Julie's Jumbles

Christmas 2011

2012-01-22T16:10:00.000-08:00

It's about time I blog about Christmas!!!

Last year we started the tradition of getting Build-a-Bears for Christmas. The kids made their bears several months ago then I wrapped them up. They were going to be for Christmas Eve, but we ended up opening them not he 23rd, just to keep the peace!

I really think we have enough of these bears!

Christmas Eve pajama opening. They can't wait to do this, so they did it first thing in the morning.

Christmas Eve tradition of swimming! This is one of their favorite parts of the holiday.

Christmas Eve dinner with Todd's family. We started the tradition of making rice krispie treat houses a few years ago. The kids do a great job.

The nativity by the cousins.

Mitchell's new hat. So funny!

Santa brought Mickey & Minne for Mitchell & Emma. They were seated at the table when the kids came down in the morning.

Ready to tear into the loot!

Sideways view of the mess from the opening. That saucer sled has yet to be used!! No snow.

We got a Disney waffle maker. Not quite as good as the ones on our cruise, but still fun.

Ready for church. The kids did well during church considering it was Christmas. Mitchell was even a little disappointed to not get to go to nursery.

We rushed up to grandma & grandpa's house after the meeting.

We like to do a picture by grandma's tree each year. The kids were less than cooperative this time.

Ava & Emma got Minnie shirts. From the back these two look like they should be the twins!

It was a great, exhausting Christmas! As we left my sister reminded me, "Only 366 days until Christmas!"

December randoms

2012-01-22T15:43:00.000-08:00

December was crazy busy as usual!

Sarah wanted Nutcracker tickets. We saw Ballet West's version at the Capitol Theater in Salt Lake. We had a great time & loved the show.

Todd & I took Mason & Sarah to see Jon Schmidt's Christmas Concert. It was a great show, but got a bit long for Mason. He was thrilled when it was over & sad when Jon came back on for an encore number.

Mason's first grade class did a little Christmas program. It was really cute.

Emma had a little performance for ballet. She was not very cooperative at first, then got into it. She loves going to ballet class. Mitchell was pretty good for it but by the end he was ready to be done!

Sarah's in her school's special choir, "Shelley Sounds". They performed at a mall one night (so Sarah had to miss her ballet class performance night). They also performed at school for all the grades.

Sarah with some friends after their performance.

Sarah & Mason went to Temple Square with some friends. Sarah had her camera so she's got a few fun pictures of the evening.

This is Emma not cooperating in ballet. She was great until she remembered Grandma & mom were watching her, then she'd do her "candy cane" pose as I like to call it.

I think this sums up most of our busy month leading up to Christmas.

Mason is 7!

2012-01-08T16:20:00.000-08:00

Mason loves cinnamon rolls, so he got to have them for breakfast on his birthday.

My kids can never wait to open their birthday presents, so right after breakfast he dug in.

Mason has wanted a motor scooter for a long time. Todd found this online. It was a bit larger than we thought it was going to be, but Mason thought it was GREAT!!!

Mason got dressed super fast so he could give his new scooter a spin. It's a bit big for him but he got the hang of it pretty quickly. Good thing he's a tall kid.

On Saturday after Mason's birthday we partied! He had a friend party at his karate studio. Best birthday party ever from my point of view. All I had to do was bring the cake. The kids seemed to like it too!

Our party day continued with our family party that night. We had a special visitor again. Santa brought each child a present. He even brought something for grandmas & grandpas (much to their delight).

Mitchell liked Santa a little more than he had the previous year. He even knew Santa's name.

We had a family picture with Santa, but Emma wanted nothing to do with it. Oh well.

The kids were so excited to open their presents from Santa.

Saying goodbye to Santa & hoping to catch a glimpse of his sleigh.

Mason has more presents!!!!

Breton was feeling a bit festive.

Mason got mint brownies for his family party cake.

Whew. What a weekend! It's a good thing Mason's birthday is only once a year!

Thanksgiving 2011

2012-01-08T15:56:00.000-08:00

The kids made gingerbread houses Thanksgiving morning to keep them busy before the big feast.

Emma & Mason got to work together. Mason really enjoyed the frosting.

Sarah had her own to work on.

My sister Lori hosted Thanksgiving this year. We dished the kids up first. I think most of them were done eating before the adults even sat down. No wonder they were hungry when we left that evening!

This table of boys ate fairly lightly. In a few years we will need a turkey just for this crowd to chow on.

The tween table (kind of).

It was a great Thanksgiving!

November randoms

2011-12-31T14:05:00.000-08:00

The kids finally talked me into a pet, fish that is. They each have a Betta fish. Sarah's is Noah, Emma's is Jewel Quartz, and Mason's is Jackson Austin.

Emma has become quite the little artist.

Sarah & Mason did Reflections this year. Two of Sarah's projects went on to the district level. Mason was a bit sad his did not.

Mason played on a rec center basketball team this year. It was quite amusing!

Emma got this outfit for her birthday as well as the Rapunzal tower.

Mitchell always tries to escape whenever someone comes to the door. He's an outside kid!

The kids' cousin, Becca, was a techie for Big at her high school. We went to the show then had fun at the carnival after. The kids loved throwing whip cream pies at some of the cast members.

Emma really got into the face painting business.

Time for Christmas decorations!

Sarah performed in a pioneer legacy ballet. It was kind of amusing, she had the same part as last year.

Mitchell has found a new way to get into the pantry. This kid is a bit too resourceful for me sometimes.

November Birthdays!

2011-12-31T13:48:00.000-08:00

Three of the six of us have a birthday in November. It gets kind of crazy!

We celebrated Emma's 4th birthday with her cousin, Claire, who was turning 3.

Emma got this fancy outfit from Grandma C. She insisted on wearing the scarf to preschool. It was in her bag when I picked her up. I'm thinking it must have been a bit of a distraction!

We celebrated Emma, Todd, & Julie's birthdays all on the same day. Emma got to choose the cake, obviously.

Todd got the Harry Potter Lego Night Bus for his birthday. He & Mason had fun putting it together.

Some of Emma's birthday presents.

Julie got a day out shopping with her mom & sister. It was fabulous!

Halloween 2011

2011-12-23T15:33:00.000-08:00

We grew our own pumpkins this year. We had lots! It was fun.

Everyone was brave enough to stick their hands in to feel the pumpkin guts.

This pumpkin was not quite ready but it made a cool jack-o-lantern.

Mason was an army guy for Halloween.

Sarah was a funky fairy for school dress up.

Emma was Tiana with wings so she looked more like Tinker Bell. Mitchell decided it was ok to wear the Elmo costume. He loved trick or treating. It was a perfect night, nice & warm!

The kids always want a "sick" jack-o-lantern.

Sarah & her friend Quinci.

Ready to head out for some CANDY!!!

Counting & sorting the loot.

The next morning many of our pumpkins were smashed. At least the smashers saved a big one for me to get ready for Thanksgiving!

Mitchell really knows how to enjoy his candy!

Halloween Party

2011-12-23T15:17:00.000-08:00

We have a Halloween party with my side each year. We also celebrated Sarah's birthday.

Mason could not find all his army guy costume so he decided to be Mr. Andrews, the architect of the Titanic. He's holding his blueprint of the ship.

Sarah was a Fancy Bat.

Mitchell was Elmo.

Emma was Tiana, but I did not get a good picture of her. The kids love to jump in their costumes.

Sarah got a money notepad. She does not want to spend the money since the pad is too cool.

Sand Dunes

2011-12-23T14:25:00.000-08:00

Todd's family went to the sand dunes for UEA to ride dirt bikes & ATV's every year while growing up. We decided to give it a try this year, a week early though to be ahead of the crowds. We had a great time.

The kids loved sliding down the sand mountain near our camp.
Emma and Adeline liked to make sand castles.
Mitchell liked the going down part but did not care much for climbing back up.

Here are the older cousins playing in the sand pit that Brett and his kids made before we got to the camp.
Mason went on every single vehicle with every single driver. He spent a lot of time wearing his helmet.
Mitchell thought the odyssey was fun to "drive". This was an old vehicle that Todd used to drive at the dunes. His brother Brady got it running again for our trip.
Mason had Brady take him on the A.T.V.

Mitchell and Claire playing in the sand. We discovered that disc sleds work great on sand hills, these long kind don't.
Jen's baby Nonie visiting from Alaska.{Sarah took this picture.} She was a real trooper & even spent the night!
Emma wanted to ride the oddyssey so Jen took her for a ride.
Mitchell before his ride not looking so sure about it. He seemed relieved to get off the ATV. I think he likes them better when they are not moving.
Mitchell on Claire's tricycle in the parking lot. He spent lots of time on this.

