Newport Beach 2009

It all started with Bob & Betty many years ago bringing their little family to the beach once a year for a week. The cleveland family has now been going for years and have not missed a year. We look forward to this every year, and had a wonderful time. Can't wait until next year. Nicole Madsen took some family pictures for us down at the beach. She did a great job! Thanks Kip & Steve for always making sure that the family is taken care of. We appreciate all you do for us! You are amazing parents and grandparents!

sPrInG pIcTuReS....

BeTtEr LaTe ThAn NeVeR....

So I know I am going to get a lot of comments about the 3 a.m. post, but what can I say? I can only get things done when everyone is asleep, and with a D.P. I could be up all night. So I know I am a month behind, but here it goes anyway... Mckenzie loves to play with her friends. Her two pals that she is mostly always with are Morgan and Macey. It is so funny to watch them, listen to the conversations that they are having with eachother. It's priceless and I never want to forget her at this age.. Every year we are able to partcipated in helping out with the Children with Cancer Christmas Party. I look forward to it every year. I always feel so grounded when I come home from it. The kids are amazing. The family with Steve is a favorite that I get to see every year. Their little boy has a blood cancer and is doing very well in fighting it!! Mckenzie has been taking dance for almost two years now. We got to come in and see a little show of "Santa Claus is coming to town" too cute! Thanks grandpa steve & grandma kip for coming to watch! I am not to proud of these pics but they are worth the post. We went to 2  Sweater Parties this year, but only got pictures of the Jolley's. They were both so much fun and there is nothing better than dressing up and acting silly! These photos were taken at the preschool christmas party. Kaylee would not sit on santa's lap, but she did ok with Mrs. Claus. This is the first year that Mckenzie would sit on his lap!

Christmas Pictures...

Giggles.... Our final christmas card! Must love boots! Always coming.... ...and always going! THE END...

Thanksgiving Day...

PuMpKiN PaTcH...

I know we are in the month of November, but I am trying to play catch up here! These are some cute shots I got of Kaylee as she became "one with the dirt". I have never seen such a little girl love dirt as much as her.

More Halloween Pics...

Well the night of Halloween, Mckenzie came down the stairs (after being in her "Aquamarine" costume all day)& decided that if mommy was going to be a cheerleader than she was going to be one as well, so she was! It was like pulling teeth to get Skyler to dress up, but he did and decided to be what he is every other night of the week...a tennis player (does that suprise anyone?) Our family picture.. and yes this is my high school cheer uniform..thank you very much! Kaylee getting her face painted..she sat still what a miracle! We went Trick-or-treating at the mall during the day..with Spencer & Carson! Sisterly love... they love to hug eachother all of the time and Kaylee always says "oh sissy" as she is squeezing the heck out of Mckenzie, which usually ends in a fight between the two!

Racing to Save Lives...

          Robin, Hailey, & Jason Groff Running for Robin

My marathon training is coming to an end! I have been training for the past 5 months to run a 1/2 marathon. I know it seems like a long time to train, but I have had to work up to it. Let's face it I couldn't run a mile when I first started and now last Sat. I ran 12! Hooray!!

I've decided to run the Two Cities Marathon 2008 in Fresno, CA and raise money and awareness for research leading to a cure for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma. As a motivation to run this marathon, I have chosen a close family friend Robin Rozier Groff as my honoree who, in this past April lost a courageous battle to the terrible illness of Acute Myeloid Leukemia. And that is when I decided to run for Robin...

"Never in a million years did I ever think that at 28 years old I would have to go into the boxing ring for the fight of my life. In an instant, my life changed. It is times like this where you realize where all of your priorities should be and your heart ponders the true meaning of life. My hope and prayer is to make it through this so that I can be a better servant to humanity, a more patient wife and mother, and I can help others who will go through similar trials."

 -Robin Rozier Groff

To support Robin's wish to help others who are and will go through this similar trial she has faced, please join me to help raise money to fight back and find a cure to beat this terrible disease. Any donation you can give to help me meet my goal would be greatly appreciated. On behalf of Robin, as well as all the other leukemia patients, I truly appreciate your kindness and thank you from the bottom of my heart...and feet too!

To make a donation click on "Running for Robin" at the top of the paragraph and it will  take you to the website to make a donation. If you would like to mail it to me leave me a comment below with your email address and I will give you my address. My deadline to raise money is up until my race which is Nov. 9th, so the sooner the better. Thanks for all who have already donated as well, it is much appreciated. 

Happy Halloween....

We are just about ready to go out for the night, just thought I would post these pics for my mom in Utah, who won't be here to see the girlies. We just took some fun pictures at Kiddie Kandids today. Hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween..more pics to come!

I looked out the window and what did I see......

144 Popcorn Balls made by Skyler, Kip, & Me!

-This last Sunday we had our Primary Program, which I must admit went quite well. We had 144 kids to place on the stand and that was quite tricky, but through it all and the only 2 practices that we did have..the program went unbelievable(thanks to lots of prayer)! So after the program we passed out the popcorn balls to the kids to let them know how much we apprecitated them. I had many people come up and ask me for the recipe so I decided that it was blog worthy..here it is (I got the recipe from Kip so I can't take the credit).

Candy Corn Popcorn Balls

Boil: 2 cubes butter

1 1/2 C. sugar

 1/2. C. light caro syrup

Gently Boil for 1-2 Min. Do not overcook

Add to: 3 bags popped microwave popcorn

3 C. mini marshmellows

optional: stir in 1 bag of candy corn form into balls! Enjoy!

DeMi LeVaTo...

So the reason why we went to the fair on Sat. was because we had VIP seats to see Demi Levato perform. It was filled with little school age girls screaming and yelling (sky was a good sport). For those of you who don't know who Demi is she is like a famous performer on the Disney Channel; equal to the Jonas Bros. She starred in Camp Rock with them. Anyways, Mckenzie loved it, and I thought she was a great perfomer for her age! She actually sang to Mckenzie a few times and held her hand and tossed her hair....she thought that was so cool! Not quite old enough to know what is going on yet! But she sure is cute!