Birthday Party and Driving

So this past weekend we had a surprise birthday party for my mom who turned 60. She definitely doesn't look or act 60, I hope I can be that way when I'm her age. It was so fun to have everyone over to our home and surprise her! We had a family picture taken a few weeks ago and so for her birthday we framed the family picture and then gave her a book of memories (basically told her how great she is :))

In other news we now have 3 drivers in our home....Yes, Sydney is driving! At first it was super scary and gave me a heart attack a few times. But we try and let her drive when we are with her in the car and she does a good job. She is getting the hang of it, and she is so excited to be behind the wheel!

We had valentines day this week. It was fun to give my kids valentines and love notes. I tried red food coloring on the kids eggs, it tasted the same but just looked interesting....Anyway I gave my sweetheart a new tool chest as he needed one badly to clean up his tools that are scattered all over the garage. He gave me a beautiful necklace that I've been asking for and he then had 2 of the young women in our ward come and sing to me ( I can't help falling in love with you) and gave me a rose and a valentine card. It was super sweet and romantic! We then topped the day off with a seafood buffet for the whole family. Life is busy, busy but so good:)

It's about time!!

Well here it is Feb 2011 and I am way behind on my blog. Life just seems to get away from me and time goes by at warp speed and I find myself slacking on my journaling. So I'm going to try and sum up the last 5 months. Sorry if I babble and jump around. Well let's see Zach finished football and we headed right into fall ball for the boys. Zach was in the school spelling bee, he didn't win but it was fun to watch. Kyle was in his 3rd grade Christmas musical as an elf, he loved it and did a great job. Zach turned 12!! He is now a deacon and goes to mutual on wednesdays and is a boy scout. Kyle turned 9 and is in cub scouts and is playing basketball. Chloe is loving Kindergarten and is a little chatty but she is getting better. Sydney is a sophomore and doing well. She has a busy social calendar and loves to just hang with her friends. She received her patriarchial blessing in November which was a very special and sweet night. Sydney is also on the Hamilton Soccer Team and she is one of their captains. Her last game was awesome she got a hat trick and ended the season with a bang!

We had Chris's family down for Thanksgiving this year and it was so fun to hang out with everyone, we are so glad they came. We had Christmas with my family and had a wonderful Christmas eve at mom's and then we had Christmas Day dinner at our house. The kids got lots of good stuff, some of the highlights are Sydney- clothes, new phone, Zach- new phone, xbox stuff, Kyle- xbox games, new bike, Chloe- lots of Rapunzel stuff and a pillow pet. It was so cute, she would run down the hall screaming after she opened up each gift that she loved, it was so funny! Chris's parents stayed with us from the end of November to the end of January. They stay in their really cool RV right in our yard. It was so fun having them here and the kids loved being able to see them whenever they wanted. In January we met up with Chris's sister and her family and my in-laws in Disneyland! It was so fun to go and play for 3 days.

Life has been extremely busy. Being the YW president takes ALOT of time. I didn't realize how much but it's like a part time job. I love it!! But I'm always thinking, planning, and doing something for YW daily. Chris is the faithful 11 year old scout leader and always does a great job. He keeps busy working around our new yard and being with the family. I guess our biggest news is that we moved in October. It was a home that i had seen on the internet and then Chris saw it one day as he was driving around. We decided that we wanted to see it, so we called our trusty realtor (my mom) and she helped us wheel and deal until we got it! We actually lost it twice before it was ours so we had to work hard for this house. It is a home that needs some extra help due to lack of effort on the previous owners part. He let alot of things go so we have been picking up the slack. It has 5 bedrooms , 6 bathrooms, a large loft (which included a pool table), toy room, music room, upstairs laundry, downstairs office and master bedroom. This home could be ours forever if we wanted. I really don't want to move again, I love it here! I will put pics on here soon of the house. Here are some random pics of the last 5 months.

Stuff

Well it's been busy around the Brereton household as usual. We are always running in different directions with the boys sports and YW for Sydney and I. YW is awesome, I absolutely love it. Last night we went to a Zumba class at the rec center, it was so fun. The kids are done with school for the next few weeks as it is already time for the fall break (wow) where did the time go? I am looking forward to not having to get up early in the morning, I'm sure my body will wake up at that exact same time everyday and i'll have to force myself to go back to sleep which doesn't always happen if you know what I mean. We are looking forward to General Conference this weekend and afterwards we are going to mom's for dinner with Sylvia. She also came last weekend to the women's broadcast and really enjoyed it. She has some new friends from Africa that just happen to be in our ward and it's been so great for her to connect with them. Our ward has really reached out to her and made her feel loved and welcome. Life is good, but busy, Chloe is so funny she decided on her own this week that she was personally going to decorate for Halloween. While I was gone one day and Zach was in charge she got into the halloween box in the garage (didn't know she knew where it was) and put it all around the house. She plugged the pumpkin in right in the middle of the hallway and put the orange twinkly lights in front of our TV and just random things on the floor. I should have taken a picture because it was quite a sight, she is just so excited about it. Sydney is busy with school, friends etc... the life of a teenager is always filled with a busy social calendar I get tired just thinking about it. She has been so great to babysit during the boys games when she doesn't want to go so we keep Chloe at home with her. I will post more next week.

