Sorry

To those of you who tried to read my last post and thought there were no pictures, sorry, here is the right version.

Spring Break

Billy and Debbie invited us to come up to Branson again for our Spring Break since this was the last stretch of time that any of us would have together before Ross leaves on his mission in a little over a month.  So she invited all of the family to come up.  Unfortunately things didn't really work out like she had planned since some of us ended up getting sick, but we all still had a lot of fun anyway.  Ross and Debbie went up first and Ross ended up getting sick the first couple days.  We came up in the middle of the week (which included a SUV full of girls: Me, Kayla, Callie, Hailey, Jillian, baby Charlotte and Jillian's sister Rachael.) We only got to spend one day out with Debbie before she started getting really sick.  Then Callie started do get sick too (but she only acted sick at nights), and Hailey decided to cut through another tooth, so she was a little grumpy to say the least.  My brother in laws Craig and Cory came up on Thursday night and Billy and Brad came up Friday night.   So Billy only got to have breakfast with us and then he and Debbie had to head home because she was to sick to stay.  Despite it all though, I still had a really fun time and I know the girls did too.  The condo was really nice and Grandma had it all set up with all of the girls favorite snacks and movies.  We also got to get a lot of shopping done.  Grandma Debbie also treated the girls to a trip to Build a bear where they got to pick out whatever bear they wanted and one outfit.  Callie got a cute Cinderella puppy and Kayla got a hot pink bear with accessories.

Here is a picture of our room in the condo.  The beds were so comfy! Oh, and Callie is modeling her cute new swimsuit.

This is at the outdoor mall, this is probably our favorite shopping place when we go to Branson. The next picture is one of all of the girls (I wonder why Ross didn't want to join us shopping? Ha ha...)

This is Callie in her FAVORITE store, the disney store.  She wanted pretty much everything, but I ended up getting her a princess and the frog t shirt, which she loved.

Uncle Ross fixed the girls up a bubble bath one night at the condo.  (Warning: do not let uncles be in charge of bubbles unless you want them overflowing from the sides onto the floor :)

One of my favorite things about the condo is the area it was located in.  The trees were so pretty and Callie and I had fun walking around, we even found a playground.

Kayla and Rachael posing by the hotel.  They had so much fun together.

My father in law treated us all to breakfast at Dockers on Saturday morning.  I think Callie out ate us all!

Saturday after Billy and Debbie went home, the rest of us went miniature golfing.  And then we went to the track wear we let the girls play on the rides and even the boys got to race once.  I don't have any pictures of that though since my camera died. 

Busy church week

It seems like we are always are doing some kind of church stuff now that Brad is branch president, but this week we had a lot more church activities than normal. I guess we all need to check with each other first before we plan next time ;) Ha ha... anyway. Wednesday night we had activities days and New Beginnings, Thursday night we had the Relief Society birthday dinner, and Friday night we had a branch potluck followed by a campout for the Young Men.
I forgot my camera for all the events, so once again I stole a few pictures from my good friend Janae. These are from the Relief Society dinner:

Misti and Erin.

Erin's grandma, Aunt Mary, and Erin's mom Debra.


And me and Janae. Janae moved into our branch last year, and we were just so excited to have her. She is so sweet and I get along really well with her. You would never know it looking at her but she has six kids, and their family really reminds me of my family growing up (coming from a family with seven kids.)

Pictures and cousin Charlotte

Brad said that while I was doing Young Women's last night that the girls were behaving just horribly. How naughty can these sweet little faces be? Ha ha ha... I really am sorry honey ;)

Last weekend Brad's brother Craig and his wife Jillian and their little girl Charlotte came home for a visit. It had been a while since we had seen Charlotte and she has gotten so much bigger. She is really sitting well and holding herself up with a lot more control. The girls had fun playing with Hailey's toys.

Hailey loved seeing another baby in the house. She just kept kissing and kissing Charlotte's feet. I tried to get it on video, and you can see it a little here:

New Beginnings

We had our New Beginnings program for Young Women's last night and it went really well.  They have made a lot of changes to the program including new books, necklaces, a new value to add to the theme and a new scripture marker to earn.  So this should give the girls a lot to look forward too.  The girls sang a beautiful musical number and did an excellent job on the program.  I love my calling.  It is by far one of the best that I have ever had.  I just love all these girls.  I was sad that not all of them were able to attend last night (we have 6)  but at least 3 were able to come with their mothers.

This is a picture with me and the young women and Sister Bowen who is the young women president.

And this one is of all the girls with their mothers.

