Well if you didn't hear, I had some website problems and ended up losing ALL my blogs from September 2007 - April 2011 :( It was devastating to say the least because although I have the pictures of those years on my computer, in scrapbooks etc, my blog is where I tell the stories! If I think about it, it makes me SICK that those are all gone, but I have to move on...move past and even though I can't get exact words/stories back, I'm going to slowly update this page with images from those years and the stories as I remember them! So here I go.......
I remember we used to take trips to the South Town Center mall and this really cool park in Murray because 1. they were FREE and 2. the kids really loved going there! The mall had some fun ride on toys and even if they didn't get to ride them because of lack of money, they sure loved climbing on them and playing on them! When Zach about 3 yrs old, he loved Bob the builder and when he found the "scoop" at the park he was so excited he wanted me take a picture of him scooping up the sand. He really had a good time with it! But even some times fun days ended in tears!
After Christi and Nathan moved back from TN, we ALL got together for a big picnic up at a park in Spanish Fork. Everyone was there including Christi, Holly, Heather, Katie, Sharon and even Alan's dad was there! wow, ya...the WHOLE gang was there! We sat in Christi's car listening to old 80's music and some tapes she found of her, Heather, Holly and Katie singing songs! It was pretty funny and a fun day for all the cousins to be together! Cedric, Susan & Eric's little one was just little and so cute. I remember just being in love with his bright blue eyes so I sat there chatting with Susan while snapping a lot of Cedric! The kids, like always, ran around getting REALLY messy...hence my little ragga muffin eating her ring pop looking all sorts of messy! And Alan always seemed to end up on the grill duty because he likes to do those kind of things!
My sweet boy started preschool on the 5th of Sept 2007. It was a bitter sweet thing for me having him gone, but it was a nice break in the day. He went to the Early Childhood Education Center and his teacher was Mrs. Dansey who was just a sweet heart. He was so cute and looked so grown up in his little class. I absolutely adored how he wrote his name on the board. Each time they came they had write their name on the board and now thinking back, I should have taken a picture of the last day too! Because Zach was getting so many pictures, Alissa wanted in on the action! That first one, I remember her holding a stick up to her face and posing for the picture. What a cutie pie!
I was fed up with toys ALL OVER the place and really wanted to get some bins to keep them in. Back then, money was so tight and I remember being so excited to get these colored bins from Target. We spent some time organizing the toys into days (with never worked lol) and then putting them up in the closet. It felt good to have some organization amongst the ciaos that was our lives back then! And every once in a while I'd feel motivated to get things organized so I ended up getting bins for all of our shoes too!
um do I really even have to say anything about these?! She was adorable!! Her little squishy nose, the smile...squinted eye. Ya, she's my sweet baby girl!
Mindy, Ben and the kids went to the Zoo with Grandpa (our bestest dad), Cody and AJ. I don't remember much...it was the zoo LOL. We saw animals, played, & went on the train.
Another of our favorite places to go was in Springville to feed the ducks. We'd buy the old bread from...not sure where lol and go let the kids feed the ducks. We headed to Reams to buy lunch and when you have THAT MANY little ones running around the store, you've got to try hard to entertain them! So Holly was playing "follow the leader" making all the kids do silly things to keep them entertained. We headed to the park and this was a fun adventure because we found a foot hanging out of a car! I tell you what, I remember it looking VERY real and the kids weren't sure if it was fake or not so we went up for a closer look. Sure enough, it WAS fake HA HA, but even then, the kids just stood there and stared at it...it was quite funny!! Then of course because we had the little ones together, we had to try for some pictures and you can see how that turned out! Alissa wanted NOTHING to do with it and check out Sophie's face in that last one where Alissa is running away LOL. too funny! We headed back to Holly's and must have had a sleep over because the kiddlets were in their jammies!
When Christi, Nathan and the kids moved back it was so much fun because our holidays, outings, etc with them were just THAT much bigger! 12 kids total is fun stuff! We had a fun time Trick or Treating with everyone! I remember I was so excited to find Zach's Scooby costume at DI for like $7! He loved that thing! He would change into it at home and go to sleep in it and even Chuggles dressed up that year! I think Halloween has got to be one of my favorite holidays, it's just so fun!
