They Grow up so fast.

Always smiling.... Always getting into things....Really getting into things!!!..

She jumps right in....
Ready for any adventure

Works hard...

She is such a joy...

Madison turned 5 in June.. I can't believe our little girl is growing up so fast.. She had a great birthday party---loves all the little dolls and anything PINK. She is so much fun and all girl!!!

AHHHHH SUMMER

AHHHHH SUMMER! Just some pictures of some of the things we did.

JACOB and MADISON rock climbing
LAGOON

SAM loved the train
Jacob went on some of the kiddie rides. But I did get him to go on Colossus and Jet Star. He would get off and then say, "lets go again!!!" Madison tried the Tidal Wave. Lots of fun. Jake and I went on Snake Rapids..We got soaked!

And Carlos of course has gone Fishing.

OLD vs NEW

OLD VS NEW

We did it! We moved! ( a little over 2 months ago..-I am just now getting my camera and everything set up again after the move, internet disruption and then a computer virus) .

Moving was much more stressful that I thought it would be(despite the kindness of the people that bought our house-sarcasm implied!) Who would have thought just moving down the street would be such a hassle.. We had great help from the Elders Quorom and friends. (many who watched my kids or helped me clean the house). It was surreal to say good-bye to our first home that we put so much work into and also made many memories. But it also felt good to move on to something else.. Granted we didn't make a huge move.. We are still in the same neighborhood and the same ward.. The kids play with the same friends and go to the same school. But it is amazing what living on a circle does for the kids and what an extra bedroom does for me.. Bed time is so much easier (madi and jake are no longer sharing a room) . The kids love their space. I love that they can go outside to play in the circle and I no longer worry about speeding cars as we did at the previous house...there are also more kids around. (I just noticed in both pictures Sam is in his diaper.

For the first month I felt like I was living in someone elses house and it was somewhat depressing. I couldn't get comfortable.. And then I painted the bathroom (it wasn't a pretty bathroom at all). IT is amazing what a little change can do. After that I have been going room to room fixing them up. It now feels more like our home..

I just put up all our a few days ago pictures (2 months later). Jacob said, "Mom, this looks like a home now." and Madison said, "I like what you did to our house." I never knew they paid much attention to the walls or even noticed. Not everything is finished but it is livable.

We all are loving the new house.. We have been very blessed...especially in selling our old home! I feel much more settled here and we MAY stay for a long time. But I won't promise anything!!!

walking on sunshine june 2008

Madison did Dance this spring with her friend Maya and Mckenzie. She would come home and show us all they did that day. When she got her costume she put it on right away and would do this model like pose... The recital was so cute and she did a wonderful job...they may not have remembered the dance but they did have fun, except for one.


after the recital we walked around the park for a bit (there were other activites for riverton days) and Madison heard the song from Enchanted and she started to dance improv.. she was so cute.. We will definately do dance again.

A Magical Surpise

What a surprise we gave the kids! At 4am on Wed we woke them up with the invitation to go on a plane ride. They were thrilled even though they had no idea where we were going or how long we'd be. I guess it never occured to them we'd be gone a few days since Jacob even asked if he could invite a friend over when we got home that day.

Landing in Long Beach, CA there was still no guesses as to what we were doing. Ideas of the beach, maybe an Amusement Park but no definate guesses. Not until we left the hotel and started to walk down Magic Way did Jacob really clue in to where we were.... Fortunately I have never much talked about Disneyland to the kids so they really had no idea what to expect. IT was more than they could have dreamed of.

For three straight days we got up early and went to the Park...coming home late at night we would eat and then crash in those nicely made hotel beds, then do it all over again the next day. Despite the three days we didn't get to see everything...which only leaves us with one option....TO GO BACK!!! We had a great time and it really is the happiest place on earth....It was so easy to forget about any kind of responsibility...only what fun we could we do next.

Jacob loved almost everything.. He wasn't so sure about going on the Indiana Jones ride again but was first to enlist himself for Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Star Tours, Thunder Mountain and the Matterhorn And the wild Screamer in California Adventure (it puts colassus to shame). Luckily for him we would get the fastpass..(4 of them) and he would first go with Dad and then with Mom. (Madi wasn't feeling as adventurous.)





