The birthday Party

Saturday we had our family birthday party. We went to a park nearby in Temecula and the kids played as we all chatted and enjoyed ourselves.

The Birthday cake. Renee had a friend of hers make it for the kids and she did a fantastic job! One side was for Hollie and the other was for Ethan. The kiddos loved it.

Hollie got a bike for her birthday and took off riding with no problem.

Hanging out with my bestest friend EVER!

Amanda and Hollie. Oh, how I just love this picture. There are no words to describe it.

Beach

What is a trip to California if we don't go to the beach? Not fun! We LOVE the beach. That is one thing I wish Arizona had, but I still believe that one day we will. Haha.

We took a day and went down to La Jolla beach. Grandma Larson joined us and we had a blast. The day couldn't have been more perfect.

Love this picture of Ethan and the ocean. He is such a beach boy!

Grandma and the kids. Such a cute picture. The kids had a blast with grandma

We hiked down the cave at La Jolla. It was pretty neat. Gotta love Ethan and his finger...silly kid.

We did lots of walking and the kids favorite spots were on top of the shoulders. Ofcourse, you can see they just ate chocolate ice cream.

Birthday trip to Cali

Since March is such a special month in our family we decided to head to California to celebrate both Hollie and Ethan's birthday. The weekend was beautiful and we were very lucky to have our very best friend join us for the fun event, our birthmother.

For the first couple of days we stayed at our friends (pretty much family) house. We pulled the little quad out and the kids had a blast!

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY ETHAN!!

I cannot believe it, my little boy is 2 years old! Boy, where does the time go? This last year Ethan has grown from being a baby to a big boy full of ENERGY!! We couldn't be more grateful to have this little man in our family. I can honestly say that in the last 2 years he, alone, has taught me SO much. I love him more than he will ever know. I love that when I think of him I smile. I enjoy watching him learn and figure things out. I have never seen a little boy have such a fettish with DVD's and the cases. If he doesn't have one he throws a fit and life is over...sorry Ethan, but it is kinda funny. He quickly gets over it and is on to the next thing. He LOVES being outside. Swinging is his favorite thing to do. He has developed a love for basketball and always wants to play. He is a great climber and loves showing us his climbing skills. He enjoys being the center of attention and once he knows he has everyone laughing he will continue what he is doing. Running around and playing rough with daddy is another favorite. You may think that after awhile Ethan would tire out, but he doesn't, he is the energizer Ethan. Morning and Nightime are my most favorite. In the "early" morning hours we lay on the couch with a movie on and he wants me to hold him and cuddle while we watch the movie. In the evening we sit in the rocking chair, read goodnight moon, sing popcorn popping and twinkle twinkle little start, cuddle and then he is off to bed. As much energy as this little man has he still will sit and cuddle with me and those are my most favorite moments. They moments may not be long, but I take what I can get.

I love you Ethan so much and I wish you the happiest 2nd birthday EVER!
Enjoying his birthday chocolate ice cream!

Love You Dude.

Mr. E

Just a picture to show you what our Ethan is up to now a days. We look at this and just laugh and smile, boy do we LOVE this boy!!!! He is ALL BOY and we LOVE him SO MUCH!!Gotta love the ducktape on the diaper and climbing the fridge!!!

Cousins

These are some of the first "real" pictures of the 3 cousins on the Cowles side. I have to say that they are the 3 cutest kids I have ever seen.

Ethan, Hollie and Owen

Love Ethan's finger in his nose...that's our BOY!

Our special visitor

We were lucky to have Mr. Owen (My brother's little boy) over at our house for a night. The kids were SO excited and couldn't wait to play with him. Owen received LOTS of LOVE and ATTENTION and they all enjoyed it.

Isn't this boy the CUTEST!? I just couldn't enough of those cheeks, they are so soft and squishy

Ethan loved taking care of Owen, he even fed him his food

Field trip to the Fire Station

For pre-school we took a trip to the local fire station. The kids were so excited to see the fireman and the fire trucks. One of the firemen even came down the pole and ALL the kids wanted to try to. It was a lot of fun and Hollie still talks about it.

After the fire station we went to lunch with daddy...so fun!

Our Family trip to Flagstaff

Ryan and I have been wanting to take the kids up to Flagstaff for a weekend of fun in the snow. We picked a weekend and, lucky us, we were dumped on with snow. We just went up for 1 night and 2 days and it was a blast. I think we all really enjoyed just being together as a family and not worrying about ANYTHING!! It was GREAT!

lots of sledding

building snowmen

enjoing my munchkins

sledding with Daddy

my girl

The two cutest kids

my boy, yes in purple gloves

playing in the snow

daddy and his boy

sledding by themselves...Ethan was DONE

Hollie LOVED eating the snow...ofcourse only white snow.

Daddy daughter date night

Our ward had a Daddy daughter night and Hollie was SO excited to go on her very own "special" date with dad. It was very cute watching her pick out her outfit and get ready. Here are a few pictures.