California!!!

I won't try to update anything from the last 7 months that I've missed (at least not right now) but for the benefit of Grandparents in China...here are some links to pictures from our long-anticipated trip!  I hope it works (you will have to be logged in to Facebook to view)...Enjoy!

Cali / Beach pictures

AND

Disneyland Pics

Catch Up!

Yikes...here we go for the past month:

Holly was baptized! It was a wonderful day; she looked beautiful.

A sledding day with Daddy:

Bryce is learning things way too fast! He learned to crawl about a week and a half ago, and he quickly learned to pull himself up to things. Here he was peeking at me through the french doors, making some awesome faces (and drool) on the glass!

Ella has been in a musical theater group - they had their final performance last week and she did AWESOME! She loves to perform and was so cute!

My girls started begging to get their ears pierced, and I didn't really have a problem with it, so off we went! Here they are trying to smile through their tears...I just reminded them that they asked for it! They do look cute.

Josh played Jr. Jazz basketball...

Ammon on a trip to the Bean Museum. He was okay with the bears behind the glass, but wouldn't really get close to anything out in the open. His favorite thing was the big elephant.

Showing of his cool truck...

We are soooo glad to have Mark's parents back from their mission.

Bryce already loves his grandma like they've known each other all along.

(thanks Amy for the cute hat!)

First time seeing them after 18 months:

That's all!

Happy Birthday Holly!

January 31, my lovely Hollyberry turned 8! Can that be possible? She had a fun birthday party with friends, which I didn't photograph, but we did catch a few shots of her special day:

Reading a birthday letter from her dad:

She requested cupcakes because she didn't want me to have to work too hard. What a sweetie. I admit they were a welcome treat after the tractor cake for Ammon. I love how photogenic Holly is - I think the camera likes her :)
Josh, the master builder at our house, had no problem assembling her new zhu zhu track for her

Daddy got carried away in all the excitement...

As requested, wii just dance 2. we had a blast playing it as a family...super fun!

I swore I would never buy another barbie (these girls already have too many) but I couldn't resist getting her the adorable Tangled doll from Disney...too cute!

I think Grandpa Horton nailed it with this gift :)

Some stuff about Holly: She is a fun, friendly, bubbly girl who loves life and loves people. She has a big heart and doesn't judge. She loves to perform and has a very laid-back personality - don't try to rush her! She is very gentle with baby Bryce, an absolute tease to Ammon (grrr) and a best sister to Ella. She admires Josh. She loves time with friends and is a great student. She is very independent and has taught herself to do all kinds of things. I'm hoping that will pay off when we start piano lessons! We love you Holly!

Happy Birthday Ammon!

I can't believe this sweet little boy is already three! He LOVED having a birthday, and since it was also a holiday, the whole family was home to celebrate with him all day! We love you Ammon!

Plenty of help opening presents:

Trying out his new scooter
Ammon loves anything with wheels, especially tractors. I had a great time making him a tractor cake!

Here he is listening to the mickey mouse birthday song!

Playing with a new Thomas Train set & Donald duck fire truck

He looks way too big! Stay little, little guy!

pointing up at the balloon with tractors on it

My handsome little guy!

We had dinner and a fun celebration at Pirate Island - the whole family had a blast. Holly and Emily even did karaoke!

Riding the motorcycle with Daddy

We finished off the night with what else, cake and ice cream. Here he is blowing out his many candles...and for the record the (pound) cake was really yummy!

Some stuff about Ammon:

He is super sweet. Mild mannered, obedient, and just plain cute. Not many tantrums come from this boy - he just goes wih the flow and is a great little brother and a great big brother! He loves Bryce and is happy they share a room. He is good at sharing toys. He says "Zow!" instead of "yes" which you have to hear - it is so cute. He has a good ear for music and picks up songs quickly. He LOVES what most boys love - cars, trucks, trains, tractors - anything with wheels. He gave mommy a great gift when he potty-trained himself when Bryce was just a newborn. He is awesome at taking naps still. He loves Bob the Builder, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Thomas the train. He climbs into bed every morning with me, pats my face, and says, "I love you Mommy!" What more could I ask for?

ski day

01.07.11 Josh and Mark headed up to the Canyons with friends Mike and Soren. Josh tried skis rather than snowboard this time and loved it! Although the pictures don't show it, he did really well!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

We had a wonderful holiday season! I can't be bothered to put all the pictures in order...but at least there's lots of fun ones :) We decided on December 30 when it was soooo cold and roads were so bad to paint our living room. This is the contraption we had to assemble in order to reach the 10+ft high parts over the stairs: It was a little scary!

Bryce on his 6-month birthday:
The girls on Christmas with their new "pets"

Merry Christmas Mommy!

Merry Christmas Daddy!

Bryce's First Christmas! As expected, he was trying to eat the wrapping paper! He also was working on getting in his "two front teeth" for Christmas, along with two more...that's right...four teeth all at once on top. Not such a nice Christmas gift for Mommy...Merry Christmas Ammon! He opened this present first and that's all he cared about the rest of the day. He couldn't be bothered to open the rest...he LOVES this tractor!

"Belle," I mean Ella, Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Holly!

Merry Christmas Josh! Incidentally, the Harry Potter legos game is really fun!

Christmas Eve

Hot cocoa bar

We were lucky to spend Christmas Eve at my sister's house - thanks Janelle!

Ammon was entertained for a long time with some big legos. Give him anything with wheels and he's good.

I made "Challah" bread for Christmas Eve - it is a Jewish celebration bread. I made two loaves & they were yummy! It was fun to learn how to braid with six strands of dough!! Not bad for my first attempt:

Christmas party with Mark's family - 7 of the grandkids waiting for present time

Gotta love a cheeser

Janelle & Emily

I hosted the 3rd annual cookie exchange party for all the girls in my family - yummy dinner, delicious cookies, great company, lots of fun!!

What would a girl's party be without dress-ups and a fashion show?A fun snow day

Visiting with Santa at the Black family Christmas party

Dec 17 we took Heidi and Josh up to the Garden in SLC for dinner - Josh got to come because he finished reading the Book of Mormon (in only 3 months!) and this was our congratulations dinner

Bryce was such a good boy that night!

He loves to eat anything he can get in his mouth

That's all folks!