We love to stay at George's house!

We love visiting George's house.  I think it has become a family tradition for the simple fact we seem to make our way South each year.  We head that way simply for the summer heat.

Andrew spent as much time as he could in the pool. The weather was pretty great, although I wouldn't mind it being a little hotter.  It was in the high 80's.  I simply love the heat.

George's house.

Dave brought the Wii along.  We spent plenty of time all racing Super Mario Cart.  We all love trying to beat one another with sheer speed.

We even spent a night at the bowling alley.  The kids loved the idea, but quickly lost interest once they realized that it's not as easy as the bowling on the Wii.

If we weren't in the pool you can bet we were eating!  We made sure to stop at all our favorite places, like the Pizza Factory, with their large breadsticks.  Really yummy.  We also had time to try out a few new hot spots.

Hot Chocolate! My favorite, and it quickly became everyone else's as soon as I ordered it.  We had another great year in St. George.  Can't wait for next year...maybe even sooner!

Our first Zoo visit of the year!

 

We made it to the zoo for the first time this year.  We love to go in the afternoon because there aren't huge crowds.  How many  Great Apes can you see in this picture?

 

The kids love to see Zuri, the baby elephant.  She is growing a bit faster than the kids.  I am sure glad my kids don't gain weight as fast as she does.

 

Andrew LOVES the train.  He would love to ride it for hours at a time.

 

The girls favorite ride is the merry-go-round.  

 

It's hard to believe but we were the only ones at the play ground at the zoo.  We packed dinner and spent the evening there until closing.  It was exciting because Dad was able to meet us at the zoo after work. We had a great family day together.

Spring Fever

We went to visit our friends, the Carter's.  We were all experiencing spring fever and decided we needed a family trip to cheer us up.  The kids all had a great time playing with each other and Mitzi and I enjoyed our time spent together.

Olyessa and Katelyn really enjoyed playing the piano.  Olyessa taught Katelyn a duet that they could play together.  I hear Katelyn play one part of the duet everyday now that we are home.  (She plays it over and over again!)

Andrew and Ben had a great time together.  They were fishing together.  Andrew's Dad was on his own trip fishing for the weekend. 

On our way home we stopped in Honeyville to see Grandma and Grandpa.  Aubrey asked Grandpa for a ride in the Rino.  Grandpa couldn't say no.  So off they went on a tour of the town.  They all came back saying Grandpa went down a really steep hill and had them all screaming in the back.  Then Aubrey and Grandpa disappeared for a while, so we sent Katelyn looking for them.  She found them out back with Aubrey swinging on the swings. Andrew joined them. Grandpa does have a soft spot for his grandkids. 

Aubrey is learning how to ride her "two wheeler". (She likes to call it her two wheeler.)  She is doing a really great job. She has almost mastered it and in such a short time.   Great job! We are so proud of you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Katelyn got a fun new haircut last Friday.  She has been asking me to cut it for weeks.  I thought it was just a phase that would fade quickly, but she really wanted it short again.  I am glad she talked me into letting her do it.  She looks really cute and grownup.

The newest member of the family....Dribble the fish

Katelyn is now the proud and responsible owner of her friendly Betta fish named Dribble.  I know it's is hard to believe that the day has come that the Kotter family would have a pet of any kind.  It all started out so innocently, with the girls deciding that they no longer wanted to share a bedroom.  We began to move Aubrey out of Katelyn's room and then Katelyn realized just how lonely she might be without Aubrey.  She asked for a dog... that wasn't going to happen (obviously) so her next idea was a fish.  I think she just happened to ask on the right day because Mom and Dad were feeling very empathic to her loneliness and said we could go and look at the fish to do some pricing of the cost of a fish.  You can see from the picture what that turned into, yes the newest member of the family, Dribble.

The winter continues even into the early March.  The kids had a blast making this snowman with their dad on Saturday.  Unfortunately the snowman melted very quickly.  It was a puddle of slush by Sunday.  Andrew has been very upset about his snowman and continues to ask Dave and I to fix it, over and over again.  We often sing the primary song to him, "Once their was a snowman" at night before he goes to bed.  We tried to tell him the snowman melted small, small, small.  He seemed to comprehend what we are saying until he saw the puddle of mush and started all over with, "fix snowman".  Just another thing to torment his mind with the snow!

Happy Birthday Katelyn

 

Katelyn had a birthday full of fun, family and friends.  Check out my creative birthday cake.  It took me all day to come up with that idea.  I like to keep things simple.

 

Katelyn has a lot of fun cute friends.  It always makes me happy to know Katelyn has such good friends!

I loved how Aubrey wanted to be a part of everything.  She kept up with the big girls all night.

 

We played a lot of fun games.  The party had a secret agent theme.  The girls spent the night solving crimes, clues, and riddles.  This game was a who's who.  The girls had to determine who's baby picture belonged to who.

 

The Pink Ladies vs. The Football Players

The agents needed to change their identities and quick!  This was a big hit at the party.  There is nothing better than dressing up like a goof ball and running around the house!

 Katelyn loves her new snuggie.  She loved all of her presents.  A big Thank You to everyone!

 We also celebrated her birthday with Grandparents Sunday afternoon.  Yea! More presents! A special thanks to Great Grandma Munns and Uncle Cory for coming to our celebration.

Aubrey and Andrew each received a little something extra special.  Thanks Grandma Mona.  The Thomas Engine whistles and plays the Thomas theme song.  Can I just say that I woke up this morning to the Thomas theme song over and over again... it was at least a good hour this morning of Thomas......Thanks Grandma Mona, I think.

my little girl's growing up

 

Katelyn has wanted her ears pierced for a long time, call me old fashioned but I wanted to wait until she was old enough that she could enjoy wearing earrings and take care of her ears by herself.  So I have always told her at the age of 9 she could get her ears pierced.  I think by the time she was nine I was more excited than she was to get it done.  My plan almost backfired on me- she was so nervous and scared.  I think she had a little too much time to think about things.  She was pretty determined until the last few seconds in the chair and then she changed her mind, "I don't want to do it!"  By that time it was a little too late, I took her hand and said "look at me, you will be okay".  One, two three and she was done!

 

Katelyn's best friend Ally also wanted to get her ears pierced.  So Heather and I had planned our big trip together.  Katelyn was first and by the time it was Ally's turn I think she wasn't so sure about it.  Thank goodness for moms!

 

Here is Ally right before, and Heather appears to be holding on for dear life. 

I think Ally couldn't squeeze her moms hands any harder.

And here are our two girls with their beautiful new earrings!  (They choose matching earrings.) After it was all over Katelyn said, "I am so proud of myself!"  I was proud of her too. 

Super Boy!

It's great to be 2!

 I have wanted to take a picture of AJ in his super boy jammies before he out grows them.  He has loved these jammies and it is his top pick every night.  He is so cute, when he is wearing his super boys he raises his hands high above his head and says..."Super Boyyyyy!" I am going to miss these jammies when he gets older.

 These jammies even come with a super boy cape and boots.

Our little ones had their first sleep over all together in the family room.  They were so excited to sleep together.  Unfortunately the sleepover only lasted 45 min.  Andrew thought if it more as play time than sleep time.  Maybe when he's a little older we will try again.