Avisit from Auntie and Lucian

Nicole was able to come visit with baby Lucian in January. We had so much fun with them. Lucian loves his Auntie Sandra. He slept all night for me when I kept him a night down stairs. That's my boy. Aliyah especially liked having a live baby doll to play with and the other kids loved having them around. I think Auntie got humbled on the ping pong table once or twice from the older kids. OOps did I just say that? I can't wait to go see them in April.

Pictures for Grandma Jody

Okay so this post is for my Grandma who insisted on new pictures. I know she loves all my kids but what she really means is she wants to see the baby who changes and grows so fast. She asked for it. I am sure Aliyah JODY Marie gets these qualities from her Grandma Jody.

ADORABLE This is Aliyah in a hand made dress from Mexico.

UH OH maker- I thought I would give Aliyah a few cheetos while I unloaded the groceries. I could not see her because the grocery bags were in the way. Once they were unloaded I looked over and saw Aliyah with a few more than a few cheetos. I guess I put the bag a little too close to her. LOL


FASHION EXPERT- This is a typical fashion outfit for Aliyah. If I leave her in her diaper for too long she takes matters into her own hands.

Our first Carribean Cruise

Loren and I went on our first cruise to celebrate our 14th anniversary. We got it at a much discounted price and had a ball. My mom flew in to stay with the kids and so we owe her for this one.




The first day of the cruise was out at sea, but the second day we went to the mainland of Mexico near Cancun. We opted to go see the Mayan ruins at Tulum. They were very cool and neat to see in person. It made the Book of Mormon stories more alive.
This was the best weather day we had the whole time. After the ruins we went to the Playa Maya beach. It was windy but beautiful. Here I am sporting my cute hand made hat I bought at the flea market there.


Here are some sunsets as seen from our ship. The one with the circle is from our cabin port hole. IT was amazing.


HEre are some pics taken on the ship. We had a formal dress night where we got lobster and prime rib. Yummmm! The marble stairs are on the ship. There was also a water slide and minerature golf course on the ship. Each night we came back from dinner our room was clean and there was a new towel art on our bed. The only time I felt sea sick was on the last day when I read in the window nook. Loren just happened to take a picture of me reading.


Our third day we went to the island of Cozumel. We opted to get some sun at a cool beach resort called Playa Mia. It had a water trampoline, kayaking, hammocks, a blow up ice berg and lots of lawn chairs. It ended up being overcast but it was relaxing. There we met a neat couple who said we reminded them of a couple they know from Rexberg Idaho. I asked if they were Mormon and they said yes. This started a long discussion on religion, etc. I hope we planted a seed there. It is amazing that people can tell when you are mormon just by the "Spirit" as our friends said. What a neat experience.


We met tons of neat people on the ship. Most of the workers on the ship were international and there earning money to send back to their poor families. It makes you think about the many blessings we have as Americans.

Winter 2009 Family photos

Here are our 2009 Family Pics. My friend Erika Rebstock Degraff took them. She is becoming quite the natural light photographer. Aliyah did not have any interest in standing still to take pictures when she had a whole park to explore.

Crew joins our family!

Yes, Loren and I, mostly I- Loren remained unfavorable, gave into the kid's plea for a guinea pig. Mishonne and I went to pick it out before she left for Wa for Christmas. A new shipment of 6 week old guinea pigs had just come in. I put my face up to the glass and this adorable guinea pig comes right up to the glass and stares at me. I told Mishonne I liked that one but she could have any one she wanted. After holding several of them Mishonne also liked Crew. The name comes from his cute hair do. Instead of have a furry head he has a Crew Cut sort of hair doo. So Crew is short for Crew Cut. He is very cute and friendly. I make our own little petting zoo area for the kids. When it was Dentons turn to play with Crew he started Giggling. I turned to see what was so funny. Crew had cuddled up in between Dentons legs next to his furry Pajamas. It was so cute. So We now have Roxanne the turtle and Crew the guinea Pig. Absolutely no more pets!

Snow in Louisiana!

The girls were excited to get snow two years in a row. Unfortunately the snow did not stick on the ground to build a snow man this year. We like having the one time snow fall as long as the 70 degree weather comes back within the week like it always does.

Christmas Morning

We got to have Heidi and Joe for Christmas this year. It was nice to have a one to one kid to adult ratio. Aliyah has Uncle Joe wrapped around her finger. If I tell her no she goes to Joe and puts her finger tips together which means “more” in sign language. Haley wants to cuddle or play games 24-7 with Aunt Heidi. Logan and Mishonne mostly love Heidi for her ping pong skills. It is nice to have family here during the Holidays. Wish it could happened more often.
Mishonne actually went to Washington for Christmas. She saved up her money and we told her once she was 12 and she was allowed to fly alone that she could go. She is having fun seeing her new baby cousing and getting Grandma all to herself.