Alan bought me some pretty flowers and I had a random cute picture of my sweet Alissa, so...there ya have it.
Alan took Zach to the dentist and had his first silver cap put on his tooth on 10.10.2007. They had to put him under because he was little and even though I was home with Alissa, I wanted to be there with him. He was so brave and got some fun toys. You can see his cute little mouth still numb and looking silly...cute guy!
There are MANY, many...MANY times in my kids lives that we just got the camera out to take pictures! They are cute and I liked taking pictures!
The last two random pictures in my Oct 2007 "for web" that I couldn't leave out! This was one of the first pictures Zach brought home from Preschool and I thought it was so cute how his 3 is back words and there are LOTS of little lines. Loved that kind of stuff (still do). And just one of Alissa being cute wearing a silly hat.
Zach turned 5 in November so I took him out for some "birthday pictures". I picked him up from preschool and they had painted that day and it was all over his shirt, so I threw on his jacket and headed to Wheeler Farm. Wheeler farm was also a place we went OFTEN. The kids loved it there! I let Zach run around and play and tried to grab some pictures in the process. He sat down next to this little shed and his coat got caught on a nail. It was really funny and I had to get a picture...he wasn't very excited about being stuck LOL. I even managed to get one of he and Alissa together!
Zach's birthday was pretty low key. He got some gifts in the morning from Alan and I, Mindy came up to give him a gift and it was so funny because she did "Heavy heavy hangover, they poor head...what do you with with a BONK on your head?" and his face is so cute during it!! He got some rad Thomas shoes from Aunt Mindy! He chose to go to McDonald's for lunch, so we did that and then the gang all came over for gifts. It's so fun to get to celebrate with so many cousins and friends!
We loved having Mindy and Ben living below us because the meant we got to do fun actives like play in paint together!
Alissa got her very first hair cut Nov. 30th 2007! She was so exited and a little scared so she brought her kitty with her. She had a fun time getting her hair blow dried and ended up looking so cute!
Christmas is always a fun time at the Davis house. We open pajamas on Christmas Eve, make cookies to set out for Santa and then who doesn't love getting presents on Christmas day?!
We took the kids bowling for the first time and they loved it! We were a little worried when we walked in and the kids ran wild through the hall of the bowling alley, but as soon as we started playing, they thought it was the funnest. They'd get so excited seeing the balls coming up and even more excited when they hit the pins!
Chuggles joined our family when we lived in Murray and the kids just loved her.
Valentines is another fun holiday for us! Just another excuse to make cookies and decorate them! I also love it because I get goodies from Alan. This year he really tried hard with jammie pants, come bracelets, flowers and some of my obsession at the moment, which was Crystal Light. In the morning, I snapped a few pictures of Alissa and then had this great idea to put up a pink blanket as a backdrop and take some pictures on her bed. I always look back on taking pictures of my kids and you see a lot of smiles and cuteness, but I'm sure they remember a little something different. By the end, I'm always frustrated and getting annoyed at them for not doing what I want them to do...probably scaring them for life with wanting to take pictures :( I always know I'm over reacting and I should just enjoy the time I'm taking pictures, but most of them time I suck and they end up crying during some point. I know, mean mom award goes to me! Hopefully it's the fun stuff like cookies and underwear on the head pictures that they remember!
You know, it's not often that I would catch the kids playing nicely together. Some siblings get along, mine don't lol. They do have their moments though! I found them on the bed being super cute and of course I had to grab the camera to catch them in the act. So now they can't deny that every once in while, they did have fun playing together!
Busted! Alissa got into my lip stuff and it's hard to be mad at that little face!
Some times I try and get pictures of the kids together. Most of the time it doesn't work, this was one of the times.
Zach really loved Toy Story and I got some cute pictures!
I also try and get pictures of Zach some times. Most of the time, they turn out like this lol. Cute boy!
While Zach was at school one day, Alissa and I walked over to the little park behind the school. She had fun playing in the sand, digging and bouncing on the little animals.
Another one of mom's photo shoots with Alissa. I loved capturing all her different faces. She is so full of spunk and sweetness.
Easter time! Every year, of course, we dye eggs for the Easter Bunny to hide. The kids love it!
