Neiborhood Retreat 2011

Every year I get to go on my own little getaway. My neighborhood friends all get together and play for a weekend. This year we stayed at a HUGE home in Herriman. It was beautiful, and of course we had a great time. We missed a lot of our good friends (you all know who you are!). Anyway, we laughed, we cried, we played, we ate, and of course some of us did a little scrap booking. I really didn't scrapbook, I just worked on my blog to book for 2009. Yeah, I'm a little behind. Anyway it was so relaxing and nice to just hang out with so many women that I admire.My "working" station. Notice I have the essentials...Excedrin, gloves, candy, and lip gloss.(:I took this one for my sweet friend Amy, just so she would know that we were thinking about her and missing her.Some of the crazies in the hot tub.(:Just chillin' with some my home girls...(:My friend Karen Smith...yes you read that right....is a professional make-up artist, and she was kind enough to give me a new look.

a little sampling of how we eat at the retreat.(:The Friday Night Gang

On Friday night, we have lots of girls come up to just have dinner with us all, and to play games. Of course, it always gets a little crazy, but it always is a lot of fun.

Playing reverse charades...SO FUN! After charades, we played sardines. I wish I would have had my camera with me when there was a ton of us shoved together in the bath tub...good times! I'm still getting use to my new camera, so our eyes look a little zombieish.(:

Some of my budsand of course, I had to get a picture with my bestie, Jamie. Do we look a little tired?? Staying up until 2 or 3 or 4am three nights in a row will do that to ya.(:

Spencer's New Hangout

Every time when we are looking for Spencer, we keep finding him in the bath tub! I don't know what it is about it, but he loves to hang out in there. Crazy kid!(:

Family Tree

Lately, I have really felt a need to teach my kids about their ancestors. A lot of my geneology is done, and so I feel like I fall short in the family history department. My Visiting Teacher and my good friend, Emily, made a comment to me that was similar to what I just wrote. The thought came to me, I may not be able to do geneology, but I can do my part to keep records of my family and to teach my children about the amazing people who came and went before them. That is how I can do my part. So I have decided to have a wall in my basement that is the family history wall. I have all the frames up, so now all I need to do is fill them. The biggest frame on the wall is going to be our family tree. I haven't been able to find one I like, so I am going to make it myself. I will show you the final result when I get all of the pictures gathered and get it put together.

When the Cordero's Come to Play

Mike's sister and her family, are some of our favorite people. Every now and then, they will come down and play with us. We talked them into staying over on a Saturday night, so we got to play a lot.(: We played wipe out on the wii, just dance 2 on the wii, and then we had a super competitive adult Yatzee game. Of course we ate tons of junk food, and had a great time.

Brynlyn playing with the ponies

The cool gang...Kate, Kamri, Whitney, and Boston

Playing "wipe out"

Matt and Camille

Cute Kenniston...sorry about the red eye!!!

Playing the best game ever!!!(:

How 5th Graders Think

Katelynn had her good friend over for a late night a little while ago. After they had drawn regular families and alien families on their toes...(yes I said toes), they were bored. So finally they decided to do each others make-up. Oh Boy!!(:

Regular Toe Family

Alien Toe Family

Beautiful Make-up...??

What happens when you Procrastinate a HUGE Spanish Assignment...

You end up reading Elder Uchdorfs Christmas Devotional talk in Spanish for 4 hours straight! Did Whitney learn anything from this experience??? No, not really.(:

Was I at A Jazz Game??

So, Mike and I went to a Jazz game the other night. Right when the game started, we realized that it was not going to be a good one.(: Seriously, does anyone else think that the Jazz are playing a little like a High School team lately?? Anyway, I took my fun new camera with me, and I'm glad I did, because I was just a little bored! (I took a picture of my knee at one point, so I was probably more than a little bored!) Anyway, it was fun to have a date night with Mike, so I'll take it.The start of the super exciting game!(:

Still smiling...starting to go down hill...Is this an amazing shot of my jeans or what!?!(:Everyone was leaving...that's how bad it was.The look of total disgust!(:The final score...Really Jazz??(:

IPAD...What??

