Because of Martin Luther King Jr. we........

had an amazing day at the beach! I did not post these pictures to make you jealous.....they are to remind me of why I live in California and stay in my way overpriced home! Today was better then any summer day! Is it really January 19th??

Happy Birthday Jane!

Ten years ago today our little Jane was born! What a surprise she was all around! The first surprise was that I was pregnant, AGAIN! What a shocker! For those of you who were around us then probably remember the look on my face.......sheer terror! The thought of having 3 under 3 1/2....Yikes! Guess it was time to move out of our 1 bedroom apartment, and purchase a mini van! Nate and I decided that this time we were going to find out the sex of the baby, you know so we could be PREPARED! Well, we were told we were going to have a little BOY! The months went on and we anticipated the arrival of our little boy. Two weeks before the estimated day of arrival and in the wee hours of the morning our little baby decided to come. That wasn't the only unexpected surprise! A girl?? What do you mean it is a girl? Instead of little Brock we had our little Jane. From day one she has been such a joy, she is our peacemaker, our sweet baby Jane. Her and Aubrey are 19 months apart, what a blessing. I do not know what they would do without each other. She loves to play soccer and is VERY active! She has this LONG time obsession with Strawberry Shortcake. She even looks like her, minus the red hair. We love her to pieces and cannot imagine life without her. She forms special bonds with everyone around her. She is kind and respectful of others. She can do a backbend walkover like no other. She is amazing on her pogo stick and loves to jump on her mini trampoline! She would, if we let her spend hours in Claire's or Office Max, (she just loves school supplies)! She reads her scriptures and says her prayers every night. She is an example to all. We love you Jane!! Have a Happy, Happy Birthday!

another family traditon

For as long as I have been around and before my family has done a yearly Christmas picture. Every year we were dressed in our best, or what we thought was our best and we'd venture to a park, the mall or some other pretty place to have our picture taken. As you can imagine, getting 5 kids to cooperate did not always go well, especially when your dad was making you sit in Santa's sleigh in the middle of the mall. After the picture was taken there were painful days of stuffing, licking and stamping 1500 envelopes. Yes, 1500. My dad sent one to ALL his clients and friends. Unfortunetly he is a very friendly guy and has friends at the car wash, cleaners and many eating establishments. In high school it wasn't too fun to walk into a store and find your families photo hanging on the wall. I guess that is what you get when your parents have lived in the same town for 37 years. Anyway, the point of me telling you all this is to let you know how thankful I am that my parents kept this tradition going on. What memories it brings back to look at 39 years of christmas cards. We have years where we are dropping off a missionary at the airport and then the years where we are picking them up. We have weddings and new babies. We have some really trendy hairstyles and jeans that hopefully never come back in style! This year, due to the circumstances we are a little late getting the card out! We actually tried to talk my dad into skipping 2008. After discussion we decided this was not the year to miss, the year we almost lost him. Besides, he INSISTED like always and the yearly card is on it's way! Tomorrow I will do my share of stuffing, licking and stamping. Thanks to Minette, Sunny and Anna our picture this year was successful and not too tramatic . Thanks for the memories mom and dad!!

What's the saying "all because two people fell in love".....well, here is the product of that!



An added insert with the card this year is a poem Aubrey wrote for her grandpa for Christmas. Grandpa loved it and wanted it put in with the picture so that people would know what went on with us this year! Sing it to the tune of Rudolph...."You know Dasher and Dancer....

You know
Jacob & Hanna & Aubrey & Jane
Conrad & Noah & Avery & Nick
Ruby & Addie & sweet baby Ava..
But do you recall??
the most famous State Farm Agent of all...
Stephen the State Farm Agent
had a stroke on March 13th
and if you ever see him
tell him he is getting lean.
He went from the hospital
to East Campus Care Center.
Now he's back at home
and he's looking much better.
Then one sunny June morning
Vivian was born.
Now there are 12 grandchildren,
can we expect some more???
O....Stephen the State Farm agent
is doing very well.
Thank you for your support.
We think you're really swell!

Heading home....

After a week in Utah it was time to head on back to Calif. A lot of tears are shed and kids not wanting to leave, especially when they know school is waiting for them. Our first stop on the way was the St. George temple. What a beautiful temple. We took a few pics and headed off to Vegas! We decided to stay in Vegas overnight with our dear friends, the Singers. We planned that night to go out to dinner with Dave and Lisa, Julie and Ryan and Bryan and Sara. Yes, we left all 12 children home with Jake, Aubrey and Samantha in charge....crazy?? All went well and the children all survived. We had a great time catching up and enjoying each others company! We do not get to see each other too often! Thanks for the great night and for letting us crash at your house!! We love you all!

Why we go to Utah....

There are two reasons we go to Utah, first is of course our family, and second is the Nelson family! Three years ago when we went to Utah to visit Grandpa and Grandma our kids made friends with the neighbor kids across the way. There are always tears when it is time to go and then a year full of emails and reading each others blogs. When we are there hours are spent in the backyard on the tramp and playing in the yard. Thank you to the Nelsons for being such good, fun friends to our kids!

Dec. 26th....

The day after Christmas Nate and I packed up the kids and headed up to American Fork, Utah to spend a week with Grandpa and Grandma ! The kids LOVE going and spending time at their home. Usually we head up there in the summer but decided that it was time for Avery to see his first snow. We had a great week of seeing and spending time with many friends and family. We had the chance to go to Sundance, BYU, Cafe Rio and the mall more than once. One day we had friends meet us at a park so that the kids could all go sledding. We shared a lot of laughs watching our children almost kill themselves going down the hill. I even had the chance to get together with two long time friends I had not seen in MANY years! It was so fun to catch up! Overall we had a WONDERFUL week and cannot wait to go back! Thank you to all of our family and friends for making this such a memorable week!

After the gifts are opened.....

The tradition for us Christmas day is to open our presents at home with our own little family and then head over to Grandma and Grandpa's to spend the day with cousins! When you put 12 grandkids, and 6 marshmallow shooters in the same room, you get total craziness!! Lana, my sis in law always makes a yummy breakfast for everyone and we just spend the day enjoying each others company and keeping kids calm! It was a great day!

Christmas morning.... FINALLY!!

Well, Santa DID come and the little Lytles were ready Christmas morning! Wrapped in their blankets with new Christmas p.j's underneath the unwrapping began.......cotton candy machine, basketball shoes, Ironman, and video camera all arrived on time as requested! It's a good thing they were good little children this year!