Christmas Recital

Melia had her Christmas Recital this week and of course she did great! She knew the whole dance so well and looked out at the audience smiling! She really has become a little performer! Here are some pics: My little tapper girl! Doesn't she look so big? I can't believe it!

Here are some of the girls in Melia's class.
Almost the whole VanOrden crew made it to see her, which made Cooper happy he was traveling back and forth to see everyone on the row and find whatever candy they had. thanks guys!
And our little family of course!

Thanksgiving

This year we are thankful for FAMILY...

We had a great Thanksgiving with lots and lots of family fun!
Here is Cooper and June giving hugs, Bella and June and Jamie and Trent playing the Kinect!
Julie always comes up with the cutest things for the kids to do! We set up downstairs and the kids had fun making turkey hats and lots more fun stuff.
It was Baby Luc and Baby Rocco's 1st Thanksgiving!
And Don't forget the Food! It was such a delicious and fun thanksgiving!!!

Getting ready for Christmas...

Even though Thanksgiving is still on it's way we are looking forward for Christmas. I think it's time to start getting ready, for me this includes getting shopping done before it gets too cold and crazy, , looking for the best deals on gifts, finding the perfect p.j.'s for the kids to wear Christmas eve, stocking up on the hot chocolate, and of course our favorite, it's finally time to use the " you better be good so Santa can come" line. Looks like Cooper may need some reminding...




Doesn't he have the cutest sad face ever? I sure think so!!

Leaves are falling all around!

You know it's fall at our house because there is always plenty of leaves to jump in! We have two enormous trees in our yard and the kids love it! It seems like everyday we can go out and rake up a huge pile of leaves. I'm so glad it has been warm enough and not wet so they are fun to play in. Also, I am so glad to have the best mother in law who just shows up with her rake in hand to help! Thanks! Melia even scared her Dad and Uncle Jared by hiding in the leaves and waiting until they got home to pop up and say boo! I make it a tradition every year to take pictures of the kids in the leaves. Here are a few from this year...







If your wondering why Melia has her helmet on in every picture it's because she is attached to her bike lately. But we are so proud of her she learned how to ride her bike without training wheels! She came to Dad and asked him to take them off and in three days she had it down! I couldn't believe it! Here she is with her class "friend" that they pass along she wanted to take her for a bike ride!

We hope you are all enjoying the great fall weather as much as we are!

Halloween Halloween...

What does it mean? It means lots of spooky fun!

She's Crafty

I would not say that I am a very "crafty" person so I had to post this little craft I did because I'm proud that it actually turned out cute! I had these drawer fronts from Melia's old changing table for years now and I finally put them to use. I decided to go to Hobby Lobby and get some super cute handles that look antique. Some were crystal others painted pocka-dot etc. They were all different and I painted one of the original handles pink. All I had to do was drill holes for them, screw in the handles, saw off the backs and put in a wall mount on back! I got it done in one afternoon! Melia was excited to get somewhere to hang her dress-ups and such! It was a fun little project. Now my mind is in this mode and I find myself wanting to do some cute fall decorations for cheap, so if you have any suggestions let me know! I've been searching on this awesome blog for ideas : thriftydecorchic.blogspot.com and I'm in love with all the things she can do with hardly any money!

First Day

Melia had her first day of preschool this week.It feels like it's been a long time coming, but also has gone so fast! She could have gone last year and had 2 years of preschool but I'm so glad I waited because she was so ready this year. She picked out this cute outfit for her first day. She said she needed the sweater because it was "Go Utes Red." Dad was happy to hear that of course. She was so excited for school. I was worried that she may not be able to get up in time since all summer long she slept past nine and that is when her school starts but as soon as I woke her up and told her it was school day she jumped out of bed and wanted to get ready to go! I got to come along for the first day and we had so much fun! She was most excited about painting and made a bunch of pictures for us. She has a great teacher and it will be fun to hear all about her days at school now.

St.George by Melia

Melia was lucky enough to get to go on a trip to St. George with just her and her Grandparents. It was so nice of them to take her with them she had a blast! I sent her with our little camera and was excited to see what she came up with. She loves to take pictures and it's always interesting to see what a 4 year old thinks needs to be photographed! Here they are starting off their journey. Already taking some pics here I am saying goodbye to my sweet girl and already missing her like crazy.



They went to a beach on a reservoir that is just about 20 miles away from St. George but forgot the camera. She also said her favorite part was the beach and swimming. My guess is that it probably isn't the greatest idea to let a 4 year old with a camera near any sort of body of water so I'm glad they "forgot" the camera those times.

On sunday they went to church then over to the temple. The St. George temple is one of my favorites. I just love how the beautiful white temple looks in midst of all the red rocks. This is where she got most of her pictures...

The beautiful flowers...
The cutest girl I know...
Jesus...
Grandpa and Grandma on the steps of the Temple...
Eating a nutritious snack of pears and a cinnamon roll...
Oh and even some random people Melia tells me they really wanted there pictures taken. I'm pretty sure they asked Grandma to take their picture with there own camera and Melia decided to also take a picture with her camera.


