Dylan's 1st Birthday Party

We had Dylan's 1st Birthday Party on Sept 20th. (I'm a little behind on my posts) It was a cupcake theme with blue and green colors. He was a little bit sick, and had a fever, but he still pushed through and put on his party face.

3 cute kiddies

Chris' Mom's Mom. Great Grandma Guylene Alves. And a tired Dylan resting on Daddy.

Addy and Pay in the big pool

Owen, Kaden and Dylan in the little pool



I made Dylan's cupcake-shaped cake. It didn't turn out quit like I pictured it, but it tasted good.

Dylan's mini cake to destroy. Which he wasn't sure about at first......

But then he realized how tasty it was and went for it.

He liked opening all his gifts too





Thanks to everyone for coming and enjoying the big day with us. Both grandparents made the trip down too which made it extra special.

Happy 1st Birthday, Dylan Robert

Here's Dylan just 1 year ago. It's so amazing how much they grow in the first year.

Picture on his first birthday, Saturday Sept. 12 2009 with his birthday crown, which he likes to take OFF.

If you leave the bathroom door open for a second, he crawls in and immediately starts unrolling the toilet paper.

He wants up the stairs SO BAD. This baby gate is the only thing stopping him and he knows it.

The birthday boy in his birthday suit. He loves the water, so bathtime is one of his favorites.

Look at that farmers tan

His loves to ride on this car the neighbors gave him.

I took this video on his first birthday. He is such a cutie.

We are having his party this coming weekend because Chris had to work on his birthday weekend. I'm excited to see what he thinks about it all. More to come.....but we're all caught up for now.

Soccer TIme Again

Sophia is playing soccer again. She had her first game on Sept 12....Dylan's first birthday. She looks like she's got a good team this year. Her coach is Amanda and the asst. coach is Matt. Amanda really pushes the girls to do their best.


Her team name is the Galaxy Girls. They had this cool sign made.

Dylan and Sophia for her first game.

Getting some great coaching advice from Coach Amanda.

Looks like that coaching worked. She almost made a goal, but it was blocked at the last minute.

They played a great game. They ended up with a tie of 2 - 2.


Here's what the birthday boy did for about 1/2 the game.

Way to go Sissy! Well, maybe he's dreaming about saying that.

Cabin Fever

Chris' Grandma has a cabin in Arnold. We just went for the first time (besides Chris) a few weekends ago. Chris ended up going with the girls the first weekend because Dylan got sick with a bad flu, so I stayed home with him. Then on the last night, he felt a little better, so we drove up and met Chris and the girls. It's so beautiful. It's tucked back in the tall trees.


Here's the living room, with Sophia enjoying the couch.


They played Yatzee, like Chris did when he was a kid.


And then, as if the cabin wasn't fun enough, there is a lake there too. Lakemont Pines. It has a sandy beach, paddle boats, sand castle building competitions, ping-pong, shuffleboard, and a snack shack. You have to own a cabin there to use the lake. Everyone has to wear a tag showing they can be there, so it's nice a private.



The girls on a paddleboat. Dylan was sleeping on the shore in Chris' arms.


Since we had so much fun as a family the weekend before, we went back for Labor Day weekend. And we let the girls each bring a friend. Addison brought Victoria, and Sophia brought Miko.

We were all PILED into our Yukon. All 5 kids and ALL our stuff. We had to bring sleeping stuff, towels, our clothes, our food, and us and somehow we all fit.....BARELY!

Playing a round of UNO and eating lots of junk food.

We went to the lake and Dylan did a lot of sleeping.

Miko and Sophia sunning themselves. They swam a lot. They loved to jump off the two floating docks. They are both great swimmers.

Addison and Victoria TEXTING and sunning themselves. They swam too, but not as much as they texted.

The dock and beach area. We hope to go a lot more next summer because it's a great weekend get-away. It's about 2 1/2 hours from our house. Thank you Grandma Alves for letting us use it!

First Day of School

The girls went back-to-school on Aug 17th. Addison is an 8th grader and Sophia is a 3rd grader this year. This will be the last year they are at the same school together.

Sophia in her classroom on the first day, and yes, those are her classmates. A little bit of a height difference. I wish she would play basketball again.

Pictures with friends outside the classroom, and Dylan.

They were excited to get back and see all their friends. Addison is always so good about getting up in the morning. Sophia is more of a night owl, like her Mom, but she is always ready on time. I'm so glad they are good about that. It makes it much easier to get up and go.

Happy Birthday Addison Taylor!

Addison turned lucky number 13 on Aug 18th. I have an official teenager!
These days she is all about TEXTING on her birthday gift from Chris and Mom - her NV Touch phone, her favorite color is orange, name-brands are important, she is waiting for the New Moon movie to come out, she can't leave the house without make-up on, and the scariest part.....BOYS.


Her ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins with orange frosting, of course.

She had Victoria, Emily and Heather spend the night. Then the next day we all went to Sunsplash in Roseville. Chris stayed home with Dylan. Sophia and I hung out in the wave pool most of the day. And the girls went from waterslide to waterslide all day. We had so much fun in the water....I forgot to take a picture. Ooops.

Blowing out the candles.

The four of them slept outside under the stars in the backyard overnight. We just put a tarp under them so they didn't get soaked. I think she had a good birthday. I just wish I would have taken some water park pictures.