The End

We woke up Monday morning and had one more dip in the hot tub.

Marcus just LOVES hot tubs!

Olivia does too.

Emma poses for the camera.

Quick picture with Nana and Papa and then we said our goodbyes.

When we got to Rogers Pass this is what we saw...is that a snow plow? Why yes it is!

I swear I took this picture on May 30, 2011.

Isn't this amazing? We made it home safely but it wasn't without some adventure!

That Perfect Shot

Since the entire family was finally together we had to take that perfect family photo. We decided to just use one camera for this and since Aaron has the nicest one plus a tripod, his was it. Here we are setting up. Marc had a swollen eye the entire weekend so he's got an ice pack to it here (in case you were wondering).

A test shot by Aaron...

That one is pretty good...then I said, "Where is Bella" (she's Aaron's "kid").

So, Aaron goes to get Bella and she comes running out like a wild dog. Aaron had his camera set up to continue taking pictures so it captured the moment perfectly.

Marcus and Aiden went chasing after Bella...the camera was still clicking way (none of us knew by the way).

"The Master" gets Bella under control while we get the two youngest boys in line.

Click, Click, Click goes the camera...it even catches Bella as she turns her head.

Here we go...the perfect shot!

And we're done! Well at least all of us but Bella...good dog!

And the cute couple. Welcome to the family Jared!

The Falls

After the party, Jared, Tavein, Taylor, Aaron and I went to check out Ryan Dam; Mom and Dad were there the day before delivering a wedding cake and they said the falls were amazing.

They were quite impressive and loud too!

My brother took this picture of the other falls along the way. The entire river was quite impressive. There is a lot of flooding too.

Another picture from Aaron...since I am always the one taking pictures, I thought this captured me quite well :-)

Sunday - Party Time

We spent Sunday morning preparing for the party. Emma was a huge help. She stuck by Taylor's side and did everything Taylor told her to.

The party started at 2pm. We had to take our sibling picture. This is youngest to oldest...Tavein, Aaron, Tracie, Sabrina.

We finally got to meet Tavein's fiance this weekend...this is Jared.

Tanealya had lots of friends and family come celebrate with her. She has come a long ways! She has traveled across the country to speak for the Special Olympics, met tons of stars along the way, had dinner and the Biden's house and will be going to Greece at the end of June/beginning of July for 2 weeks to attend the Special Olympics there. Lucky Girl!

Emma approves of the cupcakes!

Olivia approves too.

Cousins

We went to Great Falls to celebrate Tanealya's graduation. Here is the proud graduate.

All the cousins....Marcus, Emma, Riley, Olivia, Tanealya, Aiden and Taylor.

Mom did a wedding cake, grooms cake and 3 graduation cakes for this weekend so she asked Taylor and me if we could help with cupcakes for Taneayla's party. We made cupcake holders and frosted the cupcakes. There was a lot of teamwork...by the time we got started we had every one's help. They turned out great and quite tasty too.

Then Riley showed off his strength with the little ones. They all played very well together.

Here are all the cupcakes. We made a total of 94 cupcakes!

Over The River and Through The Woods

To Nana and Papa's house we went this weekend.

We left Friday afternoon and came back today.

On our way there we saw moose, elk, deer, antelope...you name it; we saw it! I didn't get my camera out quick enough to get the cool shots...but if you look closely at this one you will see elk in the distance. I was bummed I didn't get a shot of the moose though...it was very cool!

More to come...I'm too tired tonight and need to go to bed!

Goal!

The last day of soccer was last Saturday, May 21st. We lucked out with beautiful weather every Saturday for 5 weeks; then the very last Saturday it poured down rain! The girls were soaked but didn't seem to mind. Marc and Marcus hid in the car; I just sat under a blanket attempting to stay dry. We made it through though.

Both girls loved soccer. We will be doing it again next year. Olivia even scored a goal at the very end! She was so proud. Unfortunately it was the on the wrong side; but we aren't telling her that. Her smile was so big and she has told everyone so we just leave it at that :-) We couldn't be more proud of both of them. They did a great job!

Super Star

Olivia became an exercise maniac today. It started with soccer; then moved into the kids' yoga DVD and when she was done with that she said "Mommy, we need to go for a run". She's been trying to go for a run with me for a while now so I said okay. I took the double stroller for Marcus to sit in and the twins started running. Emma took several breaks by sitting in the stroller. Olivia ran to the 1/2 mile point with no problems at all. The only time she stopped was to look back and make sure we were coming. I even had to jog a little to keep up with her. I made her turn around at the 1/2 mile point even though she was determined to do my run which is 2.5 miles total. She obeyed me and turned back though. She seriously ran the entire way back too. She ran a total of 1 mile! I was amazed! She had a little red face and I gave her lots of water afterwards; but WOW! I bet she will sleep well tonight! I think we found our little runner! The best part was she wanted to do my 30-day shred workout after that! I made her stop though and told her there is such a thing as too much exercise. Oh My!

Changes

I got my King Size bed back for Mother's Day. After about 6+ months of long discussions and lots of thought, we finally decided to take our old room back from Marcus and put him downstairs. We had to give up this beautiful King size bed when Marcus was born because I wanted all the kids on the main level which put us downstairs. Unfortunately this beauty didn't fit downstairs so it's been in the garage for the last 3 years. Now that the playroom is downstairs and Marcus is comfortable with the stairs; we decided it was time to get our bed back.

Marcus wasn't too excited about the change at first until I let him decorate his room. It all started out with him wanting a "Toy Story" room. The more we discussed it, I figured out he wanted Andy's room with blue skies and clouds. I was all prepared to paint this weekend. I brought Marcus to the store and picked out the paint samples. Then we went and looked at the wall decals. They had lots of "Toy Story" ones...but then Marcus spotted the "Cars" decals and went crazy. So "Toy Story" turned into "Cars"...I have to say I'm relieved; I really wasn't up for painting. Marcus told me where to place all the decals...isn't it cute? The pictures on the side wall are from a poster set he got that he colored (Emma colored the top one).

We put up his name and more posters colored by Marcus. He was so excited and so proud. He really did take part in decorating this room. I have to say this was a good move too...the 2am wake up calls from Marcus have stopped since he's been down there; he actually sleeps in until 6 or 6:30am vs. his usual 5:30am wake up times...it's been quite nice. Plus our bed is so much more comfy than the queen downstairs...Marcus doesn't seem to mind it tough.

When we were done decorating the girls came in to check it out. Marcus showed them everything and then he said "My room is FINALLY COOL!"

The best part for me is it only cost us $14.99 for the wall decals...we had everything else to make it complete.