New family rule....

"No crafting in the bathroom"

Mom and Dad are tired of cleaning up bits of paper, glue, scissors, crayons and tape of the floor.

Our Resident Artist

For Christmas this year Cassidy asked for nothing but Art Supplies. She was so excited to receive: paper, pencils, glue, scissors, and many other craft related materials. She literally spends hours a day coloring page after page to give away to family and friends. The picture above is one she is most recently proud of. We love our little artist. If you need a picture drawn especially for you....just drop by.

Thank you Taylor!

Thank you Taylor for all of your hard work this week.

I am so blessed to have a husband that takes great care of me. This week he deep cleaned my kitchen (including hand scrubbing each tile on the floor), cleaned the bathrooms, kept up on all the dirty dishes, cleaned the kids' rooms, and even carpet cleaned all the floors in the house. He washed all the towels and rugs and fed the kids almost every meal. On top of that all, he gave me a long Saturday morning nap.

I love you Taylor! Thank you, thank you!!!

Merry Chirstmas and a Happy New Year!

Ready or not 2011 is here!

2010 was an adventure for our family. We are grateful for our home, clothes and means to provide for ourselves, the extra time we had had to spend together, the gospel, and mostly for each other.

I love you Taylor, Cassidy and Mckay!

New years eve with the Weaver's

Mckay did not quite make it to see the ball drop, Cassidy was a ball of energy the whole night.

Christmas Morning.....We love spending a day spoiling our kids rotten, eating too much candy and playing as a family.

A lot has happened in the past few months. We have been working hard, and making sure there is still plenty of time to have fun as a family. The following entries are from most recent to oldest. Fall is a great time of year for our family!

This past weekend we went with the whole Weaver clan to the most magical place on earth.

(all 22 of us, we all looked great in our matching clothes!)

This is the first time our kids have been tall enough to go on every ride with the exception of Indiana Jones and Screamin' roller coaster in California Adventure. Needless to say...THEY LOVED IT!

Matterhorn was their favorite ride. One time was never enough...it was always. "again, again!"

It was quite the Disney experience. Two days of rain added to the fun!

Small World at Christmas time. A Weaver family favorite.

Waiting in line for the Run Away Train and Space Mountain

Taylor and I finally made it to our first Jazz game. We went with all the married couples in his family. It was a blast, and helped that the Jazz put Golden State away.

My parents decided to take all their girls food storage shopping for their Christmas presents. After loading up 6 carts of food and running in through one checking lane, my dad got to play a scratch to win game. He won!! Our whole order was FREE! It was quite a great feeling to leave with a ton of food, and not have had to have Dad pay for any of it.

Thanks for being willing to pay for it all Dad! I love you!

This is Mckay's gel for his hair. It was full, then he decided to do his own hair. It took washing his hair twice before some of the stiffness went away. I love it when kids start mastering independence.

Taylor's Birthday: September 29

Following tradition we went to see a movie and to dinner.

The kids love to go to the bottom of the theater and dance while the credits are running. It was a good thing the theater was mostly empty when the show ended.

Cassidy's Birthday: October 12
Cassidy chose to have a large party with both sides of the family. We wish our house was bigger when all 50 of us are together. She had a great day and loved being with all her grandparents, cousins, and aunts and uncles.

Lisi's Birthday: October 21

During the day Taylor and Alisa took each kid on a one on one date to Thanksgiving point's garden. We met her parents for dinner at Goodwood BBQ. The highlight of the day was driving to dinner, we were almost there when Cassidy shouted, "I am wearing bare feet!" Needless to say we made a quick stop to Payless Shoes for some clearance flip flops.

Mckay's Birthday: November 9

Mckay wanted to have more presents and no party. Grandma Weaver took him shopping then we met up with Grandma Lisa and Uncle Hunter for dinner at Chick Fila before we went to play games at Chuckee Cheese.

Kindergarten Picture!

Cassidy's Kindergarten Picture.

Prayers

For the last week or so Mckay and I have not been feeling 100%. Last week Mckay got Pink Eye, then it spread to his ear, then he caught my cold. For the most part he has still been happy. Last night about 30 minutes before bed Mckay just started crying and crying because his throat hurt. When we said our bed time prayers Cassidy prayed for "Mckay to feel better and his throat to stop hurting." This only made Mckay cry even harder that his throat was hurting, but it helped him get to sleep.

