Just a few things we love about Kassi!!!

Right from the start we enjoyed getting to know your sweet personality! You are such a cuddle bug and we are always arguing over whose turn it is to hold you. My favorite time to cuddle with you is in the morning and after your nap when your cheeks are so warm and kissable! Of course, when aren't those cute, chubby little cheeks kissable?!?

We love how patient you are with all of us and how you put up with

all of our hugs and kisses and everything else!

We love how you remind us of who we are and how we can be together forever as a family!

We love your smiles! You have started to giggle lately and it has been so much fun to see you squint your little eyes and make that funny little happy noise! These two pictures were taken in one of your happiest spots - the Johnny Jumper. (I guess you take after your Mom who used to jump herself to sleep and then wake up and jump some more!)

You were our first child to love being on your tummy. You seemed to love being able to see everything right side up!

This picture above is of the first time you rolled over. You rolled from your back to your front first and you had little interest in laying on your back after that - except to suck on your toes now and then!

Speaking of toes, this is one of MANY pictures of you with your constant companion at the dinner table - your right foot. It just wasn't meal time with out it there. Most of the time it just sat there with us enjoying the company. This is what would happen if Mom's cooking wasn't so good :)!

We love how good you travel and how you put up with us dragging you around everywhere. You usually at least pretend to enjoy our fun and often crazy excursions!

We love how you are always happy to play dress up and make-believe with your siblings. Jesi is always dressing you up and I have often found you being captured by pirates - even kissed by pirates and all kinds of imaginary characters. You are such a great actress already! Your siblings have no idea how patient you are with them!

We love your wet kisses, your forhead banging kisses, (by the way I would highly prefer that you use the forehead banging kisses when you start dating and not the wet ones :) your groovy dancing whenever we turn on the music, and your sweet hugs. You make us smile every day!!!

Of course, Mom loves how well you pose for the camera - she has taught you well!

(Kassi really posed in these pictures without any prompting. It was too cute! My little model - actually she probably got some coaching from her big sis!

Most importantly, Kassi Lily, you have brought us together as a family and have

reminded us of some of the most important lessons of life:

1. Getting back up each time you fall

2. Not being afraid to cry when life is hard

3. Forgive, be patient and tolerant of others, and LOVE with all your heart

Happy 1st Birthday Kassi Lily!

Thank you for teaching us SO much this last year!

Wow, it went by soooooooo quickly!

We sure love you!!!

A little one-on-one time!

Andy and I love finding Drew and Jesi playing together - just the two of them. Yesterday we found them in the backyard after church - Jesi wearing Drew's jacket (from his cousin Dawson) that he just grew into and wore to church and Drew's old winter boots. I guess Drew decided to wear this jacket - since Jesi was wearing his! Drew was driving her around in his truck. Recently, he was telling me that he wasn't going to have a car when he grew up, he was going to have a truck!

Lately we've had a lot of delayed dinners and bedtimes because Andy and I just can't resist letting Drew finish reading his favorite stories to Jesi. Whenever he sits down to read a book she curls up next to him and it is the cutest thing. His favorite books the last month or so have been Tedd Arnold's Fly Guy books. They are pretty funny and Drew and Jesi just laugh and laugh.

Valentine's Day morning - Drew and Jesi got new sunglasses along w/ a new book and some candy. Jesi is quite the poser - and yes her pj's are too small! I finally had to put away the Dora Christmas jammies from last year and luckily Jesi hasn't missed them yet!

This was a little one-on-one time for Andy and Kassi the other morning. Andy sometimes has a hard time figuring out the kids clothes (how to fold them or put them on)! This morning Andy came down with Kassi not being able to figure out how to get the buttons to work! It's probably hard to see, but the buttons definitely don't work like this ;)!!!

On Saturday I took Jesi with me to my friend Heather's fun card workshop. Since making cards is one of Jesi's absolute favorite things to do, Andy and I knew she would love to go with me. It might have taken a little longer with all of her help (about 2 1/2 hours), but we had a blast and I learned some fun new tricks! This is a picture of us on our way out the door w/ a bag of adhesives to use at the workshop!

These are the adorable cards Heather had all ready for us to put together. Jesi's favorite was the butterfly card close to her. She is pretending to be a butterfly in this picture. Don't look too closely. You might end up being the lucky recipient of one of these cards :)! Thanks for the fun class, Heather and the yummy brownies!

Andy bought a ticket voucher from a boy in our neighborhood for a high school baseball fundraiser. It allowed Andy and Drew to go get some yummy dinner together before the last BYU basketball game. It was also suppose to allow them to get some tickets to the game. Unfortunately they were sold out!!! We figured that since the Utah game wasn't sold out, there would be plenty of tickets. Live and learn! Jesi had to sneak into this picture of the boys on their way out! We sure have noticed a difference in our children when we take the time to spend some one-on-one time with them. It makes them feel special and know how much we love each of them! Drew keeps telling me he wants us to have 10 kids!!! He loves babies and is such a great brother. I think I might let him be the one to have 10 children - so we better find him a wife who has easy births!!! Okay, we have plenty of time for that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is growing up sooo fast! Gotta love these kids!