This year we didn't have Easter Baskets, so the kids decorated a paper sack. This is much more fun and special, I think. I get to see their art and they get to be creative.
The kids hunted for their eggs and at the end there was a "surprise" in their rooms waiting for them! Zach got Buzz Light Year and Alissa got a barbie and they both got some cool sunglasses. They were super excited! Some days my heart melts when the kids come up with ideas like this one. Zach thought about taking the wipes boxes into "Buzz", so I helped them do that and it was just too cute!
Sleepy time at the Davis house! I remember for a period of time, we would find Alissa under her bed every morning. She would crawl under, play and then fall asleep. There is NO way I could resist taking pictures of that! I always thought it was sweet to see the kids sleeping. Hands through rails....dad sleeping with the kids...sweet moments!
More "photo sessions" with the kids! I love now, looking back on these! I love the faces they make and how they are just WHO these cuties are. They've had the same spunky personalities since the beginning and I love seeing the different expressions, smiles and silly faces!
The kids think it's pretty cool that dad is a police officer and even more cool that they got to try on dad's vest and badge!
Some times the kids were just silly and how could I NOT take pictures?
I remember getting those shorts for Alissa and they were too big...too big and one day they finally fit her! She looked so adorable in her little Spring outfit, pony tail and flip flops.
Alan graduated from the University of Utah, with his bachelors degree in Social Work. Being a drop out in high school and not given must support as far as school was concerned, he worked hard and got it done! It wasn't an easy time while he was in school, but it was something he needed to do and we were all so proud of him.
Just another fun day at the park. The kids love that they have so many cousins around and we've had a lot of fun times!
This day, I had gone with some other photographers on a get together/photo shoot and got to spend some time taking pictures of Alissa. She's such a beautiful little girl!
She is even beautiful with messy hair and a spaghetti face!
On the last day of Pre School, they had the parents come in for a little play by the kids and they had Zach's special art work and "All About Zach" hug in the room. I love that even back then, Zach was silly and had such a fun little personality!
Random pics found in my "for web" folder. I had done a weight loss competition with some friends and ended up losing 43 lbs. I thought it would be a fun idea to go with a new hair do and I really went crazy! I cut it short, totally different than anything I had ever had before. didn't love it, didn't hate it...not sure if I'll ever do it again, but it's just hair right?!
For Alan and I's anniversary on the 25th, I wanted to give our room a make over. Bedrooms are supposed to be "sexy" and romantic but ours was anything BUT that! We had a blanket hanging up, no curtains on the closet and it just was a mess! We really didn't have a lot of money to put into it, so I went to IKEA and got what I could afford and had some help from Holly putting it all together. I think it turned out nice for what I was able to spend!
Just some of my cuties playing.
When we lived in Murray, it was very hard because we didn't get the chance to go South much to see the family and the kids love being with their cousins. I am guessing this was a planned day we decided to take the kids for a pic-nic and play in the water. It's over by Christi's house where there is a fun stream that runs through a park and the kids love playing there! I loved the pictures of the "little girls" and hope they remain close through the years!
The fourth of July is always a fun time in the Davis family. This year we went to Christi and Nathan's house, I believe the night before to have some s'mores. This is a FAVE with the kids! For the past, I don't know how many years, we've gone to the Provo parade, have a front row and the kids just have fun. This year I remember going up American Fork Canyon with the Gudmundson's for a pic-nic.
Our baby girl turned 4. We had new kitties, so the first thing Alissa did on her birthday was go into our closet where the kitties were, look at them and then want to hold them. We got ready and then headed to Mindy's in Lehi because Grammy was there. I manged to get some cute pictures of the kids together, Alissa played Mindy's new Wii and then got some goodies from Grammy. Alan was at work that day, but he surprised Alissa with a new purse stuffed with goodies and a balloon (which Alissa loved). She had day!
This was the first year we went to Idaho to "camp" at Nathan's families cabin and we had so much fun! The kids basically got to run free because there is a HUGE lawn and area to play and as you can see they had FUN and got dirty! We celebrated Alissa and Maddi's birthdays there, hung out, relaxed, had nights by the fire and it was just so much fun!