Jen tried a little "white trash" move. Nonie is safely buckled into her car seat & strapped into the odyssey in the back of the truck. It was pretty funny. Nonie did not seem to appreciate it. This would have been a long, windy ride home!

The Big Ten

2011-12-22T13:08:00.000-08:00

The Big Ten Typed By: Sarah

This is before the party started.We were testing the backdrop.
Me bringing the hair flowers down from my bathroom.

Mitchell seemed to like Haven and his lollipop.
Becca dipping me.

We bought plastic flamingos to put in the yard but it was too windy to put them out.
MaryJane and Sarah.
Catherine kept throwing the balloon but we finally got a shot with the balloon not covering someone's face.
MaryJane and Allie slept over after the party.This is what we had for breakfast.Very colorful!
The presents after I opened them.
My mom took Allie,MaryJane,and I to the mall.Here we are in Iceing trying on wigs.The wig I had on was the some color as my hair, so it looked like I had long hair.They did not have any blond wigs so Allie and MaryJane put on brown ones instead.
Here we are at grandma and grandpa Call's house for dinner.We got matching Aero shirts at the mall.
Morgan and me were both turning ten so we shared the cake.{Actually Morgan already turned ten in September.}

Cruising on the Disney Dream

2011-10-02T20:59:00.001-07:00

Way back last winter I decided we needed to go on a Disney Cruise. We chose September, hoping Mitchell would be a bit easier (he wasn't but I guess we are used to that).

We headed for Orlando on Saturday, September 24. Flying with four kids was an adventure. These pictures say it all about the battle for the window seat. The victor is obviously thrilled.

We got into Orlando very late on Saturday.

Sunday morning we packed up & headed to Port Canaveral to board the Disney Dream, a ship that only started sailing at the beginning of 2011, about as new as you can get! We were going on a four night cruise to the Bahamas.
We were so excited as we got to port & saw our ship. It was huge! Here's a model of the ship in the check in area.
We had two staterooms that adjoined, good thing! We had verandas which were really nice to go out on.

We had a great time exploring the ship.

We all checked out the Oceaneers Club where the three oldest could hang out.

They all loved the hand washing station. I want one of these in my mud room!

Mitchell loved RC in Andy's room.
Sarah thought the dance floor was pretty cool. The kids got to dance here with Mickey later in the cruise.
Pinocchio was our first character to run into & meet. Mitchell was a little nervous at first but then thought all the characters were great.

On Monday we went to Nassau. We did a glass bottom boat tour. It was fun but so hot & humid!

We wandered around & shopped a bit then headed back to the ship.

I took the little kids to Nemo's reef for a while. It's a little splash pad area. They had a great time!
We braved dinner with all four kids the first night. Mitchell was NOT cooperative at all since dinner took almost two hours. We booked him in the nursery for the rest of the dinners. It was so much nicer for the rest of us!

After dinner the big kids all liked to go to Oceaneer Club. This is where I found them all when it was time to pick them up.
Emma was dressed in a Tinker Bell dress coloring.
Sarah was in the animators station tracing characters.
Mason was playing a game like he was driving our ship. I'm really glad he was not, we'd all have been seasick!

On Tuesday we went to Disney's private island, Castaway Cay. It rained a bit as we got off the ship then again when we got on, but the rest of the day was just fine.
We followed Mickey for a while. Mitchell just ran after him yelling "a mouse!" He was in awe.
We saw Pluto too.
Sarah & Mason got to snorkel with Todd & me with some stingrays. Sarah was really nervous at first then thought it was pretty cool!

That night was pirate night. We got a great picture with Jack Sparrow (the picture the ship photographers took was better & worth the $19.95!). They had pirates of the Caribbean music playing in all the halls & our dinner was pirate themed. That night they had a great pirate show & even did fireworks off the top of the ship.
Wednesday was our sea day. Emma & I hurried to the atrium to see all the princesses. We waited in line for an hour to get her picture with all of them. Here she is with Ariel.
Mason did some swimming. We even braved the Aquaduck, a water slide around the top of the ship that had a section that jetted out over the ocean. Pretty fun! The pools were so full it was hard to even move, blah.
Every night the girls had Mickey bars for dessert. They were yummy!
The sunset on our last night. The kids loved to lay in the windows for pictures.
The last night at Oceaneer Club.
Funny story! Mitchell did not love going to the nursery, he's got separation issues. As we were walking with him to get Emma & Mason from Oceaneer we walked past the nursery. We paused at the door & Sarah asked him if he wanted to go to nursery. He said no & bolted down the hall as fast as he could. Todd & Sarah both chased after him. He ran half the length of the ship & was pounding on an elevator door when they caught up to him. The counselors at Oceaneer saw him run past & were about to chase after him until they saw Todd hot on his tail.

We now call that the nursery dash.
Our waiters Clive & Hector the last morning, way too early!

We got off the ship Thursday morning & headed back to Orlando. We were not flying home until Friday afternoon so we decided to go to Universal Studios. We've wanted to see the Harry Potter section.

I don't think this was the best idea. We were all worn out & it was in the 90s & super humid!
We spent a little time in the Harry Potter area & Dr. Suess area, then left. We were too hot.
Here's the back of the car as we drove to get some dinner before going back to our hotel.

Sarah was feeling a little queasy, so was Todd. Our only "seasickness" came before boarding the ship (Mason got carsick on the drive to the port) & after (Sarah did not feel good on Thursday). I guess that's pretty darn good!

We tried Harry Potter world again on Friday after we'd all slept for a very long time. It was still a hot day but we did have fun.
The ride in the castle was great.
Mitchell loved the butterbeer!
We flew home later that afternoon. We'd not been able to get on the same flights so Mitchell & I watched everyone else board a plane & taxi out (something I've not done for 10 years now) then we got on ours an hour later. Mitchell was good for our flight, we had a direct to Salt Lake. We went to visit Becky & grandma & grandpa at 9:30 pm while we waited for the rest of our family to arrive. It was a late night!

I want to cruise again but I think I'll let Mitchell grow up just a bit!

She's growing up!

2011-10-02T19:46:00.000-07:00

I've been a blog slacker lately, but that's what happens with four busy kids I guess.

Emma's growing right up. She started a little ballet class that she loves. She's watched Sarah take ballet for several years now & was excited to get to take too.

Emma started preschool at our neighbor's house. It's so convenient to just walk around the block to get her there. She's having a great time & loves preschool days.

Back to School!!!!

2011-08-23T18:59:00.000-07:00

Sarah started 4th Grade today & Mason started 1st. They were both excited but sad to see summer end.

I got a kick out of the kids choosing outfits for the first day. Sarah has mulled about it for weeks. Mason on the other hand did eenie-meenie-miney-moe last night to decide his clothes.

Their school likes to do a big welcome back. Today the teachers & other staff were wearing their school shirts & greeting the students with cheers. There was also a DJ playing music to get the kids pumped up about being there.

They were both worn out after school. Sarah does not have too many friends in her class, but I'm sure she'll be fine. Mason has two boys from our neighborhood so he was pretty happy.

Mason had homework to fill a paper bag with three items about himself. Sarah has had this assignment in the past & it took her quite a while to decide her items. Mason today just buzzed around & plopped three items in the bag. Done.

Mitchell is two!

2011-07-24T10:27:00.000-07:00

Mitchell turned two on July 11th. We did not really do anything special since we'd celebrated while camping.

He thought the day was great. We set up "a bath" in the backyard. Here he is eating cheetos in "a bath". Can life get any better?

We saved a Little People race track for him to open. I'd say the day was a success!
Mitchell is a cute little dude but VERY BUSY! He's learned how to climb out of his crib this week, much to our dismay. He is learning more words each day. He keeps us entertained by wondering what he'll do next!

Bear Lake

2011-07-24T09:32:00.000-07:00

We went camping at Beak Lake with my side of the family. I had not been to Bear Lake in years. It's really high this year.

As the lake came into view as we drove Mitchell kept yelling "a bath!" as he pointed out the window. Pretty much any water is "a bath". He loves to get wet.

Our first evening was quite cool, but Mitchell was still in "a bath" as soon as possible, fully clothed.

The desire to be wet must run in the family since I think all the kids did take a little dip that night.

Mason chillin in Bill's big chair.

