RJ's Birthday Party: The movie
The games
The cake
On the morning of RJ's actual birthday we had donuts! He also gave a book and candy to his school class.
A couple of days later we had a family dinner, tacos, RJ's favorite.
Conner liked the cake best of all!
Sienna had her 1st dance recital on Thursday. She was so excited and reminded me for days before that she wanted a "curly ponytail." It almost put her over the edge of pure joy when I informed her that she needed "stage makeup." It's kind of difficult putting makeup on a little girl who can't stop smiling!
Sienna is in the middle with the black tights (and curly ponytail) watching her neighbor's feet.
Our family having breakfast, well some of us anyway. Sienna was off coloring and Conner is in his stroller below table level.
To pass off a requirement in his Faith in God book, RJ helped a little with the breakfast. He got to choose the awards for best pajamas and bed head and then announce them, he loved the privilege!
Here's a bunch of the kids during the program, Sienna is in the back raising her hand.
RJ and Sienna with Santa. I had to leave early and missed Santa, but also missed making sure all of the kids were in this picture! Braden was running the halls and Conner was stuck in his stroller. By the time Ryan found Braden, he refused to get in the massively huge line that formed. Oh well...
Last week Conner had a scary accident. His highchair got knocked over while he was still strapped in it! It turns out he was okay, somehow Sienna got her hands under his head before he hit the tile. But, I was so worried about bumps and bleeding, I didn't even notice until the next day that he had chipped his two front teeth. His cute little baby teeth that have to last another 5-6 years! My dentist says he's okay, doesn't appear to have any nerve damage, and advises us to wait until he's a little older to fix them so it will be less traumatic...
The next day, Sienna was pulling away from her brother, slipped, and crashed her head into the corner of the counters....
On the weekend after Thanksgiving, I was able to go to San Francisco with some great friends and see Wicked. The musical was great, the shopping was great, The Cheesecake Factory was great and the hotel room was great! I can't wait for our next adventure...
Illegal photo taken inside the theater: me and Jen
Our 3rd and final Thanksgiving feast of the season was on Sunday at our house with Ryan's mother. After turkey twice in one week, we opted for ham with apricot sauce and yummy cheesy potatoes, Ryan's favorite.
As an added bonus, I discovered the most wonderful feature ever from my oven, the delay start! I put my ham in the cold oven before going to church and just set the time I wanted it to turn on and it worked! We came home from church to a hot dinner, I think I'll do this every Sunday!
Our 2nd Thanksgiving was on Thursday with Ryan's parents. His sisters made these fabulous festive hats to wear.
Here is a video of my kids sharing valuable information about the 1st Thanksgiving...
Our first Thanksgiving was celebrated on the Tuesday before, in Lapoint, Utah at my mom's house. Here we are digging in! This is Mom, Uncle Larry, Aaron, Ryan carving the turkey, Stephen, and Theresa.
And here are the boys: Kaydan, Braden, and RJ
And the girls: Kali, Jonnae, Sienna, and Kensley
And don't forget Conner!
Mom & Uncle Larry
My addition to the feast was this lovely dessert. Although it was crooked and did not look much like the picture, it was still delicious!
Draper Temple to witness my nephew, Corey, get married. So windy and FREEEEEZING!
RJ, Kaydan, and Braden trying to get warm in the car!
The wedding luncheon at Magelby's was so delicious... Here's Ryan, Sienna and Braden.
And here is RJ, me and Conner...
Conner was loving the chocolate cake. And yes, we ate our dessert FIRST! It was vacation after all...
My beautiful nieces, Jonnae and Kali
The beautiful couple...
Sienna and Kensley enjoying the "Hot Chocolate Bar", which by the way, is the BEST idea ever!
Jonnae and Conner in the background
RJ's candy cane did strange things after stirring it in his hot chocolate...
Ryan and Conner enjoying the reception and yummy desserts...
I thought this was so cute, Conner kicking back, having a nap in the car...
Studly brother-in-law Aaron, fixing mom's deck while other studly brother-in-law Stephen, observes.
RJ and Braden playing games on Dad's phone...
Our school has an annual turkey trot, which is a big fundraiser. The kids are supposed to get sponsors who pay a certain amount per lap. There is a girl and boy winner for each grade and they win a real frozen turkey for running the most laps. Ryan teased the kids and told them we wouldn't have Thanksgiving unless one of them won us a turkey. I was so proud of all three kids, they took the challenge very seriously and ran the entire 20 minutes! 5 laps equals one mile. Sienna ran 6 laps, Braden, 7 and RJ ran 10, winning the prized turkey and saving Thanksgiving for the Pinney household!!
If you know Braden, this shot of him running is truly amazing! Last year he ran the entire Turkey Trot backwards! He was really upset that he didn't win this year, but was overjoyed that RJ did.
So, these pictures leave a lot to be desired, but here we are! RJ earning some more arrow points for cubscouts. He really loves scouting, it will be weird in a couple of weeks when he becomes a Webelos scout and is no longer in my den. I am thinking I might need an assistant...
RJ loves soccer and is pretty good at it. But this year, by the time I thought of signing up, I was too late and registration was closed. So RJ tried out for tackle football and didn't make the team! But it worked out perfectly when we discovered flag football! RJ loved it and did really well. He was the fastest boy on the team! Next year there will be a quandry - soccer or football? We shall see...
My Little Munchkins on Halloween... We went to a fun neighborhood party and did some serious trick or treating, this holiday is always great!
RJ was a Marine Sniper, can you see him in that bush???
