Kimmy and her new Bestie...

Our neighbors have a sweet baby girl named Rylee who is just about two months older than Kimberly.Kimmy loves her so much. Rylee goes to daycare several days a week while her mom works, so Kimmy is always asking me "RyRy skol?" when she is not home.
For being so close in age, they play really well together.

We had her for a couple of hours the other night and they were so sweet together. The kept following each other up and down the stairs and holding the same toys.

Jared Is Over The Hill and On His Way Down...

So, Jared recently celebrated his 31st birthday!! When he got that old, I don't know, but it has happened. This year we celebrated with a very low key family party....and a special trip, which I will detail in another forthcoming post.

The kids did a really good job of helping me pick out his presents, he loved all of them, and an even better job putting the tape on the packages. Because the kids aren't quite skilled at wrapping yet, and we all know how Jared feels about gift wrapping and bows and gift tags, putting the tape on definitely seemed like a task they could handle.
Nate was really funny because he got Jared a memory card for the XBOX 360 which he (Nate) really wanted, and he just couldn't fathom how any other gift Jared could have gotten would have been better than that. So he kept asking Jared what his favorite present was, and wasn't it the memory card, ect. all night long. Jared couldn't bear to tell him that he didn't really want it. What a self-less Dad.

One of the big presents that I got Jared was a new suit. He hasn't had a black one since his mission because the only suit he had on his mission was black and he just couldn't bring himself to get one that was black. So since it's been over 10 years, I thought it was time. I got a SMOKIN' deal on it too, and doesn't he look handsome (even if he isn't wearing the whole suit)?
Since Kimmy had to go to bed before we opened presents (probably because she was throwing a temper tantrum, which she has become an expert at lately), I thought I would throw in a picture of her on this post for good measure. She is wearing Spongebob Squarepants disguise glasses which she loves to wear. I like them because when she is wearing them, she is not trying to wear mine!

Happy 2009!

This year for New Year's Eve we had a rockin' Cowley family party. Tons of yummy treats, noise makers and even fireworks. Kimmy had to go to bed at the regular time, but Nate and Dana got to stay up late. Here are some pics of them at our par-tay!

Too bad for us that we didn't realize that the fireworks we bought were actually confetti poppers until after Jared lit one of them on fire.

Around 11:45 Dana asked "Isn't it midnight yet? I want to go to bed!"

We are sure gonna miss this...

As most of you know, Jared's parents, have spent the past 18 months serving a mission at the Visitor's Center at the Oakland Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Lucky for us, that is only about an hour drive for us, so we have been really spoiled and got to see Grandma and Grandpa Cowley, I mean Elder and Sister Cowley about once a month or so for the past 18 months. We were even blessed with the luxury of being close enough to come and see Jared's brothers and their wives/families when they came to visit his parents. In December Kevin and Megan came to visit and we had a great time. Since the trailer can be a little small for six adults and three kids, and since Grandpa had access, we went up to the stake center on temple square and Grandpa was able to let us into the small gymnasium there. We had so much fun...

This is Jared and Kevin re-enacting their childhood playing "soccer."

Dana was determined to perform on the stage for her Grandma, as she was accompanied by her Aunt Megan. As you might guess, she really wants to be on American Idol.

Pretty soon, the soccer game Jared and Kevin were playing looked too fun, so all the kids decided to join in.

After the soccer game was over, the kids played hide and go seek with Grandpa and Daddy, but soon tired of that. So Grandpa, understanding kids as well as he does, decided to come up with a new game. He found some large garbage sacks and blew them up like ballons, and the kids and the "big boys" (Jared and Kevin) spent another hour playing "keep the bag full of Grandpa's hot air off the floor!" Too funny.

And just to show the awesomeness of my new camera (THANKS JARED!!), I took a short video of them playing.

It was so much fun, and the kids can't wait till they get to see everybody again!

You can't tell, but it's Christmas...

So, I realize that I have long needed to update our blog, but you know, life kind of gets in the way. Here are a few pictures from Christmas 2008. You can't really tell, because Jared bought me a new camera, and I wasn't going to keep it, but then I changed my mind, so I only took a few pictures that day, and I don't think I really got any of the kids opening presents, or the tree...I guess we will tell the kids they were so bad this year, we cancelled Christmas, just kidding. Hum, but then again, maybe it would keep them in line this year.

For those of you who don't have seven year old boys, this is Nate playing with his Bakugons, they are the new Pokemon...good times.

Dana got a myriad of presents, but her favorite was her very own two wheeler Barbie bike. It's pink with streamers and came with a Barbie backpack/tote on the handlebars and even a Barbie sized bike that your actual Barbie can sit in and ride with you. Too fun! Needless to say, she was very animated about the whole thing.

For those of you who don't know, Kimmy is quite the Daddy's girl. She can't get enough of him, and when he has to go to work, she is always asking "Why Dadee wok?" Very sweet.

She is also very bright, and has discovered how much fun it can be to take off or put on clothes.

Too bad for her she hasn't completely mastered getting the pants all the way off...so this is what she spent most of Christmas day running around like...