The Rojas Family

La Di Da Designs Boutique

2009-12-04T17:00:00.002-07:00

Everyone come check out this boutique. My sisters and I are going to have a booth along with a whole lot of other vendors. Amazing stuff. You won't be dissapointed!

Halloween

2009-11-02T10:11:00.007-07:00

This year for halloween we had the special treat of having family here to share in the fun! They got the real experience of what it is like to trick or treat in the fall. Cool brisk weather, leaves falling all over, it was beautiful. Although, it did get pretty cold and I'm sure the Arizona weather was perfect for trick or treating. We decided we would pay tribute to our Arizona roots by having the boys be Arizona mascots. The boys all chose what mascot they would want to be. The costumes turned out great thanks to my all so talented and crafty husband. (He loves it when I call him crafty!)

Kinsley as Minnie Mouse with Ranger

Ranger with crafty Gabe!

The Arizona Cardinal, The Phoenix Gorilla, and the ASU Sundevil

Ruby was bundled up in her car seat all night so this was the extent of her costume. She's cute enough just being a new baby! I did make her bow though thanks to Mimmy for the cute supplies!

Redden as the Arizona Cardinal

Ryder as the Phoenix Suns Gorilla

Ranger as the ASU Sundevil

Chevy as a pumpkin. The bow a little overboard?????

Catching some ZZZzzzzz's

2009-10-08T16:27:00.006-07:00

Nothing is more precious than a sleeping baby. Now if she would just sleep a little more at night!

A Little Princess

2009-09-27T13:54:00.005-07:00

So this is what happens when a little princess doesn't get what she wants.....

She thinks that is pretty funny!

Little girls are so much fun!

Birthday Lunch at School

2009-09-25T12:53:00.004-07:00

Today we went to Ryder's school to drop off cupcakes and suprise him with his own happy meal to eat at lunch. I think Ranger was just as excited if not more excited to eat at the school with Ryder and he did not want to leave. Ryder was surrounded by kids wanting to trade food items and tell him Happy Birthday. It was great!

Ryder Bugs Turns 7

2009-09-25T12:19:00.008-07:00

I can't believe he is already this old!!! I hate that my kids seem to be growing at lightning speed. Looking back through all his old pictures makes me sad that he has grown up so quick but loved how much fun Ryder has brought to our family. He is our curious child who is always wondering why or how and pushing the limit on what he can get away with! With that also brings our kid who is usally up for anything and always wants to go anywhere and everywhere. He always wants to be in the middle of everything and loves making everyone laugh. Half of my pictures of him have him making one of his famous funny faces. He loves to snuggle and give hugs and is my number one baby lover and animal lover. If there is a new baby around, Ryder will ask to hold it again and again. And, if there is a horse around he will always ask when he can ride it or when can we stop to feed it. He was named perfectly because he says when he grows up he is going to be a Horse Rider. We are so grateful for Ryder and love everything he brings to our family. You are a great brother and son!

SUNDAY PICNIC

2009-09-24T11:43:00.012-07:00

We had Stake Conference on Sunday so we decided to spend it having a picnic up in the beautiful mountains. Something we don't do often enough. The boys had a blast and it was very relaxing. We ate some yummy sandwiches and then I kicked my mom's trash at Sequence. I always win though.....! Then we played the boys some Yahtzee and watched as they flew down the mountain on their bikes and hunted for critters. We went on a short hike and all in all it was a beautiful day!

Grandma, Grandma, Grandma......doesn't she look great?!! She thought it looked like fun riding the bikes down the big hill and it wasn't long before she wanted to give it a try. But, after about 30 seconds on Redden's bike, she had only managed to get both her legs pedaling for a few feet and that was her wild ride! It looks like she did end up with one thing though....a giant snuggie!!! The pictures are kinda fuzzy but don't think it was cuz of her amazing speed...it was because I was about to wet my pants laughing so hard at her while trying to capture a shot!

This made me now wonder......WHAT THE HECK AM I GOING TO DO WITH A GIRL???? No more just dropping the drawers wherever it's convenient or being able to fill up empty Gatorade bottles on road trips when I'm too impatient to stop. Man, Ruby better learn how to aim and fire cuz that's all we know how to do around here!

The boys enjoyed finding all kinds of creepy crawlies and Redden enjoyed being the photographer and taking the pictures of them. Ryder just wanted to get in the water even though it was freezing! I told him no way! It made me cold just thinking about it.

So it's been a while..... a lot has happened!

2009-09-16T16:01:00.008-07:00

So it has been a long time since I have posted anything and I know that everyone just checks my mom's blog to see the updates but I decided to give it a try again. With a new little girl added to the family now I have to share her cuteness with everyone!!

Ruby Yvonne Rojas was born on 9/09/09 weighing in at 6lbs. 10oz. and measuring 19 1/2 inches long. She is doing great and is just as perfect as can be in our eyes! She looks just like her brothers and so much like her daddy. It has been so fun having a new addition to our family and to top it all off we finally got a girl. We have pink coming out of our eyeballs!

Gabe's parents have 18 grandchildren now with the first 17 all being boys so this was quite a surprise to all of us and I never truly believed it until she actually came out a girl! Nani and Popi fulfilled the long awaited promise of a limo ride home from the hospital and diamond earrings for the first girl born in the family. It was so nice to have them come all the way up to Utah to take part in the fun.

On the other side...there have been 4 new baby girls born in the last 6 months in the Knight family. How fun to have 4 new little girl cousins to be so close to one another.

Here are some pictures for now and hopefully lots of frequent updates to come!

The New.... Utah Valley Thunder!

2009-03-24T07:26:00.007-07:00

Last night for family night we got the chance to go to the first ever arena football game in Utah Valley. Our friend Keith hooked us up with some tickets to the brand new Utah Valley Thunder. Definitely on a way different scale then the Arizona Rattlers but the kids had the, "best night of their life", according to Redden! What couldn't be fun about unhealthy food, cheerleaders, spotlights, free posters, t-shirts, and footballs. Oh and did I mention, cheerleaders. I have reached the point where during the halftime show where I can look over and see my two oldest with smiles from ear to ear telling eachother things quietly and laughing all giddily. They were picking out their "favorite". Then I look at Gabe and he has the proudest look on his face that you could have ever seen. Seriously, what is wrong with these guys!!! It is unbelievable the power a short skirt, long hair, and face paint (a.k.a makeup) have over this species of mankind! Well, this leads me to why Redden had the best night of his life. One of the cheerleaders came up and asked him to come play a game down on the field. It was a relay race between boys and they had run with a football while wearing a helmet. Redden got the hand off from another kid first and he was on his way.....till the 12 year old boy blew past him. Luckily, for Redden, the 12 year old boy tripped about 2 yards from the enzone and Redden raced right by the poor boy who just face planted on the turf to the finish line! Redden won the football autograped by the whole team and as he came running back to us, he was giving half the crowd (all 200 of them) high fives! What a stud. Keith gave us another ball so Redden and Ryder each ended up with a ball that I believe is already in their backpacks to show off at school today. We all had a fun time and I'm sure we'll be back again. I just hope they can keep the league going!

