So, so sorry to keep you all waiting!

I know I'm so popular you all have been dying to know what we've been up too! (said sarcastically!)

In June, I worked hard in training for Ragnar and then ran it. I think I did well. M.C.'s cast came off which he absolutely loved! I gave a talk in sacrament meeting, went to girls camp, ran Ragnar, and camped out all in one week. Starr and Dimples started participating in a Library Mentor Reading program. They love to read and are doing very well. The three oldest started playing piano again. Love to hear them.

In July, We hiked Adams Canyon in Davis County. We had fun and I know we have pics but I'll have to post them later. I ran in the Riverdale "Old Glory Days" 5k with My S.I.L. Net. It was her first race and she was amazing! So proud of her. I ran a 6 mile trail run with my pals then went for a hike with the family up Waterfall Canyon. I must've twisted my knee or something sometime because I limped down the trail once we got out of tree cover. Ugh! I really need my knee back! I have a 10k in Sept. I'm training for! Starr got to go to Lagoon with two of my brothers and their kids. She had so much fun with them! Thanks guys! We've gone: swimming lots, to see fireworks, and to lots of bbq's and parties. The kids all have swim lessons and they are doing so well! Starr also got to attend a Babysitting class at McKay-Dee Hospital, which she enjoyed and learned a few things to help out with others.

There's more to come I'm sure, so for now, See ya!

Random things

O.K. M.C. broke his arm while Stephen was subbing in as coach for Dimples' soccer team. Becks was getting her team pics done while Starr was "watching" M.C. Yeah, that worked out really well. Half-way through the game, Starr brings M.C. over while shaking the broken arm and telling Stephen "he says it hurts when he moves it!" Yep, she did that. Stephen finished off the game, set Becks up with Starr for her team pics and game, then went to the clinic. We have the disk with the x-rays on it, but I'm not sure how to get those pics on here yet. Poor boy! He has a "Supracondylar fracture". I haven't got a clue what the exactly means, just that he did in fact break his arm somewhere near the growth plate. Dr. Bryan wants to see him one week after putting on the green cast...lets hope his arm will heal correctly!
I was running in this race while all of the above was happening. Great Mother's day gift!! just kidding, that wasn't my Mother's day gift. I didn't get one...not until Monday anyway. I needed a new ironing board and cover, a new shower curtain rod, and puff's tissues for our noses. (our noses that seem to run non-stop!)

This pic is of my birthday that I just celebrated! Tickets to a concert coming up very soon. I wish "U 2" could go with us! but I think the best gift was my own set of scriptures. I've never had my own, I always used my mom's old set or Stephen's. Yay!!! now I have my own, can't wait to put marks in them!OK, I think I'm all caught up. minus Easter pics, hiking pics, bountiful baskets, young women's activities...y'all know what its like, impossible to put it all on here.

And here is one more photo group of "Starr"

"Starr's" Birthday is today!!!

So I actually posted this today April 17th, 3 weeks late! Ugh where did my time go???

Starr's birthday is today, I remember her birth so well-I could have had her at home-but that's for another year. I can't believe she's nine!!! Where does the time go? I will show you, hopefully, in different pics where that time went. I've decided she's the nature loving, hiking, soccer playing, climbing, artistic, girlie girl who loves to learn. There's more I could say to describe her, I just can't think at the moment. Hopefully, you'll be able to see it all in the pics. Okay, here it is a little late, but I finally made up some groups of random pics of "Starr" and a lot of different things she enjoys!

