom and dad-

Hot cocoa-

I got to meet up with some old friends, Alisha, Giselle, Chanc, Cortney, and Carrol.

Me and Alisha talking in the background-

Sophie and Chanc's boy Ayden-


sisters-

Sophie and Chloe-

Andy and Chloe bonding-

The kids loved playing Mario Kart all weekend-

Kaisa and Maddie in their matching skirts from grandma-

Our Family-

The claw game got hours of use from all the kids-

Also while in Burley I got to visit my grandparents several times and enjoy their company. And the kids got to go on a fun treasure hunt with special books with pictures from the Young Family Games for each kid.

Visit from my Sister

Sara, Abby, Colton, and Ryan came to visit us this week, Tuesday-Thursday. It was so fun having them here. Her kids are the same ages as mine so they had a wonderful time playing together. The girls were going on fairy hunts, the boys played with guns, cars, and outside, and the babies were learning to be soft with each other.
Sara and Abby helped me teach preschool and Abby got to come to Girl Scouts with us. We miss them already!

I love how Garen and Colton both closed their eyes-

Sophie and Ryan-


Maddie and Abby-

Visiting New Baby Ryan

The kids and I got to Sara's house Thursday evening. I couldn't wait to hold the brand new little guy. He is so darn cute! It was fun to see my mom and sister Mandy for a day as well.

At Sara's house I spent the 3 days there mostly doing kid things. I'm glad Sara let us come and hang out even though I wasn't much help. It seemed like I was always holding Sophie or doing something for my own kids that I didn't get to do as much as I wanted to for her. But we had fun anyway.
I got to take Abby to her T-ball game. She was so fun to watch and she did really well.

We come home Saturday in the pouring rain. I hate driving in the rain! We stopped in Evanston for a while and let the kids play at McDonald's and give Sophie a break from her carseat.
Garen got beat up by a naughty boy up in the slide-so after cleaning his bloody lip, feeding Sophie, and a bathroom break we were back on the road in the rain again.
I didn't think I was going to make it with the buckets of rain, and the semi's going by making it so I couldn't see, Sophie screaming, and Garen saying, "mom dance!" But one more quick stop and a little prayer, the weather cleared up a bit and Sophie fell asleep and made it home safe and sound. I am thankful that Heavenly Father is always listening to my prayers and always ready to comfort!
Ryan Robert, 8 pounds 2 ounces, 22 inches long, so very cute!-



my mom got Garen a bubble machine for his birthday, everyone loved it!-

Abby at her T-ball game-

Sophie and Aunt Mandy-

Maddie and baby Ryan-

Chloe Mae and Sophie Mae, 3 months apart-

Sophie with her newest cousin, that makes 17 cousins for her-

Garen, Abby, Maddie having some breakfast-

a new water gun from grandma and grandpa-

since we got to Sara's house on Garen's birthday, Mandy bought him a cake-

Sophie attacking Chloe-

Hogle Zoo

Maddie's Girls Scout troop went to Hogle Zoo. Instead of letting my 5 year old ride 3 hours with a group of girls and leaders I don't know that well, we went to Sara's hose Friday night. And Sara was nice enough to watch Sophie and Garen on Saturday while I took Maddie and Abby to the zoo.

It was crazy busy there; I was so glad to have the two older girls and no stroller, no baby, no run away 2 year old and no diaper bag!

I had so much fun with the girls! We had lunch, saw all the animals, rode the train, played at the park. Then after the rest of the troop left I took the girls to the bird show, which they loved!!! Then I let them ride the carousel.
It's funny how opposite these cousins are. When Maddie saw something she wanted to see she just ran ahead to see it, Abby made sure to always stay close. At the bird show they asked everyone to please stay seated and not to reach out to any of the birds. So first thing Maddie does is stand up as the birds fly over, and you hear Abby say, "Maddie they said don't stand up!"
On our way back to Sara's we stopped for ice cream.

We didn't get back to Sara's till 5PM so we had to leave right away to get home before it got to dark. The time in Salt Lake was wonderful, but the drives were not!

Sophie screamed on the way to Sara's house, we had to stop several times. Then we stopped at Zurchers party store to grab some stuff for the upcoming birthdays. And my little car sick boy threw up as soon as we got in there. I caught most of it in Sophie's blanket and all over my shirt. So I was trying to clean up Garen, Sophie was crying and Maddie was saying "oh please can I have these candles and this princess crown.." What a mess.
Then on our way home I gave Garen two different doses of medicine. You could tell he didn't feel well, but he didn't throw up. But Sophie screamed and then spit up the whole bottle she was drinking on herself. I was just glad to finally walk in the door at 9PM and pass some of the kids over to Andy.