Trevor's 8th Birthday

 On September 23rd, 2017, Trevor turned 8 years old!  The Sunday before his birthday he guessed the right primary song for a game they were playing so he got to wear a octopus hat!

 On Friday, September 22nd, Kristi and I went to Trevor's classroom at school and brought cookies and juice boxes to celebrate his birthday.

 Here is Trevor with his 2nd Grade teacher, Mrs. Jones!

 Kristi was so excited to play on the swings at school with Trevor!

 Trevor is wearing his birthday hat!  When he got home from school, he had a small birthday party with a couple of his friends, Ben and Owen.  They had pizza and cupcakes.  That evening I picked up my parents at the airport. (I took pictures of Trevor with his friends and lighting his candles on his cupcakes but in the excitement of taking those pictures, apparently my phone was upside-down and so the pictures turn out upside-down on this blog for some reason--even after rotating them right side-up on my computer! Oh well!

 On his birthday, Trevor got baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  We are all so very proud of him and the decision he has made to follow the Savior.

 Grandma and Grandpa Reiersen flew out to see him on his special day.

Trevor wanted me to make him a Oreo Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream cake! 

It was pretty sweet and rich as you can imagine!

Kaylee turned 14!

Kaylee had a birthday on December 28th and turned 14 years old!  She wanted blackberry pie instead of cake this time.  We celebrated it on the 26th before Karl, Kenneth, & Wesley had to travel back home from visiting us for Christmas!

Happy Birthday, Kaylee!!!

A Santa Visit

Before our annual ward Christmas party, the children were invited to come and visit with Santa in the Primary room.  All the time we were standing in line, Kristi kept on staring at Santa.  I kept on asking her if she wanted to see him.  She kept on saying "Yes".  Apparently she only wanted to see him from a distance because she would not sit on Santa's lap or get near him, even if her siblings were with her.  Trevor wasn't afraid to tell him what he wanted!  Alison didn't seem to care, she just wanted a candy cane I think!

Alison's Coyote Diorama

In her class at school Alison was assigned to write a report and make a diorama for an animal of her choice.  She chose the coyote.  I looked at 4 different stores to try to find a little coyote figure, but never did.  So instead I made it out of dough from Michaels.  I made two coyotes....the first one was the better of the two but was smashed as it was being air-dried by our curious little 3 year old!  So frustrating!  I kind of wished that Alison had picked a different animal, like one that we already had.  We have well over 100 little plastic animal figurines in a container to play with.  Not one of them is a coyote!  Anyway...In the end, it all turned out pretty nice and I tried not to do the whole project all myself (because it was fun and I never got to make a diorama when I was in Elementary school!).

Alison's Choir Performance

In October, we went to the school's fall carnival, where Alison sung a few songs in the choir that she is in.  She did really well. We listened to her sing, then went to swing on the swings in the playground for a few minutes and then we went home because everything else unfortunately cost money!
(Alison is the one in the pink pants and cat shirt on the left)

Aaahh....Finally some new color for bedroom walls!

I recently painted Trevor and Kristi’s room (Their room has been needing a painting job for 6 years!)  When I paint walls, I can’t resist the urge to be a little creative during the process! Instead of being green, navy blue, and white, their room is all light blue.  It looks MUCH better!  

Tarantulas Are Cool!

We found a couple of tarantulas in our backyard recently!  This has been the first time we have seen them around our home.  I watched one walk all along the backyard wall until I didn’t see it anymore.  They must’ve been migrating or something.  It was pretty cool!  Kinda creepy, but cool!

Poor Old Chickens

Our old hens are dying out and so when they die, we throw them in a bag, grab a shovel and head on out to the desert to bury them.  R.I.P our fine feathered friends! You gave us lots of eggs!  Thank you chickens! 

We marked their graves with rocks and stuff that we found out there.

Our Halloween

Halloween Pictures!

 These pictures were taken by our friend Karen at her house after we (mostly me) were done trick-or-treating.  I think Kristi had the most fun and she wasn't shy at all to say "Trick or Treat!" and get candy for it!  Justin and I went as ourselves...great idea huh?  I did however go as a scarecrow to our ward Halloween party though!  That night was way to busy to get a picture of me.  Maybe next year we will dress up and get better pictures.

