TWELVE!!!

Machella is 12 years old! She turned 12 at the end of July and has loved every minute of it (so far). She is loving being in Young Womens. In fact the Young Women put candles in our front yard for her birthday. What can I say about Machella other than she is an amazing daughter and sister and friend. She is so laid back (like her Dad) and really so far doesn't get worked up about anything. She is tries so hard to have no drama in her life and just enjoys every day. She definitely has a quiet/shy side to her but her sense of humor is hilarious. She will say things out of the blue that are so funny especially because we don't think she would say them. We love Machella!

Kids in Black

A few days ago it was my birthday and my wonderful husband decided to really make me feel old. It was a big birthday for me and he had a black theme. He and the kids decorated the house in black streamers and lots of signs that said "Over the Hill". All of my presents were wrapped in black paper and put in black gift bags. To top it off he surprised me by having himself and all the kids dress in all black. Even though they rubbed it in that I am getting older I feel so blessed for my wonderful family.

Girl's Camp

Machella and I survived Girl's Camp last week. It was actually a lot of fun. I am so glad we could go together. I serve in Young Womens and went for the first time since I was 17 and even though Machella is not 12 yet she could go because she will be 12 by September 1. Also, what made it extra special this year is that in our Stake every 4 years it is just a Ward Girl's Camp. It was so fun to go with just the girls and leaders in our ward. Because of this, we could plan to go wherever we wanted and do what we wanted as long as we raised enough money during our fundraiser. Well, we raised quite a bit so we traveled 5 hours away and stayed in air conditioned cabins and went to a huge water park on one of the days we were there. It was a great time and I am so glad I was able to go with Machella.

Before 3 mile hike



Wearing her cute camp T-shirt



Our cabins were right on the river



Piano

Machella has been taking piano lessons for a little less than a year and she is doing amazing. She competed in a city competition and got the highest score they had (superior plus). Because of her high score she was invited to participate in the State Competition and she scored superior (which is the second to highest score). I am so glad she loves playing the piano and I never have to remind her to practice.

At the City Competition

At a Recital held at a Steinway Piano Store

Right before  the State Competition



After finding out she got Superior Rating



David is 14 1/12

David turned 14 exactly a month ago and I am just now blogging about it. I was trying to figure out how to express that he is not only 14 but 14 and one month and I thought 14 1/12 was a fun way to do it. I guess I have math on my mind. David is enjoying school this year. I can't believe he will be starting High School next year. He finished his Eagle Project a few months ago and is just working on completing all the extra stuff at the end that he needs to do. He is playing YMCA Basketball and is really enjoying it. He has yet to go to his first dance but it will probably happen this month. He is about 5'10" and he is almost as tall as me. He needs about 1 more inch and we will see eye to eye. He is excited for the time when he can say he is taller than me and then he will work on being taller than his Dad. David is a good big brother and he has a special relationship with Joshua. Joshua sure looks up to his big brother.

Catching Up

I can't believe it has been so long since I have blogged. The longer it has been the more I have dreaded having to play catch up with all we have done and with all the pictures we have taken. I figure I probably can't put it off any longer and it will just be harder to summarize everything. So this post is going to cover our trip to the Dallas Zoo, Halloween, Elyssa and Joshua's 5th Birthday and Christmas.

We went to the Dallas Zoo in October and had a great time. It was a beautiful day and we all had a lot of fun.

Machella studying the zoo map so we can decide where we want to go and so we don't miss seeing anything (especially the elephants for Elyssa).

I love this picture of David and Joshua as we are leaving the Zoo.

Halloween was fun this year. Joshua was a cowboy and Elyssa was Tinkerbell. David and Machella decided they were too old to go Trick-or-Treating this year and Donnie was out to town so it was just the two little ones and me knocking on doors and we had a blast.

Elyssa and Joshua turned 5 at the end of November. Donnie's parents and sister, Jennifer were visiting for Thanksgiving so we celebrated it early. Elyssa and Joshua really wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese this year and it had been forever since the last time we had gone so we decided to be brave and go for it and it turned out to be a lot of fun. I can't believe that Elyssa and Joshua are 5 years old and that they will be going to Kindergarten in the Fall. They definitely aren't "the babies" anymore (even though we still find ourselves referring to them as that).

We actually didn't take a lot of pictures this Christmas but I had to share my all time favorite Christmas picture of Elyssa and Joshua sitting in front of the fireplace on Christmas Eve.

Well I think I am pretty much caught up and hopefully I can stay more up-to-date with the blog. We wish everyone a very Happy New Year and we are truly grateful for all our wonderful family and friends.

Retiring our Picture

I finally decided to retire the picture that we have had at the top of our blog since we started this blog. I kept it as long as I did because I love the picture and it brought back great memories. The kids have changed so much and they are so much older now. I guess they won't stay young forever.