HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPENCE!!

I love my sweet husband very much. I love my life with him and am so grateful for his hard work. He works hard at work and he works hard to help the rest of us be happy. He is a wonderful husband! And an awesome, fun dad!

I made this for him for his birthday. My sisters-in-law, Steph and Kelli helped me because I had never done it before. So thank you!! Then when I went to Utah for Thanksgiving my mom helped me frame it just right! How is she soooo right all the time?!! LOVE HER! And her sweet friends at the frame store that do a lot of work with her did it for me in 2 days, over Thanksgiving weekend! They are so nice and generous! But we celebrated Spence's birthday early with my family last Sunday and I couldn't wait. So I gave it to him then. So here is Spencer's birthday project....



If you can't read the writing, it says,
"Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall by my people, and they God my God. Where thou diest, will I die."
-Ruth 1:16-17

My updates from the last 6 weeks all got out of order. Kinda weird. And also, my nephew Jackson was baptized so we made a trip out to Chicago. But somehow we didn't take pictures I guess. But that was a big part of the last 6 weeks too! Go Jackson! Also, I'm printing a retraction because I misspelled "handsome" when I wrote "Handsame Q." Sorry. Mistakes happen!

A Few updates from the last 6 weeks

The Fishes and Abe bought Quince this for his birthday. Talk about a rocking present!!!

Lincoln and Auntie Grace on the "roller coaster!"

We went to Salt Lake for Thanksgiving. This is Quince and buzzin cousin Sophie at Jungle Gyms!

Quince turned 1!!

Handsame Q is happy at the zoo!

Me and the kids went to the Phoenix Zoo! LOVE IT!
Steph and Marcus blessed their new little baby Abby!

Dallas:We all went to a bounce house for Quince's, Jackson's and Marcus' birthdays since they were all in November.

Here is Lezlee saying The Pledge. She says it each day in preschool. Go Mrs. Shawni and Mrs. Brooke!! I got the idea from a friend that recorded her girls saying it and it was so cute! Lez loves watching them, Poppy and Avery, saying it in their video and asked to do it herself. She is growing up way to fast for us!

I'm so glad she goes to a preschool that still say the pledge every morning. This is what we should be teaching our kids, that we have a country to be proud of. Their generation will treat it like it is special and strong if they grow up learning to respect it.

Early Halloween Pictures

Quince is a bear for Halloween but you can't tell because he HATES the hat, which is the most adorable part of the costume. Oh well.


She had a rainbow painted on her cheek at our ward's Halloween party.

I swear she was just SCRATCHING her nose!!

Linc is a cowboy and Lezlee is Bell

Happy Halloween!

Just a few pictures of the kids to catch up for the month.

Linc kissing Quince

Lezlee doing a handstand (I don't know where she learned to cheat and use the couch?!)

Quince squinting in the sun

Fun Time with Gma & Gpa Huxtable

My parents came down to Arizona this week to visit and to do a little work. We had so much fun! We took these pictures at the mall by our house. They have an awesome 2 story carousel that the kids love, of course. Thanks mom and dad for the fun week!

Great Times!

Kasey found this great place to take the kids to play and jump around. We had a lot of fun with them, of course! Lezlee was at school when we went, so it was just time with the boys.

Speaking of Quince being accident prone!

He tried to climb out of his exer-saucer toy and wasn't entirely successful.

Our New Dog

This is our new puppy. We have a chocolate lab now that we've had for 2 years. Our poor dog, Trip, has been in need of a friend for a long time. So we finally stopped talking about it and did it. We adopted Brutus from the shelter. He is a 2 month old rottweiler. He's too small to be much of a playmate now, but he'll catch up (and then outweigh) Trip soon enough! We are all crazy about him!

Everybody thinks we are crazy to take on something new, especially a puppy. But it's worth it. (I say that now. Let's hope I can say that in a couple weeks!)

Our Handsome Lincoln

Dressed for church. Our handsome boy! We love him in blue!

I think Q is accident prone already!

How can you not laugh a lot with kids like these? Quince was crying so I went into his room to get him and he was completely stuck. His chubby ankle wasn't going to budge.

Then 15 minutes later I put him in his swing. Linc came over to me at the sink saying, "Help me! Help me! Quince! Help me!" Q wasn't crying or anything so it was picture worthy. Linc had been swinging Q and he tipped him over. Silly boys!

I can't believe how big our baby Q is getting!

Lincoln and Quince are about the same size even though they are 15 months apart. We get asked all the time if they are twins. Silly. Two good looking boys!

Okay Everyone. This is my mom's cookbook. You should all check out her website. It is the most beautiful cookbook ever! It's true talent and a lot, a lot of hard work compiled into one book. Check it out by clicking on www.thegatheringoffriends.com in my right column.

We are having a lot of fun (and yes, of course more hard work!) promoting the book. Good Luck MOM!!!!

Happy Lincoln!

I'm not always the most patient mom, or the most loving wife, or the best best friend, or the most selfless servant. Nor am I good at everything I attempt to do. But I will say this.... I am happy. I'm happy for millions of reasons.... My amazing kids that have the capacity to think that EVERYTHING is somehow incredible. They appreciate the simplest of pleasures. Take the look on Lincoln's face for example, I asked him how his cracker was that he was eating and he gave me this beautiful smile when he said, "Really good!" It's just a cracker! But he has the gift of making it seem like he just won the lottery. There is a definite reason that we are told to be like little children.

