Halloween 2013

Halloween week was a busy one at our house. Lots of school parties and fun. Parker wanted to be a vampire this year. Paige was a witch, Paxten was Superman, and Pieper just wore a cute Halloween onesie. She was too little to fit into a costume this year. They all looked so great in their costumes and loved dressing up for school.

Fair Time

Fair time again this year. We were all able to go together this year despite me being huge and pregnant! First stop of course was the food booths! I had the trout and Matt had an outlaw burger (a bacon cheeseburger on a donut bun) the kids wouldn't eat anything. After lunch we went right to the rides and let the kids get that out of their system. Each ride was at least 3 tickets and the tickets were a dollar a piece! One ride where Parker, Paige, Paxten, and Zander went on cost $12 and it lasted litterally 2 mintues. Such a rip off!! Next year we decided that we need to save to buy the kids wrist bands that were $30, then they could at least ride 10 rides and make it worth it. They for sure would have ridden 10 rides each if we had had enough tickets and time for them to do so! After the rides we continued walking around the circle and Parker and Paige convinced Grandma Yancey into letting them get into these big balls that were in a pool of water. They Loved it and it lasted longer than any ride they rode. After they got out Paige exclaimed that was "the best ride ever" she had a great time and that made both their days! We looked at a few animals, got one last treat and went home. We were there about 3 hours and that seemed to be enough for me. I would have liked to see more, eat more if I hadn't been so pregnant. Walking around sure made me sore!

Heise Fun

This year for our annual Williams family reunion Grant and Zina were in charge and they are going to be hard to beat. We all gatheres at Heise Hot Springs, I think this is our favorite place to have reunions! We met on the 4th of July and as everyone arrived we put up tents and got things settled as we visited and caught up with aunts, uncles, and cousins. SO MUCH FUN!! Grant and Zina ordered pizza from the club house for dinner and then that evening we watched the fireworks at the driving range. All these years of going to Heise, I don't think we have ever actually been there on the 4th and been able to watch fireworks there. So it was fun to be together to celebrate the day of our independance and for the kids to be with their cousins and have so much fun together. The next day, Zina arranged for a company to bring in a huge boucy house for the kids to play on. We had it in our camp site for the entire day and the kids LOVED it. Some adults got in on the fun as well. It was played on in the morning before swimming and later in the afternoon when it started to cool off. The plastic got very hot during the middle of the day, which made it impossible to play in. Our kids, especially Parker went through the obstacle course dozens of times, I think he was in heaven being able to bounce and climb around! All the kids were sad when it was time for the bouncy house to leave, but I am sure it will be something they will remember for a long time. We have such a wonderful family and we enjoy getting together each year, in fact I know that my family and I look forward to it each year and cant wait to spend time with some of our favorite people. I am so grateful for my grand parents, great-grandparents, and great-great grandparents for starting the tradition of reunions and for keeping that wonderful tradtion so that we have these great memories each and every year!

Kids Weekend of Fun

Charyn and I thought it would be fun to take the kids on a fun weekend to Utah after school got out. The kids were most excited about sleeping in a Hotel and swimming in the hotel pool! We left on the Friday school got out, after Parker got home. We drove to Layton and stopped for dinner at McDonalds (this is after all a kids weekend, right!) Then we went to Hobby Lobby, our choice, to look around and find a few home furnishings and scrapbook supplies. The kids started to become restless in the store and we knew we had pushed our luck, so we made our way to our hotel. The kids immediately wanted to get into the pool. So we did! They swam for over an hour and had a blast! after swimming we had popcorn and watched TV until they finally fell asleep close to 11! The next day we had plans to visit Scheel's, go to the park for a picnic, and then to Boondocks for miniature golf. The kids rode the ferris wheel in Scheels and looked at the huge aquarium. They ran around at a nearby park and we had a fun picnic. Then in the afternoon we went to Boondocks to play mini golf. I am not sure what Charyn and I were thinking taking 4 kids and 2 strollers to go play miniature golf. The kids were everywhere, except by us! I think Charyn and I managed to actually play a total of 4 holes, which was a waste of money, because we were trying to keep caught up with the kids. It was extremely hot outside so the kids were fussy and whining! We did manage to make it through all 18 holes and then went inside to play some video games. Zander and Paxten had fun playing whack a mole and Parker and Paige liked the ski ball machine. We ended up getting only about 100 tickets, which didn't get very much in return, but the kids had fun. After a long morning and afternoon, we decided to go back to the hotel and let the kids swim some more and order in Pizza. It sure is fun to eat pizza in a hotel room! The kids were exhausted and fell asleep before 10 that night!

The Reveal!

