Snow Day!

So it's almost the end of January and we had our first snow today. The kids were jumping up and down that they didn't have to go to school and I was crying my classes were cancelled at the gym!
Oh it's okay because I made up for it by pulling Sienna in a sled while running up and down the street with her over and over again! Then there's shoveling the snow...that is a workout right there.
Am I right?
So it ended up being fun playing in the snow even though I am not a fan of the cold...we all bundled up. Then when we were all frozen we came in sat by the fire, drank hot chocolate and ate toast.
Now they are calling me to go down and watch a movie with them...the tasks of a mom!
Sheesh! :)


The boys making a homemade ramp out of a table and a log.....

Sienna couldn't stop eating the snow...even while sledding down the street......

Love This!

Okay I just discovered this product over the weekend. I wanted to share because I think it is so yummy and healthy too.....

It's the Arnold 100% whole wheat sandwich thins. 1 roll has 5 g of protein, 6 g fiber and only 100 calories. I use them for my boca burgers or soy chicken patties but you could put anything on them. Hamburgers, turkey sandwiches, anything.

I love it when I find a good product. Just wanted to share........

Winter Blues....

I really have the winter blues today.....

I am so tired of being cold.....I feel drained of energy.....

For those of you that know me well you know I am a summer girl. I love the warmth, the sun, the beach, the pool......it just makes me so happy.

Today I am just having a blue day. I want the sun. I want to walk out in shorts and flip flops. I want to put Sienna in shorts and flip flops.....it's so much easier than coats, boots, hats, and gloves.

I want to hang out with my bestest girlfriend at the pool and let the kids play while we talk, and drink diet coke.

I want to go to the beach.....

THIS BEACH!

Or this beach would be fine too.......

I know I can't be alone on this....I know you all want it too!

Except my friends who are in toasty Arizona.....don't rub it in guys!

Potty Training

So we have started potty training a little at our house. Sienna has got one of them down! Woo Hoo! Unfortunately the second we put panties on her she wets her pants.....we gotta figure that one out. This is more Sienna doing it because I think it's a pain in the butt. I remember Cooper totally doing it on his own too. He'd take his diaper off and I would say no Coop let's put it back on. I guess when they are ready they're ready....diapers just seem a lot easier to me than being in the middle of somewhere and having to run and find a bathroom.

I walked around the corner yesterday to find this...she did her business but took her time and did a little reading while she was at it....

Wish us luck. She gets Tinkerbell undies if she gets it down....such excitement!!!!

Happy Birthday Conwey!

So it was my husbands birthday yesterday and I have come to the conclusion that when a birthday falls on a weekday it just isn't as much fun. 

We had all kinds of plans for last night and then Conwey got stuck at work, Cooper's baseball tryouts went until after 9:00 pm and we ended up with take out pizza for dinner. (that Conwey had to pick up..)

We will go out and celebrate this weekend Conwey!!!!

He did get a yummy breakfast in bed though, and lots of presents to open before work. That's a scone in case your wondering.....

Then when he got to work his co-workers had printed a bunch of funny pictures of him that I found for them and plastered them all over the place. Also making masks of them. Then had his favorite treats and pie waiting for him. Oh and I did bake him a blueberry pie which is his favorite....

10 things I love about Conwey......

1. He is soooooo devoted to his family and church.

2. If Conwey is your friend/family he would give you the shirt off his back.

3. He is a GREAT teacher.....all the youth always love love love him.

4. He is great at what he does for a living.

5. He has a love of sports....he is good at pretty much anything he tries.

6. He is fun to go shopping with and has good taste.

7. He loves his kids and especially loves having a little girl who adores him.

8. He is pretty dang funny.

9. When he is watching a funny movie there is no one on earth with a laugh like his. It always makes me laugh even when I think it's dumb.

10. He loves me even when I am being difficult.

So the party will continue and I will for sure add more pictures!

Happy Birthday Conwey! I love you!

Christmas 08

So this could be a long post because I have been so bad at posting this month. Life's been too crazy.