May we all recognize the good in EVERYTHING and share it with others.

1st Day of Preschool!

It seems crazy to think that our little girl has begun preschool! She has absolutely no reservations about going. She is just excited! It is the cutest place! A friend in our ward, Lisa, told me about it and said her girls were going there. Lezlee goes each morning from 8:30 to 11, then comes home and eats lunch and then crashes in her bed. It's wonderful for everyone!

Spence and I were going through her backpack on her first day (last Tuesday)and couldn't believe that we were looking at our daughters school work! Total cliche but my oh my, how the time flies!

Sweet Souls

My sweet parents were kind enough to put two of my younger sisters on a plane last week and fly them down to see me. I'm a bit spoiled considering I had only lived in Arizona for 2 1/2 weeks when they came. I missed everyone so much though! So Grace and Chlo'e came to stay and play. The problem about playing here now is that it is 110 degrees on a daily basis. So going to the park just isn't what it used to be. (But it will be sweet in a few months!) So we went to the pool when we could, and we went to the mall and rode the two story carousel. And they came with me to swimming lessons every day. Lez and Linc took lessons for the last 6 days of a session. By the time we moved here most of the sessions were over. So we were lucky to get in 6 days. There were a few days that I was really sick and Grace and Chlo'e were so kind to me. Each night they would say, "Wake me up when the kids get up so you can go back to sleep." How nice is that?! I hated being a bit out of commission while they were here, but it really helped me to get better faster because I had extra sleep and extra help with the kiddo's when we were just hanging out.

Grace and Chlo'e are two of the loveliest souls to come to this earth. They are so kind, helpful, fun, goofy, and so quick to serve. They are always looking for opportunities to help someone. So imagine how great my life is just by being their sister! They are every bit as beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside. I love them so much and can't wait for them to come and visit again soon!

Licorice Face

Screwball experienced licorice today in his car seat. Do you think he liked it?

Quince has a big head normally, but this is ridiculous! He looks like an orange on a toothpick! (Not that he is even close to being a toothpick! But the orange part is pretty accurate.)

Cookie Monster's

The kids had only been awake for 10 minutes this morning. I hadn't even fed them breakfast yet and I couldn't find Lincoln. He LOVES to play hide and seek, so I started looking in closets and the pantry and the bathrooms, all the usual places and still couldn't find him. I couldn't hear him either, which was unusual because he's always laughing when we look for him. Finally I looked over at the window to open the blinds, and Linc was sitting on the floor crouched in the corner with a bag of 3 dozen chocolate chip cookies. Lezlee joined him before I could stop her.

We Moved!

We moved to Mesa. We've talked about it for a while but didn't know exactly when we would move. And then at the end of June, we did it. We packed up our little house that Spence worked his guts off in, the little house that we had all 3 of our little beauties in, and the first little house we ever owned, and we moved to Mesa, Arizona. We are happy here. Spence is very busy with work but loving it. He is working with wonderful people and has had doors opened to him and we are grateful for the opportunity. We miss our family, as we don't have family here. Although, the Perkinson family (Danny and Kasey and their families) have opened their homes to us and made us feel very welcome and comfortable in a foreign place. It is a small world here in Mesa, everyone knows each other! I get a kick out of it all the time! Most of the times that I meet someone new, someone that I already know comes up in the conversation and they end up being related somehow or grew up in the same ward, or went to the same high school or whatever. It actually has helped me to feel more comfortable here. I know it's been so long since I have posted, I'll have to get back to it again soon!

Cute Lezlee With Mama's Headphones

It was pretty funny to put this on Linc. He's just such a boy's boy. So to see him in pink..... it was just out of place! It was funny because he had it on and was laughing at himself saying, "I'm funny!" And then he took it off and tried to put it on my head. I guess he knows where it belongs.

One of our favorite things to do is to walk to the park! Of course it is, we have 3 kids under 3 years old! They live for the park. And I love it because it's so fun to play, but they also come home and take better naps after playing hard in the sun. This is a picture of Lezlee and Quince in the swing together. She is so good to her little brother!

Q-Ball Eating Cereal

Our baby is getting so big. He has started to eat solid foods, and surprise! He loves them! He has only tried cereal so far, but its a fun start. Sorry that you can see the food in his mouth. Kinda gross! We'll teach him to chew with his mouth shut later!

Sorry, I'm kind of obsessed with the day-to-day things that my kids do. That's just the stage of life that we are in. That's what is exciting in our family right now.

David Archuleta

Waiting for David Archuleta

Many of you know that I am a big American Idol fan. I watch every week, and yes, I also vote! So does the rest of my family! So last Friday, David Archuleta came home to Utah to do a "Hometown Visit." So Maggie and I took our kids and Grace and Chlo'e to Gateway Mall where he was coming to sign autographs. We got there and realized that we'd never get through the line of people to get an autograph or meet him. So Mags decided that we wait by his limo so we could be there when he got out. Very good decision on her part! We were right there when he got out and we all got to see him. I know that Mags and I are a little old and way too married to be so excited about this. It's not like we have crushes on a 17 year old, it was just fun to be in the crowd who was all so excited! Seriously tons of screaming fans! Anyway, he walked right by us. My sister Gracie was holding Lezlee and he shook Gracie's hand and then touched Lezlee's shoulder and said, "Hi sweetie!" Wow! Lezlee, at 3 years old, hasn't stopped talking about it since! Here are a few pictures of him and the surrounding FUN and CHAOS!