Happy Birthday McKenzie!!!

How did this happen?!? How did I become the mother of a beautiful ten year old?

My sweet baby girl is turning 10 today. I am amazed at how quickly the time flew by. I can still remember when she was born. I was so excited/scared/worried/happy pretty much every emotion imaginable. McKenzie is such a joy to have in our family. She is my big helper. I can always count on her. She helps so much with her younger brother and sister. She is learning how to cook and help out with the meals. McKenzie is so smart, not just in school, but in the gospel as well. She really tries hard to be good and do those things that both her parents and her Heavenly Father wants her to do. Kenzie is a good friend to all who are near her. I have had so many of her teachers say that if there is ever a child that is having a hard time they can always count on McKenzie to be their friend and help them to be happy. I love McKenzie so much and I am so grateful that I was chosen to be her mother.
I love you Kenz!!!



Here are a few pictures of her past 10 years (some are missing because when I scanned the 8x10 they all saved as pdf for some reason and I couldn't figure out how to change them)

9 months old

1 1/2 years

2 years

3 years

5 years

Kindergarten

Family pictures when she was in 1st grade (6 years)

Third grade

4th grade

Missionary Prep!

So, Cameron got a "real" tie for Christmas. Not a clip on, or zip, or any other means of easy tie putting on. A real tie. I thought it was cute and would be kind of fun for Pug to start teaching Cameron how to tie a tie. Pug would hold the tie tight and tell Cameron what he needed to do.Well, after 4 weeks of having Daddy help I think he is starting to understand how it all works. Cameron came up to have Dad help him with his tie, but Dad was in the middle of something and couldn't help right away. So, Cameron tied his own tie, all by himself, a double windsor knot! I know the proportions are not quite right, and that will all come in time.... BUT look at how nice that knot looks!! How many 7 year olds can say they know how to tie a double windsor knot?!

Here is Cameron just goofing off- after the tie has been tied again.

This picture- besides it being a really cute pic of Cameron- kind of shows you the black eye I game Pug. For those of you who don't know the story, I will just say it happened in the middle of the night with my elbow. WHOOPS!!

Party Hair

McKenzie went to a party on Saturday night, hwere they did the girls hair and nails. Well, she wanted to sleep in her hair and wear it like that to church on Sunday. Every morning that Kenzie wakes up her hair is always a mess! So I told her to try sleeping on her back to lessen the mess. Sunday morning it actually didn't look too bad. So I pinned up the parts that had come out as best I could. This is what it looked like for church.


After I took her pictures she told me that I needed to post it on the blog, so here she is. I just hope that she doesn't expect me to be able to do that to her hair!!!





And just a random picture of the cutest little waterdog out there enjoying her bath!

Is it really that hard?

Is it really that hard to smile "normally" for a picture? All of these were taken in one night. Pug's Mom wanted a nice picture with all of us, and this is what we got to pick from.









It is a good thing I love him. He really does have a nice smile (as evident in my previous post)

Some of my favorites...

Okay, so most you you know that I got a new camera for Christmas. I have always wanted a nice camera, and I have always wanted to learn how to take nice pictures. Well, I haven't really learned anything yet about how to take pictures (hopefully someday). But I have had fun just trying different features on my camera. Here are just a few of my favorites.

Abby is just the cutest little thing there is. But she can be sooo naughty! I took this picture of her sleeping so I could always remember how sweet she is... when she is sleeping. :)

I kind of cheated and took my camera out of the box before Christmas, just to try it out. Unfortunately I had to do it when the kids were at school, so my only subject was Kirby. Needless to say, whenever he sees me take my camera out of the bag he now runs and hides under the couch. Anyways... I liked this one of him.

I don't know why I like this one so much, you can't see McKenzie's beautiful face, but I really like it. I think I like how I was able to have focus up close and a blurred background. Don't ask me how I did it, cause I have no idea!

This is actually one of the first pictures that I took. What can I say, I love the subject so I should love the picture!!

This was taken one morning in December. I went to let the dog out around 7:00 am and this is what I saw. I just stepped out onto my porch and snapped a picture. I LOVE the sunrise and sunsets here. Always beautiful.



Anyways, so there are just a few of the pictures I took that I really liked. Now, maybe someday I can get photo shop, a new lens, a flash, and whatever else I feel like I might need, and take some really nice pictures!

New Years Eve

Okay, I know New Year's Eve was like, 2 weeks ago, but like I said in my previous post, I have just learned how to make my pictures small enough to download here.

We have made it a tradition to get together with our good friends the Naccaratos. We have done it for the past several years. Even though we live almost an hour away we still do it- only now we make it a sleepover!! Here are just a few pics of all of us having fun.

The BIG girls having fun.

The LITTLE girls causing trouble.

The boys playing wii together.

Melissa and me.

Pug and Tony.

Toot my own horn

Okay, so I have been trying to post things for about a week now, but my new camera takes way too big of pictures, and it took me awhile to figure out how to shrink them, but now that I figured it out hopefully I will be able to post some more things.

These cutie patutie (is that even a word?) girls are wearing some skirts that I made (yes I made them) without a pattern. Now I know for wonder women, like my Mom and sister that is no big deal. BUT for people like me who struggle I think I did a pretty good job! In fact McKenzie has asked me to make more of them for her!! And even some of the girls in my activity days want some. So, here I am tooting my own horn.

Okay, I am done now :)