The Rocket Derby

2009-03-16T15:04:00.003-07:00

Redden had his first Rocket Derby.....wait.....I mean Gabe had his first Rocket Derby. It all started off on a rough note when I told Gabe to work on it with Redden the weekend I was out of town in Moab. Well, they played too much and didn't have time so Tues. came and all of the sudden I'm panicking telling him they have to finish it that night cuz pack meeting would be the next day. So, they make a trip to Home Depot and by 11:30 that night, Gabe had proudly finished his first rocket (with a lot of watching and some imput from Redden of course)! Well the next day I find out it's not until the next week so Gabe wasn't too happy with me but I said, "Hey, at least it's done now!" They made it into the shape of a bat and burned some cool marks on it and made it with Redden's name. Redden was proud to show it of but let's just say that was the best part about it! If you haven't done one of these before you're not missing out! We had to replace the stinkin' rubberbands about 4 times cuz they would keep snapping and the whole thing would come apart. We got to watch it soar across about 3/4 of the way to the finish and that was all.....one race......3/4 of the way......good job guys! We took a picture with the trophy cuz Redden thinks his looked the coolest at least! There were only about 2 rockets that worked very good. The rest of the time was spent watching the dads wind up new rubberbands while the boys ran around in a wild game of tag. How many more years do I have with this cub scout thing?!!? I say stick with the pine wood derby!

2009-03-16T14:48:00.002-07:00

Here are a few pictures of Ryder at his latest performance at school. He learned a whole bunch of new songs that we have heard over and over and over.......and loved of course! He did good and really got into a few of the songs. I got there early to get a good seat and made the front row! Usually I am in the back and he can never find me. He was excited to see us so close and loved having Ranger wave at him the whole time. Good job Ryder! We love you!

Ranger Danger

2009-03-09T12:21:00.004-07:00

Yesterday the boys all went downstairs, or so we thought, to play basketball. Ranger siezed the opportunity to quietly go into my bathroom..... instead.... and go through mom and dad's cabinets to see what would be fun to get into today. As you can see, he found Gabe's hair stuff and tried to do it just like dad and rubbed the whole thing all over his whole head and then face. It was brand new and clear full! Luckily Gabe had just bought a small one! I couldn't believe my eyes when he came sprinting around the corner into the family room with this look of pride on his face. A smile from ear to ear. He tries to copy everything and everyone in the house. It was no suprise when we followed the messy clues back to the bathroom that he was trying to rub the stuff in his hair like daddy. He even pointed to his head and said, "Daddies". He is at such a cute stage but also a messy one! I don't know if it's because I am older now or, if this one is just TROUBLE, but by the end of the day....I am exhausted! I can't leave him alone for more than 5 min. before he is into something else. He can scale the pantry cabinents in about 3.5 seconds, climb on the kitchen counter in about 1.4 seconds, and crawl up on the computer desk and get the markers in about 2.6 seconds. You get the picture.....trouble!! It's so hard not to laugh because he just looks so cute. I don't remember the other two being this curious. It definitly takes our whole family to stay on our toes and keep him safe. Redden and Ryder do such a good job of keeping an eye on him and letting me know what he's into now. They also laugh hysterically at him though so he might be doing things just to impress his big brothers! Until next time.....or next mess......luv you all!

What is Sexy?

2009-03-05T12:03:00.007-07:00

I know I know.....a new post. Is the world standing still? Maybe. Ryder just said one of the funniest things last night and I didn't want to forget so I am actually on the computer getting it down. We were all in the car coming back from dinner and the boys were being silly and cracking us up. Ryder started saying that everything was sexy. Sexy cars, sexy house, and on and on. Gabe turns to him and asks him...Ryder..what is sexy? What does that mean? He sat there with a very thoughtful look on his face trying to figure out what this word he had been using meant to him. He finally said it means lip gloss and chocolate. WHOA! I better be on my toes with this kid! If there is ever a girl wearing lipgloss eating chocolate that shows up to Kindegarten, we are in trouble! He didn't think it had anything to do with girls yet, or so I'm hoping! Those just happen to be two of his favorite things right now. I am constantly getting my lipgloss/chapstick out of his pockets and as soon as he walks in from school he asks for some chocolate. We had a good laugh and then talked for a minute about other words we could use that were a little more appropriate than sexy. Gotta love kids!

And the WINNER is........

2008-12-07T15:11:00.008-07:00

One of our favorite things to do as a family is to go bowling. Redden and Ryder really enjoy it and Redden even decided he is now officially too good for the bumpers. The key is all in finding the right ball??? That's what the boys think.

Redden thinks he's so funny!

And one by one the faces show it all.......the sign of defeat!

I told Gabe to show me his best loser face and he thought that was pretty funny. He wouldn't give me that satisfaction!

And the winner is....... of course.....ME! What's sad is that I won with a whole 121 pts. Pretty bad. All that matters though is that I won!!!! We aren't a competitive family at all.

This is what Redden thought of me winning.

And sweet Ranger had no idea who won because he spent the majority of his time driving the racecar!

Thanks Gabe for taking us bowling. We miss you dearly, again, and will see you shortly. You might want to practice your game before we get there unless you need another butt kickin'. Hee Hee. No one can beat the MELVINATOR!

Temple Lights

2008-12-02T12:03:00.000-07:00

On Sunday night we decided to make the drive up to Salt Lake to see the beautiful lights at the temple. I have seen the Arizona Temple Lights every year but we missed last year. I missed that tradition. It was nice to see a different set of lights and get the wonderful feeling of just being on the temple grounds. The boys really wanted to take a ride on one of the horse drawn carriages circling the temple but I just couldn't bring myself to spend 50 bucks on it. They should be free on Sunday as well as the parking! Papa, get Barkley ready to pull them around the neighboorhood. Better yet, maybe I'll start that at the Arizona temple. Hmmmm. We kept the same tradition of having cocoa and doughnuts after and enjoyed every last bite.

