Porter is FOURTEEN!!

FOURTEEN!! What!?! 

We partied hard with this boy of ours. 

We took some of his buddies and went rock climbing.  We all had fun!

Sidney at the top.

Rylee at the top.

Jax keeping me company in the spectator area :)

Jax taking a picture of me taking a picture of him :)

Porter at the top.

Grateful for good friends!

The delicious birthday cookie.

Porter, I feel like you should still be wanting to sit on my lap, love hot wheels and playing golf/hockey with your plastic golf set, and mowing the lawn with Dad.

Now you are fourteen, luckily you still like to sit next to me and love real cars/hot wheels.  You are very talented in all sports you try and I love to cheer you on from the sidelines.  And you have taken over the job of mowing the lawn for Dad.

Like it or not, you will always be my little buddy....even if you pass me up and are taller than me soon!

Happy Birthday Porter, we love you!!!

Allen is 41!

Happy Birthday to this guy!

We had a great time celebrating our favorite 41 year old :)

Homemade ice cream cookie sandwiches for dessert.

We sure love this guy. He is the solid foundation of our family.

He knows how to work hard and play hard. Somehow he always has enough time and energy for each of us.

He is fun, motivated, kind, and he will always go along with my crazy ideas :)

He is the ice cream to our cookie-sandwich and we love him like crazy.

We are so grateful to have him!

Happy Birthday Allen!!

Valentines Day!

Our traditional "heart hair" for Valentines Day!

Valentines Day was on Saturday this year so we decided to make it a fun family day.

We had a super yummy Valentines dinner!

And some delicious fondue dessert!

Happy Valentines Day to the loves of my life.

And especially to my #1, Allen XOXO

Family ski trip!

We had so much fun in the mountains!

This was the first time that we all went together as a family and skied for the day.  I wasn't sure how long Jax would last....but he went all day and wanted to go long after we were all done.

We shut down A-basin :)

Jax in his ski gear!

Jax and I hung out on the magic carpet and the bunny hill while everyone else skied.  We must have ridden that bunny hill chair lift 97 times, he loved it!

Then we decided it was time to try a real run. It was beautiful and really emotional for me to be the first time we were all skiing together as a family :)

Porter is awesome at snow boarding, it is fun to watch him!

Sidney is a great skier and had fun trying snowboarding this time.

Rylee did so good skiing and it was really fun to watch how confident she is.

We all love it and I am pretty sure Jax is hooked, so we look forward to many more family ski trips!!

A little catch up :)

A little of what we have been up to lately....

This girl had a mild case of pneumonia.  She really never stops smiling :) She is such a sweetheart and we are happy that she is feeling better.

Jax had his three year old check up :)

26 pounds and happy as can be!

We went on a fun trip to the mountains with some friends.  We had fun skiing and hanging around Keystone!

Rylee dressed up for her pioneer day in 2nd grade, cutest little pioneer!

Sidney and Rylee dressed up for career day.

Sidney is a scientist and Rylee is a teacher.

Cutest girls :)

Sidney goes to the state capitol

Sidney's student council was invited to the Colorado State Capitol for a program and tour.

I was able to go along and chaperone.

They were so excited!

We got scarves which was nice because it was pretty cold :)

The tour was really good, we sat and watched the state house of representatives and the state senate while they were in session. Then we walked around and took lots of pictures.

I love that Sidney is getting this experience in leadership!  She is a hard working, loyal, and fair student council treasurer.

So proud of her, and I loved spending the day at the Capitol with her!

Jax is THREE!!

I can't believe this little guy is THREE!

Why does four seem so much bigger than two...

We had a fun time celebrating our Jax.

Watching some Peyton Manning with Porter.

A mickey balloon twice his size from Aunt Keri....check!

He LOVED going to pick this out. One of the best highlights of his special day.

Love how proud his is to show his three fingers.

We made cupcakes to share with everyone, but Jax got his own personal cake :)

My baby is three...

Jaxon is happy and loving.

He brings so much joy and peace to our family.  You just can't help but be happy around him.  Whenever anyone is feeling down or upset he finds them and softens them right up.

Such a tender mercy for every member of our family at just the time when we needed him most.

He loves sports, being outside, jumping on the trampoline, pirates booty, "mit" (milk), and doing anything with his siblings.

Happy Birthday Jaxon Tate!

We love you so much

After Christmas shopping!

Our sweet Aunt Keri sent the kids build a bear gift cards for Christmas.  They could not wait to go and make their stuffed animal!

They shopped and shopped and picked the perfect ones.

And they have never had that much money to spend at build a bear!  They picked clothes and everything, it was so fun!

Pushing the pedal to put in the fluff...

Carrying his prized build a bear house through the mall :)

New Years Eve

We had the Welch Family New Years Eve party!

We played games, ate yummy food, did karaoke, handed out treat bags, watched movies, and ate more yummy food with some great friends!

Happy New Years Eve!

Bring on 2015