The next day we went to the Minnetonka Cave. We had to wait a while for our tour so we had a picnic in the parking lot. Mitchell kept taking everyone's food & drinks to finish himself.

Finally getting to go in & cool off.
We all enjoyed our cave tour. Mitchell kept pointing to the rocks & declaring "a rock". I don't know how many times we heard "a rock" on our tour but it was lots.

There are 444 stairs in the cave.

On the beach Emma kept hunting for little shells.
The big girls made a sand couch.
Mitchell wanted to get into the water in his clothes so we finally put him in his suit & life jacket & turned him loose, even though it was a bit chilly.

We celebrated Mitchell's second birthday a few days early. He got lots of fun toys to play with at the lake.

Mitchell ate a huge marshmallow. He was SO STICKY, so was everything around him.
The lake was so high that the boys were playing in the weeds in water up to their waists.
Mitchell was loving every minute on the beach by "a bath".

Our friends have a boat that they took us out on. Mitchell wanted to drive it.

I was the first one on the tube.
Mitchell liked the boat ride. It rocked him to sleep.
Sarah & Becca stayed on the tube for a long time.

After a few fun hours on the boat it broke down. Todd & Mason towed it in on a jet ski.
Bill decided he'd pull the boat in just for fun.

Mitchell spent a bit of time in his pak-n-play in the trailer, until he learned to climb out of it! He's wearing his Happy Camper shirt from Becky.

Fishing on the 4th

2011-07-24T09:17:00.000-07:00

We went up to Mantua on the 4th with Todd's family. The kids got to do some fishing. Mason was a natural & can't wait to go again.

Sarah & Claire had more fun wading that fishing.
The little kids liked picking weeds at the campsite.

When we got home we did sparklers & a few little fireworks. The kids were bummed that we did not have any of the big fireworks that are now legal. Lots of our neighbors in the circle above us did, so we just enjoyed theirs from a little distance, for free.

End of June

2011-07-03T17:28:00.000-07:00

I can't believe we are into July already!

Mitchell wants to try out Emma's bike. He also likes to sit on Todd's ATV. He's a go getter!
We spent the day at my grandma & grandpa L's house with some cousins. They got all dressed up to do a commercial for us. We got such a kick of out the costumes that I don't think they even got around to doing the commercial.
We gave Mitchell a bucket of water to play in. He was happy for a long time. We just had to keep refilling it when he dumped it on his head.
I took Allie & Isaac as well as my kids to the zoo. Todd met up with us too, good thing. Six kids to keep track of was kind of crazy!

Here they are in front of a life sized T-Rex.

The leopard gave us a good show.

Everyone wanted their picture taken under the tiger.
The peacock was showing his stuff.

We took our kids to Las Vegas. Todd wanted to go to a Rush concert so we all drove down to spend a night in this crazy place. One night is about all I can handle in Vegas!
We went to the M&M store.

Walked along the strip a bit. It was so crowded & crazy.

The kids all wanted cowboy hats. They got some good looks walking down the strip with these hats. They were the best (& most) dressed people out there!
We stayed in Excalabur & had to go into Luxor.

Emma was quite the savvy little shopper.
Sarah got a pearl on Friday night. The next day Emma & Mason both wanted one too. Sarah got one that was silvery blue. Mason's was quite large & Emma's was just ordinary.

We finally got out the backyard pool. Mitchell calls it a bath. Any pool is a bath. In Vegas we could see the pools out our hotel window & he'd stand there & point & say bath. When we pulled into the rec center parking lot the other day he yelled out bath without even seeing the pool. Smart kid!
He loved the backyard bath even though the water was a bit chilly.
The kids had Allie & Isaac sleepover. It was quite an adventure! The did a spa. Hmm.
My nephew Jonah was baptized. Ava & Emma wore their matching dresses. From the back it was quite hard to tell them apart.

Here are my kids dress for church today. Yes, Mitchell was still half asleep. We have 1:00 church & we had just pulled him out of bed from his nap to go.

Dance, water, dad, & purple

2011-06-20T20:47:00.000-07:00

Sarah had her ballet recital Saturday. She was a village maiden in "Sleeping Beauty". She did a great job! She took ballet & jazz this year (at two different dance schools) & has really progressed.

Mitchell loves water. I turned him loose with the hose and he kept squirting himself on the head. He would flinch a bit then do it again.

Father's Day! We got him a few books & chocolate. We were joking that he should put a card on his new bike & just sign it to himself from all the kids.
Mason was able to get his purple belt from his Karate Kamp last week. He's excited be a purple belt because now he gets to move up to the next class. He also got a hand target to practice punching at home. Great.

Summer so far

2011-06-17T15:19:00.001-07:00

School ended with a productive 8-9:30 am day on June 3. Summer is here, now what?!?

Sarah & Mason both picked out their last day of school finery.

Mason had two different friends over during the course of the day, so did Sarah & Emma. It was crazy but fun!

Mason & Andrew were trying to make a mud pit for his monster truck to drive through. Mitchell was in on the action. He was covered in mud so Mason squirted him off. They day was not that warm but Mitchell did not mind a bit.

Mason had belt promotion that night. His cousin Jonah also takes karate.
That night Sarah & Mason went swimming for the karate swim party. We were there until 11. It was a great way to start summer.

The next day they did not know what to do with themselves. Great. We went to the rec center pool.

A few days later on Monday I braved Seven Peaks water park with all four kids by myself. It worked out fine. We'd only planned to stay for a few hours. The weather turned bad around the time I'd wanted to leave so it made for an easy out without anyone complaining.
On Wednesday we headed to Lagoon with my side of the family. It started out great. Not too hot & the lines were not too bad.
Mitchell spent the day in his stroller (here he is digging for gold).
Some of our crowd on Colosus.
Sarah's not a roller coaster fan so she took Emma & Ava on the Music Express. They were funny to watch.

By dinner time Mitchell was wanting out of his stroller.
Emma was a much better bumper car driver this year.

We had dinner as a storm rolled in & did not want to roll out. It was cold & windy & pouring rain. Mitchell did not mind because he was finally out of his stroller.
We were all soaked by the time we got to our car.

The day after Lagoon Todd took Mason to the sand dunes for a day of ATV riding.
Sarah got Emma all dressed up.
Sarah had a Jazz recital on Saturday. She performed in two numbers & did great.
Her friend Kaitlyn was in a different jazz class.
Sarah & Allie goofing off after Sarah's recital.

That was the first week of summer. Pretty busy I'd say. My kids would say otherwise since as soon as we had a down moment they'd ask what they could do.

This week Mason had Karate Kamp each day from 9-1. He loved it.

We braved swimming at the rec center with some friends on Tuesday. I can handle them all as long as Mitchell & Emma are wearing life jackets!
This was Mitchell before swimming, all worn out!

On Wednesday we left the house at 7:45 am to get Sarah to her ballet dress rehearsal in Provo. Then we head back to AF to get Mason to karate kamp, then back to Provo to get Sarah. Then later back again to get Mason. It was crazy!

Today Mason was going to test to get his purple belt in karate. That was part of karate kamp. Instead he has the stomach flu, so we spent the day at home.

Sarah was ticked about Mason being sick because she was going to have Mary Jane sleep over tonight then go to her ballet recital tomorrow. No such luck.

I'm just hoping nobody else gets sick & that we can keep having a fun & busy summer!

May in a nutshell

2011-06-03T13:33:00.001-07:00

It has been WAY too long since I've blogged. May just seemed to fly by. These first few pictures are from April which shows how really out of it I've been!

Sarah got a butterfly tent for Christmas. We sent away for the caterpillars in March. The butterflies were ready to be release in April, but the weather did not want to cooperate. Finally we had a somewhat warm day & set them free.
Emma decided her build-a-bear needed to ride a wiggle racer too.
Mitchell has a knack for finding water. Water in dirt is even more attractive!
We bought a bubble jungle gym. As soon as I got it put together, Sarah covered it with blankets to make a fort.
We went swimming with our cousins. Mitchell was a little nervous at first then LOVED it. I had forgotten his cover-up, so I put Emma's on him to come home (these pictures are backwards). We all called him Mitchelle. He does not make a very cute girl!

Mason made this plate for me for Mother's Day. He was so excited the day he brought it home from school he wanted me to open it then. I waited.
We spent a nice afternoon at Thanksgiving Point Farm Country.

Mitchell eating cookies & cream ice cream. What a mess.
We got passes to Trafalga & Seven Peaks. Mason & Sarah tried the rock wall. We are awaiting nice weather to go to Seven Peaks.

