Springy Photo Shoot

"sisters"

Sam da MAN

Kaeli Ray

Rylie Jane

Sara Kate

It doesn't get sweeter than this:

Spring Break Begins!

Yesterday was the first day of Spring Break for Sam and Kaeli. The weather was perfect! The kids spent the morning enduring one of my photo shoots at the park (pictures will be posted soon) and then we had a lazy afternoon. After dinner we went for a little walk up Butterfield Canyon. The road is still closed so we just hiked up the road. It's really pretty up there. Here are a few snap shots of our walk:

We like to pose behind "No Trespassing" signs :-)
We're sooooo rebellious!

Sara is always getting a free ride.

We don't have any BIG trips planned for this Spring Break. We were hoping to go camping, but we still have so many things going on that we can't seem to make it out of town for just a few nights. But Aaron is planning to take a few days off this week so we can work on the basement or the yard. I plan to simply enjoy my kids and hang out in the sunshine :-)

An Apostle's Easter Thoughts on Christ

Click on the rectangle in the lower right corner to see it in full screen.

Happy Easter!

The Easter Bunny made a visit to our home some time on Saturday in the wee hours of the morning before any of us were awake! What a sneaky bunny! Kaeli asked us if the Easter Bunny was a real bunny or someone in a bunny suit. Because how can a real bunny really carry all that stuff??? We're not sure. But Aaron and I are happy that we're not the prime suspects...yet. The Easter Bunny left flip flops and candy in the kids' baskets. So fun! Later that afternoon we decorated eggs. This was the first time Sara got to be part of the decorating fun. We were grateful that the eggs were hard boiled as she carelessly exerted her creativity as any toddler would. Some of her eggish victims didn't survive without their shells being cracked, but she didn't seem to notice.

Here are the kids on Easter morning:

After church my sister-in-law's family and Grandma Karlyn came for a scrumptous ham dinner, and I got to hold the new baby :-)

General Conference

This weekend was General Conference! I look forward to listening to the church leaders every 6 months. I felt particularly excited this year and didn't want to miss a single word. How blessed we are to have have this guidance and direction. If you're curious what I'm talking about or would like to watch some of it click HERE.

Kaeli's BIG day!

On Saturday, Kaeli was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! She looked so pretty in her white dress. We had a houseful of family who came to be apart of that special day.

Kaeli was baptized and confirmed by her daddy.
Kaeli looks like an angel!

Isn't it GREAT to be EIGHT!!!

It's official! Kaeli Ray is 8! She feasted on her favorite for dinner...Ramen Noodles...chicken flavor! (I was burnt out from doing such a difficult meal, but I'm recovering :-) She also had a chocolate chip bunt cake with cool whip and strawberries! Yum!

What a pretty girl! I snapped the following shots right before school this morning. You may not see the snow storm billowing just beside her, but she was cold. We thought she was a "spring baby" but I guess that term isn't legit for March if you live in Utah.

Kaeli is just as BEAUTIFUL on the INSIDE! She is such a wonderful EXAMPLE to her family and her friends. Ever since Kaeli was in preschool her teachers have said that she goes out of her way to be KIND to those who need a friend. She the "#2 Mommy" in our household and takes such good care of her siblings. Kaeli also loves to LAUGH and be SILLY. Be careful not to get her started because you just might catch her contagious giggle. Kaeli is also our little TUMBLER and now can do up to 8 handsprings in a row. She also loves to draw & color, play with her friends, and read. We are blessed to have her in our family!

Tie-Dye PARTY and Ear Piercing!

Kaeli had a birthday party with friends on Saturday to tie-DYE for! Call me CRAZY to tie-dye with a bunch of 8-year olds! But believe or not we had ZERO fabric-dye fatalities. The guests each brought a white t-shirt to dye. After I showed them how to "tie" the fabric they choose their own colors and went dye-happy. After that Aaron took the rowdy bunch downstairs for a few games all of which included balloons; carrying, popping, bouncing...you name it they played it! Then they feasted on pizza and soda pop, cupcakes and cherry ice cream, and topped off the party with opening presents and chasing Aaron :-)

Oooooh! Tie-dye cupcakes! Or at least that's what I hoped they looked like!

Tie-dye MANIA!

Yeah...PRESENTS!

After the party, Kaeli and I went on THE date of all dates...

a mother/daughter date...

a date of high anticipation...

a date of becoming the the rightful age of 8...

a date of getting EARS PIERCED!!!

