Brayden's First Day of Kindergarten!

Our days of having no kids in school are over. Today Brayden started kindergarten! He has been so excited, but got overwhelmed when we got there. He did great tho! On the drive there he kept saying "mom, quit freaking out", guess I was a little nervous too. When we got there I convinced him to let me take a picture of him infront of the school, he said this was the only time, he was not too happy with me. Then they paired each kindergartener up with a 5th or 6th grader and went out to the quad to get in line with their teacher to go to class. I was getting ready to leave when the principal said "Parents give your child a hug it is time to go to class." So I told Brayden bye and started to walk off, I turned around one last time and he was motioning me to come back, so I walked back and knelt down infront of him and he was trying so hard not to cry. It broke my heart!! He was stressing out because he didn't know his teacher, and he was afraid he would get left or lost or something. I reassured him he would be fine and reminded him his "friend" would make sure he got to his class. I kissed him bye and told him he would be fine and left. I think he was still a little nervouse, but I know he will do great! I am so anxious to go get him to see how his first day was! I got back to the car called BJ and started bawling! I thought I would be fine, but it was hard. Then my mom and neighbor called to see how it all went so that helped too. I just love family and good neighbors!!

Brayden's soccer and Birthday

It has been a weekend to celebrate Brayden, today is his 6th birthday!! I can't believe my baby is 6, he is getting so grown up and starts school Tuesday! He is so excited to go to kindergarten. Before he has to start school he got to celebrate his birthday. Yesterday the 25th was a very busy day and started at 9:00 am with Brayden's soccer game. This is his first year playing soccer and I am a little biast being his mom, but I think he might take after his dad and be a natural! He has only had 3 games and has already scored 4 goals(1 for the other team. He forgot after half time you switch goals, but it was a sweet goal anyways!) He is doing so good and we are so proud of him. 3 of the goals he scored yesterday which put his birthday weekend off to a great start. After the game we had to get ready for his friend party. He had a dinosaur party. We made dinosaurs out of playdo, played pin the horn on the 3 horn, a dino egg relay and of course a T-rex pinata!! Our wonderful neighbors Julianne and Brandon made Brayden's birthday cake, and it was amazing!! Brandon made a volcano with dinosaurs around it, it was so cool. Brayden kept telling everyone it was the best birthday cake ever made! So thanks Brandon and Julianne you are the best!! After the birthday party we had a ward party. The kids had so much fun running around with all the kids from the ward. We stayed much longer than I anticipated and I almost was too late to order the pizzas for his birthday dinner today(26th). Luckily I still had 20 minutes before they closed so we were all good. For his family party my mom and dad, Kevin, Jed, Maegen, Shalene, and Jef came over for dinner and cake and ice cream. He got way too spoiled but had a great birthday!! Thanks everyone for coming and the presents!

My three dinosaurs

(Jace got his nose off right before I took the picture, darn!)

Brayden's birthday is next week and so we went to the party store to decide what kind of party to have. He decided on a dinosaur party so I had done some research to see what games we could play. I found a fun little relay game so we bought some dinosaur noses to go with it. As soon as we got home they wanted to play in all the stuff we had got, so I let them open the dinosaur noses. It was so funny! Anyone who knows Brayden knows he is pretty good at making dinosaur noises and runs like them etc.. So Brayden and Adi each put on a nose and started walking around the house like dinosaurs, so of course Jace had to get in on it too. I put the nose on Jace and he took off running and making this horrible growling noise, it was so funny. I guess in order to be in our family you have to be able to imitate a dinosaur, must be a pre requisite before coming down! I don't know!!

First "lost" tooth

Brayden lost his first tooth on Sunday! It has been loose for a few weeks and Saturday night it was very loose, but wouldn't come out. Sunday morning he was downstairs watching tv and came running up the stairs and said "look mom, my tooth". I couldn't believe it. I asked how he got it out and he said I don't know. I think he was just playing with it subconciously and it just fell out. He was very happy. He has another loose one but it still hasn't come out yet. At church he was telling all his friends "look, I have a lost tooth". It sounded pretty funny, but he was very proud!

Since I was taking pictures of Brayden, Adi insisted I take one of her. Now I know it looks like she lost a tooth too, but no, that is just her natural space. Her dad likes to tease her about her chicklets! And since she does have a space like Brayden she is telling people she lost a tooth too! It is pretty funny!!

