Here are my layouts that I have done this year. I duplicated some of these for my album also. These picture are kind of dark. I will have to play with my new camera some more! The two page layout with all the buttons I did without going to the scrapbook store. That's a big deal for me. I ususally think or want to go buy some new cool items for layouts, but I used stuff I already had at home! Yeah! These are also my first 12x12 pages. I have finally converted!

Brinley's Birthday!!!
Well I am about a week late on her birthday post but I thought that it was still ok because it's within the same month! Brinley had a fun 4th birthday. She wanted bacon, cold cereal, and square cheese (American slices) for breakfast. She opened her presents from the family during breakfast. She got some items for our new kitchen, a new ballet outfit, and these cream sparkly shoes that she has been asking for. She then went to Build a Bear with grandma Jackson where she picked out this Hello Kitty. She named her Princess Birthday Kitty. I have never taken my kids to Build a Bear so she thought it was great! For her birthday dinner she wanted to go to Red Robin (I think her older siblings helped her decide). I think she had fun there, but she was more interested in the game that lets you try to grab a stuffed animal with this big claw, then eating her dinner! I really think she only ate two bites! She kept on bugging Jon for a dollar so she could win the stuffed animal. Finally, Jon took her to the game and actually won a stuffed dog. Oh yeah, more stuffed animals! Today, a week later she invited two friends to goto JJ Jump. It's a place that has several air powered jumping structures. They are like the ones that people rent for parties for example blow up castles, and slides. It was super fun and the girls loved it. I was bummed because my battery pack to my camera died while we were there so no pictures!
Some fun facts about Brinley at age four. She only weighs 27 pounds only 1 pound more than Maddie. Size two pants still fall off of her (I'm glad that most pants now have the adjustable waist), although I have started to buy her size 3 because she is getting too tall for size 2. She is still pretty whinny at times. She still should take naps but only does about once a week because she has school and ballet. She started taking gymnastics this past fall but freaked out because she got a new male, russian teacher. So we are now trying ballet with a "girl teacher". She still adores Mason and wants him to sleep in her bed every night. Sometimes we cave in and they have a great time together. If he says no, she then asks for someone else. She loves to play dress-ups, pollys, and babies. She is a pack rat and I will constantly find little purses or gift bags full of all her little treasures. She's obsessed with bandaids and always thinks she needs to have one on somewhere. She is constantly telling me that she loves me and always wants to give me several kisses and hugs any time I leave or she leaves for school. Her favorite bedtime songs are " I love to see the temple", "I am a child of God", and "Where is Thumpkin". She loves any and every book we own. Her favorite Movies are Barbie Nutcracker, any Barney, and The Incredibles. Her Best Friend is Kennedy Lake. We are so grateful for our sweet little Brinley who is such a joy with those dark brown eyes and that blonde hair!

Monday January 22,2007
Snow Week!

On January 11 we had a snow day. That was the first of more to come. The forcasters said that it might snow and it actually did this time. The kids of course went crazy with excitement. They enjoyed every minute of it. It stuck around all weekend because it was really cold for a few days after it snowed. On monday was a holiday (Martin Luther King). The next morning Brooklyn said it's snowing mom. I said yeah right! Well it was snowing and continued to snow all morning and into the afternoon. We got about four inches and we had a ball playing in it. We went sledding, walked all over the neighborhood visiting friends, and of course snow ball fights. On Wednesday it was still pretty cold and nothing had melted so we had another no school day and played more in the snow! We are now on day number 3 of all the kids at home. This day we played with cousins all afternoon in and out of the snow. By now the snow was starting to melt, but there were definately some areas that were slick and had some snow. By Thursday I thought for sure there will be school, but "no"one more day of no school. By now I was kind of going crazy with everyone at home, having a wet, dirty floor, and no set schedule! Plus the fact that it was Brinley's birthday and I had to have the house spotless to be shown! By Friday I was ready to have everyone goto school. I was planning on taking Brinley and two of her friends to an indoor bouncing structure. Madelyn somehow hurt her foot and we had to take her to the doctor instead. We thought that she may have sprained or broken something in her right leg/foot. The x-rays showed nothing and there has been no swelling or bruising. So it's still a mystery what happened, and today is the first day that she has taken a few steps. She has regressed on her walking abilites. She was 90% walking and only about 10% crawling, we are now the opposite. She is making slow progress though. Needless to say it was a busy, crazy, and a very non-scheduled week!

