Malaysia!

View from the inside of the cave temple place they climbed to the top of.

Dave feeding the elephants

Dave learning to weave a very fine cloth at a local community center. They worked with lots of disabled adults and families there. (he really really loved that day) Also notice his shoes- no shoes allowed in any of the buildings!)

A little gal showing Dave the ropes.

The Petronas towers from Daves Hotel in Kuala Lumpur ( capital city of Malaysia)

Dave downtown with the towers at dark.

Towers at dusk. ( that middle bridge is actually a suspended walkway that connects the two towers- you can buy tickets just to go thru and see the amazing view, like the space needle- I guess).

Dave cooling off in a waterfall they climbed up.

It was in the low-mid 90's the entire time he was there (with 100% humidity- I imagine this felt amazing!)

this painting is made entirely out of rice. pretty neat. I think he watched them make it too but I'm not really sure :)

Pretty towers from the car as they drove past

They got to see and try tons and tons of new fruit that only is produced over there... this one is called hairy fruit.--Dave said it was good-kind of scary looking but tasty.

This is another new fruit- not sure what its name is.

Lots and lots of people everywhere he said and lots of elephants. They got to ride some too.

This little girl loved Dave! He would have brought both she and her sister home if he could! They were really sweet and they bonded with him. (I dont know for certain about these girls but many of the children he worked with had been rescued from himan trafficking :'( break your heart!

This is called a 'sand tray' it's just a container full of sand that they have lots of little figures/furniture etc for. They used it lots for therapy with the children. Sand tray therapy is very effective and is useful when there is language barriors- as well as to help children "show/describe" their feelings/ situations etc.

funny monkeys were everywhere he said! (like pigeons)

Dave had an awesome time on study abroad it was a very neat experience for him. He got to see amazing places, meet and work with many appreciative people and brought home lots of neat memories and pictures These are only a few. What an awesome overall experience, but we're so glad he's home!

2011 Year-end Recap/ 2012 Update

2012 has been great so far! We are feel super blessed and are doing well. Here is an update that we should have sent out with our Christmas cards but the printer was in rebellion. . .

As for our family we are doing quite well. We've had a busy year! Dave graduated last December with his Bachelors in Psychology and is now enrolled in his Masters of Counseling at ISU. He is a great student but with him working 30+ hours a week plus school we almost never saw him! In October he quit his job so he is now able to spend more time at home and we are all loving it:) In the beginning of December he left to attend a study abroad course in Malaysia. He was gone most of December and the first part of January. We missed him greatly but he is doing good things and we hope he will be able to get some good connections and references from his experiences there. Plus it was an amazing experience!

Jaxson was baptized this spring and is doing great. He just finished two seasons of flag football. He loved every minute of it and had excellent coaches who taught him lots and were very patient as well ;) He is excelling at school and scouts. He was a knight for Halloween because he "wanted a cool sword". Jax loves reading and playing with friends. He has recently discovered a love of LEGOS, 'really long' chapter books, and classic cars. He'll be playing soccer again this spring but he still loves learning and anything that has to to with fish, the ocean and of course, his favorite-SHARKS!

Eva is an aspiring artist and ballerina. She is a princess in every way. She loves reading and writing. This year she won an award for an essay she entered in the school reflections contest. She recently was a 'Cherub' in the city's production of the Nutcracker Ballet and was cast with "the big girls" she's the youngest in her group and loves all the attention they give her. Eva was Rapunzel for Halloween. She fit the part perfectly except her hair isn't "golden blonde". I bought her an inexpensive wig that daddy hated and forbid her to wear in public because it was so ugly compared to her own hair- (funny daddy! he's very protective of her long hair). Luckily, my friend does hair for a living and kindly offered to color Evy's hair for us. (She just got little highlights) She's loves to perform and is preparing to audition for the dance company's production of the Cinderella Ballet next week.

