Regan's 30th Birthday!

Well folks, I pulled it off! I kept a huge secret from Regan for a LONG time! I planned this surprise birthday party for his 30th and it turned out awesome {except for a few snags: like the gourmet donuts I ordered not be delivered!!} Anyway, I rented out Classic Skating in Sandy and had our friends and family surprise him! We played rollerhockey, the shocking game and had a great time! I had a blind fold on him, and then I told him that I was taking him to a new icecream place that makes soy ice cream {since he is supposedly lactose intolerant!} Instead, everyone shouted surprise at the good old roller rink instead!

Thanks to everyone for helping me out on his book and on the surprise birthday party! I have to mention my 2 wonderful friends that helped me out SO much! Camille and Amanda were so helpful in my scheme..they brought everything, decorated the place, went to find fresh donuts at 10pm when my gourmet donuts never showed up and I truly am so grateful for them! I am one lucky girl to be surrounded by awesome friends!

Riley is trying to get to Violin Camp!

My little boy Riley is trying to earn his way to get to Violin Camp in the Summer {Intermountain Suzuki String Institute}. He is selling Papa Murphy Pizza Cards for $5 each so let us know how many you would like and we will get them to you! Email Andrea at suzukiviolin@hotmail.com and we will make arrangements that way. Thanks so much for helping Riley get to Violin Camp! He is a great violin player, and this violin camp will make him even better! It is a great opportunity for him!

Regan and I thought that if he sells these cards and makes his own money to attend this violin camp, he will appreciate and enjoy it more!

The Papa Murphy Pizza Card includes discounts like buy 1 get 1 free, 1/2 off, and other really good deals on great pizzas! Let me know if you would like to buy one or some from Riley.

Happy 30th Birthday Regan!!

Happy Birthday Regan!
{I made this box with Regan's triathlon medals in it}
{Thanks to everyone for helping me make Regan's book-success!}

Field Trip to the Dinosaur Museum!

We took the kids to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point for Riley's Preschool Field Trip! It doesn't matter how many times you go there, the kids just absolutly love it...especially the erosion table where they can play with sand and water! It is hard to tear them away from that! The picture with all of the moms-those are all of the mom's that I car pool with to and from preschool. It is so nice to have the car pool because we all drive for 2 weeks at a time!

BYU Tradition goes on!

Since we were all feeling better on Saturday, we decided to go on a tour through the Draper temple which was just awesome! It is beautiful and remarkable since it is right on the mountain side! That night, we took the kids to our school...BYU! I have the best memories as a kid going to BYU campus and to Games so I want my kids to enjoy that as well! They were all so good during the b-ball game. Riley and Sunny even found a place to dance whenever they heard music! We love BYU!!!

So Sad...So Sick

Well, last week we were SO SICK! These pictures describe how my kids were feeling-miserable! All 3 of the kids had something called Roseola! I have never heard of it before, but they all had red dots all over their bodies and temperatures of 103 degrees! I even got a high fever and was feeling like I was going to die! But after a whole week of feeling yucky, we all got better! It really makes you appreciate the times you feel healthy!

Farewell Holmes

Here are the girls and the boys at the Holmes Farewell Party! I sure am going to miss my friend Britta, but we already have a trip planned in July to go to California to see them! Yeah! Anyway, we played dodgeball and it was so fun! I couldn't stop giggling the whole night-I felt like I was in 5th grade gym class! I did feel aweful for Kara and Danielle who got slammed with the dodgeball! Feel better girls!

James Bond Night!

So when Regan and I were driving to his American Family Party on Saturday night, we weren't too excited about going because we knew there would be a ton of drinking and poker (which we don't like both!}. When we got there, our thoughts were no different because there were huge glass bottles of ac

A Tribute to my friend...Britta

My great friend Britta is leaving me to move to California and I am going to miss her SO much! Here is a tribute to my friend!
1. She is crafty and creative
2. She decorates her home so beautiful
3. She is a wonderful and patient mother
4. She is a great runner-has run in many marathons and wakes up so early to go running!
5. All of the Young Women in our ward love her!
6. She is organized
7. She is a good seamstress
8. She is a good scrapbooker
9. She makes me want to be a better person
10. She makes me want to exercise
11. She gets me excited about new projects!
12. I love to talk to her on the phone
13. I love to go on date nights with her and Jon
14. I love to take the kids on adventures with her and her kids
15. She went to the Ballet with me and enjoyed it!
16. We both went to Ricks together and didn't even know it!
17. She has watched my kids for me many times
18. She motivates me and makes me feel good
19. She is beautiful
20. I wish my hair was just like hers

I could go on and on but I will spare the readers. Basically, I am going to miss my friend, but she is just moving to California, so I have told Regan that we will be visiting frequently! Love ya Britta!

Twinner Sunday

Here are my Twinner Girls on Sunday! They are seriously the cutest girls I have ever seen!

