Our Big 4 Year Old!

Today our little girl turned FOUR years old! 

Happy birthday to our sweet and sassy 4 year old! Our lives have never been the same since she joined our family, and life just keeps getting better everyday with her. She is our best friend and the best big sister around. We love you Kay Bugs!

Makayla got to go to dance class on her birthday, then we went to Arctic Circle with her dance friends. When Daddy got home from work we let her open her presents. She got an Elsa doll, an Elsa towel, an outfit, and jewelry. 

We let her choose where we went to dinner that night and she chose Chick-fil-a. Before we went to bed we asked her the Birthday interview questions, and here's her answers... I think she was feeling an Elsa theme. 

 1. What is your favorite color? "Pink and purple."

2. What is your favorite toy? "Elsa"

3. What is your favorite food? "Umm... applesauce"

4. What is your favorite show? "Umm... Elsa and Anna" 

5. What do you like to eat for lunch? "Ham, and Macaroni and Cheese."

6. What is your favorite thing to wear? "Costumes, like Elsa and Anna"

7. What is your favorite game? "Elsa game and Tag, you're it."

8. What is your favorite song? "Let it Go"

9. What is your favorite book? "Chica, Chica, Boom, Boom"

10. Who is your best friend? "Ummm...Brynnli... not Caden."

11. Where is your favorite place to go? "Chick-Fil-A"

12. What do you want to be when you grow up? "A Sunbeam and a Mommy."

13. What is your favorite thing about Caden? "Playing with him."

14. What is your favorite thing about Brynnli? "Holding her when you got shots."

15. What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy? "Play Tag, you're it."

16. What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy? "Hug her and kiss her."

Happy Birthday Sweet girl! We love you so much!

Makayla's First Dance Recital

On January 24th we got to go to Makayla's first dance recital. She looked so stinkin' cute in her costume, and she certainly knows how to sass it up, so we took a lot of pictures of her just being adorable. 

 I could tell when Makayla got onstage she was nervous, but she did so well!

 This is Makayla's dance friends, Kaylen and Brielle. After dance class each Wednesday, we all go to Arctic Circle for lunch.

 We were all so proud of our little dancer

Big Boy Undies

I never thought this day would come, but after months of kinda, sorta trying, Caden is officially potty trained! We have been trying on and off since he turned 2, but never seriously. We decided Caden's New Year's resolution was to be potty trained, so we started getting serious. We would have him sit on the potty for 20 minutes and nothing would happen. He would even be in tears, but he just couldn't figure out how to go. 

Then one night he was insisting on doing every thing himself and Tyler got frustrated with him. Tyler told Caden to figure it out himself and left him sitting on the toilet. Well, Caden took that to heart and did just that. Caden came in screaming with excitement that he went potty. We all went in to look, and sure enough, he did!  

 Since then he has had very few accidents. He has even gone out of the house and through the night and stayed dry! I can't believe how fast he caught on to it once he finally did it.

And really, how cute is he in his big boy undies?

We are so excited to be a one diaper family again!

Welcome 2015!

Happy New Year! 

This year's celebration was pretty low key. Thanks to King Julian and Netflix, we streamed the countdown at 8:00 and our kids got to countdown to the New Year. I don't think they really understood what was going on, and I think they were expecting more than just me and Tyler yelling "Happy New Year," so we counted down twice.

 Then we went outside and screamed Happy New Year for all of our neighbors to think we were crazy.

By 9:00 our kids were asleep and Tyler and I got to watch a movie and go to bed early. Such is the life when you're older. :) Low key or not, we had a great New Years Eve. Goodbye 2014 and welcome 2015.

Just a little hint to 2015: 

2014 was really great to us, and it will be pretty hard to top such a great year, but I have high hopes for you 2015! Bring it on. 

Complete

So seeing as this is the last entry in our blog book for the year, and I wanted to complete the book with a reflection of 2014.

Throughout the year we celebrated some big events like birthdays, anniversaries, Family Fun Days, and traditional vacations to The Land and Oneida, and of course our first big vacation to Disneyland. We had a lot of first, like preschool and dance. We also celebrated the little things in life that will more than likely become the big things when we look back on them. Of course we had our down moments that didn't earn a blog post, but those moments made us stronger as a family and helped us become better people. We achieved a lot of our goals for the year, and failed to meet others, but that will just give us something to work towards this next year.

