New Year's Eve

be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man. ~benjamin franklin

what a wonderful way to end the year with great friends! we had the garff's over to our house for dinner, games, and a lot of laughing.
the kids had so much fun playing too, elizabeth and quintin sure giggle a lot when they are together.

this past year has been wonderful, but i'm looking forward to 2011 and the incredible adventures that are in store for the Rodgers family!!

2010 Christmas Card

Taintor Fun

with the taintors leaving to go back home to wisconsin , i thought what better way to start the day then to attend the Temple together! we decided to go to the bountiful Temple, and it was truly lovely.




we wanted to get in as much taintor fun time as possible, and so the gathering place for that was at the turners. we enjoyed delicious thai food, and also had some good laughs watching the kids and adults play just dance on the wii.
we will miss the taintors dearly, but look forward to the Spring for their next visit!

Chalmers Christmas Party

it was short notice, but we managed to plan a chalmers christmas party.
i have very fond memories of our chalmers Christmas parties, it was at the chalmers Christmas party back in 2004 that my sweet grandma joanne asked ryan to read the Book of Mormon (not that she hasn't asked many times before, where he politely declined her offer), that time he agreed which lead to great blessings in our life.
i am so glad that we were able to get together and share stories and laughter on this Christmas season.

Temple Square

it being the Christmas season, and with the taintors in town, i thought what better way to celebrate our Savior than to go to Temple Square! it was really nice to go together as a family to view the lights at Temple Square and to be near the Temple and feel the spirit of our Savior. i am so grateful for my family and the close bond that we have.

31 Weeks Pregnant

31 weeks pregnant! yes, i know you all think i look big, the reason I know this is because people tell me all the time. I haven't figured out why do people think pregnant women like to be told how big they are? it's like we somehow don't know this information... and although my first response is wanting to either cry and run away, or hurt these people that tell me how large i am, lol. i end up responding that i am short, and there is nowhere for the baby to go but out. so, for future, if you have the urge to tell me that i look big, please bite your tongue and lie to me. :)

Bright Shining Star...Merry Christmas

'there is no better time than now, this very Christmas season, for all of us to rededicate ourselves to the principles taught by Jesus the Christ.'
-President Thomas S. Monson

Christmas has been so enjoyable this year, one reason is elizabeth is getting older and really getting into the holidays. we have talked to her a lot about Santa and our Savior this year, and so when she knows she is being naughty, she tells us that 'Jesus and Santa are both watching her'. it's quite adorable.
this year she has been talking about how she wants Santa to bring her Tinkerbell dolls. when we went and saw Santa, she made sure he knew what she wanted, lol.
Christmas Eve she helped set out a glass of milk, and instead of cookies, she told us she thought Santa would like a cupcake, so that is what he got.
Christmas morning she ran into our room and said she wanted to go see if Santa came. we walked down the stairs and she looked to see if our stockings were still hanging, but they weren't and she yelled 'SANTA CAME!'...her face really said it all, lol. she ran to the family room and had a huge smile on her face when she opened her gift from Santa and of course it was Tinkerbell dolls!
it so much fun watching her open all her gifts...and of course she helped mommy and daddy open ours as well. it was the perfect Christmas morning at the Rodgers home!





i love the quote, 'the love of a family is life's greatest blessing'.
i can't express how grateful i am for my family. i love them dearly and they are all so influential in my life and appreciate and admire all our different characteristics and traits. i am so grateful how close we continue to grow, and am so glad that the taintors were here to share the Christmas season with us together as a family.






we slipped away from my family, they are sort of hogs when it comes to spending time with us, lol. but we managed to get a way and visit ryan's dad and his little brother randy.
elizabeth was spoiled with gifts from them, and of course loved to see all of papa rod's dogs.




Christmas wouldn't be the same if we didn't make the trip up to odgen to grandma taintors house to visit the taintor side of the family. it was nice seeing everyone, my favorite uncle gary even showed up! dad told us stories from when he was a kid, and adam and danielle's kids even sang Christmas songs in german for all of us. it was a nice ending to a beautiful Christmas day.

Christmas Eve

with the taintors in town, we thought it would be fun for us all to get together and have the kids decorate gingerbread houses. there were 27 of us, which made for one crazy house...good thing there was sugar on hand :)




my favorite tradition on Christmas Eve is having all the kids dress up and my dad reading us the story of Christ's birth. it reminds me what the season truly is about and how much my Savior loves me.
elizabeth was a darling angel this year.




my mom's famous Christmas eve pajamas were given out, and elizabeth adored hers and how they had a cute little reindeer on them.




ryan and i have a tradition on Christmas eve, we give each other a book. elizabeth loves this tradition, because one, she loves us to read to her and two, because she takes the books to her room and adds them to her collection. she really liked her book this year because it came with a stuffed animal, and she liked it's 'crazy hair'.

