Owen Douglas~ January 15,2010

This little guy has been a long way in the waiting.  I can't believe he is really here!  We have a baby boy for the first time in this house...it's pretty crazy and very exciting!

This is Owen getting ready to leave the hospital.

Doug trying to get baby boy dressed and ready to leave the hospital...yea!!

All wrapped up in blue:)

The big drive home.

 

Dad and baby Owen (and Nicolette's hand)

 

Owen meeting the family for the first time:)

Grandpa, Grandma, Owen, Vivien and Nicolette

 

Vivi and baby brother

 

Nicolette and Owen

 

Ava and Owen

 

Lilli and Owen

Lexi and her baby brother:)

We have definitely enjoyed having the blue at our house!

Dad's Day

We had a fun Father's Day! This picture shows a great example of how excited some people were to honor their dad:)

Doug and Ava after opening his presents.

Lilli bought Doug this shirt all by herself with her own money:)

Lexi was feeling a little silly and has seemed to have gone back to her days of not cooperating for pictures. I feel like we should be over this stage seeing she is almost a teenager any day now. I guess she's just not ready to give it up! ( Lexi has explained to me that she was just imitating her dad's funny smile.)

We had double the pleasure this year for Father's Day. My dad was in town, so we got to share dad's day, not only with our dad, but with both grandpas too:)

Doug and his mom at our yummy dinner.

the dinner was truly delicious. Now, for some reason I only have pictures of the desserts? I guess that's where my priority is these days;)

Grandpa reading Ava's Fathers Day card to him.

Grandpa opening his gift from Ava. It took a little while. Grandpa was bestowed many a treasure from Ava this Fathers Day.

Dad and Nicolette.

This is what we did for sharing time. We had a little dad questionnaire. Most of the kids tried really hard, some did not. Here are Vivi and Lilli's pages they did. I had a place for them to draw a picture at the bottom of the page.

Poppy, Mammy, and the "girls".

Dad with his bunch of little girls. They are definitely a bunch!
All of us girls at this house are grateful for a wonderful dad who sacrifices so many things for us.
We are glad to have a special day to honor our dad. We love you Dad!

Congratulations!

My little brother Jared and his wonderful wife Katie had this beautiful baby girl yesterday! She weighed 7 lbs. 14 oz. and 20 inches long. Congratulations Jared and Katie. We are all so happy for you guys. And, we can ALWAYS use another cousin:)

Spring Fling 2009

A group shot of the girls and their Mammy.  We were missing a few cousins this year.  We still had a great time:)

The wind was blowing, but the sun was shining!  It was beautiful outside.

Everyone enjoying cake for our dessert. 

The girls always have the best manners for Spring Fling.  We had a lesson from Mammy on modesty and the annual egg hunt.  I was in charge of hiding the eggs this year.  I was having a bit of a patience problem because, after the girls had looked for eggs for 5 minutes, then claimed they couldn't find the rest of the eggs,  I ended up having to point out eggs to them.  I was thinking, "now, why did i just hide all of these eggs?  So I could run around and show everyone where the eggs are?" It was a bit frustrating.  I am probably just a very terrible egg hider.  So, I volunteer NOT to be in charge of the egg hunt next year:)

Thanks to my mom for giving the girls a great time and a wonderful tradition!

This Makes Me Happy:)

My friend Wende who helped me make this most darling fun card!

61 degrees in February!! This gives me a better high than a 3 mile run.

My cute baby trying on my shoes.

My family together at the temple:)

Draper Temple open house, February 26, 2009

Here lies Goldy

We said goodbye to our first real pet...Goldy the gold fish. He lived a fine life. He was admired by some, loathed by others. He did his part as good as any gold fish could have done.

Doug had the honors of sending Goldy on to another place... Doug was reluctant to any pictures being taken at this time.
I felt we needed the record..."we did have a pet once".

I will confess, Goldy sat on the counter covered up with paper towels for a good day and a half. I didn't have it in me to help Goldy "move on" and it's been a busy work week for Doug. Hence, he stayed on the counter...ewww...

The tank is pretty empty now. I really did feel bad that we couldn't keep him alive longer. I told Doug I just can't have pets because I have guilt over Goldy's death. We could have done more... a bigger tank, perhaps? Cleaner water more often? We could of had someone feed him when we had to leave town? I know some of you have witnessed our fish, and he had some neurotic tendancies, but it just helped him fit into our household all the better;)

Let's reflect on Goldy's life for a moment...This is when he was brand new from the July 4th carnival. Lilli was thrilled to have him...me, not so much. Most of the girls couldn't leave him alone, for the first three days...Lexi, not so much.

Here is a cute family picture Ava did at school. Notice she even has Goldy as part of the family!
He really will be missed...by some more than others.

December 08`...busy and great:)

Nicolette 

I have managed to get most of our December in one post!  It took a bit of time but, I finally have it done:)

Making Soupt

 I made the traditional Zobrist Soupt this Christmas season.  It actually turned out this year!  I am still working on getting the braid done correctly.

Christmas Ballet Performance "The Night Before Christmas"

Lilli, Vivi, and Ava after the performance.  The girls all did a great job on their dances.  It was a very fun performance by all:)

Ava's dance

Vivien recreating her dance:)

Lilli was a "sugar punk fairy" this year.  She had a great time.

Vivien's dance

Ava perfecting her pose for the camera:)

Lilli's School Performance

The entire 4th grade at the school put on a wonderful Christmas show.  Lilli did a great job:)

Christmas dinner with friends:)

Patsy's AMAZING dessert:)

We had a fun and festive Christmas dinner us bloggers:) it was a wonderful evening full of fun and great food.  It was tricky finding a night that worked for everyone, but we made it work and it was well worth the efforts.

Yummy Christmas treats delivered:)

Kristy delivered these wonderful Christmas treats for us after our dinner.  The chocolate did not last long in this house full of girls.  I don't think Dad even got one taste...oops!

Christmas Piano Recital

The girls all did a great job on their recital this year.  This was Ava's first piano recital, and she did fantastic!  Lexi and Lilli had also practiced well and there songs were beautiful:)

Ava played Jingle Bells

Lilli played The Nutcracker Overture 

Lexi played Silent Night

Christmas Sunday

Nicolette

The entire group of us:)

Lilli

Vivien

Ava

Nicolette and Lexi

Family Christmas Party

The food at the family party was so delicious plus beautiful!

Daddy and Nicolette

The group
Nicolette and Finn having good times:)

Sarah played a beautiful song on her violin for all of us.  Kerri also sang a beautiful song for us, and I didn't seem to get a photo of that.  Lilli also read everyone The Night Before Christmas.

Grandpa and Grandma enjoying Sarah's song.

 The cousins getting ready for a white elephant gift exchange.

Christmas card pictures, and freezing at the park:)

Christmas Eve

dinner with Grandma and Grandpa

Nicolette, feeling so excited to open her Christmas Eve present.

All the girls ready to open

Everyone in new Christmas jammies...and ready for bedtime:)