Mason is in Monster Truck mode. This is his freestyle track for his trucks.

Sarah had a class opera. She was Little Red Running shorts.
Emma sat with the big kids to watch the opera after Sarah's. She felt pretty big.
Mason had a piano recital. He did great! He's only been taking lessons since February.
Todd & I went to the U2 Concert. We'd bought our tickets over a year ago. It was a fun night!

Todd's decided to take up biking. I got home from picking Sarah up from piano lessons & was startled by the strange man in my house.
Sarah won 2nd place in her class spelling bee. She got out on the word optimism. She'd known that word at home & was ticked to get out on it!
Todd & I saw Les Mis the night after the U2 Concert. We had fun both evenings!
Mitchell discovered a box of packing peanuts. What a mess!
The school had a dance festival. Here is Mason walking with some of his friends to the field. His song was It's a Small World. I could not think of how to dress him so he wore his Alaska shirt.

Emma watching the dance festival. She could not see much though since she positioned her chair behind the stroller.
Sarah's class did a hula dance.
Mitchell & Emma were ready for the dance festival to end. Good thing it was not too long!
Todd took Sarah, Mason & Emma to Capitol Reef with his family for Memorial Day. Neither one of us had it in us to take Mitchell on a campout right now, so I stayed home with him. It was a great weekend for all of us!!!
I went to lunch with some lovely ladies in my family while Mitchell stayed home with a babysitter. Mitchell & I put flowers on my grandparents' & brother's graves & had a nice dinner at my parents' house. On Memorial Day my family came for a backyard dinner that ended up being in my kitchen. Todd & company were a bit late since they spent 3 hours at a gas station during a major 100 mile long power outage waiting to be able to pump some diesel. Finally someone with a broken down truck being towed came & sold him some diesel from the tank. They were all happy to get home!

Rapencil

2011-05-10T19:12:00.000-07:00

Emma loves the movie Tangled.

She has a Rapunzel doll that she kept calling Pencil.

So our favorite saying around here is

"Rapencil, Rapencil, let down your lead!"

Yelled by no other than Flynn Writer

Betsy Ross

2011-04-26T13:35:00.000-07:00

Sarahs' class had a "Time Machine" program. The class would come out of the time machine as a historical figure. Sarah was Betsy Ross.

They all had to tell about their person. Sarah did great!
Sarah's class full of characters.
Sarah & her friend Helen Keller, aka Meghan.

Easter 2011

2011-04-26T13:09:00.000-07:00

Easter weekend started with us dying eggs. The kids had to clean up the playroom before they could dye the eggs. That was a great motivator!

Mitchell wanted to be in on the action, but we did not let him touch any eggs or dye. Maybe next year.

We dyed some boiled eggs then dyed all the raw eggs too. It's fun to cook with colored eggs the week after Easter.

Sarah set out the Easter baskets as well as a plate of goodies for the Easter Bunny. She also may name cards for each basket since she did not want the pink one this year.
Filled baskets. Yum!
Somehow my mom was able to have us dressed before we dug into our baskets. My kids will not wait that long, so we have pictures with their baskets in pjs. Oh well.
We got Peeps this year for the first time ever (not my favorite!). Mitchell did not want to have anything to do with a peep, which is funny since he loves marshmallows.
Sarah demonstrated that peeps really can be eaten (even though I really don't think they should be!).
The kids had to wait for me to hide the plastic eggs in the backyard. They'd hidden the real eggs for each other earlier in the family room.
Sarah found the most eggs. She had them sitting in her basket on the grass while she looked for more. Mitchell decided to help himself from her pile rather than looking for more. She was not pleased.

Taking out the loot.
Dressed up and ready for church. And doing a little rock climbing.

We buzzed up to grandma & grandpa's for Easter dinner. We had an egg hunt first.

Emma was feeling a bit frustrated at not finding enough eggs. She's into this hunched over walking when she's not getting what she wants. She looked so pathetic dragging her bag along. She perked up after a while.
Mitchell helped himself to any candy he could find.
It was so nice that the kids wanted to eat outside. I felt like I was feeding a puppy as I put Mitchell's plate on the patio then called for him.
After dinner the cousins climbed the big trees in the backyard. I don't have any pictures because I think I would have had a heart attack seeing how high some of them were! My kids are begging to go back to grandma's to climb the trees again. Yikes.

Stuffed

2011-04-26T13:05:00.001-07:00

Sarah has always LOVED stuffed animals. Even when she was little she preferred a stuffed animal over a doll. She laid all her animals out on Saturday & counted 131. Yikes! No wonder there is no room in her closet!

Emma laid her's out too. She had to add a pillow or two to boost her numbers.

Great Grandma's funeral

2011-04-26T12:59:00.001-07:00

Todd's grandma passed away the Sunday before Easter. She was 91.

This was the first funeral our kids had ever been to. It was neat to hear all the stories about grandma, she was a neat lady!

We also were able to have a nice reminder of the importance and miracle of Easter.

Todd's uncle handmade the casket several years ago, at his parents' request.

Todd's family. We were all a bit chilly!

Spring Break 2011

2011-04-17T18:27:00.001-07:00

Todd had spring break off this year so we decided to go camping. We went to Goblin Valley.

The kids loved it! The weather was in the 60's and we had no rain, nice.

After we got the trailer all situated we headed to the Valley of the Goblins or Goblin Hatch as Mason calls it. The kids thought it was great to run around & climb on all the "goblins".
Mitchell even took off & thought running in the open was the greatest thing ever.

This was a hill in our campground. The kids had fun exploring while Todd & I made dinner.
The next morning we hiked in Little Wild Horse Canyon. It's a slot canyon that got very narrow.
Emma was a great little hiker, then she got tired & grumpy. Here she is not wanting to go any farther.
It's a good thing we did go a bit further to the best part, where the canyon got really narrow.

Todd almost did not make it through with Mitchell in the backpack.
Todd took Mitchell out of the pack towards the end of the hike. He did not want to follow us & seemed content to sit in the middle of nowhere by himself (for a kid who refuses to be left in nursery at church we found it odd that he was fine being left alone out here!).

We drove to nearby Hanksville where Todd's mom had grown up. This is her parents' headstone.

Mitchell did great on our trip, but there were times I wished I could tie him to the picnic table! If he was outside he just ran around the trailer & truck, then through the dirt, then into the road, then by the fire, then to the next campsite over, then back to the trailer, around & around.
He likes to unscrew the caps on the tires.

Penned in finally. He spent a bit of time in his pack & play.
Our last day with the goblins. We had a fun trip other than I had a terrible cold as we left & Todd was feeling rotten the day we came home. I feared I'd have to drive the trailer home.

Our trip took Monday thru Wednesday of Spring Break.

Thursday I went to Bountiful & spent the day with my parents & sisters. We had a fun day.

Friday I took the kids to BYU to see the Carl Bloch exhibit. Todd was going to come with us, but was still feeling too rotten. I teased him about taking his sick time off 6 months in advance.

We hurried through the exhibit since that's how my kids are, then went to the BYU bookstore to buy shirts for the kids. We also stopped at the Cougareat for a mint brownie. It was fun to be on campus but I felt so old!

Saturday I spent at a funeral for my cousin, Brian Russel. It was a sad day, but fun to see all the family.

The cousins who were still around at the end for a picture.
My dad & his siblings.
Emma's new dress. We call it her Build-a-bear dress since it has the same coloring as her build-a-bear. She felt so beautiful in it!

So that sums up Spring Break. Now it's back to real life. Fun fun.

Better late than never

2011-04-17T18:12:00.000-07:00

Here's a few catch up photos from the end of March & beginning of April.

Mason was in a karate school tournament. He did great & was not scared at all.
Sarah was in the district Knowledge Bowl tournament. She was on a team with 3 fourth graders & 2 third graders. They won 3 of their 4 games. It was fun!

Mitchell has learned how to climb in & out of his highchair.

Mason lost a top tooth while jumping in our bounce house.
I put training wheels on Mason's old "rocket bike". She wanted a princess bike, but I did not, so she got a princess helmet & bell. She seems ok with it all & does a great job on that little bike (if only it would stay warm enough for her to ride it!).

Masonisms again

2011-03-26T20:51:00.000-07:00

Mason comes up with funny things sometimes.

