Gas Rodeo!

Questar Gas has an annual Gas Rodeo each year. DH really wanted to attend, so we loaded up all the kids (6 of them) and headed to the Gas Rodeo. We got there a little late and found that there was only one team left to compete. For what it's worth, I was glad that we only had to sit there for one team! It was kind of boring! Shhh...don't tell DH!

We were able to have a free lunch, which the kids loved! But most importantly, DS got to sit in a tractor! He was in heaven! He is obsessed with tractors and it was great to see his reaction. Overall, it was an outing. We had Faith with us for the week. We also had DH's brother's two girls with us. They were moving this day and we had a sleep over so they could get their stuff moved out.

Phew...well there you have it, the first 2 weeks of summer! I told you it was crazy! We still have another Mill Hollow, the 4th of July, and a few family reunions to attend. I hope the summer will slow down some. I am not ready to start school again!

Dance!

We put both girls in a dance class at the beginning of this year. DD#2 didn't quite like it so we took her out and put her in Soccer. DD#1 on the other hand LOVES it. I still say that I don't know where she came from. She is so girlie girl and loves to dance!
She had her first recital and did a fabulous job! Okay, I might be biased, but she really did do a great job!

It was a crazy time with her younger sister's birthday landing on the day, but we had help from family and it all turned out great. Aunt Camille did a fantastic job with her make up. She looked so grown up.

We had a lot of family come and support her and I know she is very grateful to them. Thank you to those that came. Her Kindergarten teacher and her daughter even came. See, I told you we love her!

This has been a great opportunity for her and I can see it in her future. As much as I would like her to be an athlete, I think this area is where she is headed!

Miss Marcie is her teacher and she has some real patience. With the above girls above, she has about 10 little 3-5 years old in the class. She did a great job!

We have one more performance and then a break for the summer. She will be moving up to the 6-8 class, which she is excited for. I don't think this will be the last time I write about dance and this little girl.

Birthday Girl!

Our little girl turned 4! I can't believe that it was just 4 short years ago that she came into our family. She has been a joy! She has been a terror! We can't imagine life without her.

We spent her birthday getting ready for her little party and also for her older sister's dance recital. It was a little crazy.

We had a great (but fast) time with her cake and ice cream. She wanted a Princess Tiana cake, but made sure that I knew that she wanted Prince Naveen on the cake as well. Well....as you can see, the past two weeks have been crazy, so Walmart to the rescue! Thank heavens I can always depend on them for cake!

It was a whirlwind of a night. We were trying to have cake and ice cream in the middle of getting DD#1 in her dance costume and make up on. DD#2 just rolled with the punches and really was just happy to have people over to play with.

When we asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she said a bike. I was behind her for this shot, but she was so excited! She asked if she could ride it to the Library on Monday when we go. We will have to see how good she does with it.

Happy 4th Birthday Sweet Girl!

Mill Hollow

Mill Hollow is a 3 day camp for students in Granite School District. Students are able to go and enjoy nature and learn about the forest environment. It is an excellent oppotunity for those going into the 4th grade to get a taste of the Science curriculum. There are many things they learn.

This year, at the assembly, the director talked about the weather at Mill Hollow. He said that if we have a dry spring, there wouldn't be any snow in early June. Well, we had far from a dry spring this year. It was snowing in the valley a week and a half before my first group went up. What did that mean to me? Stress! The forecast was rain for all three days. This meant that I needed to come up with activities to entertain these children for three days. It was a very stressing time. Usually the time is spent hiking various trails, but not this year. All the trails were closed. There was still snow covering them. The directors went up the week before and there was 3-6 inches of snow on the ground in the camp. Luckily, the sun did wonders and a lot of the camp area was dried.

I took a 3rd/4th group at the beginning of June. I went armed with many, many crafts and game ideas. Fortunately, it only rained on us twice. Once while we were in doing crafts and the other time while we were loading the buses to go home. We got to "hike" up and down the road some. It was good to get out and get moving. The clouds were amazing and were moving at record speed.

Overall it was a sucessful time. The kids had fun and didn't have to hike as much as usual. They loved being with the counselors at night and sang all their new songs the entire time. I am glad that this session is over because it gave me the most stress. I have another session in about a week with a 5th/6th group. Hopefully the trails will be open.

I was able to take my niece Faith (on the right) with me this year. She had a blast and asked if she can come back next year!

This was our last hoorah before the kids went to lunch and we boarded the buses. He really is asleep. He had too much fun or maybe not enough sleep! Good times!

