A very special day!

On Saturday, January 7th 2012, Emma was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was such a great day! We are so proud of her, and the choice that she made to get baptized. She is such a sweet heart, and is doing her best to choose the right. It was an extra special day because it was Alison's blessing day as well. Randy gave her a beautiful blessing. She is such a wonderful baby, and we are so blessed to have her in our family! We love you both so much, and are so happy for you!


She was done with pictures by this point...
Okay, one more try, Mom....

It was so good to see those that were able to come, and are grateful for all of the help with our luncheon.

Happy 8th birthday, Emma!!

My baby is 8!! I promised my girls when they turn 8 they can have a birthday party with friends, so it was Emma's turn. She was SO excited!! It was fun to see all of her little friends that we have never met before, and to see how silly they are when they get together (or how silly Emma is when she is entertaining her friends). She was such a little goof ball and her friends all laughed and laughed at her... all I can say is she is a dork like her mother... :).

I asked her to smile for me, and this is what I got... Like I said, a little dork..haha!

Grandma Turner made barbie dresses for my girls, and they all got some for their birthdays. They LOVE them, as you can tell...

She wanted a cake that was "like a wedding cake", so I attempted it. It wasn't great, but she loved it, so I was happy!
Her favorite colors are red and black.
Emma is a great helper to me. She is like a little grown up. She loves to read, and is top of her class in reading. Her teacher said he hasn't given her anything that she can't read yet, and is quite impressed. She also loves to play the piano, ride her bike, jump on the pogo stick, and help make dinner. Any chance she gets, she will call her uncle Jason and her and Natalie will go and help him feed horses. Naomi and Briallen will get to go sometimes too, but Emma tries to have only the "big kids" go. She is a beautiful and very smart little girl, and we love her to pieces!!

Happy Birthday Natalie!!...and everyone else!

On Natalie's birthday, she wanted to have a heart cake. Just as I was going to make one, her uncle Jason called and said that he wanted to make the girls a cake for their birthdays, so I said "perfect!! Can you make it heart shaped?" And he did, and she loved it!!

Natalie is 7 now! It's so crazy! I am always shocked at how fast they are all growing. Natalie loves art! She is such a great little artist, and so creative! She also loves to dance. She loves anything pink and princessey (if that's even a word) and girly. She is a soft hearted little girl, and hardly ever gets into trouble. She also loves school and never wants to miss a day. She is a beautiful, smart little princess, and such a joy to have in our family! We love you Natalie!!

Grandma, Grandpa, Andy, and Jason all came over and had Natalie's favorite dinner with us, which is taco soup, and then we opened presents and had the cake and ice cream. Grandma Carlene brought presents for all the girls for their birthdays so that no one would feel left out. They all felt pretty special.

Briallen is 4!

This time of year is full of parties! We have Thanksgiving, Christmas, a birthday, a new year, and many more birthdays!! Briallen turned 4 this year, and was SO excited! We had some cousins over, and we invited over 2 of her friends to come play. It was a great day! Briallen is such a joy in our home! She loves to sing, dance, color, and mostly do everything her big sisters are doing. She loves to play house and barbies, and often controls what people say while they are playing. She says "and then you said ____" to all of them, and they all play the way she wants. I don't know how she does it, but Randy and I are always laughing when we listen to them play. She has a big imagination! She is our only blonde, and loves it! We love our little Briallen! Happy Birthday baby!

Christmas day

This year I woke up to the sounds of laughing and giggling. I went into the kids' room and they were as happy as they could be running in circles! I asked them what they were doing and they said "we're having a party!!" and Briallen said "and we saw the pesents!" . They were SO excited. I looked at the clock, and it was only 5:00am. I told them that they had to go back to sleep for at least 2 more hours, and surprisingly they went right back to sleep.
Around 7:30 we all got up, said our prayers, and dug in! The girls got the babies that they wanted, Briallen and Rebekah each got a purse, and the older 3 got their own camera! Then they got a kitchen with food to share. It was a great Christmas, and we were truly blessed! I didn't get more pictures because my camera got buried under dolls and gifts they wanted me to open for them, so I will have to post more soon!
it's hard to see (which is probably good), but we didn't have real stockings, so I hurried and made some on Christmas Eve so that I could have something to put their stocking stuffers in.

When I saw all of those gifts, I thought for sure I had over-done it this year, and then realized I gave them 2 gifts each, with the kitchen to share... this is just what it looks like when you have a family of 8!

Christmas Eve

Emma hung all of these stockings on the fire place this year, and she made her own, really big one! She put on it "Plese fill with toys and candy!"...



On Christmas Eve, we invited Randy's parents and 2 brothers over and had a big feast. It was really yummy! After the dinner, we watched a short video on the true meaning of Christmas, which was really cute! I found it on Youtube. Then, finally, after the kids waited all day, they got to open their Christmas p.j.s that I made for them. It was my first attempt, and they didn't turn out too bad. Some were way too big, but they loved them, so I am happy! :)