Thanksgiving at Home

2008-12-02T10:45:00.000-07:00

This year we were very grateful to have our family back together again for Thanksgiving. We hadn't seen Gabe in a month and it was a very nice reunion when he walked through the doors of our home. Tears and all. The boys settled for hugging Gabe's legs since I wouldn't budge. We had a couple invites for Thanksgiving Dinner but decided we wanted to just spend it at home together. It was nice. We spent all day just relaxing and cooking. Redden and Ryder got to help with every dish and Ryder LOVED it. I couldn't hardly get him out of the kitchen. The next Emerill. Ranger just followed Gabe around and if he wasn't near Gabe, he was right next to Gunner. Gunner was with Gabe and Ranger missed his dog dearly.
Our turkey turned out delicious although it doesn't look as pretty because the bag pulled off some skin. Best turkey I have ever had! Thanks to my cousins Becoming Betty Blog where I got the recipe I successfully made my first turkey! We missed all of our family in Arizona but will see you all soon for Christmas. Moving around has given us the opportunity to try many new things including having holidays alone and with friends. We spent our first Thanksgiving in Texas eating at Mimi's cafe and it was delicious! I also didn't have one pot or pan to clean after. Point of the story...... don't be afraid to do things the untraditional way because sometimes they come with the best memories. Hope everyone had a good day and I am very grateful for all of you in my life. You help keep me sane.

Halloween

2008-11-09T13:27:00.000-07:00

We had a fun night out in the neighborhood with all of our friends. Redden and Ryder were Ninjas and Ranger was a football player. We started the night with pizza at the Hall's house and then onto the trick or treating. It was a beautiful night to be out. Much warmer than last year. We got sprinkled on for about 15 min. but that was it. We ended the night with some Guitar Hero at the Prins house and then off to bed. Now we are just dealing with the candy tantrums from Ranger. The first thing he says when he wakes up is... Sucker. Nice. I gotta get rid of this candy!

Missing You

2008-10-31T14:00:00.001-07:00

Hey Gabey Baby. This song is for you. I love you. And remeber - Keep it Gangster. HEHE

I'M BACK TO BLOGGING!!!

2008-10-30T19:22:00.000-07:00

To all my long lost friends and family....I've missed you! Between having my camera break, Gabe helping to start the brand new football league in our town, football, football, football, about 25 family visits, football, school, football, primary, babysitting, and yet more football, I fell out of the world of blogging and have truly missed it. I now see I even have some cousins that finally have blogs who thought they could never blog and they are awesome....and current. Sorry. I will be on the ball and up to date especially now that my nights are a little more free while my children are sleeping. I can finally get caught up on blogging and scrapbooking (not that these could ever replace you Gabe!). They are just to occupy me in between packing. If you haven't heard yet, we are moving once again. Not just houses but states. It happened very fast and unexpected as usual but it is back to Arizona where all of our family is. Not too bad? We'll see......JK mom n dad. We love you all and have missed you but it is always hard to leave friends who have become family. We learned that from our long lost Texan family and it is just never the same when you move. We have truly fell in love with the mountains and the unlimited amount of outdoor activities to do. Activities that we now realize we did not take advantage of often enough. We thought we had plenty of time.... years. It has been fun and our kids have been able to be exposed to so many different things. Both here and in Texas. It will be nice however, to have them really become close with their grandmas and grandpas and get to know all their cousins that seem to be multiplying by the minute. Sad news? Good news? A little of both. All I know is that I need a lot of girls night out! Who's in?

Pumpkin Carving

2008-10-30T18:02:00.000-07:00

The kids were so excited to get to pick out their pumpkins and carve them this year. They sure picked them out and we sure carved them. I think it may still be a year or two before they can really control a knife well enough. They picked out the designs and poked the patterns on and I think they turned out great! I love the fall and all of the fun that comes with it!

Man, Ranger is just minding his own business, trying to push around his blankie and he can't keep the girls off of him! I wouldn't object to cute little Capri though.

The Pumpkin Festival

2008-10-30T16:44:00.000-07:00

We took the boys to the Pumkin Festival at Thanksgiving Point. We went the first year we moved here so it was fun to get to go once more before we move. The boys even attempted to go through the haunted creature with Gabe. I say attempted because they had to bail out a little early with Ryder in tears. My little chicken tender. The funny thing was that Redden was the inital scared one and after 10 min. of Ryder teasing him he decided to go. Let's just say that Ryder got his. We enjoyed pig races, cow train rides, slides (the others more than Ranger and I), swings, corn blasting, bull riding, go carts, the jumping pillow, and last but not least....the beautiful pumpkin princess. Their cousin Emma will be so jealous.

On The Road Again

2008-10-30T14:45:00.001-07:00

After Yellowstone we headed down to Jackson Hole Wyoming and saw what a beautiful place that was. It would be awesome to go back to skii/snowboard. The kids liked the antler park but really there wasn't much else to do there for them by the time we arrived. We hit DQ and headed over to the resort. We got up the next morning and drove over to Rexburg, Idaho so that we could go to Bear World for Ranger's birthday. It was so cool. Especially because it was the last day they were open for the season so everything was 1/2 price. By far the kids favorite part of the trip. We got to ride around the park in our own truck and then parked and rode in their vehicle and were able to feed the bears. The bears know which vehicle is the feeding one and they all come running. We then spent well over and hour in the petting zoo and the kids and I couldn't get over how neat it was to cuddle and hug the deer. Ranger got quite a few kisses from several animals and was in heaven running from one to the next. I got to see and pet a moose which is what I wanted to see all trip so we were all happy!

Yellowstone National Park

2008-10-30T13:00:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos finally! Yeah! We had a lot of fun on our road trip to Yellowstone and the boys were troopers. It was a lot of driving though because once we got there we drove, and drove, and drove some more to see the beautiful landscapes and annoy as many people as we possibly could with Gabe's selection of elk calls. Ranger caught on quick by watching the older boys do it. He began blowing in his and would laugh hysterically at what he could do! It was funny and cute for about 5 min. of listening to it and then the elk call had to go bye bye. Being October, all we mainly saw was Buffalo and Elk. We did see a lot of them and it was fun to get so close and the boys loved it when we could get them to bugle back to us. One night we were heading back towards the hotel and it was dark. We spotted some cow elk on the left hand side of the road so we pulled off to the right and put the spotlight on them. Gabe got out and began working his magic with his bugle and all of the sudden he hears something coming up behind him and tells me to hurry and shine the light that way. There was the bull elk... 10 yards from our truck. The boys were so excited when the elk bugled back at us. Then he got a little too close for Ryder and he began saying, "roll my window up! roll my window up!" The elk crossed the road behind us almost rubbing up against the truck. Definitely way cooler to see it up close in real life then on one of the thousand dvds we own! Yellowstone was beautiful with all of the trees, rivers, lakes, animals, and geysers. Very grateful that we were able to go and would love to go again someday and camp in the summertime.

