All Because Two People Fell in Love

2011-07-10T21:28:00.000-07:00

God Bless America.......

This year we took the family up to Estes Park to celebrate the 4th of July!! We had a great time, we got up there early set up a little picnic and then went into town for some Estes ice cream, slide, and go carts. The firework show was awsome turned out to be a great 4th of July!!

While Waiting for the fireworks to start we celebrated with sparklers and got all decked out in our glow in the dark necklaces and braclets.

The Kids fav was the big Slide!!

We even got Grandma on the go carts :)

Land That I Love

2011-07-10T20:46:00.000-07:00

Dance Recital 2011

Billboard #1 Hits

Kaydra this year was in 4 dances. She danced ballet to "Hotel California" jazz to "Heartbreaker" and Hip Hop to "Jump" and new this year she did Ballroom she learned her first cha cha to "Fireflies" it was soo cute. I think her favorite this year was hip hop!!

Brooklyn was in 3 dances this year. She danced ballet to a piano version of "All the Small Things" her jazz dance was to "Material Girl" it was soooo Brookyn she got to be sassy wearing a pink sparkely dress and she did a hip hop dance to "Hangin Tough"

2011-04-10T14:35:00.000-07:00

Today Kaydra bore her first testimony in church. I have mixed feelings about letting kids bare their testimonies, maybe some of you can give me your feelings on this, but we have been talking about testimonies alot with her because this year she will be baptized!!! To get her ready for this I just asked her how she feels when we go go church? I asked how she feels when we pray or have family home evening or read our scriptures. She said she felt like none of these were bad things the church is asking us to do and I feel good when we do it and I told her that was the beginning of her Testimony. She got up today and said "I know this church is true. I know God lives. I know my mom and dad love me." It was very sweet and talking about testimonies and baring ours to her has helped strengthen mine. I am so thankful for our church and the way it teaches us to live!! Love you Kaydra

2011-04-06T20:52:00.000-07:00

A Trip Under the Sea!

The kids, Steph and I took a trip down to the Aquarium. The kids were so excited!!

When we first got there, there were all these bubbles in the air, kids probably would have been happy just staying and playing in the bubbles all day.

We had such a good day, but there were definitely some highlights. One of our favorite parts was feeding and petting the sting rays. Kaydra was the only brave one to feed them and Deker pretty much just wanted to splash in the water but they were so fun like little puppy dogs wanting to be pet.

This was Drakes highlight of the day, seeing Sharks. He thought they were "so cool"

Mystic MERMAIDS!

And of course the girls's highlight was the Mermaids. They put on a little 20 min show and then let the girls take pictures with them. Brooklyn was in Heaven.

2011-04-06T13:40:00.000-07:00

So one thing we have started this year is...

celebrating each and every holiday no matter how small

with FOOD!!!

One of my favorites was Valentines Day. Emily and I had a mystery dinner for the fam. It was soo much fun. Each food item or utensil had a code name like "puppy love" which is crush soda or "Cold Shoulder" was ice cream. Each person ordered 3 items so some got a fork with spagetti sauce and icecream. It was so funny, kids really got a kick out of it! We also had so much fun with St. Patricks Day. Kids woke up to find the Leprechan had hidden all of their green clothes for school and they had to go on a scavenger hunt to find them and the pot of gold :) That night we had a fun dinner with Emily and her kiddos Wearing Green!!!!

And then of course April Fools day. I tricked the kids and made little meatloaf muffins and put mashed potatoes on top that looked like icing and then the dessert looked like chicken nuggets ketchup, peas and carrots and mashed potatoes, when really it was cheesecake nuggets rolled in graham crackers with strawberry sauce as the ketchup and ice cream with carmel sauce that looked like mashed potatoes with gravey. I also set the table underneath the table. The kids thought it was pretty funny especially when they thought they were getting dessert first.

2011-01-16T20:53:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY dRAkE

Drake turned 3 on August 22nd!!!

Drake's favorite color is Blue

His best friend is his cousin Taiden

He loves playing with any and all superheros

His favorite superhero is Spiderman

Drake's favorite food is everything!!

We love you Drake!!

2011-01-16T19:50:00.000-08:00

We're going to the Zoo

How about you

Any Resemblance????

On Brooklyn's Birthday we were able to go to the Omaha Zoo. It was so fun to be with all the cousins. Sure it was a million degrees and for some reason the entire zoo seemed to be uphill, but the good news is us adults were able to sweat off 10lbs while pushing around all these kiddos.

Did I mention we had to push uncle Cortney around too in a wheelchair. He had just had knee surgery

There were a total of 12 children with us so as you can imagine it was hard to keep track of them all. We tried the buddy system but somewhere in the mix my little Brooklyn on here birthday go lost. We were all frantically running trying to find her when one of the workers picked me up in a little golf cart and drove me to her ( yes she was that far away) We both ran to eachother tears in our eyes. Poor little thing was crying and scared. The only good part was she got a free icecream out of the deal which pretty much made it all worth it to her, me on the other hand wouldn't let her go the rest of the day soooo scary!!

