30

I don't really love this picture, one of the kids took it when we were bowling a couple of weeks ago, at least Brayden looks cute! So last year I posted that my goal was to lose 40 lbs and get to 130 before my birthday. I made it to 136 losing 34 pounds. I think that's pretty good, and I think I would have made it if I hadn't had surgery last Monday, well, at least it would have been close! This is as light as I have been since I graduated from high school and stopped dancing every day (can you say "freshman 15" more like 20 really) I did get this low one other time between Natalie and Lilly maybe even down a couple pounds from where I am now. I still have this goal in mind and once I can start working out again I hope to lose those last 6 pounds. BY THE WAY, has anyone else noticed that it's really hard to lose the last 10 pounds? Forget The Biggest Loser, I think they should have a show about that where you get to go on and lose those stubborn pounds and then get a makeover or something! haha! Anyway, here is my picture from last year:

This year I have a goal that is more spiritual in nature. I want to have personal scripture study everyday. This was on my list of New Years Resolutions too, and it hasn't happened regularly yet. I don't know why that is so hard for me, we have been really good for a long time at reading as a family, I just have to make it a priority! I think it was last year for awhile, Allan and I wouldn't get on the computer until our personal scripture study was done, I guess I should go back to that!

ONE-derful!

For Brayden's birthday I made him 2 ball cakes, one for all of us to eat, and one for the birthday boy!
Brayden loves sports, I know that seems silly to say at 1, but it is true! He went to all of the BYU football games with us and he would just sit on my lap and watch the game. He loves to watch sports on TV too. I think it's a genetic trait for Staker boys or something? So, ball cakes seemed a perfect fit for this little sports fan!

Blowing out his candle, he of course wanted to grab the fire.

Getting started.

Yea for cake!

This is awesome!

All done, time to throw it on the floor.

One happy ONE year old!

After cake, Brayden had a bath and then he got this rocking horse for his birthday present. He wasn't really too sure about it at first, but he loves it now!

Brayden is such a happy baby! I often say he is my reward for Lilly! hehe. Seriously though, unless he is tired or hungry or has a stinky diaper he never cries. He walks around our house exploring or playing with his sisters and I hardly even know he is here. Brayden was our earliest walker, walking 2 days before he turned 10 months old. He loves to climb on things. He loves cuddles but just quick ones. He often will walk up to someone get a little hug and then walk away going on about his business. He doesn't like being kept in one place and wants to be free to do whatever he wants. He hates it when doors are shut and will knock on any shut door until someone comes to open it. He has been able to climb stairs since he was about 6 months old, and is just now starting to figure out how to go down (doesn't quite have it yet.) The funny thing is he can get off of really high things like our bed, couches, chairs and things like that by sliding off feet first, but he won't go down the stairs the same way. He is such a smiley baby and is always quick to laugh. Since he was first laughing he has done that catching his breath inhale laugh, it cracks me up! Brayden never took a binky like his sisters. To go to sleep he shoves his blanket in his mouth and chews on it. I love having a boy for so many reasons I didn't even realize when we had all girls and I can't wait to keep learing about this little boy!

Week 7

Saturday February 12-We went down to Utah with Allan's parents and sister to attend Allan's cousin's baby shower and the BYU vs. Utah basketball game. It was such a fun day, we pawned off our girls with friends and took only Brayden down with us. (THANK YOU Sarah, Kristena, Susan, and Zoe!) During the game Brayden stayed with Jenilee at Allan's Aunt Susan's house. They all raved about how cute and good he was. BYU won and it was an awesome day!
Sunday February 13-This is Brayden's new church outfit I got on clearance. I thought he looked so cute in it, although he wasn't thrilled about me putting him down and trying to take his picture! 1pm church has been so hard on him, this was right after church so he was ready for a nap!

Monday February 14-Happy Valentines Day! I had surgery to have my gallbladder removed. I was kind of sad I had to miss the kids Valentines Day parties at school, but they all had a good time. Luckily I have had lots of help from family and friends and a pretty easy recovery.

Tuesday February 15-Allan's parents took the girls to go and watch Austin play basketball. They had lots of fun chanting "Austin" and cheering on their cousin. Lee and Jean have been so much help after my surgery, Jean took Wednesday off work and cleaned my cupboard faces and windows and helped me finish this weeks laundry.

Wednesday February 16-This little horse was Brayden's birthday present, but Lilly loves to drag it out and ride it. She yells, "Weeha, ride 'em cowboy" and makes horse noises while she rocks. It's very cute!