Sharkey is hilarious. Carter is my entertainment and my big helper. He is finally growing too! He had a checkup recently and has grown 3 1/2 inches and put on almost 3 pounds as well. (Hooray he hit the 10th percentile at almost 33 pounds!) He's very talkative and loves to race and crash cars as well as play with balls. He was a Shark for Halloween- which was simply adorable, and very fitting as well. Sharks counted down the days until his birthday this year because he was 'gonna be big-- and four.' He is a peace maker and loves to dote on Elena, they are great friends. He is going to play on a soccer team this spring and that should be pretty fun to watch!

Elena has had a big year as well. Unfortunately for me she's not really a baby anymore- we celebrated her first birthday in November. She's a busy baby with an energetic appetite for exploration. We are baby-proofing like crazy but I'm sure there will ever be such a thing as 'elena-proof'. She loves the kids and all animals. She's very spoiled and she loves it. We are all wrapped around her little fingers. Elle has a cuddly caring spirit and we call her the 'emotional barometer' of our home- if everyone's happy, she's happy- but if anyone's sad, she'll cry too, etc. We really enjoy having her as part of our family and I can't believe it's already been a year!

I've been going to the gym at six a.m. five days a week with my sister in law Mary. It's so fun! We laugh and laugh. I feel great all day and sleep better too. I'm also enjoying the funny things the kids do each day- and I can't believe how quickly they're growing. I'm the cub master of our ward, the Volunteer coordinator on the PTA Board of Directors and still manage the Office employees and accounts payable all of which keeps me plenty busy:) In my spare time I like finding fun projects/ crafts and games to play/do with the kids:)

these are the amazing world famous Petronas Towers in the capital city of Malaysia. So beautiful! What an awesome picture Dave!

Dave and Dumbo

Dave's feeding a baby elephant peanuts while on study abroad for counseling in Malaysia. I texted him that I hadn't bought tickets to Eva's performance of the Nutcracker yet and that it was sold out and I that I was super stressed that I may not get to see it and he texted me back "bummer! good luck. I'm going to ride an elephant!" Funny boy. He's meeting lots of very interesting and influential people in his field and enjoying himself as well of course but we sure miss him and will especially miss him for the Holidays! We love you DADDY!

Happy First Birthday Baby Elle-Bell

Welcome home sweet sister

Sooo happy to have a sissy!

so tiny, so perfect...

fresh from heaven,

Grandma and Grandpa Wilson gave her a gift and she didn't want to open it. She just carried it around and when Grandma tore it open for her she cried and carried around the pretty paper all devastated that grandma would ruin her pretty present. The kids all thought it was pretty funny.

Not sure she wants to touch it...

Happy Birthday Baby! ( I didn't have any dowels to use to support the cake and it sank as soon as it settled :( oops it wasn't my finest cake moment)

These pictures didn't post in order but they're still fun. Elena didn't want to touch the cake at first--didn't want to get her hands dirty. We eventually helped her dig in and then we couldn't get her out of it. She was literally 'all-in' by the time we were through. She demolished the cake as well as both our clothes and grandma wilson's tablecloth :)

"maybe this stuff IS ok...."

Eating Face first---Loving it!

Can't get enough!

I can hardly believe it! One year old and sooooo stinkin' funny. This girl is a character. She keeps us all on our toes. She loves her brothers and her sissy and wants to do everything that they do. They love her too and I'm afraid she's sooo very spoiled and loved. All three of the older kids dote on her and she adores them for it. She's also got her handsome Daddy completely wrapped around her cute little chubby fingers.

What a great year it's been we've loved every minute of it. Babies really are little miracles, perfect little hands, feet and bodies that grow and learn so fast. What a wonderful gift to be able to watch and love. We are so blessed to have this sweet baby princess in our family- I just want to know why they all think they have to grow so quickly? I hate that they get so big so fast! It breaks my heart to think that in under ten years our babies will start leaving the nest :( I try to dwell on the positive and every little thing they do that I love. Especially when things are hard or I'm so tired I just have to remind myself to enjoy every minute because it's not going to be like this forever, even though sometimes I wish it could be. Today really is a gift 'that's why they call it the present'

Funny Kids!

