Happy Birthday William!

Hapy Birthday, William!

Just a note for you to read when you're old enough to appreciate more fully what I see in you ;-).

Thanks for picking your younger brother as the "reverent child" during singing time this last week. I know you felt pressure from all the "pick me's" out there! Thanks for announcing to everyone after you picked him that "he's my brother!"

Thanks for sharing your toys you got for your birthday with your brother. Thanks for letting him open your presents too.

Thanks for always getting me a walmart or target bag when I'm changing Gwen's diapers.

Thanks for playing with Gwen when I'm making dinner.

Thanks for being a peacemaker.

I love you. Happy Birthday.

Merry Christmas!

William is age 5 (he turns 6 in a couple of days). He's enjoying Kindergarten. He loves to draw and is quite a performer at our house. Tune in here in a couple of days to see him performing Jingle Bell Rock!

Maxson is age 3. He's big for his age--he grew 4 inches last year! He's in Joy School and is having a great time. He's the easy going one at our house and fun to have around.

Gwen is 1 and 1/2 years. She's a good influence on the boys, but still rough houses with them as much as a 1-year old can. She's extending her vocabulary every day and said "Candy Cane" to her Aunt Tiersa the other day--much to the chagrin of her mother (I wish she'd say phrases to me!).

Devlin's still working hard at building his business (http://www.instructure.com). If any of you have friends that teach at a university or college, send them Devlin's way! He'd love to have more users for their free (did mention free?) pilot!

I'm keeping busy with the 3 kiddo's at home. I'm thankful we're all healthy and happy. Thanks for your Christmas cards and emails! It's been wonderful to hear from all of you. We think of you often and are grateful to have such wonderful family and friends. We're thankful for this time of year to reflect on the birth of our Savior.

Merry Christmas!

Go Cougs!

Portrait of Gwen

Puppy Love

On Monday I picked William up from school, and our conversation went something like this:

William: Mom, I have a new friend.

Me: You do? What's his name?

William: It's a girl. Her name is Kylee. Her cubby is next to mine. She just moved here. (Long pause.) She's pretty.

Me: Have you told her she's pretty?

William: Nooo.

Me: Why not? You tell me I'm pretty?

William: Because, Mom, it's my secret.

Too sweet.

Happy Halloween!

My sister Julie, threw her annual Halloween party last weekend for my family. Here's a couple of photo's from the evening.

Gwen is Raggedy Ann
(thanks to my sister Michelle for giving us her old costumes!),
I'm a witch
(yeah, I know, reserve your smart alec comments . . .
thanks to my sister Julie for letting me borrow her costume),
Devlin's Horatio Hornblower,
Maxson's a dragon
(thanks again to Michelle for recycling her kids costumes!) and
William's a robot
(again, thanks to Michelle's creativity and kindness in giving us her old costumes!)

A close up of our doll.

Richard and Stephanie as "Hansel and Gretel"

Dad and Mom as a scarecrow and bunny rabbit

Tiersa as a trekkie and Brooks as Brooks

Julie sporting a mermaid costume made by myself!
Yes, that's right, I actually sewed something!
Matt as a fisherman, Cole as a shark, and Claire as a mermaid.

Cornbelly's

So, my dear sister, Julie treated my kids to Cornbelly's last week. We had a blast! It was a perfect weather to be outside and have fun. I've never been there before-and I was impressed. There were so many fun things for the kids to do. There were no lines either. I think we could have stayed there all day, if my little Gwen could have fought not having a nap a little longer.

Maxson at the water duck races. My kids would have stayed here all day if I had let them!

Maxson and William in the "Corn Box."

Maxson, me folded in half, and Gwen in the cow train.
By the way, I think this is the first picture I've posted with my new hair cut. I cut 8 inches :-).

William and Maxson on the cow train.

William on the ATV trike.
I think I would purchase one of these if I had the extra funds.
They were really fun.

Bragging

These pictures were too cute not to post! I remember my sister telling me when she took her daughter, Claire, to Kiddie Kandids to get her picture taken she was sure they would ask her daughter to be the next model for their store. She was seriously disappointed when she left and there was no special comments made about her child. I guess that's what happens when you're a Mom. I'm totally biased. I think my children are the most beautiful kids in the world, inside and out!