Gabe and Ranger in front of Old Faithful. It must be the sulfer in the air that is causing those faces!

Ryder spotted this buffalo and had to have his picture in front of it. He loves horses!

Ranger loves to give kisses to any animal. Apparently they can even be made of cold steel!

And that's all folks!

The fourth with Miley Cyrus!

2008-07-11T13:23:00.000-07:00

This year for the fourth of July we were able to get some tickets, thanks to our friends the Prins, to go to the Stadium of Fire at BYU. I have heard how neat the fireworks are but this year was extra special because the blue man group and Miley Cyrus were the performers. Believe it or not my boys love Miley Cyrus aka Hannah Montana and know several of her songs so they were very excited. It was a neat show even from the nosebleeds and the fireworks were amazing. They actually shoot them off from inside the stadium. The only downer is that bits of ash fall all over you! It was stuck everywhere in my hair. Worth it though. The most amazing part was that Ranger actually feel asleep through the end of the show. Crazy. I would go again to see those fireworks!

10 YEARS!!!!

2008-07-09T17:35:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's only been 10 years and yet I can't believe it's already been 10 years! We started dating in high school and so sometimes the amount of time in years doesn't seem long enough. It should actually be 14 years together! Crazy! Well, after just being gone from the kids to Lake Powell we kinda felt guilty ditching them again. I don't know if it was guilt leaving them or guilt asking friends to watch them again but either way we decided it would be fun to spend the day with the whole fam. Gabe had reserved a room at a nice resort in Park City where the kids enjoyed bouncing from one bed to the other. We switched our nice room to a room with two beds. Romantic huh! We had fun and the kids loved spending the evening swimming in the pool and watching movies. We spent the whole next day fishing in the river and then stopping at a little lake to fish. Gabe was excited to get better at his fly fishing skills but still no success! We ended the day with a fun blowout from Ranger so he had to be washed in the lake and it was time to go! We'll have to try for the romantic get away again but we made some fun memories with the kids which is why we got married in the first place right?!!

Lake Powell

2008-07-08T13:17:00.000-07:00

This summer Gabe and I got to go on a trip to Lake Powell with some of his friends from work. The owner of the company he works for had just bought a houseboat and wanted to treat everyone to a fun vacation. We had a blast and what I thought would be too long away from my kids flew by and I wasn't ready to leave! I had never been to Lake Powell before and having a houseboat is the way to go! It was so nice to have a place to relax, sleep, and cook in. They also brought a really nice fishing boat and we had a lot of fun fishing. Gabe always makes our boys kiss their fish that they catch before they throw it back so we had to do the same. I have to say I think I caught more than Gabe and that's all that matters! Each couple was in charge of a night to cook and all the dinners turned out yummy. We ate and ate and ate thanks to Jenny. She is an amazing cook! Gabe rented a boat from one of our friends for the weekend and we all learned how to surf. It was sooooo cool. Most of them had never seen this before but lots of people do it out here in our neighborhood. It is a lot of fun and as soon as I figure out how to put video on here I'll show you one. Thanks Angie and Sheridan for trusting us with your amazing boat, except for now Gabe thinks that he needs one of course! Well, thanks also to all those who helped with my little guys. It was my first time leaving Ranger and I was nervous but he did great and was calling my friend Carrie mom when I got home. I think he was mad at me for a few days but we survived and now I'm #1 momma again!

A Visit from Grandma and trip to Gardner Village

2008-07-08T12:54:00.000-07:00

In May my dad got to go on a bear hunt again this year so on his way he dropped off my mom to visit us while he was away. We always have fun with Grandma here and it's always hard to see them go. We went to Gardner Villiage with Ryder and Ranger and the boys were in heaven with the petting zoo and candy shop. Ryder still asks when we are going to go back again to see the animals and ride the horse. This kid should have been born on a farm. He loves it. We also took Grandma for her first time to Tepanyakis. The kids always love to go there and it's nice cuz it keeps Ranger entertained as well. Costs a little more than panda express but worth every cent for a peacefull dinner with no arguing or playing around from the kids..and Gabe. Thanks mom and dad for spending some time with us again!

Spring Soccer has come and gone!

2008-07-08T12:14:00.000-07:00

The boys enjoyed their soccer teams this year. Redden continues to play well and has had fun actually learning and playing positions this year. Ryder actually played! Yeah! Last year he just ran around smiling and waving to us. This season someting turned on and he became one of the lead scorers on the team. What a difference a season can make. I didn't think he had it in him. Redden says it is all because of the cheetah. The tem was called the cheetahs so Redden helped Ryder every week to put this picture of a cheetah running - inside his chin guard. It was pretty cute to watch them get all excited after the picture went in and start running fast around the room. Whatever works right.

BBQ & Swim at Aunt Debbie's

2008-05-05T08:42:00.000-07:00

I know I know. These pictures are from months ago in Arizona but I forgot to post them. Steph still wanted to see them so here they are.

The Hatch Reunion

2008-05-05T08:05:00.000-07:00

Splash Pad Fun

2008-05-05T07:53:00.000-07:00

Out at Jubies House!

2008-05-05T07:41:00.000-07:00

So this is my cousin Julie. Better known to me as Jubes, Jubers, or Jubie. We were very close cousins growing up and in Highschool I even ran away to her house. It only lasted two nights before it dawned on me that my mom and her sister, Julie's mom, were just as close and my every move was relayed on! I was such a crazy rebel! Running away all 10 miles to Mesa! I was probably mad because my mom wouldn't buy me the shirt that wasn't on sale at VF factory outlet. JK. Love you mom! It was actually all about this crazy hoodlem I was dating that my parents wanted to do everything in their power to keep me from. Yea um.... meet Gabe Rojas, my husband and accomplise to running away and all things bad and mexican. Hee. Hee. Nice that we can joke about it now since he is the favorite son in law and all things good and wonderful....and still mexican. Anyways, I am getting off track....back to Julie. I don't get to see my cousin Jubes as often anymore since we have lived away for the last 5 1/2 years so it is fun when we visit to get together. She has two boys and is trying very hard to compete with me on who will have more boys. Her third will be coming in August. Her and her cute family moved out to who knows what town it is and built a BEAUTIFUL home. It is gorgeous and is the perfect neighborhood for all those grown up boys that want to be young again. My boys didn't want to leave the toys but we had to say goodbye and we can't wait to see you guys next time! Take it easy with that sweet baby in your belly. Love ya Jubers!