So the Orthodontist that we decided to take Katelynn to, gives you an IPAD when you get braces. Crazy, I know. When we got the IPAD, I totally told my kids that it was mine, and that it wasn't a toy. It didn't take very long before my kids totally could run the thing better than me! Even Spencer can work it. Anyway, I've found that it is the best babysitter that I could have. Ethan and Spencer could sit and watch "Ferdinand the Bull" all day...Not that I've let them do that.(: McKay was over at our house the other day, and the boys had to show him their new "toy."

By the way, if you want to go to a great Ortho, and get a free IPAD, then go see Dr. Thomas in Salem. (There's your shout out Tricia)(:

New Year's Day 2011

I love New Years day, for one simple reason...my husband gets the day off...and oh yeah, it's a great shopping day (I guess that is two reasons). Anyway, we slept in as much as Spencer and Ethan would let us, and then the kids checked out what the New Year's Baby brought them. Whitney and Kate got itunes gift certificates, Dalaney got a Justin Beiber karaoke CD, and the boys got Book of Mormon figurines to play with. After that, the girls and I got cleaned up and headed to the mall with grandma Robbins to SHOP! Everyone was having sales, which you know I LOVE! We all got some fun stuff, and then it was me and Mike's turn to shop. My husband totally won't admit it, but he really does love to shop. Anyway, we headed back to the Dillards sale, so Mike could get a few things, and then we had to check out Home Depot and Lowes for their reduced Christmas stuff. When we were all done shopping we took the kids to eat dinner at Joe Banditos. Whitney had to go there for a Spanish assignment. (Her teacher ended up telling her that it didn't count because it wasn't authentic mexican food, but I told her to tell him that it did count, because I packed up all my kids and payed for them to eat there.) I won....it ended up counting.(: Anyway, I gave up on resolutions long ago, but I do try and set goals for myself, and I am always trying to improve, so, here's to a new year, and a better me!(:

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve 2010

We ended up being really boring this year (or so I was told a million times by kids). We decided to take the kids and see "Gullivers Travels." We thought it would be a cute, fun, family movie...we were wrong. It was AWFUL!! (Notice the all caps). I seriously couldn't believe that we were sitting through it. Anyway, after that we went home and watched the "Blindside." Which is a GREAT movie. Mike went to bed at 11:30pm (total party pooper), and the girls and I stayed up to ring in the New Year. After that the kids set out their shoes for the "New Year's Baby", we all went to bed. Woo Hoo! We are totally party people.(:

The Day After Christmas & Christmas Break

Traditionally, the day after Christmas is our, stay in pajamas, relax all day, watch movies, play the wii, eat all our candy day. But since this year the day after Christmas happened to be Sunday, our traditions were put aside just a little. Instead of staying in our PJ's, watching movies, and playing the wii, we got up, played with toys, got ready for church, went to church, and relaxed the rest of the day. Mike had to go to work on Monday, so I feel like we kind of got jipped this year, but we still got a little playing in.(: The rest of Christmas break was very relaxing for me and the kids. I actually enjoyed having them home Most of the time.(: We did tons of make-up, sang Karaoke, hung out in our pjs (pretty much the whole week), and played tons of Just Dance 2 on the wii (Super fun!!) Everyone LOVES the Legos.

One of Dalaney's favorite gifts is her make-up case...let's just say that HOPEFULLY practice will make perfect.(: Case in point.(:Dalaney decided to pull out THREE of her teeth in one night. They were kind of all hanging there, because she refused to let us pull them out. She finally did it and was excited for the Tooth Fairy to come.(:

Whitney practicing with her new make-up.

The girls wanted me to do their make-up. Aren't they gorgeous!

The boys watching all the new movies.

This picture pretty much sums up our Christmas Break. We looked like this all week (including me) But it was so fun and a much needed relaxation week. I can't wait till next year.(: