Yes, another birthday post!

Wow seems like all we do around here is celebrate birthdays!
Amber's birthday was this past weekend, the 11th to be exact. She turned 17!! Yes, I said 17!!! What the heck?! Aren't I still 17, how can I have a daughter that is as old as me?
Her friends came over at midnight so they could wake her up and be the first ones to wish her a "HAPPY BIRTHDAY"!











They then all piled in the car and went to IHOP for breakfast. As you can see from the pictures, everyone was a bit sleepy! They eventually woke up and ate tons of pancakes, well Amber had the tradtional breakfast meal of chicken strips. I think that the people at IHOP were glad when we left. We tend to get a little loud!



HAPPY 17th BIRTHDAY AMBER!










For dinner Amber wanted to go to Red Robin. Good choice!! The food was great and the service was fast.



Loving those birthday kisses!




Gotta love a Vickie's card!!

Annie are you alright?, Annie are you ok?...

Dave took a CPR class thru his work and was able to get a mini CPR kit and so he felt it was important that the kids should learn how to do CPR. It came with this SWEET little MiniAnnie doll, dvd, and some minikin wipes. Hunter had a little bit of a hard time doing the chest compressions at first, and choked MiniAnnie when he tried to do the breathing, but eventually he got the hang of it. We had fun learning how to do it, actually a little too much fun! Poor MiniAnnie.




















But my question is....Why do they make such chessy dvd's to go along with stuff like this and WHY did MiniAnnie have to be so homely?

Stay off the roads...Amber's driving!

Yes, folks Amber passed her driving permit test yesterday and she is on the road! My fellow Texans BEWARE! Actually, she is doing a great job and I've only had to grab the "OH GEEZ" stap once or twice so far. Of course I did have to rub it in when she went over the curb at the Sonic drive thru because she ALWAYS gets onto me for doing that. She is VERY excited and drives whenever we have to go anywhere. So, if you see us out and about and I'm missing some hair or have an unusual twitch you'll know why.
Congratulations Amber....you are on your way!


Her first "LEGAL" drive...Dave let her drive home from the DMV

Showing off her permit


Driving to Hunter's Soccer game, Taylor and Hunter are a tad bit scared!

Going thru the drive thru for the first time...ON THE CURB!

SNAKE!!!

Dave found this in our yard yesterday, in the bushes right by the house....AAHHHH!!!
It was about the size of an earth worm. We don't know what kind of snake it was, but I'm sure it was really mean! We kept him till the kids came home from school so they could see it and then Dave let it go. I'm just glad no one wanted to keep it as a pet!

Family night

I was talking with a friend from church about the upcoming General Conference this weekend and how to get our kids prepared and thinking about it. She had a great idea for family night and I used it tonight and it went great! I had Jake make us a tent/fort in the living room. Then all of us got underneath it and talked about King Benjamin and how it's like General Conference. I even likened his tower to a satellite tower so as many people as possible can hear! we talked about how all the people came to the temple, pitched their tents and listened to him. It was a really fun time, the kids paid attention, answered questions and made really good comments. I am thankful for nights like this, when the kids have fun together and we can teach and learn more about the gospel of Christ. After the lesson we had some of Taylor's most delicious cupcakes...yum,yum!
Hum...I wonder if this weekend they will listen better if we set up the tent?!
THANKS Kathi for a GREAT idea!

9 is fine!

Gosh is Taylor's birthday really here? Hard to beleive that September is almost over and that Taylor turned nine, YES, NINE!! Wow this year sure has gone fast. Her birthday was on Saturday but due to soccer games we celebrated it with her friends Friday night. We took her and three of her friends to Chuck E Cheese and let them play. It was great not worrying about the mess or trying to entertain a bunch of kids. They all had a great time.


Saturday Amber and I decorated the yard. I made some posters of her and Amber and I made a bunch of little 9's to put in the yard. Taylor was very excited when she saw the yard.



After the soccer games we had cupcakes that Taylor had made. This year she wanted to make the cupcakes instead of my famous store bought cake. She did a good job, they were quite tasty! She got bit by the camera bug and so she got one. She has already taken a ton of pictures! I'm so proud!! All and all it was a GREAT two day celebration and she is already looking forward to next year!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAYLOR....WE LOVE YOU!!

My daughter the shoe maker

While we were at Hunter's game cheering him on Taylor was at her friends house getting ready to go to the Primary Activity day. Well she didn't have any shoes on when she went to Natalie's house and even though we only live down the street from her, Taylor didn't think to stop by the house and grab some. NO...she decided to make herself a pair. They happened to have some duct tape, which of course is the first thing I would grab when making a shoe, and she fashioned herself some very sensible shoes. Yes, ladies and gentlemen she actually wore them to the activity day!
I think she my have found her career, designing duct tape shoes.
I'm sure we will be seeing them on the runway very soon!