Thursday February 17- Allan caught an elbow to his glasses while playing church basketball this week. It has turned into a huge black eye. Poor guy!

Friday February 18-My parents came up from Thursday-Saturday to visit and help out after my surgery. The kids love having Grandma and Papa here to visit. They always bring fun presents and spoil us all by taking us out to dinner. It was so much fun to have them visit because they haven't been able to come as much since my Grandpa died and they moved in to take care of my Grandma.

Fantastic 5!

Our little Princess Natalie turned 5. She of course wanted a princess party. These were her invitations:

She wanted cupcakes with yellow frosting, which really surprised me because she is OBSESSED with pink! I found some little princess toppers to put on them.

She invited some of her princess friends, I wanted to keep it small and simple so she only got to pick 4 friends.

They dressed up and played Pretty Pretty Princess. Natalie had some other games she wanted to play but we didn't get to them because I just let them play dress up for awhile.

I made PB&J with fruit kebabs and pink marshmallows.

We opened presents, there was an overwhelming theme of art supplies!

Also princess hair which went wonderfully with her new Repunzel dress.

This princess music CD maybe her very favorite thing (although it's hard to say, she loved everything!) we listen to it in the car everywhere we go now.

More fun painting stuff!

After her party it was time to go to preschool. This was her new birthday outfit all the way down to her shoes.
Later that night she got to open up a few more presents from our family.

Here are some things about Natalie at 5!

Natalie is a princess through and through.

She is our girly girl more than any of the others.

She likes to be served and waited on.

She does not like doing chores!

She likes things her way, and she doesn't like being told no!

She loves pretty things and dressing up and wearing makeup.

She says her favorite princess is Rapunzel and Cinderella and Belle and all of the princesses!

She loves to be in the spotlight.

At ballet they play a game called Sleeping Beauty and everyone pretends to be asleep and one princess gets to wake up and do a solo and then wake another girl up and go to sleep. Natalie loves her solo time, she dances and watches herself in the mirror and streches it out as long as she can.

She is graceful and has a stage presence that everyone notices.

Something kind of silly about Natalie is she loves to be on her head, for example, she watches TV with her head on the couch and her feet in the air. I remember doing this as a little girl too.

Natalie loves to sing, all day long she goes about doing her activities singing as she goes. She loves princess songs and primary songs especially. For a good portion of the last year her favorite song has been, "I Love to See the Temple" and she sings it all the time.

She loves her friends.

Natalie loves to eat. She is a tiny little thing but she eats all day long. As soon as she finishes one thing she asks for something else and is always wondering what is for our next meal.

Natalie is a teaser. She loves to tease her siblings and frustrate anyone she can.

Natalie is always right....just ask her!

Sensational 7!

Well, I am breaking down and have decided I need to do a little supplemental blogging for some things. One of those things should be BIRTHDAYS! and since we have already had 3 this year I have some catching up to do.

Allyson turned 7 on January 7th. She got to invite a friend over for dinner and a late night. She chose Ramen Noodles, Smoothies, and Candied Sweet Potatoes for dinner.

We had a small family party with cake and presents. I made her a Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Frosting. It is my favorite kind of cake and since I think birthdays are as big a celebration for moms (I did all the work after all) I splurged and had a piece of her cake.

Here are 7 things I love about Allyson in no particular order:

1. She is very affectionate. She loves to snuggle and cuddle. Ally always has a hug for anyone who needs one and loves everyone.

2. She is so smart. Everything seems to come easy to her. She is a great reader, awesome at math, and very creative.

3. She is friendly. Allyson is friends with everyone. She doesn't care how young or old, boy or girl, or how different a person is from her, she is the type who wherever we go she comes and tells me about a new friend she made.

4. She is nurturing. Ally has always loved taking care of people. She is patient and kind. One example of this was when I was at the school for her class Halloween party, there are a couple of kids that come in for parties but are in an extended resource class for extra help. Ally stayed right with the girl who didn't have an aid and made sure she was part of everything and helped her with whatever she needed.

5. She is compassionate. When we were at the theater watching Tangled I glanced over at the part when Flynn was hurt and about to die and Allyson was bawling. She was so upset, and while it was hard to see her hurting over something, I love to see how sensitive and caring she is.

6. She is a wonderful sister. From when Ally was barely walking she would give up what she wanted in a second to make Hailey happy. This has continued with all of her siblings. Ally always puts others before herself, especially her family.