Happy Birthday Kayla

We have had lots of partying going on at our house this week with parties for both Brad and Kayla.  Luckily I scaled it down a little this year and just had a family party for Kayla.  We decided that we weren't going to have a "friend" birthday party every year like we have been, but instead we will do every other year.  One year a family birthday party, the next year a friend one.  She didn't seem to mind one bit.  She still got spoiled  as usual;)  What's a girl to do when you have so many grandparents and aunts and uncles that love you?  I think she ended up with about $90 in birthday money, new jeans, shoes, flip flops, nancy drew dvd, new board games, a beautiful new dress from Nanna, pretty headband, socks, handmade blanket from Da, and some fingernails.  Wheww!  See what I mean?  I got tired just typing it ;)  Oh, and she got lots of calls from family like her grandparents,  Craig and Jillian, Mark and Shayla and aunt Karren.

Anyway, I was worried she might not have that much fun on her birthday since she had school all day and then I had to be in charge of mutual that night at the church (which means Kayla babysits Callie in the nursery).  So I got up early to fix her her favorite breakfast and do her hair extra special, so she felt nice.  Then at lunch Grandma Debbie went and took her a chicken basket from the Dairy bar and had lunch with her.  Everyone came over at 5:00 for barbecue and cake and she opened up all her presents.  She ended up having a wonderful day.  And we are so glad because we just love our Kayla.  She is getting so big and mature, and she is such a help to me with the girls.  She is also very responsible and is also becoming quite a great little cleaner.  She is very sensitive of others feelings and feels horrible if she ever feels like she hurt someone.  She also always goes out of her way to thank me for the things I do, like cooking and cleaning, which really means a lot to a mom ;)  Love you Kayla!

Monday Night

Well Monday was Brad's birthday and of course he had to work.  So while we were waiting for him to get home I took the girls to the park.  It was Hailey's first time in the swing and she love it.  We were having so much fun, we almost forgot that Brad was on his way home.

After Brad got home, we all headed out for dinner.  He picked Texas Roadhouse, which is one of my fav's!  It was sooo good.  Callie LOVED their rolls and butter.  She liked the sweet butter so much that she even dipped all her french fries and hamburger in it, ha ha :)
After we got home, we topped off the night with birthday cake and ice cream. I think he had a pretty good birthday.  Kayla's is today so stay tuned for more pictures later.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Brad,
I never dreamed I could have someone that makes me as happy as you do. The older we grow together the more I fall in love with you and the great man that you are. I love living life with you by my side.
Love,
Nina

Sleep interupted

This is how my night went last night.

Brad and I went to Bed- 11:00

Hailey woke up hungry (I still hadn 't fallen asleep, but almost)- 11:30
Went back to bed

Hailey woke up hungry- 1:30
Went back to bed

Hailey woke up hungry- 3:45
Went back to bed

Hailey woke up hungry- 5:30
Went back to bed

Brad woke up for work and I make him breakfast and lunch- 6:15
Went back to bed

Woke Kayla up for School- 7:00
Went back to bed

Made sure Kayla looked good and was fed and that Grandma was here- 7:45
Went back to bed

Woke up for real- 8:15
(Feeling nice and refreshed from my beautiful nights sleep :)

He just can't stand it

It seems like the longer your married to a person the more you really can start to predict their behavior. It has definitely become this way with Brad and I. One thing that I have learned since we've been together, is that he cannot stand surprises and he cannot wait for the "day" that he is going to get his gifts. Whether it is for Christmas, birthdays or valentines day, if he knows what he is getting he will find someway to get it before the designated day.
He started hinting a couple weeks ago that he wanted a grill/smoker for his birthday. So we started looking around for some, and when he finally found the one that he wanted he wanted to get it early of course. So I reluctantly agreed insisting that he still had to wait till his birthday to use it. Well of course that didn't happen. First of all he comes home with it on the back of his truck, fully assembled! I was like, "Why isn't it in a box?" He laughed and said it was because he asked if he could have the asssembled one. So now I'm thinking... great, I'm never going to be able to keep it away from him if it's already assembled. And sure enough before I could even walk in the house to get my shoes on and come back out, he already had it burning. Well, needless to say, we have grilled or smoked something every couple nights since we have gotten it, ha ha! Oh well, I'm glad he likes it anyway ;)

"The Beast"

This past weekend we had a little bit of fun. I decided to take the girls swimming while Brad worked on his truck. I was a little nervous how I was going to handle having 3 kids in the water since Kayla is the only one that can swim (and it was Hailey's first time in a pool). But it ended up being a lot of fun. Hailey loved the pool, she didn't fuss once. She's my little waterbaby. After we came home the girls were begging for a picnic because it was such a pretty day. So indulged them, after all we have all been cooped up to long this winter.

Hailey has been changing so much lately. It seems like every day she is doing something new. She just got a new toy that she loves and the girls had a lot of fun showing it to her for the first time.

I bought her her first "puff" cereal to try out now that she has two teeth. She loves it. She wouldn't pick it up at first, but within an hour after trying it she figured it out. Here's a video of her trying to feed herself.

She also started saying "momma" again. But this time she knows what she is saying, Yay! It is so sweet. Whenever she is hungry, she starts crying "momma" and she won't stop until I come and get her. Here's a short video of her doing it, because I had to stop filming, because I couldn't stand it.