Happy 18th Birthday Allie!

Our baby is 18!

Happy Birthday to our sweet sweet girl ~
We love you so much honey!

NEXT STOP.....The State Dance Competition!

Allie had a dance competition at Liberty High School last weekend where they took 2nd place with their state dance routine. The state competition will be on Friday and Saturday, March 20th and 21st.

Watch for Allie's solo in the middle of the first song!

Good Luck Ladies!

Congratulations! First Place Westview Wildthings!

First Place at the Forest Grove Competition on Saturday!!
STATE...HERE WE COME!

Jalen and I went to Allie's dance competition on Saturday at Forest Grove High School.
It was a really good competition and the girls took 1st place.
This routine is such an amazing thing to watch.
It truly brings tears to your eyes.
I can't wait to post the video of the entire state dance routine here on our blog.
You will truly be moved by the emotion and passion of these girls.
Their theme is "BE THE CHANGE YOU WISH TO SEE IN THE WORLD"

Allie and Ellie - Senior Captains

Jalen & Allie - Sisters for life! - Thanks for coming my sweetheart Jay ~
It means more to me and Allie than you will EVER know!

Alex and Alex....
She is an AMAZING coach to Alex and has brought this team to new heights!
We are so lucky to have her in our lives! Thanks Coach Alex....for everything!

Mmmm....Milkshakes!

Kaela and I made chocolate milkshakes the other night!
They were beyond yummy!
We put a couple of girl scout cookie "SOMOAS" in the milkshake.

Just a day in the life.......

Just a day in the life of parenting teenagers.....

Our children are very productive busy people. Don't get me wrong, I'm NOT complaining, just thought that I would give you a glimpse into our crazy life by sharing some details of our crazy night last night. Bill and I both worked all day. Immediately after work, I drove over to Westview High School to help with Allie's dance clinic by selling Westview boxers. After that I ran home to pick up the camera and then meet Bill for a quick bite to eat. We went to the Streets of Tanasborne...Hot Topic to be exact. Matthew was doing an "open mic" raw performance in the store. It was great! Matt and his friend James played about 6 songs to a packed store. They sounded so professional. Matthew is truly talented with his music and we were 2 proud parents standing there listening to him.

We had to leave the performance a tad bit early to race over the high school and watch Allie perform with the kindergartners and 1st graders at the half time show of the basketball game. It was such a cute performance. I had to leave as soon as the dance was over to take Allie to the airport to catch a flight to Southern Oregon University so that she could spend Valentine's Day with her boyfriend Alex. I drove Allie to the airport in her car.....however****

At the airport, there was a little bit of drama with some of the liquid items that Allie had her in bag. In all of the excitement, I left the keys to MY car in the tray at airport security and didn't realize this until I met Bill back at my car. We called the airport and they had my keys, but they said that if I didn't pick them up that night that they would be taken to the Port of Portland and I wouldn't be able to pick them up until Tuesday. UGH...That wasn't going to work, so Bill and headed back to the airport to pick up my keys. It's close to midnight by this point and we were so exhausted!

Luckily, Kaela spent the night with Aunt Cherie who transported her around to her Valentine party with the youth group. It's true what they say...It truly does take a village to raise children.

****Oh and some good news!
Allie was accepted to
Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon.
So, officially she will be flying the coop in August.
She will major in Elementary Education.
We are so happy for her as she embarks on the
next phase of her life! ****

Valentine Caramel Apples?

Valentine Apples?
I know...Typically caramel apples are for fall time, but Kaela and I threw out the rule book and decorated some caramel apples Valentine style. We will still do Valentine cookies like we do every year, but this was a fun little twist.

Kaela and her masterpiece!

Matthew and Kaela with their eyes on the prize! Mmm Mmm Good!

Ladies Day to Wine

Ladies Day to Wine

What a fun day! I had the opportunity to go wine tasting with my sister-in-law Kelli and our friend Tressa last weekend. It was the 5th annual "Ladies Day to Wine". We met for lunch at the Grand Lodge in McMinnville. Then 63 women boarded a school bus and headed off for an afternoon of wine tasting. We started off at Elk Cove where we loved their Mt. Richmond Pinot Noir. Next stop was Montinore Vineyards, where Kelli, Tressa and I had so much fun hanging out by the fireplace, enjoying a bottle of wine, and snacking on cheese and crackers. Our third and final stop was at Schaeffer Vineyards. This winery had the cutest little Christmas shop. We browsed around and looked at tons of beautiful little ornaments. It was such a fun day. I'm looking forward to this being an annual tradition for us.


Tressa, Kelli and Angie

Kelli heading back to the bus.

Tressa and Kelli

Happy Birthday Tyler!!

YIPPEE!!!! Tyler is 11 ~

We went to Tyler's 11th birthday party on Saturday. It was at Lasertag!
The kids had a great time. OK, the adults had a great time too!


Tyler got the biggest bag of chocolate chips that I have ever seen!
Can you say SUGAR RUSH?

Tyler's birthday cake! I swear that Costco makes the BEST cakes!
3 words....CHEESE CAKE FILLING! Amazing!

Here are Tyler's friends. The kids were all sweaty, but there sure did have a good time!

Happy Birthday Ty.....We love you sweetie!!

Meet our Nephew... Adam Wood

ADAM WOOD

This is Bill's nephew Adam. He is our "claim to fame".
He is a wonderful musician. Click here to visit his website for his band.
He is also on a show called "13 - Fear is Real"

It's a great show where 13 people go out alone in the Louisiana swamps where the "Mastermind" tests their fears with challenges and games. It's a little bit like the Blair Witch Project
but you can get "killed off" like Survivor.

