Birthday Continued

Luke's actual birthday was on January 16th which ended up being a day off of school.  So we met up at the park with his cousins to have lunch and play.  Luke always enjoys hanging out with his boy cousins. :)             

He received his presents from us which included a baseball glove, baseball, a large Harry Potter lego set, and his new Cub Scout shirt.

Instead of cake he wanted a donut "cake".  I was happy to oblige after working so hard on his birthday party.  The donut "cake" is the way to go.

8 things about Luke:

1. He loves to learn and remembers what he learns so easily.

2. He really enjoys reading.  When he is into a book, the only thing he wants to do is read.

3. His favorite subject in school is science.

4.  He is not afraid to stand up for what is right.  He is such a good example to me.

5.  He loves to tease his sisters, but he is also so good to them.

6.  He hates running errands.

7.  Still a very picky eater, but is doing much better at trying new foods.

8.  His favorite game to play during recess is a game called Catch it.  Almost everyday I get a report about Catch It and whether or not he had a good day or bad day playing.  I love his excitement!


I am so grateful Luke was sent to our family first.  He is such a good example to his sisters and strives to choose the right.  We love our Luke!

Celebrating Harry Potter Style

On January 16th, Luke turned 8 years old.  After going to his cousin's Harry Potter themed birthday party in December, Luke knew that he wanted the same theme.  He had just started reading the books and was very excited about it!  This was his year to have a big friend party so we went all out.  I haven't read the books (I've tried, just can't get into them.), but Kevin had read them.  So thanks to Luke, Kevin, pinterest, & blogs I was able to come up with a Harry Potter party.

The prep work:

Invitation

Sorting Hat

Take Home Bag- they also put some the creatures they found on the magical creature hunt in their bags (plastic frogs, snakes, dragons, lizards, etc.)

The boys were split into these two schools & wore this badge to represent their school.

Kevin made wands out of dowels and made each one a little different. I just told them to make them all the same, but he went above and beyond. 

The cupcakes

This was supposed to represent the train depot at Platform 9 3/4. (It was a stretch).  They walked through the "red brick wall" to enter the party. 

             The Party:                                     

When the boys first came into the party they received their wands and decorated them with markers.  Then we used the sorting hat to put each boy in either Gryffindor or Slytherin.  We used a baby monitor in the hat and Kevin was in the other room talking.  The boys thought it was cool to have the hat "talk".

Receiving wand and magic instructions.

Sorting & counting their creatures they found on the magical creature hunt.

Potions class.  Kevin did such a great job!  He really got into and made sure the boys said the "magic words" & used their wands to make the potions work.  I just wish we would have had a costume for him to make it seem more real. :)

Quidditch-  I got the idea for the Quidditch goals on a blog.  We decided to forgo broom sticks knowing they would be more dangerous than fun.  The boys loved this game and had so much fun playing Gryffindor vs. Slytherin.

Luke's friends sure spoiled him with some great gifts.  Nerf guns, Legos, remote control car and more.  This was one happy 8 year old boy!

Well, it's about time!

Are you as shocked as I am to see a blog post? :) (Why is this underlining everything I type?)
I'm not sure why this is so hard for me to keep updated. I really want to have this as a journal for my family, but once I get behind it just seems too overwhelming to start up again. But I am going to attempt to do this again. I am just going to do some quick snippets from July 2011 through December 2011 and then hopefully I can blog the happenings from the beginning of this year.

JULY
This was the month of mini, family reunions. At the beginning of July we went up to Utah to spend some time with my parents and 3 of my brothers and their families. We played in the backyard a ton, made smores over the fire pit, went swimming, lit off fireworks in the rain, went to the local carnival & rode a few rides, visited temple square and the church children's museum.

At temple square.

Then at the end of July we met some of Kevin's brothers & sisters at the Grand Canyon. This was our first camping trip as a family. The Grand Canyon is amazing & beautiful! We had a great time and my anxiety was sure tested as we hiked and walked along the Grand Canyon. There aren't any real fences or barriers & so I was a little crazy making sure my kids were close by. We had so much fun with family! We cooked over the fire, played at the campsite, hiked, attended a few ranger classes, watched a cool movie, told stories by the campfire, & slept in tents. I love everything about nature, but have decided sleeping in a tent is not my favorite. :)

This picture might be deceiving because the kids are standing in front of cabins, but believe me, we slept in tents. :) This was taken before we hiked down into the Grand Canyon.


AUGUST/SEPTEMBER

I know I took pictures on the first day of school, but can't find them anywhere on my computer. So here are some others taken close to the first day of school (Ashley's picture was the first day).

