Shannon as Marilyn Monroe and her good friend Courtney as Audry Hepburn

wendy, peter and tiger lily

I have busy trying to finish up the costumes for this year. I got Holdens done just in time for him to wear it to school today. It was a little hard to determine who he was (Robin Hood or Peter Pan. Then as soon as Tinkerbell flew over and landed on his shoulder the confusion was cleared up.:) When he looked in the mirror he said " I am Peter Pan".

Holden and kenzie were trying their hand at making card houses the other day. Holden was so excited when he finally made one all by himself.

Kenzie and Holden have been learning karate for about a year now. They are doing great and Kenzies goal is to have her black belt by the time shes 12. I think its great to see children set goals and this is a good one. It will take lots of hard work but I know she can do it.

Thursday night we got to attend a karate belt promotion for Holden and Kenzie. They both recieved their purple belts. We are proud of them for this accomplishment.

We were lucky enough to get in a family vacation to Disneyland again this summer. We had a great time.

A highlight of our trip was that we got to meet Sean Astin aka Sam from The Lord of the Rings movies. He was the nicest guy. His wife offered to take this picture of him with our family. The following day we ran into him again. This time HE noticed us and said "Hi again" When I told him that my brothers were big fans and were jealous that we met him. He asked what their names were and when I said Joe and Greg he wrote a quick hello " To Joe and Greg " I thanked him and wondered to myself who would have custody. So if you liked him before- like him more knowing what a nice guy he is.

Holden was happy to see his old friend Woody.
As you can see Holden LOVES rollercoasters as much as everyone else if not more. He laughs through the whole ride.

ok, One of the funniest parts ever of our trip was that Shannon got this Yoda back pack after going on the Star Wars ride, and as we were walking along later there was a lady who was about 20 feet away from us when she saw Shannon wearing the backpack. She just couldn't believe what she thought she saw, because she leaned over to her friend and said " Look at that baby" I guess she said it louder than she meant to because Shannon looked over at her. Then with a rather nervous look on her face she said to Shannon "Your baby is beautiful". Of course Shannon was like...what? And the lady said again with a nervous smile "You have a beautiful baby". Well I just busted out laughing because I couldn't believe the whole thing was even happening. The woman took a few steps forward to take a closer look. As soon as she realized what this "beautiful baby" really was, her expression changed to one of complete humiliation and she turned quickly without another word and hurried away from us. We laughed all the way back to our hotel. It was hilarious

I know I did all of this stuff backwards. I forget to do the last stuff firs. Well anyway Holden recived a metal after the games were over. If you want to know how a team that lost every game gets metals, just ask me sometime.

One of the greatest moments was when Holdie caught this ball to prevent a point as he played goalie.

Holden and Kiley score a goal together!

This summer has been busy and exciting so far. The first cool thing was that Holden got to participate in the Special Olympics. He played soccer on a team called the Eagles, which was coached by Derek Price(Kiley's dad). It was so much fun Holden did great. WE had alot of fun cheering for him and the rest of the kids on the team.

This is a cute picture of our tree house that Holden drew. He went outside with his notebook and looked at the tree house and carefully copied almost every detail. I was impressed. Give that boy a notebook and a pencil and he's happy. He draws pictures for hours some days.

Yesterday I recieved these beautiful flowers for my birthday while I was at work. Norm made my birthday a very special day. After work he sent me to get a manicure and pedicure (with my two lovely daughters), which was fun. Later we all went out to dinner to celebrate my 41 years of life at a very nice restaurant called The Chefs Table. It was delicious. We then went over to Joe and Melanies new house where we had german chocolate cake and ice cream. I had a good birthday. I want to thank everyone that called or sent messages with happy birthday wishes to me. All 6 of my siblings called and that really made me feel good. Thankyou all. I love you each so much.

Holdie just had his 5th set of tubes put in his little ears. He did fine and everything went smoothly. This is getting pretty routine.

Holden waking up after surgery

I got to go on a field trip with Kenzie and her 4th grade class. We went to the This is The Place place. Here are some pictures from that day.

Thought I'd stick one picture of these four kids (who we love so very much) in their new Easter stuff on here for you all to enjoy.

Monday I took 3 sick kids to the doctors office. I ended up with one in the hospital and two on the couches at home for the next two days. Everyone tested possitive for "flu B" and holdies oxygen saturation was low. He was also dehydrated, had an ear infection and maybe pneumonia. It turned out that there was no pneumonia thank goodness. But the other problems kept him there until today.





Since Norm has gone out of town I sure was happy that grandma was here. She stayed the night with him at the hospital twice so that I could be home with the other sickies. It has been so nice to have her here with us. We sure appreciate her coming to help. When we were trying to decide which of us would stay with Holden the second night, Holden pointed at me and said "mom, you go home". My feelings were a little hurt. But on the other hand it was great to know that he felt so comfortable with grandma. (Kinda makes me wonder what she does that makes it so much more fun than I am)

Nothing makes Holden smile more than talking to his best friend. Betcha cant guess who that was on the other end. Kiley Price- of course. As for the girls, Kenzie is doing much better, and Shannon is still having a hard time. I think she got hit the hardest by this rotton flu thing.

The 5th of March Holden and Kenzie had their belt promotion in karate. They have now earned their orange belts. Way to go guys!
Nice guarding stance...Aiiiiiiya!

We celebrated another birthday. Just three days after Holden turned 11, Jordan celebrated his 17th birthday. He chose to go out to dinner at one of his favorite restaurants "Tucanos". This place is all about the meat. Meat, meat, and more meat. Everyone really enjoyed it and it was fun to spend time together on this happy occasion.

"The cake looked delicious." And it was. Thankyou Norm. Happy Birthday Jordan. We also love you so much!

Holden celebrated his 11th birthday this year. He chose to have a karate party at his karate school. He invited Maren, Julianne, some of his friends from school, and of course his own family.

We are always happy to have his BFF Kiley Price.

The kids learned some karate moves, played some games,and Holdie even broke a board! ( which really impressed Kiley)

Then we had pizza and Kung Fu Panda cake which was cut with a real samurai sword. Happy Birthday Holdie! We love you so much.