He's 9!

That's right! 9! He is growing up SO fast!

We had a fun time celebrating with my Parents. My Dad has been so excited to give Porter this special surprise that involved giving my consent. I knew when he called before he bought it to ask permission I was in trouble!

You might recognize the shape of the box. All of a sudden I felt like we were living in the Christmas Story Movie!

All I can say is he better not shoot his eye out!

Porter was so excited! My Parents live in the forrest, so the BB gun is a fun thing to keep at their house and safely use it with no other houses around :) He did get some safety glasses to help with the whole "shooting your eye out" thing!

In true "Porter fashion" his very first shot hit the soda can square in the middle!

Star Wars cake this year.

What a fun day! He felt very loved by everyone who called, sent cards, emailed, and sent gifts. He has seemed to grow up a lot this last year. 3rd grade has brought some new stages and adventures. He is the best brother in the world and we all think he is the BEST!

Happy Birthday, Porter! We love you!

Happy Birthday to Allen!

For Allen's Birthday I thought I would share 36 things I love about him. I was totally ready for his 58th Birthday, it was hard to shorten my list to just 36!

1. His enthusiasm about his Birthday. Anyone who knows Allen knows that he doesn't just have a Birth-DAY, he has a Birthday MONTH!

2. His positive attitude.

3. His motivation to eat well, work out, and stay in shape. He's got the body to prove it!

4. His adventurous spirit. He is always looking for something fun and exciting to do or try.

5. How he seems to always be good, really good at whatever he decides to try.

6. His Testimony.

7. His willingness to serve others.

8. How he always knows just what I need help with around the house, and does it without me asking. (I know, he is a keeper!)

9. He is a great Dad. Always ready to play.

10. He doesn't mind taking the kids to do things on his own. He was the first to take all 3 kids to the pool!

11. He has a great family. Parents, siblings, nieces, nephews! He is the middle of 7 kids, he has a big family and I love them all!

12. He is a great friend.

13. He loves the water. Totally his element.

14. He is a great wakeboarder. Very sexy.

15. He is the best scuba diving partner.

16. He is very genuine.

17. He is great with money. He has all our finances organized. He is a very good at budgeting.

18. He plans ahead, yet is fun and spontaneous.

19. He is a very good and patient teacher.

20. He always matches :)

21. He is a good listener.

22. He is a great cook, and never complains about making meals or cleaning up!

23. He has a great sense of humor. He cracks himself up on a regular basis!

24. He is very organized.

25. He works hard and plays hard.

26. He loves my family.

27. He is honest.

28. He always lets me have the last bite, no matter what we are eating.

29. He is very smart.

30. He is very respectful of me and women in general. He is a great example of this to our son.

I pray that our girls will marry someone EXACTLY like him.

31. He is very thoughtful. He is great with gifts and surprises.

32. He is patient with me.

33. He is the most supportive person I know.

34. He is a great handy man. He can fix anything, and finished our last basement by himself just learning as he goes.

35. He makes sure the kids know how much he loves me.

36. He makes sure I always know how much he loves me.

Happy Birthday, Babe! I love you more every day.

Winter fun!

We took all the kids skiing. They had a great time! Porter had fun on his snow board for the first time on a real ski hill. He did great.

I don't have a good picture of Sidney, but she did great for her first time on ski's. She was a little nervous and not sure she wanted to go. Once she got started she didn't want to stop and decided she liked to go "really fast"!

Even Rylee tried skiing for a couple runs!

We also went ice skating on a real pond! So much fun. We rented a sled for Rylee and she loved being pulled around the lake!

Love is in the air!

We had a fun Valentines Day.

The kids always get so excited! We enjoyed treats, surprises, flowers, cards, valentines, parties, a fancy homemade dinner, homemade chocolate strawberries, and lots of hugs and kisses.

What a great day! Happy Valentines Day!

Fun with Aunt Keri!

Man, we are so lucky to get to have Keri come to visit! We partied! We went ice skating. Everyone had lots of fun, but I think we might have froze Keri to death! We had good food, played, went on a candy factory tour, went to the Denver Nugget Basketball game, went out to dinner, went shopping, and so much more. I am happy to say that Keri survived her winter trip to Colorado!