Visit to Idaho

We went a couple of weeks ago to visit my sister, Michelle and her family. We had a good time hanging out. William asked several times if we could stay there forever. Unfortunately, I had to say no. Anyhow, here's some pics of William and Maxson and their cousins making spider cookies. Eventually, they couldn't resist the licorice and began to drape it on themselves. They were dying of laughter at how funny they were.

Farewell Neha!

A dear friend of ours recently moved to California. Neha was in Devlin's Computer Science program and she recently graduated with her PhD! She's totally awesome and has been a very dear friend to our family. She recently moved to take a job with NASA. This is us being treated by her family at the Indian Palace in celebration of her new beginnings. Can I say, "Samosa!" (Okay, so my spelling may be completely off there, but they were divine!) Devlin was lucky enough to see her this last week on his business trip to Cali. I hear he was again treated with yummy homemade Indian food. I must admit, I'm jealous of his seeing her and the food he was served! What ever will we do without you, Neha?! We miss you!

Maxson's First Day of Joy School

So, Maxson started Joy School this year! He started almost 2 months ago. So I'm a total slacker for not posting this earlier. I'm beginning to realize what a tall kid he is. He's the youngest in the group, and is as tall as the oldest in the group who is a year older than him. He grew 4 inches in the last year and is already wearing size 10 shoes. Do you know any 3 year old's that do that? He's wearing all size 4T clothes that William was wearing only a year ago. William and Maxson are 2 and 1/2 years apart. I think we're in for an all-star height in 10-15 years!

This Is the Chore that Never Ends!

This is the chore that never ends.
It goes on and on my friends.
Someone started washing it not knowing what it was,
and they'll continue washing it forever just because,
(repeat again)

That's my laundry song. Guess what I did today?

Thoughtful Kindness

Yesterday, Maxson and William attended a pirate birthday party for their friend Carter. As with all birthday parties, I did the usual. I called Carter's mom, Janelle, to ask what food she'd be serving to see what substitutes I could bring for Maxson because of his allergies to milk, eggs, and peanuts. I was literally shocked when she replied, "Oh, you don't have to worry about it. I've taken care of it. I went to Target and picked up an allergy free cake mix. We'll be frosting cup cakes, and Maxson can do the same thing as everybody else. We'll also be doing a treasure hunt, and I have allergy free snacks for his bag."

I was so surprised, I couldn't believe it–Janelle went above and beyond the call of duty here. First of all, I was amazed that she even remembered that Maxson had allergies. Secondly, I couldn't believe she went to all that trouble. Later at the party she said, she wouldn't like it if her kids had allergies and were always being left out. I told her Maxson's used to it. Maxson's such a good natured kid, he let's it slide off his back. However, no matter how Maxson felt, I told her thank you for making me feel included. It really meant a lot.

Thanks again, Janelle.

William's First Day of School

William getting ready to go to school

William waving goodbye from his classroom.

Well, William started school last week. I can't believe I have a Kindergarten student. So far he's enjoying himself.

Apparently (don't say this to him) he has a type of girlfriend. He told me that he held her hand on the way to the playground for recess the other day. I know he get's that from Devlin, but I didn't think he was that forward. So then I asked, "Did you hold her hand, or did she hold your hand?"

"She took my hand." He replied.

So there you go. I guess it's already started. I'm going to have to shoo the girls away.

Stolen

Maxson's been on training wheels for a while, so we took his pedals off (like you did Tara) to help him learn his balance. He had the pedals off for a week, and he was cruising!

Unfortunately, some creepy person took his bike last night. The poor kid isn't smiling today. If anyone has a 12" boys bike they don't need, let us know!

Outnumbered

My friend, Janelle, posted this on her blog. I wanted to share the love . . .

William's Betrothal

We're sad to say goodbye to our friends, the Shelley's. Last Sunday when Ayslind (she's William's age) announced she was moving, William responded, "But I was going to marry her!" According to Katie, Asylind's Mom, William has to wait 18 more years. I on the other hand am a bit more liberal. I think William could wait 17 years :-). Here's their first and last dance together (for now). If you can't tell what Ayslind's saying, she's saying something like this, "We're dancing like a prince and princess!" When you hear William ask, "Did you skip it again?" That's him making sure I took the "fall" out of the video. Take note of William using the TV screen as a mirror.