... followed by a trip to the Marble Slab Creamery :-) Here is Kaeli immediately after getting her ears pierced. You can see the pain is already forgotten and the "don't I look CUTE!" has set in!

Congratulations Kaeli! You sure ARE cute!

Creating = A Happy Me

My latest goal is to make more time to be creative. I love to create! I just don't do it enough. So whether it be painting a picture, rearranging my living room, (finally) updating the look of my blog, writing a post, planning and throwing a party, refinishing furniture, or sewing curtains for the girls' room I will be happier (see video in the right-hand column). Here is my latest creation:




Aren't they girly? We needed them to make the room darker for Sara's afternoon naptime. I still haven't gotten the flash on my camera fixed so the pictures aren't great. I forgot how much fun it is to make something :-)

Why Mormons Build Temples

Click here to watch an informative video!

It's that time of year again...

...when strawberries go on sale!

...and all your available tupperware is used up for freezer jam :-)

so HUGE!

Sara is my big HELPER during the day. Above you can see she is helping sort the socks (what? you can't tell that's what she's doing?). She randomly puts them in piles and even puts little piles on the table as if she were setting it for dinner, so each person has a little pile of socks for their place setting. She is so ready to be big. In fact, yesterday she told me, "Mom, I am HUGE!" I had to laugh and I agreed. She's been doing some huge stuff lately, like using the potty for both #1 and #2 and staying dry all day! She also moved out of her crib a few months ago! She is always following her siblings around mimicking their behavior (not sure if that's a good thing) and insists on doing things all by herself. Although she's "super huge" we hope she stays small for a little while longer :-)

Shout out to Dr. Seuss!

Dear Dr. Seuss,

Happy Birthday! Thank you for writing such wonderful books and bringing out the kooky, rhyming creativity in us all. You have inspired generations! And you have made reading so magical & FUN!

Love your admiring WHO's,
-The Davis Family

P.S. Your birthday is on the same day as our "Sam I Am", of which he is very honored!

Look who's NINE!!!

TA-DA...

Sam turned 9 years old yesterday! I am still shocked that nine years can go by so fast. If you think about it, Sam probably only has 9 more years left at home with us. How sad is that! But on a lighter note, Sam had the coolest birthday ever! He opened some fun presents (like a remote control truck, a spiderman skateboard and a WSU hat) and he was also thrilled to get new socks (the boy goes through socks like no other!). Here he is posing with his sisters:

Here Sam is ready to blow out his candles. Do you love his castle cake or what? So, before you think it doesn't look that spectacular I must add that I decorated that cake with only things I could find around the house. I raided Sam's legos and found some plastic trees and windows. I also found plastic rocks and used a graham cracker and toothpicks for the drawbridge. Resourceful, ey? Sam loved it so I guess that's all that matters :-)

What a HANDSOME 9 year old! He looks so grown up and so small at the same time! I wish I could just freeze time and keep him little. He has informed us that he wants to be called "Sam" and not "Sammy" any more. Of course he told me that I could still call him Sammy if I want, because I guess I have mommy privileges. I think he'll always be "Sammy" to a lot of us:

Just too cool!

Rocky Road Surprise Cookies

Rocky Road Surprise Cookies:

1 ¾ C. flour
¾ C. cocoa
½ t. baking soda
½ t. salt
½ C. butter, softened
1 C. sugar
1 large egg
½ C. milk
1 t. vanilla
12 large marshmallows, cut in half horizontally
walnuts
Chocolate Frosting

In a bowl, cream together butter & sugar. Then add egg, milk, and vanilla. Beat well until combined. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Drop dough onto non-greased baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake at 350 until cookies begin to spread and become firm (10-12) minutes. Don’t over bake! Remove cookies from oven and place a marshmallow, cut side down, in the center of each cookie, pressing down slightly. Return to oven and continue baking until marshmallow begins to melt. Put walnut in center of marshmallow if desired. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and cool completely before frosting. Spread chocolate frosting all over cookie to cover marshmallow (you know...so it's a surprise!). Makes 24 cookies. YUM!

My little helpers!