2011-01-09T22:06:00.000-08:00

Deklin...This pretty much sums him up
He had just finished his bath and just got fresh jammies on when he decided he just wasn't quite done :)

2011-01-09T21:15:00.000-08:00

Aunt Debbie and Paul

came to visit this summer. Since Debbie is still a child a heart herself

my kids had an absolute blast with them.

We took the kids to a splash park in Loveland near Grandpas house. This park is huge we took lunches and just watched Grandpa play :)

Thanks Debbie and Paul for a fun-filled weekend!!! We miss you

2010-11-28T17:14:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our Thanksgiving Feast!! Hours and Hours to prepare and only minutes to eat!! Sure looked pretty for a few minutes anyway

We sure had lots of fun preparing though! It started with a little Maceys Day Parade and ended with a girls night out to the movie "Tangled" which by the way is sooo cute. We had a very relaxing Thanksgiving day. I'm very Thankful for my Family and for all the wonderful friends in my life.

2010-10-17T19:53:00.000-07:00

6 Walker Girls!!!!

All of the girl cousins from Iowa came out to visit and stayed with us for a week. With six girls under the same roof for a week, I think we know how the week went. It was a giant best friend slumber party!! We all had so much fun that I think this will become a tradition each summer. (although next time it will be in Iowa at Brenda's house :) )

We of course spent almost every waking moment at the pool.

And when they weren't swimming they were eating. Don't let these faces fool you they can put away the food.

We also loaded up the candy and popcorn and took our sleeping bags to see Toy Story 3 and The Sorcerers Apprentice at the Drive-In.

I would say we had a pretty wonderful week! Thanks Girls

2010-10-17T11:20:00.000-07:00

Summer Break!!

Summer was filled with swimming, sleeping in, parks, BBQs and friends and family!!! Gotta love summer time :)

2010-10-17T10:41:00.000-07:00

Happy 7th Birthday Kaydra

Kaydra's favorite things

favorite color is blue.

favorite sport to play is Soccer

favorite toy is her American Girl doll (Bella)

favorite food is Strogenoff or lasagna

favorite thing to do is write stories, ride bikes and play with friends, she also loves to dance her favorite is hip hop and she loves gymnastics. Kaydra wants to learn and be in everything. She loves to read. Her favorite books right now are the Magic Tree House series or the Junie B. Jones books.

Her best friend is Brynlee.

Kaydra woke up to streamers and her favorite breakfast, waffles with strawberries.

That night she got to have her friends over for a sleepover!!

We love you Kaydra!!!!

2010-10-17T10:30:00.000-07:00

It Happened........

I turned 30 :(

I didn't think that I was the type to get sad over my age, but this was really a tough one just the

sound of 30 is really ugly. I just can't believe that I have been married for 9 years with now 4 children seriously where did the last 10 years go? My sweet husband not only surprised me on my birthday with a cake and all of my closest friends and family, but he also sent me on a relaxing trip to...........

The BAHAMAS

What better way to spend a relaxing girl trip then with my two favorite gals, My sister and my sister-in-law Talia. We had so much fun. It all started with a Red Eye flight to somewhere with a four hour layover

..........and then a bus ride

and then finally after traveling all night we made it on to our beautiful ship. The Carnival Imagination (note to self travel during the day next time.) As we filed onto this ship literally like a herd of cattle they stop you to take a picture of everyone your traveling with as we looked around everyone was dressed to impress and ready to get their party on and not only that but 95% were black, so here we have 3 of the whitest girls you can get that had been traveling all night long sooooo needless to say I'm glad we don't have a copy of that picture :)

This was the view from the top deck.

We spent our days sleeping in, reading books, soaking up the sun and then partying at night, ok when I say party I really mean Talia and I watched and laughed as we made Stephanie volunteer for anything and everything!!

there she is on stage!! Here she was doing battle of the sexes, we made her volunteer to shake her thing in front of lots, she also sang "Any Man of Mine" on karaoke night with Talia. She kept us very entertained!!

The next morning we reached the Bahamas.

We played on the beach and swam in the ocean all day.

We had some time to kill before our flight from Miami

so we decided to visit the aquarium. I think this was one of my favorite parts of the trip.

But all good things must come to an end. Thanks girls for making it a wonderful trip!!!

(May 2010)

2010-10-17T10:07:00.000-07:00

Dance Recital

The theme this year was "Colors" so each dance had something to do with a color. Kaydra did a ballet to "Wonderful World" she also did a hip hop to Micheal Jackson's "Black or White" and both girls did a Poms dance to "Think Pink." Black or White seemed to be the hit of the night!!

This was Brooklyn's first year doing a poms dance and she did great!! Brooklyn also did a tap dance to "Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" She stole the show. She new every step perfect without help and did it with a huge smile on her face!! We ended the show with everyone doing a finale ribbon dance to Glee's "True Colors" Ended up being a very good show :)

2010-07-10T22:16:00.000-07:00

Today My Whole Family and I witnessed how fragile life really is and how we need to enjoy and be thankful for our life because in a split second it can all be over. Today we were headed to the Greeley Mall to finish shopping for a birthday present when we saw a man drive his truck straight into the middle of VisionWorks store. Cort immediately jumped out of the car and ran as fast as he could (on crutches) to try and help. I got on the phone with 911 and ran up to find a little boy screaming "Where is my mom, Please find my mom." There was so much smoke because the tires were still spinning that noone could find her. We found out later that 2 people lost their lives due to the accident, one of them was the mom of that boy. One minute they were shopping, the next that little boys life turned upside down.