He also enjoyed the Pixar Parade with Woody, Buzz Lightyear and Lightening McQueen... the only time he wasn't having fun was when he wasn't on a ride.

Madison also enjoyed rides but was hestitant to go on some. (I blame myself for taking her to the Bugs life 3-D movie....where there is a sign stating "may be scary to some small children--she freaked).



But by far the highlights for her were getting to meet her heroines the princesses and then seeing them in the parade.. she would stand up and waive and say "Ariel, Ariel, here I am" or "Hi Sleeping Beauty!!!", "Cinderella!!!!" She and Sam went and saw Playhouse Disney and danced along with Mickey and other characters.

"the princess waive"

Sam would have run wild if we let him but he did go on some rides, Pirates of the Carribean, the Safari Cruise and many of the little kid rides.. BUT the best was watching him during the parades...He would dance and point and clap and waive at everyone and everything in the parade...I loved the parades...such nostalgia from my childhood but it was a joy to watch Sam and my other kids make those same memories.



It was a wonderful time. Jacob wants to move to California and Madison wants to go back to our "other home"-the hotel room. It really is a magical place.

LIMBO

Disclaimer- I had good intentions of posting pictures of recent family outings. I was quite excited because I got some really cute picutes of Sam looking for easter eggs (yet he only went for the big Suckers ). I also caught him going down a big slide all by himself and having a blast. I took some nice ones of Madison and Jacob without them posing for the camera (resulting in forced smiles that that never look good).... I love to have picutres that capture those moments that happen only once and you want to remember! Well (sigh ****) while downloading my pictures to the computer I ran into problems and they were all lost.. AUGH! So I have been a little hesitant on taking more with the risk of losing them in the transfer process. So this will be a photo free post.

Again another month has gone. We have had several people come and look at the house and have had good things said but none were serious buyers I guess you could say... Just window shopping. That is not what I need...the waiting is seriously the worst. Of course we are not in a predicament where we need to sell immediately, but I am the type that gets an idea or a plan in mind and I want it to move quickly and smoothly. (not patient at all) We have found a house we like and that will meet our needs and give us room to grow. So we are in a state of Limbo. This phase is rough on me. I am planning to quit my job at Jetblue and spend more time with my family and get up at a normal hour. -no more bags under my eyes!!!! All this is dependent on selling this house.
-Summer is just around the corner and it would nice to be able to take off on the weekends...and it will be fabulous having the holidays off again...it has been 3 years since I have not had to work a major holiday. We may even travel this year....

It's March???

I recieved my gas bill in the mail today that said I owed a huge amount of money....to my shagrin I never paid it last month. There really should be no surprise there, the month of February just seemed to fly by. My natural reaction in the coldest month of the year is to hibernate and thus life seems to just float by as I snuggle in my warm blanket with a cup of hot chocolate and a a movie (or lots of reruns) Isn't it supposed to be warming up? The mounds of snow in my front yeard seemed to only grow -no global warming here. The snow did eventually start to melt and I could see grass only to be snowed upon again. I thought the weatherman (or "weather person") coould give me some sort of hope and it may get up to 50 this weekend. Can I even remember what that feels like?
I also realized that the insane amount of time that I spend indoors has triggered a need to just unload junk, yet it is too cold to go outside and start the process. Entering the garage is entering like entering a huge freezer. Part of my need to unload is that we really are running out of room. I have done the organization and such but I am running out of space to store things. I love my home with all the work we have put in to it- and I have oh so many more ideas on what to do. But Carlos and I decided before we start all that reconstruction and such we would try to find something a little bigger. So we put our house up for sale....not expecting much action but enough faith that there is someone or some family out there that can make this thier first home and enjoy it as we have. IF not....then I will invite my friend Marisa over to help me punch some holes in the walls (since she won't do it at her house I'll volunteer mine). So wish us luck... ( just a side note...we are only interested in something a little bigger but in no way are we anxious to start a new life with new friends, ward and school...so we will sticking close to HOME.)