Thanksgiving Point's Childrens Garden

Saturday we decided to take the kids over to the childrens garden at Thanksgiving Point. The kids and I had been there once, but it was awhile ago and Brayden has been bugging all week to go. He has been wanting to go back because in the summer they fill Noah's Ark with water and you can walk around in it, and play, it is really fun for the kids. BJ was with us so we walked around to a few other things in the childrens part so the kids could show him. We only spent a few minutes at everything else and the rest of our time at Noah's Ark. It was so perfect because the water is shallow so Jace can walk, or crawl around in it and the other kids can play and splash and I can sit on the bench and watch or walk around with them and not get myself wet. I thought over the next few weeks that might be a fun way to cool down without having to take 3 kids to a swimming pool all by myself. They had such a good time, it was way fun!!

As you walk through the gardens there are animal prints in the cement and you can hear a bear growling so if you follow this certain set of prints it takes you down into a bear cave and this is what you see as you walk down into it. Adi of course was not fond of the growling, but Brayden and Jace thought it was funny. They especially thought it was funny when BJ made a big growl noise and Adi would scream. Mean boys!!


There was a little light house that the kids could walk inside and go up stairs. I was a little big to go all the way up so I just got a picture of them looking down at me.




The kids playing at Noah's Ark. *The picture of Adi with Noah has a funny little story with it. She thought it was Jesus so she wanted her picture taken with him.

T-ball's over!

Brayden just finished playing his second year of t-ball. Next year he will move on to coach pitch, (I think). He did very well and definitly improved from last year. This year he would actually run (like a normal boy) from base to base as where last year he would do his t-rex run, with his t-rex arms(and occasional sounds too). I guess maybe he got confused with t-ball maybe he thought you had to run like a t-rex, I don't know!! But he did way good. All his games were on Saturday mornings and let me tell you there was NO shade and it was very hot!! We missed a few because of vacations and weddings, but were at the rest and enjoyed watching Brayden play. His coaches were a few dads from the ward so he knew them and alot of the kids on his team. I think the high light of the season for him was getting his second trophy. It was actually a medal and he was so happy because know he has 2 like Carson!! As soon as we got home he had to run over and show Devon, he was very proud! Good job, Brayden!!

Brayden getting his medal while the team gave him cheers!

Brayden showing off his medal after the game.

My garden, and the backyard

Missy this post is for you!! I planted a garden this year and it is the first year I have ever really planted anything. I was kind of nervous because I can't keep plants alive, but I just might have a green thumb, or just some good luck this year! My garden is growing!!! I really can't explain why it is growing or have any tips on gardening or anything. I know absolutely nothing! Julianne is my mentor and I have to go to her with all my dumb questions. So Julianne you take credit for my garden because you walked me through it all. I seriously bet the people in my neighborhood think I am the crazy garden lady. I am out there atleast 2 or so times a day just walking through my garden and looking at the leaves or buds growing. I am obsessed!! I know it sounds a little strange, but like I said I have never grown anything before so to me this is truly thrilling. I take pride in my lovely garden!! I also took some pictures of our grass. We have some troublesome spots but since the lawn is BJ's thing and not mine I can't take responsibility. Now if I was incharge of the lawn maybe it would look as great as my garden! He he!!


To show you how tall my corn is getting! (Not that having Adi by it helps, she is kind of shrimpy)


My pumpkin patch! This is how dumb I am. I didn't know that more than 1 pumpkin grew on a vine, and I ended up having 18 plants come up, so if anyone wants pumpkins come on over in October!!

Now for the yard. Put all these pictures together and that is a panaramic view of our yard.

Bear Lake

Well we went on our annual Bear Lake vacation last week. We had alot of fun!! My grandparents have a house in Bear Lake so we go up there a few times a summer. We went up Thursday and cam home Sunday. We don't ever have an agenda just kind of do whatever. This year we seemed to do more than we usually do, which was fine cause we had a great time. We left Thursday morning and BJ decided to stay behind and fish before coming up so my sister and I took the kids and headed out, we stopped at La Beaus's on the way in for some lunch then headed over to the house. We were the first ones there and weren't sure when my parents and BJ would be coming(everyone one else wasn't coming up till Saturday, party poopers!) so we played pig mania till they got there. Can I just say how much I love that game!! I don't know why, but we always play that game up there and have a total blast!! Anyways so we jsut kind of hung out at the house till about 7ish and decided to go over to the hot pools on the north side of the lake. None of us had ever been there but thought it would be fun, boy were we wrong!! It was the stinkiest, trashiest little pools I have ever seen, but the kids wanted to swim so bad so we just bucked up and decided to let them swim. They had a way fun time! The mosquitos were so bad. I swear I came back with atleast 15 bites from just that one place. So that was our outing for Thursday.

