Emily's Birthday

Our niece Emily celebrated her 3rd birthday earlier this month.

The kids all enjoyed the pinata!

Colton loved the big slide!

Carter's Birthday

Carter celebrated his 3rd birthday at the train park on Saturday. We had a wonderful time playing, riding the train, and enjoying the beautiful Arizona sunshine! Colton loved running around, playing ball, and of course....eating cake!

Raj & Grace

Birthday boy on the slide.

Lee and Jackson

Colton and Daddy.

Giles Visit

Mike's sister, Valerie, and her family came to town for a visit in January. Valerie came out first, then her husband Dan and their kids, Kelly and Ryan came a few days later. They live in Pennsylvania, so it was great to see all of them. We were able to share many dinners and lunches while they were here, along with a hike at South Mountain. Dan also ran in the Rock-n-Roll marathon, finishing in 3:29. That is under 8 minutes per mile! What an awesome run for him! Colton enjoyed playing with his cousins, aunt and uncle. Can't wait to see them all again in October.

Kelly and Colton eating pizza.

Dan and Val

Us with the kiddos!

Dan, Kelly, Dennis, Ryan, Mike and Colton

Jackson & Colton

A couple weeks ago, Bridgot and I took the boys to the children's museum again. Jackson and Colton are just 4 weeks apart in age (Colton being older than Jackson). They had a wonderful time playing and exploring all of the exhibits. They interact with each other mostly at lunch time when they share food!Washing windows outside was a big hit!

Christmas 2008

Christmas was so much fun this year! We had a lot of parties and events leading up to Christmas that were a lot of fun. The gingerbread contest, an ornament exchange, visit from Santa at the Merrill Lynch party, girls night, going to see The Spirit of Christmas, a cookie exchange, Zoo Lights, and much more! On Christmas Eve we went to an early church service, then over to Mike's parents house for a celebration with his family. We also learned that Mike's sister Jennifer got engaged that day! Jennifer and Eric plan to get married sometime in the fall of 2009. Mike's cousin John Paul brought down a truck full of snow, so Colton had his first experience of a snow ball fight. Christmas morning Mike, Colton and I opened presents together. Colton was not too interested in actually unwrapping the gifts, but he loved each new toy! After presents at our house, we went to my parents house and had breakfast before opening presents with my brother Jeremy, his wife and two girls, my parents and grandma. The kids had a wonderful time playing with each other's new toys. Finally we headed home for Colton's naptime. Later in the afternoon we had everyone over to our house for dinner. Mike's parents, my parents, both of my brothers and their families. It was a wonderful Christmas and we feel so blessed to have many wonderful friends and family. 2008 was an exciting year and I just can't wait to see what 2009 has in store for us. Happy New Year!!!

Colton's new train table. Daddy had so much fun making it perfect and Colton had fun destroying it within 30 seconds!!

Snow!!

Reading with Grandpa

Christmas Eve at the Gauthier's

Kylie, Emily and Zachary watching a video with Jeremy

Christmas morning

Staying warm at Zoo Lights

Enjoying the sandbox Santa brought Colton loves his new cars and ramps!Kylie passing out gifts.

Gingerbread Houses!!!!

Our neighbor's, Mike and Jen, host a gingerbread competition and party each year. It is such a fun event and the houses are so amazing. I think some of my neighbors are professional!!! This year there was a kids only division and a family division. Check out these houses....ours is not so good!!!This is our sad beach house!

Best overall design winner! Most candy award Most creative design award another fun house

SANTA

Colton is not s big fan of Santa this year. Santa came to the Merrill Lynch Christmas party and delivered gifts to all of the kids. Colton liked the gift, but did not want to sit on his lap. Maybe next year????

We still had fun at the party and Colton loved the cream puffs!!!