China

Ever since Ryan's parents decided that they would go back to China to teach again the girls have been planning their trip to go visit them. They talked about it all the time and couldn't wait to go. Just 2 short weeks after having Addison, Ryan and Peyton and Hailey boarded a plane and set off on an adventure of a lifetime. Ryan also had our 9 year old niece Makenna in tow. They first flew to Seattle and then to Beijing. The plane rides were long but they made it. The weather was much colder in China so one of the first things they did was go shopping for warm jackets (we don't own any here in Arizona!).

Here they are with Grandma and Grandpa Ferrell. They were so happy to see them again.
One of the places they visited was the Great Wall of China. They took these lifts up to the wall.
This is the only picture Ryan is in from the whole trip. I guess he was too occupied with keeping track of 3 girls.

Grandpa Ferrell with the girls on the Great Wall. While taking pictures at the wall Ryan noticed several other Chinese people snapping pictures of the girls. One was brave enough to ask if they could take a picture with them and then soon enough there was a line of people wanting to take a picture with the girls. They stood there for 45 minutes taking pictures until Hailey couldn't handle it anymore. I guess they got a taste of what it's like to be famous.
While in China they got to ride on a camel.

Grandpa took them shopping at a lot of great places. This fish market was not Hailey's favorite. Notice her covering her nose with her hat. She did not like the smell.

The girls saw these little cars and just had to take a picture with them.

Grandpa also gave the girls plenty of rides on his 3 wheeler. They love riding on these (Grandpa brought one back from China last time and he loves to give the grand kids rides on it).
Here the girls are in front of the University Grandma and Grandpa teach at.
They were able to attend a few of the classes that my in-laws taught. They were asked lots of questions by the students and Makenna and Peyton sang some songs to the students. They were a huge hit.
The girls came home with lots of fun toys and clothes from China. They had such a great time being with Grandma and Grandpa and enjoyed being in a different country. I am so glad they had such an amazing opportunity and I am grateful for Ryan's parents for making it happen.

Addison Paula Ferrell

On February 23rd our beautiful daughter was born. We named her Addison Paula (after Ryan's mom). She was 8 lbs 8 oz and was 20 inches long. I was induced a few days before my due date and the delivery was relatively easy (as if labor could ever really be easy!). I hate getting my picture taken especially when I am pregnant but I thought I should at least document my belly on the day I delivered.

I took a picture of my 3 oldest the morning of her delivery day. This is the last time together as 3 sisters.
Addison was born with a little bit of dark hair (by far the least amount of hair of all our daughters) and was perfect in every way.
Peyton was excited to hold her for the first time. She has been a great help to me since the baby was born.
Here's Hailey holding her for the first time. Hailey loves holding the baby and asks if she can hold her all the time.
Lexi was a little sick when we had Addison so she hasn't had much time to hold her. But she was super excited to hold her at the hospital (it lasted about 1 minute before she wanted to do something else).
My mom was excited to hold another grandchild. This was her 3rd one born since August.
Here we are as a family of 6.
Things have been crazy, busy, and a bit overwhelming since Addison was born. Ryan has been out of town for work a lot and along with his calling in the bishopric it has left me to try to take care of everything by myself. Luckily I have lots of wonderful family members and friends who have tried to make my life easier any way they possibly can. I am so grateful for all of their help or I don't think I would be surviving right now (and that is not an exaggeration). I'm so grateful that Addison was born healthy and that the delivery went well. The Lord has truly blessed our family with another beautiful daughter.

Betty Ford

Peyton's 5th grade class at school has been studying the Presidents of the United States. Each student had to choose a President to do a report on and Peyton picked Gerald Ford. On Wednesday the kids had to dress up like their President or their President's wife and give a speech about the President. Peyton chose to dress up like Betty Ford and performed her speech several times to the parents who walked by. She did such a great job and I was really proud of her.

Alexis insisted on getting dressed up too so she chose to be Snow White. Everyone thought she looked adorable.
Good job Peyton!

Happy Valentine's Day

We had another great Valentine's Day this year and it started off with a yummy breakfast. Usually I make pink heart shaped biscuits but the girls really wanted pancakes this year so I made those.

The girls love waking up to a little gift and a delicious breakfast. This year I gave them heart shaped boxes I found at the dollar store and put a little candy in it.
That night we had our candlelight dinner. I made roast with potatoes, carrots, and gravy. We also had sparkling cider. For dessert I made chocolate covered strawberries which Alexis loved. She ate 5 of them and would have eaten more if she could have. It was a great Valentine's and I am so grateful to have 3 beautiful girls with one more on the way as my Valentine's. I'm also so grateful to have my wonderful husband who spoils me all the time as my Valentine.

