Josh turns #9!!!

Happy Birthday Joshy!!!!

Yesterday was the BIG #9 for Josh. It doesn't hardly seem like 9 year could have gone by this fast. Things about Josh:

weights 55lbs

52 inches tall

Plays live pitch baseball

On the jump rope team

Loves his dirt bike

has a dog named Buddy (ok its really my dad's but josh claims her as his)

favorite food is Cheese Pizza

favorite color is RED

Has never had his hair long until this year.

He missing sitting in the Hot Tub in the mornings with his grandpa.

Josh is a sweet sweet boy who listens to his mom all the time.

Spring Break!!! New York City.....

Ariana and I left for Seattle about 4:00pm on Saturday, March 27th to catch our 10:oo flight to New York City....... We got to fly the red-eye flight and arrived in New York the morning of the 28th. Very excited when we landed after a 4.5 hour flight to see my parents there waiting for us. We had a week of non stop fun......

Ariana could not wait to ride the Subways... Sunday: Went to church with my parents. Their church building is also the New York Temple building. Ariana and I got our first "Subway" cards good for one week.... Got to ride the subway to church. Ari was very excited. It was really nice riding the subways this trip as my mom knew her way around and Tony had a nice app he downloaded on his phone... Came in very handy. Don't think we got lost at all and that never happens....

In front of the Temple/Church.....

Monday: Tony and his family arrived about 9:30am and were pretty tired. Everyone took a little nap and by 11:00 Tony, Jake, Ari, Ky and I all headed to the Natural History Museum. All I can say is that place was HUGE and we spent most the day in there. Met everyone in Time Square at a Pizza place (wasn't very good) and then went to Mary Poppins on Broadway..... Afterwards we ended up eating again but this time the pizza place was very good.... Something about pizza at 11:00 just hits the spot.....

Had to get a Jamba Juice.... Stephen used to work at one in Rexburg and got me hooked. I love them and Ariana had never been to one. Think she loved it.........

Tuesday: My parents got the day to spend with us so of course my dad was up and ready to go pacing the floors until we got up and got ready. My dad drove us (mom, dad, ari and I) across the river to NJ where we hit "Carlos Bakery". I was dying to go there. Josh and I watch the Cake Boss all the time so I just had to check it out. Worth every penny I spent in there. (think I spent almost 100 in there) Got my Birthday Cake in there too. Then my dad kinda took us around to show us some of the sights on that side. Did a lot of sight seeing on Tuesday and walking around down on Time Square.

Wednesday: Went to Ground Zero all day and walked around the sights. That night we met up with my parents and went to the Barnum and Bailey Circus in Madison Square Garden's. That place was packed........ This is a picture from the helicopter of ground zero...

Thursday: Went to Battery Park and China Town. Ariana got most of her souvenirs and was very excited to do lots of shopping. She was wanting to shop everyday and took lots of thought into what she was going to bring back for everyone. Went to Bubba Gumps for dinner then some of us went to "West Side Story". I thought it was good but the ending...... alittle disappointing.....

Friday: Statue of Liberty (we had tickets, got there at 8:30am and still waited in line for 2.5 hours to get on the boat) and Ellis Island. Went to 14th Street to see where my parents work. Their building was once part of a old Convent so my dad got to walk us around. They used to let missionaries stay in some of the room but now it is all shut down. Can't remember what else we did but most nights we stayed out til about 11:00..... That town never sleeps..........

Taryn in one of the many rooms in the old Convent. We didn't take pictures because we were to busy looking around at how cool this old place was til the very last room. It was really big. Think we went up four set of stairs or more.

My moms nice office.

This guy was sitting next to our line for the Statue of Liberty. There are many of these people around playing music for money.....

Saturday: Went to the Zoo in Central Park. Walked around a small portion of the park. Taryn, Jake, Ari and Ky went in a horse carriage for a tour of the park. Walked 5th Ave and Looked at all the fancy shops. Went to FAO Schwarz... Awesome toy store. Went to the Top of the Rock to see the sights from up high.... Awesome. Then Tony, Taryn, Jake, Grandpa, Ky and Ari went on a airplane tour. Ariana loved it. I'm just glad no one got sick... That stuff is not for me. Finally we ended this awesome trip with some good food at Olive Garden..... Have to say it was the BEST food all week.......

In FAO Schwarz toy store. The best thing we found in this store was the Rocky Road Fudge....... It was soooooo good we went back and got more.

Girls on the Helicopter

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIFFANNI

I am in New York right now, haha, the rest of you are losers! But I am going to bring back a New York sweatshirt (like the black paint splatter one from China town) for my sister-in-law Korbi, size Large, because the one that she has accidentally shrunk so much and her body has gotten slightly fatter, so yeah, I am gonna bring her one of those home. Because yeah, I am just awesome like that. And oh, yeah, did I mention that it was like totally my MY BIRTHDAY!!! Happy Birthday to me because I am the awesomest most caring person in the whole wide world!! I am the best mom, hairdresser, taxi cab, wife, friend, best friend, babysitter, aunt, daughter, sis-in-law, driver, sister, listener, peace maker, in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD!!! (well, second only to Korbi of course)

Last Tuesday was our Blue and Gold Banquet for Scouts. Everyone in Cub Scouts got to make a cake of there choice with the theme of 100 years of scouting. Josh made this cake all by himself.... It was one full sheet cake and 4 round cakes. I helped him cut the #1 out of the sheet cake but he did all the baking and frosting himself and each cake is double layered.... Best part is he got 1st in the cake contest.... They only chose one and he was it.... I'm so proud of my little baker......