Final Days of Kindergarten

DD#1 has finished her first official year of school. She loved Kindergarten! I was very hesistant to put her in the all day kindergarten, but I am glad of my decision. Her preschool teacher said she would never qualify to get into the program, but a little talking to my principal and she was in. This is when bringing your kids to your school, really works out well.
She had 10 days off prior to the last week of school for Kindergarten testing. She did very well and improved in every area! She passed off everything that was required. She spent this time playing, sleeping in and going to Lisa's house. She hasn't been to Lisa's house all year and she was sure excited to go.
The last week of school was filled with very fun adventures. One that she talked and talked about was her Safari Hunt. She was equipped with a safari hat, a camera and a map. The kids went around the school and searched for all the animals that had studied throughout the year. On top of this, she had a field day, talent show, awards assembly and a trip to McDonalds for an ice cream cone. Her dad got to come to McDonalds with her. Along with the other two kids, they followed the class. She has loved Kindergarten and has often expressed that she doesn't want to move on to 1st grade.

She absolutely adored her teacher, Mrs. Lambourne. I think she said, "Goodbye Mrs Lambourne, I love you!" 100 times before I was able to check out through the office. We both loved her.
We are so proud of you sweet girl.

A few things I wanted to jot down before I forget:
She came home with a book of all her art work and handwriting assignments. She began looking through the book and asked who colored this picture? I asked why and she said, "they didn't color in the line, mom". You should have seen her face when I told her it was her work at the beginning of the year. She also talked about how "silly" her name looked at the first of the year.

There are some positives and negatives to having your children with you at your school. More postives I would say, but my children might say more negatives. Although, she was very spoiled by most of the faculty there. Here is an example of each from this year:
Positive:
DD#1 fell off her chair in school and had a really bad goose eggs on her head. I was notified immediately (I was in the faculty room for lunch) and was one of the first ones there to get to her (along with our principal). She was not herself and was acting very strange when I arrived. I immediately knew I needed to get her looked at. My coworker took my class for the last hour of school and I was able to take her to the Instacare. Everything turned out great, but I was so grateful that I was right there to help.
Negative:
I was in the work room making copies when I heard a class walk by. I turned to look and realized it was her Kindergarten class. I poked my head out to watch and saw that her class was walking away and she was standing on the wall. I didn't like what this looked like because obviously she had done something wrong in the line to warrant waiting back and standing up against the wall. I immediately walked down to her and asked what was going on. She smiled at me and said that she was asked to wait for Savannah in the bathroom. There I was frustrated that she was getting in trouble, when in fact she was the responsible one being asked to help. I am sure her teacher was worried when I walked up to her. It made me so happy to realize that she wasn't in trouble, but was being good. I have to remember that when teacher mode steps in.

Summers a Movin!

Summer is in full swing. I am once again playing catch up (story of my life) and wanted to highlight some of the things that have happened thus far. Because it is so hard to move pictures around here in blogger, I am going to do individual posts. Enjoy!

DD#2 Last Day of Preschool

DD#2 had her last day of school on May 26. 2010. She finished her first year of preschool. We made it! She will again return to the same preschool. Instead of 2 days a week, she will go 4 days a week. We are so very proud of her. She had a really hard time adjusting to this change of life and has done very well with it. We love you sweetie!

Teacher Appreciation!

It was teacher appreciation this week. I went in on Thursday to volunteer in DD#1's class. No one had volunteered, so I decided to go and help out. I didn't have to pick up my class until after I was done with hers. Boy, it takes a special person to teach Kindergarten. They are so cute, but they all want to tell you a story if you bring up any subject. It was fun and we made a fun poster for her teacher.

On Friday when I went down to pick her up, her teacher said that she had convinced her that she was going to stay in Kindergarten. When I got her back to my classroom, I asked why she wanted to stay and her response was, "Because Mrs. Lambourne has done such a great job this year, and I love her!" I couldn't have said it better! Mrs. Lambourne has been fabulous. DD#1 has come leaps and bounds and I couldn't be more pleased. We will be very sad to not have her next year.

We gave the teachers this gift. I had seen it in a book and made them for Secretary's Day this year. After making it for them, I knew this is what I wanted to give the Teacher's for a gift. It was perfect. We got them a gift certificate to go to Cold Stone's along with it.

The story of getting this gift to her teacher is interesting. I had to work that Friday. So we left our home fairly early and drove the two younger ones to Herriman. I held onto the box containing this gift the entire 30 mins. there and the entire 30 mins. back to school. I made sure to hold onto it at turns and when I would slow down. I breathed a sigh of relief when we arrived at my school with it still intact. As we were walking into the school, I got into my purse to get out my school keys. Doing so, bumped the box and over it went. There were dumb dumb's all over the ground. Can you believe it? I took such great care and we were a few steps to the finish line and bam!

