White Elephant....

I have amazing friends. I feel so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life.
Tonight we had our "traditional" white elephant dinner party. We had the Collins, the Wards, the Bostrom, the Conley and the Johnson families all together. This was our first year to have kids come. I really enjoyed watching the younger kids laugh and play together. Ally, Anderloo and Miss Bianca are so cute with our kids. They really are perfect aunties and uncles for my kids.

Bill cooked a yummy ham, and we had lots of other great food. My favorite was the baked bree with phyllo, sundried tomatoes and pesto. It was the first time I have ever made it and YUMMMY! (Thanks Audra Bollard for teaching that fun cooking class last month!)

While eating our cheesecake dessert we thought of my mom and dad and how much we missed them tonight. They are usually a big part of this evening. We are all so thrilled with where they are though.

Guesstures - I love a group who plays games!
We had so much fun tonight!
Thanks everyone,

It takes a Village

They say it takes a village to raise a child... and I am so thankful for my village!




I have the neatest group of girlfriends! They are wonderful. Between us there are over 30 kids ages 5 and under! (almost 40!) These are the women I turn to when I need help with my boys. They are wonderful, caring examples of how to be a great mom. We all have different parenting styles, but we learn so much from each other.

I love that we never have any backbiting or gossip. These woman are amazing!

Here we are at the park last week for St. Patrick's Day. None of the pictures turned out great. Oh well. Next time!

I joined the group with what I call the "original ten". (I always looked to make certain there were ten on the email list so I didn't leave anyone out.) Now there are so many more and it is wonderful! We try to make sure every one feels welcome and included. We like to invite everyone and we really hope nobody ever feels left out.

Some of my favorite things we have done together this past year include:
Irvine Park Railroad and Pumpkin Patch
Abby's House parties
Disneyland
Beach Parties


















Here are some of the "girls" in the group. ( I am sorry if I leave anyone out... there are a lot of us!)

Shaylyn Johnson 3 kids
Abby Trapp 3 kids
Karen Brown 3 kids
Kelly Brown 2 kids
Wendy Clevland 2 kids
Kathryn Pearson 2 kids
Charise Johnson 2 kids
Lisa Rice 1 1/2 kids
Darcy Yaden 1 kid
Lanay 2 kids
Kate Ingram 3 kids
Katie Anderson 3 kids
Melissa Pushckor 2 kids
Stacy Hughes 3 1/2 kids
Debbie Parker 2 kids
Genny Adams 3 kids
Bethany Warnick 4 kids

Pumpkin T-Shirt Party!

Ok, so I have this darling friend Darcy who takes great pictures, and blogs every day... So I am just taking what she did and writing my thoughts to add to it. Darcy... is that ok???

I invited our playgroup to come to our house and make these cute tie-dye Halloween Pumpkin T-shirts. I saw them in the Family Fun magazine and I really wanted to make them... but I knew I would never do it unless I made it into a party and did it with a group.

While the moms were getting the shirts ready, the kids all got to decorate graham crackers, but lets face it all of it ended up on their faces and in their mouths, not on the crackers!

Gwenie is always a little princess. I have never seen her messy. Ever!

Hayden had a huge pile of candy on the plate, but we made her share. She is adorable!!



Darcy's camera and talent is amazing! She captures the kids so well!



Gavin didn't waste anytime eating his once he was done decorating it. I love how Spencer/Lincoln (Twins and I can tell who is who when I can see them together, any help? Katie?) is looking on.



Brody licking off the frosting, don't blame him it was yummy.



The shirts have to soak for along time, so we then gave the kids Popsicles. Sugar high anyone?


Brody, Gavin, Gwennie, Lincoln, Cole, Hayden, Avery, Grant, Spencer, Saywer, Noah...
Not pictured: Kaden, Taylor, Luke... and maybe a few I am forgetting! It was a crazy day, but lots of fun.

I am so lucky that Cole has this fantastic group of kids to be his friends!



I love that Noah's hair is always totally done perfectly... Abby needs a girl!



Sawyer, seriously such a cutie!



Darcy, thank you for taking such fun pictures. I am so glad you came to my house to play!

Amazing Friends

Exactly a year ago, I spent a week with my sisters Mitzi and Amy in Las Vegas. They both have best girlfriends from their wards, who they do lots of fun things with. I remember coming home and telling my mom how much I wished that I could have that. A dear friend from my church that I felt like I could really enjoy and do things with. I asked Heavenly Father in my prayers for weeks to please help me find someone who I could get along with more than just for 3 hours at church. Little did I know the great blessings Father in Heaven had in store for me. One year ago this week, a girl named Shaylyn Johnson stopped me in the hall at church and said that she was having some friends over for a playgroup at her house that week, and was I interested? She said that all the kids we 3 and under. Cole was almost 2 at the time. I told her we'd love to come...

Throughout many of my past blogs I have talked about these girls, but I want to tell them all how much I love them, and how thankful I am for their friendship. They are all so different from one another. They each have amazing talents and strengths and I am so lucky to have them in my life! Between us there is 24 children ages 5 and under and we have 4 more on the way in the next few months. Some are loud, some are quiet, some are brave, some are not. But everyone of them are kind, loving and fun. They are terrific wives, and fantastic mothers. There are so many things about each of them that I want to strive to be more like.

So Shaylyn, Abby, Lisa, Kelly, Wendy, Kathryn, Karen, Darcy, Lanay and now our two new cuties Katie and Kate... I love you all and I am so thankful for the sisterhood we share. I am thankful that we never say anything bad about anyone else. I love that I never hear any of you gossip or criticize. I love that we help each other at the last minute, and that we make each other stronger. You each make my testimony stronger. You encourage me to try harder and to be better. I am so thankful to be a part of this amazing group of women! And to anyone out there who wants to be a part of this great group of friends, from the beginning the motto has always been, "everyone is included, everyone is welcome." Please join us... we are having a great time raising our children together.