Team Eaquinto

2010-02-01T09:08:00.001-08:00

Here is Kylie's first ever gymnastics meet! She was awesome. She competed in Level 4. She got a 9.2 on vault, 8.9 on bars, 8,65 on beam, and a 9.0 on floor! She was so cute. I was so proud of her! It brought back so many memories of when I competed gymnastics. I loved watching her. I was super nervous though! She wasn't very nervous so that was great! I had a hard time getting her on floor. The vault was in the way and so it's all over the place. I promise it gets better after floor!

General Conference

2009-10-06T20:47:00.000-07:00

We loved listening to conference, it's always so uplifting and inspiring. (When we can hear!) I always think I can do everything afterward, then reality sets in and I yell at the kids. But it's always a great boost! My favorite was Elder Holland. (If that's ok to have a favorite!) What an amazing testimony of the BOM. It's such an inspiring book. I feel like it forces me to do good whenever I consistently read from it! Anyway, we decided to "pitch our tent" to the Prophets so we could listen better. I'm not sure that the kids were more reverent but it was fun and they did pretty good! Here are some pictures of our tent!

By Saturday afternoon we'd had all we could handle of listening with kids running around so we decided to go up over the Alpine Loop and listen to conference in the car. (The kids can't run around strapped down!!) Our radio cut out for part of it, but all in all, it was a really fun outing! The leaves are beautiful and we stopped to take a few pictures! Here are some highlights.

Shane and I trying to keep warm!

Cole not so happy about being in the car!

Someone was kind enough to take our picture for us!

Here is a picture that Derik took for his contest at school, "Beauty Is..." I think it's a beautiful picture!

We lost Shane about half way over the mountain! It was a much needed nap for all of us in such close quarters!

Ky and I had to find a "pretty red" tree to take our picture in front of!

She is such a cutie!

Here is Cole as king of the Rock!

We really had a fun time. Derik took tons of pictures! It was an adventure to remember!

Our Resident American Idol

2009-05-15T09:44:00.000-07:00

Cole loves American Idol. I'm afraid to say that I think he has chosen Adam to emulate. Here is his audition.

Shane can walk!

2009-05-15T09:16:00.000-07:00

Shane is walking! He started to walk when Grandma Lu and Grandpa Rik came out for spring break, but was only taking one or two steps and then falling. He got so sick with pneumonia that he was too weak for a while to walk, now he's back and walking sooo cute! He's off balance all the time but manages to keep going! Here's a little glimpse...

Kylie's show!

2009-05-15T07:30:00.000-07:00

Here's another fun thing that Kylie did that I missed blogging about. She got to perform at a BYU gymnasts meet with her gymnastics team! She is quite the little gymnast!

Gabe's First Paycheck

2009-05-07T13:01:00.000-07:00

Gabe checked the mail everyday for several weeks until he finally got his first pay check! Here he is wanting to rip into it but posing for me so I can get a "before" shot!

Here's the check. He is still confused why it isn't exactly 100.00. He is not a fan of taxes!

He has since gotten another paycheck and has "worked" a total of three recording sessions! He loves it. We've managed to open a CD for him and have most of his money in there. He understands that if he waits a long time to spend it, he'll have more to spend! For those of you who don't know what his "work" is, he is helping the church to record scripture stories! I'll send you all the link when it goes "public"!

Missed Birthdays

2009-04-21T22:29:00.000-07:00

While I've been "away" from blogging we had two birthdays. Miss Kylie turned 5 and had a purse party, and Cole turned two and had a fire truck party. Here are a few of the highlights!

Kylie showing off her purse! It was fun to make.

Hmm what shall I wish for....

Here's a closer look at the cake. We had to experiment a bunch in order to get her name on it. She loved the way it turned out. I'll try some different things next time to attach letters!

Here is Cole with his fire truck cake. He loved it.

Cole was the cutest thing opening presents. He got a BYU tee-shirt and shorts and absolutely loved them.

He had to have them put on right away. He got sooooo excited opening everything!

He loves his scooter.

Look out Tiger!

Leftover Cake Anyone?

2009-04-19T20:49:00.001-07:00

We had delicious cake tonight at Nonna's and Kylie brought her's home. When she was done she threw her plate away in the garbage. Sam and I were in the living room and Shane was crawling around. His latest thing is to dig things out of the garbage to see what treasures he can find. Well tonight he hit the jackpot! Here he is enjoying his spoils! Yummy chocolate cake! Needless to say he had to take a tub!!!