Braden, the ninja
Sienna, the witch
If you're familiar with Old Navy and you have one of their cards, you know about their "Stuff and Save" sales. You usually get 30% off whatever you can stuff into one of the totes that they give you. Well today, they had a special bag for the first 50 customers and you could get 50% off whatever you fit into the bag! I was so there, my boys are running out of pants and RJ especially needed some clothes. So I showed up 10 minutes early, and when I encountered the line that was already there, I almost turned around and went home. But, I decided that I could stand in line for 10 minutes "just in case." I'm so glad I did! I think I was number 45. Of course, the special bag was a bit smaller than the regular totes, but I was able to shove so much into it, I'm very proud of my stuffing skills! The checker actually laughed when he realized how much stuff I had in it, and when he was putting it all away for me, he filled my bag plus another large shopping bag! So here's what I got for $138....
2 winter jackets, 3 pairs of jeans, and 10 long sleeve shirts, woot woot!
Every year our house gets "Booed" and it is so fun for the kids. If you don't know what this means, someone anonymously leaves treats at your door and you have to do the same for someone else. It's a great FHE activity. Usually when we are Booed, it's a small bag of candy or brownies, or something simple. This year we were Booed good! Someone left this fantastic basket on our door. It had a cute halloween bowl, 3 decorative halloween plates, glow sticks, glow bracelets, glow in the dark stickers, halloween socks, ice cube trays, candy, silly string, and that is not even all! I can't even remember everything, it was so much. We felt great pressure in our Booing adventures. I think we did a good job, but I can't show you what we did, because it might have been you who received it, and it's supposed to be anonymous!
And for FHE this week, we made this giant pumpkin cookie. And even with my lacking artistic skills, I think it turned out cute enough, and the kids were SO excited. :o)
Halloween is so fun! Who doesn't love the plethora of treats everywhere!
Our ward has a trunk or treat every year and it is always a big hit! This year did not disappoint. Except for the party-pooper dad in our family, we all dressed up. I didn't take any pictures at the actual event, but here we are looking good and ready to go!
Cutest clown ever!
Mommy & Baby Clown
Scary Grim Reaper
Cute Witch
Cammo Ninja, scary!
Conner dumped a bowl of popcorn all over the floor. We brought out the vacuum, and he shoved his way into doing the vacuuming himself!
And then of course, this interesting habit he's picked up. He likes to lick large appliances; refrigerators, ovens, dryers.... It all started when I was cleaning the outside of my refrigerator, so I think he thinks he's helping me clean.
80's Music!!! I was feeling a little blue for a couple of days. In preparation for our 80's themed bunco night, I blasted 80's music all day long, and I felt better! It brought me happiness. And even better, if you can convince 10 of your friends to dress up 80's style, it's completely perfect!
The winner for best costume. :o)
Conner was a bit wiggly with his first haircut. It took pretzels, a squirt bottle, and fruit by the foot to keep him still!
Goodbye mullet, and goodbye sweet baby curls.
Views from our balcony
This is the Tidepools restaurant, it was so delicious.
After a yummy dinner on the beach.
Me looking hot after some time at the pool. :o) And by hot, I mean steamy. Pools in Hawaii do NOT cool you off! It was so muggy that day. But the pool is beautiful.
Sunrise
Halfway to the shopping village we encountered a restaurant with this nice view. We had a great lunch.
A random chicken. There was a shocking number of random chickens on Kauai, I thought it was funny for some reason.
The beautiful beach
Some posing at the resort
Saying goodbye to Kauai in the airplane
Brief layover in Honolulu, this is all we saw. :o)
I'm off to Hawaii in the morning, woo hoo! Here is a picture of what I looked like the last time I visited Hawaii...
Can you tell which is me?
Conner turned 18 months today. Nursery, here we come!! Woot! Woot! Sorry to disappoint, but weight, height and head bigness will be left out, since the thought hadn't occurred to me to get a dr appt until today. We celebrated the day with flu shots, and this sweet boy didn't even cry.
Where is Conner, you ask? Well, let's take a look, shall we?
Here he is standing inside of a drawer.
And now he is shoving himself into a tiny cupboard.
Inside the china cabinet.
And this isn't my kitchen, but here he is in the window sill, behind the blinds, and I am very bad at taking photos in windows, sorry.
So there you have it. I have made the decision to take back my kitchen. There are two gates now positioned on either side of my kitchen. The bathroom door that leads to my kitchen remains locked. Conner is not happy with this new situation, he frequently stands at the gate screaming at me and pounding on the gate. Occasionally he is successful in knocking one of them over. But I am determined for the kitchen to be MINE.
The kids had a primary activity at the temple, and afterwards, we had a little photo shoot. :o)
Sienna started her first real dance class this week.
Don't worry, the dress up shoes stayed home. :o) She had a lot of fun and so what if she was a full 8 counts behind everyone else, she was the cutest! Her favorite part was the treat at the end, of course.
RJ earned his bear badge, woo hoo!
Here he is pinning on the parent pin.
I already know what you're thinking, and yes, it's true, I'm too sexy for my shirt.
Last Night at 6pm: "Kameron is doing great....his heart rate is a little low but his new kidney is producing lots of urine and he isn't in too much pain." Today at 12pm: "Doctors are very happy with Kameron's progress. He and the kidney are doing great."
This is my nephew, Kameron. He is undergoing a kidney transplant. The surgery started about 11:30am this morning and it will take 4 to 5 hours, and another 2 hours to recover. Please keep him in your prayers. :o)