This month we started a new chore chart! I spent so much time creating this thing! I printed some stuff off line, laminated, cut, added magnets, went to the dollar store and got stickers, magnets and little holders. It was awesome! I had it all decked out with pictures of the kids and everything! We really tried to stick to our chores which were things like: get dressed, clean room, extra help, comb hair, unload/load dishwasher. Simple things for the kids to start learning to help and get things done. The problem with these sorts of things are...mom has to be on top of getting the kids to do it, so it didn't always get done LOL. But we tried and the kids enjoyed the weekly prizes they got. They were little things like: Toy from DI, night out with mom/dad, ice cream, etc. We actually used this same chore chart off and on for a few years!
Ben was up one morning in jammies and the light was shining just right into the kids bedroom, so I tried getting a couple of pictures. ha ha, I'm not sure WHY Alissa has her finger up her nose, but I caught it was funny!
One of Zach's favorite things to do was build with his Thomas the Train stuff. Some times he'd let Alissa help with out any fighting. These things provided years of entertainment for him!
Another "photo shoot" at the Davis house. Alissa's hair was getting so long and pretty and I had a fun time curling it. She's such a beautiful little thing and even more than her physical beauty, she is just a sweet heart. Spunky, crazy, sweet and kind. I loved capturing her personality on camera!
Alissa was my little model when I was trying to sell some stuff on Ebay. Funny thing is, I remember having these clothes for years after this (and I think Maddi might even have some of them) so I must not have actually gotten them onto Ebay ha ha. We have a lot of pictures of Alissa month and I think it's because Zach was at school 1/2 of the day and it was back when Alissa was pretty willing to let me take some pictures of her. Now you see how she has nice pretty long hair (given, most of the time it was a mess)...check out these next pictures...
YEP, she cut her hair! I don't know what possessed her to cut her hair so much (I think this was the first time, but not the last). So we went and got her a cute little hair cut.
This was one of those days where I thought "I look okay..my kids are ready and looking adorable...maybe I'll try and get some pictures of us together". I held my big camera up and tired for some cute pictures and was pleasantly surprised at how cute they turned out! Look at the smiles on my kids sweet faces! I love it!
I've got to admit, when we lived in Murray in the apartments, we didn't go out side much. Those were hard years for me, but those times we did go out and play, the kids were so cute. I had found a little knit hat at DI and it looked so adorable on Alissa. I am sure I took them outside that day to get some pictures of her, but they had fun on Alissa's bike and Zach played with his Buzz and Woody. It's so sweet to see kids being kids and playing with toys they love!
My baby girl started preschool this month. You know, I was never one of those mom's who cried when I sent my kids off to school. Honestly, I was excited for some time alone and I really liked that THEY got to go to school and meet new kids and play. Being at home, they didn't get that. We didn't have any friends in the apartments and that little bit of time during the day was good for them. Alissa just looked so cute on her first day and ran right to the play kitchen and started playing! I LOVE, LOVE how she wrote her name on the board! Each morning, the kids had to sign in with their name and she was so cute, she wrote her name HUGE and took up most of the board (awe, and now looking, Jaxon's name is right below hers). This is a story I am pretty sure I lost, so I'll tell it now. Alissa had this little boy that she would play with at school and one day she was really excited and talked about how her and this boy were going to get married...telling us all shorts of stories about how we were invited to the wedding, etc, etc. Well, with in the next few days, I came to pick her up from school and she RAN right to me and was very sad. I hugged her and asked her why she was so sad and it turns out this boy no longer wanted to "marry her" and now wanted to marry another girl. She was as devastated as a 4 yr old could be. Really, it was the saddest thing. She was in tears! So another few days goes by and she now has another friend named Jaxon who started playing with her. To this DAY (Oct 2011, 3 yrs later) she still talks about how she likes Jaxon and when we'd hear the song "Big Girls don't Cry" there is a part that says "Jacks and Uno cards" she always thought it said "Jaxon" and she's yell "Jaxon" and get all excited and talk about how she likes Jaxon. Isn't it amazing that even at a young age, kindness can go so far! It was the saddest and most sweet week during Alissa's preschool experience. When we moved, it was the middle of the year, and we didn't get the kids school pictures back. I'm so so bummed I never went back and got them and about a year ago, I was in Murray and stopped by. They had some old ones, but not hers :( Would have loved for her to have on picture of Jaxon!