2010-07-07T23:07:00.000-07:00

Wow, These past 5 months have gone by in somewhat of a blurrr. We decided to move my Dance Studio out of the Conditioning Spa and venture out on my own, so within the last few months I have signed a lease on a new building for my studio, moved my family to a new house and on top of all that Cortney tore his ACL and both inside and outside cartilages playing football, so 3 days after we move to our beautiful new home he had to have knee surgery. So I have been running solo trying to get our house together and take care of the fam. Been super fun, but I don't think we will try and ever take that much on in the future. We are finally headed in the downward slope of things, thanks to my family and friends who have helped us so much thank you (phew!!) and now just trying to enjoy the rest of the summer with our kiddos. The neighborhood that we moved into has a pool just 2 blocks away that we live at. Cort is doing better but has another 4 weeks on crutches :( Darn it I have to do man jobs. Now I'm trying to catch up on blogging so sorry about all the pics

My Baby Boy Turned 1

2010-07-07T22:42:00.000-07:00

I can't even believe how fast year has gone. He is the sweetest little ball of baby fat that I have ever seen. Deker's top 10 favorite things are

1. Food
2. Screaming
3. His mommy
4. Having mommy carry him (every where)
5.Balls
6.Trying to keep up with his brother and sisters (Kaydra takes him everywhere)
7.Bath Time
8.Follow mommy around and hanging on her legs
9.Food
10.His doggy, Jacko

Even though he is still not walking and has absolutely no teeth he can sure get around and you wouldn't believe what he can eat :) He sure is learning so much. The kids have sure taught him how to scream. You wouldn't be apart of the Walker family unless you know how to scream. For his birthday we just had a little party of close friends and family. His favorite present I would say were the balloons. Little Deker we love you lots!

2010-07-07T22:37:00.000-07:00

Kaydra's first grade field day!!

She had soo much fun with relay races and water games. They went at it all day long. Definitely a day to remember.

2010-07-07T22:03:00.000-07:00

Happy Mothers Day!!

At Brooklyn's preschool they celebrate mothers day with a little tea party. It's so fun we got all dressed for a day together. They each made us a self decorated pot with a flower and my favorite part was they filled out a questionnaire about their mom.

What's your moms name? Miss Amber

How old is your mom? 14

What color is your moms hair? yellow

what is your moms favorite food? chicken

What does your mom like to do? play barbies with me

I love my mom because.... plays with me

Thanks little bean I love you!!!

2010-07-07T20:55:00.000-07:00

LEaDer DAy!!

Brooklyn had her very last preschool leader day before she enters Kindergarten yay!! We got the idea from a friend to make little miniature hamburgers and french fries with a miniature shake. the hamburgers were made from two vanilla waffers with a peppermint patty in the middle rolled in green coconut Sooo cute here are some pics.

2010-07-07T20:18:00.000-07:00

AMERICAN GIRL DOLLS!!!

For Christmas the only thing Kaydra really wanted was an American Girl Doll. I guess I was just testing to see if she would really play with it because we all know that these dolls are not the cheapest. So for Christmas she got the Generation Doll from target. Well a brand new American Girl Doll store opened up in the spring and she absolutely loved her doll minus the hair so Cee Cee and I decided to take Brynlee and Kaydra out of school for a day and have a girls day down at the new American Girl Doll store. It was sooooo fun and it was a surprise. The girls had no idea what was going on.

Here is the video of us telling the girls :)

The store was surprisingly busy for a week day. We were shoulder to shoulder with all ages of girls. We couldn't believe it. It was a little overwhelming but in the end they each picked a doll that looked like them. Brynlee got the Julie doll and Kaydra named hers Bella. This will definitely be a day I will never forget hopefully they won't either :)

2010-06-02T21:08:00.000-07:00

E a S T e R S u n D a Y!!

Here are the kiddos enjoying their Easter Baskets. They all got new swim suits and pool toys and sun glasses. Everything they need to begin the summer!

We ended the Easter holiday with a few relay races.

2010-01-15T19:43:00.000-08:00

2010....

Here we come

Every New Years Eve we spend in Sioux City, Iowa with Corts fam. We get all our friends and family and go to the church for an entire night of fun and games. We play in the gym and set up bunches of wiis and board games and just eat and play. It's always tons of fun, and the kids have a million cousins there so every night is a party night.

Happy New Year!!

2010-01-15T19:15:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!!

Here are some fun pictures of our Christmas Morning. The rest of the day we just played and played and played

2010-01-15T18:48:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve......

started with a little bit of sledding

Christmas Eve is just as great as Christmas morning! We had such a fun day. In the morning we delivered all of our goodies, and then took off to play in the snow!

My mom every year makes an awesome dinner with Prime Rib, we read the Christmas story and then took off to look at some beautiful Christmas lights. Kaydra had been tracking Santa on the computer all day and her only hope was to be able to see him!