7. She has the best laugh! Ally's laugh is loud and contagious. She enjoys life and is silly and funny.

Week 6

Saturday February 5-We went on a tripple date with the Laytons and Pettingills.
Sunday February 6-Superbowl Party! We were rooting for the Steelers, but unfortunately they didn't win.

Monday February 7-Lilly and Hadley snuck into Brayden's room during his nap while I was in the shower and dumped a bunch of markers and crayons in his bed and climbed in to play with him.

Tuesday February 8-We went bowling to make up for last weeks FHE when I wasn't feeling well. Natalie wasn't feeling great, but we had a lot of fun!

Wednesday February 9-We made Ally's 100 day of school project. I love how it turned out!

Thursday February 10-I had a Pampered Chef party. I do about 2 a month and it's a great chance for me to get out of the house and do something I love to do!

Friday February 11-I have been meaning to post about Hailey for a while now and just haven't gotten around to it. She has been such a big helper around the house lately. She almost always gets her chores done everyday, and pretty much does them as well (maybe better) as I could do it myself. She has also been good about practicing the piano and homework and reading. It is fun to have such a big responsible girl around!

Week 5

This week is kind of crazy to me because honestly these first pictures feel like they could have been taken a month ago, not last weekend! Here we go with another week of pictures!

Saturday January 29-We were back out to Allan's parent's house to watch a basketball game. The kids had ice cream cones and Brayden really enjoyed his! The best part was Allan's dad was the one who cleaned him up after this!

Sunday January 30-Here are my kids after church at Allan's parent's again. I very rarely get the kids matching outfits because with 5 kids it gets EXPENSIVE! and honestly most of my kids clothes are hand me downs so I take what I get! I got these on sale and used Gymbucks to get them even cheaper and I love them! This picture is awesome because all of the kids are looking and smiling, but after I posted it I realized Brayden's undershirt is showing and Lilly has a sticker on her forehead. Oh well! ALSO this morning I gave Brayden his first hair cut but since only one picture makes the cut you can see the difference best if you look above and at Tuesday's picture! :)

Monday January 31-Part of the reason this week has seemed super long is because Sunday night I had a tummy ache and couldn't sleep. I did okay during the day and when the kids got home I decided we should go bowling for FHE because we haven't had a "just fun family night" in a long time. As we were all getting ready to go my tummy started really hurting and I had to tell the kids we wouldn't be going bowling. This was a big disappointment as you can imagine, so I told them we could play bowling on the Wii for FHE instead with the promise that we would go bowling soon. They weren't too happy with the substitution but we had fun anyway.

Tuesday February 1-So Monday night once again I couldn't sleep because my tummy hurt SO bad. At about 4:00 a.m. Allan suggested I go to Redicare so I could get feeling better before he had to go to work. The doctor said my stomach was full of air/gas. At 5:30 I came home feeling better from the pain meds they gave me, but not better about the fact that I didn't know what was causing my tummy ache. I was able to get a little bit of sleep though so that was good. I still wanted to know what was wrong though so I called up my doctor and made an appointment to go in and meet with him. He thinks something may be wrong with my gallbladder, still working on that problem, but I am able to control the tummy ache most of the time by not eatting fatty foods. ANYWAY! Back to the picture of the day: Zoe brought us some cookies because she knew I wasn't feeling well. They were sitting on the table not to far from Brayden's chair and he climbed up onto the table to get some more. His mouth is full and he still has part of a cookie in his left hand while grabbing for another with his right. I guess he liked them!

Wednesday February 2-Lilly has this thing about wearing pants inside our house, SHE WON'T! The minute we walk in through the door she drops her pants in the hallway by the door. She seems just fine to put them back on when we are going somewhere, but if you stop by and she doesn't have clothes on, don't be surprised!

Thursday February 3-Allyson is always complaining about a tummy ache, usually at convenient times like when she doesn't want to wake up in the morning or if I ask her to do her chores or practice piano, so I haven't worried too much about it. This morning she was really crying about it and so I decided to take her into the doctor. (the same one I had seen earlier in the week) He ran some blood work and had her get a X-ray of her belly. The blood came back normal and the X-ray showed that she had air in her bowels, a sign that things aren't moving through as efficiently as they should be. Right now we have been giving her a laxitive everyday (which she loves because she thinks it makes her juice sweeter!?! whatever) and she has been feeling much better.

Friday February 4- Lilly and Natalie decided to make a bunk bed out of my bookshelves. They are very cute each day playing together while the other kids are at school. Notice Lilly of course doesn't have clothes on!