Family Pictures!

Babies don't always smile well for family pictures, but we got some good ones.  I sure love these sweet people!  

Love,

Aubrey

Harry Potter Party

We are big fans of Harry Potter.  Earlier this fall we had the idea to throw a Harry Potter Party and we spent a couple of months thinking of ideas (and looking for ideas online), planning and preparing.

 We all made wands from dowels, clay and hot glue.  Then Mark painted them.  They turned out pretty amazing.

 We made some fun treats including chocolate frogs, Bertie Botts Yummy flavored beans (Jelly Bellies), Ferrero Rocher Golden Snitches, Gringotts Gold (from Hersheys Nuggets) and Licorice Wands).  

 Even Daniel dressed up!

Joy posing in front of the 9 3/4 wall which the kids went through to enter the party, and it also doubled as a photo backdrop.

 Grace (on the right) and her friend Karyssa

Pretty BethAnne

 Yummy treats, I should have taken pictures of some chocolate frogs by themselves, they were cool.

 These floating candles were a labor of love.  They're made from paper towel and toilet paper tubes, hot glue, paint and led candles.  Mark helped a lot with these.  

 We also set up a Quidditch hoop for Quidditch practice.  (It was a hula hoop on top of a basketball hoop which was on top of a storage bench).  The kids took turns trying to throw a beach ball through the hoop while a "Keeper" tried to stop them

 We also had a fancy feast, played Harry Potter trivia and Bingo and Find the Snitch (hide and seek).  The kids had a lot of fun.  The youngest girl who came to the party later told her mom "this was my luckiest day!"  I could hardly move for a day after, but it was worth it.  We saved a lot of the supplies so someday we can do it again. 

Random Adorable Baby Pictures

Babies are so fun and cute.  Daniel is a great baby, even though he's been struggling with ear infections the last month.  He's our biggest 6-month-old, we're getting strong muscles.  Here are some pictures from the last few months. We love our Daniel!

Happy Birthday and Baptism Joy!

Our sweet Joy turned 8 at the end of September.  

 She was able to have a friend party and a family party.  So much fun.

 She made this pin the fish on the seal game, she likes seals. The girls helped make the fish.

Then Joy was baptized on November 4th.  She was a beautiful angel that day.  We are so grateful for our Joy and for the love and joy she brings to our family.  She is so smart and creative, she is often making projects or reports that amaze us.  We have decided to homeschool Joy (after much thought and prayer).  She will probably be skipping a grade in the process (she was old for her grade). We have a great curriculum and she will meet with other homeschooled kids every Friday for fun extracurricular classes (art and lego robotics).  We love our Joy!

Hogle Zoo

We went on a quick trip at the end of July to Utah to see grandparents and go to Austin Baker's return missionary open house.  We were able to take a quick trip to Hogle Zoo also.  It was quite hot, but it's a very cool zoo.  We hope to go again when it's cooler sometime.  

 Elephants are my favorite animal, so we stayed to watch the elephants for quite awhile. So cool.

 

 This funny bear had the right idea, as we watched he plopped down into a pond in his enclosure, we were jealous.

 Such sweet kids!

 Daniel was great on the trip.  We love our big van that lets me sit right next to him when he's having a hard time.  I took this last picture on the way home.  He's my little happy sunshine boy.

And that's the end of my blog catch up for the summer.  We are so grateful for our many blessings and we are doing great!

Love,

Aubrey

Grace's 11th Birthday and more

Grace is sure growing up.  In June, she had her last big program at Pioneer Elementary.  It was about the civil war and Grace had a couple of group solo singing parts.  We had her hair done in a civil war style and she looked great.  

 Another recent picture of pretty Grace.  She got glasses a few months ago, so stylish!

 On July 25th she turned 11 and we had a birthday party.

Joy made her a hand made fidget spinner, so creative!

Scott and Tena were there. 

 And Nana, Grandma and Grandpa. Papa and Lisa Rogers were also there (not pictured) We love having family so close.

 Sweet sisters helping open presents.

Grace will be in 6th grade this fall, she'll be doing online school like BethAnne, and she's excited for that.  She's very smart and helpful, especially with Andy.  We're so grateful to have her in our family.

Love,

Aubrey

Daniel's Blessing Day

Here are some pictures from Daniel's blessing day.  He looked so handsome.  We had a lovely brunch at our house before the blessing, then at church for the blessing we took up 3 long center benches.  It was really special to have so much family there for such a special day.  

 

I'm so grateful for this sweet family of mine. My cup runneth over.

Love,

Aubrey