Oh my poor guy! One day after either dropping Alissa off at school or picking her up (I can't remember), Zach tripped on his flip flop and HIT the ground hard! We went immediately to the ER because it started swelling right away. Thankfully nothing was wrong, but he had a nice shiner for the first day of kindergarten.
Zach's first day of kindergarten. He's such a handsome boy! We found a cool rolling Thomas backpack at DI and he was ready for school! They came in and had some stuff for the kids to start working on. I love his face while he was trying to concentrate on writing his name and work on some papers. In kindergarten, Jeff, the teacher's son was Zach "best friend". He was sad when we moved and had to leave Jeff. It's sad, I don't even remember the name of his school, he was only there for 3 months. Liberty maybe? Ya, I think it was Liberty Elementary there in Murray.
I took the kids over to Gardner Village to take some pictures and look at all the fun witches. They always decorate fun for the holidays!
Night time was hard for us. Alissa and Zach shared a room and Zach liked to get to bed early and Alissa did NOT! I spend hours yelling, pulling our hair out, crying, screaming (yes, I told ya Murray was hard for me). The kids would play, fight, not sleep...you name it! We put gates up, locked doors...! I decided one day to just have Zach fall asleep in my bed and we'd deal with Alissa. And when I say "we" I mean "I" because Alan worked swing and grave yards for a few years so most of the time I was there by myself. Zach would sit and look at books and finally, quietly fall asleep (most nights). His pup-pup was given to him by my grandma, his great grandma Smith and it's been a great source of comfort to him. He still loves his pup-pup. So anytime I saw him sweetly sleeping with it, I had to capture it!
I really liked when we did activities. We went to the craft store and got a bad and stickers so the kids could decorate their Halloween bags. I wasn't often that "dad" was home for things like this because he was busy working hard at school and working full time, so the when he was, the kids really enjoyed it!
Wheeler farm. Yes, yes, we LOVED this place! Ha ha, I'm not sure If it was MY idea to take them out and get some pictures of their special stuffed animals or if they just wanted to bring them with. Knowing me, I probably said to myself "I'll take the kids there for pictures AND THEN let them play" LOL. I treasure all the pictures I have of my kids! I am so thankful that we had (have) a camera! Honestly, being able to look back on all these pictures really makes me smile!
We went back to Gardner Village! It's just such a fun place during the holidays! The picture of Zach holding a stick is one of my faves of him. There is a picture of Alan when he was little with a big smile and I think they look alike in the pictures, although I don't they either of my kids looks like the "little" Alan lol.
Don't hire ME as a makeup artist! LOL. Zach wanted his face painted for his school parade, because they couldn't wear masks and I did the best I could! He ended up looking super cute though!
We went over to Mindy's house to get ready to trick-or-treat and the lighting was just so scrumptious out in front, I HAD to get some pictures. The princess, Spider man and Bear.
So I don't normally dress up for Halloween, but I had this "bright idea" to dress up in 80's horrid clothes! I remember going to DI to search for clothes and feeling horribly sick :( this was before I figured out all my "sick stomach" stuff and I kept having to run to the bathroom thinking I was going to throw up. It wasn't fun, but Halloween turned out pretty fun! I let Christi curl my hair and rat it! I was a little to young in the 80's to get into the BIG hair, wings, horrid make up stuff, so it was fun. Yep, I looked dead sexy and would have been a hottie back then if I was a teen in the 80's HA HA!!!
Yes, yet another photo session! My poor kids, they will remember their childhoods as a bunch of photo sessions. They are just too darn cute NOT to take pictures of! Alissa had this dress that had leaves on it and it just SCREAMED "take pictures in me", so we did. She had fun....see...I'm not so bad. She got to throw leaves and have a good time!
Not many pictures this month! As you can see in the background, there are moving boxes. We were getting ready to move back to Orem! I were busy trying to find a house to rent, I had my gallbladder taken out this month and looking back, I'm guessing since I was sick, I was running to and from doctors visits getting ready to have that surgery. I did find these two cute pictures. The first being Zach playing a video game which reminds me of a story that I had written on my blog before I lost it. It's one of those stories you don't forget as a mom.