Simple Joys

This last weekend we headed up to Kaysville for our nephew's ordination to the office of a teacher. Way to go Marcus!! While we were up there, an arm wrestling competition developed. Here's a small clip of Devlin dominating our nephew Mathew...

Some Holiday Photos

Family Reunion at my parent's house.


Hot air balloons at the Freedom Festival

William lost his first tooth!

William had his first loose tooth! Well he couldn't stop wiggling it and he was so excited about the tooth fairy that he couldn't go to sleep. So I called Grandpa Marcov and he headed over to pull out William's tooth with his fishing line. It brought back a lot of memories for me! My Mom was even kind enough to bring over the old tooth fairy she used on us kids. She couldn't find the wand, but the fairy was here in our living room. The fairy came that night and took the tooth and replaced it with a quarter, just like she did when I was a kid! When William saw it, he said, "I thought the fairy was real! Not pretend! She's a statue!" Pretty hilarious.

William drew this picture of his mouth
right after my Dad pulled his tooth out.

Bridal Veil Falls and The Brother of Jared

Tonight we went up to Bridal Veil Falls for FHE. We took a picnic dinner to eat. After we finished our grub, we headed up the path towards the falls. The boys had a terrific time playing in the water. We grabbed a couple of rocks to paint for next weeks FHE. We'll be making prayer rocks. I told the boys the story of the Brother of Jared. Unfortunately, I didn't do a very good job. I think next time I'll have to make it a little more entertaining and a lot shorter.

William exclaiming, "Look! I caught a fish!"

Maxson playing with the rocks.

Everyone with our bathing beauty.

Poor Gwen fell. She was standing by Devlin in the water and lost her balance. Luckily it's very very shallow. But because she's so small she was soaked! I'm glad Devlin thought to bring a towel!

Happy Birthday, Gwen!

My baby girl is a year old! She's walking. She walked earlier than both of her brother's. We had a simple day for her. We shared the day with my parents and had cake and ice cream in their backyard. As you can see, Gwen was a fan of the cake!


Some cool things about Gwen:

1. She's a girl.
2. She can blow kisses.
3. She has a cool head bop when she dances.
4. She squeals with excitement when her Daddy comes home from work.
5. She likes to play with toilet water.
   

Happy Father's Day!

This was very touching to me. It reminded me of my dear husband and my wonderful father. Happy Father's Day! I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did! Oh, and Kellie, if you're reading this, I dare you not to cry--and no, I'm not pregnant!

Bye Bye Blue Rocket

Yesterday we said goodbye to the Blue Rocket. The Blue Rocket was the car that Devlin took on our first date. It was the car we took on our honeymoon. It was the car that shuttled us around after Devlin was in his car accident. It was the car that we took to the hospital when Gwen was born. So many memories. Devlin's had the Blue Rocket in his family forever. If you know the Daley's they feel about their cars the way most people feel about their dogs. We'll miss you.

Feel free to watch a little tribute I made for Devlin about the Blue Rocket since he couldn't be here when the Kidney Foundation came to lay it to rest.

Why He Went To Jail

Tonight, William, Maxson and I all went on a date together. Devlin bowed out to stay home to and put Gwen to bed. We went to their cousin's Claire's dance recital. It was great. Too cute. I'll have to post a picture of them with her in her darling dress. Anyhow, on the way home, I pointed out to the kids that there was a police car coming up outside of William's window. As we got closer, it wasn't the standard speeding ticket. There was a guy in handcuffs. Anyhow, the conversation went something like this:

"Uh oh! It looks like the police officer is taking him to jail." I said.

"Why?" William asked.

"Because he didn't follow the prophet."

"He's doesn't like the prophet!" William said, agast--literally.

"Well, I'm not sure about that. But he's definitly not doing what he's supposed to be doing."

"Oh." Then there was a pause and I could hear his mind spinning. "He's going to jail because he was mean to his Mom!"

My first reaction was to say it was something else, but then I immediately changed my mind and agreed. "That's exactly right, William. He was mean to his Mom."

Family Pic

Mathew and Breezy got married! Yahoo! Our family just keeps getting better and better. Here's a picture of the fam:
William wasn't a big fan on getting into the pictures. Lucky for us, Breezy's dad, Davee knew exactly what would motivate our son.