After the appointment, and after the secret delivery to the bakery, I busied myself with getting things ready for the party. I made a variety of appitizers including little smokies, spinach dip and bread, tortillas pinwheels with salsa, ham and pickle roll ups, ham and pepperoncini pepper roll ups, ham and dilly bean rollups, pink lemonade, blue raspberry lemonade and an assortment of pink and blue candies. It turned out pretty cute. As guest arrived they signed their name on a page designating if they thought the baby was going to be a boy or a girl. The list was quite a bit longer for a girl! After everyone had had something to eat and we were sure all that were going to be there were there we handed out the cupcakes to everyone with specific instructions not to bite into it yet. We made sure everyone had one and then on the count of three we all took a bit to reveal the gender! It was so exciting and the anticipation about killed me. I took a huge bite to make sure that I got into the middle to see the filling. IT WAS PINK!!! I let out the biggest scream of excitement!! I was absolutely thrilled!! I had been having feelings that it was a little girl, but I wasn't sure if that was wishful thinking because I did want another little girl or of I was having motherly instincts. I tried to tell myself too, not to be disappointed if it was blue, but I was so happy that it was pink!!! It was one of the funnest parties we have had and without a doubt probably the most memorable. I wish I had done something like that with the other kids. Paige was very excited to learn that she would be getting a sister and Parker said, "I don't care the next one will be a boy" ummm NO! there will not be a next one Parker! Paige was sure the we were going to continue our pattern Boy(Matt), Girl(Erika), Boy(Parker), Girl(Paige), Boy(Paxten), Girl(.....). And we are so happy that she was right. We can't wait to meet our new little girl and to welcome into our family. Yes, she will have a "P" name. We actually already have it picked out, we have for a few years, we just need to agree on a middle name!!

Easter Sunday Dressed

I try to take a picture every year on Easter Sunday. My kids all looked so cute on this Sunday morning and I couldn't help but take a few pictures. Paige of course posed for the camera! I love these three so much!!

Easter Morning

The kids were once again spoiled by the Easter Bunny. They each got an assortment of candy and prizes in their baskets and were eager to play with them and eat the treats.

Easter Party at Aunt Marilyn's

It has become a tradition that our family looks forward to every year, Easter party at Aunt Marilyn's. The kids were all excited to go and play with cousins and go on an Easter egg hunt. It was beautiful weather that day and we all enjoyed being outside in the sunshine. The kids were egg hunting pros and all filled their baskets with goodies and they each got a prize out of Marilyn's prize basket. I'd say the day with a success and so much fun. I have the greatest family and I an so lucky to have so much fun when we get together!

St. Patrick's Day

I did a similar thing for St. Patrick's day as I did on Valentine's Day for the kids. We celebrated with all things GREEN. They woke up to a special package from a little leprachaun with fun things that were green and gold. Balloons, Gum, Bubbles, Shampoo, Shirt, and gold candies. They loved it. For breakfast we had lucky charms and green milk. No one seemed to eat their cereal that day.

Valentines Day Fun

I am so far behind in the blogging department that I almost don't know where to start. I am sure I will miss some of the things that I originally thought about posting, but here are the highlights.

I wanted to do something fun for the kids on Valentines Day, because it is usually a holiday for adults, but I wanted to make sure my kids knew that they were loved and cared about. I decided to do all meals with a Valentines theme. For breakfast we had pink waffles and pink (strawberry milk)

The kids all got a goody bag with a few fun things from Matt and I, along with some treats. They also got a few little things from Grandma Yancey. Paige got an adorable dress with hearts on it. She loved it and wore it to preschool that morning.

 

 

I made the kids a special Valentines lunch as well. Parker took a lunch to school that day and he got a heart peanut butter sandwhich, red jello, hear cheese slices, heart strawberries, a red squeeze-it, and a hear shaped cookie.

 

Paige and Paxten (and Mya) got pink macaroni and cheese, strawberries, red jello, and a red squeeze-it and for dessert a heart shaped sugar cookie with pink frosting.

then to top off our special day, we had a heart shaped pepperoni pizza, salad, cantalope, sparkling cider and strawberry shortcake for dinner. It was a fun day and I think the kids really enjoyed it. We stayed home and watched a movie and had a fun time as a family.

 

 

 

 

 

Paxten Turns 2!

Paxten celebrated his 2nd birthday on the 9th of February. I can't believe my baby is 2, and isn't a baby anymore!! We had a small party at our house for our little guy with grandparents and my sister. We had little smokies, tater tots, cheese and crackers, a veggies tray, and a fruit tray. It turned out quite yummy and there was something for everyone. We enjoyed visiting with each other and watched Paxten open gifts. He was loving unwrapping the presents and wanted to play with all his new stuff as he was unwrapping. He got a few new outfits, a ball and bat, plastic golf clubs, gummie bears, goldfish crackers, fruit snacks, a couple of cars that make noise, sidewalk chalk, nerf guns, coloring book and markers, and an Ipad Mini. Talk about spoiled!! After Christmas time when Parker and Paige both got an ipad mini, Paxten would take theirs and play with it or was always trying to take my phone and play on it, so we convinced my parents that he needed his own. He had loved it and played with it almost every day. There are so many educational games that I don't feel bad about him playing on it. After he opened gifts, we had cake and ice cream. I made Paxten a robot cake with chocolate doughnuts. I thought he turned out pretty darn cute and it was one of the easier cakes I have done. Paxten seemed to like him. He had a fun day and was spoiled rotten by the people that love him. 

Sledding

Somehow I have seriously gotten behind in the Blog department. Before I knew it January was over, and then February and I haven't been updating like I should have been. It has been nagging me and I am finally giving into the nagging by sitting down to do a major catch up on what we have been up to.