I guess I will start with Christmas Eve...Conwey's family has a tradition every Christmas Eve they have a big Mexican dinner...enchilada's are the favorite and Conwey's dad dresses up as Santa, he has all the kids come sit on his lap give a kiss, and get a present. It's such a cute tradition. My kids love it. We had it at our house this year...it's always pure chaos but lots of fun. Rach and Jimmy came too. We found out Conwey's sister Summer is going to have a baby and she is so sick she couldn't even make it. We missed you Summer! I always miss my family too. When I was growing up we would all sleep in the same room together on Christmas Eve in sleeping bags...it was so fun. 

First let me say that I got a phone call the night before, that one of my close friends father had been out shoveling snow the night before and fallen. Had to go to the hospital for stitches, when he got there they gave him a cat scan to check everything out and realized he had a tumor pushing on his eye (which may have been the reason for the fall) they then rushed him in for emergency surgery and he passed away. He went in for stitches and didn't come home.
My heart aces for my girlfriend. Her father was such a HUGE part of her life. They lived right down the street from him, he was always around and helping with the kids, she talked to him every day. She was actually watching Jackson when we found out about my mom passing away.
I just cried and cried because I know the pain she is going through right now.
Especially a few days before Christmas! Now every Christmas that is what they will all think about.
I couldn't help but think of Conwey's sweet dad. He is such a rock in their family. I just felt so blessed to still have him. Actually to have everyone in their family. The whole day I couldn't stop thinking about it so right before we ate dinner I had to tell everyone what I had been feeling. (you don't understand....I NEVER talk like that in front of such a large group) but I just felt so strongly that I needed to share what I was feeling.
There was a special feeling in the air that night. We got a knock on the door and the missionaries (about 20 of them were outside caroling....Conwey's mom was in tears...)
Then this year instead of exchanging gifts with each other we decided to donate to a charity...so each of the kids stood and read about what that donation would mean to the people we gave it to. Surprisingly I think they actually got it.

Then on with the Santa....



No one is too old to give Santa kisses....

Or too young.....

This is Santa's first Great Grand-baby!

The glisten in the kids eyes when they see Santa is always so sweet to me....this is Conwey's cousin Skye and her two sweet girls.

There were lots of cousins running around....Nicolas and Sienna

Noah and Sienna....

Conwey and Sienna

So on to Christmas morning.....

I always make a monkey bread (thanks Steph Wallin for the yummy recipe ) I make it every year....


Sienna came first...running in.....

Then Jackson...and Coop

And finally Hunter...

We had a nice Christmas morning...we didn't go overboard on the gifts and everyone was super happy with everything they got.


Sienna got a lot of pink and a lot of Polly Pockets (her favorite)

She even loved her pink soccer ball from her dad......

The boys got a ping pong table that goes over the pool table from Santa and have been playing it ever since....


So then we had our white elephant gift exchange with Conwey's family...it was fun although I thought a few fights were gonna break out over the rules of the trading game...who knew there would be such good white elephant gifts!!!

Can you say TIRED!!!!

Can you say CUTE!!!! (both Paige and baby Valentine)

Can you say Cousins.....typical cousins....

Handsome....


Proud new parents...Madie and Drew

Sisters Madie and Kirby

Then we were off to the Movies...we haven't ever gone to a movie before on Christmas day. It was a lot of fun (except for the rude lady sitting in front of us that I almost got into a fist fight with because she was so rude to my mother-in-law)
On the way in Sienna and Noah were holding hands...it was cute.


And pretty much held hands the whole rest of the way....

So on the way home we asked the kids what they thought about it this year...donating to a charity and doing white elephant, going to the movie, etc...they all said you know we liked it a lot. We are glad to give to the charity, and it was fun going to the movie, and we really didn't miss getting the presents we usually do from grandma and everyone....
Phew! We accomplished what we wanted to and I think ALL the mom's that do all the shopping agree (and the dad's who pay for it) I think we may be on to something!

And we actually did it! This year we made it out to see the Temple lights! It was really really crowded but we walked around and it was a great night to talk with the kids about the true meaning of Christmas.

Chevy Chase.....

Can you say Christmas Vacation House....



These pictures don't do this house justice. It is crazy. It's down the street and they have some serious Christmas spirit!
More to come on our Christmas soon........

