Valentine's Day

We had a great Valentine's Day. I have to admit: I love all holidays. They are so fun! I love to go all out! So this year we had a blast. It went a little like this:

-got up super early and made Rex biscuits and gravy with orange juice (heart biscuits of course)
-made chocolate chip pancakes for the girls
-Annie took treats to her preschool class
-loaded Rex's lunch full of love notes and mini apple pies (his fav)
-made sugar cookies with the girls and dropped off at neighbors
-decorated the table with cut-out hearts and lots of chocolate candy
-made a yummy romantic dinner including:
grilled spicy honey chicken
homemade rolls
mashed yams topped with toasted coconut, marshmallows and candied walnuts
steamed broccoli
and chocolate chocolate chip cake for me and rex :)
- put the kids to bed and exchanged fun gifts
-had dessert and watched the movie: Valentine's Day (so cute)

what a great day! I just love my sweet Valentine, Rex!! (he surprised me by dropping me off at a spa for a wonderful massage, I had no idea!!) LOVE YOU HONEY!!


We started the week off with my dads birthday. Bowling, dinner and ice cream Sundays, yum!! LOVE YOU DAD!!

The girls waking up and opening their Valentines gifts and having breakfast! Love those sleepy faces!

making sugar cookies

carefully cutting or Macey just playing with a blob of dough :)

Olivia crawling...yes crawling around on V-day!

The girls took turns using the camera and taking pictures of me with them. Some of them turned out so cute I just had to share. I love these kids!! Me and Macey.

Me and the babe.

Me and Annie. I have the best life :)

A little Bling

My sweet girls have been sooo sick! I guess I shouldn't be to surprised that everyone gets coughs and runny noeses becuase they are all in the same room.But Annie got a sudden urge to get her ears pieced, so...... not knowing if it would last we took a trip to the mall and she did it!!! Now Annie is my brave kid. Loves the doctor, eye exams, meeting complete strangers, but I thought she might back out of this one. No way. She was so excited. Yes, there were a few tears, but just a few minutes later, she was happy as could be. Even picked out her first pair of earrings....some cute owls. She wanted dangley (is that a word?) feather earrings but I said lets start with something a little less wild. Anyway, Brianne was there too to capture the moment.
Happy and hugging the bear
Right before.....
Right after... The tears are gone but poor Macey cried too when she saw Annie cry. How sweet. Tears of sympathy. But everyone recovered :) Macey does NOT want to get her ears pierced.
Side note.... my cute baby fell asleep sitting up and tipped forward. CUTE!! Don't worry I fixed her so her legs wouldn't fall asleep :)And she blends in with her blanket. Baby camo.
And, I am pretty excited about this! Brianne and I got together and actually accomplished something. We get together in high hopes of doing crafts or projects.... but the day flies by and all we have done is entertain, feed, clean up after, and break up fights between our kids. (They really do get along) Anywho.... we both got Kindle Fires from out husbands for Christmas so we made cases. Super cute.

Snow day!

WE finally got a snow day here in Cottage Grove! It snowed Saturday and Sunday night.It was so much fun! Snow just makes everything look so much better and pretty too. Don't ya think? Well, the girls (and Rex) LOVED it and played in it as much as they could. Just a few more inches and Rex and I were going to snowboard down our hill....oh well they played on the sled. It was a fun day and a cozy night.


How cute is my sweet family? Rex and all the girls in one photo...love it!!

Laughing while they were building their tiny snowman.

I love Annie's smile here.....

Macey looks so grown up here.....I can't believe it. So cute!

This is the view off our porch.... you bet we had all the blinds open all day! Beautiful!!

Melt. My. Heart.

Macey and Annie are seriously the best sisters to Olivia. They make her laugh all the time, they share all their toys (except for Squeenkies), help feed her, play with her, Annie even picks her up and rocks her. Every time they are sweet with her it melts my heart. It reminds me on a daily basis why I love being a mother so much and why I love these kids with all my heart. My girls are amazing and make me a better person everyday. They are sweet and loving. Kind and fun. Annie will complement me on my outfit or hair and always holds my hand and Macey will kiss me anytime I ask. And as for my sweet Olivia, I can't get enough of that baby. I LOVE being a mom. It is the best job in the world. And here is just one of the many reasons I am so happy.....