During Christmas break it snowed quite a bit and we took the opportunity to take the kids out sledding. We never know how long the snow will stick around or when it will snow again so we had to take advantage of the day. It happened to be freezing cold temperature wise, it was probably below zero, but we didn't let that stop our fun. By now Parker is a sledding pro and immediately jumped on the sled and was down the hill before the rest of us were even fully dressed in our snow clothes. He probably went up and down the hill 30 times! Paxten was a little hesitant, but decided it was very fun after the first few rides down the hill. At one point we sent him down the hill by himself (the hill is not very big)  after Paige had gone on another sled. She had tipped over and was laying in the snow when Paxten's sled started heading straight for her. We yelled for her to get out of the way, but she wasn't quick enough and his sled ran right over the top of her face, causing him to face plant and her to get a face full of snow as well. They both got up and laughed it off and went for another ride down the hill. Although it wasn't long after that they both got cold and wanted to call it quits. We had such a fun time enjoying the outdoors and being together as a family. I love that we live in Idaho and can enjoy the snow in the Winter, the sun in the summer and the beautiful weather the entire year round. Our kids are lucky too, to be able to have these fun experiences as they are growing up. 

Gingerbread House Building

The kids look forward to making gingerbread houses each year. I think it is one of their favorite traditions. We had Grandma Yancey over to help us out and she brought a bag full of goodies to contribute to the house building. I helped Paige and Parker was helped by grandma. Paxten decided he wasn't too interested and ended up laying with Matt and taking a nap. Between Paige and Parker we used 2 batched of frosting and about 6 bags of candy! It seemed like it became a competition to see who could put the most candy on their house without it collapsing.  We didn't decied on a winner, but I am sure it would have been a tie. They both had gobs of candy on it and wanted more and more. I finally had to tell Paige that there was no where else to put any more candy! Both houses turned out fun and reflected the personalities of both the kids. It was a fun evening and we had table centerpieces for the next 2 weeks! December 18th, 2012.

Disneyland Day 5

We woke up on the last day in California, had breakfast at McDonalds, caught our shuttle and made it to the airport by 11:30. We made it through security with only me being subjected to further screaning, because Matt was holding Paxten, I was the one that had to do it. We had to wait in the terminal for abour an hour and then we boarded a very full plane. On the way there, there were empty seats and we were all able to sit by each other. this flight was very different. We were all spread out throughout the plane in 2 seats here, 2 seats there. There was not one empty seat on the plane. Matt sat with Parker and Paxten and Paige and I were together on the very last rows in the plane. The flight was a little bumpy on the way into Salt Lake because of the weather, but it was a beautiful sight to look out the plane window and see the blanket of clouds covering the earth. It was amazing. Paige slept the mojority of the flight and we landed in Salt Lake to 34 degree weather! We had left California and it was in the 70's so 34 seemed so cold!!! There had been a storm while we were gone and the car had about 5 inches of snow on it. By the time we got our bags from the baggae claim, got the car out of the parking lot, stopped for dinner and gas, we didn't arrive home until 9:30 that night. It was such a fun vacation and we were so glad we made the effort to take the kids while they were young. It was truly magical and the kids were so well behaved, I was amazed!! We were also lucky enough to go with Matt's Dad and Mom Kerry and Tara, and Quentin, Macee, Race, and Tosh. It was so fun to spend time with them and to get to know them better and to create these memories with them. The great news is that after spending a week side by side with each other we still love each other and want to spend more time together. Family Bonding!! We love it!!! The kids are constantly asking me when we are going back....we will be going back, I am just not sure when at this point!!

Disneyland Day 4 Part 2

Some of our favorite snacks were:

2 Dill Pickles ................................................$5.98
2 Churros.......................................................$8.00
2 Mickey Ice cream sandwiches .......... $9.50
5 Diet Cokes.................................................$17.50
2 Mickey Pretzels .w/ Cheese ............$10.00
1 Dole Whip Float .........................................$5.60
1 Watermelon Cotton Candy ...................$4.00
2 Slushies .....................................................$9.00
2 Bananas ......................................................$3.98
1 bag grapes ...................................................$2.99
1 bag cheetos .................................................$2.99
5 Corn dogs .................................................$30.00
1 Cars Collectors cup W/ root beer ........$9.50
.........................................................................$119.40
Priceless!

The food in the park was rediculously priced, but we did splurge on a few items to really get the whole Disneyland experience. They honestly had THE best pickles I have ever had, I would know! The mickey pretzel with cheese dip was also amazing. And one of my very favorites was the Dole Whip Float, pineapple ice cream floating on pineapple juice. It was delicious. Paige and I each had a mickey ice cream sandwhich and it was creamy and delicious as well. Parker like the churros and the pretzels and the cotton candy. I think we really did experience the true Disneyland and loved every minute of it!! The kids can't wait go back. We probably could have spent two more days at the parks doing all the things we missed and visiting stores and stuff that we didn't even get around to. But my feet, as well as everyone else's might not have made it 2 more days. 3 days was just about right!