We had gotten a PS3 and Zach really loved playing Ratchet and Clank. He would get really excited about it and the characters in the game. One day we were out side playing in the back area of the apartments and I was sitting on the grass watching the kids and they were walking up and down this cement thing. There were other kids out, some older and I just watched them interact. Zach, because he was super excited about the game was saying to the boys "have you ever played Ratchet and Clank" and was trying to talk to them about it. Well some of the older boys decided to make fun of Zach, kind of mocking him as he kept going oblivious to what they were doing. This sweet boy was just excited to share something with them and they were making fun of him :( I sat back and watched as my heart broke a little. I realized that I wont be there to protect my kids when others are mean to them. Zach didn't know it and he just went on playing, but it was just this big moment for me, I felt so bad! This was something that he wont remember, nor really even know happened, but I think I'll always remember that moment (until I lose my mind, that is LOL).
We moved into our Orem house at the beginning of this month. We were SO excited to had found a little house to rent that had: 4 bedrooms, 2 baths and a FENCED YARD! For the longest time, that's all I wanted. I yard my kids could play in and we finally had it in this small little house! Looking back, it was quite the little dump, but we (I) loved it! We were finally back close to friends and family and that was HUGE for me! Even though I really didn't get to know any of the neighbors that well, my kids loved playing with the neighborhood kids! Our neighbor, Helem, became one of Zach's best friends. They played every single day!
We had Ben over for some reason, so we made mini personal pizzas.
In the small little basement area, I had wanted to find a rug to cover a an iron mark that was on the floor and I was happy when I found this rug at DI! I had to have the kids get a picture with it.
When we moved, Zach started at the new school in kindergarten. He really liked his new teacher/school. This was the kindergarten program for the holidays.
Our first Christmas in our little house. The kids got fun new jammies picked out by Alan (he did a good job) and because the living room was so small, we had to put the tree up with out a back lol, but it fit perfectly in the little corner. We put out carrots and cookies as always. This year Zach really liked Wall*E and Alissa wanted three things. A girl barbie, a boy barbie and a house. Holly had given me her wood shelves that she used as a doll house and I was so excited to fix it up for Alissa. I painted it white and pink. I got all new furniture for it, found some barbies at DI and was really excited about it. We always say we wont go over board, but we did. She got a barbie bus and princess dresses (from Grammy) and Zach got Wall*E stuff and Legos! It was a good Christmas. It's fun to see the kids excited!
This was the first big snow fall of the season and the kids were really excited that they got to play in it! Until then, I don't really think we went out side much when it snowed. They didn't yet have snow suits, so I just let them go crazy in their normal clothes. Zach was busy shoveling snow and Alissa tried to make snow man, but the snow was too powdery. They had a lot of fun for, oh, 20 minutes and then decided it was too cold to play. Alissa found her baby doll under some snow and it was frozen in that position LOL. Poor thing! To warm up, Alissa got a bath and she's just a little doll herself. What a sweetheart.
This was a fun one, and just another thing on a long list that Alissa did that she shouldn't do. Some how she got this little chain stuck between her two front teeth. Okay, cool, I tried to get it out, but that thing was STUCK! I was a little freaked out and could only think of one person to call...Aunt Holly! She was always so good in situations like this. Her and Tim came over and after pinning Alissa to the floor, putting some numbing stuff on her gums and talking her down from being scared, Tim was able to clip it off. It was quite the ordeal and makes me laugh and sigh all at the same time. This little girl got into so much trouble!
Point in case...my sweet girl cut her hair again! To this day, I really know how she cut her hair so much, but it always resulted in a cute little hair cut. Maybe she just wanted her hair short and thought she'd do a good job? Non, the less, it's not a mom's favorite thing to see big chunks cut out of their daughter's hair.
Just enjoying some time with Cedric!
This was a few of the rooms in our little Orem house. The rooms were all so small, it was hard to get good pictures, but I tried. I loved Alissa's pink girly room! And just for fun, there is a picture of Delaney being silly at our door. We must have had people over for something fun LOL, I am just not sure what!