She informs me that this is sleeping beauty... I happen to agree...
And the final picture is one I am very proud of, It is a great one of the Temple...
So Thank you to Mark and Sheila for taking her on this trip with you I'm sure she will never forget it, it was so sweet of you.

My buddy and me

While Melia was in St. George with her Grandma Sheila and Grandpa Mark, Cooper and I got some fun one on one time together. We were missing "Mela" but it was nice to be able to really talk to Cooper and do just what he wanted to do. So today he wanted to go see the "Ephalants" and we headed to the zoo. It was beyond packed(Really, I've never seen it that busy) but since I just had one little guy to look after it wasn't too bad. We started with the monkeys and it was a great place to start... This is the first thing we saw...

Even Cooper could see that there was something wrong with this picture and said "GROSS". He was laughing and so was everyone around us.
Next we headed for the whole reason he wanted to come to see the baby "ephalant".

We ended with a Choo Choo ride. Cooper must have been missing his sister because every little kid we saw he felt he needed to tell them what he was doing. He really wanted to ride the Choo choo and let all the kids know "I'm going on the choo choo now." I love this pic just shows how excited he really was. What a nice day with just my buddy and me.

Airplane Birthday

It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Super Cooper turning 2!



Our cute little guy is 2! Anyone who knows Cooper knows that he is obsessed with airplanes. So for the last few weeks he has been asking about his "airplane birthday." Since there are 2 other cousins his age that turn two before him he had this birthday thing down. We decided to take him to Hill Aerospace Museum in Roy in the afternoon. Lily and Holly joined us as well as Grandma Sheila and "Lelle". Cooper was in heaven. They even had a little space for the kids to play and dress up as you can see Melia landed on the moon! And there is Lily saluting and Holly flying off in their own airplane. Cooper tried on a pilot jacket and we couldn't resist buying him one because he looked so stinkin' cute!

Later that evening we had our families over to have cake and ice cream and play in the back yard. My friend Angie of course made the cutest airplane cake ever. We showed it to Cooper in the morning and he kept saying "Eat my airplane" all day long. He blew out his candles three times during us singing to him. He was so excited to get a train table from Vanorden's and my parents found him a rocket, plus many many more presents! He is so loved, thanks everyone!

We are so happy to have Cooper in our family. We love him so much! He is very much a little boy loving anything that moves and is full of energy! He is also so loving, lately he's been singing "Happy Family" and giving great hugs and kisses. His hugs melt my heart. He loves to "Ockabye" before bed and is a great cuddle buddy. You can always finding him chasing his sister "Mela" and loves to pretend to be a monster and scare anyone. He is great at tackling his Daddy and loves to ride on the motorcycle with him. I can't believe my baby is so big! Happy Birthday Cooper Clyde VanOrden!

Baby Rocco

(Photo by Bret Baker)
Congratulations to Janine, Jeremy, Lily and Holland! They have an adorable little boy now! Rocco Clark Utley was born on Aug.7th weighing 7lbs. 2oz. and 20 inches long. He has a ton of dark hair and the cutest little faces ever. I was so happy to be able to hold him, you really forget how tiny they come. We are extremely happy to have a new boy cousin! I'm sure Cooper will be able to "show him the ropes" when he gets bigger.

Gardner Village

Summer is going way too fast but we have been having so much fun with trips to the zoo, Lagoon and all the fun things that you are supposed to do in the summer... Today we went to Gardner Village to ride the horses and see the petting zoo(Along with a little window shopping of course). If you haven't been it's really worth it the goats, sheep, pigs and other animals are just walking around by you. My kids loved to be able to pet them. Just thought I'd share these cute pictures from our day...

Cooper sneaking a kiss on June's cheekies...
Bella and Melia in their cowgirl gear...


This goat got right down to check out our Cooper boy...

visiting

We had a blast this last week while my sister Kerry and her family were all here. It felt like a vacation for us with so many fun things to do. Fishing, the aquarium, Daybreak beach, lots of swimming, and just playing and talking together. We have missed them so much and it's so great to get to know these little one's even more.

So fun to see our little one's together, and fun that my oldest sister and I have some kids the same age.

Crazy my niece Rachel is 14! She is so awesome! I was only 11 when she was born!
My sister Kerry trying the "world famous crepes" Paul made for them. yummy!
Cute Abby is only a few weeks older than Melia!
Melia, Abby and Ian at the aquarium.
Darling Hailey with a mouth full of cookies! This little one right away let me hold her in the pool for 20 mins, I felt so lucky. She has the best giggle I've ever heard!
Everyone petting the sting rays at the aquarium.

We're so glad you guys could come we miss you too much! It was so much fun!

sleepover

Friday Night we got two cute girls added to our family to have a sleepover! My cute nieces Lily and Holly stayed the night and played all day Saturday. We were able to do so many things. Melia helped me plan some fun crafts to do like making these "slap-it" bracelets. We were able to go swimming with help from aunt Natalie(no pics of course because we were focused on watching all these kiddos). We played games, watched movies and mainly just played out in the back yard. The girls loved to do a "trick show" on the tramp. We had so much fun!