Visit From Santa

elizabeth was thrilled that Santa visited her at our ward Christmas breakfast. elizabeth told him she wanted a tinkerbell doll, and then afterwards she asked me what i thought Santa was going to bring the baby in my tummy, lol.

Gateway Santa

we were doing a little Christmas shopping, and thought it would be fun to go for a quick visit to Santa. elizabeth wanted daddy and i to sit with Santa too. Santa asked her what she wanted, and she replied 'I want tinkerbell stuff...and Santa tinkerbell has three movies.' lol, what can i say, she knows what she wants!

Hair Do

elizabeth did her hair all by herself. when she was done, she came to me and said 'mom don't i look just adorable'. i would have to agree with her!

Snowfall Fun

elizabeth would play out in the snow all day if we let her, she loves the snow! she was all smiles while helping daddy make a snowman, making snow angels, jumping off mounds of snow, and throwing snow at daddy and i.

What? Christmas is Coming!...We Better Get Ready!

elizabeth has been wanting to put the Christmas tree up for weeks...so finally we broke out that decorations! it was so much fun watching how excited elizabeth was helping with all the decorations, she is defiantly ready for Christmas!

Thanksgiving Part 2

i have to tell you how lucky my family is, we get spoiled with thanksgiving dinner two days in a row! it's wonderful! i love spending time with my family and it reminds me how thankful i am to have such a close bond with my family and how truly meaningful they are to my life!
we enjoyed an incredible dinner, and then afterwards thought what better way to have fun than to all go see a movie! we all went and saw the movie tangled. i just have to say that it was seriously one of the cutest movies ever! the kids loved it!! elizaeth just kept talking about how she wants to grow her hair out like rapunzel.
the end of the evening we couldn't leave out the best part...pie!! it was such a nice day and i'm so grateful that i have so many wonderful blessings in my life!

Thanksgiving

we have amazing friends that I'm so grateful for!! my family celebrates thanksgiving the day after, that my parents don't have to share with the in-laws. unfortunately ryan's family doesn't really get together, so we end up just hanging out at home, or going to a movie. this year our friends the cleverly's invited us to be part of their family! it was an amazing dinner, mary cooking almost everything from scratch and how i just adore their family. i'm truly thankful to have friends like them in our lives! plus, elizabeth loves to run around and play with brighton, they had a lot of fun together!

Cousins

elizabeth with her cousins, katiann and william

26 Weeks Pregnant

26 weeks pregnant, and feeling great!

Relaxing...

elizabeth loves her new bed, and my new phone. she sneaks into her room and watches Dora the Explorer on her bed while she relaxes, lol.

Family is a Little World Created By Love

thanks again jon! you did an amazing job with our pictures! we love them!!

Tinkerbell

i'm telling you, if elizabeth could live in this costume, she would. she loves it!

Come In For A Bite

since we celebrated halloween on saturday, we thought what better way to keep the celebration going than to make pumpkin sugar cookies! elizabeth caught on very quickly how to frost the cookies, and got rather creative, it was really fun.

Remember The Gh'oul Times

elizabeth has been talking about being tinkerbell for months now, so we were so grateful when my mom offered to make her costume. i have to say, she did an amazing job and elizabeth was the most adorable tinkerbell i have ever seen! even though she wanted me to be tinkerbell with her, she was happy that daddy was peterpan and i was wendy.
we celebrated halloween at the turners, eating delicious soup and visiting...waiting for the rain to stop so we could take the kids out. when it finally did i think the kids didn't even notice the cold, because they were to excited about the candy they were going to get. elizabeth told us that she loves halloween because she gets to eat lots of candy. it turned out to be a spooktacular night.

Boo at the Zoo

the past couple years we have taken elizabeth to the zoo for their halloween boo at the zoo. when i ask friends to come, they tell me i'm crazy, lol, yes we know it's busy, but elizabeth loves it. she loves the zoo, and to top it off she gets candy! ryan and i like it because we see some pretty creative costumes. this year mystery came with us, as well as my girlfriend amity and her kids riley and lily. elizabeth loves lily, and they both had a lot of fun.

Carving Memories

it has been so fun celebrating halloween this year. elizabeth was so excited to decorate our porch with pumpkins, and we had so much fun carving them.

Elizabeth the Artist

elizabeth loves to draw! she drew this picture of ryan and i. i am on the left, and ryan is on the right holding onto his cane, lol. i asked her why mommy had five legs and daddy only had two, and she responded by saying, "because your so funny mommy". i love that she is our little artist.

22 Weeks Pregnant

Syracuse Pumpkin Walk

we went with our neighbors, the camporas, who we love! they are so much fun, and their oldest daughter kylee is one of elizabeth's favorite friends! we had never been to the syracuse pumpkin walk before this, but it was amazing. there were over 1,000 pumpkins carved and lit up. the kids dressed up, which elizabeth has been dying to wear her tinkerbell costume. we had so much fun, and saw so many interesting, and detailed pumpkins. we can't wait to go again next year!