CoWaBuNGa!!

Today we took the opportunity to go see what CoWaBuNga BaY is all about. West LOVED it! The girls had fun.. I had fun with the kids and Gage too loved it. Aside from being tired even to begin the day there. 

On another note: I definitely don't recommend all day passes. 4 hours is PLENTY of time for this park (if you've never been). 

This was Westons slide. I am not exaggerating in the slightest when I say he went down this probably 100 times. He would butt in front of all the kids.. I tried telling him thats not okay, more than a few times, but you cant take the excitement away from a 3 year old. And as long as no other kids were harmed in his way I think we ended up okay (he received no bruises, that I could see, anyway). :)

This little boy came over to Gage and started splashing him. I thought he might be bothered but instead he flinched, laughed and gave it right on back! Gage is tough.

G. Cute, funny face.

Lys and Madi

Floatin down the little lazy river.

And one more of West and 'HIS' slide.  Doesn't he look proud?! haha

FuN, somewhat exhausting, day! 

My YoUnG WoMaN!!

HaPpY BiRtHdaY To LyS!!!

This week my BaBy GiRL turned 12!!! Shes definitely not a baby anymore. She is a young woman. Who is just as sweet as ever, Has more beauty about her than I could ever imagine, and as Anne would say it best, has the most kindred spirit I could ever hope for. :)

SO, heres to you Lys. Heres to you growing stronger every day here on out. Here's to you staying true to yourself. Heres to you taking life into your hands and making the most of it, as you have done already. Heres to you and not conforming to the rest of the world. Heres to you being a  BeAuTiFuL YoUnG WoMaN and not letting anyone prevent you from staying that. And as my grandma Joyce told me I believe on the same birthday as yours, "Take time to smell the Roses". Don't let this life get you so rushed that you forget what is really important. And I hope I have even remotely instilled in you what I feel is. 

 We started Alyssas big day with lunch. We are fortunate to have our friend Madison in town with us for a couple weeks. So she was able to join in on the fun! Alyssa received $100 to go spend on whatever she would like at the mall. So, after lunch we headed over to south towne, and ended up at Ross, to shop! The girls had fun! They bought clothes, Shoes, jewelry, scents.. and the person that Alyssa is, bought me a present with her money along with her friend. 

I had received a text a week or two prior from Ashley (Alyssas friend) asking if they could throw her a surprise party. Awww what sweet friends she has to do such a thing! So they came over, along with help from Lauren, Set up a party while we were gone. Alyssa had NO clue. For someone who didn't think she was going to get much bless her heart for having a grateful heart and spirit all day long. I just love this little Angel....

Alyssa and Madi just as we returned from ShoPPiNg!

It was funny because we worked up a thurst while shopping. Lys had asked if she could have a Pepsi, because it was her birthday so I agreed to it. Since it was her birthday and all ;).  Right after this picture was shot we were headed in and she was opening the door telling me how she was going straight in for the pepsi and just as she opened the door....

SURPRISE!!!! 

She was SOOO cute! totally jumped, scared out of her Mind! HaHa! All her friends were right on the stairs shouting!

Lys.. Beautiful, happy.. SURPRISED! 

And don't forget the PEPSI! 

Madi and Lexi

Lexi, Senja, Katie, Ashley, Lys and Madi

They decorated so well and fun, I had to take some pictures.

After playing some fun little games that Lex and Ash made up and brought over we went swimmin! 

The boys. They were troopers all day. West kept saying, "Im not going to ruin your birthday Lys." hahaha meaning he wasn't going to have a whiney or bad attitude.

Grandma Vicki and Grandpa Bert came to see Lys. They are so sweet. Always make an effort to make her feel special. Thank you!

Ash and Madi... Too funny :)

Gage is going to be a LaDy KiLLeR!!!! Look at that Punim.

These girls are so cute and so fun I could literally hang out with them ALWAYS.

(Ashley, Priscilla, Madi, Senja, Alyssa, Lexi and Katie)

"Happy Birthday to You"

Ash and Lex made her the delicious Birthday Cake! Mmmmm they did SO good!! Thank you girls for all of your efforts. I, and Alyssa, absolutely adore you.

Senja and Madi and their Cake scarfing skills.

After opening presents (which my camera battery died for) We went out on the golf course and played some night games til 12 am. HaHa! What a FUN day!!

Alyssa, you are my angel. Always will be. Meant to be here, always... 

Keep smiling, Keep laughing, and never stop dancing.

I love you.

