SPRING FEVER!

This past week in California has been BEAUTIFUL! We have had temperatures in the 70's and on Saturday it was downright "summer like"! Kate went to a birthday party where they went swimming and Alyssa went to the gym and swam with some friends. Abby had a dance competition (they took two 1st place trophies and threee 2nd place...it was a fun, LONG weekend). When we got home from the competition, Abby went swimming and I had so sit in the sun and watch her. It's a hard job, but somebody has to do it and I am willing to be the one to make that sacrifice! There are a lot of stinky things about living in California, but days like Saturday remind us why we love it so much!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KATELYN!!

Is it possible that it has been 16 years since we had our first little girl enter the world?? In some ways it seems like just yesterday, but in other ways it seems like forever ago! Katelyn has been a joy to our family! She is a sweet sister, a great daughter, a fun cousin, an excellent granddaughter, a good student, a terrific friend and an all around beautiful girl!!

She started off her day by skipping early morning seminary. She went to school and got balloons and presents from several of her friends. John came home from work at a decent time and we went to Casa Orozco (Kate's favorite restaurant) for dinner. She got to open her presents. She got...a hairdryer and flat iron, a new purse, a keychain wallet (totally appropriate for a 16 year old, soon-to-be driver), and a purity ring!...and lets not forget the puppy!! We finished off the night by singing "Happy Birthday" and Kate blew out her candle on a donut...no cake and ice cream for this girl!

Katelyn didn't want a party this year, so she got some "cold, hard cash" in place of a party...smart girl!

Kate has been wanting a "purity ring" for quite some time. It is engraved with "True Love Waits" It fits perfectly!

We can't forget her favorite gift...Edward! He really is a sweet puppy...we love him to death!

Kate, Lys and Abby showing off some of Katelyn's presents!

Kate with a candy bar poster that the Laurel class brought to welcome her in! Aren't I still a Laurel?...

Katie with all the balloons her friends brought to school. They were so big that they barely fit in the van!!


Kate with her candle on a donut. It varies each year as to what the candle will be on. One thing is for sure...it won't be cake or ice cream. Where did this child come from??

HAPPY SWEET 16th BIRTHDAY, BEAUTIFUL GIRL! WE LOVE YOU!!!

HAPPY 8th BIRTHDAY, ABBY!

Last Sunday my baby turned 8 years old!! It seems like just yesterday that I was sicker than a dog waiting for the day that our sweet little girl would come into the world. She has been a joy since the day she was born. Abby got a Wii and a Wii FIT for her birthday...fun, fun, fun!! She is looking forward to being baptized on April 11. Abby had her party at "Pump it Up" on Monday. She had a wonderful time with some of her best friends. Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl!

PRESENTS!!

Abby was thrilled to get the Wii!

Abby shows off her "loot"!

This is Abby's 2nd party at "Pump it Up"!

Abby and Kayla doing the rock wall together!

Abby and Kayla...do they ever get sick of eachother? NO!!

Abby blows out the candles on her High School Musical cake!

Abby with a few of the 25 friends at her party! 21 girls...4 boys!

Katelyn just chillin'!

Alyssa and her friend Jennifer!


This weekend Abby had a dance competition. She really did a great job. They placed 1st for their hip hop, 3rd for tap, 6th for the other tap, 4th for her duet and 4th for their jazz. She had a great time. Congratulations!

Abby with Kayla (BFF's) just before their duet!

Abby is working like crazy to get her splits all the way down...almost!!

Abby's "Somedays" tap group!

Abby right before her "Lose Control" hip hop dance!

Me and Abby before her "Bugle Boy" tap dance!

John and Abby after her competition! Daddy's girl...BIG TIME!

John took Abby and Kate to a hockey game on Saturday. They had a great time. Alyssa went to a party with all of her friends. She had a fun time, too.

The puppy is doing fine. He is the cutest thing. He is potty trained and sleeps great at night. He is so much fun for all of us!

And They Call It...

11 years ago we made the rash decision to get a puppy for Katelyn. We did not plan for this. We had no supplies and when we brought the puppy home, it was a disaster. Alyssa was 3 years old and completely terrified of the dog. The puppy cried all night long for 2 straight nights. She pooped and peed all over the house. It was a nightmare!! With my lack of knowledge on raising a puppy, I quickly gave up and found a great home for her. Needless to say, this traumatized Katelyn who loves puppies beyond belief!! I made her a promise that we would get a new puppy when she was 8 years old. Well, when Kate turned 8 we got a little sister instead and I have never lived down the fact that I broke a promise. Well, yesterday I finally made good on my promise and we got Kate her long awaited puppy!

THE NEWEST THELER...EDWARD!

When we were deciding what would be a special "Sweet 16" birthday present for Kate, I knew just the thing...a new puppy!! After a month of research and a long search for the "right" puppy (you know, one that I would like too since I will be doing half of the training), we found one that I knew Kate (and the rest of us) would LOVE! We told the girls that we had a surprise for them. We did not tell them what it was and the suspense just about killed them! We drove an hour and a half to the city where the puppy was born. Before we left, I printed out pictures of the 3 male puppies that were available and instructions on "how to pick a puppy". I rolled the pages up and put a pink bow around it. When we got to the restaurant to meet my mom and dad for lunch, we gave her the package. When she opened it, she had the BEST reaction in the world. She looked shocked and then tears started streaming down her face!! We all had tears too because we know how long she has wanted a puppy!!