Yesterday he had a karate tournament. All of the participants got a blue ribbon with "Good job" written on it in gold. He is convinced that he got 1st place since his ribbon is blue with gold writing on it. I've tried to tell him otherwise but he'll hear none of it, telling me that someone got a red ribbon with silver writing on it. Fine. As long as he does not announce to his karate class that he got first place & embarrass himself.

Today we went to Bountiful to take Sarah to a birthday party. We went over to my parents's house while Sarah was gone. My sister also lives there & was home alone. When I told Mason that grandma & grandpa would not be there he was a bit surprised. He said "I did not know Becky was old enough to babysit herself". I had to remind him that she baby sat him for several days while I was out of town last fall. I think she'll be ok!

Zooey

2011-03-20T19:52:00.001-07:00

The kids did not have school last Monday. We did not want to stay home, so we went to Grandma & Grandpa L's with cousins for lunch then to the zoo.

It was a drizzly day & we pretty much had the zoo to ourselves. The kids had a great time, until the gift shop when Emma had major meltdown over an elephant stuffed animal.

The kids chased a peacock.

The boys were on some silly animals. Mason was on a turkey.

Emma had a giraffe shirt in honor of her cousin Becca who had been a giraffe in Suessical at her school.

Emma insisted on pushing the stroller. Fine with me!

The gorilla put on a good show for us. Shortly after this picture he upchucked in his hand then licked it clean, so gross!

We had a great time! We bought passes so we'll have to go again one of these days (as long as I promise to buy the stuffed elephant).

20 months & 40 months

2011-03-13T10:53:00.000-07:00

Mitchell is 20 months now, the age Emma was when Mitchell was born.

I am SO HAPPY to NOT be having a baby right about now! I think I'm still recovering!

I found this great shirt for Mitchell. I ordered it online & had only seen the front.
The back is my favorite part!
He proved the need for adult supervision when I let him outside for a while. He found the swimming pool full of recently melted snow. He decided to go for a swim & have a drink. He's going to love summertime when it's actually warm enough to be wet!

Emma tried driving the Barbie jeep this week. She just kept going back to the fence, forward to the house, back to the fence, forward to the house. She does not really have the turning thing down. We need a bigger yard for her to drive this thing!
Emma is into pink & princesses right now (go figure, she is 3 after all!). This is the dress she HAD to have yesterday while we were at the mall. Pretty fancy!

Mason's yellow belt

2011-03-08T12:42:00.000-08:00

Mason earned his yellow belt in karate on Saturday. He's pretty excited!

Our prima donna

2011-03-08T12:21:00.000-08:00

Emma often has this look on her face. It's the I-will-not-smile-because-you-asked-me-to-and-I-only-do-what-I-want-to-do look.

Here she is looking at clothes on the Children's Place website.
She had just gotten up & I was leaving the house for the day (how dare I do such a thing!).

Sarah & Co.

2011-03-08T12:14:00.000-08:00

Sarah has always been a setter-upper (never a cleaner-upper though). I used to have to "pick" flowers from our couch in Rochester before sitting down to watch tv.

She & her friend, Kaitlyn, have been rearranging her room recently. That was fine with me since I did not know where to start in there. They've done a good job (other than not nearly enough stuff has been tossed). Anyway, they hit a point where nothing more could be done in Sarah's room until her new desk arrived. Did that stop them from setting up & arranging? No. They just brought all sorts of things out onto the landing outside all the bedrooms upstairs to make a house.

Here's the bedroom area. They even moved a book shelf out of the playroom.
Here is the kitchen/living area.
Computer area.
The shelf attached to the rocking chair & kitchen tumbled as Sarah sat in the chair, starting the cleaning-up phase. That part was not nearly as fun.

February fun

2011-02-20T10:05:00.000-08:00

I uploaded my camera today & found all sorts of pictures.

I bought the kids fake pillow pets (half the price!). Everyone thought they were great, except Sarah. Such is life.

My nieces have been babysitting a lot for us lately. It's great, Todd & I get out, & our kids have fun with their cousins.

A few weeks ago we came home to the kids all playing Wii. Notice Emma's "special" remote, it belongs to an old DVD player or something. She chooses a character that she thinks she is playing & follows right along. Too bad the "special" remote does not work when nobody else is playing!

Mitchell has now given us a reason to flip all the stools back onto their legs.

Emma has a little alcove in Sarah's room as her room right now. Sarah & her friends have been hard at work lately rearranging Sarah & Emma's room. This has resulted in a new bookshelf for Sarah & a desk that is on its way. Sarah's room is still a mess, but I'm hoping once the bookshelf arrives she & her friends will finish the job!
Emma the baby doll.
Mitchell likes to hide in the cupboard of our entertainment center. That would be fine, except he throws all the DVDs out first.

We had a neighbor girl over on Valentines. She & Emma found a necklace lip gloss thing & decided it was for more than just their lips.
Mason is back in Transformer mode (see last year about this time). This is a tank, Brawl, that I made for him.

Todd made this one (I'm out of the business now). It's going to be Bumblebee once it gets painted.

Ok, that should do it for this post!

Todd's day off

2011-02-20T10:01:00.000-08:00

Todd had a post call day off on Friday. I suggested he go skiing since it had snowed earlier in the week. He had other plans.

Skiing would have been a lot cheaper.

Now we don't have to worry about burning out the transmission on our Expedition when we pull our trailer.

Mitchell's latest

2011-01-21T12:01:00.001-08:00

I was in my bedroom attempting to put new socks away (seriously, do they really need to put two metal clamp things on each pair?). I heard water running in the bathroom. Yesterday Mitchell had turned the water on in my bathtub as we left for carpool, without my knowing it. When we got home I was grateful it was only a trickle & that the drain was open.

Anyway, today this is what I found. Mitchell had climbed up the bathtub to Todd's sink. He'd turned on the water & was having a great time!

He was pretty pleased with himself.

Emma's "cursing"

2011-01-18T10:42:00.000-08:00

Emma wants to be in charge & lets you know when she's not. She has little "swear" words that she'll use when she's really mad.

Over the weekend her cousins were babysitting. They got a kick out of her words! As an insult she'd tell them "you're naked" or "your a diaper" (the harshest words she knows). The other night as I was getting her ready for bed she was saying"I hate pull ups, I hate pajamas", then she exclaimed (the worst thing she could think of to say) "I HATE CHRISTMAS!" (from the Grinch). I just had to laugh at that one.

18 months & counting...

2011-01-12T12:19:00.001-08:00

Mitchell turned 18 months on the 11th. I decided I need to post the pictures we had done of him during his first year. This reminded me that I really need to get them done again!

I'm lucky to have two cousins very talented in photography.

The first set of pictures is Mitchell in his blessing outfit. They were taken when he was 5 or 6 weeks old. He would NOT wake up for the pictures. He was so sweet!

These next few were in November, so he was about 4 1/2 months old.

These were taken in April when Mitchell was 9 months old. He'd had his first haircut & unfortunately a bit too much had been taken off (mostly in back which luckily did not show in the picture). He was just balancing on the chair.

I had these done right after his birthday. He was not walking or really even standing yet. It was a hot & humid July evening.

This was Mitchell a two Sundays ago all gussied up for starting nursery at church (yes, I did stick him in a couple of weeks early!). He did great until the last 20 minutes or so, then he was done. This past week he would not even go into nursery since he'd been traumatized from locking himself in a clerk's office during sacrament meeting. Hopefully he'll try nursery again in a few weeks!

Blowing a New Year's Eve blower.

Mitchell on the 11th. He looks sweet & innocent, but really he's not. See the upside down stools in the background? That's to prevent him from climbing up them to the kitchen counter. We do love our little dude even though he keeps us hopping (and really needs a haircut)!

December stuff finally!

2011-01-02T10:21:00.000-08:00

We had a really busy December (like everyone else I'm sure).

Mason & Emma got Grinch shirts. This became Emma's favorite shirt, she wore it three days in a row one week. Now that Christmas is over it just might need to get lost.

Mason got a power bag to practice karate at home. He moved out of Little Ninjas to Jr. Beginners. That's great, except now class is after school instead of in the morning. He was thrilled to move up though.
Mason's 6th birthday! The day started out with opening presents in pajamas.
Mason had a friend party that evening. He's into monster trucks so he had one on his cake & got a bunch from friends.
Growing up my parents would host a Santa Party for my sister, Lynda's, birthday right before Christmas. I decided to bring back the tradition for Mason's birthday. It was lots of fun!

Even both grandmas sat on Santa's lap.

Mitchell was not too sure about the big guy.