Kaylee was subtlety dressed as a modern day Little Red Riding Hood.  Notice the big scratch mark on the side of her face from the wolf?  She practiced her scar making skills a lot before Halloween. Alison dressed up as a bat, Trevor was either a mummy or a ghost (not sure...he just wanted to get candy), and Kristi was a fairy.  Her wings weren't on in these pictures though! 

Kristi is now 3 Years Old!

Kristi turned 3 on October 30th. Click here to see some pictures from her big day!

Trevor turns 7 years old!

Trevor turned 7 years old on September 23rd!  I can't believe he is that old already!  Next year he will be baptized and become a Cub Scout! Here is a Smilebox video of Trevor's birthday pictures.  Enjoy!

Click here for the video.

VidAngel is Awesome!

Have you ever heard of  VidAngel?  Below is a video explaining what it is.  It's awesome! Try it and I don't think you will be disappointed!  Now we can watch movies without hearing swear words or other things we don't wish to see!  Our first movie we watched was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which is a pretty clean movie already, but the filters that I programmed were still on and it cut out a ghost taking its head off (which we wanted to see because it is funny).  Oh well, it did what I asked it to!  If you sign up and watch your first movie using the link above, (the colored word above  that says "VidAngel") I will get $5 credit in my account.  You can tell your friends and save money when they do the same!

The Fairy Treasure Hunt!

When we were visiting our family in California, Kaylee decided to create another Fairy Treasure Hunt with her cousin Wesley for the younger kids. They did a really good job and everyone had fun finding clues. Here is a slideshow of the hunt! Enjoy! If you scroll down a little further in our blog, you can find another hunt they did in October of 2014!

Click HERE to go on the hunt with us!

Back to School!

It has been over a year since my last post and I thought I should do some updating.  (I put new pictures in on the side too!)  Last Thursday (Aug. 4) was Kaylee's first day as a high schooler at Gila Ridge High School and on Monday (Aug. 8) Alison and Trevor started school at Mary A. Otondo Middle School.

This is Alison's and Trevor's first year going to a public school.  Before that they have been home schooled!  So it is different and new for them.  I hope that they won't feel too overwhelmed and that they enjoy it.  Here are kids 1st day of school pictures.

 Kaylee doesn't like getting her picture taken.  She was too busy studying math to smile or look at the camera.  I told her she could at least stick out her tongue, so she did!

 Trevor-- 1st grade

 Alison--4th grade

 Getting on the bus for the first time!

I bet they are glad that they both go to the same school!

This bedroom is growing up!

 The girls room is getting a makeover! It was painted purple with a fairy theme over five years ago. Now it's time for a change!

My pre-teen  wants brighter colors. She picked them! Kaylee  and Alison have made a bedroom fund in a jar so they can decorate their room with the rooms colors!

When we went up to visit family in October, Kaylee created a cute fairy treasure hunt for Alison, Trevor and her cousin Wesley.  It turned out so cute that I had to share!  Now you can be part of the hunt too! (Except you don't get the prize at the end...sorry!)

Sea World!

So, here we are at our Hotel in San Diego getting ready to get a good nights sleep so we can wake up and visit Sea World!

Oh yeah, and there is Kristi already asleep in the crib!

 Justin is riding the "teacups" with the little kids.  Having fun Justin?

 Kristi wants to go on a ride other than her stroller ride.

 We found a toddler play area that she can romp around in!

 How did our kids get so fat?  Time to exercise!

 Oh that's better!  Maybe we are too skinny now?

 Here is a polar bear cave that had polar bear sounds inside it and imprints of polar bear feet.  Alison and Trevor thought it was for real.  Maybe they just got scared of Jeremy poking his head in the shot!

 Puffins!

 Sea Turtles with pretty fish!

 Taking a break and waiting for others to finish rides.

 I bet Trevor wishes this one would move!

 Come on everyone!  Cheer up, we are only half way done with our day!

 Kristi couldn't go on without a nap first.

 They were charging money to have your child get a picture with Elmo and Grover so I just took a picture of someone else's kid!

Everyone is all tuckered out but I think most of us had fun!