Not Too Much

Well I feel I need to just post what we are doing for journaling sake. We are one busy family that is for sure. I'm so happy to be able to do these things even though I may grumble some days. The kids are good just busy with sports. Zach played a game last night and hit a home run. Kyle went to scouts and got a great FHE lesson to teach us. Chloe brought a new friend from school home named Isabelle, she was so excited to have her here. Sydney went to a party last weekend and they were on a super big slip and slide and she somehow stepped on a stake and it almost went into the foot (thank goodness that didn't happen) but she does have a nice bruise and it's hurts and is hard to walk on. I sent a note to school so she wouldn't have to play soccer this morning (she was excited). We had a really busy sunday I had Ward council at 7am, then it was church 9-12, it was my turn to teach and I have such a great group of girls! Then it was time for choir practice all the YW and their mom's are singing in church in 2 weeks and it's a beautiful song so we are practicing to sound good. After Choir which ran a bit late we were on our way home and Chris texted Sydney and told her to hurry and we weren't sure what was going on, (doesn't he know we were already hurrying home for my sunday afternoon nap??) Well that didn't happen, as soon as I walked in the door he said we had a missionary discussion in 5 minutes!! So I quickly tidied up the house and we had Sylvia's boss Irma and her husband over with Sylvia and Missionaries for a great discussion. Soon after we realized that the missionaries needed dinner and we offered to have them stay, which they did and then it was quickly time for the youth fireside at 7pm. Bro. Harris spoke and did a great job talking about loving people through problems. Then we were home around 9...it was a long day but it's all good and productive things that we were doing. This week we are having an Etiquette dinner for the youth they do it every year and love it. Wow I didn't expect to write this much. Off to start breakfast for the kids.

The last 3 months!!

The past few weeks have been busy for me as I was released from the Primary presidency and they put me in as the new Young Women's president. It has been humbling and overwhelming to say the least. I absolutely love the girls and am so excited to work with them. My life just got SUPER busy :) It's a good busy though and it will be so much fun!

Chloe turned 5! We decided to have a swim party at the Basha pool and we invited her friends and cousins to come and swim. They had pizza, cupcakes and drinks. For her birthday she got hello kitty stationary, a strawberry shortcake doll, a new shirt and candy, hair bows and jewelry, a princess Tiana doll, a new bike, a webkinz, princess Tiana dress up dress, a cute stuffed puppy, clothes, and a moxie doll from grandma G and g&g Brereton sent her a frog cookie bouquet. Her daddy brought her home some pretty pink roses and she had breakfast in bed which consisted of an omelet and a poptart with water. Happy birthday Chloe!

Random pictures

This is how Chris and Zach spent their time while we were in Utah! Shocking!

For the past 4 months we have had wonderful missionary experiences in our home. We came in contact with a beautiful lady named Salviah(Sylvia) through the missionaries. We had the discussions in our home and took her to the Easter Pageant, ward activities and to church. She gained a testimony and has taught our family so much. She decided to be baptized on August 21st. She was baptized by Elder Carpenter and Chris confirmed her. I gave a talk on baptism and Sydney talked on the Holy Ghost(voluntarily) she did an incredible job and I was so proud of my daughter and her beautiful testimony and understanding of the gospel. Sylvia is a great lady and we are all better from knowing her. She is ready to jump in and serve and do what is asked of her. Our other picture here is of Zach receiving some awards at the court of honor.

Sydney turned 15!!!! My baby is getting so big. She chose not to have a party this year, so we took the family and her friend Dallon to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. I wish I had a picture of her sitting on the saddle as everyone sang happy birthday to her, it was cute. She got a new flat iron, gift card to Charming Charlies, and new bedding stuff. She then went to the D-backs game with her best friend Taylor and got to be on the Jumbotron and had a great time. We love you Sydney.

The first day of School came quickly. Chloe started Kindergarten with 2 teachers Mrs. Salontai and Mrs. Forney (she has the most pics of course, what do you expect?) Kyle started 3rd grade with Mrs. Shore and Zach is at the top of the school in 6th grade with Mr. Shimizu. Sydney is my big sophomore at Hamilton. Here are random pics from the first 2 days.

We celebrated Chris's birthday while Sydney was at camp and I made him a cactus cake which is so fitting for him as he loves cactus. We then went to Utah, right in the middle of Zach's All star baseball season. I got to see 2 games and then we had to leave to get Sydney up to Provo for EFY. We made the trip into 2 days and we were glad to get there and be out of the heat. The kids played with their cousins, swam outside, played games, had sleepovers and ate lots of great food. Sydney had a fantastic time at EFY with Taylor (who broke her toe the week before and had surgery 3 days before EFY) She was a trooper. We were supposed to stay longer but after Zach's team won the district championship I was so sad that I missed it that I decided to pack up early and head home. I didn't want to miss anymore games. They ended the season like 4th in the state! It was a fun summer.

Sydney headed up to girls camp the middle of June as a 4th year. This was the year of the big hike, she made it just fine and had so much fun. She was a trooper as she had to carry a big heavy pack on her back but she got to swim in a lake and go on hikes. I was able to drive her up and see where she camps, it was fun to see her there.

Chloe finished up pre-school with Ms. Shirley and made a good friend named Hewitt Peterson. These are pics of the kids last day of school and Zach with his science experiment. Kyle went to Cub Scout day camp and had so much fun swimming, shooting, eating, passing off requirements and being with his buddies. He missed the first 2 days because he was sick. One of the days he had a baseball game and he ran off the field after one inning because he was throwing up. He did come and give it his all, we were proud of him.

The boys finished up baseball season the end of May. Kyle played on the Hooks with all of his friends and Chris was the coach. They finished 2nd place in the league! Zach finished his season with the Giants and did great.