Evelyn is double digit now!

The end of November Evelyn turned 10! Double digits this year... the words that came out of her mouth almost every single time she talked about her birthday. My baby girl is 10. It hasn't been that long since I had my first baby... no way. But yes it is. Evelyn is my star in the making. She wants to be famous... I need to figure out how to help her do that. She will be heart broken if she isn't discovered soon. Here are some photos that I have found on her IPod or my IPad.

 She loves scary things. She is always making herself up to be a zombie or dead or something gross.

My little baby girl is turning into a young lady and it's scaring me. I love her so much! Happy Birthday to undiscovered star!

Disneyland!!!

Brett, Me, Josh and Audrey planned a surprise trip to Disneyland for the kids. Only Mikayla and Rylee knew we were going. Brett and I told our kids we were going to St. George the weekend of Thanksgiving to spend time with Brett's parents. We went down Friday and spent the night and we celebrated Evelyn's birthday that night. Then Saturday morning we woke the kids up early and told them we weren't going to be able to do any of the fun things they look forward to doing when we go to St. George. And then we told them we were going to Disneyland instead. They were shocked at first then in denial... they thought we were joking... then once we showed them the tickets they were all screaming. We also did not tell them that Josh, Audrey and the kids were going. We just so happened to run into them at a gas station in Vegas and they were surprised again. 

Josh hasn't been to Disneyland since he was way little and he didn't remember alot. Dysen and Rylee have never been so it was so fun to be with some newbies at the happiest place on earth. Our first day at the park.

I didn't take alot of photos... shame on me. This is the next morning before the park.

Waiting to see Bug's life. What a bunch of stink bugs!

Oh yeah... Jake had to see cars and all of Cars Land. Which was really busy by the way.

Lydia on the Tea Cups

The kids after riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

Audrey and I walked with the stroller down to the castle while everyone else got to ride this Holiday festive fire truck. 

Our first time on the new Cars ride... which was amazing. The first day we waited in line for 1hour and 45 minutes. The next day we didn't ride it and the last day Audrey and I fast passed it while everyone else was off riding rides. 

We had a great trip and all the kids were really good. Jake was tall enough to ride everything but Screaming. He didn't like the big rides at first but then warmed up to them and it was nice to not have to sit out as much watching a baby. I love Disneyland and it's a lot of fun that time of year. It's decorated for Christmas... I love Christmas!

St. George, Thriller and Halloween

We made our annual fall trip to St. George to visit Brett's parents and brother. My kids are off track and we love to head south for some warmer weather and to see Thriller at Tuacahn. 

 Zombies everywhere!

Frankenstein & Frankenstein

 Chuckies

 Bubbles the Clown

 Mummies

 One thing my kids love to do in St. George is climb the red rocks. They ask every day to go climbing. They love to explore and see how high they can get.

 We've always wanted to take a picture on the Sinclair Dinosaur. Now with Jake being an avid Dinosaur lover we had to do it.

 Halloween!!! Evie wanted to be Alice from Zombieland. It was painful to buy a costume and then rip it, burn it and blood spatter it.

 Lyida my little Snow Princess!

 Jake was Buzz Lightyear and Spider Man for a little.

 Lu and baby Paul trick-or-treated with us this year.

October... what the heck!!!

So much has gone on and life is so busy. Before I  know it a whole month has passed and I haven't posted on my blog. I can't believe it's October already... my favorite time of year. I love Halloween, the fall weather, the leaves and everything else that comes with this time of year. 

We took the kids to Lagoon with Audrey and Josh's family. We haven't been in a couple of years and the kids had so much fun. I on the other hand was just starting a stomach virus that pretty much had me down and out for a whole week. I have never been that sick in my life. At one point my stomach hurt so bad I had to lay down on a Lagoon park bench... which I would never do. Here are some pics from the day.

 Evelyn, Mikayla, Lydia and Rylee.

 Evelyn the dare devil not afraid to ride anything.  These are the only 2 pictures I got of her, she went off with the older kids and we didn't see much of her.

 Jake riding the cars... classic!

 Lydia and dad having so much fun on the train.

