Amber is 6!

I know this picture isn't great.  Sometimes I'm not so steady taking pictures with my iPhone.  This picture was actually taken on November 30, 2010.  We have started going to the candy store on the kids birthdays.

New Year's Eve Bash 2010

Disclaimer: These pictures are really bad quality.  But, we did want to document!

Rocco and I have been wanting to start a tradition of hosting a New Year's Eve party at our home.  So, when we found out that the Cocks would be playing on New Year's Eve, we knew this was the year to start.  We had a house full of family and friends!  We had the Bowl Game going for the adults, games with prizes for the kids, a money pinata, fireworks, and games for the adults.  Our night started at 6:30 and ended at 4:30, with some overnighters.  Honestly, I never thought that our house would be up to par again, but we had it back and running by the next afternoon.

Here's Jonah doing a sparkler.

Amber and Vince patiently waiting for Roc to give them another round.

Gigi's getting her turn in.  This is also where we did our "prize walk". 

This is our money pinata.  This was after midnight, but everyone hit their second wind.  This is Little Anthony getting a turn with his dad there for support.  Everyone else was anxiously awaiting their turn.  (Below: Isabel is giving it a go...)

Rocco and Anthony were showering the kids with real money and chocolate money.  The teenagers were so good, they were able to get money and not trample the little ones.  I think everyone got about $3-$6 a piece.  However, we are definately going to have to find more room!

Jonah nailed the pinata!  Then, Vince came up and finished the job!

The next pictures are from my phone.  How sad that they are so much better than the ones on my camera!

 Ethan was watching the fireworks from a distance.

 Just the two of us.  We were able to sneak a picture.

Kristin popped in for a visit.  Here she is texting at midnight.

We would love to have some of our out of towners here next year!  We will be tweaking it all year, always trying to improve...

July: Brother's Get-away

Since Alex has been "home" so much, we wanted to have a weekend together with just brothers and spouses.  Dawn flew right into M.B.  Ethen and Rebekah met up with us later that night.  Which ended with a lot of game play.

This was how our morning started...with the boys huddled around homework!  Roc and Alex have really enjoyed helping Ethen while giving him a hard time!

 Here's Alex at the beach showing that Hot Bod!  He's 40 and proud, baby!  We mostly laid out and played Bocci ball.

And of course we had to go and eat at a churrascaria.  That was our big splurge.  Someone else's was a Coach bag(hah!).

Then we went on to play frisbee golf, even if we were too full to move!

Here's Roc getting his frisbee out.  Alex and Dawn definately dominated the game, but we all had a great time.

So, this picture didn't turn out very well...but this was our last pic together. 

We ended our trip the next day with more eating and shopping.  This would mark the last trip for Ethen's sandals, as they were replaced.  Ethen and Alex continued their vacation, but ours ended.  We were ready to get home to the chitlens.

Ali's Baptism

My neice was baptized July 2010. My Mom made her dress, of course. It's beautiful, isn't it?! She was excited to have her big day, as were we. Her grandparents came from California. It was a special experience. In attendance was my family her grandparents and 2 friends. So, you could feel the Spirit there.

The girl cousins. These girls really enjoy being together. Summer, Ali, Amber, and Giana
The kids were able to sing "When Jesus Christ Was Baptized".

Ali asked her aunts to give the 2 talks. It was great to be able to participate in this time of her life. I look forward to being with her at the temple one day too.

August 2010

I'm out of chronological order. These pics were taken by Uncle Robert. They are high quality, so I have a hard time uploading them, but they are good. Tiff and Robert went to a drive-in movie with us. It was kinda a last HURRAH before the kids went back to school. We watched Toy Story 3 and Despicable Me. They were 2 good ones, and it was an interesting experience. We took advantage of our van's transforming abilities.
Here below is Jonah sitting on one of the seats. Amber is getting herself a beverage.

Doesn't it look like there should be plenty of room?! And yet there wasn't. We had some good laughs that night.

Here's Amber, Gigi, and J-man being entertained before the shows started. This "train" just went round and round in a circle! They must've been desperate. : )

Preschool

After 3 kids made it into school, I finally got around to an organized preschool. I've had desires for the others to do preschool with me. However, unless others are involved, I'm just not devoted enough. But, thanks to a close friend, we committed. I must say, it's been needed. Giana has been so lonely at home alone. I have enjoyed exploring my creative side to come up with fun learning opportunities.

Here are the girls learning up and down. They also took turns getting flipped up and down by yours truely.

This is what they do as soon as they get to preschool to get them going. I was lucky enough to be the first preschool day. They were very excited. I'm grateful for the tools that I've acquired so that I can teach these girls. (First day was the first Tues. in Sept.).

#11

Well, we made it to 11 years. It's hard to remember life without you babe! Here we are sharing in our love for food (Charlotte).