The kids were all mesmerized by Santa. They all got a gift from him then sat quietly with the gift on their laps while he talked & answered their questions. They thought he was awesome!
Mason made another birthday present haul.
Mason had a mint brownie platter for his cake.
Todd bought new wheels for our poor Barbie jeep, so it's back in action again. I wonder how many miles those old wheels had gone!
Sarah had a mini recital during ballet class. They did the Arabian Dance from the Nutcracker.
Sarah takes jazz at a different dance school. She had a recital for that the week before Christmas.
The kids after church the Sunday before Christmas. They were not too cooperative for this picture (what else is new?!).

Glitter Mitch

2010-12-07T20:52:00.000-08:00

Tonight Mason & Emma were making pictures with glitter. Mitchell sat in his seat attached to the counter & play Mr Potato Head & watched them. We left their pictures on the counter to dry & headed upstairs to take a bath.

I got Mitchell in & out of the tub & ready for bed. I left him in his room playing with blocks with the door to the bathroom locked so he would not try to get into the tub with Mason or splash in the toilet. I went to the other bathroom to get Emma started.

I came out a few minutes later & could not find Mitchell anywhere upstairs.

I finally found him down in the kitchen on top of the counter sprinkling glitter on Emma's picture. The little scamp has learned to pull out the kitchen counter stools & climb up them. There is no where safe anymore! Augh!

Gingerbread houses

2010-11-27T20:47:00.000-08:00

Tonight we decorated gingerbread houses. The ones I bought this year were already put together, nice! My kind of house.

The kids had fun decorating them & eating the frosting.

Mitchell came along after the big kids were done & decided to try some candy for himself.
Sarah was not too happy to learn that someone had been nibbling on her house! Mitchell was very proud of himself & strutted off with a mouthful of candy.

Thanksgiving

2010-11-27T20:39:00.000-08:00

We spent Thanksgiving with Todd's family this year.

We had a yummy dinner, even the kids ate (which is a rare thing at a family gathering).

After dinner, the kids played a dress up game with a box of real treasures. Aunt Jen used to love to get dressed up for parties, so there were some awesome things in there.

Emma found some great glasses & a nose.
Mason & Sarah both have some leg warmers on along with all sorts of other stuff.
After the dressing up, we visited Todd's grandparents. Mitchell enjoyed great grandpa's walker. He also liked messing with great grandma's oxygen tank. He's a busy one.

It was a fun day with family!

Ski School

2010-11-27T20:28:00.000-08:00

I have never learned to ski. Todd took me once when we were first married, but that has been it.

This year I signed Sarah & myself up for ski school. Sarah was not happy that I signed her up & even more unhappy after our first lesson. Here's to hoping the next two go a little better!

My sister Becky joined us. She & I had fun, despite the wind pelting "dippin dots" snow in our faces the entire time!

Emma's three!

2010-11-27T20:22:00.000-08:00

Emma turned three a couple of weeks ago. So far, I'm liking her as a three year old much more than I liked her as a two year old! She's mellowed out a little lately. She also is into just getting ready & going to be when she's tired, amazing! She likes to play with her toys without me sitting right by her (I've never had a child that plays with toys without me! It's nice). She fights with her brothers quite a bit, but that's life I guess.

She's into princesses lately, especially "Sleeping Cutie" so I braved a fancy cake for her.

I cut into Sleeping Cutie & about cut her leg off. Emma was a bit concerned that her doll was stuck in a cake.
Mitchell enjoyed his cake too!

Todd's birthday present

2010-11-27T20:17:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I blogged that it was Todd's birthday. A few days after his birthday, he bought himself a present. Mason was so excited when Todd bought this he almost passed out at the dealership.

The next morning, Mason was out there first thing to sit on it to make sure he had not been dreaming. Emma's got an old helmet on, just to be safe.

Todd's taken Mason for a few rides (not in our neighborhood of course, there is a cop that loves to ticket people for riding on these around our neighborhood). They have had a great time. Mason can hardly wait until he's old enough to get a little one to drive himself (how old does he need to be??? 21???)

Nice Week!

2010-11-07T19:04:00.001-08:00

We've had a super busy week! The weather was awesome & we had lots going on.

Sarah & a couple of friends want to make a magazine. They have been dressing up in her clothes & going around the house & yard taking pictures. The pictures are fun, some of the poses make me laugh.
Sarah was in "Pioneer Legacy" a ballet her teacher wrote. Sarah was an angel protecting the pioneer children as they crossed the plains. It was a neat ballet & I'm happy Sarah got to be a part of it.
Sarah raised the most money for the third grade in her walk-a-thon (she walked/ran more laps than I though she would!). She went to lunch with the winners from each grade & her principal. They all rode together in a limo.
We had such great weather, we decided to go to the park. Mitchell had fun toddling around, wishing he could climb up everything.

Today Todd is 35. He was on call, but got to spend most of the day home. He bought himself the George Washington at Valley Forge painting by Arnold Freiberg. He's wanted that forever. Now we just need to finish the basement to have a place to hang it!
Mason lost his first tooth tonight. It's been really wiggly for a few days. Tonight he let me pull it out. He was so excited. He had me write a note to the tooth fairy that he'd like to keep his tooth & that he'd take good care of it.

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T20:30:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Halloween with so many activities that we forgot today was actually the real day.

A few weeks ago we had our annual party at my sister, Lori's house. I found an awesome costume!
Mitchell was a burger boy. He was not quite walking for this party, but was finally up for the real day.
The cousins on my side.
The princesses, Cindabella & Sleeping Cutie, along with Dracula.
Sarah changed her costume several times. I think she finally liked this one. She'd better use one of the others next year!
Pumpkin carving. We had too many pumpkins & did not carve them all, but that was fine with me. Now I'll still have something on my porch for Thanksgiving.
Todd's side cousins. We had a combined birthday party for Claire & Emma.
All dressed up. It was pouring rain until about 6:30 so we got a late start trick-or-treating. The kids still made a haul though.

Mathman

2010-10-18T17:44:00.000-07:00

Mason is quite the little mathman. A few weeks ago he out of the blue he said something like, "if 2 + 2 is 4 then 20 + 20 is 40, right?" I think that's pretty good for a kindergartener.

Tonight at dinner out of the blue he said "7+7+7+7 is 28". I asked him how he got that & he told me "7+7+7 is 21 and since 7+1 is 8 then that's 28". That's quite the reasoning! I think he's going to master times tables right along with Sarah this year.

15 months almost

2010-10-10T20:10:00.000-07:00

Mitchell will be 15 months tomorrow. I might as well blog about him tonight since I most likely will not get to it tomorrow. Here are a few pictures as to why I probably won't get around to blogging tomorrow.Mitchell has a fascination with our heat vents. It's a good thing he does not fit or I'd be pulling him out of the duct work.
Mitchell likes to empty my cupboards.
Yes, he is in the road. The other day our front door had blown open. He was in the process of crawling down our front steps when Mason arrived home in his carpool. It's a good thing he got home when he did or Mitchell might have been halfway around the block before I'd noticed he was gone.
Mitchell can't walk yet, but boy can he climb. He beelines for any open door to see what is on the other side.

He found a bunch of skittles. I think he likes them as much as Sarah does.
He's multitasking, pushing a stool around while drinking.
He loves the piano.

He's taken a few steps on his own, but is too fast on his knees to have any need to walk.

Sarah is 9!

2010-10-10T19:59:00.001-07:00

Sarah turned 9 on Friday!

We've celebrated her birthday over the past week, so I think we are all partied out.

She got to have a little party with Todd's family while Jen & Jimmy were here.

Then she partied with my side of the family. We had just had a family photo done, that's why everyone is wearing brown. Sarah decided since it was her birthday she'd better change her shirt so she could stand out a bit.

The morning of her birthday. My kids want to open presents first thing. At least she got dressed first (in a new outfit from Justice of course).
Sarah had a friend party the night of her birthday. There were 9 girls doing 9 activities from 6-9.

We made lip gloss & body glitter as two of the activities. My floor is still sparkling!

We also made giant cookies & let everyone put in their own chips & M&M's. Sarah used to love to do this with Mary Jane & wanted to do this instead of a cake, which was fine with me.

Sarah is a very smart kid. She loves to read & has a huge stack of books next to her bed to prove it. She also likes to write stories. She's taking Jazz & Ballet this year & piano. She loves to play with friends & to watch Nick.

Happy Birthday Sarah! We love you lots & cannot believe we have a 9 year old!

