30 for me!

Yes, it was my birthday on the 25th and yes, I have hit the big number of 30. I don't have anything big to report other than for all of those of you that are scared to get older...I say bring it on. As of now, the sun is shinning, I feel great health wise, I have a bacholer's degree from BYU not to mention many memories from that time period with my friends to laugh at, a good job with great coworkers, learning to do new/crafty things , weigh less than I did in high school, have been married for 7 years with one little boy that takes a lot of patience, but that I love to death (even tho some only see his agressive side..even when he hits and pushes. Thanks to all of those who are so helpful and understanding with him too!) And a few awesome nephews. I guess I have no room to complain. My two boys shower me with love and make the world a better place for me. I am happy to be where I am in life and am not afraid to get older. Thanks to all of you for the birthday wishes, cards, text messages, etc...

Too many toys???

Is it possible for a little 4 year old to have too many toys?? Well if he jumps from toy to toy for 2 hours straight and doesn't look to me for entertainment...well I say NO! Cody has been spoiled rotten by all of his family and friends with all of the toys given to him for his birthday. So I, as his Mom, say a huge THANK YOU for keeping my son busy!! He loves all of the toys. We had lots of fun with everyone at his party and missed those of you who were unable to come. Cody and Daniel were bouncing until the sun went down so I say the bouncer was a success and recommmend them to everyone for children's party's. Daniel and I were pretty tired that night after the festivities, but we enjoyed having everyone over. If it wasn't so much work and money, I'd say lets have parties more often!! Here are a few pictures to show the fun we had.

Cody blowing out his candles

some of the boys eating their cake
opening gifts
the fun bouncer/slide

Growing up!

Well, he's done it...Cody is now 4 years old! It's hard to beleive that he's getting so old. Here's a few of my favorites from this past year.

Easter time
Summer time
Fall
Halloween

My little guy isn't quite so little anymore. But he is getting to be a lot more fun now that he listens much better. I must say having a little boy is great!

Grandma's in the snow!!

Daniel, myself and Cody after sledding fun

Birthday fun!
Fun present from Derek and Krystal
birthday cupcakes with who else...but Lightening McQueen!
Cody and Grandma Bell with new laptop

After a week of Daniel and Cody being sick we took our chances while Cody was still sick and took a fun little trip to Utah last weekend. Cody was very excited all week and telling everyone that he was going to Grandma's in the snow. We were a bit scared as Cody began throwing up that it would continue on the airplane, but we got lucky and he didn't throw up until after we got off the plane and had our baggage. Lucky for us Daniel brought some barf-bags from his work that we had on hand. It took Cody a couple of days to be back to his normal crazy self but he was glad to be at Grandma's in the snow.

As you will be able to see in the pictures, there was plenty of snow. We stayed with my parents where my little bro. Colby still lives. We were also able to visit with Derek, Krystal and little Lincoln as well as Aunt Laura, Elyse, Ben and Paula Titel. Daniel along with Derek, Colby, Ben, Paula and Elyse went snowboarding while I spent the day hitting up all of the craft stores with my Mom, snapping pictures left and right so I could remember everything when I got home( I have a horrible memory). Cody got to spend a few hours with Grandpa Bell which he seemed to enjoy. He even got Grandpa to dance with him to the music from Robots. Sunday evening we had a small get together to celebrate an early birthday for Cody since my parents won't be coming to his party down here. Cody could not wait to have his birthday cupcakes, and the previous day to go shopping for his birthday present from Grandma and pa Bell. He picked out a laptop and has been loving it. He followed Colby around the house with his laptop since Colby had just gotten a laptop also. He likes to be with people and doing the same thing as them.

The last day we were there a nice snow storm came around and blew us around. We were stuck in the house for a little while but eventually got out and went sledding.

It was a fun trip for all and we hope to go back up again soon.

Surprise Anniversary!

Before we had Cody we vowed that we'd go somewhere different every year for our Anniversary, but since Cody our anniversary usually consists of just a dinner out. This year Daniel surprised me on Friday with a nice dinner out and tickets to see Wicked!! I've been wanting to see it ever since I've heard raves from all of my friends who went to see it but since it's not going to be here for much longer I would see the commercials on TV and figured that I was out of luck. So, as you girls out there can imagine, when your someone special surprises you with something like that, it's definitely a good day and reminds you of why you fell in love with the person. It's been 7 years for us on Sunday the 20th. It's amazing to think that we've been married so long. We've come a long way and learned many lessons over the past 7 years!!

I didn't get any good pictures while we were at the Pantages Theatre. I highly recommend to see this musical. The singing is amazing, amazing!!

My Mom was in town for a couple of days and we took a trip to the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana with her and my sister, Porter and Phearson. We did a lot of fun things here. Cody got to climb on a rock wall among many other fun things!

Cody got to meet Clifford

Pull himself up with a rope.

Daniel and Cody played in the dinosaur play area.

It was a good ending to a very stress full week.

Creativity flowing

Since Christmas I have been busy creating. I've always loved to try to be creative and think of fun things to do so now I have been learning to sew easy things(an aprin), paint on canvus, make pillows and a little bit of toll painting (picture shows unfinished Christmas tree project). I have so many plans in my head and just have to wait for the bank account to allow me to put them into action. But I've never thought it could be so fun! I am going to Utah in a few weeks and can't wait to go see what kind of crafty things they are doing up there now. I am so amazed at the creativity they have up there. Here is a picture of a few of my recent projects. I am always looking for new things to do so if anyone knows of simple, fun crafts, let me know!!

Over it!

Look what Santa left for Cody

Cody is our little American Idol!
Me with my sewing machine
Daniel with his phone

Wow, so all I can say is that Christmas is over and I am over it. It was fun and all, but very exhausting and am glad to have it over for the first time in my life. Neither Daniel or I could sleep very well Christmas Eve. I think we were too excited for Cody. So we started the day already low on energy. We spent Christmas morning at home playing with new gifts and socializing with the neighbors outside. Our neighborhood is pretty social and everyone was out with new toys and bikes...even all of the adults in their PJ's. It's so nice to have neighbors like that. Then later in the day we ventured over to Daniel's parents since his sister who is serving a mission in Fiji would be calling. One by one Daniel's siblings came with their families to open presents and hang out. With seven kids in his family it can get pretty loud with all of the grand kids adding to the commotion. We had a nice Christmas dinner and socialized some more. Daniel and I were so very tired by the end of the day. Cody managed to score big time as usual with gifts. He got a new bike and a Lightening McQueen watch along with some of the cars from the movie "Cars" from Santa. He also got a kids digital camera, a guitar with microphone (we have some fun jam sessions to mommy's music), new PJ's, a web cam to see Grandma and Grandpa Bell, a personalized sing-a-long CD of Mickey Mouse and a CD player for his room. And a lot of other toys that if I named everyone it would go for a while. Anyhow, he enjoyed playing with cousins all day and has lots of fun stuff to keep him very busy.

Daniel's main gift was a new fancy cell phone and my main gift was a new sewing machine. I am going to take up sewing and lots of other crafts this year. I am very anxious to get started. We have a craft store here that I spent 2 hours looking in the other day. I could go nuts. I am going to try to take up painting on canvas, making a new comforter for our bed with pillows and perhaps some scrapbooking. My main goal is to figure out how to use my sewing machine!!! Should be a busy new year!!

We hope everyone else had an awesome Christmas and we are looking forward to a fun (and prosperous) New Year for everyone!