Aubree's Birthday

It was Aubree's 14th birthday this last week!! We made her FAVORITE cake and had presents, but mostly she couldn't wait for her birthday because of KITTIES!!! Yes, kitties. All she really wanted was a dog but we compromised with kitties instead. So after lots of looking online and at pet stores, we finally found the perfect pair. Oh what a happy day!


The dreaded birthday clothes....(okay, maybe not so dreaded when you're a teenager)

So here are the kitties! This is Dallas, he is super fun and has quite the personality. He wants to be involved in whatever we are doing, whether it's folding laundry, eating breakfast (he jumps right up on the counter and tries to drink the milk) or playing a game, he is right in the middle of it. He is very inquisitive and playful, and just loves playing with the little boys. He is about 18 months old.

Dallas took over the boys' beanbag right away. It's now a kitty bed and don't even think otherwise!!

This is Roxie, or as I like to call her, Prima Donna! She is 7 months old and pretty much sleeps the day away. Preferably on someone's lap. But definitely NOT with Dallas.! She thinks he is immature and annoying. She is very sweet though and lovable for sure. Her fur is pretty but sticks out every which way, which is kinda funny!!

Dallas playing in his favorite cardboard box...

Aubree sure is loving her new babies! And I have to admit that even the non-pet lovers (that would be me) have been won over by these cute kitties. They are a lot of fun!

Adam's Birthday

We can hardly believe that Adam turned 12 this year!! He didn't have a friend party this year but chose to have the family go to Classic Skating, where we skated, bounced, laser tagged, and ate the night away. We had a great time! Adam used most of his birthday money to buy a new iPod, but he also got some clothes and a fun Angry Birds game...


Instead of cake he wanted a coconut cream pie (that's my boy!)

Adam and his good friend Jensen, who lives right next door, both turned 12 and were ordained deacons that same week. It was a special day! They look so dashing in their new suits and white shirts!

Grandma and Grandpa Arrington were on hand for the big day as well. Here are the men:

We are so proud of our boy! Adam is an all-around good guy and we are so thankful he is part of our family!

Oh, those beautiful teeth!

Oh it's so lovely to enjoy the fruits of all the money, time, and agony of braces! Unfortunately I don't yet have a picture of the final FINAL result (after a couple weeks of whitening and fixing the teeth on either side of her very front teeth, the results are fabulous). I can't believe what a beautiful young lady Aubree is growing up to be. She'll be 14 years old next week!
This was right before they came off, out in the parking lot of the ortho office!

And looking back, to the first day of braces:

At the ortho, first day. This looks totally painful!

We're so glad to be done with kid #2, only three more to go :(

Get Air!

We have a new trampoline park near our house called "Get Air." And thanks go Go Deal Go we got a good deal on tickets one day when there was no school so we decided to go check it out! It was pretty fun, but frankly I was glad to get out of there with no concussions, broken body parts, etc. These pictures didn't turn out the greatest but you get the idea. This one is from the "giant mad dodge ball" section of the park:

These are long line tramps you can jump along and do tricks and then land in the styrofoam pit at the end (that's Ben's head in the styrofoam pit)...

More dodge ball..

The other pics didn't turn out very well but there's a little kid section, and then a giant section with trampolines, things to jump on, tramps that go up the wall, so you can run up them and tumble down, etc. Pretty fun stuff!

Blue & Gold

For our Blue & Gold Banquet this year there was a cake competition. We were supposed to create a cake with a "game" theme. I think they meant board games but we decided to do a video game instead. So we made a Mario Kart track cake, with our favorite characters Mario, Luigi, Bowser & Yoshi. And don't forget crazy Spencer!

We had a fun night eating dinner, playing games and eating our awesome cakes. Thanks you great cub scout leaders!

Snow stuff!

Honestly I don't think we had more than two snowstorms this whole winter, it's been quite pathetic really! But, we did get to have SOME fun in the winter weather. Luckily the ski resorts make their own snow and we were able to have a weekend at the condo and take the kids skiing. We had such a fun time. And at the end of the day, the all-you-can-eat buffet at Golden Corral was the icing on the cake. I've never seen such happy, tired, and full children. Even Cammon got enough to eat for once!


This was Spencer's first time skiing. He did so great! Once he got it figured out he went down the big hill by himself over, and over, and over, and over....he would never even take a break for his poor old mom and dad!

Adam was already a pro....

Ben tried snowboarding for the first time. He fell down the hill a couple of times..maybe three or four...or a hundred....but loved every second of it, and has never stopped asking "when can we go snowboarding again" since. I guess we're going to have to get season passes next year.

We did get to go sledding once too. We are glad it wasn't a rough winter but we enjoyed every bit of snow we had!

Christmas Dance and other pics

Okay is this possible cuz' it's freaking me out a little bit, it kinda makes me want to sing "Sunrise, Sunset" or something! So this is Cam and his date on their way to the Christmas Dance at Davis High! First though they got to ride in an Escalade limo, with a fireplace, flashing lights, mega loud speakers and coolers with drinks in it, then they ate a fancy dinner at the Castle and went to the dance, and then they got to go to a gym and play around on the equipment for the rest of the night. Good times! You could tell Cam was excited, he was actually smiling!

Boys from da 'hood




The dreaded Sunday Christmas picture. Aw, aren't they special?

Nativity

Well our nativity was a bit half-hearted this year, with no cousins, grandparents or great-grandparents there to participate, but everyone wanted to dress up anyway, and we did a few songs and told the Christmas story. We also had a lovely ham dinner which the kids said was like eating at a fancy restaurant. What a compliment!!

Cam insisted that he wanted to be the angel this year. Now that is one angelic looking teenager (or is it a fallen angel?) We're not sure but he looks thrilled one way or another!

Santa Has Arrived!!

Our kids must have been really good this year because they got awesome stuff from Santa!! These electric scooters are a total blast. Aubree and Adam each got one and they have been zipping around the neighborhood nonstop ever since! As Christmas happened to be on Sunday this year, comments were made at church like "we must have been dreaming, we thought we saw the Bishop's kids zipping around on scooters this morning!" Oh well the rules were suspended for once, plus we were too tired to chase them down and tell them to come inside!

Ben & Spence got new sleds (oh, if only it would snow!). Plus they were surprised to get a note from Santa with a basketball telling them to check for something fun down in the game room--a fun double shot basketball game! I guess that will give them something to do while they're waiting for a good snowstorm.

Poor Cam had a bit of a boring Christmas, since he got a ski pass to Powder Mountain but he has been enjoying snowboarding a ton this year!

Gingerbread Houses

This was hilarious. Aubree and her friend Kylee were in charge of making the "big" gingerbread house, and they chose to make a "Twilight" gingerbread house, complete with vampire, howling wolf, and little gingerbread people that were Jacob and Bella (they are definitely Team Jacob). I said we should have done this for Halloween, instead of Christmas. It was very funny.

Little Elves

Eight is Great!!!

Our cute Ben has just turned 8! What an exciting time! He can't wait to be baptized (especially since big brother Cammon is going to baptize him). Here's Mr. GQ posing for baptism pictures. He thought this was a riot. He likes to look "dashing" as he says.

For Ben's birthday all he really wanted was to play in his soccer game, so even though he was still in his boot with his broken toe, we went over to the game but he wasn't allowed to play. So he was kind-of bummed! Okay, well, REALLY bummed. But, Dad took him to Speed Street and let him do an awesome race. So he had a great day after all!!

Okay, update on the toe. Ben is out of his boot now! And the toe is almost all better! And he played soccer last Saturday. Yay!

Another big day for the new 8-year-old: First day of scouts! Super fun!