Friday we pretty much just lounged around and played games. Then about 3:00 we decided to take the kids to Minnetonka cave. I hadn't been there in years! So we get up there and had to wait about an half hour for the next tour. If I had remembered how many stairs there were I may had thought twice about bringing the kids, or atleast Jace for sure. There are 444 stairs one way and you have to go back out the way you got in, so that is right I walked 888 stairs holding Jace, I wanted to cry!!
it was a good work out, but at the time I didn't want the work out I wanted to put him down!! It is an interesting cave, but carrying Jace and then someone else having to carry Adi just got old so I was glad when it was over. On the way back to the house I said to Brayden "aren't you glad mom and dad took you to do that?, it was fun huh?" His reply was "yeah, can we never do it again?" I just laughed. So true I was glad we did it, but never want to do it again, atleast not till they are all older and will walk all 888 stairs by themselves!!(Forgot my camera for both those outings)


Adi getting ready to get on the jet skis

Saturday was the big day! We had put off going to the beach every other day because we knew we woudl be there all day Saturday and didn't want to be too burned by then. Jed, Maegen, and Kev came up Saturday morning. My kids were so excited to see them, they had been waiting for them!! Haylee and her family weren't too far behind them. They only came up for the day to go to the beach. As we were driving over to the beach it started to rain, I freaked out, and BJ said "it is only a few drops it is not like it is a downpour." Seriously not even 2 minutes later it was pouring and hailing! Luckily it blew over quick and we got to enjoy the day at the beach! We had jet skis this time and I think we will have to have them from now on. The kids loved them. Adi went out with Jed and her head was bouncing off the handle bars because he was going so fast over the waves! I said hello skull fracture, could you slow down, but she loved it!! I wasn't sure how well Jace would like the water because it is kidn of cold, but he loved it. He loved walking around on the beach chasing sea gulls. He was such a good boy the whole time!!




Yaya reading to the kids. Jace loved this book for some reason. He would see someone reading it and go running to them.


Brayden and Maegen's matching pants!


The babies, Jacey and Kyla!!


Doesn't he look good?!?! Too funny!


BJ, me, and Kyla



Somehow we talked mom into going on the jet skis too!


Brayden and Jace digging in the sand

Hooked

For those who can't tell what the picture is, it is a fly hooked in BJ's finger. Yep that is right all the years BJ has been fishing and as often as he goes(which by the way is alot)he has never hooked himself quite like this. BJ has this week off. We are going to Bear Lake later in the week so he just took the whole week off to relax and have fun. So Monday was his fishing day, he was planning to leave real early and be gone all day. So I was lying on the couch about 3:30 and I hear Adi say "Hi daddy", I was surprised he was home so early, he walks over and waves at me with his hooked hand. I jump up and assume we need to get into the doctor asap. He tells me no it is too hot outside just call and make an appt for the next day. I was like um, no!!! So I called my sister(who is a nurse) and she says come in now we'll fit you in. You gotta love the perks of having a sister as a nurse!! Before we left Brayden had to bring all his friends over to see it, he thought it was pretty cool! We get to the doctor and they give BJ 3 shots in his finger to numb it up and then cut the tip of the finger by where it was hooked and pulled it right out. He also had to get a tetnus shot since it had been 11 years since his last one. It was pretty easy, but BJ hates needles so it was a little yuck for him. Adi was so cute she wanted to hold his hand and kept telling him it was ok. I thought that was a fishing story worth telling about!!

My birthday and the 4th!

The past few years for my birthday my mom and sisters and I (and of course the kids)have been going up to Park City to the outlets to shop, so this year we changed it up a little and decided to stay over. We had such a good time! We went up Monday afternoon and shopped for a few hours then we headed into Park City to the hotel. By the time we got checked in the kids were beat, and all they wanted to do was swim. We swam for a little while, then ordered some pizza and put the babies to bed. We watched She's the Man(pretty funny show)and just hung out. The next morning we went over to take the kids to ride the Alpine slide, I hadn't done that in years and it was so much fun. The kids loved it!! I have to get BJ back up there to do the roller coaster it looks like so much fun! After the slide the kids rode the merry go round and then we went to lunch. After lunch my mom and Haylee left to go home, but Shalene and I decided to do some more shopping! Oh what great things I found. Infact I am pretty much done with Brayden for school shopping, yay!! I just need a few more things for Adi and she is done too! After we got home we got sandwiches and went to the park for dinner. It was a nice relaxing birthday, and so much fun to spend with family!