The Phoenix Zoo

2008-05-05T07:22:00.000-07:00

We got the chance to go to the Phoenix Zoo and the boys seemed to really enjoy it. My camera died so I don't have very many fun pictures but here are a few. Some new animals at the zoo that we noticed were these neat cows called Watusi. Redden and Ryder had just been with Papa and Gabe to go to papa's friends house to see some Watusi. At the zoo the kids revealed to grandma that papa was the proud owner of a watusi cow he was just keeping it at Sterling's house! Sorry dad! Guess you better watch what you say around the kids if you don't want it shared! Grandma thought it was pretty funny and now the watusi cow doesn't have to hide out at Sterling's, it got to come to it's real home! After walking the majority of the zoo in the heat we were pretty ready to go but hadn't done the farm yet with the petting zoo. I asked the kids and of course they voted to go and so we reluctantly headed that way. I was so glad that we did because I think it was their favorite part. They probably wouldv'e brushed the goats for an hour. Ranger was in heaven running free from goat to goat not afraid at all. He is so opposite from my older two boys at this age. I'm a little worried as to what the future will bring from this one! He got a little rough with one goat trying to ride it like a horse and got head butted in the gut. He just cracked up laughing at it thinking it was now a fun game! We had fun and to top it off made our Sonic stop on the way home. Ahhhhhh.. Thanks Grandma, Steph & kiddos for going with us to make it fun.

Fun in Grandma and Papa's backyard

2008-05-05T07:06:00.000-07:00

It was such nice weather in AZ that the kids wanted to be outside just about the whole time. Ranger would throw the biggest fit whenever it was time to go inside. I realized he really had never gotten to play outside yet. Last summer he was too small and spent outside in the stroller, and it's been too cold in Utah to run free outside. No wonder he was in heaven! Ryder and Emma put in their hours as usual having casual conversations from the teter-tot. It's truly amazing how long they can stay on there together!

Our Spring Break

2008-05-01T12:08:00.000-07:00

I don't know why it takes me so long to get back on track after a vacation but it does. I am finally posting some pictures of our Spring Break in AZ. We were so happy to leave when we woke up Friday morning to a new blanket of snow. As pretty as it is, it is April and I am so done with the snow. I say that as it snowing today on May 1st! We left the freezing snow and arrived to a wonderful 95 degrees. It was hot all week but I couldn't complain about anything except for how white all of our legs were when we finally got to put on a pair of shorts! Very sad. We went swimming at my newleywed sister, Natalie's, apartment and the boys loved being able to swim and not be freezing when you get out. Our neighborhood has a wonderful heated year round pool but getting out is torture! More pictures of our trip coming soon. I decided to go ahead and post these before I started getting called a slacker again!

What we woke up to.............

What we arrived to..............

General Conference

2008-04-07T09:31:00.000-07:00

Gabe and I got the chance to attend our first general conference session. My parents gave us two tickets that they had for the Sunday afternoon session. I have to say I got so much more out of that session than I think I ever have! I doubt it had anything to do with the fact that I didn't have any kids hangin or climbing on me asking what snack they could have now, or that I was actually dressed and sitting up in a chair instead of being all snuggled in my pjs under a blanket "listening" with my eyes closed. I usually enjoy the talks most from the Ensign. It was so nice to go! The talk on mothers really hit my heart. I have been in a stage of life where I sometimes feel frustrated and find myself wondering what I am here for. Does anyone notice what I do? Does Gabe realize in our almost 10 years together I have changed about 6,000 diapers, done 3,600 loads of dishes, or answered to the call from the bathroom of, "MOM, I'M DONE!" about 1,460 times? Does it mean anything? Why can't I get everything done right - how and when I want to? Many moments are filled with joy but it is overwhelming as a mom to sometimes feel inadequate. Here is a quote that I love and read often.

Woman to Woman
Someone will always be prettier. They will always be smarter. Their house will be bigger. They will drive a better car. Their children will do better in school. And their husband will fix more things around the house.

So let it go, and love you and your circumstances. Think about it. The prettiest woman in the world can have hell in her heart. And the most highly favored woman on your job may be unable to have children. And the richest woman you know, she's got the car, the house, and the clothes.... might be lonely.

And the Word says if I have not loved, I am nothing. So, again, love you. Love who you are. Look in the mirror in the morning and smile and say "Iam too blessed to be stressed and too anointed to be disappointed!"

"Winners make things happen. Losers let them happen."

I love all of you women in my life (even if most of you never leave me a comment) and I cherish our friendships. You are all wonderful women and mothers and most importantly..... daughters of our Heavenly Father.

Wow - that was a pretty deep post!

Gabe and I outside the conference center...... Do you like the haircut he gave himself???

NEW POSTS!!!

2008-04-02T16:13:00.000-07:00

OK! OK! OK! I have gotten all your messages in person or on the blog that you are all so tired of looking at my adorable Ranger! He's so cute I thought everyone just wanted to look at him over and over again! No, things have been so busy and crazy lately that bloging has not been at the top of my list, obviously. I have devoted almost this entire day to uploading pictures to catch everyone up on the Rojas family. So, now that you are here, this may take you a while. To start from where I left off, scroll down to Ranger's picture that you all know so well by now. I think I have everything close to the right order in which it happened. Love you all and hope you are doing great. I have much catching up to do on all of your blogs. If you are here visiting, please leave me a little comment so that I can keep in touch with you and get in contact with those I haven't seen or heard from in a while. If you have a blog and I don't have your link, leave it for me!!!!!

Snowboarding

2008-04-02T14:24:00.000-07:00

I LOVE SNOWBOARDING!!! My sister Natalie and her husband Tommy followed us to our home from Moab so that they could go snowboarding. It worked out perfectly! We ended up having a storm that night and so it put some new snow on the mountain which made for easier learning. Because of the storm they also closed the road to Gabe's work so he was able to go with us. It was Natalie and my first time and we did so good, I guess. That's what the guys keep telling us. The first run took us forever but after we figured out the balance thing it was awesome. I wish I wouldv'e done this at the beginning of the season! Gabe took me skiing once this year and it was allright but by the end of the day I was tired and frustrated. I don't know why but snowboarding was much more fun. Look out for me next year! I'm going to start training for the winter olympics! Ha Ha. You all will have to come visit next year so that I can go and get better. Nat, I hope your buns have recovered from being frozen and fallen on all day. Next time I bet you'll wear some different clothes! Thanks for coming and having fun up there with us. Give it a couple of days and you'll be able to walk again!