Overwhelmed!

Okay I have been so bad at posting lately! I feel like I am drowning! There are not enough hours in the day to get it all done. How does everyone do it? 

Conwey had knee surgery the day after Thanksgiving and it has thrown us completely off. 

We still haven't even had time to get our Christmas Tree!!!! Christmas is next week!!!

We (as in all of Conwey's family) decided that this year we were going to try something new and instead of exchanging gifts with each other we were going to donate to a charity. Then for the hours and hours we usually spend opening gifts we would go do something super fun, all together as a family on Christmas day. I personally find Christmas day to be a bit boring so I thought it would be fun to do a movie, or go ice skating...something like that. 

Well let me just tell you how nice it has been to not have that hanging over my head. The Casillas Family really go all out on gifts for each other. They are super thoughtful and usually there are about 3 gifts rolled into one.

I don't think I am alone in saying how nice it's been to not have to stress, shop, wrap all those gifts!

So with that said you would think that I would be in good shape for Christmas....ummm no not even close....still don't even know what I am getting for my kids! Ahhhhh.......

Also my camera's (all three) are not working right now so I haven't been able to take any pictures for any blog posts. It is on my list of things to do to take them in and get looked at.

I hope everyone is having a lovely December and taking time to enjoy the small things and the excitement on all the kids faces....because that is really what it is all about.  

Ahhhh Christmas Cards!

Oh my gosh I do this to myself every year it seems. 

I keep putting off doing a family picture. We always try at the beach and we can NEVER get a good one. It's impossible! My sister keeps telling me she will come up and take a picture for us...there is NEVER a good time to do a picture is there....

Now it's already December 6th and I am going through my iphoto looking for anything I can possibly use of the kids.

Why do I do this? I started getting cards at the end of November from people. How do they do it?

So when you all get your cards this year please remember that I am a total slacker and I am using what ever I can find.

Next year...Next year... I will have a good picture! :)

Argggggg!!!!!

It's been a long haul!

Well we are done with Football....we have been doing football since August 1st! That is a long time!

Especially with practices every day in the summer and then going to 4 times a week in the school year....x that by 3 and that is a lot of back and forth to football!

The boys loved it though and both Coop and Jackson got to the Championship games. Sadly they did not win, but runner up is pretty good too....it was absolutely frigid outside for their games that we had back to back. Sienna and I ended up pulling the car up and watching from the car because we couldn't take it. Even Conwey was cold so it must have been cold because he is NEVER cold.

We worked on some signs for them one night....(yes I am still in my workout clothes in the picture...from the morning...life it too crazy to even get a shower some days...)

It was fun having it at the High School, with the announcer and they let the boys use the locker rooms....



Do you notice a theme with Jackson's hands...I don't get it......

I know they do look soooo cold though...


Cooper's teamWe have some great family members that came and suffered through the games...Conwey's sweet dad who was totally sick stood out there freezing watching like he has to ALL their games...such a great grandpa!!!
Rachel and Jimmy came and kept coming into the car to get warm then going back out....and Conwey's CRAZY brother Nico came in shorts...he said he didn't realize how cold it was....he is CRAZY. Thanks guys....it means a lot to the boys! Even though they don't always express it.

I have to say I am glad to move into basketball...I love basketball. It is action packed and 1 hour in and out! Not hot, not cold...just right.

Can I just outline for you my day on Saturday and then you might feel the pain with me.

8:30 have Jackson at the field warming up for his game (in the 28 degree windy weather)

10:00 Jackson's championship game (in the FREEZING COLD)

10:30 Cooper to warm-ups

11:00 Hunter to basketball practice

12:00 Cooper's championship game (Still FREEZING COLD)

2:00 Jackson has a basketball game

3:30 Jackson has a birthday party (outside at a park playing football in the FREEZING cold....WHAT???)

4:00 Cooper to basketball practice

5:00 Hunter to his football party dinner

Then Jessie collapses from the day! I need some Jessie time!!!

Sienna came downstairs looking like this...she says mom do I look pretty? Wow Sienna you sure do!! It gave us a good laugh.....

It's a good thing I think she is cute!!