We didn't have big plans for the fourth this year. After being gone Monday and Tuesday we were kind of tired. We had planned to take the kids fishing and wanted to leave around 10, but since we didn't wake up till after 9 that kind of threw the rest of the day off. But I can't really complain since the kids slept till after 9!!! We did eventually make it up the canyon, and ate some lunch, then off to the river to catch some fish. Or so we thought. The water is so low that the fish get spooked easy and the kids aren't that patient. They wanted to follow BJ up the stream and I had to follow them and carry Jace so it really wasn't all that fun, but we got to be together as a family so that is all that matters!



After the "fishing" we came home and had our own little bbq. We did dutch oven ribs, corn on the cob, cherry cobbler and home made ice cream. We always have home made ice cream on the 4th. My grandpa always makes it, but since we decided to stay home this year I thought I would try and make it. Grandpa's is better, but for my first time I think it turned out ok. Then we went over to the Olson's to watch fireworks. They had a ton of fireworks!! Jace didn't care for them much and fell asleep so BJ took him home and we enjoyed the rest of them. It was alot of fun, and kind of nice to just walk a few steps after fireworks and be home and in bed!!

Parades and Rodeo

During Lehi Round UP Days they have a rodeo and parades. They have a stock parade which is just alot of horses, but we thought it would be fun, so we took the kids to that anyway. My neighbor and I rounded up all the kids and met her friend there and let the kids watch all the rodeo queens, and horses parade down main street. It wasn't that bad, or that long, and the kids had a great time!!


BJ had never been to a rodeo before so I decided that he needed to go atleast once in his life. So we got a sitter for Jace and took took the other 2 with us to the rodeo. When asked how BJ's first rodeo was his reply was "it is my last". My reply to that was "we'll see". The kids enjoyed it and I thought it was entertaining.

Then Friday night we took the kids to the mini float parade. I think the kids enjoyed this one a little more. They have each ward decorate a float so there were lots of floats and they threw candy!!

Movie in the Park

This week is Lehi Round Up Days and there are various activities going on each day. Last night was movie in the park, where they have a huge blow up screen and everyone brings blankets and pillows and whatever and you can enjoy a free movie in the park. They showed Night at the Museum. We decided to take advantage of this and pack the kids and snacks and blankets and head over to the ball park. BJ was a poop ,of course, and wanted to stay home, but him being a party pooper worked out great for me cuz that way I didn't have to take Jace and he could go to bed at his normal time in his own bed, and I could enjoy the movie. So Julianne and I loaded up the van with the kids, blankets, pillows and treats. We met her friend Maegen and her kids Jada and Jenna there. We let the kids run around on the grass and play till it was dark and the movie started. The kids were more excited about being up late and only watched snipits of the movie, it would have been better if the dummies in front of us didn't have chairs and then we could have laid down and watched it, but oh well. It was alot of fun and I think the kids had a great time. Today there is craft vendors in the park and a western bbq tonight. Sounds like fun I'm hoping to go over and check it out!!

ps. I forgot my camera so no pictures of us at the park:(

Happy Birthday Beej!!

Yesterday was BJ's 30th birthday!! He had to work so the kids and I packed a lunch and went and picked him up and went up big cottonwood canyon(since he works at the mouth of it)and had a picnic. It was so much fun! The kids had to take him balloons so they each got to carry one in to him and they thought that was really neat. BJ loves the mountains so we thought eating in the canyon would be fun, and it was. We ate, and then the kids threw rocks into the river, it was alot of fun. On the way home from lunch we had to stop at Cabela's for gift cards for his birthday. When we got home we decorated the house with black ballons and crate paper. We had a nice dinner at home and then had his mom come over for cake and ice cream. It was a good day and I hit the jack pot with the gift I got him. I have the hardest time keeping secrets, but I did it! I decided to get him season tickets for BYU football. Now any of you who know BJ know that this is the best gift ever!! He was so happy and so was I. I finally got him something he won't/can't take back and it isn't a gift card to Cabela's. Happy Birthday Beej, I love you!!