abcdewhitakers

2009-07-23T20:14:00.000-07:00

The Baby Quilt

Emily found my baby quilt a couple of months ago and asked to have it on her bed. Two of the patches had fallen apart and disappeared. I knew that we needed to fix it and I knew who could do it. Aunt Susan is the queen of quilting. We sent her the quilt with a request to fix the missing bonnet girls. It came back to us very quickly and looking like it did when I was a girl. Thank you so much. Palm Springs
We spent a couple of hot and fun days swimming in Palm Springs. It was just Moms and kids and we had a great time. We swam, ate, and rested. What could be better?

Lake Tahoe
We had a wonderful trip to Tahoe. We saw lots of family and lots of beautiful scenery.

Grandma and the boys cooled off back at the trail head at the end of the hike.

Davin braved getting under the little waterfall.

Emily fell asleep on the way back down from the hike. Poor Dad had to carry her all the way.

We made it to the Pyramid Lake waterfall. It was amazing.

Emily made good friends with her cousin Isabella.
They played dress up and princess all weekend.

Davin and Carter spent lots of time in the creek and went through lots of clothes "accidentally" getting wet.

4th of July
We spent Friday in San Diego with the Marshall clan. We had had a great afternoon at the beach and then went to watch fireworks nearby.

2009-07-01T19:23:00.000-07:00

Hooray! School's Out!
Here are the events from the last couple of weeks.
Awards Ceremony

Carter received a perfect attendance trophy and a medal for math facts.
Great job Carter!

Davin received trophies for perfect attendance and 100% on math facts.
Great job, Davin!

Emily turned 3. We can't believe it. She is growing so fast. Happy Birthday Emily!

We had a great afternoon at the First Grade teddy bear picnic the last day of school. We had a yummy lunch and a last chance to play with Davin's teacher and classmates.

SWEET- SCHOOL'S OUT!!!!!!!!

Carter and buddies completed their Cub Scout program and received their Arrow of Light Award. They are now officially Boy Scouts. Awesome job boys.

Davin lost his big front tooth. He was so happy. He got $2 from the tooth fairy.

Lake Gregory
We had a beautiful summer day at Lake Gregory. The weather was perfect. All three kids love being in the water. Carter is such a good swimmer. He swam all the way across the lake and back again. Davin and Emily had fun on the paddle board in the shallows. Carter got to ride out into the water fountain with his friend Ethan on the aquabike. The kids made their own "jacuzzi" in the sand. We had so much fun!

I told Carter to say cheese- so he pointed to the cheese. Hee hee.

2009-06-11T18:09:00.000-07:00

June
Well let me start by saying we have been really busy. I haven't posted since April. Pretty sad. Anyway, here are the latest pictures and news to catch you up.

Carter is still involved in the Mountain Strings Program. They had a great concert this week. We attended as a family and friends Torie and Tara were able to come also.
Carter did great.

Carter also had a big State Float parade this week. All the fifth graders created a rolling float and traveled around the playground with them. Carter had Michigan and did a great job both on his written report and his float. They had an all American picnic lunch after the parade.

Last week the fifth graders went to Riley Farms with a Revolutionary war theme and had a full day field trip. Grandma Judy made Carter the perfect costume. Here he is with his friend Ethan.

Carter and Erick

Emily's favorite past time is changing her clothes. She changes into different clothes or dress up outfits at least 5 times a day. I just laugh and appreciate that it has encouraged her to get herself dressed without any help.
Pretty Sunday Dress From Grandma

We call this one "Shakey-Shakey". The boots really top this outfit off!

When she wears this she is Dora. Dora dress-Dora glasses-Dora hat.

This outfit was number 6 for the day I took it.

Davin was in Track again this year. He really enjoys it. He loves the high jump. His best events are the long jump and the discus toss.

His top discus throw was 31 feet!

Happy Mother's Day

We participated in a stake wide service day. There were different service projects all over the San Bernardino valley that day. We painted this whole wall. It was fun to work together.

Spring Fun

2009-04-16T20:53:00.000-07:00

Spring is here!
Well hopefully it is here soon. We are still waiting for the warm weather.
We woke up to snow two days ago and just want to be able to play outside!
Here is Emily's newest dress up fun. She got it from Grandma and has been wearing it each night over her jammies.

SPRING BREAK
We had a great visit to Utah. We enjoyed seeing everyone. Here are the pictures from Antelope Island and our BBQ dinner.

Mmmmm.... Marshmallows

We made it to the top of the very big hill. Woo hoo!

Here is the newest addition to out family. Such a cute little guy. It was so nice to get to play with him.