Our Valentine's weekend

*Warning: Be prepared to read for a bit*

Valentines Day is a Monday. That means the kids are in school and Stephen has to work. So the last couple days have been our Valentine's weekend. Saturday, the girls got to have a, or go to a, sleepover. They all had fun and enjoyed their time with their friends. I had an early morning meeting-it was at 9 which is early for a Saturday! So Stephen made breakfast for the boys and girls and played referee. When I got back he and his sister went hiking and I waited for Brake-Time Bobs to call about the car, I wrote about that earlier. We finally got the car back and Bob said the engine's real good, he was impressed with it and knows we plan on keeping that car for a long time. (That car will be the one that Becks gets to drive in about 3 years.) Later, much later, that night, Stephen took me to Outback steakhouse for dinner. Problem for me was, it was too late. Eating at 9 p.m. and my lovely stomach acid issues don't combine. I brought home my delicious sandwich and Stephen enjoyed his rack of lamb. We had fun either way, I got to talk with him while he ate-guess who did most of the talking. We came home and helped Becks get the kids to bed.
Let's move on to Sunday.
My wonderful friends were blessing their cute son yesterday. We were invited to a brunch and then to their sacrament meeting. They were just sealed on Saturday to the cute little guy, making their family a family of four. They are amazing people, so filled with the spirit and so excited for life that you can't help but want to be their friends and friends with their friends. Anyway, after we visited with them and others we went home. Stephen and his sister sue planned on hiking again. He begged me to come with them all-cuz the kids weren't going to pass this up again. He said "It would mean the world to me" if I went with them. How can a wife say no, I hate hiking, after that card has been pulled? I went with them and actually kinda enjoyed it. We hiked up to the "BL", then to some silver square thing (which I thought was our destination-Wrong!), and then a little bit further up. I did okay. I filled my hiking quota, anything else will have to involve money I think. On the way up, M.C. found the cactus, with his knee and finger tips. Thanks to aunt Susie, the prickly hairs didn't stay long in his fingers and thanks to his pants they didn't stick to his knee. The next thing M.C. said was- he didn't want to see anymore cactus. While continuing our hike, M.C. said- Cactus are mean! It was pretty funny, poor kid. We made it up the rest of the way without any further contact with Cactus or falling down in the dirt. The way down was great, Stephen found a herd of deer, we got pics of it and other things that I will post differently. I know why it's faster to come down a mountain hike, but I still think going up to be easier for some reason. I didn't complain too much about the hike this time, so most likely I'll go on another one.
We ate dinner with Stephen's parents and sister. We played Zombie dice and worked on a puzzle of New York City. We came home and eventually went to bed.
This morning, the girls got up and made themselves pretty for school since it was Valentines day and all that. Dimples wore a shirt and tie to school because they are having a dance with all the 1st graders. (I'm so excited to see this!) It's kinda just a regular day for me, nothing special til later when the hubby gets home.

Pictures of Christmas...

Here is what Christmas morning looked like are our place. The kids all enjoyed their day. We had an all-out nerf gun war before we headed out to visit three different places. Whew! what a day! Enjoy!

Did I ever tell you???

(It was dark but you can still tell who's in the pic!)

Did I ever tell you my girls and I went with my Mom and S.I.L. Anne and her two cuties to see the Nutcracker? Well we did, and it was fabulous! We had so much fun at The Capitol Theater. It was the first time for my girls and I, and we loved it! Here are some pics from our visit.

We had so much fun and even though we loved it, it will be a few years before we go again. Starr has decided that she wants to be a ballerina now, we'll see!?

Our Christmas letter

Hey all! Every other year my mother's family has a non-commercial Christmas. Meaning we all write letters. Usually every family member writes one letter and makes copies for each family member. That's 55 family members. That's over 300 copies for my family alone. We have now downsized to just one letter from each family. That's only 18 copies, Nice! I let Stephen take care of our letter this year with some help from me. I'm going to put it on here so the rest of you can enjoy it. (It has been revised as I try very hard to not put the kids' name's on here.)

Irwin Family Quiz

2010

1. How long has Carla been married?

a) 7 years

b) 10 years

c) 13 years

d) Never Married

2. Who has Carla been married to for the last 13 years?

a) Bart

b) Karen

c) Nathan

d) Stephen

3. How many children do Carla and Stephen have?

a) 1

b) 2

c) 3

d) 5 including Jake Dog

4. What is the name of the Family dog?

a) Fifi

b) Jake

c) Midnight

d) Snowball

5. List Carla and Stephen's 4 Children

a)

b)

c)

d)

6. Which of the following Children play A.Y.S.O. Soccer?

a) Becks

b) Starr

c) Dimples

d) M.C.

7. Which of the following Children play the piano?

a) Becks

b) Starr

c) Dimples

d) M.C.