Kaydra and I promised each other that if we heard him we would wake each other up, so right before I went to bed I heard his jingle bells so I woke Kaydra up and we were able to catch a peek of him :)

2010-01-15T18:19:00.000-08:00

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!

I absolutely LOVE this time of the year! I love the decorations, the food, the music, and just the whole spirit of Christmas! We always have so much fun baking and decorating. This year I did the smartest thing and bought this cute little gingerbread house already made all we had to do was the fun part, DECORATE and of course eat the candy!!

The only thing I dread doing are the Christmas tree lights, it always takes us forever to get them just right, but it did look beautiful!

2009-12-05T09:54:00.000-08:00

A Day with Brooklyn...

Everything in Brooklyn's world is pink and sparkly so if her brother had any chance in playing with her well then he needed to be pink and sparkly. So it started with a little makeup

Which then led to Brooklyn dressing Drake in a leotard and skirt

which then led to a full blown princess. Here they are holding hands and dancing at the ball, later that night Cort reintroduced him to his batman dress up :)

2009-12-05T09:24:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I have so much to be thankful for! I think this year was one of the most enjoyable Thanksgivings I've had in a while. It was nice and relaxing, Corts mom and Dad and sister came and then my sister and mom and Rich came. Cort played his Turkey bowel all morning while we watched the Macey's Day Parade and cooked all day was lots of fun with all of us together. Cort entered a football tournament that morning and actually ended up winning the whole tournament which of course was the highlight of his day!

Here is a picture of our cute place settings my kids and I made the cute napkin holders with each of their hands. This was the first Thanksgiving at my house and it was alot of fun!

Drake and Grandma took a break from all the cooking :)

I am so thankful for family and all that they do for me! It is so nice to be surrounded by people who love you! I am so Thankful for my husband who works so hard to provide for us and who is such an example of spirituality. He helps us all to be better. I am so thankful for my Children and the joy that they each bring to my life. I am Thankful for my Heavenly Father and this gospel

Pumpkin Patch

2009-12-03T10:42:00.000-08:00

My Sister, Cort and I took the kids to our favorite pumpkin patch the Frizlers. Last year if you remember we received a lifetime V.I.P. pass because they dumped my pregnant self out of their little barrel train ride while holding Drake. It was really awesome, it came in very handy this year unlimited rides for free for the kids!! No accidents this year just a few fun pics to enjoy.

2009-11-08T08:13:00.000-08:00

Mr. Man is 5 Months Old!

"Whats that smell?"

I can't believe my baby is 5 months old already. Time has flown by. Deklin is just a big butter ball of joy. He is one of the happiest, fattest babies I have ever had. He has brought so much joy to our home. The kids absolutely adore him. Brooklyn spends every minute trying to make him laugh. Deklin is so use to caos around him that he hates it when noone is around and it's quiet. No huge milestones yet except he constantly needs to be entertained with toys or talked to. We love you Deklin Bo!

2009-11-08T07:53:00.000-08:00

CuTesT KIdS!

2009-10-31T19:29:00.000-07:00

HaPPy HaLLoWeeN!

This year Drake was Batman and Deklin was his partner in crime Robin, Kaydra was Super Girl and Brooklyn of course was the fairy Thumbalina. We started out at the church doing a little trunk or treat and then finished it up around the neighborhood. Turned out to be a nice night despite the blizzard just two days before :)!

2009-10-29T16:35:00.000-07:00

SURPRISE!

In the 8 years I've been married to my husband, I have never ever been able to surprise him until NOW. I pulled off an awesome surprise party for his 30th birthday with the help of all of our friends!! I told Cort we were going out on a date for our anniversary at Dave and Busters which his favorite place on earth, when we got there over 30 of our closest friends and family were all there to yell Surprise. this is a picture of him just coming in. The best surprise was that his brothers drove all the way from Iowa to help with the surprise! This was a couple months in the making and was almost blown when on the way down I kept texting everyone to make sure everything was taken care of and to let people know how close we were. Now I'm not much of a texter so he stole my phone demanding to know who I was texting so much. Due to the horror in my face he gave the phone back and fell for a silly cover story :) It ended up being a great surprise! Thanks everyone it was awesome. Here are a few fun pictures of our surprise evening at big kid Chuckie Cheese!

2009-10-29T15:08:00.000-07:00

TaKE mE oUT to tHe ball GamE

For Corts 30th Birthday we went to the rockies game with the whole fam! We had sooo much fun. The kids thought it was pretty cool. You should have seen the luggage we had in order to keep everyone happy :)

Drake made friends with everyone up and down the rows. He kept waiting for a FOuL ball to come his way!

Everyone had fun except Brooklyn who said "I don't get it, it wasn't that much fun we just sat there."

Lets be honest the real reason we go to the baseball game is for the hotdogs and cottoncandy. i wouldn't be a GaME without it!

#1 FANS

2009-09-21T07:36:00.001-07:00

Are you running a DAyCarE here?

I frequently get asked that question whenever I go in public,

or if anyone comes to my house. I am a little busy, but who isn't.