A Visit From Ryan's Family

Ryan's brother Tyler and his family came to visit us from Minnesota last week. Tyler is not only Ryan's brother but his best friend so he was looking forward to this visit for months. We don't get to see them very often so we like to take advantage of every minute we can be with them. We weren't sure they were going to come until the last minute because Tyler's wife, AnnaMarie, is pregnant with twin boys and was 32 weeks along. But her doctor checked everything out and gave her the okay to come. Here is Ryan with Tyler.

The day they arrived we had a big family party at Bounce U to celebrate our nephew Jaxon's birthday. Ryan's brother Scott and his family also came in town for the weekend to celebrate so all of Ryan's family was there except for his parents who are still in China. Here are some of the cousins waiting for the party to start.
Everyone had so much fun. Peyton loved being able to spend time with her cousins Makenna and Aurora. Here she is going down the big slide with Makenna.
Hailey was lucky enough to get Aunt Erin to slide down with her.
Alexis loved every minute of the party. Just look at that big smile.
I am pretty sure Ryan and his siblings had more fun than the kids did. They raced each other up and down the slides and had boxing matches. I think the workers were shocked that adults could act that way (it is not shocking to those of us who know the Ferrell children!). Even his 2 pregnant sisters raced each other and slid down on their belly's to try to win (luckily they aren't too far along so it didn't harm their babies!).

On Sunday we had the whole family over for a Super Bowl party and enjoyed eating and watching the game while the kids played. The rest of the week was spent just relaxing and enjoying the beautiful weather. AnnaMarie made fresh squeezed lemonade with the girls a few times while she was here (we have a huge lemon tree outside that was in desperate need of a trim and a good picking, thanks Tyler for doing it).
Alexis enjoyed playing with Katie and Jane and the girls especially loved sitting together and playing the iPad when we would let them.
We also spent lots of time playing outside and going to the park. Since they live in Minnesota they thought it felt like summer since it was in the 70s every day they were here.
The last day before they left Ryan and Tyler decided to live out a dream of theirs, to deep fry a turkey. I wasn't too excited about the idea (maybe that is a little understatement) but they went ahead and did it. In the end it turned out great and tasted great too. And they were so happy and pleased with themselves.
I am so glad we could spend a week with Tyler and AnnaMarie and we can't wait to see them again in July for our big Ferrell Family Reunion.

Daddy Daughter Dance

The girls school had their annual Parent Student Dance or as we like to call it the Daddy Daughter Dance tonight. When Lexi heard me talking about it with Ryan she insisted that she get to go too so we bought her a ticket. She was probably the most excited to go but the other girls were a little excited too. They had a great time dancing and Lexi got to do the Hokey Pokey and was singing it all night until we put her to bed.

Here they are right before the dance. I love that they want to get dressed up for it and do their hair down (which is not how I usually let them wear it). Don't they look great. I hope Ryan doesn't get sick of these dances because he has a lot more of them in the future.

Tea Party

The girls have been wanting to have a tea party for a couple of months now and it never worked out. So today we finally were able to have one. They invited their cousins Kate and Summer and they invited Grandma Cardon. They chose all of the decorations, food, and activities and worked on it for days. Here is what the room looked like before it started.

Hailey made chocolate chip cookies and a sign that said "Welcome" on it. Peyton made the cake and decorated it with a play tea set. She also made the place cards, napkin rings, a coaster, a poster saying "Tea Party"on it, and hung balloons from the ceiling. I made cinnamon muffins, sandwiches, and fruit. Alexis made pink lemonade.
Here are the lovely ladies about to start the party. They all came dressed up and were ready to have fun.
After they ate their food Summer decided to have a photo shoot outside. She loves taking pictures and the girls were excited to be the models. Here is Alexis loving being included with the big girls.
Peyton and Kate skipping to go out front.
Kate in the tree.
Hailey in the tree.
Peyton in the tree.
Grandma even got in on the action. Kate wanted her to wear her hat.
4 silly cousins.
Summer, the photographer posing for a picture.
All the cute girls in the tree.
The final activity of the party was coloring tea pots that Peyton had printed off. Each tea pot was different and they had the name of the person on it.

I'm so glad we were finally able to have the party because it was a lot of fun. I'm grateful for Summer who at the age of 14 played along really well and made it fun for her sister and younger cousins. She is such a good sport.