They're Growing SO Fast

A little update: Kieron is crawling everywhere and getting into everything. He also has learned to pull himself up. He'll be walking before we know it. I'm diffinetly not ready for that.

 Kylie was invited to a princess party and dress up as Rapunzel. 

 Xander and Kieron have started to interact with each other a lot. Kieron loves his brother and wants to do what ever he's doing. Xander is pretty good at letting Kieron play with him, most of the time. The new favorite thing to do together is play on Xander's car. Xander will push Kieron for a while and then they switch spots.

See the love

Janika has been such a big help this summer. I have been able to take the kids to movies, park, and swimming with out Sam, all because of her. She loves to help with her brothers. I have some pretty amazing kids.

Happy 7th Birthday Janika

Janika celebrated her 7th Birthday on Thursday. I can't believe its been 7 years. She's growing so fast and I wish there was a way to stop and rewind a few years. This is how I will always remember her.

Baby Girl

For the first 6 months or so, Sam called her "Baby Girl". I don't ever remember him calling her Janika. Some of the people at Sam's school thought we hadn't named her. Even now I hear "Baby Girl" from him.

Janika's day started with presents from mom and dad. She got some high heels that she "really really" wanted. Her cousin got the same ones for her birthday in July and Janika needed to have the same ones. Its been funny to watch her try to walk in them. 

In the afternoon she had her friend Maddi over for a play-date and lunch at Arctic Circle. These girls had a blast playing with each other.

Through out the day she had presents coming to the house. Grandma Barker and Valerie came with a present that had 11,000 beads to make whatever she wants(thanks Polly). The mail man also delivered a package from Grandma Angus and Papa that had make up and a puzzle. She's getting to the age that all the things her wants have tiny pieces, not so fun with Kieron crawling. I guess that's life.

For dinner Janika picked La Fiesta a local mexican restaurant. There they put a sombrero on her and sang Happy Birthday to her. After that they had her smile for a picture but she wasn't doing it right. So they showed her how to smile with a whip cream smile on her face. It was sooo funny, although she didn't find it as amusing as Sam and I did. 

This year Janika had no idea what she wanted for her cake. She went from Hello Kitty, Brave, Princess Tiana, rainbow, then to a pink and purple cake. After all the different ideas she couldn't make a final decision. So Wednesday night she went to bed not knowing what she wanted, I had to decide for her and this is what I came up with. 

I love how it turned out.

Church Camp Out

Our Church had a camp out this past wee end. Sam had to work. So the kids and I loaded the trailer up and headed out to Baker's Creek. We had planned on stay two nights and ended up having so much fun we stayed another night. We had never been up there, what a beautiful place. But also an adventure going some where you have never been with no cell service. Thank goodness for GPS and signs put up by friends that knew I would get lost. The kids were so well behaved and very adventurous. They had no problem getting dirty and not having bath to clean up, only the very cold creek. Even my clean freak Kylie got very dirty and didn't seem to mind. 

Xander on the Preston's 4 wheeler  with Jeff

Kieron 8 Months Old

Kieron is now 8 months old and weights 21 lbs. Kieron is very mobile now, crawling everywhere. He loves to play outside, he could spend all day there. He crawls all over the yard. This is one of the toys that he found in one of his backyard adventures. He looks soooo big in these pictures.

10 Years of Greatness

In August Sam and I celebrate our anniversary. This year we are celebrating our 10th. We have had many adventures, from amazing to very scary.  Made many decisions good and bad.  After 10 years we love each other even more than ever. Okay enough of the mushy stuff. How did we celebrate this year? 

VEGAS!!!!

We left the kids with Sam's sister in Boise for 3 day and head to Las Vegas. I have never been there and I grew up in Reno. Sad I know. I had no idea how big it was, the strip. The first day we walked the strip and after that we took the bus from casino to casino. On Friday we had an amazing 5 star dinner and then saw Phanton of the Opera. It was amazing, the chandelier even came crashing down. Saturday we went to Mystère a Cirque du Soleil show. It was amazing to see the strength and flexibility that these people have.

During the day we walked the strip. I was in awe of all the stores, malls with in casinos. In one of the malls we saw Joe Montana. He was signing autographs. After growing up with the biggest 49er fan I know, there was no question. We had to get his autograph. Happy Birthday, Father's day, and Christmas, Dad.

We had a great time with shows, shopping, eating, walking, $20 in slots and a lot of great talks. 

New York New York

Not the best picture but the only on of the two of us, so it will do.

Roaring Springs

At the end of July the kids and I went to Roaring Springs in Boise. The day started early and ended very late but we all had a great time. We went with several families which made it really nice, even the moms got turns  on the rides. Janika took off with the older girls and went on every ride. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of her but she had a blast with them. Kylie and Xander didn't want to go on many rides, but they loved to go on the one that you could race each other. Kieron loved being in the wave pool and getting his face splashed. All in all, we had a great time in the water with some great friends.

The race!

Kylie found herself a boyfriend. 

Xander racing Colby

These kids had a blast