Halloween 2009

This is actual Halloween. Right before we headed out to get candy for them. Drake was an Alien Commander and Bella was a Princess for her #2 costume.

Our ward threw their Trunk or Treat party on the Friday before Halloween. Bella was Tinkerbell. This was her #1 costume but due to parties she had on this day, she got food spots all over. In the above picture, she had just played pin the face on the pumpkin!

Diego is a ninja and Drake is Ares's son (from the Percy Jackson series). It came from you are not allowed to wear masks at the Trunk or Treat so Drake made another character for himself.

Honestly Dillyn explains himself. He chose this costume....I lost him twice in the crowd and I just shrugged and proclaimed "I lost my monkey!"

Have you seen a good picture of Bella Lately?

Bella washing her hands. Her newest "trick" is to get the stool and get into everything on the counters.

Her perfect shirt says it all. Grandma knows best!

Her excited look while washing her hands. Daycare really promotes clean hands (germs ya know) and she carries it at home. We don't have to push her to wash hands after anything!

Brushing her teeth. I'm telling you, it's nice to have a clean girl. Boys love dirt, girls love clean shine!

Bella was just as enthralled as I was.

Bella's new sit and spin. Best thing EVER!

And yes, she knows how to spin.

Finally, kids are better!

And since they are, I found some really cute pictures that I thought I could share.
Here is Bella trying to be me. She loves her "pretties" (Pretty is anything she likes, i.e. hair bows, clothing, herself, shoes...list goes on)

Amazingly enough, I found her blessing picture. This is the outfit we chose for our in house blessing.

He's to cute!

One of my favorites of the two of them posing.

She's too cute also.

Sick Kids

So normally I just put up a blog showing pictures of the kids because they grow so quickly. Now I must share sad news. Both of the kids are really sick. I have no clue where it came from, but now I am dealing with it. Bella has what they call the wheezing disease. It's caused by the RSV virus and gets into their lungs and takes awhile for it to leave. We found on on her birthday, so the following Tuesday we went for the follow up and she had worsened. I am worried for her, but on Friday, a couple of friend's husband's gave her a blessing. It lifted my spirit up and my worry lessened, but Sunday rolled around and now Drake is really sick. He is burning up with fever and has a horrible cough. I have to patiently wait til after 2pm today because if I try calling early on a monday, i sit on hold for 30 mins. I don't have that type of patience today. I must say I do have a great appreciation for my job since I've been taking so much time off to deal with my sick kiddos. I honestly hope Drake has something simple, I can't take much more of these complex and scary diseases. I read up on the RSV virus and wish I hadn't. Sometimes being in the dark is nice.

Happy 2nd Birthday Bella

Bella, from the moment you were placed in to my arms, I was taught how to share your love with another child. You have been full of yourself and full of life since day one. Yes we are suffering through you temper tantrums and divaness now that you are 2 but I will always remember, that I love you. Here's to you being 2 and independent that a wonderful daughter that you are.

Drake's Baptism

So here I was all excited about Drake being 10 and totally ran out of time to tell everyone that he decided for his 10th birthday he wanted to be baptized. I couldn't have been more happier for him. We have been taking the missionaries discussions for Drake and James since March, but James still needs time. Drake though was all for it. He was baptized to be part of the LDS church. I am so proud of him and his accomplishments. Also we were able to get Bella blessed, but unfortunately I don't have those pictures, but I have pictures from the baptism. Enjoy!



Elder Lopez confirmed Drake (one on the left) and Elder Maughan baptized him (one on the right)

Here's our happy family. Notice Bella is already tired of her shoes...hence the bare feet

These are almost all the missionaries that taught Drake. We are missing 2. Elder Hancock and I don't remember the other one's name. He was partnered up with Elder Hancock.

Today is Drake's 10th Birthday

Drake, you are 10 today. Watching you grow up has been a blessing in disguise because I am not ready yet for you to be in your double digits and tweeny years. Just yesterday you were looking up at me asking for help to reach things and wanting to potty train. How am I supposed to let that go and let you develop into the young man you are becoming? You are my baby always, you will always frustrate me and love me and cause me to cry. But this is the torture I must endure to the end because you are my son. I am proud that you have chosen this birthday to become baptized and next Saturday will be another happy moment that I will always cherish in my memories of you growing up. I hope you remember as we come upon the teenage years that I LOVE YOU and ALWAYS WILL. Nothing you can do will make me not love you, EVER. I hope this next year will bring nothing but luck.

I love you Drake.

Love, Mom

Playing with my camera to get Fun Photo Part 1

Playing with my camera to get Fun Photo Part 2

Playing with my camera to get Fun Photo Part 3

Memories

As I wander throughout my days, I've come to realize, I really cherish moments like these. Bella is always on the move and to help me keep fit, she is now doing superman with me.

Here is Daddy trying to get her to fly.

You can't beat those looks. I honestly have the greatest kids anyone can ask for.

Hi, welcome to my CHEESY grin.

I'm so proud of Drake. My little cub scout.

Here he is in his full glory. We had a Pack/Den meeting that night and he got his first thing: chess club belt loop. Here's to many more...

I love close ups. She's cute. Enough said.

As I was looking through these pictures when I downloaded these, I stopped and stared at this picture and almost started bawling. This right here explains why we don't want them to grow up. We don't want to miss the wonder of what they will find next. Or what will catch there attention. Childhood is so precious, it's a wonder why more people don't sit back and just relax. Soon enough they are in their tweens and then into their teenage years. I will always keep this picture to remind her that once, there was nothing more great than bubbles.