Cody's 1st Haircut!!

This is just a random pic...

Here's some pictures of Cody's first haircut! He was so good, he just sat and ate Cheerios the whole time! What a cute boy! Here's before:

And after:(P.S. He is 10 months old)

The Big #5!!

Cade is 5! He is so excited to be 5! He wanted a Geo Trax cake and to go swimming & rock climbing at the Rec. center again. Cade loves swimming and is getting pretty good at it-just recently he started holding his breath and going under the water. He can even swim a little ways while he's under! Kinzi is getting more and more comfortable too--she scares me!! Here are some pictures of the party! We love you Cade!

For Mom & Sua

Here's a sampling of some of the pictures that I have taken lately, enjoy....

Soccer Fall 09

Cade and Makinzi completed another season of soccer. This was Makinzi's first and she took to it fairly well. I coached Cade's team and Tifani coached Makinzi's. It was another great season. Both teams had great kids and parents that we loved to coach and associate with. It was a lot of fun. We are looking forward to the Spring season. Here are some snap shots.

Jump into Fall!

We have a few fall traditions we have been adding to over the past couple of years. First, we go to a pumpkin patch for Family Home Evening, usually Linder Farms. We do the wagon ride, pick a pumpkin to carve the following Monday from the patch, and let the kids enjoy the jump houses, train rides, petting zoo, etc. Tifani and I enjoy the deep fried 4000 calorie artery clogging mini-donuts. They are delicious. It is a lot of fun, something our kids always look forward to. This year we went with the Mortenson's. They are a blast. The most hilarious part was when Wendi couldn't resist the little kids train ride and joined in on a, what seems like forever, trip around linder farms. It provided a good laugh for me. Wendi didn't look to comfortable which made me laugh a little more. Another tradition we kind of started this year is the week following our pumpkin pick festivities, we carve our pumpkins and Tifani makes homemade donuts-again ultra unhealthy but who cares, and we watch the Disney version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. It can be found in its entirety on Youtube.com. This old Disney classic is hilarious and our kids love it. These are fun traditions that ring in fall for us and that our kids look forward to. The jumping pictures are Tifani and the kids enjoying one of the last warm afternoons before the real cold snap moves in.

Halloween 2009

Cade a.k.a Batman, Makinzi a.k.a Ballerina Butterfly Princess, and Cody a.k.a Pumpkin raked in a load of candy this weekend. On Friday we went to our ward Trunk or Treat/Chili Feed. It was awesome. The activities committee did an amazing job with decorations, food, etc. Cade and Makinzi raked in a lot of candy during the Trunk or Treat. Saturday Shirli, Cliff, Cameron and Kirsten came down to Trick or Treat our neighborhood with us. Again, Cade and Makinzi raked in a load. What is the deal with these superhero candysticks? This is the new candy that no one wants. It is like the old peanut butter salt water taffy wrapped in Black and Orange that was as hard as a rock. This white, sugar stick is the most disgusting candy I have ever tasted, and Ihave eaten a lot of candy. Just putting it out there-be ye warned it is nasty stuff. Anyway it was a fun weekend. Enjoy the pics.


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BYU vs. TCU Homecoming

We recently went down to the BYU vs TCU homecoming football game. Although the game didn't turn out how we had hoped, the weekend was a lot of fun. We have been searching for a car for about two months and found the one we have been looking for in Ogden, UT. That was a great beginning to our weekend and the owner-private party KSL-let us drive it all weekend to make sure we wanted it. He then even let us drive it home. After Ogden, we all piled in our new ride, parked our old one in a JC Penny parking lot in Ogden, and went to IKEA, always a good time. Finally, we got to our hotel in Provo went swimming and went to bed. In the morning we got up ate some good continental breakfast and headed to the homecoming parade. The parade was good and the hilight was COSMO! My kids love COSMO and they went crazy when they saw him. Cade's favorite float was a pirate ship that served as an advertisement for a new kids pizza place in Provo. Makinzi's would have been the princess float you can see in the pictures, but she was going potty and missed it. Tifani was smart enough to take pictures to update Makinzi on what she missed. After the parade we ate lunch at Legend's grill, a food place located by the BYU practice field that serves as a Hall of Fame museum to BYU athletes. Daren and his crew were there as well catching a nap in a room located upstairs that has a huge TV and is used for BYU football pregame meetings, meals, and film sessions. We used the big screen to watch college football while we ate. Daren and his crew headed to Tucanos for their pregame meal. After eating we headed to the bookstore to stock up on BYU apparel. Decked out in our new gear we headed to the Beane Museum (a must visit) located just above the Marriot Center. This free museum contains the largest collection of taxidermied animals from across the globe I have ever seen. Hilights were the full size African elephant, a garafes head, a hammer head shark, and Cade and Makinzi's favorite the Polar Bear. While inside the museum the once good weather outside turned bad quickly and it rained hard. We made our way through the downpour to the game. Entering the game Tifani and I took the kids down within breathing distance of the warming up BYU players. The kids were mesmerized and got really excited about a BYU victory. Before heading to our seats we loaded up on dinner-cougar dog, nachos and the like. The game was not a huge success for BYU, but my kids enjoyed it until about mid way throught the 3rd quarter, which was the same time I had seen enough. We left at the start of the 4th. My favorite part of the game was partaking of the mysterious COUGAR BRAT-TAIL. BYU has a famous cougar tail that is a two foot long maple bar donut. A Cougar Brat-Tail is a spin off the cougar tail. It features one foot of the two foot maple bar sliced into two pieces. Now you have two one foot pieces of donut bread with one of those pieces layered in maple frosting. The maple frosting slice goes on the bottom-maple up. Then you layer a one foot long brat. You top that with fried onions and then slap on the donut bread to top it. I added Ketchup and mustard, and regretably I neglected to add sauercraut and relish. Next time I will not hesitate. Tifani and I ate it together. I don't know how to describe the experience except that it is unlike anything I have ever tasted and causes deep reflection of the experience. I crave the taste desiring the newness it introduced to my buds and palat. Next year I guess. We had a blast and upon asking the kids what their favorite experience was their answer somewhat surprised me, but in a way I should have expected it. I was mainly hoping for the game-even though it wasn't my favorite experience. They almost simoltameously shouted swimming in the pool Daddy! Nevertheless, my indocrination of BYU is working. Cosmo, BYU, and Brigham Young are common names used in everyday talk in our household. In fact I am doing so well that I sometimes have to clarify to Cade that not all red teams are evil and hated as Utah. Cade immediately associates red with bad now and I can't be dissapointed about that.