We have alot of fun. Here are a few silly pics with the kiddos.

uh can someone tell me what's going on here?

2009-09-20T21:14:00.000-07:00

A Day with the Fam

Today we went and celebrated my Grandmas 84th birthday. (I know scary Deklin almost hit the floor) we had a picnic at a beautiful park and enjoyed just being with family! beware it was picture day so there are lots of pics to follow.

Papa Joe and his cute Grandkids

Nicole, Papa Joe, Maddy and kids

with only a few melt downs ha ha

even little Dek had a good time

2009-09-20T21:01:00.000-07:00

She's Off to the First Grade!

I can't believe my baby is off to a full day of school. It is different having her gone all day long. This year she has Miss Hiatt. Kaydra loves her the first thing she said was she is soo pretty :)

This Kaydra being all shy on her first day.

2009-09-20T20:06:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Drake!!

Drake turned the terrible 2 :) He woke up to silly string and a yummy birthday breakfast!

We played all day at the pool and then came home to cake and presents!

Drake's Top 10 Favorite things

1. Scooter rides with Dad (scoot scoot)

2. Cars

3. Balls

4. Throwing anything and everything

5. Sucking his fingers with hand in his belly button

6. Fruit

7. Shoes

8. Being Destructo

9. Being outside

10. Dancing with his sisters

2009-08-09T20:20:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Brooklyn!!

My little princess turned 4 on the 29th! Brooklyn you are such a sweetheart! Everyone loves you, and thinks you are so beautiful. You have always been so easy going, you can play with anyone, but you also just love playing by yourself, however, sweet you maybe but that doesn't mean you don't have one of the loudest voices in the world and your scream sweetheart could win an award of some kind. I love you so much!!

Brooklyn's top 10 favorite things

1. anything sparkly

2. dresses/skirts

3. jewelry

4. makeup

5. playing barbies

6. coloring

7. changing clothes

8. painting nails

9. gum

10. dancing and listening to music

This year Brooklyn invited all of her little friends for a tea party!! It was soooo cute. We went to a place called Victoria's Tiny Tea Room. We walked in and they gave Brooklyn a tiarra and a wand and they had this beautiful table all set up, but before they sat down for tea they got to go and get all dressed up in hats and jewelry and dresses, then they got to go and get their nails painted.

trying on hats

and more hats

After they had finished getting ready it was off to get their nails done!

After they were completely beautified, we sat down and had the cutest tea party.

2009-07-14T21:01:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Kaydra!

I can't believe my baby is 6 years old. Kaydra you are such a beautiful girl both inside and out! You are so smart and kind to everyone you meet! You are always trying to please us, and you have been such a big helper and example to your sister and brothers. I love you.

Kaydra's top 10 favorite things

1. Friends

2. Riding bikes

3. Friends

4. Soccer
5. Friends

6. Spongebob

7. Friends

8. Her puppy

9. Friends

10. School

As you can see Kaydra loves her friends. She is such a social butterfly. She wakes up every morning asking to go to a friends house :) This year Kaydra invited all of her closest friends over for swimming and a sleepover!

They each got to make their very own ice cream sundae with their favorite toppings. Kaydra hates cake so this was really fun. The kids really enjoyed it.

The cutest thing the girls all went and got dress up clothes on and came and did a performance for Cort and I. It was of course to Hannah Montana's Hoedown, it was so cute!!!

2009-07-13T20:30:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July!!This year we spent the 4th in Iowa with Corts family. The kids had a blast with their cousins! It pretty much rained the entire time we were there, but we still had fun with our own firework show!

Drake thought the sparklers were pretty great, however I spent the whole time trying to help him not set anyone on fire :)

We are so blessed to live where we are free! Free to live, speak, worship and become whoever we wish to become.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

2009-07-12T19:19:00.000-07:00

Blessing Day!!

We had so many friends and family come out to bless Deklin. We are so blessed!!

2009-07-11T22:25:00.000-07:00

One Week Old

I cannot explain how much I love newborn babies!! They are so sweet. I am savoring every moment since this will be our last and because it seriously goes too fast! He is a sweet boy. He is sleeping very well an night he's up every 3 hours but he eats and goes right back to sleep!

2009-07-11T21:44:00.000-07:00

DEKLIN BO WALKER
8lbs 1oz
20 3/4 in
Born May 27th

.....and then there were 6

So the story was that since Drake was so big that I was going to be induced with Deklin a week early, so my entire pregnancy I had in my head that I would have this baby on May 12th since the due date was the 19th. Well May 12th came and of course I was nowhere near ready to have the baby said my body, so May 12th went and then my due date came and went and the only thing my doctor had to say was we will not let you go later than 1 week, well to me that was 2 weeks late so 1 week later I was finally induced. I went into the hospital still showing absolutely no signs of going into labor anytime soon, so we knew this would be a long road. We got admitted into the hospital at 4:00 pm on tuesday the 26th and 12 hours later still had not made any progress, so I mentally started to break down, but after a beautiful blessing by my husband I was able to calm down and we had Deklin Bo at 11:15. Was a very long but easy labor!!