Katelyn started kindergarten, she goes half day in the mornings. She loves to get there early to make sure she has enough play time on the playground.

Luke started 2nd grade. Started out a little rough with his teacher only being there a week and then having lots of substitutes. Switched to another class about a month in and was the best move. He has a great teacher and loves school!

Ashley started 3 year old preschool with Miss Heather and LOVES it!

OCTOBER

We made a quick weekend trip up to Utah for two wonderful family events. My brother, his wife, and daughter were sealed to their baby boy they adopted. It was a wonderful experience to be in the temple and see this special event.
Then on Sunday of that weekend, Kevin's youngest brother reported about his mission. It was great to hear his experiences and testimony. We had a fun time visiting at Grandma Hutchings' house afterward, then it was back to Vegas.

Luke and baby Caleb. This is the only picture I took. I wish I would have taken one of my brother and his family.

While we were there we went to the Up house in Herriman, Utah. Some of the rooms were decorated just like in the movie. It was the coolest house.

Grandma Hutchings with 7 of her 9 kids.

For Halloween this year we had Sleeping Beauty, Alice in Wonderland, & Darth Vader. Quite the combination!

NOVEMBER
Every other year we go up to Utah to have Thanksgiving with my family. This was the year, so we made another trip up to Utah.
Right before leaving for our trip I found out I was pregnant with baby #4. We didn't tell anyone until Christmas time, but we were sooo excited. We even waited to tell our kids.
Thanksgiving morning we played soccer in my parents big backyard before feasting on a wonderful meal. I didn't take many pictures, but we had a great time.

We were also able to meet up with Kevin's sister and her family at Thanksgiving Point. We had fun feeding all the animals, going on a hayride, and then feeding ourselves at a restaurant for lunch.

DECEMBER
Luke had his first piano recital and did a great job. We decorated the house for Christmas, had Christmas Eve dinner and festivities at our house with some of Kevin's family, spent Christmas morning with Grandma Hutchings, and had a nice Christmas break as a family. This year we started the elf tradition. We named our elf, Buddy, and he would be in a new hiding spot each morning. On Christmas Eve, the kids found Buddy with a note telling them that they were going to get a new baby brother or sister in the summer. They were so excited!

Always "hamming" it up.

Cousin gift exchange

All the crazy cousins that were there, we were definitely missing the other crazy cousins. :)

Christmas pjs from Grandma & Grandpa Cottrell

Christmas Aftermath!

5 years old!

On the 8th, one week ago today, Katelyn turned 5 years old! She has been waiting for this birthday to come forever (well I think it seemed like forever in her mind). She now loves to tell everyone that she is 5. She will be a young kindergartner, but is so excited to go to school with Luke.
This was Katelyn's off year for a big party with friends, but instead she got to pick something fun to do and invite a friend to come along. She had some great ideas in store for this day.

We started off with breakfast at McDonalds.


Then throughout the day she opened presents. She got new pjs, more play doh toys, some princesses, a microphone, some fun coloring books, and stuffed animals.
Before lunch she decided she wanted to go to the Butterfly park and play in the water areas. So we loaded up and hit both water parks. She LOVED it!
She really wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese to play and invited her friend Anneliese to come along. But instead of eating at Chuck E. Cheese (thank goodness) we ate at Taco Bell (one of Katelyn's favorite places to eat). Katelyn wasn't so into playing the games, but she did love riding all the little rides they had.


I really like to make my kids' birthday cakes, but for some reason it did not work this year. Here's the proof. I have never had this happen to me. Katelyn was very understanding and had fun picking at the mess and eating it. It actually tasted really good, but didn't look so great.
Kevin saved the day by picking up an ice cream cake on his way home from work.
And here is the birthday girl in front of our traditional birthday signs.




5 things about Katelyn:

1. She loves to color, paint, and draw.

2. She loves to be active and doing something. She usually asks the night before what we will be doing the next day. When she is bored at home, she will often run around inside the house.

3. She loves music! She really likes for Kevin or I to sit at the piano to play and sing for her.

4. She loves playing on the computer.

5. She has a love/hate relationship with her little sister. I think it has something to do with Ashley being kind of bossy. But that is just my guess. :) They can play really well together and they can fight really well together. She usually gets along well with Luke and enjoys playing with him.

We really love this cute, 5 year old! She is a blessing in our family and usually just goes with the flow. Heavenly Father knew we needed someone like her in our family.

We Love Our Silly Katelyn!