Halloween

This year for Halloween you guys dressed up as Mario, a ladybug and a Illuminite guy. You all looked so good in your costumes. We had pizza at the Spikings house and trick or treated with them in their neighborhood. What a blast!

America's Got Talent LIVE

We took the whole family to Vegas to see America's Got Talent Live!!! It was a show for the last 6 finalists to come back and show their stuff. It was at Ceasars Palace and was absolutely AMAZING!!!! What a great time! We also saw the Mandalay Bay Resort, the Bellagio fountain show, and Ceasars Palace. We drove the strip at night to see all the excitement and the lights. On the way home we took a detour to get fireworks and then when we hit traffic for 3 hours and decided to take break, we found a quiet hidden little steakhouse that was so quaint and charming. We ate to our hearts content, even Jack was so happy to have celery and ranch all to himself. We got home at midnite tired and ready for bed, but had such a great trip!!!!

Our Cross Country Runner

Creekside had a cross country run that was district wide for the elementary schools. Mimi signed up and ran the race with all the 3rd grade girls. She ran awesome and showed such school pride. She has some fast little feet with a runners form! Way to go MIMI!!!

Flag Football

Josh played a season of flag football! He loved being able to play football again without all the pads of pop warner. The flag league was just to play and have a good time and he definitley had a good time. He had a great coach and great teammates. Thye had 2 tough first games but after that they played like rockstars. In one game Josh got a headbutt but he also ran in the extra point on a touchdown. He was awarded the game ball for that game! Way to go JOSH!!! It was also the same game that grandma and grandpa Terry got to see and Auntie Tara and Jared and Ellizabeth. So Cool!!!

Karate!!!!

Mimi and Jack decided to start karate one day a week! They are doing great! It takes alot of concentration and discipline to learn all the moves. Their intructor Mr. B was daddys instructor when daddy did karate. Maybe Jack and Mimi will go farther than he did!!!

Josh turns DOUBLE DIGITS!!!

This was a big brithday for Josh!!! He turned 10 years old. He has grown into such an amazing young man. He loves playing flag football, dodgeball, swimming, basketball and driving his dune buggy and tubing behind the boat. He has the most amazing heart and kind spirit. We are so proud of him! For his party, he had a cousin party and a friends party. For his friends party he went to Lazer tag and then had a sleepover! 10 boys for a sleepover was crazy fun! His bog gift for turning 10 years old was his own itouch!

Jacks first day

Jack started his last year of preschool! He got to have the same teacher as Josh (she was his assistant teacher), Mimi, JT, and Jared! Mrs. Lair is awesome and Jack loves preschool!!!

First Day of School (again)

Summer is over and now its back to school for everyone! Jack still has a few weeks, but Josh and Mimi had to head in to school! Josh got Mrs. Bennett with Trevor, Will and Arliss in his class! Stoked! And Mimi got Ms. Charbonneau! What a great year awaits us!!!

End of summer

The last week of summer we decided to end with the annual trip to Soak City!!! Jack even got to do the big water slides. He was so brave!!! Mommy and daddy also celebrated their 12th anniversary. We went 5th row to Miranda Lambert and dinner at Peohe's. Daddy also got mommy a Tiffanys bracelet and necklace. What a sweet gift!

The big 40!!!

The amazing man that takes care of our family turned 40 this year!!!! He got a new motorbike and had an accident that dislocated his shoulder, broke his shoulder, broke his elbow and dislocated his thumb. It was craxy!!! He was so tough to handle it the way he did. He even rode to the hospital in the car. No ambulance. So his birthdya plans changed a bit. He hung out with us in the morning and then we got ready for a fun backyard bbq with all his friends. Then mommy and the kids left and they had a crazy boys night! What a blast!!! His gifts? nascar racing lessons, deep sea fishing, and some other small things. Turning 40 was pretty good!!!

Campland Again!!!

We loved Campland so much the first time that we decided to go again! This time we went with the Spikings. What a great 4 days! It was soooo fun!!!! We boated, tubed and mommy paddle boarded. Daddy was amazing. It had only been a month since his motorbike accident. Even with a recovering dislocated shoulder, broken shoulder, broken elbow and broken thumb, he was out there driving the boat and setting up camp! What a trooper!!!

