Quinn's Birthday

Quinn turned nine!! For her birthday her Grandparents took her out shopping.  She got an adorable outfit and went out to dinner where she shared a peppermint milk shake with Grandpa!

She had a few of her cute friends over for a "Shopkins" party.

They played Bingo...

and this funny game where they ran around and tried to attach clothes pins to each other.

Quinn has such nice friends and they all had a lot of fun together!

Snow Camping

Our stake tries to do a yearly scout snow camping trip but the last few years there hasn't been enough snow. That was definitely not a problem this year! Mark was able to take Collin and two of his friends and they basically camped in a blizzard. Mark and Collin slept in one tent and his two friends slept in another. Mark said at like 3:30 in the morning he heard, "Brother Wright.... Brother Wright... can we get up?"  Mark yelled at them "No,go back to sleep!" Then like 30 minutes later, "Brother Wright, can we get up now?"  HA!!

In the morning they woke up to eight inches of new snow! Collin loves to camp and to be outdoors and this trip was no exception!

Collin stayed up late with his friend digging holes.

Presidents Day

Mark and I took the kids to one of our favorite parks for a couple of hours on Presidents Day.  He and Collin played basketball while Tate rode his hot wheel and the girls ran around.

Little Things

All the kids got sick at the end of Christmas break so we had a lazy Saturday where we all sat around the house.

We made home made ice cream in our fancy new ice cream maker!

It even snowed... a little.. and they canceled church!

There is something about a stack of books that makes my heart happy.  I got a few books on Russia to help me get ready for our trip and Gracie got a book that she's been waiting for. Collin, Gracie and Quinn all just finished Harry Potter and they loved it!

Christmas Break 2015

We had so much fun over Christmas break this year! As usual Mark was able to take the whole two weeks off.  One day we went sledding with the Lublins.  We didn't have snow gear so I almost froze, but the kids didn't care.  They had three long hills that you could wait in line to use but the kids went off to the side and found a small hill with a jump that they had more fun sledding down.

On another day we went downtown to look at the star wars themed gingerbread houses. Then we did the carousel.  Collin didn't want to ride it this year, which is just another reminder that the kids are getting older no matter how hard I try to keep them little!  I did talk him into riding it though to help Tate who was scared and trying to jump off the horse in the middle of the ride. Then we took the monorail over to the Seattle Center and played on the big playground. It was freezing but the sun was out and it felt good after all the rain we've had.  Then we walked down to Pike Place Market.  It was CRAZY busy so we didn't stay long but it was fun to see the gum wall starting again and we even tried to get the token picture on the pig out front.

We had some friends over for New Years Eve to eat and play games. We had pizza and all kinds of treats.  One of our friends brought bacon wrapped tater tots - and they were so weirdly delicious! We played Reverse Charades and had some good laughs, and watched the ball drop in NYC on TV.  Most of the 16 kids even made it until midnight!  I am grateful for good friends.

Cousins and Fun in the Sun!

We went to my parents house for dinner on Sunday. It's always so fun when we all can get together and laugh and eat and the kids can run around crazy! I love that these cousins love each other so much! We missed Rosa who was in Arizona helping take care of her dad who has been ill. Collin and Rocky and Tate

We got our baby fix...

Sundays are big days for Tate. He has to go to church and be a holy terror then onto Grandma and Grandpa's house where he has to reek all kinds of havoc. He finally just leaned over and fell asleep on Kyle.

Since Monday was Presidents day the kids didn't have school. With Rosa out of town and Mark working, Casey and I decided to take advantage of the record breaking sunshine that we have been having here in Seattle and surprise the kids with a little adventure. My kids have been begging me to take them to see the troll under the bridge. Since neither Casey or I have ever seen it we thought it would be fun to go and then have a picnic at the locks. We all squeezed into our van which was an adventure in of itself and headed down. Here's the troll in all his glory, reaching out from under the bridge. Boy, was it dirty under there!

He was covered in chalk drawings...

The kids climbed all over him. That is a big troll!

Cute kids up on top.

Monica! You can pick your nose and you can pick your friends but you can't pick your friend's nose!

Here they are eating their peanut butter sandwiches.

And here we are at the locks watching the boats move from the fresh water of Lake Washington into the Puget Sound.

Quinn's Baptism

This beautiful girl was baptized this month!

Isn't it such a blessing to have amazing, righteous grandparents? Quinn is so lucky to have these four awesome people in her life!

It makes my heart so full when I think about all the people who love my children and are there to help them grow and learn! Like her thoughtful primary teachers...

and her sweet Aunt who gave the talk on the Holy Ghost.

Love these two!

I'm so lucky to be this sweet, crazy little girl's mom!