After having our sweet baby we still hadn't decided on a name. I loved the name Kyler, but Cort had a client that just named their baby that, so in order to not feel like a name stealer he wanted to spell it with a Q so Qyler. I hated it, but he didn't want it Kyler, so while sitting with our nurse in the hospital having this argument, we asked the nurse if she had any ideas and she said her favorite name was Deklin which is Irish meaning full of goodness. We loved it, so it's true the nurse named our sweet baby.

GoINg HOmE!

We had a nice stay at the hospital, but we were ready to see the other kiddos!!

The kids were so excited and just wanted to hold him it was very sweet!

We kept finding Brooklyn snuggling up with him and falling asleep!!

2009-07-06T09:57:00.000-07:00

FieLd DAy

Field Day!! Best day of the year. Brought back alot of fun memories. Kaydra had a blast, her favorite was the chicken relay!! I'm just glad she had a wonderful Kindergarten year!

2009-05-03T12:36:00.000-07:00

New York City

Almost a year ago Cort won a trip to New York through his company Axa Equitable. I was so excited because I had never been even close to the east coast before. Usually the trips are beginning of April end of March, but of course this year it was the end of April, 3 weeks before I was due. After talking with the airlines and my doctor Cort and I were off to New York.

The Best Part of New York....

The History There is amazing and all the sites.

The Worst Part of New York....

The crazy cab drivers!

The first day we got there we had a cab driver charge us way too much to get where we needed to go and I was seriously frightened for my life the entire time I was in the smelly, swine flu infested cab. The first two nights were not paid for by the company because we chose to extend our trip a little longer so we stayed somewhere cheaper, I kid you not I have never seen a smaller hotel in my life :)

Two people really could not walk side by side down the hallway and what you see in the second picture is all there is, that was the entire room. It was so funny.

But after all that, we were finally where we wanted to be

We had such a good time, yeah my ankles were 3 times their size for most of the trip, but it was worth it. We went and saw 3 broadway shows (Lion King, In the Heights and Chicago), we went to a couple comedy clubs, which were very fun, and we got to be on the David Letterman Show.

Cort and I had alot of firsts that happened in New York.....

First time for Tai food and Sushi.

First time on the subway, a very cheap and fast way to get around even if it does smell like urine. Beats taking the cab!

First time seeing a 50 year old woman dressed as wonder woman and the famous Naked Cowboy (sorry about the random people in the picture, I just had to take a picture of him because apparently this man makes like 200,000 dollars a year).

Cort and his Axa buddies insisted that they play basketball in Harlem. If any of you know my husband, you know that not many people like him while playing sports, so you can imagine how nervous I was. It turned out fine only a few battle wounds!

We really did have a good time, kinda sad it's over. We ended our trip with a tour around the city which took us to Ground Zero, Empire State building, Statue of Liberty, Central Park, Brooklyn Bridge, Madison Square Garden and just showed us all the history there in New York. It was a great way to end the trip.

Beautiful Central Park. It really was an escape from the overwhelming city.

2009-05-02T07:14:00.000-07:00

Kaydra's Dance Competition

Kaydra competed in her first dance competition in Denver! They did their "Fabulous" dance from last years recital. It was great experience for these girls. They did a great job for their first time. They judge them against a point system diamond is the highest then ruby then emerald then saphire. These girls were rewarded an emerald (2 points from a ruby), but the best part was right after performing they all asked if they could go and do it again! They had a blast performing and knew all their hard work had just paid off!

Aren't they the cutest!!

2009-05-01T14:53:00.000-07:00

CHubBy BuNny and Eggs

They Painted, stamped and dyed 24 eggs!

2009-05-01T13:56:00.000-07:00

EaSteR sUnDay

Every Sunday morning is usually a marathon for me since Cort has to be in meetings all morning so getting anywhere by 9:00 and looking nice is a challenge. This particular morning I let the kids find their Easter baskets since the easter bunny hides those also and then we would look for eggs when we got home. Of course the baskets are filled with candy which my little Brooklyn cannot resist. She hid behind a chair and stuffed her face full of chocolate without me knowing, so of course after I put on her beautiful Easter dress and spiral curl her hair for 10 minutes she vomits chocolate all over!! Thank goodness the dress from last year still fit, we were actually only 10 minutes late to church :)

Easter Egg Hunt

2009-05-01T13:52:00.001-07:00

Prom Queens!

The girls and I went shopping with Shanda to try and find her a simple beautiful wedding dress, but instead our girls found their dream dresses :)

2009-03-20T13:15:00.000-07:00

Happy Spring!!

Today is the first day of SPriNg and boy are we ready! The kids are ready for swimming, sidewalk chalk and the trampoline. They have been loving this weather!

2009-03-15T20:34:00.001-07:00

Following in my Daddy's footsteps!!

I really enjoy watching each one of my kids grow and step into each new phase of their life. Drake is my little ball of energy just like his daddy! Every morning when he wakes up the first person he wants to see is his dad.

Drake may give me a run for my money, but he is the sweetest little boy in the world!!

2009-03-15T19:51:00.000-07:00

We went on an Adventure....