I'm back (hopefully I'll be a little more consistant!)

2009-04-19T20:40:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I got overwhelmed at Christmas and just decided that the whole blog thing was too much. But, I have so many fun pictures and things that we have experienced in the last few months that I decided to start this up again. I miss seeing what's going on with everyone else too so I'm going to try to repent and keep this up a little better and check out what's new with all of you.

Family Pictures Merry Christmas to Me!

2008-12-12T13:41:00.001-08:00

Okay so if you've seen all the pictures on my blog you can probably tell that we had family pictures taken. I should have done a slide show but I didn't have time last night and my Mom wanted to see the pictures so I put them up fast for her. Below are some of our favorites! Of course it was a horribly hard thing to do. Thanks to Sam for letting me do it and for my sisters for helping get all the smiles in the right direction! Love you all! This is my main Christmas present!!

Even more Picts!

2008-12-11T22:21:00.000-08:00

More pictures for you Mom

2008-12-11T22:18:00.000-08:00

More Picts

2008-12-11T22:13:00.000-08:00

Adorable Babies

2008-12-11T22:04:00.000-08:00

Here are my adorable babies!

Video for Grandma Lu!

2008-12-09T13:41:00.000-08:00

Here is Kylie doing her back flip on the tramp for Grandma Lu! She is very proud of herself!

Gabe's $11.00 Tree!

2008-12-09T12:32:00.000-08:00

On Saturday we set out to find this year's perfect tree! We searched to find something that was decent and not a million dollars. That proved to be quite challenging. (I know buying a fake is so much cheaper, but it's just not the same as a real tree! I'm not willing to sacrifice that yet. ) It wasn't as cold as year's past. We were going to cut it down but decided to just go to the corner lot. We let the kids loose and they immediately found $75 trees that were beautiful! Then Gabe came running over hysterical (as only Gabe gets when he's excited) and pulled me over to his find. He just knew he had the perfect tree and it was only 11.00. As you can imagine it was a sight to behold. It wasn't even taller then Gabe! He was most proud of that fact. We just had to buy it. He was sooo excited about it. Then we searched for something a little less than 75 dollars. Derik found a great 45 dollar tree. It wasn't too much at the lot but when we got it home it was perfect for our spot! It's a beautiful tree. The boys now have a decorated "real" Christmas tree in their room. They have made signs directing Santa downstairs and into their room to their tree. I don't know if Santa will leave their presents by their tree or not! We'll have to see on Christmas morning! (I'll post some pictures of their decorated tree later. We still have to decorate the big tree.) Our holidays have started out really fun. Have fun decorating everyone!

BYU Pregame (Brainwashed?!)

2008-11-21T19:34:00.000-08:00

Okay this really wasn't my or Sam's idea. The boys and our neighbor Jake just did it. I let them make their own pizzas tonight and this is what they did! Derik and Jake made Y's on their pizzas and Gabe spelled PITTA. They said they had to have it as the pre-game meal! They are die-hard BYU fans. I think we've successfully brainwashed them. There is a Utah flag on the way to church and they always close their eyes so as not to see it. The trip goes something like this, "Close your eyes guys, we're almost to it. Hurry, no one open your eyes. Is it over? Have we passed it? Did anyone see it?" Derik says that he goes blind for 5 seconds if he sees it. It's a crack up! Gotta love the Cougars! I hope we have a happy night tomorrow! Go Cougars!!!!

Date with Gabe

2008-11-20T22:30:00.001-08:00

Gabe and I got to go on a golfing date a couple of weeks ago with Jorden and Dan. He has a great swing! He was so fun to take. Gabe definitely has the temperament for golf. He just hits it perfectly down the middle and hits it again and again! Thanks Jorden for the picts.

We make a great team!

He is the cutest golfer ever!

Thank Goodness for Aunts

2008-11-20T21:55:00.001-08:00

Aunt Jamie had a great idea to try something new in Kylie's hair a couple of weeks ago. Tiny braids! She loved it and washed her hair several times before I insisted that they come out. They looked adorable. Thanks Jamie for thinking of something new that she would sit still for!

Of course we had to have a photo shoot!

Cole getting in some face time!

Yes I know I'm cute.