December Recap

WOW!!! I can't believe that that this month went by sooo fast! I have been horrible at blogging. I have been taking pictures..... but the I haven't taken the time to put them on our blog. Well, December has been crazy busy. I have been hanging out with my sister (so much fun!) crafting, sewing, cooking, playing, shopping:), hanging out with family and friends, and loving the holiday season. So here are some pictures of the last couple of weeks.....
Here we are Christmas tree hunting. There wasn't any snow which bummed out the kids (and Rex) but we found an amazing tree....maybe the best one yet....
It was fun to get out and hike around
I love decorating the tree as a family. The kids are so excited and it really starts to feel like Christmas.
Rex and Olivia and their new trick....it freaks people out all the time.
Annie had her first Christmas program with her preschool. It was soooo cute! I can't believe she is old enough to have school programs..... I remember when I had those as a kid!
Me and Macey smiling after we finished decorating gingerbread houses. So. Much. Candy.
Brianne and I have so much fun together. And our babies are super cute! I love having her here....please don't ever leave :)
Having Christmas dinner with our family. Macey took this picture of Heather, Papa, and Annie....not bad!
Christmas morning! Tearing through presents. We did enjoy a nice church service and yummy cinnamon rolls too!
All the kids together! Ok it goes Brianne's kids: Ezra, Micah, Ryan, Brady's baby: Adelaide and our kiddies :Annie, Olivia, and Macey! The whole bunch! Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

I am thankful.....

I love this time of year. I love that there is a day devoted to giving thanks.There is so much for me to be thankful for. The list could go on forever.... but I won't do that to you so I will keep it short and sweet. I am thankful for my sweet husband. The most amazing man and best friend. My incredible children that make my life complete. I love everyday because I get to spend my time with them. I am thankful for my parents, sister :), brothers, my friends, healthy body, my talents, the Gospel, employment, our house, modern medicine, America, laughter, this beautiful world, and my wonderful life. I have been so blessed and I am thankful for that. ok..... moving on :)

Every year we have two Thanksgivings. Yep. One Basting family and one Beard family. Really it is the best of both worlds. I love it. No choosing who to spend time with, we get it all! We went to Bend to spend time with Rex's siblings. They are so fun! Rex's parents couldn't be there because they are in Canada on a mission.... super cool! But we had good food and a lot of laughs! Then two days later we did it all again with my family at my house. It was the BEST day. I got to do my two favorite things. Cook and spend time with my family. Brianne, me and Heather had a blast in the kitchen while the guys watched football, when shooting and played with kids. They food was perfect and I am so happy we had a great day!
I love my famliy!!! Our Christmas picture...what do ya think?
Aunt Christine is the coolest! She painted the girls nails and they are still talking about it. Thanks Christine for a great Thanksgiving!!
Me and Olivia hanging out in Bend.
Papa and Olivia watching football.... GO DUCKS!
Annie and Ryan eating dinner at the counter.
Oh and how could I not post a picture of us girls at Breaking Dawn. So good.... we had a blast. Brianne, Kari, Heather, Heidi and me all loved it! Thanks again Heather!!

Annie turns 5!

I can't believe that I have a 5 year old. I mean, seriously, Annie was just a baby. She is the most amazing girl ever and I love her soooo much!! I am so grateful for her and blessed that she is my sweet daughter. I love that she watches the food network with me, entertains Olivia so I can finish my workout DVDs, loves to snuggle, paint nails, do crafts, help with housework, play with Macey, hold my hand, hugs me when I pick her up from preschool, draw my pictures, and let me play with her hair and try new french braids. I am truly blessed to have all my girls. Here are some pictures from the celebrations!!
Starting off the day with our birthday traditions: favorite cereal for breakfast! I am not sure why she picks this one every year, but she must love it. And Rex. And Macey. It lasted about 2 days. Back to whole grain cereal :)
Here are the requested HELLO KITTY cupcakes that were pink and purple. It was a Hello Kitty party.... all the way.
Annie had her first all girls and no parents party at my good friend Amy's house. They had a blast. They got to each decorate their own personal mini cake and I made cute pedestals for them to each take home. There was also dancing, dress-up, games, and the fastest present opening in the history of birthdays! Thanks AMY!!!
We went out to dinner at Red Robin (YUM) which the girls call "The bird restaurant". Here is Macey concentrating on her coloring, cute!!
Annie sipping away!
Ahhh, the Hello Kitty cake at her small family party, she was so excited!
Us all singing to her.... ok mostly me and rex.
And a Barbie and horse....just what she wanted :)