Arches National Park

2008-04-02T12:39:00.001-07:00

After all that Volleyball we got to wake up Sunday morning and go to the Arches National Park. That place was sooooooo neat! Gabe and I will be going back soon to see more of it. We didn't have that much time since my parents had to drive back to AZ that same day and I made everyone sit there while I took like a million pictures! We managed to get a couple short hikes in and see several of the arches. Amazing. If you live around here and haven't been there yet, I think it is worth the trip if you like that sort of thing. We are going to take the kids camping there sometime this summer. Anyone want to go?!!

The boys and Emma

2008-04-02T12:26:00.000-07:00

It was so fun to get to see Emma! She got to come to Moab with Stephanie and the boys were so excited to get to see their cousin. They had fun running around playing ball almost the whole time. That and watching us play volleyball was about all their was to do. We did give them a fun job though and I am so bummed I didn't get a picture of them! My dad brought several crates of oranges from AZ for us and he told the boys they could sell them to earn some money. They were excited and wanted to do it so they sat outside the gym doors next to their box of oranges trying to get everyone to but them at 5 for a dollar. They would get so excited when they would make a sell. Not very many girls had cash on them being in their vball clothes and all so after a while Ryder became a little frustrated. He came to me and said, "Mom, everyone just keeps telling us no or that they will come back later." I explained that they probably had to get their money and he got his big eyes and said,"I got a great idea! We could just give them out for free!" What an entrepenuer he is. The funniest thing about it all is that I heard one guy come in the gym with his wife and he was talking about how sad it was that those kids had to sit out there and sell oranges. He didn't realize that they had chosen to do it! Pretty funny. What a slave driver I am!

We're Number ONE!!!

2008-04-02T12:21:00.000-07:00

I just had one of the best weekends in a LONG time! I have found this great group of girls here in Utah that love to play volleyball. We play about 3 to 4 times a week. We play at the church and then we play in some leagues out here. It isn't your typical church ball so I LOVE it! Tues. night we play Co-ed and Gabe is learning to play. I can't believe how fast he is picking it up. Anyways, back to our weekend, we put a team together here and I recruited my sister Stephanie and we entered a tournament in Moab, Utah. My parents drove with Stephanie and Emma and they met Gabe, the kids, and I there. We had an awesome team and we played volleyball non - stop for two days. It was the best volleyball I have seen played in a long time. We ended up winning the tournament so that made it even better! We are definitely making that an annual trip. Pregnant or not! Thanks family for driving all that way to come and play and support us! We loved getting to see you all!

Easter

2008-04-02T12:13:00.000-07:00

Our Easter wasn't the best. We got hit with that terrible cold/flu bug at our house and it wiped almost all of us out. I got it, gave it to Gabe, who then gave it to Redden and Ranger. Gabe and Redden were the ones really sick on Easter and I was still at the tail end of it. Needless to say, Gabe and Ranger came home early from church and Redden laid on my lap the whole time so I didn't end up being able to get any cute pictures of the kids in their Easter clothes. I will have to get them all dressed again now that we are all feeling better. Stay tuned for some pictures that we will pretend are from Easter Sunday!

The neighborhood sheriff and his posse

2008-04-02T12:08:00.000-07:00

The boys had their friend Nathan over to play and they were cracking me up! They got all dressed up in their camo, guns, walkie-talkies, binoculars, gernades, etc. They were playing inside and then decided to go out for a ride on the buggy. It looked hilarious watching them cruise around pretending like they were hunting for both animals and bad guys. A delivery man even played along by throwing his hands up in the air and when the kids drove by and pretended to shoot at him he grabbed his chest and fell down. That made their day. They couldn't quit laughing and talking about how funny that guy was. I thought for sure I might get a few calls from my elderly neighbors about the boys flying around waving their guns in the air. Boys will be boys and Gabe is always teaching them about guns and the importance of being safe. I know a lot of people oppose kids playing with guns but we feel like as long as we make sure they know how to use them and how to be safe with them, they won't be as curious. Kids can turn almost anything into a gun so I would rather them learn the dangers and be safe with them. Probably not a good idea to let them drive around the cul-de-sack waving them around though! I think we'll stick strictly to pretending to hunt in the future!

The Turners are in Utah!

2008-04-02T12:03:00.000-07:00

I finally got to meet up with an old friend from high school that lives here in Utah as well. We met and took the kids to do something fun. It was so good to see Miss Jaime Church! How I love that crazy redhead! She has three adorable kids and I am so jealous because she got a girl. It will be fun to hang out and see them more often. She married her high school sweetheart as well so we all go way back. Give me a call Jaime!

Snow melts?

2008-04-02T11:47:00.000-07:00

Well, we had a very cold winter here in Utah filled with two straight months of snow. In those two months we never really had a "warm" day so when we hit 50 degrees no one was ready for what happened. The snow all started melting and there was so much of it everywhere that it just kept coming across the road and the fields and several houses next to us got flooded. We would've been next if the fire department and all the neighborhood hadn't been out here to help. It was so funny to see Redden go running downstairs to save the gameboy and the xbox just in case the water made it to us. We had more sandbags in this neighborhood then my parents have dogs! LOL. The mayor and the news channels were out here and my cute hubby even made it on T.V. showing of his skills of unloading sandbags from his truck! What a stud! We also saw Jason Judy in the background trip on a hose and almost fall on his face. We all got a good laugh and loved to tease him about it. They finally got enough hoses pumping the water out to the drains that we were out of danger. They also dug a trench out in the cornfield to direct the water towards the lake. Ryder was excited to get to be up close to a fire truck so he thought the whole thing was great. Hopefully they put something permanent there so we won't get to do this next year!

Gabe's Wild Boar Hunt

2008-04-02T11:40:00.000-07:00

The day after I got home from Georgia, Gabe left to go on a wild boar hunt in Idaho. I know this isn't the cutest thing to post about but Gabe was quite proud of his boar that he shot so I had to include these wonderful pictures. He went with a group of guys from work and each one of them were successful. Gabe shot his with his bow and then chased it for 20 minutes before they could finish him off with a gun. Lovely, I know. The best part was getting to see the skull boiling in a pot on my back patio while my dogs are going crazy trying to get to the yummy remnants Gabe pulled out of the skull. You are all hungry right now huh! The funny thing to watch was how different my two older boys are. Gabe was out in the garage skinning the rest of the skull trying teach the boys what men do. Hee Hee. Redden came in the house with his face looking pale holding his stomach telling me I shouldn't go out there. He could hardly swallow he was so grossed out! Ryder, on the other hand, was out there asking a million questions and wanting to help. He was poking the eyeballs and looking at the brains and seemed to enjoy every minute of it. I guess Redden takes after me and Ryder takes after Gabe. It'll be interesting to see how Ranger turns out!