When we moved, we were sad to be leaving Alissa's Preschool in Murray. We (she) really liked it there. There was a preschool at the Elementary school and it was for kids who needed a little extra help before entering kindergarten. Her class ended up being mostly Hispanic, small and she loved it! It's funny looking back that they let her into this preschool and she needed that extra help and now she just does such a good job in school. She picked up on it all really quickly and I am glad she was able to go to preschool there!
Zach came into my room one night after bath in his little white tank top and just looked so big and handsome to me. It was one of those moments were I looked at my baby boy and said "when did you get so big"?! I decided to get some pictures of him and then he wanted one of his truck and we continued the fun by taking some silly face pictures. It was a lot of fun, I sure love that little guy!
Just a little fun taking some self portraits. My hair was curled, I was ready (which wasn't often) and I thought I'd get some pictures of myself! Take a peek at this blog, how often do you actually see MOM or DAD?! There should be more of us! ;) just saying...
I made the kids fun little Valentines for them to hand out to their class on Valentines day. I customized them with cute pictures of them, added some stickers and a sucker to the bag. I always have fun doing little projects like this for my kids.
This is Alissa and her special Lamby that Aunt Christi sent to her when we lived in Murray. We had found a little outfit that was mine when I was a baby. I was showing her how little it was and thought it might fit on her Lamby and sure enough, it fit perfectly. It was a good way of showing Alissa how small her mommy was when I was a baby.
My handsome guy!! You wouldn't be able to tell, but he's sitting in a 'box" like Wall*e. He would sit down, wrap his arms around his legs and duck his head. He just looked cute doing it, so I snapped some pictures.
Peek a boo cute girl!
Another trip to Wheeler farm! My friend, Kristi Adams, and her boys were visiting, so we went and played!
One day I saw Zach outside playing by himself and it was so cute. I grabbed my camera, and through the window (with out him seeing me) I snapped some pictures. I love watching my kids deep in play, not noticing anyone around by themselves and the toys they are playing with.
One day while Zach was at school, I went with another photographer friend and her kiddos to this fun abandoned house to take some pictures. I have said this before, but this little girl melts my heart, she is such a cutie. I love the last ones with her and my friends little boy who is the same age. It was fun to take her pictures that day, what a beauty!
Silly sock day at school and my handsome little man!!
Our Easter! For a while, I really liked digital scrapbooking and I still love how the pages look! I had all these pictures of Easter and thought it would be funner to share the digital scrap pages.
Zach is my handsome boy and I just like to take random pictures of the kids!
Alissa is such a cute sassy girl! I loved these pictures...totally HER!
Sweet moments with the kitties! I loved when I would catch the kitties snuggling and sleeping with the kids. There really aren't words for how cute it is!
Alissa graduated from Pre-School and her little program was so cute! They sang and got awards. She's such a sweet girl and loved going to Pre-School!
I love sweet moments with the kids and Alan. Some times I just have to grab the camera and snap some pictures!
Our little kindergartner graduated! I love that Zach was the one peeking out from behind and waving his hat! He's such a little character and I hope he always remains unique, spunky and fun!
Alan had to go through another academy for work and he graduated too! The academies are hard work, lots a physical and draining stuff and we are really proud of him for all his hard work he does for our family!
Just a cute picture before bed! He's a sweet boy!
We always love seeing what Alissa ends up with in her bed each night! She's would always have a slew of animals and toys in bed with her!
This is cute little Bob. Chuggles had a lot of litters of kitties and we were always sad to see them go! Bob, however, was one of my favorites. He would come snuggle up with me in my arms or on my lap at the computer and I begged Alan to let us keep him and sure enough, Robert Bob Milk Clank Davis (BOB for short) became part of our family!
Sweet Zach has his first big trip to the Insta Care this month. He was over at neighbor's house playing with his best friend, Helem, when I heard crying. I rushed to the door to see Helem's dad bringing Zach back over to our house and blood was dripping down his head. He said that when they were playing, a piece of wood fell down and smacked him on his head. I tried to stay calm and calm Zach down. He actually was pretty calmed, but Alissa on the other hand was not. It really scared her to see Zach hurt with blood. I looked at Zach's head and wasn't sure what to do, so who did I call? Holly of course! I didn't get that calm in these kind of situations gene, but Holly (and Mema) did...I think I may have talked to Sharon too! I wasn't sure if I should bring him in, but they said yes, so we did and my brave little guy got his first 3 staples in his head! He was really brave and quiet honestly excited to show off these cool staples in his head!
One day I decided to practice some back lighting with Alissa as my little model. Back lighting is hard and I didn't quite pull it off, but Alissa always pulls off being super cute and lets that spunky, sweet personally shine through pictures! I love that sweet little face. I love how her nose scrunches up when she's smiling and how her eyes squish up too! She makes it easy!
This year we took our trip to Lake Powell with Holly and Tim and lets just say "what happens in Lake Powell, stays in Lake Powell"! LOL! We had a BLAST, we really did! This year was one of the first that we didn't have a boat or wave runners, so Tim had this wonderful idea to get a blow up boat thing and use Dave's "this is way too big for this little boat" motor so we could get around on Lake Powell. And BOY was it funny! First of all, this thing was small. We loaded up one with fishing stuff and floaties and lunch and other such things and then we tried to get IN! four adults trying to putt around in this this was comical! Alan was about to fall in, we almost lost the motor and we got to the closest place there was land and docked! We bought a little waterproof film camera and in Dec of 2011 I finally developed them LOL!! So yes, this was a trip to remember! The boat was rocking with fun!
Um, seriously, these pictures speak for themselves! We have the most beautiful, sweet girl ever! She has such a wonderful mixture of Alan and I..Alan's gorgeous striking blue eyes, my button nose and big lips! She reallyis just too cute for words, hence the reason I love taking pictures of her!
I love and adore these pictures of Alissa on her 5th birthday! She got $5 for turning 5 and the kids were out playing and heard the ice cream truck coming. Alissa ran and asked me if she could buy one and I told her okay. You know that saying "a picture is worth a 1000 words"? well these totally! You can see her excitement waiting for him to come down the road. Big brothers is standing with her and you can just tell what he's saying as he's pointing to Alissa's $5..."what can we get with this"? and then brother helps give the guy the money! She was so sweet and used her money to buy something too! It was just a sweet and totally priceless moment on her birthday! She also helped mom make some cupcakes for her birthday!
For years, because Alissa and Maddi have such close birthdays, we would do a big birthday party for the both of them. This year we went to the park that was down the street from our little basement apartment in Orem. The kids liked that park and so we go together our group of friends/family and had a fun party! We did face painting, ice blocking, cupcakes, presents and more! I remember trying to be "artistic" that year with my camera and holding it away from my face and just snapping pictures to see how they would turn out. Some were fun, others were not, but we had a FUN time!
Mindy, Ryan, the kids and I went over to Michelle's house (a girl Ryan was dating) to have dinner, swim and play. We had a great time, the kids love swimming! Not sure where Zach was LOL, but he was there! We really loved Michelle and her daughter Abbie and had a good time hanging out over there!
I don't care who you are, but you can't look at these pictures and not be in awe. Alissa is gorgeous and she's only 5! 5 people!! I don't know if I'm comfortable having such a pretty little daughter, so like I've said in the past, we'll be locking her up until she's at least 30. I look at these pictures and that face just melts my heart. She is full of spunk and sass and sweetness and love! It's all in those beautiful blue eyes that she got from her daddy! We love our little Alissa!!
The kids (and lets face it, Alan and I) really loved going to the cabin in Idaho. We went for a few years and just loved it! The big event this year was plays/skits the kids put on. I loved watching my kids because they were a little scared (especially Zach) to come out in front of all the adults and put on their skits, but once they were out there, they had fun and you could see their personalities shining through. Zach was running around the stage on a horse and just being totally silly and the three little girls danced and tried to sing. Too cute and we all had so much fun!
Zach learned to ride a bike this summer! We had never had "big bikes" and I think we bought this one at DI or something and it had been sitting around for months and months. It was too small for Zach, but he was determined to learn how to do it, so when he figured it out, he wanted me to take some pictures. I love when Zach is concentrating hard on something, he sticks out his little tongue and is just so determined. He also had his Legos outside and wanted some pictures of his Lego guys.