Campland

In July we went to Cmapland on the bay with Trish and CHris and the kids! We also brought Trevor with us. We were supposed to camp sunday thru tuesday. But tuesday morning we all woke up and we were not even close to be ready to go home. So we packed up and moved sites and stayed another night!!!! It was awesome! We swam at the pool, boated in the bay (thanks daddy for getting the boat ready and for learning all the boating rules), rode bikes, took showers, and ate like champions!!! It was a blast. Only bummer was Josh got burned with hot butter when he was popping popcorn over the fire. But he handled it like a champ! It was an absolute blast of a trip!!!
(my computer crashed and we lost all the photos from the trip. such a bummer!)

Lake Skinner

For Fathers Day the Nichols family celebrated by camping at Lake Skinner. What a blast to be with the family. There was a water fountain park, fishing, biking, etc. The kids brought their own tents and slept in them all by themselves. What a cool memory!

Fair Time

The Del Mar Fair is the highlight to the start of our summer for sure!!!! We love to ride all the rides in kiddie land and we have some of our favorite fair food we eat too! This year the family favorite ride was the one that pulls you up and drops you down. Troy and I went on it 2 times and the kids went on it 4 times!

Our favorite food was potatoe spirals, grilled corn, mimi had a chili cheese dog too. Pineapple and cotton candy are a must too.

Love the fair and all the fun it has to offer! What a day!!!

DANCE DANCE DANCE!!!

Our little dancer had her recital this month! It was a big day! She was in 2 numbers for 2 shows so we arrived at the performing arts center at 12 and didnt leave again until 10pm. It was a huge day and Mimi was absolutely AMAZING!!! She hit every step and beat right on cue even making facial expressions to match the feel of the song. We were so proud of her! She has teh fastest feet! Both her tap and jazz performances required her to move her feet at lightening speed and she can do it! We are so proud of her and her performance! Way to go Mimi!

24 hours in Palm Springs

Summer was just starting and we were still wrapping things up before we were totally free for the summer, but we couldn't wait another moment. We had to get out of town! So we found a great deal at Rancho Las Palmas in Palm Springs and headed out for an overnight! What a blast!
We swam all afternoon, daddy brought in Rubios for dinner and we watched Mars Needs Moms. After a fun long day, we slept and got up in the morning to room service breakfast! Then back to the pool for a couple more hours of swimming, and then it was time to come home. What a great trip!!!

In the movie the charachter named Milo had to walk on the moon. When Jack was walking in the lazy river, it reminded him of the movie and how Milo looked when he walked on the moon. So he turned to daddy and said, "look dad, I'm Milo-ing!" So we now have a new phrase when we are floating/walking in a lazt river!

Visiting Princess Belle for Tea...

I don't think the magic of meeting a Disney princess ever goes away.

There is a local mall in San Diego that has made meeting a princess and having tea with her a very easy and memorable moment in your daughters life. Mimi and my neice Mikaila got to join Belle for tea for the afternoon.

Belle came to introduce herself to each little girl, then the girls got to pick a princess outfit to wear at the tea, then get their hair done like a royal princess and then the tea began!!! The table was set with real dishware and the girls ate snacks, played games, and listened to stories read by Princess Belle. At the end you were invited to a quick photo shoot with her to commemorate this special day.

What an amazing time for the girls. It was so fun to watch them enjoy the time and attention from one of their favorite princesses!

Of course, being that we were at the mall, the girls had to make a stop at Mimi's favorite store Justice and do a small shopping spree together. What fun!

Diva Party and Mimi gets her ITouch!

Mimi decided she wanted a diva party this year with her friends. So we painted wood dolls, made bottle cap necklaces, diva bracelets and danced our hearts out!!! Our friend Claire Weede (11) made the cupcakes and we gave Kidz Bop 19 CDs and bubble as a party favor. But the highlights of the party were Jamie coming and putting feathers in all the girls hair and also Mimi and her friends and Taylor and Brinley do a dance routine they made up to a Taylor Swift song. Super Cool! I lvoe having a daughter to do all this fun girl stuff with!!!