Catching up

Okay, so I am so far behind in everything - shopping, cleaning, blogging. I am making a quick attempt at catching up on what we have been up to.

First let me say that I am at work and I should be dealing with this:

and not blogging but blogging is so much funner! This is my desk currently - it never looks like this. It is usually so clean and everything is put where it belongs. Anyone who knows me knows that I can't stand being disorganized - so this is very stressful for me. So my solution - ignore it and blog! I am sitting at the other desk so my blogging won't be slowed down by the mess. Ha ha!

Here is what we have been up to the last few weeks:

FINALLY, on January 31st our sweet Kayla was able to have her birthday party - it was 3 weeks overdue but she was patient and it turned out great! She had 11 friends come over and it quickly became apparent to Kurt and I that if we were going to survive the party, we needed some organized games before our house was completely destroyed! We had a great time playing a balloon game, pictionary, and pin/tape the balloon on the wall (it was too late to go get pin the tail on the donkey and we were desperate). Here are some pics of all the fun:

Here is daddy playing pin the balloon on the wall:

And here is where he pinned /taped it - right in the middle of Hailey's forhead.

Here is Kayla opening some gifts. She had a Webkinz party so she got quite a few new Webkinz!

Then last week was a crazy week for us. Kurt and I had a training certification class to attend in Concord so we left Monday night and returned Wednesday night. Thank you so much to my parents for watching the kids for us (this included getting everyone up and ready for school for 2 days - no easy task!). Kurt and I went to work on Thursday, did as much as we could and then we all left Thursday evening for a trip up to Portland, OR to visit family.

Kurt had 3 siblings that lived within 2 hours of us here in CA but within the last 6 months they have all moved away. His 2 sisters both moved up to the Portland area and his brother Paul moved to Cedar City, UT. We feel so abandoned! =(

April's oldest son, Kaulana and his wife, Michelle, were going to be blessing their baby in Vancouver, WA and we couldn't miss the opportunity to see everyone - so off we went.

Thursday night was a bit crazy driving in the snow. Luckily the kids were asleep so Kurt and I could concentrate on the road but Friday was a BEAUTIFUL day to travel. We arrived at Margo's house Friday afternoon. Here is a picture of Saturday morning and the kids making sugar cookies!

She is so brave - she let Evan play in the flour and make a mess - a big mess. He had a BLAST! Thanks Auntie Margo!

While all the family was together we celebrated Josh and Makana achievement of obtaining their Eagle Scouts.

We are so proud of both of you!

Here is sweet baby Madelyn

After 11 hours in the car, only 1 was still awake!

Our kids are amazing travelers! They did so good both ways. We were blessed with amazing weather coming home on Monday too. We love getting together with everyone and wish that we were still close. It was so hard to leave!

Well, I guess I should go tackle my desk.

Wish me luck!