Georgia trip

2008-04-02T11:15:00.000-07:00

Ranger and I got the chance to go to Georgia to visit my sister Kim and her cute family. My mom was there visiting as well so that made the trip even more worth the fun plane ride with Ranger (Yeah Right). Not fun to fly with a one year old that is a goer and a doer. He just wanted to get down and run and let me know that he was not happy that he couldn't. Planes are very stressful with little ones. Our trip was fun but I don't have many pictures to show for it because my camera was on the fritz. Most of you saw them all like two months ago on Kim's blog though. We went to the Aquarium and that is where these pics are from. It was really neat. The biggest aquarium I've ever seen. I loved the little pop up hole to look at the penguins in. The kids were mesmerized by them! The weather was a little cold and windy but once the tornado sirens started going off it felt like I was back home in Texas. The whole place actually reminded me a lot of Texas. Thanks Kim for letting us come and relax and hang out with you. Kinsley is a doll and I wish we got to see her more! Thanks J for putting up with three Knights at once!

2008-02-27T14:08:00.000-07:00

Here is one of the cute pictures that Becky Eastman took of Ranger in Texas. This is probably my favorite age to capture their precious little faces but the hardest age to get them to sit still for a picture. He would not sit still or pay attention to me making a fool of myself in the background trying to get him to look and smile. He just wanted to run from one prop to the next and explore everything. I'm suprised she got one of him sitting in the cart because as soon as he climbed in he climbed out again. Crazy kiddo.

Papa and his Buddy

2008-02-26T15:36:00.000-07:00

My dad has always been so great with all of my boys. The boys love their Papa and get so excited to go visit him or even talk to him on the phone. Ryder and my dad seem to have a special bond. Ryder always wants to go see Papa and ride Barkley with him, go to work with him, and walk with him to Big Papa's house. For Valentine's my mom and dad sent the boys some cards and in one my mom had put a picture of my dad with his deer that he had just hunted. Ryder was so upset that it was in Redden's envelope and not his. My dad was sweet enough to take the time to color Ryder this picture and it meant so much to Ryder. His eyes got even bigger than they are, if you can imagine that, and he went running around the house showing off his picture to everyone. He's had two friends come over since and he makes sure to show his special picture that is now hanging up on their magnent board-probably a permanent fixture in our house. Thanks Papa for all your love you show to my boys!

When talking to Ryder about why he loves his Papa so much, here are a few things that he said.....

Papa always talks funny like Donald Duck.
Papa is so nice to me and takes me to DBacks games and lets me ride Barkley.
I like it when Papa pretends like there is a baby buffalo in his belly. (My dad owns 3 buffalo)
Papa always makes silly eyes at me.
Papa lets me eat lots of candy at his office and pick out golf balls.

Jump on It! -- for Valentines?

2008-02-15T15:36:00.000-07:00

For Valentine's Day we got a group together and us girls decided that we were going to Jump On It. It is a really fun place for kids---and adults to jump on trampolines all hooked together. They even have some trampolines angled against the walls to bounce and do trick off of. We took the kids once for family night and thought it would be a blast to get a little more wild with just a group of adults. I finally mastered a back flip off the trampoline on the wall after biting it a few times. We had so much fun. They have foam balls to play ball tag or to just start beaning eachother with like we did. Not what you would think of for your typical Valentine's date but, after being married for almost 10 years and being together for 13, this is what Gabe and I like to do! Chasing eachother around and having a few wrestling matches always bring us back to the good old high school days. Which brings me to why I am so mad at him today! We were wrestling at the place and I got him down by pulling his shirt over his head and pulling him down into a hedlock/leglock. Jason got a GREAT picture of it and we were all having a good time looking/laughing at it. Well, now that I have a blog to share my memories, I think he is going through my camera and screening which pictures are available to post because that picture is mysteriously gone! What a bum head! I can't believe he would erase that. I guess I will have to be more careful about where I leave my camera. I'll get him back. Stay tuned for a future post dedicated to Gabe.

God Bless TEXAS!

2008-02-15T15:10:00.000-07:00

Texas, Texas, Texas...... How we love and miss Texas! Gabe and I got to go visit Texas a couple weekends ago and it was so beautiful. It was in the high 60s and low 70s and felt awesome! Nice to get away from the freezing cold. Two days after we got home from that wonderful weather we had a horrible storm here and it took me like an hour to get home from the Smith's grocery store 3 miles down the road. We do love the beautiful mountains and lake here though. In Texas we got to see some of our friends and see how big all their kids have gotten in the last 2 years. We enjoyed the wonderful visits and parties they all planned for us and Becky took some cute pictures of Ranger. Oh how I miss Beckys pictures! You are all definitely part of our family! Thanks for everything and thanks to the Smith's for letting us stay and party at your house! We love you guys! We are still waiting for someone to take us up our offer and come stay with us and go skiing. You guys are welcome anytime!

Ranger vs. Mr. Sketch Markers

2008-02-06T10:45:00.000-07:00

It's hard to tell who won the battle between Ranger and the poor markers who got sucked and chewed on. Yuck! Gabe and I were downstairs attempting to clean out and organize our storage room when I looked over and saw my liitle monkey sitting on top of the kids tables. When I said, "RANGER!", he looked up and I about died laughing when I saw his little face and hands covered in yummy blueberry marker. He had the lids off of about 6 markers and was going to town on them. What can I expect when I buy the boys my favorite smelly markers from when I was a kid. Ryder has come upstairs several times from coloring with several little dots on his nose. Pretty funny. Hopefully it's not too harmful! While we were cleaning through old memorabilia, Gabe found his groovy glasses from when he was a kid. Ranger kept putting them on and it made for a priceless picture!

The Dinosaur Museum

2008-02-06T00:58:00.000-07:00

We went to Thanksgiving Point and took a trip through the Dinosaur Museum with Ryder's preschool classs. Ryder has been asking to go there since we moved here a year and a half ago so he was excited to finally get to go in. We saw lots of cool dinosaur bones and lots of neat ones from the ocean. Ryder's favorite part was getting to dig for the dinosaur bones and getting to play in the watery sand with the miniature dinos. Ranger sure enjoyed himself as well with me chasing him all over the museum. He now thinks that is a really fun game to play with me when we are out and about in public. Keeps me young I guess!

Did Nanny really get married? AHHHHHHH

2008-02-05T20:16:00.000-07:00

We got to go to Arizona for my sister Natalie's wedding (like a month and a half ago) and we had so much fun being able to see them get married and to have some fun hanging out with the family. I still can't believe that my baby sis is married. Weird. The girls got to have some time together minus kids and it was FUN!!! Congrats Nat and Tommy! We love you guys!

2008-02-05T19:38:00.000-07:00

A few MORE pictures of visiting the family.