Always willing to pose for the camera.

Shane's First Food

2008-11-20T21:45:00.000-08:00

Okay we decided that Shane is officially old enough to start eating. We gave him his first rice cereal two nights ago. The kids had a blast watching him. He loved it. He was a very clean eater. There wasn't a whole lot of emotion until we stopped feeding him! Then he got mad and I made more. He is following in Gabe's footsteps!!!! Maybe there is hope for me after all.

YUM YUM!

These fingers taste great!

I don't want to drip on my chin!

I'm just going to suck my thumb now.

Getting into the Holiday Spirit!

2008-11-20T21:11:00.000-08:00

For FHE Gabe was in charge of the treat. Of course he wanted "frosting cookies" (the hardest ones to make) so we made a huge mess of the kitchen and had blue and purple frosting everywhere. It was fun to let Cole try and frost a cookie. The kids loved the rolling out of the dough! We've officially started the "treat making season!" I just hope I can resist eating all the things we make! Happy Holidays everyone.

Why would I waste time putting the frosting on the cookie?

I know I can make it fit somehow.

I'm a pro!

This is what I'm talking about!

Laughing Shane!

2008-11-20T21:00:00.000-08:00

Here is a little video of Shane laughing. He loves to laugh at his brothers and sister. So cute!

Fall Leaves

2008-11-18T13:08:00.001-08:00

Yes I raked them all myself! Does anyone else need any work done?

You want me to touch them with my hands?

Look Grandma Lu! My toes are even pointed!

Leaves, leaves, leaves

Our princess!

The kids had fun with all the leaves in our backyard. We just keep raking and raking them, they don't ever seem to make it into the bags though!

A big lion!

2008-11-12T15:52:00.000-08:00

This was one of our favorite things to have Derik do when he was Cole's age. So, since Cole is pretty much another Derik...here goes. (You can turn off the music to get the full effect! Press the pause button in the bottom black box!)

That's Cole's version!

Halloween Slide Show!

2008-11-01T22:13:00.001-07:00

Halloween Details

2008-11-01T22:05:00.000-07:00

We had a great but hectic Halloween! It started Thursday when Derik came home from school and didn't move the rest of the day and night (except for trips to the bathroom). I couldn't believe it. I felt so bad for him. He had to miss school, but luckily his prayers were answered and he was feeling good enough to go trick or treating! I had to get Gabe dressed and off at 8:00, then Kylie to school at 9. Then we went over to watch Gabe's parade! Which was a blast, He got to hold the flag for his teacher, she was Sarah Palin. (I have it on video and I'll add it to the blog.) Then after Kylie's school was over it was back to Gabe's class to hand out treats for his party. Of course he choose donuts and chocolate milk! Luckily Jamie works at our house and I was able to leave the babies with her! Yea for Jamie! Kylie was my helper and was totally in her element being the boss of all the food and passing every single napkin, donut, and choc. milk out! Then we came home and got everyone ready to go trick or treating at Sam's work. It was fun for the kids to go around and see everyone there. Thanks Trina for the special bags for our kids! Then I remembered that I didn't have candy for trick or treating so we were off to Costco. After that we went to Nonna and Bobbo's house to hang out and crash their ward party for dinner. Who wants to make dinner on Halloween? Thanks Nonna. I had to chase Zorro and Cosmo all through the church so by the time Sam got there I had had it and was ready to go. We ate quickly and were off to our house to FINALLY (to quote the kids) go "real" trick or treating. This was a record year for candy for several reasons!

1. It was actually warm enough to walk around without getting frostbite.

2. All my kids that went out can run!

3. Daylight savings time is still going on!

4. Did I mention that it was like 70 degrees?

5. It wasn't snowing!

By the time the kid's bags were too heavy to carry them, we were done. Needless to say we have way, way, too much candy in our house and I've already gained 5 pounds! We came home and the trading and bargaining began. Gabe quickly discarded all the 'bad candy' and hid his good stuff. I have no idea where his candy is. Cole tried to open as many pieces as he could (running with his bucket for fear that it would be taken from him momentarily.) Kylie stashed all her candy before Sam could start "taxing" it. All in all it was a great night! Cole was the cutest trick-or-treater! He really got the hang of it. He can say trick or treat and thank you just fine now! I'm still recovering from our day. We hope everyone had a blast like we did! We were so glad to have Brody with us! He was so adorable in his monster costume! Cole really is a year older I promise! Happy Halloween to all. Enjoy the slide show at the beginning!

