Ballerina

Mady had her last day of dance class and they did a short recital ( I mean short). The attention span was about 5 secs. It was so cute to watch the girls try to follow the teacher and move. She loved taking dance we will have to sign up for another one!

I had her all dressed in her outfit above and the teacher wanted them to all be in pink or purple, so she put leotards over them and it looked ridiculous, Mady's was about 3 sizes too big. Oh, well it was fun anyway.

SWIM-BIKE-RUN

Jesse, along with Brendan, Ginger, Larry & Catie all did the Desert Grande triathalon together.
Me and the kids went to watch, no way could I have done it. Big congratulations to all of them for doing it and finishing!!!!! Jesse does triathalons every so often with his siblings and he never really trains for them, it just all comes natural for him. Way to go!!!!

Everyone waiting to start the race-swim first.


Jesse swimming 400 meters in
10 mins. 12 secs.


Getting ready to bike 10.2 miles. in
46 mins. 13 secs.

Off and running 3 miles in

25 mins. 23 secs.

Yeah, he finished in 1hour 22mins. 18 sec.

What a look of exhaustion.

Visiting Santa at Bass Pro Shops

So, we went to Cracker Barrel for dinner tonight and of course the kids have to go to Bass Pro Shops (they could stay there for hours looking at all the animals). Santa was there and you could get a free picture with him. Mady wouldn't even go close to him, Santa had to throw her candy to her, so that is why Mason is all alone. Mason also got his first air soft gun, that was his reward he picked out for passing his turbo math tests. I wasn't very excited about the idea of any kind of gun but Jesse begs to differ. Mason knows first hand how it feels to get shot with an air soft gun. One of the neighbor boys has one and he decided to get it out one day without an adult around (don't know why it wasn't locked up) and claims he didn't know it was loaded and aims it right at Mason about three feet away and shoots him in the neck. Mason and the boys came running home and he had a huge welt on his neck and it broke the skin. So, after that I really don't care for those kind of toys. Gun safety will be followed at all times with this one, and it will be locked up so the boys can't just get it when they want.

Mason school pics.

2nd grade

What a good looking kid! I am so proud to have Mason in my life. He works so hard at school and is excelling more and more every day. I know I'm being bias but he really is the best boy a mom could have!

Love you Mason, and go for your dreams!

Beach

When we went to California we spent a morning at Huntington Beach. This is a picture on the end of the pier.





The water was so cold Mady wouldn't barely even stick her toes in.

It was very windy and cold so the swimsuit thing only lasted a minute, then they wanted their jackets on. They thought this was like summertime beach swimming.

Mason loved making a sand castle.

California trip!

BUBBA GUMP SHRIMP CO.

Over fall break we took a family trip to California. A lot of the Taylors (cousins) from Utah ended up coming also. One of the nights we ate at Bubba Gumps.

My Forrest, with his suitcase, box of chocolates, and gigantic tennis shoes.

It was a fun dinner with all the family!

The Happiest Place On Earth!

Here we are at Disneyland in front of the famous Mickey Mouse flower bed. The kids were so excited to go, Mady especially because she wanted to see all the princesses. She could not stop asking where they were and if they all lived in the castle together. It was so fun to see the excitement the kids would get over being there. It's like being a kid again.

Donald Duck Mickey & Minnie

Pluto and the kids

Me and Cruella Deville striking a pose!

The first ride we went on was Star Tours. Mady didn't know what to think and Mason loved it.
Uncle Larry came along on the trip and all of the Taylor's went to Disneyland with us.
Mason even got to make his own double sworded light saber.

Bug's Life 3-D glasses, aren't we stylin'

flying dumbo ride, in Mady words "gumbo Ride"

Monster's inc. car- Noah, Mason and Mady.

My little princess! Mady's most favorite part of the whole day was watching the parade because she got to see all the princesses, Belle and the Beast were one of her favorites as she watched them dance.


Mason's most favorite rides were space mountain that he rode twice and Indiana Jones.


It was especially neat to go around Halloween time because everything was decorated all halloweeny. The Haunted Mansion ride was all decked out like the Nightmare Before Christmas movie, it was really neat!

The picture on right was taken outside of the Haunted Mansion, we are all exhausted because it was the tenth hour that we had been there and Mady was sacked out on my shoulder. But, we didn't let anything stop us, we stayed until they closed at midnight.
These were taken inside of the ride .

Lets just say it was a long 15 hour day at Disneyland, but it was something the kids and us will never forget. It was so worth it, we got to ride every ride that we wanted, some of them even twice. We can't wait to go back!