He put oreo crumbs on the corners and in the middle of the zero and then put candy worms on top. They thought he was very clever.....

Good Job Joshy!!!!!

Kylee Volleyball in Genesee, Idaho

We went to our 3rd Volleyball Tournament this weekend in Genesee, Idaho. Ruben and I went down Friday night and stayed with his sister AnaMaria. Kylee went with Todd, Dena, Ariana, Sandra and Carly and stayed the night in Clarkston with the team. Guess she thought Ruben and I were boring....... Saturday they played 3 games in there pole and won 1. This was there first win and they were very excited.

Here is my "star" biting her lip. Ruben took so many pictures and she is doing this in all of them.. I think its super cute that she can bite her lip and still play ball. Very talented Kylee.....

There first win and it was time to celebrate.....

Here she is getting ready to serve. Kylee did great in her serving this tournament making almost all of them over..... Good Job Kylee!!

Kylee plays as a center blocker and hitter. She is getting braver when she jumps up to block the ball. Kylee has improved so much in just a little time...... I love going to watch and cheer her on.....

Lots of things happening in our Family.....

I just love this little girl..... She gets to come to my house 3 times a week and its been lots of fun having her. Kylee and Josh ask everyday before school if Pasiley will be here after school. She is very loved in our house and always makes us smile..... She loves to get her hair done so she gets a hair cut about once a week.... Even if its alittle she sits there and enjoys every min of it..... Thanks Korbi for sharing this little girl with us......

Kylee and Whitney playing in the Winter Band Concert. Kylee has been playing the flute since 4th grade. She is so lucky to get to play with my moms flute that she used in school... Kylee wasn't very excited at first because the carrying case was bigger then most but think she has gotten used to it. I keep telling her the vintage look is in.......

The weather has been fairly nice here so Ashton has been asking about flying kites so the other day we went to Wal-Mart, picked up 2 kites and the boys have loved flying them.

Ashton telling Josh how to do it.... They are so cute.

Even Buddy is getting into it.

Sunday we had a little going away party for Rolo. Monday he left to do his 3 month boot camp for the Army. He got engaged to Raquel last week before he left and is planning on getting married sometime this summer.

Josh and Ashton wrestling. Notice that Ashton is on top.....

Here there are again but Josh is on top. Ashton doesn't like this picture because he is on the bottom...

Kylee and Miranda right before there Valentine dance. They were pretty excited.

Austin really didn't think that 12 and 13 year-olds should be going to the dance but the girls had a different view...

Sunday Birthdays

This Sunday we had our family birthday party in Moses Lake. We have one big party once a month for anyone having a birthday that month. The kids really love these parties and its always fun getting everyone together. This month we celebrated Beck, Carsten and Debbie and Beck was by far the most excited. He wanted so badly to open his presents. My dad flew home and surprised all the kids. He had a doctors appt. on Monday morning so he flew into Spokane on Sunday afternoon. He picked up my wonderful children from Matts house and brought them to Moses Lake.

After the party we went to the gym and let the kids play for about an hour. Got them all nice and tired then headed for home about 7:00. My dad stayed at our house so the kids talked him into a fast trip over to Scotts to the Hot Tub. This was Joshie and my dad's most favorite thing to do when they are together. It was so good to see him and get to spend a half a day with him. We love him and the great example he is to us. Josh is still using the cologne my dad left him and thinks its the best smelling stuff ever. Thanks for that Dad... He got up before any of us on Monday and off to Spokane he went.

Best part of the party was the pinata. All the kids got a turn hitting with the bat and they all got tons of candy.

Thanks for the fun day Korbi. Your guys did a great job hosting the party.

Kylee Volleyball Tournament

Kylee had her 2nd Volleyball Tournament this weekend in Spokane. They usually have to be a the gym at 8:00 for them to start at 9:00. We decided to make a weekend of it so we went down Friday and spent the night at a fun hotel so we didn't have to get up so early on Saturday. Kylee and Josh went to Matts for the weekend so it was just Ashton, Ruben and I Friday night. We meet Kylee at the gym Saturday morning and spent the entire day cheering her on( Josh came with Matt so we pretty much got to spend all day with him too... it was really awesome). They played 3 games (2 matches each game) and then went on to the tournament with sadly only one game. They lost both games with a very close score of 23-25. They are all improving so much its fun watching them play. Kylee is such a sweet heart and we love watching her grow. Please just don't grow to fast........

Finally a Post on Kylee's room.....

The pictures hardly do any of my hard work justice. Kylee has been wanting her room painted ever since I painted the boys so over christmas break I decided I would get to work and surprise her when she got back from Matts. And that exactly what I did...... Here it is.....

We are currently looking for a headboard and think she will be finished for awhile...... She was very surprised and loved the colors.... (and yes I painted the circles)