Aimee's Birthday (April 17)

Happy Birthday Aimee!!!!!Turning one is such a treat -

First, Miss Krista makes these yummy birthday breakfast muffins.

Then you get to dig into some sugary cake.

Everyone's happy when you get all messy.

You get to top it off by taking a birthday bath with new toys.

Then, you get presents. WOW!!!

It's fun to turn one!

Aimee isn't just growing up, she's going up! She just recently started free standing and walking is surely just around the corner. It's still surprising to see her standing in the middle of a room and knowing she got up all by herself. We start clapping and then she starts clapping and then she drops down to crawl over for some more attention. She is 29 inches and weighs 19.5 pounds which puts her right at about average, a first for us. What a big girl, we love her so much.

April Activities

Elise has her dance recital in May, but they took class pictures in April. Here she is, our prima ballerina, at the end of the year. She has learned so much and shows real talent in dancing. It's her passion and everyone comments on her skill. Her leaps are high and beautiful and I am so proud to watch her dance, wow! I wish you could all be there to see her.

On a less graceful note and with a more adventurous spirit, we took a family bike ride down to Elise's school to watch some model airplanes flying. Note Elise's beautiful ballet smile and her not so happy bike riding scowl. :) She actually loves riding her bike, she was just upset that her bike doesn't have a basket like Allison's. It was a great ride regardless.

One day of spring break, we drove to the beach.

Ponce Inlet is one of my favorite spots because of the picturesque lighthouse.

This is one of Aimee's first taste of the beach (literally) where she was able to explore.

She really liked it!

The girls played in the sand.

The boys played in the water.

Even Aimee tried a little water action.

It's all fun and games until a wave washes over you.

This is why we love Florida!!!

There's a never ending amount of things to do. I had the busiest Saturday last week that ended with the ward "Cars" party. I laughed because it was the weekend after General Conference where we were encouraged to simplify our lives and enjoy some quality family time. Oh well, in between the comings and goings, we managed to make some box cars and went to the party.

I laughed because we just barely managed to make our little cars at the last minute, but look at what some other people made!!! It was a real car show.

There was some drag racing.

There were trophies.

And of course, the drive in movie: CARS.

We may not have simplified, but we certainly made some memories!

March, a month of celebration!

Happy Birthday Nathan!
Nathan was so excited to turn five because it's the age you have to be in order to join a basketball league. He's been wanting to play for forever! Hence, the basketball cake -to which he said," I already had a basketball cake!" "You did?" "Yes, when I was two -but I called it a hoop-a-ball cake then, so that's okay. Now it's a basketball cake." What an understanding cutie!

Nathan's big birthday wish was for a webkinz turtle that he named Tucker. We also got him a telescope and Shining Star to name a star after himself. I had to laugh because Jim actually played with the telescope before Nathan.

HAPPY EASTER

We actually went on two Easter egg hunts. The city hunt in the morning and then another at Korin's house. The kids loved filling up their baskets with eggs and candy.

Even Aimee got into the egg hunting on her first official Easter.

Easter Sunday was fun, with the kids all loaded with candy and such! :) It's especially fun trying to have them sit still for the traditional Easter pictures. It's funny because you can go through so much in a year and yet, here we are looking pretty much the same as ever. The kids are still sweet and beautiful.

Aimee (almost 1), Shelby and Jim (almost 33),
Nathan (5), Elise (6 1/2), Lindsey (2)

We finished out the month with my own birthday celebrations and a trip to the rodeo.

January and February

In January we had a visit from Misato (an old friend of Jims)
and her mother. They wanted to do something historic and fun,
so we took them letterboxing in St. Augustine.
We welcomed them to sunny Florida with a drizzly, overcast
tour of an old fort. We had to laugh it was so cold, a frigid 58 degrees!

Nathan thought this knight was the coolest,
a real UCF knight.

FEBRUARY
Aimee grabbed some keys...

...and the two girls and I took a trip to St. Louis, MO.

Heather had a baby.....boy, surprise!

They named him Griffith Jack Brimhall.

He's as tiny and cute as the rest of 'em, I'd have taken him home
with me if they let me. He's adorable!!!

Despite the cold weather....

...we had a ball!

Congrats Heather and Andy on another beautiful Brimhall!
You can check out their blogspot for more Brimhall family pics at
brimhallbunch.blogspot.com !