We have made it a tradition that Friday is our family fun day.
After our day of fun we end by always ordering pizza and having
a movie night. We all look forward to having daddy home early
and doing something fun. This last friday we took the kids on a
hike on the Poudre trail in Ft. Collins. It was so fun! I was actually
worried how the kids would do, but they loved it. Brooklyn, my
princess, is actually who I worried about and she was the one who
enjoyed it the most. She cried when we turned around not realizing
we had to walk that whole distance back. The best part was when
it came to having to go to the bathroom. Kaydra refused, but before
I could ask Brooklyn she had her pants around her ankles ready to
go. I couldn't stop laughing, she thought it was great.

The Trail was so cool. It had little streams to cross and bridges to walk over. The girls collected everything in their pockets from rocks to pinecones. they even each found a walking stick that Kaydra found very useful in crossing the streams.Drake sat quietly in the backpack just taking everything in. I know he actually sat quietly. He never made a peep!

2009-02-11T20:49:00.000-08:00

GO, FIGHT, WIN!!

Kaydra did a cheerleading Camp at Northridge
High School with two of her friends. She had SO
much fun. Kaydra has always loved to perform
since she was only a year old.

Happy Holidays!

2009-01-23T14:04:00.000-08:00

Chrismas Morning!!!
Girls waiting SO patiently to see what santa had brought them!

Much anticipated present the NINTENDO DS!

Drake taking in ALL the presents!!

Yeah!! The DiaMonD CAstLe BaRbIE!!

2009-01-23T13:45:00.000-08:00

Brooklyn had her preschool holiday program. She is such a shy little thing!
Brooklyn told Santa that all she wants is her diamond castle barbie.

Brooklyn didn't sing one thing but she sure did do all the actions. So cute!!!

Slumber Party!!

2009-01-23T13:38:00.000-08:00

Kaydra had her first Slumber party with her two best friends (Emily Hall and Brynlee Richardson) right before Christmas.
They had a little gift exchange and then decorated their very own best friend T-shirts.

Snow Fun

2009-01-23T13:31:00.001-08:00

I think Brooklyn spent most of the time eating the snow instead of playing in it!

She did throw a few snowballs at her sister!!

Huge Slacker!!

2009-01-23T13:18:00.001-08:00

Christmas Decor!!!

I know I am the biggest slacker, so now I am playing catch up for memories sake so bare with me.
Our favorite thing is decorating for Christmas, (which literally is an all day process) We start The day after Thanksgiving. The Kids get so excited.

Drake is putting on the final touch, the star! After it's all done Kaydra asks if we could all hold hands and sing christmas carols and have hot chocolate. (I think she was thinking about the whos down in whoville holding hands and singing in the Grinch)

Happy Halloween!!

2008-11-07T10:38:00.000-08:00

After a morning of carving and painting pumpkins, the kids got ready for a trip to Neverland!

I think the cutest thing about them being Wendy, Tinkerbell and Peterpan is that they came up with it themselves! They had it all planned out. Cortney and I were supposed to be Tigerlily and Captain hook and Grandma was supposed to be Shmee!

Halloween night with Ashlynn, Taidan and Brynlee!!

Brooklyn was going around (because of her daddy) saying trick-or-treat smell my feet! It was such a beautiful night, I think the first in history that we didn't have to wear coats!!

2008-11-07T10:15:00.001-08:00

The kids and I took our annual trip to Fitzler's pumpkin patch and corn maze! Lets just say it was quite the adventure! We started out by picking our very favorite pumpkins, which as you can see the girls had alot of favorite pumpkins (we only ended up with two of those).

Then we moved to the giant sandbox filled with corn. The kids love playing in it and burying eachother. I always find corn in their pockets and shoes and drakes diaper when we get home!

Our last few stops encluded petting a pony and then the ever so exciting barrel train ride which my kids adore! We load all the kids up in this train and then Drake and I ride along with my brother and his 1 year old and Emily and their 3 month old. The train ride was awful. It was freezing the wind was blowing dirt in our mouth and eyes the kids were crying and then to top it all off the driver dumps me and Drake out of the train and then proceeds to drag us just a little bit. Yes, I know only I would fall out of a barrell train, but in the end I may have had an enormous bruise on my butt and a bloody knee (Drake was safe), but we got a lifetime V.I.P pass and everything that day ended up being free. So Drake and I took one for the team!

Christen Family

2008-09-14T17:12:00.000-07:00

Visiting Great Grandma Christen!

Kaydra has always had a special place in her heart for the elderly. She calls every elderly person a Grandma. She just loved on my Grandma the whole time we were there (which my Grandma loved) and on her way out of the nursing home she was handing out flowers she picked to all the grandmas. It was really cute.

These are my two cute pregnant cousins. They had a double baby shower this week, so we got to go visit!! My Aunt Mary has waited 20 years for this moment to be a Grandma! Congrats!

Little Maddie can't wait to be a mommy.

Kaydra's first soccer game of the season!!

2008-09-14T16:29:00.000-07:00

This video is the kids literally stumbling to get the ball!!

Kaydra Scoring!!

First Haircut!

2008-09-05T10:52:00.000-07:00

"Quit touching me Tet!"