-Mom

This morning I woke up headed out the door to make my rounds for work. As I started driving I started thinking how this was perfect opportunity to turn on and listen to my Tony Robbins. My friend introduced me to Tony Robbins and downloaded 'the power of relationships' Audio to my iPod. He is fantastic! I highly recommend him to EVERYONE.

As I am trying to make a conscious effort to be the best I can be with my situations given. I have found myself time and time again feeling so overwhelmed with what is on my plate. Which in turn has made me have to refocus positive attention on what Negativity I may be enduring. OR causing myself to endure. As I was listening to this Audio he is talking about how we as humans are the only ones who make something out of nothing. WE stress ourselves out. And I know this.. or subconsciously know this anyway but i think my little streak of OCD takes over and if something stresses me out I know I tend to let it have a ripple effect on everything else. Just as if I head home from work and come home and the house is torn apart, I tend to think 'ohh man! my life is a mess!'. BUT its just the house... nothing that cant be picked up in a matter of minutes. But here I am making something out of nothing, so instead of taking my time focusing on the fact I have been away from my children and take the time to play with them for a minute I start picking up.. getting frustrated. Then it goes from there which makes my day seem like an exhausting, overwhelming hard working day. Instead of ENJOYING what is there. Now I REALLY try to work on this as often as I can. And Im not saying this is an EVERY day occurance but its definately something I know I need to work on. Enjoying the simplicity of life. Not making something out of nothing! I think many of us get into this mode. At least I Hope Im not the only one ;).

Something he was talking about for some reason struck me profoundly. I dont know why because again.. its something I know, but it clicked. We as humans have an ultimate goal... which is to feel, be and give LOVE. Without it we die inside. Our evolution process has only caused us to need this. A baby will not survive without it and as we get older it is just as important to our survival. He continued, and talked about a father of quintuplets who was maybe 30 but looked 50. The TV reporter interviewing him asked him what the secret was to handling them and raising so many children. He told her 'Dont have too many rules. If you have too many rules they are always breaking something youre always in Reaction! You should have the least amount of rules for raising kids'. I thought about this seriously. What he was getting at was moreso to do with relationships but I thought about this with my own children. My brother asked me at Sunday dinner what I did to help make Alyssa so.. perfect. She is the most respectful, well mannered girl... EVER. And I thought Really.. Alyssa has received soo much love in her life why would she choose to be anything but what she is?! I believe she has had such an amazing amount of love given to her by ALL of her family she has hardly had ANY rules nor has she broken any rules. Which when thinking about that statement from the father of the quin's I had to absolutely 100% agree with it. Which was inspiring to me! I think about my sweet little balls of energy (my boys) and I almost feel like I work so much and when I come home and have all these 'rules' to abide by and I am not focusing my attention on them, what are they going to do?! Break those rules in order to receive the attention ( I totally think these same things apply for adults just in a different way). And Like I said.. this is something I know, but yet have struggled with and something I KNOW I need to work on, as well as other plenty of other things. I am always trying to do fun things with my kids. Every day I really try to fit in a certain amount of time to them doing something active for their sake. And I notice when I do this they are nothing but AWESOME!! So what I think my conclusion is, and for an answer to my brother... 'eliminate as many rules as possible'. Enjoy life. Enjoy the Chaos, Enjoy the MeSS of it... Because when you do that things will be exactly opposite of that. And most importantly make sure you are giving LoVE. Love makes the world go round. We all need it and moreso we all need to give it. What is the purpose in life if we arent giving???? Thats when things spiral down for us. "Living a life for others is a life worth living".

XoXoXo

CaNYoN

We took our annual 'Megans here in town' Family trip up the canyon! :) I dont know why it always takes her coming to town to get anyone up there.. I LOVE going up there and will make any excuse to get out and do it! Sooo lets work on that.. Family and friends ;)

Jaida is the funniest little MiSS THaNg! She is always posing and struttin her stuff. I love it.

Look at those MaLLoWs!!! PERFECTION!! Thats one thing we have learned to do.. is roast some good ones.

Gage just wanted to get naked and play in the water... He doesnt have his shirt on because he HAD to take it off. Whether because it was wet and uncomfortable or if this is some 'natural' feeling he has, I am not quite sure. haha

They had leaf races.... Not quite sure who were the winners but the kids enjoyed it! So did Matt.

Rachelle Crew and I. Cuties.

FaMiLy PiCtUreS

This was about the extent to how much G wanted to co-operate. Lys is absolutely the cutest thing alive! Meg.. and cute Fam Words cannot express my love for these little.. HaMS! West... Such a sweet smile. I love you West. I know I posted a bunch of these to facebook but I wanted to put my faves on my BloG!