Alaska trip & Jen's wedding

2010-10-10T19:34:00.000-07:00

Todd & I went on our first trip ever without kids at the end of September. It was great! I got on the airplane & actually got to read my own book & go to sleep & not have to worry about entertaining anyone. We left our kids home with my sister Becky. Thanks again!!!! You are welcome to babysit for us anytime.

We went to Alaska with Todd's family for his sister, Jen's, wedding.

Brett, Jen, Todd, & Brady on Jen's porch.

We got to do some chilly sightseeing.
Jen & Jimmy after the ceremony. They got married at the top of the Alyeska tram.
Todd's family. No, my hair is not that poofy, the wind was blowing like crazy.
Riding the tram back down after the ceremony.
We did more sightseeing the day after the wedding.
Denali is off in the distance. We were lucky to see it since often clouds are coving the top.
Jen & Jimmy had a reception in Utah a week later. It was much warmer!

All the cousins had a great time getting all dressed up.
Jen seemed a bit nervous to let her brothers pick her up, hmm, past memories???

Emma & Mason enjoyed the wedding cake outside. Mason's ended up all over his suit coat.

14 months & TROUBLE

2010-09-11T10:19:00.001-07:00

Mitchell is a big 14 months today.

He decided to welcome the big day not by walking yet, but by stretching way up to try to open the door to outside. Great. Once he can open doors our lives will really be chaos!

This kid is our most inquisitive by far. He loves to lift the heat vent covers from the floor & try to back down into them. He's figured out how to lift the toilet lid & splash in the water. He finds that Sarah & Emma's room is a real goldmine (it is, but to a 14 month old it's quite hazardous!). When we are outside he does not like to crawl on the grass, he prefers trying to crawl on the curbing around the flower beds, once he follows that to the RV pad he crawls in circles around the trailer. He's also discovered how to crawl up our big yellow slide on the swingset. He usually gets stopped at the bump in it, but Sarah says he's made it all the way to the top, yikes.

He's quite the little dude!

Since originally posting this, he did get the outside door open & crawled on out. I also saw him make it to the top of the yellow slide, crawl onto the platform, & bounce around excitedly since he'd made it up. It was a bit scary for me to watch.

And he's off!

2010-09-01T12:14:00.000-07:00

Mason started kindergarten today!!! Yay!

He's in the afternoon class, so all morning he's been asking "is it time to go yet?"

After his favorite lunch lately of bowtie noodles it was finally time to take him!

We went into his classroom & he marched to the rug to sit down without a backward glance.

He did wave as he saw me through the window. He was excited, but nervous too. He did not know anybody in his class. As we drove to school he said "I'll make lots of new friends, maybe even some girls."

Masonism

2010-08-26T13:02:00.000-07:00

Mason's into telling me whatever he just did wrong was an "accident". Such as, "I accidentally hit Emma & made her cry" or "I accidentally squirted Mitchell in the face with a water gun while in the kitchen". Today's "accident" was a great one.

He & a friend & Emma were playing in the kiddie pools in our backyard. We have one placed at the bottom of the swingset slide. He came running in to tell me he'd "accidentally" put the slide INTO the pool & could not figure out how to get it back out. I really would have liked to see him "accidentally" lift it up. Hmm.

Sarah's first day of school!

2010-08-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

Sarah started third grade today! Yay!

The school did a red carpet welcome. There were teachers all dressed up to welcome the students back to school. Sarah ran through them before I could catch up to get a picture.

Mason had his kindergarten assessment. He's quite a numbers guy! I think he'll do well in math. He starts next Wednesday.

Final summer hurrah

2010-08-25T14:33:00.000-07:00

We decided we'd better finish up the summer with some fun.

Monday we went to the Discovery Gateway Children's museum.

The kids had a great time!

Sarah working at the deli.
Mitchell & Emma in the toddler area.
Mason filling a car with gas.
Emma at the construction site.
Mason & Sarah on the news.

Mason & Emma flying a Life Flight helicopter.

Tuesday afternoon we went to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point with the Glines.

Sarah took over my camera so I have lots of animal photos & few of my kids.
It was a great way to end summer!

The big dozen

2010-08-21T11:46:00.000-07:00

Todd & I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary this week! Wow!

We went to see the Lion King to celebrate. It was great!

Snowbird

2010-08-21T11:12:00.001-07:00

We made our yearly trip to Snowbird a few weeks ago. We had a great time, as usual! Sarah had Mary Jane come up with us. We were there with Todd's family, then had mine come up for a day.Sarah, Andora, & Mason by a stick fort that gets better every year.
Mason & Adeline at the park.
Andora & Mason falling off the cliff (to the hill & parking lot below).
Mitchell in the 5 point safety harness swing. All the kids love these swings.
Emma & Adeline.
Mitchell crawled all over the pavement while the big kids were bungie jumping & climbing the rock wall.
Sarah & Mary Jane mining for semi precious stones.
Mary Jane scaling the rock wall.
The kids at the top of Hidden Peak after riding the tram. I always get a heart attack up here chasing my kids around & hoping nobody falls off.
Mason figured out how to flip over on the bungies.
Sarah & Mary Jane racing down the alpine slide. I took Emma on this & she loved it. She like the chairlift ride up too (that part makes me nervous with her since she insists on her legs dangling & that she lean over the safety bar).
Sarah on the mechanical bull.
A hike to Cecret Lake. The kids all decided to put their climbing wall skills to the test on a real rock.
The flowers were gorgeous on the hike!

Cecret Lake.

Another rock to climb.
The end of the hike.
Emma & Ava getting ready to swim.
Mitchell, 13 months old on this day, loved playing with all the rafts in the hotel room. The poor guy had a gross nose & did not get to swim.
A lucky shot!
Ava, Liam, & Emma on the path to the park.

Lagoon Day

2010-08-07T14:42:00.000-07:00

We braved Lagoon this past Thursday. Luckily we did not have any rain this year, but it was HOT during the day!

Sarah brought Mary Jane who got Sarah onto a few big rides that she probably would not have tried. Mason was a dare devil. He even went on Wicked, which has a track like a giant upside down U. Emma loved everything she could go on, including Puff the little roller coaster.

Sarah's face as she came off the Spider.Mason enjoying a much needed snow cone.
Mitchell was a trooper. We just had to get him out of his stroller from time to time.
Sarah & Mary Jane on Odysea.

This is a clip of Emma, Ava, & Liam on the bumper cars. It was so funny to watch them. Ava & Emma tried again, Liam was too frustrated.

Camping

2010-08-01T15:04:00.000-07:00

We finally had a chance to take our trailer out & get it dirty. We went up to Granite Flats in American Fork Canyon this past week.

. Mitchell was a rough one to camp with. The first morning Todd took him for a ride at 6:00 am because he would not stop crying. That night Todd just took him home to sleep & I stayed camping with the other kids. Other than that, we had a great time!
Allie & Sarah playing with the toy animals that live in Lori's trailer.
Emma did not want to roast her marshmallows, she liked them right from the bag. It was a chilly evening but she did not want to wear her jacket.
Isaac, Mason, & Jonah trying to catch a chipmunk.
Todd's marvelous dutch oven roast, carrots, & potatoes. Yum!
The boys climbing up the mountain right behind our camp.
Jonah decided to take Ava & Emma up the mountain. They thought it was pretty fun while their moms were a bit nervous to see them way up the hill!
Mason & Jonah doing what boys will do, fight with sticks that are on fire.
Emma on the last day looking like quite a mess.
Allie's trap finally did catch a chipmunk.
Poor Mitchell spent his camping days either in his stroller or pack & play. He cannot walk yet & a campsite is no place to crawl around! Yes, that is a trix stuck to his yucky nose! He had a bad cold.

Now the trailer is all parked & cleaned & we won't get a chance to use it again until this fall. Hopefully Mitchell will be walking by then & decide that sleep is a good thing.

Swimming lessons

2010-08-01T14:57:00.000-07:00

We braved our second round of swimming lessons this summer. This time Sarah had some friends in her class & she was happier to go. Mason did not have any friends in his class, but did not seem to care. He loves to swim these days. Sarah passed level 4 & Mason needs to try level 3 again, which is fine with us.This is Mason jumping in during his class.
Sarah after swimming a lap.
We stayed after to swim a few times with our ward friends. Emma thought it was great, Mitchell did for a while, but then just wanted to crawl deeper & deeper into the water or all over the rough side walk.
This is Mason coming off the water slide. I did not have a chance to zoom in on him. Sarah braved the slide too, finally.