So I'm becoming the worst blogger! I blog stuff in my head all the time. . ."oh, that was cute I'll post that..." or " haha how funny I'm gonna remember that for the blog..." or most recently... " my baby is growing sooooo fast I need to document all her progress on the blog!"... then things get busy and life happens and all these awesome blog moments stay in the jumble of blog that is my mind. Anyways I don't have tons of time to make a super long catch up post right now but a few thoughts I need to document before they are lost forever because I tend to laugh and then forget details.

Jax- started some new "day vitamins" to help with some things at school and recently read 21 200+ page chapter books in one month. He also told me last night that he used to hate math because it was "his nemesis"- but now "it's super fun" and he's "really good at it" and "loves it!"
We thank Heavenly Father for the marvel and blessing of modern medicine everyday- he's been able to excel so much. We are so grateful for him in our family.

Eva- yesterday morning at breakfast "may I have some mascara on my waffles?" hahaha! I was so confused- it took me a minute, but we figured it out. . . she wanted 'nutella' we had a good laugh- I'm gonna remember to ask her if I can put nutella on her eyes for the nutcracker bwahaha. ( oh yeah -she auditioned for the Nutcracker Ballet and got cast as a cherub with the 7-8 year olds! She was pretty excited because she's the youngest one in her group, all the kids her age were cast as other parts)

Carter- He loves to sing. He's a singing machine and I love it! The other day he was singing The armies of Helamen and when he got to the chorus he sang "...and we will be the armies of evil-men..." Awesome. I loved it and texted it to Dave right away, we both got a good laugh.

Elena- the other night we were reading scriptures while Sharkey was in the tub and then we all heard this SPLASH! I went running in and Elle had managed to pull herself into the tub and was thoroughly pleased with herself. Now we know to watch out anytime the tub/shower's running because she's likely to invite herself in everytime. She loves water! She loves dancing to and she can mooove! :) I'll try to catch her skills on camera and post them here they're pretty intense.

updates of a Great Spring and a Super Summer!

Freezing at a football game! That's Carter and Eva buried under all those blankets

Fire House fun

Jax w/ Sparky the Fire dog

Jaxson's 2nd grade class Luau

Old Papa and Elle at the Cemetery (90+ years of history and 4 generations)

Cute kids, sweet puppies

Chewy and Adina, Wilson kids and Old Papa at Old Nana's Grave (my grandma)

Adorable Princess!

This monkey loved Carter! Followed him and kept putting his hand up to match his. He loved it:)

Awesome Jaxson-eating-Dinosaur, Hogle Zoo had a really neat "Zoo-rassic" dino exhibit

Funny Kids at Hogle Zoo SLC

Carter, Elle and Evy in Ellie's crib- I heard lots of giggling and when I went in they said that they were "putting her to sleep"

Best buddies

Boys "hunting"

Very Pregnant Audi

Daddy's new motorcycle

Easter Egg hunt at Mommer's w/ cousins and all new rain galoshes

Eva as the 'old woman' in her school play with her good buddy Ben (my mom made that dress she's wearing for my baptism day-- funny)

bye-bye mullet

Pretty Ballerina

We've had a great spring, super summer and fantastic fall. For beginners we . . .

We had a huge Easter egg hunt at Mommer's with all the cousins/ aunts and uncles.

Watched Eva graduate Kindergarten and star in the class play "Jack and the beanstalk"

saw Jaxson lip sync to "you aint nothin but a hound dog" with his class at the school talent show (hilarious)

Watched Eva's Ballet/tap dance Recital (so adorable!)

Elena got her first haircut ( no more mullet)

We went to Hogle Zoo with friends ( Elena's first time)

Rode a fun Train and Carousel

Went to our local zoo tons and tons!

Ate and played at park lunch

We went to the fire station open house with the scouts and wore the outfits in a smoke house simulator, shot the fire hose and toured the fire engines.