Rylee had fun. Sometimes she skated, and sometimes she would ride!

What a great night at the Nuggets game. Nuggets won in overtime! Lots of cheering and great snacks!

The kids always dread having to tell Keri goodbye. They beg her to stay a little longer and try to plan when she is coming again. They just can't get enough of her............

Me either

Sledding

Enjoying some after Christmas sledding and trying out the new snowboard!

Paul and Grandpa were so great to give Sidney and Rylee some good rides!

Christmas!

We sure had a great Christmas this year! Lots of fun spent with family and friends. There was serious wii playing, lots of excitement, anticipation, good food, and good memories!

The classic waiting on the stairs picture.

Some of Porter's favorite gifts this year were his own snowboard, a sleeping bag, nintendo games, nuggets and broncos jerseys, and basketball stuff.

Some of Sidney's favorite gifts this year were an American Girl doll, new blanket, sleeping bag, nintendo games, and new earrings.

Some of Rylee's favorite gifts this year were her new dollhouse, new blanket, sleeping bag, and new baby doll.

Then after we came back home we had our "California Christmas"! Everyone was so excited to have more gifts to open. We were very spoiled by our wonderful Welch side of the family!!

So many fun memories and traditions. Such a wonderful time to celebrate the birth of our Savior. Our family was blessed to be involved in service during this holiday season and we are so grateful for all our many blessings.

D-Day, or Dog Day at the Welch's!

Yesterday was D-Day! Allen and I decided I decided and persuaded my wonderful husband to surprise the kids with a PUPPY this year for Christmas! We haven't had a dog before and weren't planning on getting one for awhile, until my cousin Cara's dog had puppies in October. She posted some cute puppy pictures and all of a sudden I started thinking.......and then I started working on Allen!

Everything came together and my Sister Rachel and Paul were driving through Salt Lake City on their way home for Christmas and picked him up for us. They made the 10 hour drive with him and we surprised the kids last night with an early Christmas gift!

We knew for about 4 weeks and did a good job keeping it a secret.

So here is Porter, Sidney, and Rylee with our new puppy Oliver or Ollie for short. He is doing really good, pictures really don't show how tiny he really is! Last week he weighed .6 of a pound or 9.6 ounces, we are all trying hard not to step on him! The kids have been so excited! This morning Porter said, "I won't forget yesterday.....I just won't ever forget it!" Sidney keeps saying she can't believe he is, "all the way ours!" And Rylee loves to show him all her toys, one by one! So far he is one loved little puppy and luckily seems to like all the attention! It has been fun being, "the BEST Mom and Dad EVER" all day today!

We invited my Parents, brother, and of course Rachel and Paul (the picker-upers) over for the big surprise. We had the kids open the advent calender door for that day and inside was the first of 10 clues in a treasure hunt. They were so excited and did a good job of working together as a team to find all the clues and end up in the family room where we set the puppy in his little dog bed inside a stocking. The treasure hunt took about 15 minutes, but I pieced the begining and ending together for family that has been asking. Thanks again, Cara! We love him!

Christmas is coming to Town

Decorating the Christmas tree is always so much fun! We have a "kids tree" that Porter, Sidney, and Rylee get to decorate all by themselves. They look forward to it every year. Every ornament they get out is a different memory, and they get so excited when they realized they had forgotten about one from last year. They have built up quite a collection.

Of course Rylee was very excited and kept doing this after everything she put on the tree! So funny. She loves to have a backpack or purse at all times. It is always filled with totally random things. She was very prepared to decorate with her backpack loaded and ready!

We are really looking forward to Christmas this year, I think we have all been very good!

Twinkle Toes Sidney

Sidney has been taking ballet and tap from the wonderful Miss Mindi! She has had so much fun and loved having many cute friends in her class. Here she is all ready for her recital!

Such cute girls. She was very excited and kept saying she couldn't believe she was really going to dance up on the stage!

The highlight of the night was when Grandma and Grandpa surprised her by coming to watch and brought her flowers!! Allen also met us there with flowers, she was in heaven.

Sidney and Lily

What a cute girl we are so proud of her!