The Invention Convention

Madison is in 6th grade this year which means country reports and the invention convention. She invented the "no mess desk".

Messing around

Cora loves to dress up Malori and take her picture. I thought these were quite good.

Tubing up American Fork Canyon (Jan. 7, 2010)

Brian took Gretchen and Mali up the canyon to go tubing. Doug, Autumn and Braxton went, too. I'm pretty sure Brian is the only one that hurt himself.

The Rhodes' family "after" Christmas party

Every year the Rhodes family (Connie's side) gets together for Christmas and has a meal and one of the best white elephant gift exchanges I've ever done. We sum it up with a good old guess how many M&Ms are in the jar (which I have to say, I have won the last 2 years). Mmmmm, I love M&Ms. This year we met after Christmas at Noah's in Pleasant Grove. We were able to ice skate on the roof and hang out together.

The Bullock siblings

This year we Bullock's decided to go have dinner together after Christmas. The Saturday after we borrowed a huge van and drove together to Maddox in Brigham City. Of course, you can't drive that far and not continue on to Gossners for cheese and Pepperidge Farms for cookies in Cache Valley. The food was amazing and the company even better.

Christmas 2009

We had so many activities before and after Christmas that we ended up with very few pictures of Christmas day. We had an amazing day! We are so blessed to live close to both sides of our family. We always do breakfast with the Bullock's and dinner with the Smith's. I love it. (Notice the picture of Brian? That's BoBo. If you ever have a minute, or 10, ask him about it)

The annual Bullock/Smith Christmas Eve party

Isn't she lovely? (Dec. 5, 2009)

My little girl, Haydn, is all grown up and going to the ball.

Well, hello pilgrim! (Nov. 2009)

Malori looked so cute in her pilgrim outfit from school, but we had to threaten her to put it back on so we could take her picture.

H1N1? Not at our house!!!

This last week was terrible. I made it to work a total of one day! Thank heavens it was the good ol' regular flu. We took the test and passed. No H1N1 (swine flu for you that read this in the future.) Too bad that didn't make anyone feel better. Malori had a headache and insisted on having a wet dish cloth on her head all the time (I wonder where she has seen that?)

Dance, Dance, Dance

Chelsea Richards, a girl in our ward, is a Vikette for Pleasant Grove High School. For a fundraiser they do a drill clinic every year for three nights, then the girls do a perfomance. Cora and Malori wanted to do it this year so we signed them up. Cora did a great job, even with the big bruises she ended up with on her knees and feet. I love to watch her because she has that "Smith tongue" that comes out whenever concentration is necessary for a task. Malori was hilarious. As you can see from the picture, it was like herding cats. Masie, our neighbor, was there too and they had a good time. Hopefully next year, we can get Mal to do a bit more dancing.

Happy 12th Birthday, Madison

It was definitely a nail polish and body spray birthday for Madison this year! It kind of feels sad when all a girl wants for her birthday is clothes. It means no more Barbies, Legos or Polly Pockets. It means Brian and I are getting old. #4 of 6 wanting clothes for her birthday, I can't believe it.

The Last Camping Trip of 2009

We took our final camping trip during fall break. It was a bit chilly, but the leaves were amazing! We went up American Fork Canyon to Little Mill Campground. Blessed be the generator, we stayed quite comfy at night ( a little too warm for mom's taste) and the fire kept us warm during the day. We collected many, many leaves and played a few games. Malori is pretty wicked at Battleship when she plays by her own rules.

Labor Day 2009

For Labor Day we went to

Grandpa and Grandma Bullock's cabin with Darin, Cheryl, Megan, and Haley. We set up

grandpa's new air hockey table, ate some yummy food, and spent Saturday at Starvation Reservior. Cora, Haley and Gretchen all got up on the knee board. We had to laugh because every time Cora fell she made sure she plugged her nose before she went under. There were also a lot of "Smith tongues" sticking out for balance.

Mal's First Day of Preschool, September 1, 2009.

I can't believe my baby is starting pre-school. She goes to Miss Camalee's and she loves it! Her favorite thing to do is make things with playdough.

The First Day of School, August 20, 2009

Once again, we start a new school year. 2009-2010. I think Haydn was the only one not excited to start, but she's a senior and ready to be done. Cora is in 8th this year, Madison 6th, and Gretchen in 4th. I dropped down to part time this year so I only work on B-days. I love it, expecially because I got to be home on the first day of school to see the girls off.

4 Years Old!

Happy 4th birthday Mali. Malori doesn't like cake, so we made her cake with powdered donuts. She always makes sure they are not the ones with blood (raspberry filling) in them. Thanks for that one, Haydn. All she wanted this year was a little tiny fish in a big tank. She actually got four fish and a lot of other presents.

Malori has been telling the ladies in primary that it is her birthday for months now. They fell for it the first time and sang to her, but put her off after that. Well, this Sunday was her birthday and when they called her up to sing to her she said, "It's not my birthday, it was Friday." What are we going to do with her?

Malori and Macie

Believe it or not, this is a typical day in our neighborhood.

Hunter

Hunter Smith is my nephew and he has Angelman's Syndrom. He is the most lovable kid and is pretty darn happy all the time. This day at Grandpa Smith's was off the chart. He can't get around on his own, so the four wheeler was a big treat for him, as you can see on his face.

Happy Birthday, Cora...again.

Cora's birthday was really July 2, but we had her friend party on the 23rd so her friend, Kaylyn, could be there.