Monday January 22, 2007
Favorite Birthday Present
The older I get my birthday seems to become less exciting. I think it is because I am so surprised that another year has flown by! This year I got some great presents, and one of them was a full set of nails from my sister-in-law Temple. I got other fun things from my family and friends, but this was my favorite present. She has been doing my nails for the past ten years. She has taken a break from doing anyone's nails including hers for the past eight months. She just thought it would be too much with the new baby. So when she said that she wanted to give that to me for my birthday, I was so excited. She did them on Saturday afternoon, so I could have my nails looking pretty for my actual birthday on Sunday! Thanks Temple I love them!

Jon Takes Nic's Class!
Jon has been working out at one of the clubs I teach at pretty frequently for the past three months. I have been very proud of him and he has been really dedicated! Last Thursday I had to sub for my friend at 5:30 am. I asked Jon if he wanted to come and do the class. The class is a power sculpting class called 24 Lift (I teach at 24 Hour Fitness). He came to class that Morning and loved it. I did have to give him a hard time because this was the first class that he has ever attended of mine. I have been teaching for 15 years! So he then came with me on Saturday morning to my normal class that I teach. He was definately sore last weekend. He is so cute. He just loves this class. He is really enjoying working out. We again went on Thursday morning togther. This morning I went to go teach and he stayed home to make sure the house was ready for our showings. He was so sad to miss class and said "Tell the Gang hi for me and tell them I'll be back next week! Way to go Honey!!!

Listing Our Home!
We put our house on the market last Friday. I have had a busy week needless to say! I had two showings last weekend, one on Tuesday, and three today! Do you know how hard it is to keep a house spotless with five kiddos? I do have to say that I have actually accomplished a lot this week. I even scrapbooked five pages! Everyone in the family has helped out tons this week with keeping the house clean. Brooklyn especially has rocked!!! On Tuesday she swept the whole kitchen and entry way (including sweeping under rugs), cleaned her room, and straightened up the bonus room all by herself, without being asked! And she is only six! Hopefully it won't take too long to sell.

Christmas Eve Day
Our day started off with going to church at 9 a.m. I had to be there early to practice one last time with the choir. I left strick instructions to Jon to make sure he took pictures of the kids in their christmas outfits. One last time of wearing the dresses! I got my $'s worth two years! We then spent the afternoon wrapping presents, decorating cookies for Santa, and reading about the birth of our Savior. That evening we went to Grandma Jackson's for dinner. We especially enjoyed opening one gift, new pajamas! When we got home the kids were not tired at all. They were so excited to all sleep together. They finally crashed at about 11 pm. I couldn't resist this photo of them all sleeping on the floor together!

Mason's Birthday
Mason's birthday this year was packed full of excitement. I feel like he gets jipped out of having a fun birthday due to the time of year (three days before christmas)! When I was buying one of his presents the cashier at Target said "I can't believe people have babies this time of the year." I told her that sometimes things are not planned. This year Mason didn't have a friend birthday party but he partied with the family. It started with a big breakfast in bed which included one of his favorite foods, BACON. He went to Big Al's bowling alley/arcade for a school friends birthday party. I picked him up at 1:30p.m. We came home to recoup for about an hour and we were off to the Ice Rink to go ice skating. Brooklyn, Morgan, Mason and I all went ice skating for two hours! He loved it and the kids did great! We then headed home for pizza, pop, bacon salad (he specifically asked to have bacon in his green salad), and brownie sundaes. Jon took him to see a movie at 8 pm, and then a not so quick game of pool at grandpa Jackson's. He didn't get home until 11:30 pm. Mason had a jam packed day of fun, what a birthday!