8. Who ran their leg of the Ogden Marathon in 28 minutes?

a) Carla 7 miles

b) Stephen 3 miles

9. What does Carla list as her occupation on the tax return?

a) House Wife

b) Super Mom

c)Domestic Goddess

d) Kronos, Keeper of all time

10. What do We wish all of you?

a) A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

b) Health, a long life, and Happiness.

c) That the fleas of a thousand camels will infest your bed.

d) All the above...except c.

We hope you had a great Christmas and I will be posting pics of the kids with their goodies and with the rest of Christmas morning fun.
Have a Great New Year and be safe and healthy!!!

Piano Recital December 2010

Last Thursday my kids had their piano recital. Their final one for now until we can find a suitable teacher anyway. They all played their pieces memorized, and did very well. Even if they may have invented their own version of the song. I hope I can get the video's on here.

I will miss having my friend teach them, but I do understand when your family needs you more. I've decided to come up with things to go visit her, I don't know what yet, but I'll figure something out. She's a great person and lots of fun to be around, and she'll listen when you just have to vent about people she doesn't even know! But anyway, Thanks so much Lisa for all your hard work and all that you have done to help my children to learn to play the piano. We (Stephen and I) really appreciate it!

The kids didn't announce their song, or wait for an intro really, the just sat down, started playing and when they finished, they walked off while the audience clapped. It was funny. We tried to tell them to at least bow or curtsy, but they were too shy.

Dimples and Deck the Halls.

Starr and Silver Bells. (She kinda played her own version, but I promise she knows this song.) She plays it none stop now.

Tigger and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

By the way, I will no longer be calling Girl #1 "Bratt", there was a suggestion of Teeny me, and I thought about maybe calling her Tiny, but she would now like to be called Tigger, because she's always bouncing off the walls. We'll see how it goes. Again, suggestions are welcome ;) Oooo, I just thought of one while looking at her school photo, pretty girl or beautiful. ? What do ya think?

**Okay the video's are too big to post. Just believe me when I say they tried so hard and did very well.** December 15

Seriously?!, Where did the time go???

Wow, lets play the catch-up game...

I will try to make it short. Heh heh.

Day 20, I went on a run with somegreat gals, unfortunately, it was a blah day with lots of cold/freezing rain/snow and two of us weren't feeling so great. We still did it, all though we walked most of it. Thanks to great friends who'll run/walk with ya through anything! Thankfully we were only half training to run the turkey trot but none of us did it because of the wonderful single digit freezing temperature.

Day21, Boy #2, a.k.a. M.C. from now on. M.C. is my final baby. I love him to pieces and he makes my heart melt with all of his mischeiviousnes. He is super sweet and I think he thinks he can only love one person, and I'm the lucky one. Seriously, he will tell Stephen he doesn't love him, he loves mom. I know he loves everyone, he just hasn't realized it yet.

Day 22, Boy #2, a.k.a. Dimples from now on. Dimples got his name because he has the cutest ones ever! He can choose to show them or not, but usually they are there with his smile. He is such a sweet boy and I love him for all he brings to my life and to our family. I'm thankful that we have him and that he brings so much joy and happiness to the family. He also likes to make up jokes, some are a little flat, but he's always trying!

Day 23, Girl #2, a.k.a. Starr. She loves that name. She has begged us to please, please, pretty please change her name or give this as her middle name. Starr is our families drama queen. I always thought the oldest would do this, but no, it is Starr. She loves art, and music, and animals. She even wrote her own song and can't wait to show her piano teacher! I love this little gem! She truly loves life! and she doesn't want people to miss out on it.

Day 24, Girl #1, a.k.a. Bratt (she prefers this to mini-me.) I love her to pieces as I do all my children, but she is the first and gets spoiled a bit more. She also has a lot more responsibility in the home. Her chores are bit bigger and she usually has to babysit without pay. I should say cash payment, she usually gets something else. Bratt is trying to be sarcastic but have it be positive. I don't know of a positive sarcastic way, but she's trying. She loves school and her friends and family, and she loves going to church and working on her personal progress. I know she is a wonderful person, trying hard to make it through the jr. high world. I know she will succeed.