Who is the goofball who wanted in our picture?

Cody is 8 months!

So I just realized that my baby is 8 months old this month! He is so fun! He is "crawling" (he does a bear crawl/crawl) all over the place and pulling up on things. Cody loves food especially bananas and sweet potatoes, but he will try and eat just about anything. He is such a snuggler--way more so than my other two, and I love it! We all love him so much. Cade and Makinzi are on a this kick where they are always trying to pick him up and carry him around which is a little scary because he weighs about as much as them!! Here are a few pictures:




And a few more!:
And finally, I just wanted to post these pics I took yesterday!

TIFANI IS THE BIG 29!!!

Tifani turned 29 on the 25th of September. I was not so good at giving her the birthday she deserved. Friday, the day of her birthday, I had to cook hamburgers at the Skyview vs. Nampa football game for a wrestling fundraiser. We opened her presents on Thursday and all but 2 of them were the wrong size, so I had to take them back or ship them back. The only things that were not the wrong size was a water bottle I got her, and some compression undies for soccer. I did try and make it a good birthday. I tried to sprinkle in small celebrations here and there over the weekend. We went out to breakfast at a mom and pops in Nampa called the Sunrise Inn. I made her a cake out of Krispy Kreams that you can see in the following pictures, and I did have her presents here and ready to give to her a week in advance,; but, I wish I could have done more to make it a special day for her. I truly am greatful for Tifani and I love her with all my heart. She fills my life and heart. I Love you Tifani and just in case I forgot to tell you, Happy Birthday!

California!

Our friend John Vantassel got married in the LA temple on September 11,2009. For some time we have been wanting to take our kids on an airplane. Tifani found tickets for $97 roundtrip each so we jumped at the opportunity. It also gave us an excuse to go and visit Melissa and Sean in San Diego. The night before the flight we stayed in Layton with the Thompson's. It was awesome to see Nate and Jonna and their kids. Thanks guys! The flight was awesome and our kids loved it. The airport was a little crazy, but it actually went a lot smoother than I thought it would. Melissa and Sean were awesome hosts. They recently purchased a Vita Mix and so we spent a lot of time finding stuff to blend up and try out. My personal favorite was homemade peanut butter. We bought Honey Roasted Peanuts and then tossed in about 3 cups. You don't have to add a thing and it was the best peanut butter I have ever had. Another hilight was our visit to a hole in the wall burger joint down on Ocean Beach called Hodads. It was recently featured on the food network. I ordered the double cheese burger and I haven't been challenged at finishing a burger for a long time. This burger definitely recieves my respect, and it was delicious. It was so tall I couldn't fit my mouth around it. I had to eat it in layers. The fries are not fries but what I call potato logs and Tifani calls them jo jo's. They are also extremely filling and what we couldn't finish became breakfast the next morning. Their onion rings are equally amazing. Finally we got a chocolate malt to seal the deal. It was an amazing meal that is making my mouth water as I write this. Sean took us on a tour of the Navy base on Coronado where he is stationed. It was awesome. Other events included swimming, eating BJ's pizza, bickering with the downstairs neighbors for being to loud, and hanging out at the beach. Sean and Melissa took our family pictures on the beach in La Jolla. Here are some of the results. I am extremely unphotogenic, a challenge Tifani is always frustrated with. Finally, we went and witnessed John and Whitney's sealing in the LA temple. The temple is absolutely amazing. It is huge! The temple is located right off the freeway on the Hollywood exit. In fact, on a rare clear day you can see the Hollywood sign from the temple grounds. The sealing was awesome and it was fun to see John and get to know Whitney a little more. Aaron and Lindsay were also there and it was fun to hang out with them a little. The trip was a lot of fun. Congrats John and Whitney and thanks Sean and Melissa for the great time!