San Jaun Capistrano

2009-03-27T21:10:00.001-07:00

We used our midweek no school day to it's fullest.
We started the day in San Juan Capistrano touring the beautiful mission.

The mission provides little listening devices that tell the story of the mission as you walk around. The kids enjoyed the story.

On of the favorite parts of the mission is the beautiful koi filled fountains.

The gardens here are so beautiful. It is like walking through the Secret Garden. We can see why this Mission is called the Jewel of the Missions.

Dana Point

2009-03-27T20:17:00.000-07:00

Dana Point Tide PoolsWe had the beach all to our selves for awhile it was wonderful.

Torie and Tara brought kites for everyone to fly. It was just the right amount of wind for great kite flying.

The water was COLD but that didn't stop the kids from playing around in the surf.

We found such cool stuff in the tide pools. They found sea anemones, hermit crabs, and even a couple of star fish.

Tanner and Emily had fun filling and dumping the buckets and throwing rocks.

We found this beautiful star fish about the size of a dinner plate.

Emily Runs!

2009-03-23T20:36:00.000-07:00

Emily is getting so much better. She improves every day. She moved from crawling to cruising to walking in about two weeks. She has had a limp for the week after that but now seems to be even losing that. She is now running and trying to go fast! She will say "Look, I running!"

Emily and the boys running!

March Fun

2009-03-23T19:42:00.000-07:00

March FunThis is how we get Emily and Davin to clean their ears. We make it a silly game.

Just when we thought we were getting to spring it snowed again. No one else went outside today but since Emily is finally feeling herself again she asked to go out and play in the snow. She only lasted a few minutes before it started to hail but she had fun.

The boys have really enjoyed the warm sunny days. They were outside playing with friends from the neighborhood every day this week. Carter and friends dress up and pretend to sword fight. Davin and friends built a catapult with wood and rocks. They launched pinecones as high as the phone lines. It was semi dangerous and really cool!

2009-02-28T18:47:00.000-08:00

Hey-Do you know why I am smiling so big?

I got my cast off . Hooray!!!Grandma had the idea to make my cast into a center piece on the table.

I had a busy first day without my cast on. I sat on the kitchen stool and kicked my feet as I ate. Grandma and Mom kept noticing all the little things Emily was doing today that she hasn't done in so long. It was like having a little baby and noting all the milestones.

Emily had a plan for her first day without her cast. She wanted to have pink cupcakes with pink frosting and a cherry on top. So here we are frosting the cupcakes. They were yummy!

We had a small party with a few friends and even got balloons to celebrate.

The first thing people are asking is if Emily is walking. No, not for awhile. She just doesn't have the strength yet. She was able to stand for a couple of minutes on the couch with Grandma's support. Grandma has been so wonderful to stay with us for so long and help take care of Emily. We could not have done the last several weeks without her.

The boys and Grandpa had fun moving the snow on the back deck and making it into an igloo.

It has been such a happy weekend for all of us. Thank you for everyone that has expressed concern for us and helped us out in lots of little ways.

2009-02-24T17:16:00.000-08:00

Emily Update

Emily has had a happy week. She got a cool chair from a friend that lets her sit up and keeps her much happier. She has learned how to get around on her tummy and will lay and play puzzles or color. She fell in love with Love a Lot Care Bear from the Care Bear movies. Grandma found her a Love a Lot on ebay and we got it today. She LOVES it. We believe that Emily will be getting her cast off this week.
Dad-Thank you from all the women here. We loved the roses and they lasted for a long time.

2009-02-18T19:55:00.000-08:00

Snow-Snow-Snow
Over the last couple of weeks we have said the words ..."Is it every going to stop snowing?". We have had storm after storm loading snow on the mountain. We are running out of places to pile it up.I snapped this picture on the way to work on a morning. As much as the snow can get us down it is the views like this that make up for it.

The hills look so amazing right after the snow. The dead trees look so beautiful covered with snow. They look lacey.

Here is Davin standing on the back porch. We hadn't shoveled it since the storms started. Last night Dad shoveled a dog run for Charlie. We had Davin stand in it so you can see how high it got.Somewhere under there is patio furniture!
We hope we get some sunny days for a while now.

2009-02-11T22:01:00.000-08:00

Emily UdpateEmily is doing okay. She is getting used to her situation. Grandma is taking very good care of her. She has found a favorite spot to hang out besides Mom and Dad's bed, her red wagon. We filled it with pillows and her strawberry shortcake blanket and it is perfect. We have her check up this week so we'll update again soon.

2009-02-11T21:46:00.000-08:00

Snow FunDavin fell in a hole of snow and instead of getting him out we buried him some more and turned him into a living snowman. He said it was acutally pretty warm all covered up. What a cute snowman.

