Great to be Eight!

The day has finally arrived.  Lily Anne McPherson turned 8 and was baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  This is an event that Lily has eagerly awaited for as long as she could pronounce the word "baptism".  She was so excited to enter the waters of baptism just like Jesus did and make sacred covenants with her Heavenly Father.  She continues to be the best example to all of us of how a disciple of the Lord should act.  Her obedience, kindness, and desire to serve her Father in Heaven are just some of the attributes that make her such a special girl.  We're so proud of the young lady she is and even more proud of the girl that she is always trying her hardest to be.  We're so lucky to have her in our lives.  

As if her baptism day could possibly get better, we were lucky enough to be surrounded by family members and friends who love and support Lily.  We're so grateful for all the efforts and sacrifices made by our loved ones to be here for Lily's special day.  

 Angel.

 Couldn't be prouder of our little girl!!

 Grandma Lori and Grandpa Jim.

 Grandpa Darrel and Grandma Ruth

 Auntie Etling and Uncle Mike.

 Auntie, Uncle Michael, Jane and Avery.

Pretty much cutest picture ever, by the way.

 Lily and her BFF Sydney Olson.  They sang a duet of "I'm Trying to be Like Jesus".  Totally adorable.  We're so grateful for the great friend that Sydney is to Lily.

 Display table of all three kids getting baptized that day.  The beautiful bouquet in the back was sent to Lily from her cousin Abby and the Smith family.  We missed them so much and they were in our thoughts.

 Daddy and Lily, ready to get into the water.

Love Our Family!

Lily's Birthday Nirvana

Unlike her mother, Lily absolutely loves to craft!  She would, and does, spend hours in her room creating art projects and making decorations and generally just being cute.  So rather than stressing about my own ineptitude, I decided to leave Lily's birthday party to the crafting professionals!  Enter Ever After Scrapbooks!!  What a day our little princess had.  She got to invite her friends to the scrapbook store, where one of the teachers had designed a custom project with our little 8-year old in mind!  The girls got to create and play and embellish to their heart's delight.  Throw in some pizza, chips and cake and Lily said it was "the best day ever".  And she absolutely deserved every minute of it!!

 Lily picked out the theme herself---DOGS!  Is anybody surprised?  I don't know if she'll ever get over her love of dogs.

 Lily and her two friends from school, Allie and Harmony.  These three are basically always together and act like they haven't seen each other in years when it's been one day!

 About to open her box of crafting goodies!  Can't handle the anticipation!!!

 Busy bees working on their picture banners and door hangers.

 Her special chocolate chocolate chip bundt cake.  

 All the little girls with their finished picture banners.  They all turned out so cute and the girls had an absolute blast making them!

McPherson and Olson girls forever!!

Rainy Spring Break at the Safari Park

Every year, Lily participates in the "Cans for Critters" conservation project through Girl Scouts and the San Diego Zoo.  She saves and turns in enough plastic bottles and aluminum cans to win tickets to the Zoo or Safari Park.  Ours were about to expire and it was Spring Break, so we thought we'd head on out to the Safari Park with our pals the Olson girls!  Little did we know (because weather.com is dumb) that it was totally going to rain on us.  Downside---we were freezing and literally soaked to the bone by the time we left.  Upside-because it was cool and overcast, ALL of the animals were out.  In all the times we've been to the park, we've never seen so many animals, so it was a blessing in disguise that we got poured on.  Plus the girls were excited to buy some animal ponchos.  All in all, a fun day with great friends!!

 Three beautiful flowers!

 Lily and her BFF Sydney & Vivie.

 Oooh, Lions are big!

 Lily's favorite-The Cheetah!  We've NEVER even seen the cheetah at the Safari park before, so she was super duper excited.

Lily and Sydney sporting they're super stylish animal ponchos.  What an adventure!

He's the Man!

Yes, I realize I have been very remiss about baseball pictures this season.  My bad.  It's been such a hectic season, I'm lucky that I just get to all the games, much less worry about taking pictures.  I did manage to grab a couple shots the first time he pitched.  This was his one and only start of the season...he went 4 beautiful scoreless innings, only 2 walks, allowed 1 hit and struck out 8!!  It was amazing.  Since the second half of the season, Coach has been using Connor primarily in a "closing" role.  He's got 5 saves and 1 win so far, and hasn't blown a save yet.  It's pretty awesome to watch him action. His team is in competition for the division championship so there's always a lot riding on the games, and it's pretty cool to watch Connor rise to the occasion.  I'll keep ya posted (probably well after the fact, but you'll know how they did eventually, right?).

 I love his intensity.  He's so cute.

The traditional infielders "high five" after each strike out.  His team is so fun and so supportive.  This is, by far, the most awesome team Connor has played on.  Great mix of talent and kindness and pretty cool coaches and parents too!