I was pretty calm. A couple cute kids came to help pick it up and I took the mangled mess into my classroom. Thank heavens my house is about 4 mins from my school. I left at recess and got another foam ball and put it back together. It was just so ironic that I took such great care for an hour and in the end it didn't make it. Oh well. It all was resolved and we got it delivered in one piece.

I didn't take pictures of DD#2's gifts. We were in such a hurry that I ran out of time. She has 3 teachers in preschool, so we did 3 for them. They all seemed to love them.

We really do appreciate their teacher's this year. I know how hard it is and I am grateful that they are willing to help my children grow and learn. It has been a great year!

Birthday Boy!

He is 2! This is classic cheese face. I love that my kids have unique faces they give when they are little. We love his little squished smile when you ask himt to show you his cheese!

My husband and I decided that we would have a party for our kids's birthdays every other year. We chose their odd birthdays, so that we could always have their big first birthday. Since it is the even birthday this year, we usually just have cake and ice cream. When I got pregnant with this cute little boy, I was very excited for the time of year he was expected. It was at the end of the school year and I knew I would always look forward to it. Well, I didn't realize how busy this time of year would be and we have a lot of other spring birthdays in our family.

We decided to have a very low key birthday with Grandma and Grandpa's. It was very fun. He is into trucks and tractors and abosolutely loved getting his big truck!

I didn't have time to make a cake, so we went and bought one. I let him decide which one he wanted and was sure he would pick a Cars themed cake. He didn't! He couldn't look at another picture of a cake after he saw the Thomas cake. I tried hard to get him to change his mind, but it didn't happen.

We had dinner and then cake and ice cream. He was in heaven. He didn't last long until he was outside with Grandma O. playing in the dirt with his new toys.

We love this little boy to bits. He is so loveable and cuddly. He is a "mama's boy" and a "daddy's boy!" He loves to be with both of us. He loves to play with his big sister's. They sure do love to have him dress up with him and paint his fingernails and toenails.

He is talking a lot. It reminds me of DD#1. He is talking in some complete sentences and loves the word "disgusting!"

We love this little boy. Happy Birthday little man!

His sisters got to be in on all the fun. Grandma O brought things for them. They loved it. She also took time to read his new "The Foot Book" with them. They sure do love her! I sure do love her too! Thanks mom!

Out of the mouth of Babes!

My kids say the darndest things....don't all kids? I have wanted to keep a small notebook with all their sayings, but it is still a thought. A few things have been said in the last few weeks and I thought for journalling purposes, I would jot them down here. So bear with me as I document some things my kiddos have said recently.

DD#1 (6 in July)

A few months back we were getting ready to go to family dinner. DH was in the girls's room getting shoes on DD#2. He was wearing a green hawaiin shirt that my grandma had given him for his birthday. DD#1 walked into the room and said, "Whoa Dad! You look like a pinata!"

Last weekend we went to New York (pictures will be posted when I get them all sent to me). In Sacrament, the bread was made out of potato bread. It was yellow. As it was being passed, DD#1 said, "The bread is yellow. That is disgusting! I hope it is not poisonous!"

DD#2 (4 next month)

At this same meeting in New York, she was sitting on my lap. I whispered in her ear, "I love you so very, very much!" She whispered back to me "If you love me so very, very much, do I still have to go to school?"

Last night the girls got to have a sleep over at their aunt's and uncle's house. They were so excited. We had a family blessing to go to, so they got ready there for church. DH's sister was doing DD#2's hair. While doing it DD#2 said, "This looks very hard for you , maybe you should call my mom"

DS#1 (2 in less than a week)

He loves to point out big trucks and tractors as we drive. We have been driving a lot recently to get them to babysitters (thanks a ton for all the help). He says, "Mom, look" (pronounced wook) everytime we pass a big truck (diesel) or a tractor. I decided to count yesterday how many times he said mommy. From 7200 S. to my mom's house in Lehi, he said mommy 32 times! Ahhh....it was so cute at first. I shouldn't complain, because I know I will miss the days when he doesn't want to talk to me.

I hope to record more fun and exciting things that my sweet kiddos say.

Wow!!

Has it really been that long since I last posted? Okay, I know I have neglected this blog. I got behind and it just continued to get behind. I have had two big posts (Christmas and Disneyland) that seemed overwhelming to post to say the least. We had a wonderful time at both of these occasions. I don't know if I will get to post about it, but I sure hope I do.

As of late we have celebrated Easter and DD#2 had her first soccer game.

She did a really great job! She was very aggressive and followed the ball and sprinted if it was kicked away from her. She had so much fun doing it. She tried dancing with her older sister and did not like it all that much. She decided to try soccer and loved it.

