Photo Shoot!

On Tuesday of this week I was taking some pictures of Allie in her baptism dress to put on the invitations that we are going to send out. I just went crazy, and was snapping pictures left and right! I never knew it could be this fun to experiment with different poses and angles! Allie was such a good sport and held still for me to do her hair! She also posed and did everything that I asked her to! Just look at what a beautiful girl we have!! And I had a blast too!!

Which one is your favorite? I just Love the ones with the pink flower!! Sniff! She is getting big too fast!!

-Shari

IT'S GREAT TO BE 8!!!

Happy Birthday Miss Allie Ann!! We are so happy to have you in our family!!! Your father and I are so proud of you and the wonderful daughter that you are!! You came into my life in a very special way, and I am so thankful for you!!! You were only 3 years old when I met you and you have always been so sweet and loving to me! I appreciate the wonderful, caring and bright girl that you are!! You spread sunshine wherever you go!! Thank you for all the fun memories!! How fast the time flies.... next thing we know you will be all grown up! Keep being the spiritual, thoughtful person that you have always been!! We all Love you very much!!Look at this beautiful baby! Allie in her blessing dress 2001!

Miss Allie at the age of 5!

Sissy and Brenton at their piano recital in 2008!Allie Ann at the zoo at the beginning of June 2009! (notice all the bugs)

-Shari

3,2,1...Blastoff!!

We have stuff for rockets and we shot 2 off in our back yard the other day when the weather was cooperating!

Josh is preparing the rockets for take off!

All the kids sitting on the tramp watching and waiting to push the button.

Aren't they Cute!?

The kids love to push the button and count down!

The cool thing about this was that the wind dropped it right back to our yard and Josh was able to catch it in his hand! I wish I would've been recording!!

-Shari

Did someone say Tavaci??

Allie sings and preforms with a group called Tavaci over in Logan and she has been doing it for two years now! She really is so fun to watch and her singing talent has begun to develop! She actually enjoys Tavaci more than any of the other activities she does, and you can see why, because it is such a fun program!

This was the last performance of the year and Allie got to sing a solo! It was so touching to watch her sing, and it brought tears to my eyes! I am so glad that someone in my small family has captured the joy of music and singing because it means so much to me!Allie after the concert.She was right front and center so it was really easy to see her!They sang some really cur patriotic songs, and also did the music from Annie!

It is so entertaining to watch all of the kids!Allie is sooo cute and so fun to watch! I hope that she continues to do Tavaci!!

-Shari

Growing Pains!

Allie got her ears pierced two weeks ago and it was an exciting event! We enjoy watching her grow and are reminded that sometimes growing up can hurt...literally, but not too bad. I actually expected a scream, or an ouch or something! Allie stayed very poised and didn't hardly flinch! What a trooper, and she has done a good job at taking care of her ears too! She looks beautiful and is very happy with her new earrings!

Allie is holding onto her mom to make sure that everything will be OK and Grandma Nelson is telling her to wiggle her toes so that she won't feel the pain. Half a second later she has big girl pierced ears!!!

The preparatory cleaning and marking of the ears... Allie was very quiet and you could tell that she was a bit nervous!
The big smile after the worst part is over!

Allie has a lot of support there cheering her on when she got her ears pierced and it is needless to say that she walked out of there just LOADED with new earrings!! Doesn't she look happy?!

Allie is such a beautiful girl, and I look at her every day and can't believe how big she is getting! Love you Allie!!!

-Shari

Last of the soccer season

So here are the pictures from the last games of Allie and Brenton's soccer season! They both did well and I think that it has been a good experience for them!

Miss Allie can still play and look pretty at the same time! Which is what a true princess can do! ;)Here she is playing the last game of the season with some of her team mates.
Look how handsome Brenton is! He is so cute that the lady who took their soccer pictures asked if she could post Brenton's on her blog!This is so cool! Leo the Lion (REAL Salt Lake's mascott) came to Brenton's last game and was going around taking pictures andhigh fiving all the kids! Dina told Leo to remember Brenton because someday he would be playing for his team!

We couldn't get Draycin to even stand by his brothers and sister because he was so scared of Leo, but at least you can see that he was there too!

It was so much fun to watch you both!

-Shari

Catch up time!

It has been quite a while since I last posted and there have been so many things that have happened, but I don't have the pictures yet because Josh has not had any time to put them on the computer for me, and you all know that if I tried to do it that the entire system would some how crash! That is just my luck and I can't use the excuse that I am blond anymore.... because I am just a fake blond. Sniff. I will post all of them at a later date!

