Guess who is a cake snob??

We had the Miner's over for a Thai coconut chicken soup dinner in celebration of Andrea and Daniel's brithdays. We always love it when the Miner's are able to come over.

This picture just cracked Andrea and I up. Daniel was holding the baby and he and Todd were talking and eating their yummy cake. I think Daniel was telling Todd how great the cake was. (Daniel has become a cake snob! He really prefers the taste of homemade cakes over a box mix.) Meanwhile the baby is going crazy practically DYING for a bite of cake. This picture below captures the baby's feelings perfectly!! I quickly put some cake in a bowl and gave it to her and the ravenous look on her face left. It was so funny.

Cyndee's baby shower

Olivia's first grade teacher, Cyndee (not even Miss Cyndee-they are so informal), is ready to have her baby any time now. As room parents, Kim and I decided to have the kids tie dye baby shirts and burp cloths for her baby. The kids had fun making their shirts and I think Cyndee really thought it was cute. She seems very sentimental about the kids and loves the personal touch from each of her students.

update:
Olivia's teacher had her baby girl on Tuesday the 16th, 9lbs 6oz!

Piko and the RED couch

Here is the famous tourquious couch in its new cover... a red red, make no mistake!

The other new arrival at the Miners is Piko, the dog.

He is so soft and cute. He weights 2.6 pounds and we all love him, except Daniel. He is such a party pooper. Don't you worry little family of mine, we won't let dad spoil our plan to have a family dog. Someday we will have a cute little dog like this...or maybe a big huge guard dog.

This morning we drove across the Coronado bridge and spent some time at a park on the island. The kids just enjoyed walking around, playing in the fountain and looking at the water.


Then we went on a small boat ride back to the main land. Barbie met us their with the car.

Then we drove to the Point Loma lighthouse and looked around at the tide pools, which prove to be stressful with 4 young kids walking along a cliff.

Fishing for all

This morning we wanted to do something a little different, so we walked down to the pier and went fishing. Olivia was first at the pole at within 5 minutes she caught a pretty big fish. We watched it swim in the bucket for a few minutes then Olivia decided she wanted to put it back in the ocean. She tried to pick it up, but she couldn't hold the fish long enough, so Sam got the job done. I was so proud of him. He grabbed the fish (nicely) and threw him back into the ocean.

Poppie Mikie baited the line again and gave Sam a turn. After a few minutes, (longer than Olivia's turn) Sam caught a smaller fish. By the way, I hope you love the shirts Sam and Liv are wearing. The kids made them!!

The man on the pier thought the fish were jack skippers, but I am not sure about that. Chloë also got a turn fishing, but she did not have as good of luck as the first two. Thanks Poppie for helping us fish!

After naps we went to the beach until the sun went down. We had a full day!

the rest of the day

After the baby woke up from her nap we went to Sea Port Village to fly our kite.

We enjoyed just sitting, talking and of course some running.

Sam had the kite way past those tall trees, can you see it?

After we flew the kite we went on a carousel ride. Sam's horse was the fastest!

Beach in February

We had a great morning at the beach. The kids made sandcastles, ran from the waves and Olivia went boogie boarding.

Valentine's Day

We pride ourselves on making our own Valentine's. The kids had a great time. We got an early start and everyone made enough for their friends.

Part of Olivia's Valentine party at school consisted of the kids tie dying baby shirts. Each child was able to dye a shirt for Miss Cyndee's new baby.

Here is Olivia with Aida, Nina and Frank.

Can you tell Sam is enjoying ALL his Valentine candy!!

Album from Engagment thru first year of marriage

Sycamore Park

We met Casey, Talia, and their kids at Sycamore park in Livermore. We had a great afternoon exploring trees and eating lunch. This was the best family picture I could get!

Olivia just loves getting together with Zion. I am glad our kids are friends because Daniel and I love hanging out with their parents. Zion does have a little brother Chloë's age, so that should be fun in a few years.

Here we are exploring the sticks and dirt!

Chloë's 3rd birthday

After church the Miners came over for dinner and cake for Chloë's birthday. Olivia and Dad decorated the house for her birthday. It was such a nice surprise.

Chloë opened some really fun cd's to dance with and a fun stroller.

Twins

After temple babysitting we decided to go shopping for Daniel. We have not bought him new clothes for years. (Other than our moms buying him a work shirt or two for his birthday) Just so you know Daniel HATES shopping so much that before he would go into the mall he had to take a nap in the car!! So I took the older kids and went to get lunch. After Daniel and the babies woke up we got them something to eat and headed to the stores. Our best plan was to get Daniel and the kids trapped in the dressing room while I picked out clothes for him to try one. The kids were pretty good. Our best find of the day (in Sam's mind) is this blue and red rugby shirt. Sam said he had to get it because it was just like his. Then Sam insisted Daniel wear it at the same time as he did. It was so cute.

p.s. This is Chloë wild hair. I do my best to keep it up and out of her face.

Chloë as herself

I saw her standing here and had to take her picture. This is her to a T. She loves chips, her boots, and Sam's undies! This picture also happened to catch part of her personality. She is very calm and soft. I love you Chloë.

Happy New Year!

We were so excited for today because Dad decided to stay home and play with us. Yeah!! We love our remote control airplane. The kids loved flying it and running after it.

Before they left

We had to get out and play some football with all these boys around.

We spent several hours on this field running,

flying a remote control airplane (and getting it stuck in trees), dog piling,

talking and just resting.

I love having my sisters and their families around. I come from such a great family!

Mario Cart

This is Sam's first introduction to video games. I don't think we will be investing in a wii anytime soon, but if I say NEVER.... then it will surely happen!

Surprise

The Wilsons got a huge Christmas surprise. Their dad found tickets to the Rose Bowl!!! Ohio State vs. Oregon. They were so excited. It was also a treat for us, b/c this meant they would get to come see us for a day. We had so much fun playing with all our cousins.


Sam LOVES this race track. Lucky for Chase, Sam got his own set this Christmas!

Kate is always such a good friend.