 Lydia is so good with Jake and it helps she hates big rides... nothing like her older sister.
So I can't seem to sit still lately. I feel like I need to be challenged and not just by Jake every day. I found these Halloween candles on Pinterest and loved them. PVC pipe, hot glue, paint and a LED tea light. They were so much fun.

 At work one night I tried a Macaron cookie... not be confused with a Macaroon cookie. What is the difference you ask? A Macaroon cookie is coconut cookie with a chocolate chip in the center, originally from the United States. A Macron (in a french accent) is a sandwich type cookie that is originally from Paris. I love these little sweet gems. Of course after trying one I had to make them. Not so easy I will add. A very temperamental cookie. Everything has to be done exactly right and one little tiny thing will have a big impact on how your cookie turns out. Not to mention there are hundreds of different recipes and altitude and weather and your oven and your cookie sheet and your mixer and your age of your eggs and so on and so on. Anyway... I have had a lot of success and a few failures but here are some flavors.

 Pistachio, Vanilla Bean, Chocolate Marshmallow and Lemon Zest. I have also made Salted Caramel, Buttercream, Strawberry, Ganache with raspberry and hot chocolate. There are endless flavors and I am going to try and make as many as I can.

Oh Yeah... Lydia turns 8!!!

 In the always mad chaos of our house with starting school and dance and getting back into the swing of schedules... I forgot to post Lydia's 8th Birthday. I can't believe my baby girl is 8. She looks so happy... haha...  in this birthday party photo. She was happy but not sure where this face is coming from.

 Lydia loves Monster High so her whole party was Monster High.

We had a family party and then a friend party too. These are some of Lydia's besties from school.

 I had the hardest time finding someone to make a Monster High cake. I finally called my little friend Lacie. Lacie is young... 22... young and had no idea what Monster High even was. She googled it on the internet and this is the cake she made. She is so amazing. I was so grateful she saved the whole party. Now she is making cakes for everyone in my family.

At Lydia's party we did glitter art. I remember when I was growing up my mom wouldn't let us write on ourselves. She would say "Our bodies are our temples and they shouldn't be marked up". The last time I heard that was when I was 18, I went out and got a tattoo on my back. I heard that for the last time when she found it about a week later. I started saying this in my head the whole time at Lydia's party worried about what mom was going to be upset that I have marked up their little girls temple. No one was upset though. One girl called her mom just to make sure it was okay. I did this mermaid on Evelyn. Super cute!
Happy Birthday to my sweet Little Lydie!

Last Camping Trip & First Day of School

We did our last family camping trip of the summer. This was our 3rd trip this summer. Brett and I didn't go the second trip due to rain. We had great weather this time. I usually sleep in the car with Jake while everyone else (except for my mom who also sleeps in a car) tents it. Brett and I usually are borrowing tents and sleeping bags but decided that if we are going to camp this much we really need our own gear. We got a tent and some really warm sleeping bags. I decided with all this new stuff I was going to tent it this trip. There is a new camp supervisor who by the way is a witch but switch the W for a B as we say to the kids, she informed us we weren't allowed to congregate in one campground. She tells us this after everyone set tents up the day before Brett and I got up there. So when we arrived we were shunned up a few campsites... by ourselves. This normally wouldn't be a big deal but I will be honest, tent sleeping freaks me out. There are signs all around that say, "This is bear country" and talks about how to keep food put away. Yeah, we don't do that. Brett is not a camper... he actually doesn't enjoy any of it other then he knows I want to do it because it's time with my family. Jake and Lydia fell asleep at the campfire so Brett and I said goodnight and carried our kids up a few campsites to our tent (Evie slept with the older girls where everyone else was). We climb in our tent, I got into my sleeping bag that was so warm and I was on a blow up mattress. It didn't take me long to fall asleep... then it was  about 2 hours later, I didn't have a clock so I am guessing it was about 2:00 am. I woke up to these howling noises that I have never heard before. I called for Brett, who was awake already because he heard them too. I asked if he had ever heard noises like that on any of our other camping trips. He said no and wasn't sure what was making that noise. The howling continues and it literally sounds like they are within 50 feet of us. I walked the campsites earlier and saw a lot of dogs but the howling did not sound like it was a noise that would have come from anyone of the dogs I saw.  I was freaked out. I thought I am not going to sleep all night now. I did finally fall asleep and what seemed like only a few minutes later, Brett was calling my name. He says that something was outside the tent smelling and nudged him in the back. We both didn't know what to do. Should we get out of the tent and head to the car. Do we yell for help. We decided to just lay there and be quiet. We must have fallen asleep because then I was woken up again by the same howling sound but this time it was way in the distance. Seconds later I see flashlights coming from my families campground and they were heading to the bathroom. I just kept thinking are they nuts... can they not hear that howling noise... why are they out of their tents. I didn't hear screaming so I assumed everyone made it back to their tents okay. After all, the howling was lots further away now. I kept praying for the sun to come up so I could just get out of that tent. I woke up and the sun was shining on our tent my kids and husband all sleeping sound now. After talking to the whole family that morning around the fire. Most of us heard the howling and no one was as freaked out about it as Brett and I were. Mostly because Brett and I had no idea what was making the noise. Everyone else knew what was making that noise... Coyotes. I have learned some things about coyotes now. Did you know that they are pretty shy and don't like fire and will generally stay away from campers. Did you know that there is a bounty on Coyotes in Utah, thats right $50.00 big ones for each one you kill. So for camping trips next summer I need one more item. A gun!!! Mama is going to make some cash.