Poor Aunt Steph was sweating by the time she got done because she was trying to chase him down and make him hold as still as she could. He did not want her touching his head!

Back To School!

2008-09-05T10:26:00.000-07:00

This was Kaydra's kinda first day of school. Notice in the background that noone else is taking pictures of their kids on their first day of school. That's because the real first day of school was yesterday!! Yep, I missed my daughters first day of Kindergarten. To my defense it was not my fault. We recieved a letter stating that it was Tuesday August 18th. The teacher was suppose to clear it up. Anyway after a very caotic, tear filled first day (not from Kaydra), she absolutely loves kindergarten. Her teachers name is Mrs. Rademacher, and she is already learning lots. Kaydra says her favorite things about kindergarten are getting to eat lunch there on Mondays and writing in her journal.

I can't believe my little Brooklyn is starting preshool! I don't think she fully understood that it was her turn until we got there and she looked and me and said "for me?" She is going to the same preschool and has the same teaher that Kaydra did. Her name is Mrs. Holmes. She is amazing. My girls have really enjoyed her.

Toothless

2008-08-22T19:25:00.000-07:00

Kaydra lost her first tooth before entering Kindergarten!! I can't believe how fast she is growing up. She ran into the bathroom where I was showering all worried that she was going to have an angley tooth. I couldn't believe that it was loose. When I told her, she was so excited, she wrote a note to the tooth fairy asking her to please let her keep her first tooth. Sure enough the tooth fairy left behind not only her tooth but a trail of pixie dust and four quarters.

Happy 1st Birthday Drake!

2008-08-22T18:57:00.001-07:00

Thanks Great Grandma Johnson for the card and the money. I love you and miss you.

Like Father Like Son! Drake was not shy, he dove right into his birthday cake!

Happy Birthday little Drakers!! Here are Drake's top 10 favorite things!!

1. Taking Baths

2. Swimming

3. Playing with balls

4. his mama

5. screaming at his sisters to leave him alone

6. Playing outside

7. Bear walks

8. sippy cups

9. playing with his sisters

10. his daddy

Riley

2008-08-16T11:59:00.000-07:00

Riley is the newest addition to our family!! He is big with lots of black hair which I get to vaccum up twice a day!! Kaydra for her 5th birthday wanted a dog more than anything. We tried to appease her with fish which she took care of so well that she thought that was proof enough that she is ready for a dog. I think she had a smaller dog in mind, one that she can boss around and carry wherever she wanted, but she does love Riley, even though he pulls her around. He is a really great dog that loves our kids and our kids adore him so I guess I can deal with the hair and the chewing.

Great Grandma

2008-08-16T11:54:00.000-07:00

We were finally able to make it back for a family reunion in Peru, Indiana. It was nice for my grandma to finally meet my cute family!!

Brooklyn's 3rd Birthday

2008-08-16T11:45:00.001-07:00

This year Brooklyn decided to have a ballerina Princess Party. She handed out a tutu wraped around a magic wand with the invitation tied around it.

She got everything she ever wanted!! She was princess for a day and we did all her favorite dance steps, and of course lots of candy and cake!

We had the party at our little Dance Studio. All the girls wore the tutu provided and we had a ballet class which consisted of princess wands and music. We had lots of fun!!!

Kaydra's 5th Birthday

2008-08-16T11:33:00.001-07:00

Birthday Girls!!!

Shoe Box Hurtles

Birthday Girl!!!!

Kaydra and Brynlee's Birthday Olympics!!

This year Kaydra decided to combine birthdays with one of her BFFs since their birthday was 4 days apart and they had all the same friends. This year we did a Birthday Olympics, it seemed appropriate since it was an olympic year. We had everything from shoebox hurtles, gymnastics, bean bag toss, hula hoop station and trampoline. At the end everyone had their picture taken by the American Flag with their gold medal. All in all it was a huge success!

Sporty Spice

2008-08-15T21:02:00.000-07:00

Kaydra is our little Sporty Spice. She really enjoyed Tennis this year!! I think my favorite part was putting her in all those cute tennis outfits. She also enjoyes T-ball and her very favorite is Soccer.

Camping with Papa Joe

2008-08-15T20:51:00.001-07:00

The girls and I went camping with Papa Joe at Bear Creek. It was sooooo hot!! It happened to be the hottest day of the year. It got up to 105. The girls had so much fun running around getting dirty. Kaydra learned to fish which she really enjoyed even though she caught nothing but seaweed. We spent most of the time swimming in a filthy lake which was freezing!! Brooklyns favorite part was collecting rocks and putting them in all her pockets which I didn't realize until we got home and washed their clothes!!

Recital

2008-08-15T18:16:00.001-07:00

My little bug

Snow White

This is my girls in their June recital. The theme was "If you can Dream" a tribute to Walt Disney. Kaydra was the opening number where her class did a ballet dance where each was a different Disney Princess. Kaydra chose Snow White. Kaydra also did a Poms dance to "Fabulous" from High School Musical 2. This was Brooklyn's first recital. She was the cutest little butterfly up there. Of Course she got a little stage fright and ended up offstage, but she sure did look cute!!!