And then, 3 YEARS Later. . .

2010 - A year in Pictures! 

Because obviously I got WAY behind blogging!

 

The Year 2010 in Pictures!  Hang on, we've got some catching up to do!

 

 January 2010 - Maia was 4 1/2 months old and pretty much the star of most of our picture-taking!

 The end of January - Grandma and Granpa Bradshaw came and we got to drop them off at the MTC!  1 week later Grandma Bradshaw passed away.  David had a dangerous reaction to some medicine for his back and ended up in the hospital for a while right after we got back from Grandma's funeral.  That was a rough little while for our family!

 March 2010 - all together again and ready for Easter.

 April 2010 - Maia learned to crawl!  (8 months)

 May 30, 2010 - Katie turned 11! 

 June 1, 2010 - Ben turned 4!

 June 16, 2010 - Braden turned 9!

 July 2010 - Shawcroft Family Reunion.  Erika's family won the Oscar for Best, Most Hilarious Skit EVER with their rendition of the Shawcroft parents in Colorado.  Starring Erika as Harriet, Jeremy as David, Owen as Rebecca, and Landon as Rachel.  We laughed until we cried!

 July 2010 - Maia tried experimenting with new food combinations.  Spaghetti and sucker! 

 (11 months)

 July 2010 - San Diego trip!  Seaport Village - shopping and carousel rides.

 July 2010 - the awesome San Diego Zoo!  With Aunt Julie and Granpa Bradshaw it was even better!

 July 2010 - Sea World!  Maia was more interested in playing with Aunt Julie than watching the show!

 August 18, 2010 - Maia turned 1!  What an adorable little birthday girl!

 August 2010 - What!  Back to school time already?  Ben was going to preschool, Katie was starting 6th grade, and Braden 4th grade. 

 August 2010 - While the big kids went back to school, Maia kept cool by hanging out in the kitchen sink!  (12 months)

 September 2010 = Fall soccer season!  3 kids on 3 different teams + practices = busy!

 October 2010 = Halloween!  Braden (9) and his best buddy Derek, Isabelle Powers and Katie (11), Cousin Owen and Ben both as Buzz Lightyear, and Maia as an adorable little sheep!

 October 2010 - A Visit to the Shawcroft ranch in Colorado for Papa and Grandma's 50th wedding anniversary celebration!  And of course, some cow punching up in the mountains!  Maia (14 months) with her dad.

 Kate - 11 - the cowgirl!

 Papa and Grandma Shawcroft at their 50th anniversary celebration.  What a fun party!  What amazing examples!

 November 2010 - time for family pictures!  Braden - 9, Katie - 11, Maia - 15 months, Ben - 4

 The Christmas card photo of the whole family - and everyone's actually looking at the camera! 

 December 2010 - Time to Deck the Halls!

 Christmas Eve 2010 - the traditional Nativity scene at Grandpa Shawcroft's house. 

 Christmas Eve 2010 - Jammies from Grandma Shawcroft!  Everyone was all cozy and ready for bed after putting on their new pj's. 

 Christmas Morning 2010 - let the unwrapping begin!

 Ben (4) - still in his new SpongeBob pj's discovered Star Wars characters!

 Braden (9) - still in his new jammies - found a remote control Star Wars droid!

 Maia - 15 months - discovered that Christmas means lots of treats! 

 Katie (11) - unwrapping some jewelry - what happened to dolls Kate?

Happy New Year!  We ushered in 2011 with a New Years Kinect party complete with lots of food and some bubbly.  Welcome 2011!

Summer Stuff

So I'm a little behind in the blogging world!  Let me explain what has happened during the last few months.  No. . . there is too much. . . . let me sum up.

May:

• School ends with its usual craziness of festivals and Field Day events, Katie turns 10 (someone stop her!)

Katie trying to keep Ben cheerful as Field Day got long, hot, and tiring for all! 

Braden's Greek Festival - they had to race in their TOGAS!  (Braden and this girl tied I think 5 times in a row before Braden finally squeaked ahead of her for the Gold Medal!)

Kate's 10th Birthday Party was an AMAZING RACE!  It was fun, exhausting, and crazy!

June:

• Ben turns 3! Braden turns 8 and gets baptized, Grandma & Grandpa Bradshaw come visit along with lots of cousins and uncles, fun in the not-so-warm sun, enjoying lots of parks and waiting for summer to heat up.
  

Ben's 3rd Birthday - with a MONSTER TRUCK cake of course! 

Braden's 8th birthday party was a FETCH CHALLENGE party!  Here's a picture of Braden getting stuffed  to the max with balloons!

Braden's Baptism was a big day!  All the family came to support him, we had a fun picnic at the park afterwards, and then we finished the day with a hot dog roast up the canyon with Grandma & Grandpa Bradshaw and our Bradshaw cousins and Uncles and Aunts!

Braden & Grandpa Bradshaw cruising at Liberty Land!

July:

• Fun in the "now it's too hot sun" - fourth of July festivities, Dad goes to India, visiting with the coolest Aunt Erika, and watching mom's tummy get HUGE!
  

Happy 4th of July Ben & Uncle Matt!  We went up the canyon for our 4th of July breakfast  - it was beautiful and a nice, cool day!

David and his new employees in India.

Katie enjoying the new slide at the grand-opening of Aunt Becca's pool!

The cast of the Lefty-Loosey Dinner Theatre produced and directed by the coolest Aunt Erika!

Braden & Alyssa were pigs, Katie was the wife, Nate the imp, Uncle Matt was the dad, and Aunt Erika was the son.  What a hilarious production and a delicious dinner by the Lefty Loosey Dinner Theatre!

August:

• Fun at Aunt Becca's new pool, watching the calendar tick down to the first day of school (not already!), a quick gamble of a trip to Yellowstone hoping baby doesn't come, and now WAITING for baby to come!

 Yes, it was crazy but we had a WONDERFUL WEEKEND!  We saw geysers, bison-traffic-jams, Old Faithful, beautiful waterfalls, and we even made it home without having to be life-flighted to Montana to find a hospital.  Now of course, we WANT this baby to come and she won't but at least we got one last quick trip together exploring Yellowstone.

We followed "Uncle Tom's Trail" down 350+ stairs for this amazing view of the Lower Falls at Yellowstone.  Ben made it about 1/3 of the way back up the stairs before his dad had to lug him the rest of the way! 

Braden's pointing to the geyser exploding behind him, I'm not sure what Ben's pointing at!

Uncle Tom - your trail is nothing but a big, huge set of metal stairs!  What goes down, must eventually come up! 

Traffic Jams in Yellowstone.  I believe the posted speed limit sign says: "1 Buffalo per Mile."  We got stopped in at least 5 "Buffalo-Created traffic jams" Saturday afternoon!  The first one was cool (this pic is from the first one.  He doesn't seem too concerned about the large truck on his bumper, does he!)  The second one was still picture-worthy and entertaining.  An hour later when we hadn't completed 10 miles, the "Bison Traff Jams" were getting a little old!  Move already you slow creatures!  It was 4:00 pm and we hadn't even had lunch yet!  :)  The kids said it was all mom's fault.  The first day as we wound our way into Yellowstone I made the mistake of saying: "I hope we see some bison while we're here!"  OOPS!