congratulations austin and morgan!

austin and morgan got married on september 29. my parents threw them a little open house on saturday to celebrate. we are so lucky to welcome her into our family! i love you guys!
me, vaness, and johnny
my cute parents
me and austin

it was so fun to see the family all together and meet morgan's family. my parents did such a good job with the decorations

i can't believe we all grew up!

us with grandma chy

morgan and kate. her new niece. they got married in hawaii so they were all tan and beautiful


how cute, and they didn't even smash the cake in each others' face
the girls

travi's party

last weekend we went to travi's birthday party. i kinda feel bad i didn't take one of the kids with him, but here are some fun ones on the teeter-totter.



johnny got pretty cranky and tired, but how cute!

happy birthday to me

i turned 28 this week, and my family came over on sunday for birthday cake. we had a fun time with the kids and "daisy dog" (kate calls her).my mom made my favorite cake. (the better than almost-anything betty crocker recipe- see below)
johnny had to take a turn blowing out the candle
mimi with the kids
kate enjoyed it!


cake recipe
1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® German chocolate cake mix
Water, vegetable oil and eggs as called for on cake mix box
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 jar (16 to 17 oz) caramel, butterscotch or fudge topping
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1/4 cup granulated or powdered sugar
1 cup toffee bits
1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Generously grease bottom only of 13x9-inch pan with shortening.
2. Make cake mix as directed on box, using water, oil and eggs. Pour into pan.
3. Bake as directed on box for 13x9-inch pan. Cool 15 minutes.
4. With handle of wooden spoon, poke top of warm cake every 1/2 inch. Drizzle milk evenly over top of cake; let stand until milk has been absorbed into cake.
5. Drizzle with caramel topping. Run knife around sides of pan to loosen cake. Cover; refrigerate about 2 hours or until chilled.
6. In chilled large bowl, beat whipping cream and sugar with electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks form. Spread whipped cream over top of cake. Sprinkle with toffee bits. Store covered in refrigerator.

kate fashion

vanessa sent me these pictures from kate's birthday party. i couldn't resist putting them up with those poses!

morgan's bachelorette party

on saturday we had a fun family girl's night out for morgan. she is less than a week away from marrying austin in hawaii. we wanted to do a special bachelorette dinner for her and it was a great time. we went to brio at town square. after we went to mac and got some makeup, and morgan got to spend her victoria's secret giftcards she received at dinner. my mom told her she had to model all the "flannel pajamas" she would be buying. morgan's face was priceless.
kaila had her play a game where she had to guess answers about austin, and for every wrong answer she had to put a marshmallow in her mouth. lets just say it's a good thing kaila brought a jumbo sized bag :)


the whole group. we had such a good time

johnny's first day of school

how is it possible that my little brand-new baby is three and going to pre-school??? i don't get it. where does the time go? although it is sad to see them grow up, it is so much fun. he has been so cute lately. i wanted to write down a few cute things he has said lately.

when ever i get dressed for work or church he says, "mommy you look so cute"

when christine picked him up from school, he turned to kate and said " i missed you kate!"

every morning when he wakes up, the first thing he says is "mommy, i woke up dry! i sleep good"

he keeps talking about disneyland, so i let him look it up online. so now every day he goes to the computer and says, "mom, i need to go to disney dot com"

i just got out a few halloween decorations and he is obsessed with this candle that looks like a candy corn. he spent the night at my parents house last weekend and he packed it in his suitcase! i got a halloween magazine in the mail with a bunch of costumes and candy in it, and he sleeps next to it. every night before bed he says "read my halloween book" so we lay there and flip through the pages.

he is doing great in school so far and he loves his teacher. he is so proud to be a "big boy".

happy birthday kate!

on august 30 we celebrated kate's second birthday. the sunstrums had a fun family party for her the week before, and then the mitchell's did a family party on sunday. mommy made, what else, cupcakes.....she has gotten so sweet and sassy over the last year. her personality has really started to develop. she is so full of energy and so much fun! she got some new clothes, and a few fun play things. and thanks vanessa for "baby's first pair of true religion jeans" ummm, i don't even own true religion jeans.



kate was so darling when she opened her gifts. she said "OH MY GOSH" when she lifted out each item. it was a crack up.


daddy bought kate a cute dora car (which has been the center of many many sibling rivalry)

and he also got her a tinkerbell princess dress. what a cutie!