I cannot believe that it is already June 9th! Time has flown so fast! Allie and Brenton are finally out of school for the summer as of the 4th! WHOOHOO!!! I am so excited for all the fun stuff we are going to do this summer!!!

Allie and Brenton finished up soccer and now Brenton is playing pitch machine baseball. He doesn't seem to enjoy it as much as wrestling or soccer, but that is ok because he won't be able to do all the sports as he gets older. He is really looking forward to when it is warm enough to go swimming! The kid loves to swim!

Allie is going to be 8 years old on the 28th of this month and She will be getting baptized on July 11th. Can you believe that she is that old already?.... neither can I! Where did the little girl go? She just got her ears pierced so that she can wear pretty white earrings for her baptism, and I will have to post the video and pics on here when I can!

Draycin has really begin to show us some attitude and he has us laughing or frustrated all the time! He is all boy, and very much into that serious two year old attitude! He can be the sweetest little funny boy there is and then he can scream GIVE ME MY MILK!!! I am sure you all know what I am talking about. Just last week he discovered how to unlock the doors in the house, and while I was taking a quick shower he decided he was going to go outside, and you guessed it... I nearly had a heart-attack when I found him out there, and all he could say (very sweetly) was I just wanted to see the cats. He hasn't done it since, and better not ever again!

Cael is becoming increasingly more mobile: pulling himself up to things and crawling! He gets into everything!!!! He is such a sweet baby, and he is so funny! he must hear us saying no to Draycin all the time because he will go over to Draycin and pat him and tell him no no no no no. I really shouldn't laugh that my 10 month old already knows the "infamous" NO, but it is sooo cute. Cael has been saying mama for about 4 months and he also says dada, kitty, and Allie. He officially has 4 teeth! the top two popped through yesterday morning! He loves to ride on anything that resembles a bike and he already know how to fight for what is his (you wouldn't guess that it is because of Draycin).

Josh and I are always very busy with work and kids and always tired at the end of each week, but we are happy and so pleased to see how our little family is growing! We all have so much fun together!! I can't wait to get all the pictures on here for you to see!

I hope you don't mind all of the run on sentences.;)

-Shari

Sunday Best!


Just look how cute our kids are! not that I am bragging or anything ;)

I have to laugh everytime I see this picture because it seems that every one is happy.... right?? well what you didn't see and hear was the prodding and threatening Draycin so that he would smile. This is actually the last picture of the bunch that was taken!If you look you can see that all is well with the other 3 kids but Draycin is looking up at daddy who is threatening him if he doesn't smile.The other kids- still good! Draycin whining that he doesn't want to take a picture!

Allie, Brenton and Cael- Check! Draycin- refusing to look at the camera.We really had to fight with Draycin to even get on the couch, but hey he is 2, and we all know what comes along with that! but just as much wonderful (if not more) comes along with it too!!

-Shari

You Did It!

Thank you America for getting this one right!! Congratulations to Kris Allan for winning American Idol!!
When it comes to American Idol winners I can think of a few that America has gotten right: Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, Jordan Sparks (toss-up), and Kris Allan.
I can also think of quite a few that America was Just crazy (brain-dead) over: Ruban studdard, Fantasia Bourino, Taylor Hicks. Can we say WOW!? We should be really proud of ourselves!!
The only one I left out was David Cook because I didn't watch any of that season... so I cannot say.
American Idol is the only thing that I watch on TV....EVER! So I get really frustrated when the judges get stuck on someone like Adam Lambert- not to say that he wasn't talented, but the screaming.... really..... how much can we take???? I wish that someone would put a clip together of all his screaming and post it on the inter net so that everyone who is his fan could see what I am talking about!!

All in all, it was a really good season with lots of great talent and I hope that everyone can see that Kris was very deserving of this title. The other great thing about Kris was that he was so humble and nice and I think that has a lot to say about a person! I am happy about the out come and excited to see what next year brings!

-Shari

PITY PARTY

So I am throwing myself a pity party today. My head hurts (just like it has every day for a week straight) I am always tired, and wouldn't you guess... the dishes are not done! I always feel like a horrible mommy when I really think that I am gonna lose it if the kids don't get to sleep right at nine and I have the greatest urge just to scream my head off . Like, really... how would that make things any better??? I am starting to get REALLY SICK of being alone while Josh is works swing and I have to run all the kids around to all their activities. My body has been screaming at me to lay off and take a rest before it completely shuts down, BUT I DON"T HAVE TIME FOR THAT!!! I know that I am not alone in my complaining and I know that I shouldn't be doing it in the first place...so I will tell you what I am thankful for.....

