Some Fun Random Pics

I am just going to type everything at the beginning. I don't know why my text is always messed up. Ideas?

Happy Winter everyone. How are you fairing at this time of year? We are just chilling and having fun. I am so enjoying this stage of each of my kids. Jessica is in Kindergarten and loving it. I love helping in the classroom and doing homework with her. Her teacher is FANTASTIC!!! We had some fun with curls yesterday and her hair is still remarkably curly today. (These were from yesterday)
The picture in our car was after Devin's birthday at my parents. This is my favorite way to arrive home which is why we always bring pajamas and toothbrushes wherever we go at night.

Kelsi waiting for church

The night before- I still LOVE hearing my Dad read stories. The inflections and timber of his voice are so familiar and calming.

Kelsi just chilling and doing her "homework."

Happy Birthday Devin!

HomeSpun Threads

This is a really cool website my sister-in-law Robyn just told me about. Right now you can order their patterns for FREE. :) I like Free. :)

So I should probably update

Here are some fun pictures to show what is going on in our lives at the moment. (Tami- thanks for encouraging me to update...) Does anyone know how to fix the annoying text issues? That is one reason I have not been blogging as much. I don't like how the text goes down the side.


This picture is out of focus, but I love it. This pretty much describes our life at the moment. :)

I love that my kids are getting to be quite helpful in the kitchen. I was trying to get all kinds of things ready to take to Thanksgiving dinner and the girls shaped the rolls for me. :)

Kelsi decided that Devin's overalls were in fact hers.

Jessica LOVED thanksgiving dinner. She just kept eating and eating. This isn't the best picture, but she is sure growingl up fast.

We have a very happy little 11 month old boy. And messy, but that is another matter...

This is Kelsi at 15 months. The Mischievious grin runs in the family.

Kelsi and I made our family in snowmen after we dropped Jessica off on the bus. It stunk that the snow had so many leaves in it, but it was great packing snow. She is kissing the snowman. Afterwards, she was really cold and hungry and could not decide whether she should cry or smile.

And Devin has started...

Halloween!!! (Finally)

Here are some pictures finally from Halloween. The girls were Princesses and Devin was a spider inspired by his chosen method of crawling (hands and feet). We had lots of fun. :)

Alison Gainer got me started. She found 5 yard bolts of fabric at Walmart for $5, but by the time I got there they were ony $4 and the pink was only $2.50. How could I resist? Thanks Alison for getting me started and making dresses with me (She made an amazing Belle for her daughter), Project Runway for giving me courage, my childhood dreams for inspiration (and fine- Disney), and my sweet girls for giving me a reason and for being patient with me when I turned them into dress forms. :)

Kindergarten and Preschool

Phone Farewells

You can tell you have been on the phone a lot when you say a quick prayer and end with "Thanks, Bye" as the phone rings again.

Happy Birthday Kelsi!!!

Happy 3rd birthday to Kelsi. We had a great day yesterday (June 30). We had a fun breakfast, fingerpainted, bubble bath, lunch at the park, Grandmas over for dinner and cake and ice cream in the court with all of our friends. Happy Birthday Kelsi! We are so glad that you are in our family!!!

We also really enjoyed the days up to it. My friends talked me into taking a Wilton cake decorating class at Michaels and this week was the last week of the first class, so I decided to make Kelsi's birthday cake. I realized I am not going to be able to take the rest of the classes for a while because 2 1/2 hours is too long for Devin that close to bedtime, so I decided to try my hand at fondant figures, which you don't learn until the 3rd class. A friend had mentioned marshmallow fondant so off we went! The girls and I started a week early making 2 figures a day. The recipe is really easy- the hardest part is mixing in enough color. Jessica was with me every step of the way kneading the fondant and rolling it out. She even woke me up in the morning with "let's go make a zebra!" Kelsi was there for a lot of it, rolling some, mixing some and eating some. :) So- the girls and I had a lot of fun and here is the final product.

The best part of the whole thing was when Kelsi woke up in the morning I told her happy birthday and took her in to the kitchen, opened the fridge and showed her the cake. She LOVED it!

DJ's Grandpa passed away 2 weeks ago and we went to his funeral. He was a great man and lived to be 91 1/2. At the cemetary, we took the opportunity to get a family picture. This was my favorite- I think it epitomizes each member of our family.

Grandpa is holding a card that Jessica made for him. Here he is the day before he passed away in the hospital. Devin is the first boy born that will pass on the Swenson name for 5 generations- of Devin's Great Great Grandfather's posterity. Hopefully there will be many more- Richard. :).

DJ did a Triathlon in Salem, UT in June. He did a great job and it was fun to cheer him along.

The girls had fun with the Strawberry Cream cheese filling for the cake.

Kelsi LOVED swimming with her Daddy. I tried, but I think she trusts him a little more. I am so glad she loves her family so much. She is a delightful little girl.