I think I'm finished with the pool this summer, but my kids have other ideas.

Happy Birthday Mitchell

2010-07-18T14:49:00.000-07:00

Mitchell turned one last week, but we were out of town & I did not get to post it.

He ended up having two birthday parties, one on the 3rd with my side, & one on his real birthday with Todd's side while in Park City.

Mitchell was not too excited to open his presents, he was being kind of grumpy.
I'd made eight little cakes for Mitchell. He LOVED it! We gave him a cake & he dug in with both hands. Good thing we were outside.
Mitchell's real birthday at Park City. He was worn out.

We made him a half & half cake to share with his cousin Andora who also has July birthday. Since we were in a hotel we did not let Mitchell dig into this cake like he had the week before. He did enjoy some with grandma neatly feeding it to him.

He's become quite a busy body. Crawling all over & getting into EVERYTHING! He's a cutie though.

Busy weekend

2010-06-27T21:34:00.000-07:00

We decided to be tourists yesterday. We took the kids to Temple Square in Salt Lake City. We visited the Beehive House. This is where Brigham Young lived. The kids seemed to enjoy the tour.

We walked around Temple Square a bit. There is a neat replica of the Salt Lake Temple in one of the Visitor's Centers that we looked at.

Emma & Mason enjoyed walking along the flower bed edges. Emma was a bit nervous & hunched over & walked very carefully.
After our Temple Square visit we decided to drive up to Bountiful. Our good friends, the Glines, were moving there sometime this past week. We were curious to see where they were moving & if they had possibly arrived.

We found their house then called them to make sure it was the right one. We told them we were just outside & wanted to visit (they were nice of to let us visit since they'd only arrived the day before). It was so good to see them! We are happy they are fairly close by.

Sarah & Mary Jane had been the best of friends in Rochester. Sarah was a bit nervous to see Mary Jane since it's been about a year & a half since they've seen each other. They must have had a good time though because all day Sarah's been planning what they can do when they get together again.

Too bad I did not get a picture of the girls together.
Today we visited Todd's grandparents. They just keep plugging along. Our kids are fortunate to get to know their great grandparents.
Now it's on to another week of summer. What shall we do?

Mitchell climbing a mountain

2010-06-26T11:03:00.001-07:00

Mitchell has found a new favorite place in our house, the stairs. He loves to go up them, then heads right for Sarah & Emma's room. If their door is closed, he'll just sit at the top of the stairs waving his arms & bouncing, waiting for someone to help him back down.

I'm dreading the day he stops waiting for help & tries it on his own. I've been working with him trying to teach him to slide down on his tummy, but it sure is a long staircase!

Sarah's Dance Recital

2010-06-26T10:56:00.001-07:00

Sarah has been taking ballet this past year. Her recital was last Saturday. They did the ballet "Coppelia". It was a nice show. She was a village girl.

This was from the rehearsal. We could not take pictures during the performance.

EEEWWWW!

2010-06-16T17:22:00.000-07:00

This really is what you think it is.

It's been one of those days.

Memorial Day Weekend

2010-06-06T19:53:00.000-07:00

We had a busy Memorial Day weekend.

Saturday morning we went up to the Heber Valley Railroad for a "Day Out with Thomas".

Sarah was grumpy at first not wanting to spend her first day of summer vacation riding on Thomas, but once we got there she thought it was pretty fun.

The kids liked the old train car. I was grateful we no longer have to travel the country in something so cramped (I did not realize it was possible to be more crammed in than on an airplane, but this train was pretty tight)

We went for a 20 minute round trip ride. That was long enough for the excitement to wear off.

Sarah got to help out during a magic show. She somehow made her rings get stuck together. She's not sure how she did it!

Sunday evening we put flowers on my grandparents' grave here in American Fork, then Monday morning we visited some of Todd's in Alpine & more of mine in the Salt Lake Cemetery. Then we headed to my parents' house for a late lunch.
The cousins all like to have a water fight. They got soaked.
Mason LOVED climbing an apple tree in the backyard. You can tell my kids only have sticks for trees in our yard. He can hardly wait to go to grandma's again to climb the trees.
All 12 of the cousins on my side with balloons Becky bought for her birthday to give to them.

It was a great kick off to summer!

Smart cookies

2010-06-06T17:37:00.001-07:00

We've survived a week of summer, so I guess I'm past due with posting the last day of school pictures! Such is life.

Emma is 2 1/2 & LOVES puzzles. She's taken to the boxed puzzles. She whips through the 3 year old ones by herself. In this picture she's working on a 5 year old one. She needs help connecting big sections together, but otherwise can do it all by herself. Our kitchen table always seems to be covered with puzzles!

Mason attended two preschools this year. He went to "A Leap Ahead" with Miss Cathie M/W/F mornings. Here's his graduation from that preschool. He attended this last year too.

Mason also attended "Mother Goose Preschool" at our local rec center on T/Th afternoons. Here's that graduation.

It was great having him in two preschools, it just meant a lot of driving! Next year just taking him to kindergarten is going to be a breeze!
Sarah finished second grade & was very sad to be done. She did great. She loved her class & teacher & made some good friends. I just keep reminding her that she'll be going to the same school next year (her first time to do that!) & she'll probably see them all again.

snow to swim

2010-05-27T19:34:00.001-07:00

Monday the kids were playing in the snow. Today we went swimming at an outside pool. What a week!

Tomorrow is the last day of school. I'm ready to not be driving all over the city getting kids to this & that, but I'm not sure I'm ready to have everyone home all day every day!

May 24th?

2010-05-24T10:41:00.000-07:00

I think I'm mistaken, but I thought today was May 24th. Guess Mother Nature's feeling a bit out of sorts or something.

We dug the snow pants & boots out of the basement for a few soggy minutes of fun.
I'm ticked that I planted my tomatoes last week.

Spotchell

2010-05-21T13:54:00.000-07:00

Mitchell broke out in a rash while we were in California.

We were not sure if it was from amoxicillin that he'd been on for 5 days or from sunscreen that we'd been slathering on him for 3 days. We assumed it was the sunscreen since he'd been on amoxicillin before without any problems. We stopped both & started Benadryl & he was fine.

Last Friday he had another ear infection. I talked with the doctor about his rash in California & she thought it was probably sunscreen too. She said the bad ones to amoxicillin usually come within the first 2 days of taking the medicine.

We made it through the weekend & Mitchell was fine. So I thought he was allergic to sunscreen.

I went into Mitchell's room this morning to find a puffy, red splotched face little boy smiling at me. Poor kid. His little body is covered with these spots.

After a visit today to the pediatrician we now know he's definitely allergic to amoxicillin. I'm still going to wait a while before slathering any sunscreen on him though.

The tub

2010-05-12T10:35:00.000-07:00

We've lived in our house for a year now & I've not let the kids take a bath in our big tub until last night.

They had done it in our rental house, but the jets in that tub did not work, so this was a real treat.

Yes, Mason is wearing a life vest. The bathtub is not quite deep enough to need one, but he might as well be safe!

Latest & greatest purchase

2010-05-08T15:52:00.001-07:00

We have been debating for a while whether or not to buy a trailer. Last weekend Todd & Mason looked at new ones, then we found a great 2008 online.

Todd bought it (I had not even been in it yet, but told him to go ahead if it looked good). He brought it home Monday.

The kids were SO EXCITED!

I'm excited too, but helping Todd get this thing parked takes a bit of the excitement out of it!

We planned our landscaping & driveway with getting a trailer in mind, but did not want our driveway to look like a landing pad, so we put some trees in front.

Mason & Sarah have had friends over this week to see the new trailer. Mason informed me that the best way to get used to a new trailer is to go in it lots, he makes sure to go in many times each day, often first thing in the morning. It's a bit chilly out there before the sun has warmed it up!

Sarah & Mason slept in the trailer Friday night with Todd. It was a chilly evening. Here they are while Todd fired up the furnace. Sarah let Mason have the top bunk, but now she gets to have it the first time we go camping for real (she's a sly one!).

You've got to be kidding me

2010-04-22T20:03:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning to snow. Isn't it April 22? Isn't it a bit late for snow?

My tulips did seem to survive.
By this afternoon it had warmed up to the low 50's, so Sarah was in true form & set up a clubhouse in the swing set. She had an old computer keyboard up there that you had to type a password (Mississippi, the longest word she knows) in order to enter.

She's quite the setter-upper. Too bad she's not much of a cleaner-upper.