...this is how we do dishes :-)

Romeo and Juliet

On Saturday Aaron and I went up to Brighton for some fun on the slopes (it was part of his b-day present from me). Aaron snowboarded and I skied. Usually skiers ski with skiers and boarders board with boarders so you could say Aaron and I are like Romeo and Juliet; one boarder and one skier in love..., but no one died...although we had some close calls :-) This was my first time skiing in Utah. The snow was snowy, the sun was sunny, and the slopes were slopey! We had a blast!

What a GREAT view of the mountains...and a pretty good view of a studly snowboarder too :-)

Snow FUN

It's been snowing this week so we didn't miss the opportunity to go sledding on Friday. Although our yard had tons of snow the sledding hill about 2 miles from our house was sparse. The grass poking up through the snow kept us from going as fast as we like. One by one the kids wandered over to the play equipment. Here are some pictures at the park...in their fluffy snow suits :-)

"Sam da MAN"

Kaeli

Rylie

Sara

Just a swingin'...

a SUPER Birthday!

Yesterday we celebrated Aaron's birthday! He was treated with breakfast burritos and hot cocoa in the morning. We went swimming as a family in the afternoon. (Thank goodness for indoor pools). He also had his favorite dinner, Chicken Spaghetti (its a spicy, cheesy, chickeny casserole sorta thing)! The kids were so funny. They had bought him gifts a week or so ago with their own money and were so excited about their purchases that they had picked out all on their own. But they decided they didn't want their dad to know they had bought him anything. So all week they would randomly say things in front of Aaron like, "Oh no! We forgot to buy dad presents!" or "Dad, I'm sorry you won't have any presents. That's so sad." Aaron would respond in a very cheesy tone, "That's OK. All I need is your love." So here are some pictures of Aaron's SUPER day!

Here he is posing with the wiffle bat and ball Rylie picked out for him. I love the Superman balloon in the back ground and the Mater hat (you would think he was turning seven!).

Getting some of that birthday love

And here I am trying to cut a homemade ice cream cake. I eventually gave up and Aaron finished the job. The frozen cookie crust was no match for his super powers!

It's POTTY time!

Sara has been using the potty quite a bit the last few weeks. She's totally got #1 down. And loves to go potty and get a tootsie roll as a reward. Her favorite panties have Tinkerbelle on them. Sara calls her "tinkerbow" and is a little obsessed with the little pixie. Once we figure out #2 we'll be set in panties for here on out. Any way, I had to snap a picture when I saw her sitting on the potty with a princess tiara and veil on. So funny! Is it just me or this little girl 2 going on 20? Here's my pretty little princess bride...on the potty: Way to go Sara!

Cab Ride

I'm a little behind on blogging. Last Saturday we drove up to Park City and rode the cabriolet up to the Canyons ski resort. Why? Because it's fun to ride the cabriolet! And maybe we were a little desperate to find something fun to do that didn't cost anything.

Here are the kids riding in the Cab:

Daddy and Sara enjoying the view from up high:

This kids at the Canyons:

Maegan the WHITE

OK so I can't believe I'm going to admit this, but here goes... I have been finding stark WHITE hairs growing on the top of my head! Not gray ones...WHITE! I plucked 2 last week and last night I found 2 more!!! Interesting to know...I had four white hairs and I have four kids! Coincidence? I think not! I wonder how many other white hairs I have that are just hiding? Maybe I should stop plucking each one I see...I might not have any more left to pluck if I keep this up! Any way, I was trying to look on the bright side of this (not an easy thing to do), and I thought of Gandolf the Gray. If you're not a "Lord of the Rings" fan you probably have no idea who I'm talking about. So in a nutshell...Gandolf the Gray is a wizard with gray hair. While fighting a demon they fall into an everlasting pit and everyone thinks he's dead. He fights the demon and miraculously returns. He comes back with white hair and has become Gandolf the WHITE. So basically he got a promotion! I thought mommies didn't get promotions (until they became Grammas of course). I guess I was wrong. Although it was just a few white hairs I consider myself promoted to white. Congrats to me! But I think I just might cover it up with "Dark Ash Brown" so we can keep this promotion just between you and I :-)

The Draper Utah Temple

We had the coolest experience this morning! As a family we were able to attend the Draper Temple Open House. This is when you get to tour the temple before it's dedicated, so anyone can attend. For the first time the kids were able to walk the halls and rooms of the temple and view the beautiful paintings, chandeliers, wood and stone work. I was touched as I entered the Celestial room with my little family and I hope that we will be able to return as a family many more times in the future. It is a heaven on earth. What an amazing experience.