Hunter turns 8!

What a great weekend we spent with Hunter and his family! We love Hunter...we are so proud of him for choosing to be baptized. One of Hanna's last basketball games was the same day, but she told Daddy that she had to be at the baptism. It was way more important than any basketball game and she's right!
The Scullin and Jackson cousins who sang "I am a Child of God".
There was a huge snow storm during the baptism (which made traveling to the church a little difficult since the Scullins live up in the mountains in a forest above San Bernardino, CA)! But it did allow the kids to get in some awesome sledding and snow playtime.


The girls played hair salon one night....I curled their hair. Don't they look cute?
Snuggling with Grandpa

Hiking Red Rock

Teacher work days make for the best hiking days!! Two days off from school in one week? You guys are spoiled
Nevada's state bird
I played with my Christmas present for the first time: an awesome tripod from Jared. I love it...I think I'm addicted
I was trying to get that melting effect of the water where you blur motion...I still have sooo much to learn

This was from behind I think its my favorite from the day

A Sweet pink shower for Emily

We have been so excited to throw a fun shower for our cute friend Emily who is having her first girl after three boys in a row. First of all Emily is so fun and amazing on so many levels and is quite a girly girl herself. So after finding out a little girl was on the way, sweet and pink began running through my mind! We asked everyone to wear pink and those who made food new it had to be pink! So Betsy made the cutest (tastiest) pink cupcakes, pink punch was made, brownies with pink frosting, pink fruity cheescakes were made, and then we added in some fruit and veggies for good measure. As for the candy buffet, Julene and I had such a fun time putting it together in cute jars and making tags. Everyone took a bag home as there party favor. We played a celebrity baby matching game and famous TV couples game. Mostly it was fun to visit and watch Emily open the cute baby girl clothes....that so many of us seem to elude in this group:)It was a fun evening.




That's Emily in the middle....and don't get me started on how she doesn't even look pregnant!

Sledding

We spent a perfect day sledding up at Mt. Charleston on President's Day. The sky was beautiful blue there was a lot of snow and we had friends to play with. The Taylor's came along and the kids loved it.

Jake and Jack--best buddies
Racing
Carter is such a fun lover
Little Cam
The Taylor crew

Red Dinner tradition

We always celebrate Valentine's Day as a family having a red/pink dinner together. Since moving to Las Vegas, we have added inviting over another family to enjoy it with us to the tradition. This year we had the Taylors over. We have known them for years. Jared and Jason actually went to High School together. I met them when they were on rotation at Travis AFB in California (Jason is an ER Doc) our first year living there. We had hoped they would get stationed there with us, but that didn't end up happening. Little did we know that five years later they would end up getting stationed at Nellis AFB with us and decide to buy a house and move right next to us! We were thrilled and our boys are now great friends and go back and forth to each others houses. Melinda has been serving as my second counselor for two years in Young Womens and Jared is Jason's Secretary in the Elder's Quorum. Jack and Jake are in the same first grade class. Its so fun to have such good friends as neighbors. We are truly blessed.
Between us we have 8 boys and only one girl! Its always a wild, loud and energetic good time.

On the menu: We always serve: Sweet n Sour red chicken, pink rice, red jello, strawberries, apples, and some type of cake for dessert. We always have to explain to the invited family that there will be no well balanced meal served and that their children will leave hyper and on a sugar high after eating way too much red dye!! This year I made these cake balls which aren't even made from cake, but that's what they are called!! I have some friends who want the recipe so here it is:

One bag of oreos (minus nine of them)You can use Chocolate or the vanilla ones or I'm sure any variety!
One package of 8 oz cream cheese softened
One bag of Wilton white chocolate melting discs sold at Micheals (they come in a variety of colors)
Various sprinkles to decorate
White Wilton long sticks

Take the bag of oreos (minus nine)and put in a gallon ziploc bag. Smash thoroughly until no chunks are visible. Pour smashed Oreos into a bowl and combine with the cream cheese. Shape in to balls ping pong size or a little bigger, and put a white stick through. Freeze all balls on a pan not touching over night or for many hours. Melt chocolate discs according to package instructions. *important to note that you want your microwave on half power or the defrost setting, chocolate burns easily. Once the chocolate is smooth, dip frozen ball in it using a spoon to pour over any parts that may need additional coverage. Keep the ball tipped over the bowl until it has set up a little so its not dripping. May need to take a little off the bottom of the ball with finger (by the stick) to prevent dripping. Sprinkle decorations over the ball while it is still sticky and not set up completely. Repeat with all the balls. I found it works best if you don't have more than 10 out of the freezer at a time or they start to soften too much and fall off the sticks. If they soften put them back in the freezer until they harden.

These can be displayed as I did or in 3 smaller pots dividing them up. Or you can put them on smaller sticks and put them upside down on a plate and tie a bow around the lollipop stem. You really can't go wrong....these are soooo yummy!! I even did some without sticks and just put them on a plate. This recipe will make about 30 depending on the size of the cake balls.

Girly Get Away

Story time: A long time ago (8 years in fact) we lived in Maryland when Jared went to Medical School. It was a fun exciting time where we had a great group of friends where the husbands and wives got along. The guys enjoyed watching sports, playing golf and talking about their perfect, beautiful wives and children. The wives enjoyed doing Family Home Evening packets together, crafts, shopping, and visiting way into the wee hours of the night. Then we all moved away and promised to stay in touch and guess what? We actually did!!!
We have vacationed in numerous places together and still enjoy being around one another. The husbands still golf and the gals still talk and shop....only we have a little more money and children now so when we say we shop and talk, we mean it!! We girls have taken turns hosting girls trips at one another's houses so we can see where we live and then take in the local attractions. It is soooo much fun. This time we met in Arizona at my friend Stefani's house. She was a perfect hostess and we thoroughly enjoyed beautiful Arizona.
The first morning, we awoke much too early and headed north to the Grand Canyon. We arrived in Williams where the railway to the Grand Canyon took off. And despite the "interesting" oldtimer Cowboy Bob's music, we enjoyed our ride in and out of the park. It was a beautiful winter day at the Canyon....snow on the ground and in the trees
Look at those hot babes, you'd never guess we each have 5 kids and one of us has 6!
I have such beautiful friends
breathtaking views
Lisa (Georgia), Stefani (Arizona), Missy (Las Vegas)
Lisa, Terri (Utah), Geneva (Las Vegas)
I was surprised to find so many trees and green around the canyon. I had always pictured it in my mind as being completely desert like with little or no trees, I was very wrong!

Brian hooked us up with some sweet treats when we arrived at our Marriott

We enjoyed a relaxing day at the Spa where we all got massages and some of us got facials and manicures.
We stopped at this cute Cupcake shop and all tried gourmet cupcakes. At $3.75 a pop they better be gourmet, I know right? I waited 10 minutes extra after a long wait in line to try the chocolate peanut butter one. We decided it was worth it... We cut them all up and shared them. Yummy!

Other highlights included spending way too much time and money at the most amazing mall in Scottsdale, going to church together, and eating at this quaint and unique Mexican/Chinese restaraunt called Chino Bandinos where you can enjoy chinese chicken and rice and a quesadilla at the same time. Love you ladies.....when and where are we going next???