Yeah. Let's just say there wasn't any problem getting him to smile after he was paid his "modeling fee" as Davee called it.

It's Fun To Have A Girl

Here's why:
Did I mention, she's walking???

Maxson's Hiccups

Two weeks ago, when I was putting the kids to bed, Maxson said, "I have the hiccups!" So . . . I scared him! I scared him so well that the hiccups went away!

Maxson got a little upset with me because I had scared him pretty bad. I tried to remedy it by bringing to his attention that I had scared his hiccups away too.

"Maxson, your hiccups are gone!" I exclaimed.

He stood there a minute looking a little bewildered. Then he said, "Where'd they go?"

"I scared them away."

"Bring them back!" He said frustrated.

"I can't, Maxson, they're gone. They were so scared they ran away. They ran away so fast, you didn't see them go."

Then, Maxson and William looked around the room trying to see if they could see the hiccups. It was all pretty funny.

Since then, whenever Maxson has had the hiccups, he has demanded, "Mom, scare my hiccups away!"

Some of you may doubt my ability to scare someone after they ask to be scared. But, ah, you underestimate the power of a Mom over a young 3-year old. Let's just say, his hiccups have run away every time. Too much fun.

William's Questions

On the way home from Devlin's brother, Mathew's wedding tonight, William had the following conversation with me:

W: Mom, did the Sun call the Moon and tell him that he was going to sleep in his super comfy bed and that the Moon needed to come and shine?
Me: Yes.
W: So the Sun called the Moon and said, "Moon, I have to go to bed now, you need to come out and shine," and the Moon said, "Sure, Sun, I'll be right there."

Cool Shower, Julie!

So my sister, Julie threw a bridal shower for my up in coming sister-in-law, Stephanie. Can we say, "Martha Stewart, picture perfect, shower?" Check out the food table!

Happy Birthday, Devlin!

A shout out to my handsome honey. I hope you had a good birthday this year. Who wouldn't with that fantastic oatmeal cake I made you? I love you so much! Here's my top 10 favorites about Devlin:

10. He speaks with his hands. He's well know for his finger to his chin/lower lip. Love it.
9. He's a master at facial expressions. When we were engaged, one of my friend's said he looks like Hugh Grant. My sister this last weekend said he looks like the guy that won American Idol this year. Devlin beats them all in looks hands down.
8. He makes a mean grilled cheese sandwich. He loves food. He loves my food.
7. He has a great sense of humor. I love his laugh. It's contagious.
6. He's the best Dad ever. He wrestles with the kids, lets them help him fix stuff, takes them on bike rides, etc.
5. He helps EVERYONE ALL THE TIME! He helps me do laundry, dishes, clean the house, etc. I know I can always count on him to help out. He helps everyone else too. I doubt we have a friend/family member that has not benefited from his talent with computers and fixing things! Did I mention he's smart . . . . super smart. If smart was a super hero, he'd be it.
4. He names his cars. He loves his cars. We'll be losing one of them soon--stay posted for memorial service information.
3. He's the most positive person I know. He's always looking on the bright side of things. He believes and knows everything will work out. And it always does.
2. He's a gentleman. He's constantly reminding me to let him get my doors. He always waits for me to eat first, etc.
1. He choose to marry me! That's the best thing about him--that he puts up with me. He loves me and I love him.

Happy Birthday, Maxman!

So, Maxson turned 3 three this month! We went to visit Thomas the Train for his birthday. I'm pretty sure he had a good time. We followed it up the next day with a party and a batman cake! How do you like my cake? Believe it or not, I made it and frosted it all by myself!

Some cool things about Maxson:
1. He's potty trained and did it all by himself. I will love him forever for that.
2. He's so obedient. Whenever I ask him to do something, he says, "Sure, Mom!" And runs.
3. He's so loving. He's constantly giving me hugs and kisses, and telling everyone they're cool or pretty.
4. Whenever he says goodbye to someone on the phone, he kisses it. Too sweet.

Some Recent Pictures

William riding his bike at the church parking lot.

Gwen, me and William this last Sunday. Maxson was in a mood--so he didn't want to get in the picture.

The boys playing.