Iriel is ONE!

 

 

So I am a little late at getting this one up, but not too bad :) I can't believe that this little monster is one! She is such a funny, mostly mellow, goofy little girl. We celebrated her birthday a little early in order to have a few cousins around for the party. So fun that she has so many cousins to grow up with. A few stats on Iriel at her first year check up just so I can remember:



Weight: 18# 10 oz
Height: 29"

She is a little bit on the smaller side just like most of her other siblings (Dreyken is the exception), but otherwise a healthy happy little girl!

She loves to "throw" anything, but especially balls - Luckily for her we have a MILLION soccer balls lying around all the time. She loves when anyone will sit and roll a ball back and forth with her.

She also loves "Babies" - Her voice goes high and squeaky anytime she sees a doll around. As soon as she gets her hands on it she gives it a big hug and will tote them all over.

She is not walking yet, I personally think she is just a little bit lazy and prefers to be carried, but no hurry yet. Hopefully she will be walking before it gets too warm outside so we can enjoy a fun summer.

She loves Food!! She will eat anything, and likes almost everything. She is also figuring out that what mom and dad are eating is usually better tasting than what she has :) even when they are the same thing.

She loves to clap and will clap and cheer at the kids soccer games, she also know how to wave and will wave out the window to the kids and Dan as they leave in the mornings.

Naps are still something she is good at and for the most part enjoys. She loves her blanket and will find the corner of the blanket and "fan" herself with it to calm down. That or rub it on her other hand.

And finally - She is Clown! She loves to make people laugh and will repeat things over and over if it is getting someone to giggle. Especially her siblings.

Love this little girl and love getting to be her mommy. She is such a joy in our family, and is so loved by her sisters and brothers.  Happy Birthday Iriel!

Irie's Cake - one for her and some for the rest of us

She LOVED the balloons!

(love how in this picture she has no interest in her other presents, yet all the other kids are super happy to help)

Not quite sure of the candle.

Loved it!

The big #5



 

It is so hard to believe that this crazy, funny, happy, stubborn little princess just turned 5! She is growing up so fast and has the personality to go along with it :) She is all girly girl and knows just what she wants and how to get it.  Especially from her Daddy! She loves making friends and is willing to play with anyone and everyone who wants to play, unless you suggest she play with them.  I love that she loves her little sister  so much and is a huge help during the day entertaining her.  This year she wanted a Frozen birthday and even though we had a hard time finding anything Frozen at the stores, the party turned out to be a huge hit! She can sing all of the songs to the movie and can hardly wait until it comes out on video so she can watch it all she wants. 

 

She has been attending preschool this year and LOVES IT! She is also in a Dance / Gymnastics class, is getting ready to start her first session of Indoor Soccer, and still loves to cook and create all sorts of interesting things.  She will sit for hours if I let her watching YouTube videos of people either baking or crafting.  We are so luck to have this beautiful little girl in our family and love every minute we get to be with her.

 

Happy Birthday Dreyken Jade!

 

 

Tarek's Baptism

So on November 30th my handsome, sweet little man made the choice to be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!  It is crazy to me that he is 8! He had the choice to get baptized earlier either in October or early November, but because of pumpkins his Grandma and Grandpa Beck were going to have a hard time coming.  So he decided to wait a little in order for them to be here. It was such a super special day and because he waited we were also able to have a few cousins make it up here with the Thanksgiving Holiday. 

For a kid who really hates getting his pictures taken he was a very good sport that day :)

For one of the talks that day my Dad gave a talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost.  In the talk he told the two boys getting baptized that if they share their Testimonies that they will be able to feel the spirit and since the following day was fast Sunday he challenged them to stand and share their testimonies.

Tarek took this to heart (which means he was actually listening!) and stood up on Sunday and shared his wonderful testimony! It was the first time he has every had the courage to get up, and I loved getting to hear him share.  What a great example he is to his sisters and friends.

Love you Tarek! We are super proud of you and your choice.

 

(Cousins that where there: Kanyon, Kaydra, Timberlyn, Miranda, Iriel, Kalli, Shylee, Tarek, Dreyken, Sage and Riley)



Family Pictures

 

A few months ago, while visiting Dan's parents house we were able to have his amazing cousin Jessica come and take our family pictures.  I didn't have any really good / professional pictures of Iriel yet so I was super excited to see all of the super cute ones she got of her.  She always does such an amazing job, even with a family like mine who all HATE to have their pictures taken (yes me included :) ) I let Dan and the kids have a say in the clothes this year, so we ended up with casual soccer and then of course I got to have my pick of some more dressed up ones.  It turned out easy since we all had clothes that matched from Jackson's and Chelsea's wedding a few weeks earlier. I know there are a lot, but I wanted to post them all so that when I get around to making the blog a book, I will have them all! And it would have been way to hard to chose.

The Big #8

It is hard to believe 8 years ago we got blessed with our amazing little man Tarek. I can't believe it has already been 8 years! For his first birthday party we celebrated at Grandma and Grandpa Fuller's house with family. He of course wanted a soccer themed cake so we made a soccer field and then used the letters for players, and dyed coconut flakes for the grass. It actually turned out really cute and was super easy to do. (Other then the player part as I don't know much about soccer so had to get some assistance from Dan) Next was his real actual birthday where we let him open his gifts from us. And then final, on Saturday he got to have a friend birthday party. We decided this year because there are so many boys around to rent out a local gymnastics facility and let the boys get out some energy. Tarek has so much of it I can't keep up with him. He had started the day out by running his first 5K and did AWESOME! He ran / jogged almost the entire thing ending at 30:27 and got third place for kids K-2. > And then he still had enough energy to go crazy at his party for over an hour. A few things I want to remember about Tarek right now - He has a super kind heart and always has. He loves to make people happy and to make sure everyone is doing good. He still loves to give his mom kisses :) I love that he still wants people to know I am his mom. He is a very good brother to all of his sisters, he does like to tease a lot, especially Dreyken, but it is always in a good silly kind of way. He has a super infectious laugh and once he gets going he has a hard time stopping. Tarek is also a very loyal and good friend. Not a day goes by that I don't have several kids knock on the door asking to play with Tarek. He loves everyone and is so non-judgmental. We are so lucky to have such a happy, silly, handsome, caring little man in our family. Happy Birthday Tarek!

Blessing

So I am super late again with posting, but better late then never I guess. We blessed Iriel in June and were able to have both Grandparents (I still need to get a picture from Lorie of her and David with Iriel) and two sets of Great Grandparents there. I am so grateful she has so many people who love her and that she has meet so many of her Great Grandparents. We blessed her in our home and it turned out super nice and simple. Love this little girl! She is however taking after her siblings and as soon as the camera comes out she quits smiling and stares blankly. Thus not many smiley pictures and a few with a lot of slobber :)