Visiting the Family

2008-02-05T19:12:00.001-07:00

Here are a FEW pictures of us visiting some family in Arizona. We loved getting to see you guys and we miss you all so much!

CHRISTMAS DAY!!!

2007-12-26T13:05:00.000-07:00

A new tradition we started this year was the Christmas Pickle. Our neighbors gave us this pickle and told the kids that you are supposed to leave it out for Santa on Christmas Eve and he hides it on the tree. Christmas morning when you wake up you are supposed to run go try to find the pickle. Whoever finds the pickle hiding on the tree gets the extra little gift Santa left. The kids were so excited and Ryder was the first to find it this year. A fun idea to do if you haven't heard of it before.

The big Santa gift this year for the boys was a blue buggy. It snowed a lot the night before so it was a very cold Christmas riding out in the snow. Redden and Ryder better watch out though because I think Ranger thinks that it is his!

Christmas Eve

2007-12-26T11:46:00.000-07:00

For our last two Christmas Eve's in Utah, we spent them with our good friends the Atkin family. We met them in Texas as well as the Judy's and both families now live here in Utah. Crazy huh. Well, we spent last year having the traditional dinner and this year Gabe decided to spice it up with a Mexican meal. Gabe spent all day making tamales and they turned out awesome! Thanks Nani for the recipe. We spent the night eating, playing games, and getting ready for the big day. The kids all got to open their new Pjs and get them on and get ready to listen to the new Christmas story for the year. We had a lot of fun and the night couldn't end without several wrestling matches between the kids - Gabe and Perry! Maleah and I joined in on some leg wrestling contests and I have to say that she kicked my butt. Time to hit the gym so I can win next time. Thanks guys for a lot of fun!

Our little Ranger Danger

2007-12-26T11:08:00.000-07:00

Ranger is such a little cutie pie right now. I LOVE this stage. If I didn't have to be pregnant and they could be given to me 10 months old, I would have like 10 more. He is so fun right now but into EVERYTHING! We went to a Christmas Party at the Clubhouse and he was fascinated with the shiny ornament balls on the tree. He didn't mess with our tree at home, thank goodness, but would not leave the ornaments alone on that tree. The boys and I chased him around all night long and he loved it. He would smile and laugh as he was running away from Redden or Ryder trying to catch him. How Cute!

2007-12-26T10:38:00.000-07:00

The kids got to see Santa three different times this year and this was the best that Ranger did. Ryder loved every minute of it and is so into it this year. I think Redden enjoys it still but at the same time is trying to be cool and not act too excited!

Our Snow Day!

2007-12-16T15:01:00.000-07:00

We spent Saturday up in Big Cottonwood Canyon with some friends tubing and sleding all day. We had so much fun despite the fact that I still can't turn my neck to the left! I crashed quite a few times. The hill wasn't that steep but it was filled with little kids walking right up the middle of the run so we would have to bail out not to run them over. So the picture of Gabe and I is us being scared of barreling over a little 4 year old, not that we were terrified of the huge jump. Promise! The boys had a great time with even Ranger going on a few runs down the mountain! For all of you Arizonans, I thought I would show you what you really use snow clothes for! I thought it was hilarious looking at everyones blogs with all their kids bundled in snow clothes to look at temple lights! 60 degrees can be pretty cold I guess! JK. If anyone needs a trip to hit the slopes, come on over!

2007-12-13T13:04:00.000-07:00

The Roberts family, our crazy friends, are some of the funniest people we have met yet. Tony and Gabe had this bet going about the devils vs. the ducks in football. They had bet a dinner. Well, the devils got killed and at our door they showed up with some carameled apples with forks in it saying you've been forked by the ducks. They thought it was really funny that we lost and kept rubbing it in. So, to show that we are true ASU fans we dressed the whole family up in all our ASU gear, sparky horns and all, and went to their house. We put about 5-600 plastic forks all over their yard and then began blaring the music of the ASU marching band - the kids screaming ASU! ASU! until they came out. We had a funny sign that I won't repeat on here about them being a bunch of quackers. Gabe and Tony then made it double or nothing on the next ASU game and we lost again. A few days later we began getting calls from people in the neighborhood laughing about a sign. They had hung this at the entrance to the neighborhood for all to see. Pretty funny. If anyone knows any good pranks let us know.

2007-12-13T11:24:00.000-07:00

This is me and my crazy boys on Thanksgiving. I can't believe that I actually got in pictures and I have none of Gabe. Usually it is the other way around! I have to take some of him today after work and do a special post on him. Anyways, we had a fun fabulously filling Thanksgiving. We had dinner at the Judys house, aka our other family. We are so lucky to have them close to us once again. For those of you who don't know, we met them in our ward in Texas and now they are in our ward in Utah. Crazy huh. They have been our substitute family on many occasions like this and our kids now are definitely more like cousins than friends. We missed all our family and can't wait to see you in a few weeks!

2007-12-13T11:07:00.000-07:00

Yeah so Gabe and I both turned 30 in the last few months. Have to say I wasn't thrilled. Thanks to all my family who kept rubbing it in. As I turned 30 I felt the need to feel young and cool again so we did something a little crazy! Gabe and I went with some friends to a dance club in downtown salt lake. Just like the good old days right? We did have a lot of fun but ran into a totally different crowd you normally think of when you think of UTAH! I decided I definately do not want to rush my kids growing up at all! Anyways, since that crazy night it has sparked the intrest to get out and dance more so we found some clubs in Provo that are non-smoking and non-acoholic. Should be fun -- if anyone wants to go let me know! So after the crazy night out we did a more kid friendly birthday party for me at Tucanos. 5 other families came so it was a good thing that kids 7 and under were free. I think we made out pretty good! If you haven't eaten here in Provo it is worth going. It is one of those brazilian places with the all you can eat meat and a yummy salad/fruit/soup/pasta bar. I loved it. Thanks for coming guys!

Our new dog!

2007-12-12T15:23:00.000-07:00

Since I spent SO MUCH TIME working on Mel's background and she can't even post new pictures, I decided to post a picture of their new dog for everyone! Isn't he so cute!

luv ya,
Kim

Thanks mimmy. I guess I made the mistake of giving you my password!!! That will be changed shortly!

2007-11-09T21:34:00.000-07:00

The boys had fun this Halloween running around with all the neighborhood kids. It was an extra special treat to have Grandma, Mimmy, and Kinsley come in on Halloween to join in on the fun.

2007-11-09T21:13:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at Redden's baptism. I can't believe that we have a kid old enough to be baptized! Redden was so excited and loves to tell everyone that he was a double dipper! He has been such a great kid and good example for his other brothers.