Of course our fabulous year started out in January when we learned we were pregnant with baby #3, and in September our cute little family became complete when Brynnli was born. Brynnli has added so much to our family, and we feel so blessed that she chose us to be her family. We all fell in love with her the moment she was born. I remember when Tyler and I first got married, we talked about what we wanted to do when our family was "complete," and as crazy as it is, five years later we are there. We have already started to do some of those things that we talked about five years ago, like our first family vacation to Disneyland. I remember talking with Tyler about our future family and it seemed like so many years away. It just goes to show you that time flies and how important it is to treasure every minute.

In May I had to make the decision to stay at home, and I have to say it was not an easy choice for me, but now that I have had six months home with my cuties, I am so glad and feel like I made the best choice. They make me laugh and drive me crazy all at the same time, and I absolutely love it!

I sound so cheesy, but I truly feel like the luckiest person in the world to have such a great husband, three adorable kids, and the best life. As a teenager, I dreamed about what my family would look like, and now that it's here, I can honestly say my life is better than I ever imagined it would be. I can't wait to see what 2015 has in store for our cute little family!

Let It Snow

Christmas day we finally got a big snow storm. The kids (and Tyler) were so excited to go outside and play in it. They tried to make a snowman, but the snow wasn't perfect, so they settled for snow angels and sledding. We have a small hill in our backyard, and the kids had so much fun going down it. 

Then we headed to The Land for a few days with Terry and Craig and the Jones family. We had fun playing games, watching movies, and playing outside in the snow. Grandma  even got to snuggle up with the kids to read stories.

All six grand kids sitting at the table. I would love if the kids would re-create this picture in 25 years.

I think the kids were the most excited to go on four wheeler rides with Grandpa.

 and sledding with Daddy. 

It was too cold for Brynnli to go outside, so she spent most of her time in the house with me, Tracy, and Grandma. Makayla wanted me to take this picture of the two girls with the big bear. 

It was the perfect way to end the year! 

Christmas is Here!

Christmas Eve was at our house this year with my side of the family. We had our traditional pizza dinner then opened presents. 

Our kids were way beyond excited.

After the party we headed to Terry and Craig's house for the last part of their party. The kids were in the middle of opening presents when a special visitor stopped by...

Santa and Mrs. Claus took some time out of his busiest night of the year to say hi to all of us and deliver a special present.

Then we took what seemed like a million pictures to get every group picture possible.

Then we invited Santa to participate in our traditional Swedish dance in the street.

Santa told us how much he enjoyed learning about our family traditions, but it was time to get going and delivering presents to the rest of the little kids. He told our kids if they went to bed soon he would deliver some more presents to our house that night.

And he certainly did!

Christmas morning the kids woke up and were ready to see what Santa brought them.

I made them take the traditional picture on the stairs (traditions... I'm a sucker for them).

When the kids saw their presents, they ran towards them. Kayla saw her bike and said, "oh my heck." Kayla got a bike, Tinkerbell doll, a puzzle, a book, a game, and crazy sand.

Caden was so excited about his toys too. He got a Thomas the Train set, a Jake the Pirate remote control,  a gun, a book, a game, a puzzle, and Crazy sand.

Brynnli was super stoked about her gifts. So excited, in fact, that she fell asleep in the middle of it. She got a vanity set, clothes, a book, and crazy sand like the other kids. 

After the kids opened and played with their gifts from Santa, we opened gifts from each other. We gave Brynnli a savings account (I know, we're real exciting over here). 

And the kids got clothes from us.

The kids were being super cooperative, so I took advantage of the moment and made them hug each other.

Do you know how you can tell if you had a good Christmas? The mess after. Judging by our mess, I would say it was a great one!

And this sweet little girl loved her first Christmas (even if she did sleep through half of it).

Before we headed off to our family party that day, we had to take our traditional picture in front of the piano/ Christmas tree. This may have been my favorite picture of the holiday season.

We had our party with the Evans family, and sadly this was the only picture I took, but it's a cute one! This is Great Grandma Bonnie with Brynnli

That night we came home and the kids spent hours playing with their toys. 

I absolutely loved this Christmas because our kids truly believed in the magic of it all. It was so fun to see Christmas through their eyes. And, it was extra special because it was Brynnli's very first Christmas. Love, love, love this time of year and the many chances we get to spend time with our family and friends. 

Till next year!