Even Charlie had fun in the snow.

We have had an incredible amount of snow. Mom's truck didn't move since the storm started so it was swamped with snow. It is a good thing she isn't ready to go home yet.
We are so happy she is here.

2009-02-11T21:38:00.000-08:00

Saturday SkiWe were able to take advantage of the good snow on Saturday. Dad and Davin got invited to ski with friends, it was great. Carter had an awesome day playing snowball fight with other friends. Sorry no pictures!

2009-02-11T17:55:00.000-08:00

Our ViewOne of the things we enjoy the most about where we live now is the every changing scenery. This is the view from our back deck. The top one is from Thursday morning. The bottom one is from Monday afternoon. We have had another big snow week and more is in the forecast.

2009-01-30T19:15:00.000-08:00

No pictures today just a note. Emily is doing a little better each day. The rest of us are exhausted. She had lots of nice visitors on Thursday and a good check up at the doctors. The cast doesn't seem to cause her discomfort it just won't let her sit up at all. We have to prop her on pillows or hold her in our lap. I held her for most of the day yesterday as she was just so tired of being in bed. My arms are really sore today. She was able to go in the potty tonight, I know that sounds silly but we were all potty trained before this and now we have to have a diaper on. So we all clapped and said hooray! Looking forward to the weekend visitors and having Grandma come to help. Hope everyone out there is doing well.

2009-01-26T22:34:00.000-08:00

Little Miss Emily has a Broken Leg

Emily was such a brave girl at the hospital today. We were there for about 10 hours. They diagnosed her with a femur hairline fracture. She gets to wear this beautiful contraption for 4-6 weeks. How did we manage to get through 10 years with boys and Emily is the one that ends up with a broken leg. Keep her in your prayers... she is going to be going crazy not being able to move around.

2009-01-20T20:30:00.000-08:00

Time for Soccer Finals

Davin gets to hang out with his buddies. There are four kids his age that are younger siblings of Carter's team mates. It has been fun for them to have the time during practices and games to hang out and play.

Emily gets to Monkey around.

Carter has really improved his skills this year. His coach was so great. He taught the boys so much with quiet patience. He never yelled and was very positive in his instructions. They boys won a lot during the season, they haven't had quite the same luck during the finals but we are all crossing our fingers for the last game.

Emily and Tanner have discovered the fun of dress up. What a pair!

We had a nice visit with Grandma and Grandpa shortly after Christmas. We had our favorite dinner of tri tip steak. The boys can't get enough of it. We love seeing Grandma and Grandpa and getting in our hugs and kisses.

Emily looks so cute in a new outfit and purse from Grandma and Grandpa. It is so fun how girly she is.

2008-12-26T14:18:00.000-08:00

Christmas FunWe got our traditional new pajamas on Christmas eve.
We put out the cookies we had made for Santa. Emily really "got" Christmas this year. She was super excited about everything from Santa to the story of Baby Jesus.

Here are some of our favorites from Christmas morning.
The boys got each other helmet covers for their ski helmets. Carter's is a three foot hight "fro" and Davin's is some scary spikes!

Emily loved her Dora house and all her princess stuff.

Christmas Eve Snow Play

2008-12-26T10:45:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve Snow PlayDad was at work today but we had a busy day too. We spent the morning making cookies for Santa. Then we had lots of fun playing together and building a snow man. It took a while to get Carter to agree to come out with us but he had a good time once he did. The kids spent about 2 hours outside building the snowman and snow forts.

Here is a short video greeting from the kids.

2008-12-23T17:21:00.000-08:00

Emily has been so funny lately about changing clothes. She changes her outfits several times a day. She picked out a Princess dress for herself when we did the Whitaker Family Christmas shopping day. When she saw the princess ornament in the pink dress she had to go put on her princess costume crown included before she could put it on the tree.

So Sweet!

2008-12-21T14:00:00.000-08:00

Sunday before Christmas. Everyone is dressed so nice. Looking forward to singing our favorite Christmas carols at church.

2008-12-19T21:46:00.000-08:00

A December snow storm brought us a
very white Christmas holiday.

Our back deck is a sea of snow.

Davin made a beautiful snow angel. He loves being in the snow he will play for hours outside sledding and being our snow monkey.

Emily likes the snow this year. Last year she wouldn't touch it or play in it.

We are so lucky the people we bought our house from left us a snowblower. It has made such a difference in the snow removal.

2008-12-19T21:44:00.001-08:00

This is our first blog. We hope it will be an easier way
to keep in touch with family and friends. Happy Holidays!