After lunch, we drove a few minutes to the trainer's home. There they were...the cutest little Morkies (a Maltese and Yorkie mix) in the world. We played with them for about a half an hour before Kate narrowed it down to the one she liked best. "Edward" (as in Cullen, the sparkly vampire) is literally the cutest puppy ever! He did not cry for one minute last night and goes into his crate without any problems! We are working on housebreaking and Kate is taking a major roll in this task. We are really proud of how responsible she is with Edward! It is definitely "Puppy Love"!!

I guess she can't claim that she is "Sweet 16 and Never Been Kissed"!

Grandma Margaret instilled a love of dogs in Kate. It was so great to have my mom and dad there for this fun day! Especially since Jackson died last fall! My mom fell in love with the puppies too!

The girls couldn't be happier! Abby just keeps asking "is this a dream?"

Alyssa is definitely over her fear! She loves Edward as much as anyone!!

Katie working on the house breaking...good times, good times! She doesn't mind it...she is just so thriled to have her own puppy.

When Kate decided on the name Edward, John started calling him Eddy. Naturally, that led to the name Eddy Haskell (the trouble maker from Leave it to Beaver) and now John just calls him "Haskell". Leave it to John to create a nick name!!
Miracles never cease...!!

Katelyn said getting a puppy is better than getting a car...that says it all!!

HAPPY (early) SWEET 16, KATE!! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Jonas Brother, High School Musical and Daddy Daughter Dates...Could it get any better?!

This week was fairly uneventful.  I started my training group for a half marathon that we will do in May.  It is a bummer because I am in physical therapy for my foot and I can't run...at all!!  I am just a cheerleader for our group right now.  Hopefully, I will be able to start running in the next few weeks!  

John took Katelyn to Heavenly to go snowboarding. They went up on Friday night and put in a day on the slopes on Saturday. They had a great time together.  Daddy-daughter dates are the best!

Samantha took Abby to see High School Musical on Ice.  John got us tickets in the "box" that his company owns.  We were so excited, but when we got there, we realized that the seats were great for the hockey games...not so good for ice shows.  All the equipment blocked our view.  I was able to sweet talk one of the ushers into letting us sit in some empty seats close to the front.  The seats were great!  The show was so much fun and we got to see Corbin Bleu in concert afterwards!  Abby had a wonderful time with her best friend, Kayla.  Abby was very excited because she is in charge of Mickey, her class mascot this week. She couldn't wait to take him to HSM on Ice...he loved it! :)

Alyssa had a fun weekend, spending Friday night at a friends house.  On Saturday night Kate and Alyssa went to see the Jonas Brother's 3D.  It is the same concert that they saw this summer. They had a fun time remembering how much fun the real concert was and how great it was to meet the Jonas Brother in real life!  

Short Hair, Long Drives and 2nd Grade Plays!

This week was busy and eventful. First things first...I finally cut my hair! My sisters-in-law, Anjuli and Gina, both got their hair cut short and I decided the take the final leap! I love it! It sure is a lot easier. I am getting used to styling it, but I feel like I have been taken back about 6 years when I used to always wear my hair short! Good times,good times!









Abby had her annual school play on Thursday night. It was called Character Matters. Abby was one of the lead parts. She was the witch, who was one of the narrators. She has been working for the past few months on her lines and she did a great job! Her teacher told the kids that if they got nervous they could take a deep breath and look at her and she would do her best to relax them. I told Abby that this was really good advice and that she should follow it in case she got nervous. She was very quick to inform me that the advice was not for HER it was for the kids that got nervous! Confidence is not an issue for Abby! Good Job!




Bright and early on Saturday morning we headed out for the 2 1/2 hour drive to Pilot Hill, California where my brother, Grant, lives. My nephew, Logan, was getting baptized and he asked me to give a talk and he asked Uncle John to confirm him. When we got there (30 minutes late) we rushed to change our clothes so we could get the church on time. John called from the other room "Sammie, I am hosed!" He had forgotten his white shirt. The options were slim. Grant and John are "slightly" different sizes and Grant is a non-conformist, so he had no white shirts in his closet! I was stressing out, but they ended up finding a gold colored shirt that was too big around the neck and didn't really match his pants, but was better than his black t shirt that he had with him. I was concerned that John didn't have a white shirt to perform a priesthood ordinance but my brother informed us that the "hillbillies" in his ward wouldn't even notice. They would just be impressed that we had all of our own teeth! FUNNY! It ended up working out fine and we had a wonderful time visiting with my mom and dad and my sister in law, Tanya's family! We got home after mid-night, but it was worth it! Now we are looking forward to Abby's baptism on April 11!

Winter Wonderland

We went to South Lake Tahoe for our annual ski vacation. The girls weren't able to miss a whole week of school, so John and I went up for a few days on our own. We had a wonderful time. The first day the weather wasn't too good but we still spent a few hours on the slopes. I was really happy that I remembered how to ski. In fact, we were able to go on all "blue" runs together. Very fun! The next few days were amazing! It was absolutely beautiful!


It was so cold and snowy on the first day that I had snow and ice in my hair and I even had snowflakes on my eyelashes!

During the week we drove back down to the Bay Area to pick up the girls for a few days of skiing with them. We really had a wonderful time together. Abby and Alyssa went to ski/snowboard school the first day. Alyssa was unable to go with us the next day because she had worn snowboarding boots that were 2 sizes too small, so by the end of the first day she was a little...crippled. She is a brunette...but the roots?...well you can decide for yourself. On the last day of our trip we were all able to go together and it was really a lot of fun. The girls are getting better every time we go and Kate can almost keep up with John. I just stick with Abby and Alyssa...that is just fine with me!!