As I was sleeping I felt Mckay climb into bed with me. He snuggled close and gave me a hug. Then he started to cough and cough. Taylor and I tried to get him to sit up, or to drink and not much was helping. I asked him how he was feeling. He replied, "My throat and ear doesn't hurt. I am just coughing." I finally sat up in bed to have him sleep in my arms and try to prop him up some. Mckay's head was laying on my chest. As I kissed his head he looked up at me and said, "Cassidy should have prayed that my cough would go away too," then he fell asleep.

At first I laughed a bit. Then after a moment I realized that the Lord was teaching me a lesson. Children have such great faith. Mckay truly believed that a prayer would heal him. As I lay there in the dark with him on my lap I felt ashamed that I did not have that complete faith. I knew he would get better, I just didn't expect a miracle right then. Cassidy and Mckay knew we could have our miracle immediately.

With my child in my arms I said a small prayer to my Father in Heaven. I asked that Mckay's cough would go away. I knew Mckay had the faith that it would work, and so I believed too. At the end of my prayer Mckay stopped coughing, and did not cough for the rest of the night.

The Lord cares for us, and watches out for us. He will answer our prayers. I am grateful I for my cute kids who have taught me this great lesson in Faith.

Mckay and school.....

Mckay is doing a Joy School in our neighborhood. There are 5 kids in his class and all the mothers take turns teaching. Mckay decided he needed a Spiderman backpack. After looking and only finding a Mario and Luigi bag he got that bag and a Spiderman folder. He was so excited to start school, even if he was a little nervous to go the first day.

He took the opportunity to pose a bit too. Perhaps some of his best pictures!

Cassidy was excited for her brother to start school too!

Mckay's first day of class he learned numbers. The teacher sent some papers home to have the kids write out the numbers. Mckay came home and went straight to the table to do his homework. The kid sat there for over 20 minutes just practicing his writing. I love his attention to detail and often wish he would share a bit of it with me.

School Day 2

I have a girl who loves that camera.......and what can I say, she is really CUTE!!!!

Mckay has learned that one on one time with Mom or Dad while Cassidy is at school is fun. Day 2 Dad took him to Cabella's to feed the fish.

Kindergarten

Cassidy was ready to go to school in 2009. Most of the girls her age started and she was ready. As the year passed, she realized, no school isn't so bad. You can play all day and you don't have to work.

She was excited for school to start this year, but not as excited as she would have been last year. She realizes that you have to work at school, and that is not near as much fun as playing all day with your little brother.

The first day of school came and Cassidy was excited to get on the bus. I was a little nervous she wouldn't be able to find the bus to get home. At the end of the day she made it home safe and sound.

Caleb is in her class this year. She and Caleb have been in the same pre-school and are great friends. I am so glad they are in the same class. Cassidy says, "Mom, Caleb helps me find the bus...if he is there I am not scared."

Annie is the only girl in her Primary class that went to Kindergarten this year. They are also great friends, as they should be since their Grandmas live next door to each other.

Mckay and Cassidy are best friends. He really misses her while she is gone.

Cassidy in her new school clothes. Grandma got her "jeggings" (jeans/leggings) and a Mac and Cheese shirt.

Mckay trying to get a last glimpse of Cassidy as she drives away.

When Cassidy got home she was excited to show Mckay what she had for him. A little Hersey's kiss inside her hand heart. Note the shoes, the second she was in the door they came off. Keeping shoes on for 3 hours will be the hardest thing for Cassidy at school this year. And heaven forbid when it gets cold and she has to wear socks too. :)

WE DID IT!

LEHI UTAH GATEWAY STAKE 5K RUN/WALK

...and Carnival

At the beginning of the summer I set a goal to work out. I knew I could never stick to it unless I had a deadline. I decided that my deadline would be to run a 5K this year. Our stake hosts a 5K/Olympic activity annually, so I decided that was my deadline. I knew I needed moral support, so Taylor climbed aboard the 5K train and we started to train. We trained for about 4 weeks, then took 5 weeks off. I was starting to give up on even thinking about running the race, but with Taylor cheering me on, we decided to stick to it. This morning we ran our race (and did not die). We pushed the kids in the double jogging stroller, which I am sure made us run a lot slower....or so we are going to say. With not running for the last few weeks we were proud of ourselves. We ran a lot more than we thought we could and finished with a time of 42 minutes and 19 seconds. Taylor even took second in his age category!!!
The church we were at is near our house and has a park with swings. Every time we drive past it Mckay asks when I will take him to the yellow park. Today the kids finally got to play at this park. We all laughed when their little bums were soaked after sliding through a puddle of water at the bottom of the slide.

After the race the church had put up some carnival games for the kids. The kids were excited to stay and play, and we were excited to shower. We made a compromise and the kids just played a few games then we got to go home and shower.