More Peas Please!!!

Kassi eating one of her absolute favorite foods - PEAS!!!
Jesi is always happy to eat right out of the steamer and help feed Kassi more! The best thing about this favorite food of ours is that it is healthy, easy to prepare, AND doesn't make too big of a mess. Speaking of messes, one day after Kassi's breakfast which included a bowl of peas, I needed to change her diaper. If you've ever been told that if you ate too much of a certain kind of food, that you'd have it growing out of your ears, you might not be surprised at what I found next!!!

Notice anythig strange in this picture?!? Let's get a little closer . . .

Yes, this is a pea in her belly button!!! When I unzipped her jammies, she had this pea in her belly button! It was totally happy to stay there too! Jesi and I thought it was so funny we just had to take a picture!

I wish I could get Drew to join in on the green vegies, potatoes, rice, carrots and apples - all of which he despises, but I am happy that his favorite food in the world (besides pizza) is fresh tomatoes!!! I have some pretty cute pictures of him as a little 2 year old picking and eating cherry tomotatoes out of the garden. Maybe I'll get around to adding one or two later. He would rather have tomatoes in his school lunch than a cookie! The funny thing is that Andy doesn't love tomatoes and I didn't even like them until I was an adult. But, Jesi loves them too from watching her big brother. Hooray for Drew!

Kassi's first taste of asparagus! What happened to her shirt? I don't even remember!

And, last but not least, a picture of Kassi where she actually is all dressed for the day!

Holiday Fun!

The kids were so patient on President's Day between neglected chores and Andy's studying. So, we decided to take them miniature golfing that night. We were hoping to go sledding, but somehow during the move or possibly last winter, we managed to lose all of our family's gloves and I still haven't found them! I finally bought the kids some for Christmas, but they were the only ones I could find and were way too big. Jesi refuses to wear hers. If you find a place that has children's winter gloves, please let me know! (Or if you happen to find our missing gloves that would be even better!)Kassi was such a good sport! She was totally happy riding around in her stroller and watching her crazy family run after golf balls! I think she liked that it was glow-in-the-dark too! I hadn't been to Trafalga for years and this was the first time since they made some drastic changes to the indoor golf course.
The kids had a blast. Jesi must have taken about 50 strokes on every hole! She had quite the technic!

On to the next hole!

Jesi's hole in one - kind of. She actually hit the ball about 10 times trying to get it up the ramp. I finally threw it in the middle ramp for her! But, the kids were so excited!

Andy's hole in one - this one was for real!

The pictures don't do this place justice. It really was fun for everything to be glow-in-the-dark. (Everything except the little hills that I kept tripping over :)!

My man pushing the stroller! Kassi's headband didn't stay on long and everything white glowed really bright. So, she had a bright white ring around her neck!

These last few pics are from when my sister, Stacy and her family were visiting a few weeks ago when we visited BYU's Beane Museum. The picture of all of us turned out way too dark. I remember before I ever went, I wondered why on earth they would name a museum after something as boring as beans :)! Ha ha. I know, I'm special! This is Jesi with a butterfly made of hundreds of butterflies! The kids always LOVE that place! It is a perfect place to go in the winter to let your kiddos walk around and explore with you!

Andy and Kassi w/ some animal (top one) that they had on his mission in Argentina. We also got to see some huge bugs and spiders that Ryan and Andy saw on their missions. Ugh!

There is a huge brown bear behind the glass. I don't know what was scarrier, the bear or Uncle Ryan's face :). Just kidding, Ryan! We had a great time - next time we'll have to take you mini-golfing!!!

We finally said good-bye to Kassi's mullet!

I know many of you have been anxiously awaiting the day I finally admittted that the mullet really should go! I don't know why I have such a hard time cutting my babies' hair! I guess my mom had a hard time too, because even in high school when we'd get our hair cut she would only be able to say, "Well, it is clean and shiny!"

Isn't this hillarious? We've told most of you about "the Flowbee" already, but I bet you've never seen it in action! I used to cut Andy and Drew's hair until Andy's boss got him this handy little thing for his birthday one year! It sure has made my life a lot easier. It sucks the hair up and will cut it at different lengths with different little attachments. It works great for the boys and babies! The nice part is that it sucks all that hair right into the vacuum which means little or no mess! I about cried, however, when I realized that Andy had sucked all of Kassi's hair up before I got my little lock for her scrapbook! I guess we'll have to get a lock from her second haircut!