Merry Sickmas

I was completely planning on coming on here yesterday and wishing you all a Merry Christmas. But, the blasted stomach flu hit and I was miserable. Luckily, I didn't get too bad until after the opening of gifts, but after that I was bed ridden the rest of the day and night. It was not fun!
We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. We feel so blessed to have had a wonderful Christmas, with family who loves us. We are so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who sent His Son. We hope to carry the peace and spirit that we have felt this season the whole year through. We love you all.

Christmas Card!

I thought I would post this on here in case I didn't have your address and you didn't get one.


Christmas 2009
To our Dear Friends and Family,
I have a cute friend that always has a theme to her Christmas letters. I always enjoy how she shares about her year in a unique and creative way. I thought I would take a try at it and give our Christmas letter a theme. I guess it’s not really a theme, but an acrostic poem for our family.
C is for Me. Hmmm…how interesting that I get to be first. I am doing great. 2009 has been a fun year for me. It has had some downs, but the ups seem to come to mind when I think of the year. I am in my 9th year officially teaching (10th unofficially). I am in my 5th year of dong a job share. It is such a blessing in our lives. I have the opportunity to stay home with my sweet kids, but able to help make ends meet with the job. We were moved to the 4th grade this year and I enjoy it. I forgot how young the 4th graders are at the first of the year, but quickly remembering that we just need to be patient with them. I also remember that most of them still love their teachers. That has been fun. We have a really great class even with the very strange things that have happened the first few months of class. Work and being a mom keep me very busy.
H is for DD#1. DD#1 is 5 ½ and just started Kindergarten. She is attending all day kindergarten and loves it. She does have her days where she is tired and doesn’t want to go to school, but don’t we all? She is doing very well and learning a lot. She has recently begun to read sentences, which thrills us. She is a great big sister and loves her sister and brother. She loves to dance and sing.
R is for Responsibilities. DH has recently been called back into the Young Men’s as Assistant Scout Leader. He is really enjoying being with the boys. I am still in the Primary Presidencies and have enjoyed working with my Presidency. It is fun to be in with DD#1 and soon DD#2. DD#1 will be moving into the CTR 6 class. She loves Primary and especially loves singing time. DD#2 is advancing into the Primary as a Sunbeam. She just recently started enjoying Nursery and now it is time to move on. She is very excited to go to Primary. DS will be holding down the fort in Nursery. He began going last month and is doing pretty well. He sticks pretty close to DD#2, so we shall see when she moves on to Primary.
I is for Interesting News. I wish I had something spectacular to share with everyone, but I don’t.
S is for Superhero. DH is a superhero in the kids’ eyes (and mine). DH is so good with the kids. He often takes them when I send him out to do errands. He plays all the time with them and helps Hannah with her homework. He bathes them and gets them ready for bed most nights of the week. He often lets me to 0the gym or go shopping and give me a break. He is still working for Questar Gas and loves it. He is working on getting his Rep 3 soon, which will be a pay raise. We are so grateful for his job. He is a great dad and superhero to us all.
Tis for Terror aka DS. What a boy!! He is so different than his sisters. He has recently learned how to throw a pretty good tantrum. He also loves the word no and hitting. AHHHHH….this age is so hard. It’s a good thing he is so stinking cute. I think that Heavenly Father made them so cute so we could still love them even when they are being stinkers. When he is not grumpy, he is a very cuddly sweet little boy. He will often come up and lay his head in my lap and pat my leg. He is talking more and more each day. We love this little boy more than ever and will continue to be patient with him.
M is for Miss DD#2. That is what her Preschool teachers call her. The name really fits. She definitely knows what she wants and doesn’t back down for anything. She is 3 ½ and definitely confirming my theory of “whoever said terrible twos, didn’t have a three year old yet!” She is very sweet and kind, but sure can whine until you’re ready to pull your hair out. She is attending Preschool this year two days a week. She struggled really hard at first, but seems to be doing very well and isn’t crying anymore. She also loves to help and is very affectionate to her mom and dad. We love this beautiful girl.
A is for Anniversary. DH and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary this past August. Can you believe that? It has gone by so quickly. It has been a great 10 years and we look forward to many, many more decades together.
S is for Season’s Greetings and the Savior. We hope you are all healthy and happy. We hope you have a wonderful Holiday Season filled with love and happiness. We are especially grateful to a loving Heavenly Father that allowed his Son to come and pay the ultimate price for us. As we remember the Savior this Christmas Season, we are grateful for our many blessings.
We love you all and hope you are well.
Love,
Together We Can Family