1-My wonderful husband who works hard to support our family!
2- My beautiful kids and how lucky I am to have them! They make me laugh and smile every day!
3-My mom for coming and helping me with all the AVON literature.
4- My bed that I am going to go lay on in just a minute.
5- and for My Father in Heaven who blesses me and helps me keep going every day!

-Shari

Summer is Coming!!!

These pictures make me just long for the summer!! I think that the kids are just as antsy as I am too!!Poor daddy was getting mauled by all the kids. I know he secretly LOVES it!!He couldn't barely get up because all the kids kept jumping on him and grabbing him!Don't they all look like they are having a blast!?!

Josh has to help Draycin jump because it is hard with the big kids.



Cute little Cael is happy just to watch from the deck with mommy!

They were having a bum-drop contest and Josh always wins because he is the biggest and he steals the kid's bounce.

I am glad that the kids can have even a short break between school and other activities to just be silly and have fun!!

-Shari

We must be Fans!

As if we didn't get enough soccer time in during the week, and every weekend!!! We went to another Salt Lake Real game, which was a complete blast and was so nice to go on a date with my hubby and escape all the madness for a few hours!!

This is Alex and Jacinda who also came along to the game and we all had a lot of fun together!This is the crazy REAL fans who partied and banged on drums and screamed the whole time!

Me and my hubby! so cute!!!!
It was a fun game and REAL was ahead by 1 point until the very end of the game and the other team scored, then they added on 7 min. and and both teams scored another point so the game ended tied 2 to 2.

Here we are again, and you see that darling scarf I am wearing??? Well.... everyone was making fun of it, but I don't care!!! I LOVE IT!!!

this is one of the exciting moments of the game and I just happened to catch it on video!! Hope you enjoy!

-Shari

Ti's the Season....

For soccer... that is! Allie and Brenton are both playing soccer this year, and I must tell you that, at times, the schedule we keep is a bit hectic! Especially since it over-laps Piano, Tavaci (singing), and Base ball. Sometimes I have to ask myself the question..."am I crazy???" as if we didn't already have enough going on lets add something else to our plate! You all know how I LOVE to eat... well when it comes to extra curricular I always feel like our eyes are bigger than our stomachs! Not that I should complain because I totally enjoy watching and participating with my kids in all the activities that they do!!! They are some spoiled and blessed kids!!!!! Here are some pictures and examples of what our life has been like lately!Draycin is just one of the people that is dragged around from place to place for the 10 things that are all done in the same day. But, hey! He seems happy to me! and I am sure that we will have even MORE fun when he starts doing stuff too!!Cael loves to be outside to watch all the sporting events and like I told Dina... Only Real Men know how to sit in Pink chairs and make it look this good! This is Brenton at one of the soccer games he has played this season! Brenton is very athletic and does really well at soccer! He has massive kicks and scores goals like crazy!!! He is sooo much fun to watch and his coach is always telling us what an animal he is!!

Brenton is the one with the ball! I will have to put a video of him on here later so that you can see what I am talking about!
Here is Brenton at his final piano recital of the semester where he gets judged! He did very well and we were all very proud of him!
Of course, you would figure that this recital was the same day as his soccer game, just at a different time!
This is Allie at her final recital of the semester also, same day as Brentons but a different time and she also played a soccer game too!She did excellent and the judges were very happy with her performance!! She always works very hard and practices without complaining!! Plus how could you not Love this beautiful girl??

This is Allie at one of her soccer games! They have canceled so many games because of the bad weather that we will be making them up still a month later! but last week both Allie and Brenton had to play in the pouring (and I mean POURING) rain because they couldn't afford to cancel another game.

Allie is such a trooper and even though soccer is not her forte she has fun and enjoys every minute of it!!

So there you have it! I hope that we all continue to survive all the craziness, and that the kids all have fun and are happy!!

-Shari

Watch Yo mouth!

So a little while ago Draycin walked into the kitchen; looked down at the mess on the floor, that Cael had made, and boldly exclaimed " What the crap?" at first I said what??? so... he looked at me, put his hands on his hips and said "mommy, What the crap?" I tried really hard not to laugh (because then he would've thought it was ok), and started to tell him that we don't talk like that, but was stopped right in my tracks. Scenes from my own life came flooding back to my memory.... hands on my hips..... puzzled looks on my face...... and those dreaded words...... It was then that I realized that it was....it was, ahem, me who taught him that. Oh... you couldn't read that?!? OK IT WAS ME!!! I have used this phrase when I am upset, puzzled or lost, and didn't realize that my 2 year old had picked up on this and was just mimicking me. Oh the shame! I am sure that there are worse things that he could mimic , but from now on I am going to try to watch my mouth!!! and then I can just blame everything on his father! HA ha ha!

-Shari