Yum!

My friend Heidi is AMAZING! For lots of reasons. But her photography is wonderful. Check her out here at Heidilynnphotography. Go look at the rest of our family photos. They turned out wonderful.

Don't you just want to eat her up? I do.

A few things we love about Quinn:

• She still growls. She has been doing that for a long time.
• She loves to wave and say "hi." Especially to Kenyon.
• She loves her Dad and says "daddy."
• She loves to throws her food. And she tries to be sneaky about it. Well, we don't love it but at moments it makes us laugh.
• She says "uh-oh."
• She can climb the stairs - up and down. Finally.
• She can stand on her own. So close to taking a step.
• Totally comforted by her binky and blanket.
• LOVES candy and ice cream.

Quinn's First Birthday Party

This party was completely inspired by a really cool blog - Blonde Designs. They do some great things that are worth copying. In fact, I couldn't do parties if I didn't have inspiration like blogs and my sisters (Twin 1 and Twin 2) - who always know how to through a party. My sister, Egan, designed her birthday invitations that were also inspired by Blonde Design.

Check this out - I totally copied them. But really - why be creative when someone else is so brilliant?

Here it is - Quinn's Party - I Scream for Ice Cream. (she really loves ice cream, frozen yogurt, and sno cones)

The gift bag toppers were also from Blonde Design.

Regular chocolate cake mix with Billy's Bakery Vanilla Buttercream Frosting - SO GOOD!

I am often inspired by another blog, Stephmodo. She had these cute pom poms as decorations for a shower. So I copied using Martha's directions and hung them for this party. I love them.

The damage.

The birthday present was a hit! I think it might actually be Gavin's favorite gift ever. (no surprise from a kid who has wanted a vacuum and wheelbarrow for gifts)

One Year Ago Today...

Can you guess what happened?

My little tiny baby has grown up and turned one. It is so fun and so sad at the same time. I miss that sweet little bundle. She is naught now. But she is full of personality and it cracks us all up. She makes things entertaining around here.

We are missing a few months. I think they got lost on my computer that crashed. (Kenyon please retrieve those files.)

The Happiest Place on Earth

Southern California is pretty much the happiest place on earth. How can you not be happy when it is perfectly gorgeous all the time? I was so happy to be there and not here in the dreadful snow. The sad thing is that everytime we go, I get really antsy to move. I start begging Kenyon to look for a different job.
We scored a pretty good deal on KSL classifieds and made for a pretty affordable trip to Disneyland. It was an early Christmas present. Hopefully the kids will remember how much fun they had when Christmas comes and there are no presents under the tree.

I think the highlight for Teague was getting to participate in Jedi Training.

Quinn loved just about everything. Except that she couldn't get down and crawl around. Elise's favorite was Screamin'. And Gavin's favorite - you'll love this - the Merry-Go-Round. Yep. He is a funny kid. He also loved walking up to strangers and trading pins. (Little hint - by the pins ahead of time off ebay. saves you tons of money.)

We tried a few new things. The Pirates Lair on Tom Sawyer's Island. We had NEVER been over there. It was fun. My kids LOVED it and begged to go back. Another thing we enjoyed was the Enchanted Tiki Lounge and the Pineapple Whip Float. Yum!

Another highlight - staying with my sister, Jen, and her family. And taking two of their kids with us to Disneyland one day while Jen kept Quinn. It is always fun to be with family.

You're My Only Hope

Princess Leia - costume and wig created by her Grandma Porter

We were SHOCKED that she kept the wig on the whole night.

Star Wars meets the Mummy (our cousin Max)

Check out Darth Vader's eyes.

Star Wars meets a Vampire
If I could only get my act together. If I had a little more time. If if if...Kenyon would have been Obi Wan or Jedi. Acutally he wanted to be yoda. But, I am just not that clever and way too cheap this year. Other than Quinn's (which was made) the costumes were borrowed or purchased at yard sale.

Happy?

So my sister Egan asked the family to respond to the question - List 5 things that make you happy every day. It has been fun to see the responses from my family (they are still coming in). Egan's was HILARIOUS. But I don't know if I can tell you. Kenyon said that one of the things that makes him happy is eating a bowl of ice cream while watching the Biggest Loser (that only happens once a week but apparently he looks forward to it all week).

Can you guess what makes me happy? Breakfast. It is my favorite meal of the day. Thanks to my super cute and talented niece-in-law for letting me steal this picture from her blog and her recipes!

So what 5 things make you happy every day?

A little trip up the canyon

I LOVE FALL! The leaves are amazing right now. We made a stop at Sliver Lake by Brighton Ski Resort. That is one of our favorite places to take a little walk. It was a little chilly though.