We are very proud of you Adam.
You can watch Adam on the CW channel on Friday at 9pm.

Westview Lyrical 2008

WESTVIEW LYRICAL 2008

Here is Allie's lyrical dance routine. This dance will be part of Westview's state dance routine that they will perform in March. The theme of their dance is "Be the Change you Want to See in the World". This dance is to a song called "Dear Mr. President" by Pink. The dance team has been doing a lot of volunteering to help become the change in the world.

Allie has a solo on the right hand side of the screen about 1 minute into the routine. Keep your eye on this girl! She is such an amazing dancer. We are so very proud. I can't wait to see the rest of the routine all put together.

Happy New Year 2008

Beach Trip - Happy New Year!!!

We had the opportunity to go to a beach house in Seaside for the past week. We had such a great time. We left on Monday and came back today (Friday). On Monday, it was just Matthew, Kaela, me and Bill. We had a quiet dinner and watched movies. Very relaxing after a busy Christmas. On Tuesday, Kelli, Piper, Parker, Allie, Alex, Taylor & Alana came down. We made home made fish and chips with our new deep fryer! We fried over 5 pounds of cod and when it was all said and done, there wasn't even one piece left, just tons of smiling people! We played Texas hold 'em and had fun listening to music and hanging out with everyone!

Chef Billy making the best Fish and Chips EVER!!!

Alana, Taylor, Matt & Parker....Playing cards

Kaela and Auntie KK

On Wednesday, my Mom & Papa came down to help us bring in the new year! Taylor and Alana had to leave, but Matthew's girlfriend Carlie joined us. We had a nice evening with Prime Rib, Crab and champagne. It was really stormy at the beach so we stayed tucked in by the fire and watched the ball drop!

Matthew & Carlie

Alex and Alex

Yummmm....Prime Rib!

On Thursday, Mom and Papa & Alex and Alex had to leave, so me and Bill, Kaela, Matt & Carlie went into Seaside and had a nice lunch, watched the Rose Bowl game, and played at the arcade for a couple of hours. It was a really fun day!

It's really nice to be home. With the crazy weather that we had last month and with winter break, the kids have been out of school and I've been out of work for the past 3 weeks. I'm going to need the next couple of days to psych myself back into reality. **Big Sigh**

**********
We wish everyone a very happy and healthy 2009. We have a big year coming up. Bill and I will celebrate our 10 year anniversary in May, Alex will be graduating in June and will be going off to college in August. Also in August is our 20th high school reunion for me and Bill.
Stay tuned for many more posts about our busy family! *Cheers*

Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas 2008

We spent Christmas Eve over at my In-Laws house with my Mom & Papa.
Wayne, Jaylin, Piper & Parker came over too.
We had a wonderful dinner and had fun hanging out with family.

Parker, Piper, Kaela, Matthew & Allie

As tradition serves, Grammy Jo got all the girls jammies. I love that I have pictures of the girls in their Christmas jammies that go back 10 years! Tradition is so important!

On Christmas morning, all the kids came over. It was so nice to have all 6 of our kids together. I made a big breakfast and then we opened presents and hung out together before we went over to my Aunt Patti's house for Christmas dinner.

Taylor, Jalen, my cousin Tawnia, & Courtney. I'm so proud of my cousin Tawnia. She had gastric by-pass surgery back in August and she has lost 100 pounds.
She looks wonderful and we are so happy for her!
We love you Tawny Bear!

Stacy & Kelle

Nutcracker 2008

Nutcracker 2008

We took the girls to the Nutcracker on Friday night and we all had a great time. It was the first time that the girls have seen the Nutcracker ballet. They really enjoyed it. It was snowing when we got into downtown Portland and the whole night was such an incredible memory for our family! I hope that this can be an annual thing for our family.

Mommy and her girls!

Our Christmas Card 2008

Family Photo 2008

We had a fun night with the kids awhile back trying to get the photo for our Christmas card. Stacy came over and took the picture for us. After Bill did a little photo shop magic, we ended up with a pretty good picture!

Of course, there's always Taylor being Taylor....ha ha!

I made a big Taco Salad for dinner before the pictures and it was nice to hang out with everyone and just enjoy being a family!

Here is a wonderful picture of Bill and our tree and stockings. Bill took the time to cut out all of the letters and ironed them on our stockings. They turned out perfect! Thanks honey!

Arctic Blast 2008

Let it Snow!!

We have had quite the snow storm over the past week. It started last Sunday and we ended up having the entire week off of school and work due to the weather. We are now officially on Winter Break and we will have a 3 week break instead of 2. NICE!!

Last night we had about 8 inches of new snow. Today we woke up to a sheet of ice covering the snow. Very dangerous, so I think we'll stay tucked in with a fire, movies and a nice hot toddy!

Here are some pictures of the snow...Enjoy!

Our Home in the Snow


Can you see me?

Dude! Where's my car??

Matthew's Snowman


Our Weber BBQ!


Chloe & Joey loved playing out in the snow...So cute!

Santa, I can explain

Kaela....December 2008

I just love this picture of Kaela!
Santa, I can explain....

Every year the kids take a turn putting our angel on the tree.
This year....Kaela's turn!

• The holiday season is off to a great start!
• The tree is up
• The stockings are hung
• I will finish the Christmas shopping next weekend
• Company Christmas party next weekend

I actually feel a little bit ahead of the game....Weird!