Pinewood derby, birthday, easter, fun fun fun!!!!

So we had Joey's pinewood derby last week. He is so creative and asked his dad to help him make his car into a shark. It really turned out amazing. It was pretty awesome to not be just a boring old race car and Joey did a great job helping make it look great.
This is basically starting
Joey giving Dad some tips.
Progress
Starting to take shape
Pretty stinking cool!
Slade is just a cutie. He was quite fascinated with this whole process.
Paul trying really hard not to inhale ANY MORE sawdust!
Time to sand it.
It's a lot of hard work.
Ready for some paint.
Joey is a hoot!
First color
Final coat
On to the details

We had Nicole and Bethany come up for a visit during Bethany's spring break. It wasn't terribly long but it was fun for us to have visitors and for the cousins to see each other and play. Joy is working on her consonants and really struggles if a word starts with one. So she kept calling Micah, caca. It was kinda funny.
Joy and Nikayla. Anyone know who is happier about this picture being taken?
Joy and Micah in the tub. Anyone would guess they are cousins right? LOL
Precious Nikayla
Joy loves doing this since mom does it. The towel just is quite a bit heavier on her than mama. It's pretty funny.
Now THAT is a lot of HAPPY! I loved this pic!
We had to get at least one pic of us together. Nicole, can I borrow some of that color, you look FABULOUS!

We also now have a teenager in the house. Holy cow Forest, I feel old! He had a pretty good birthday in my opinion. Steak for dinner, requested famous lemon cake from Grandma, which was pretty good, if I do say so myself. Pretty crazy weekend, working on birthday and pinewood derby, but it was fun.

A new wii game.
Now what the heck does he need a thing of bee-bees for?
Oh yeah, that's right, his LONG requested very own bee bee gun.

Slade has decided that he would like to be the family photographer so I included a few pics courtesy of Slade. At least he makes Paul and I look tall :)
Then we had a great General Conference weekend and after two sessions on Saturday we got to go to Aunt Kathryn's for a Easter egg hung for the kids. It was pretty fun.
Cute outfit Joy got from Grandma for Christmas that is almost fitting.
Come one mom, LET'S GO!!!!
Hanging with Aunt Bev before the fun starts.
Daddy helping Joy find the eggs outside. And as there were so many eggs, she sat down and started pulling the "grass" out of her basket. I said, no Joy leave the grass in and she responded "No mom, no grass, more egg" I almost died laughing.

It truly was that exciting for her almost every time she got an egg!

March already?

How did we get to the middle of March so quickly. And I was so sure that I would be able to do so much better with this new blog. Well it's time to add some new pics. I've gotten multiple requests for more pics of the boys and Paul. And don't fear, there will still be PLENTY of Joy in all of these pics, we know she just can't seem to not be cute when the camera appears. So since our last post we have had TONS and I mean TONS of snow. In three short days the start of Feb. we got over four feet and no I'm not kidding. Can we just say that I'm SOOOOOOOO ready for spring to be here. I'm loving my new life here in Lakeside. Outside of the snow I couldn't be happier. Paul is amazing and while his work schedule keeps him incredibly busy I'm so grateful for his hard work on our behalves. I started teaching piano at the start of this month and am happy to say I already have 5 students (6 if you include Forest, but that's more for fun). I'm glad to have these students already and looking forward to having even more. Joy is starting to talk in sentences which is just so crazy to me. This week Slade (5) and Noah (7) were playing a board game and didn't want Joy to get into it and make a mess (which I'm thinking we can all understand). So they went to their room and closed the door. Poor Joy came back down the hall with her bottom lip out, shrugging her shoulders and everything, saying "ade, oah go?" She doesn't say the consonants for most of her words if that helps interpret what that says. They really do love each other so much and get along so well. So here are some pics.

Hat for Daddy

Hat for the bear


Tickle time!!!!

Horsey ride with Uncle David and cousin Caiden

Hanging with all the boys and sitting with Dad.
Joy's cute dress Grandma made her for her birthday

I'm not sure if this pic accurately portrays how tired either of us are. Good thing we're loving it!
All my sweet kids!
This is just to show that truly it's a lot of work to make some of these photos happen. We took more then 20 to get the above one. It's a lot of work people.
Pretty dang handsome huh! Forest, Joey, Noah, Slade. They all look so much like their daddy! I love it!
I love all of these wonderful children of mine.
Does it get more handsome than this? I think NOT!
Joy just couldn't help herself, it was so cute!
I love this cute little outfit, pink and chocolate look so adorable on her. And loving the headbands when we're in a hurry, that way her hair can still look cute!

No dad, THAT one!
I think it took 15 mins to get all this gear on just for her to play for less then 5. Super fun though.

I found Slade and Joy playing together one evening and just couldn't help myself. It melted my heart to see Slade being such an awesome big brother.

Our beginning

Paul and I are the happy parents to five beautiful children. Forest is 12, Joey is 10, Noah is 7, Slade is 5, and Joy is 2. We are so happy to be joining not just our children but ourselves into this wonderful family.
In December I moved down to Arizona with all of my belongings, or at least the ones that would fit in our huge 26' truck. On the way down Paul stopped at a scenic overlook to "check out" the truck. I was asleep and was barely aware of what was happening. He came back to tell me that I needed to come see something. Of course I freaked out that maybe the car had gotten disconnected, or the back of the truck open and stuff had come out, or we had hit something. After calming me down and telling me actually it was a good thing and to just get out of the truck I complied. We walked over the the scenic overlook, we were in Oregon at the time and pretty high up in the mountains. There was a valley or cavern that was covered in clouds below us. It was pretty cool to be above the clouds like that. Paul pointed to the edge of the rocks and said what's that, I'm like I have no idea, and he's like no what is that so I look again and see this little box and I'm like OH, I DEFINITELY have an IDEA!!!! He asked if I would marry him and be with him forever. It was beautiful and he has only continued being that sweet and wonderful.
We had a wonderful reception with lots of friends and family on Jan. 30th to celebrate our getting married. It was fun and we couldn't have done it without all the help from our families. They were wonderful. I'm including a few pictures of recent events in our lives and will continue to update as we have fun things happening!