We spent Memorial day with Old Papa- we went to the 'field of hero's and the cemetery to Old Nana's and other family graves

We Saw an amazing "hands on" taxidermy exhibit at our Library

Elle learned to sit, scoot, "handi-army crawl"( one elbow, one hand, one foot and one knee), really crawl and now stand

Carter learned to count to 25, dress alone (quite uniquely!), put on his own shoes and ride a two wheeler all by himself!

Jaxson played quarterback on his flag football team, and scored lots of touchdowns and threw lots of touchdown passes (so fun to watch!)

Our dear neighbor Farrell turned ninety!

Eva is aspiring to be a world renowned artist and draws nearly constantly- also now that she's become more of an avid reader/ speller she is also writing stories with her illustrations ( very cute :)

We had Family Pictures taken AGAIN ( twice in one year! I'm feeling really happy about that, these kids grow so fast and are sooo adorable) I don't have these back to post yet but will hopefully have them soon.

We bred our sweet boxer Audi with another purebred boxer and had 7 adorable puppies. ( unfortunately 4 had cleft palates and dies with in a few days- but we had 3 to love and play with all summer) We were fortunate enough to sell the remaining 3 pups and make some $ to help pay for grad school.

We had an awesome fireworks show put on by daddy and the kids.

I turned 31 ( Crazy huh?)

I made my very first wedding cake for some friends. It turned out really nice and boosted my ego :)

Jaxson and I made a Rain gutter Regatta Boat (without any manly help) then I ran the actual competition and Jaxsons boat did awesome. It was really fun and we learned a lot about spray paint and sanding wood etc:)

Eva learned how to ride a two wheeler ( only because she was tired of Carter being able to ride one and hers still had training wheels on- I'm pretty sure had he not learned she'd be content to have training wheels forever- funny girl!)

We went on lots of fun summer walks together.

Went swimming/ did slip n slide

played out front together A LOT!

We went to the Mount Timpanogos Temple to see our Dear Aunt Jen and Uncle Nick get sealed for time and all eternity after 9 years of marriage!

We had a fun at an impromptu Wilson Reunion

Dave sold the truck and bought a Motorbike so we saved literally hundreds in gas $ yay!

Jaxson got very brave and moved downstairs into his very own room!

Jaxson found a hobo spider on his pillow two weeks later and moved back upstairs into Carter's room

mommy rearranged all the furniture in nearly every room

Elena rearranged all the contents of nearly every drawer/ cabinet and cubby in every room

Mommy child proofed the house.

Daddy took the boys to scout camp and the scouts on high adventure, mommy and the girls had a ladies night- ate ice cream, did nails and watched pride and prejudice.

Eva learned to hold her breath under water.

The faucet on the house broke so we had to use Farrell's hose overt the fence to water the Garden for a while. looked pretty funny

The dog ate most of the garden :(

We helped Grandma and Grandpa Wilson move from Island Park to Idaho Falls.

We went to Newport Oregon with Grandma and Grandpa Wilson for a week. We saw lots of fun things- a huge aquarium full of sharks, a pirate store, went whale watching on a big boat and saw grey whales, caught and ate lots of fresh crab (yum!). Daddy, Jax, Auntie Heather, Gramma and Grampa all went on a deep sea fishing charter and daddy was really sea sick almost the whole time! Sooo sad :( We walked a lot because the car's starter went out and was in the shop most of the trip. We toured a neat 100+ yr old light house, ate great seafood, went to the beach and swam a lot- we had a great time and I will post pictures soon but my camera died on the second day so I only have a few so Grandma Wilson's gonna get me copies of her pics hopefully.

Elle learned that she really likes eating dirt.

Aunt Krista got her Mission Call to Argentina, Mendoza- leaving Oct 19th

Our sweet puppy Audi went to heaven :(

Elena got 8 teeth, and graduated to a forward facing car seat

We ate ice cream and popsicles to cool down, played with puppies, cousins and friends

We all got some awesome sun tans and funny tan lines

Built forts, played hide and seek, freeze tag, were very very silly and laughed a lot!

We feel very blessed to have had sooo much fun together:)

Mommy will post more pictures/ updates soon!