Pumpkins

2008-11-01T21:45:00.001-07:00

We had a bunch of the fam over for dinner and pumpkins on Monday! We had a huge group and carved until our hearts were content. Sam got out the drill so I could have perfectly round circles all the same size! Here are the fruits of our labors!

Finally Ky's first day of preschool!

2008-10-29T13:36:00.001-07:00

Here is her sweet bag! It says Kylie on it and everything.

Her favorite thing so far is "vehicle time" aka physical time. "I get to yell as loud as I can! And run around everywhere!" Does that sound like one of our kids or what? Thank goodness for recess.

She has been waiting since August for this day to come! She loved sit and wishes it was longer each day!

California

2008-10-26T23:17:00.001-07:00

Here is a slide show of picts from the beach! Good old Fort Bragg. Can life get any better?

2008-10-26T23:16:00.001-07:00

First Snow Already!

2008-10-26T15:10:00.001-07:00

Gabe is distraught that his "fort" isn't big enough to hide behind! Better luck next snow.

Derik made a "fort" to hide behind. I think he needed more snow too!

Here is Kylie posing in the snow!

Here is Cole playing in his first snow! I can't believe that it snowed so early in October but it melted by dinner so all is well!

Shane is four months

2008-10-26T15:07:00.000-07:00

Shane will be five months old on November 1st but here he is at four months. I can't believe the time has gone by so fast!

Flag Football

2008-10-26T15:02:00.000-07:00

Derik has been waiting his "whole life" to play football and finally was able to play this fall. Here is a hand off that he ran back for a touchdown! He had a blast and scored 8 touchdowns with three dives into the endzone for added enterainment! We love watching him.

More pumpkins

2008-10-26T14:30:00.000-07:00

Here is the cutting of the first pumpkin.
Of course it was Deriks!

He's ready to cut!

Pumpkins

2008-10-26T14:13:00.000-07:00

This year we decided to plant some pumpkins with the help of Grandma Lu. Little did we know that they would take over the whole front yard and wrap around into the back yard! But the kids loved finding new little pumpkins everyday. All in all we had 8 mature and seem to be carvable! The kids picked their pumpkins early on and Shane's ended up being the biggest. I took pictures of the older kids and their pumpkins. I'll post them all when we have carved them!

Tigger and Pooh

2008-10-26T14:03:00.000-07:00

Cole and Shane are going to be Tigger and Pooh for Halloween! They are old costumes from Derik and Gabe but they couldn't be more perfect! Cole is Tigger and 'boings' little shane all the time. I couldn't wait until Halloween. Here is a preview picture! Cole is playing his part right on cue for the camera. Look out Shane!

2008-10-25T22:10:00.001-07:00

2008-10-25T21:49:00.000-07:00

Here are the pumpkins shirts that Nonna and I made for all the kids. We found this idea in Family Fun Magazine and had a blast tye-dying them and drawing faces on them! Happy Halloween!

Team Eaquinto

2008-10-24T21:34:00.000-07:00

After 30 minutes of discussion the only name we can come up with for our blog is Team Eaquinto. It fits for now. Cougar Factory was discussed. Sports are Us and Two gymnasts among men were also mentioned. Seven is Enough almost took the cake, but I guess Team Eaquinto will have to work for now. I suppose this is where I introduce our family. (I really want to post this message and get on with decorating the blog! I want to make it all cute and fancy so the intro will have to be short.) Sam and I got married on June 21, 1997. Hard to believe that it was that long ago! We have four incredibly good looking boys and one beautiful daughter. Yes five children! There is never a dull moment in our house except maybe in the middle of the night if no babies are crying! The kids keep us very busy. Derik has done Soccer, baseball, golf, and now flag football. At one point he was doing three sports at a time! That was a busy month! Gabe is a great soccer player and rocks at baseball! Kylie is the gymnast of our family. She does ballet too! She tried her hand at soccer this fall and loved that too! At first she just ran down the field laughing and beating everyone to the goal but didn't do anything. After a pep talk from her aunt she went crazy and scored 7 goals in one game. Of course it was the game we missed! She loves that she is on a commercial for her gymnastics. The two babies are just dragged around from this to that but they are good to go along with everything! That's a little intro to our family!