Jazz vs. Pacers

I had the opportunity on Monday night to sit right behind the Pacers bench at the Jazz game and it was simply amazing! I can't even describe what it is like to see Deron Williams, Matt Harpring, Kyle Korver, Andre Keralinko (?) so close!! We had a great dinner at the very top of the Energy Solutions Arena, and then made our way to our amazing seats. At half time we even got to go to a special room and get snacks and drinks! I went with my brother, sister and brother in law to the game and it was a blast! Thanks to my dad's cousin for the great night!

Thank you babycenter.com!

Ever since I had my little Ellie girl {3 1/2 months ago!!} I have been having a really hard time dealing with my post baby body! I don't know if it is just because I have now had 3 babies, and my stomach has been stretched to the limits 3 times or what, but my mid section is just not the same! I read this article on babycenter.com and it made me feel a whole lot better!

How long will it take for my belly to shrink back to normal?
We've all heard stories of new moms whose tummies are tight and flat immediately after giving birth. Although this does happen, it's rare. For most women it takes months to get rid of the "pregnancy pouch" — and sometimes it never goes away.

Patience is key. It took nine months for your abdomen to stretch to accommodate a full-term baby, so it makes sense that it would take that long or longer to tighten back up.


SO-my goal is to look normal when Ellie is 9 months because I had 9 months to put the weight on, now I have 9 months to get it off!!!

My Family Christmas Picture

This is the McKell Family Christmas Picture!
I have the most amazing family in the whole entire world!

Twinner Girls!

My new obsession...Twinner outfits for my two little beauties!
{Obviouslly Sunny was not going to smile pretty for mom in this pic!}

Go BYU!

The Fackrell Family will always have a special place in our hearts for BYU!
#1. It is the Best School EVER!
#2. It is what brought Regan and I together
#3. It is where Regan and I both graduated from!
#4. We just love going to football and basketball games

We had the opportunity this past Saturday to go see BYU play #8 Wake Forrest! We had to bring all of the kids, and we were very nervous how it might turn out, but we had luck on our side that night! We didn't have anyone melt down on us! We saw BYU play an awesome game against a great team and see them almost win! It was a 7 point game and BYU almost won! Maybe next time, but in the mean time, we will try to go to as many games as we can!

How in the world did my mom and dad manage to have season tickets to BYU football games with 6 kids ever since they graduated from BYU? I have no idea because with our 3 kids, there is no way that we could make that work out!!

Operation: Regan's 30th Birthday Surprise!

I am asking anyone who is friends or family of Regan's to do me a favor! He is turning 30 years old on January 29th, and I am creating a book of memories, stories and experiences people have had with Regan. Even if you just want to wish him Happy birthday, anything really works! This is a huge secret, so PLEASE don't tell him! I am banning him from checking this blog and his facebook! Please send anything to me by January 25th to suzukiviolin@hotmail.com!
If you have any other questions, please email me!
Thanks,
Andrea Fackrell

How cute!

This is the sweetest picture of Sunny feeding her new Baby Alive!

Christmas Day!

We had a wonderful Christmas Day! It started at 5:30 AM! Who wakes up their own kids on Christmas Morning? Well, we do because we like to do our own family christmas morning, and then go over to my families house at 8 am! Riley and Sunny just loved their Christmas presents! Regan decided the day before Christmas to get the kids a hampster and they just freaked out! I told Regan the only way he could get it is if HE and He alone takes care of it! I hate anything that looks like a mouse! Riley also freaked out when he saw that he got a lego star wars computer game and controller! {That saved us a ton of money to not get a game system-just get the computer game!}
Sunny just loved her Baby alive and is so excited to see it pee and poop on her potty! Hopefully that inspires her to go on her own potty!!!!!

I hit the jackpot this year! Regan is a great husband and he got me my very own CRICUT for scrapbooking!!! I am so so so excited to learn how to use it! Way to go Regan!
And of course Regan had to get a toy of his very own! I got him a Air Hog Helicopter and he was flying it throughout the day on Christmas! We had so much fun spending Christmas with my family and with Regan's family! What a great Christmas this year!

Christmas activities!

Christmas Eve was just as I have always remembered it! We started out at my mom and dad's house for the traditional Nativity reinactment and then the talent show! Riley was a wise man, Sunny was an angel, and our sweet baby Ellie was the baby Jesus! Afterwards, each family performed Christmas songs! Our family was pretty impressive this year! We taught all of the boys in our family how to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on the violin and I accompanied them on the piano! WOW-I was so impressed with Regan because he seriously learned how to play his 1st song on the violin in 15 minutes! They actually sounded so good!

Riley played Jingle Bells on his violin and Sunny accompanied him on her jingle bell!
From there, we drove through a huge snow storm to South Jordan for the annual Groves Family Party. The kids were given a present by Santa and hit a pinata!

December activities

We have had a ton of fun these last few weeks! We have had so much family in town, so we have been going back and forth visiting different families! Utah has had the biggest snow storms the past week and I seriously cannot remember the last time I saw this much snow! Regan went out yesterday and made a snowman with the kids! I was secretly glad that he did and that I stayed inside with Ellie because it looked so cold outside!
Regan's parents from Alaska took Riley and Sunny to Build a Bear workshop for their christmas gift and the kids just loved that experience! {Sorry some of the pictures are sideways! Any suggestions?}