I know, I'm WAY too sentimental!

Her new "Do". It really does look MUCH better. I'll post some recent pictures of her from the front soon! Someone please tell me if I ever wait this long again, that my child REALLY does need a hair cut!!!

My Poor Babies :(

This is Kassi during one of her sick days. She fell asleep in her exersaucer. I guess I used to do that all the time in my Johnny Jumper and when I'd wake up I would just start bouncing again! Kassi is my first child to really enjoy the Johnny Jumper. We'll have to get a video to post!

She has a blast! Notice her new hair-do. I'll post some pictures of her first cut. Jesi asleep with Kassi's teddy bear as her pillow. It was too cute to not take a picture.

Drew started coming down with a sore throat last night and woke up with a fever. I was going to write that he "wasn't feeling so hot", but I guess that isn't quite true. Anyway, he is home from school today with us girls. We've been having a movie and book-athon all morning! I thought I'd post a couple pictures of these sweet kiddos enduring this winter's germs! Life is so precious and we are grateful for the good times and the hard times that make us appreciate the good times more! Andy and I had a little cancer scare last week. It ended up being nothing, but it sure made us appreciate the time we have together on this earth! Life is so precious and we are so grateful to all of you who make it so much fun!!! We hope you are all happy and healthy and enjoying some hot cocoa with the cold weather!

Who needs socks when you have gloves lying around!

The other day I was running a little late picking up Drew from school, so since Kassi needed some socks and all I could find on my way out the door were these gloves, I thought they would do the trick. Her feet were plenty warm and she was quite entertained with her feet! (She loves her bare feet too, but it has been a little too cold for that lately!) It was funnier in the car seat w/ her feet up in the air, but this will have to do!

Drew and Jesi thought it was hillarious and Drew wanted me to take picures.
I guess he gets it from his Mom?!?

Jesi is so funny. She absolutely refuses to let anyone else take her picture, but she (95% of the time, when she is in a good mood) loves to have me take her picture. That explains why we were lucky to even get her face in our family picture that you can see on our blog - with her pouty face. Normally she refusses to even look at the person taking our family picture! But, I'm glad she is happy to smile for me - most of the time! Anyway, she wanted to try out the bird feet too! Oh, such sweet memories! My kids are growing up sooo fast!

Drew & Andy's 1st Indoor Soccer Experience!

Drew's indoor soccer league is over, but I hope he'll never forget the fun memories! He loves playing soccer - despite the aches and pains associated with playing on a hard indoor floor! Most of all, he loved having his awesome Dad as his coach. All the other kids loved Andy too. How could you not love these guys!?!

The whole team with their certificates and medals after the last game of the season.

This would be sweet little Jesi after removing the sign that had me trying to keep her off of the gymnastic equipment and on the same floor (since the stairs were much too accessible!) Eventually, they put a table in front of the stairs to keep curious little ones from exploring! I look forward to OUTDOOR soccer where there is a little more room for little siblings to move around! Speaking of exploring, Kassi just found the garbage can that I forgot was right by my feet and was sucking on part of a candy cane that she found inside! Now she is happily in her exersaucer eating cheerios. She has learned how to climb the dishwasher, when opened, and is getting very good at exploring inside of cupboards, etc. I guess it is time to child-proof this house!



This is a lovely picture of Kassi and I :). I think I'm telling Jesi (the photographer) where the button is that she needs to push to take the picture. Whenever I get out the camera, Drew and Jesi want to take pictures and I just can't resist - of course I would prefer them to take pictures of someone or something other than me, which is why I prefer being the photographer :)! Jesi is helping me post these pictures and was wondering where the pictures of me were. So, here is a picture of me and another one of Drew's faithful spectators! I'm sad I missed the game where Jason and Cari and Darren came! I was at a class that night with Kassi and one other game all of us girls missed because of nasty colds. But, other than those 2, we were there cheering on our boys!


Drew was always giving me a big thumbs up during the game (I have a couple pictures, but forgot to post them)! It was so dang cute!!! I know I'll miss that when he is older, but right now I'm enjoying his open affection! I had to give a talk in church recently and Drew was looking up at me with a big smile on his face and a thumbs up!

Andy reminding Drew to keep his eye on that ball!

A little practice before the game!

Andy training the team. The first 15 minutes was always practice time where Andy came up with some fun drills and then there was always a 45 minute game. They had games Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings. Andy claimed that he didn't know what he was doing as coach, but I told him that it sure looked like he did! They were desperate for a parent to coach and so I volunteered Andy :). I figured if we were going to be there Anyway, he might as well, right!?! Aren't I sooo sweet? He was glad I signed him up in the end and he did a great job :)!

Drew was determined to run as fast as he could every game. I was so proud of his determintation and hard work. I hope you always continue to do your best, Drew! I love you muy muy mucho!