Scientist Day

This is our awesome scientist Lily, after giving her verbal presentation on all things Polar Bear!  This was her first really big report, and she did such a fantastic job.  She was a total Polar Bear Expert by the time she finished!

Party at the Happiest Place on Earth!!

One of our favorite things in the world is when the Smith's come and visit us in Sunny California (I know it's one of their favorite things too...).  They were in Cali for almost a week this year, were able to celebrate Connor's birthday with us AND we all went to Disneyland for a day.  What a blast we had.  As if Disneyland could get more fun, we got to enjoy it with some of our fave peeps who we don't get to see too often.  Devyn, Michael and the girls also came and hung out for a few hours and it was just so much fun to watch the joy and delight of all the kids together.  Here's me making another wish that the Smith family can relocate.

 Getting ready to board our space flight on the all-new 3D Star Tours...Lily's favorite ride at Disneyland.

 What's Disneyland without a bunch of junk food?  The three big girls enjoying the spoils of their labor (waiting in line is hard work, they need to be compensated!)

 My gorgeous kids waiting in line for Big Thunder Mountain.  Yep, that's right, we made Lily go on Big Thunder Mountain.  She didn't love it, but she didn't cry either.  She explained it to Devyn and Michael like this--"it's like carrots, I wouldn't choose to eat them but I will if I have to."  Hey, could've been way worse.

 Lily and her Aunt Jen, whom she adores!!  Jen is girly and fun and all the things that I am not, so Lily is in heaven when she's around!

 Connor and his Auntie on the Little Mermaid ride.  Basically, I just thought this was one of the cutest pictures ever.

McPherson's Rule!

He has the Power!!!

On March 11, 2012, our baby boy turned 12 and was ordained a Deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood!!  I can't believe how time is flown, our baby is now officially a member of the "youth" organization in the church.  He has been so excited about taking this huge step in his life, and we really feel like he is taking his newfound responsibility seriously (as much as a 12-year old boy can anyways).  He loves passing the sacrament, and being involved in the Young Men's program at church.  We're so proud of the little man he has become and continue, as always, to be amazed by him.  We were lucky enough to be able to have a lot of family in town for this wonderful event...Grandpa and Grandma Crocker, Uncle Mike, the whole Smith clan and of course Auntie and Michael.  We're so grateful for all of the love and support from our family members and for the fantastic weekend we had.

 The men folk after the Priesthood ordination...can you feel the power?

 Big Happy Family!!  I love our family so much.  I don't know what we'd do without them.

Grandpa Jim and Grandma Lori with their oldest grandchild.  They were so proud!!

Christmas in Reno-Part III

Caden and Avery--intensity on the iPad! They are working so hard.

Possibly my favorite picture. Big hugs with Jane and Madelynn. So stinking cute, I don't even know what to say. I was scheming a way to bring Madelynn home with us all week.

Christmas day--ready for church!! Lily looks like a Princess to me...she almost always does. I just really really adore my kids!

Avery checkin out her giraffe-up close and personal!

Anna on Christmas morning "what the heck is going on?!". She's quite possibly the sweetest baby ever. Darrin was scheming a way to bring Anna home all week!

Christmas in Reno-Part II

Connor and Jane bright and early Christmas morning...waiting for our presents!!

My gorgeous kids...stockings stuffed to the rim. Notice Lily's dog at the top. She gets some sort of dog every holiday. I don't even want to know how many stuffed dogs this kid has now, and she NEVER gets sick of them.

Christmas Eve cousins.

Lily and Naomi...BFF

Three silly girls, ready for bed---but not ready to sleep.

Christmas in Reno--Part I

Yes, I know it's March...but if I started blogging things on time, everybody would assume the world was ending. We had the funnest Christmas ever!! We went to Reno, where we could have Christmas with the whole Crocker clan--we haven't had a Christmas with all 4 siblings in about 4 years. It was so wonderful to spend time together and watch all of our children play like crazy with their cousins. It was totally amazing and made me realize, again, how sad I am that we don't all live in the same place. Maybe some day. I took TONS of pictures and rifled through to pick which ones to share. Should take about three posts...enjoy!

Lawson and Anna having a blast on the "major chair" (that's what Lawson dubbed it). Avery gettin in on the action at the bottom.

Lily and Naomi making adorable Christmas tree necklaces. Grandma Lori is the coolest grandma ever and had tons of crafts for the kids to work on throughout the week. This was just one of many.

Connor and Anna snuggling on the couch. Look at those 4 gorgeous eyes!!

As you can imagine, the kids spent a great deal of time playing Wii. I love Anna trying to worm her way into the game, so darling.

Lily and Naomi playing "restaurant". This was Lily's favorite game. Basically they just walked around taking orders and making food for people. It was pretty adorable, especially when they would post a sign on the refrigerator when they were "on break"!