I didn't take this picture but this looks like the animal that got up close and personal with Brett!

Nana with all her grandkids except Zach's kids and Kingston was off some where and one child in the photo is a friend of Mikayla's but she is super close and we see her as one of our own anyway.

And on to the first day of school. I HATE this time of year. I hate my kids at school. I love my kids home with me. 

Evie is in 4th grade this year and she wasn't super excited to go back but didn't complain at all and was excited to see friends. She does well with change and looks forward to doing new things. She is outgoing and makes friends easily. 

Lydia is in 3rd grade this year. The tears started Sunday night and continued onto Monday morning. Lydia hates school... hates being away from home... hates being away from me. Lydia hates change and doesn't handle it well. She stresses about little things. She has lots of friends and they ran up to her with open arms. She didn't cry at school and went into class with a forced smile on her face. She wants to break down in this picture. 

So another summer gone and a new year starts.... YUCK!!! 

Park City 2012

We have been making Park City a yearly Ballingham Family Trip for years. Brett's parents make a big deal of it and even though it's only 20 minutes away it feels like we are far from home. I have so many photos of the past years of these trips. Every year I look back and think of how much the kids have grown and all the changes that have happened in our family. We had our Park City trip over the weekend and we were able to have Trav's kids come up and spend time with us. My girls miss Maddie and Cambria so much. 

Evelyn and Maddie riding the city bus to the Arts Festival. We ride the bus every where and the kids love it.

From right to left: Evelyn, Maddie and Lydia riding the bus to main street. They are so little here.  This was the first year we (Ballingham's) made our first trip of many to Park City.

We hit the arts Festival this year and we made it about half way up Main Street and the kids were bored. These metal animals were way cool. The BEST part of the Festival for sure.

This picture was 2 years ago at the slides and coaster.  Awwwhhh... the memories!!!

We have traditions every trip. Eat at Baja Cantina, eat at Bandits, get and baked apple carmel apple from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and a rice crispy, swim, ride the coaster, ride the alpine slide, ride the bus, play at the city park and so on and so on. Here at the park we get photos on the tire swing.

As you can see we can get the girls on the swing in this photo and have room the above photos the swing seems so much smaller. We thought for sure they changed it to a smaller tire this year... guess not!!!

Jake even had a turn on the tire swing this year.

And here is my little boy 2 years ago... I love this picture of him so happy and chubby.

It was such a great trip. We missed Travis this year, he had to work. We were so glad that his girls were able to make the trip though. Time goes by so fast and everyone gets big so quickly. I need to be better at taking pictures. I have complained about this before but I look back at these photos and am so grateful that I have them. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa "B" for another great Park City trip.