First Day of School 2010

I am so grateful for the priesthood. The first day of school was wonderful, but just a few days before both Gavin and Faith were feeling a little nervous. Scratch that, Gavin was really nervous, but thanks to Father's blessings I sent three happy and excited kids off to school. Then I had one that I packed a lunch for who was crushed to find out that he had to leave the kids at school and return home with just Mommy to play with all day long.
Gavin has been thrilled with his teacher and says that she is the best teacher ever. I am so thankful for that, especially after last year. He also has a lot of wonderful friends from the ward in his class which I am so very happy about. Brayden couldn't wait to go to school and even though he didn't know anyone in his class he was thrilled at the prospect of making new friends. I really admire that kid's attitude. He had an incident at recess with a boy following him around pushing him. His big sister and older friend came to the rescue by talking/threatening the boy. There haven't been any problems since. Faith of course loves her teacher and is busy making new friends anywhere she goes.
I was so pleased to see big smiles on all three kids faces when we picked them up! After school we had a neighborhood swim party in the backyard completely unplanned, but lots of fun!

August camping adventures!

How grateful I am to have such wonderful friends in my life. We really have a lot of wonderful people around us. This summer, just as last summer, we went camping with our good friends the Hardy's. Landon was so funny last week, he saw them at church and pointed them out. "Look, there are the Hardy's. Nate is my Hardy, Alex is Brayden's Hardy and Shilo is your Hardy mommy." It is really nice to have them here. They have 5 kids, which we almost do too, all the same ages (or close) as our kids, which is great. Anyway, we love them and are grateful for the great friends they are and the opportunity we had to share an adventure in the great outdoors with them.
Of course what is a camping trip where everything is perfect. Now, I am not the kind of person to take an airmattress with me camping (that just isn't really camping), however being 8 months pregnant I thought it was a good idea to bring one. It was a good idea in theory, but it would have been better to bring one without a hole in it. I got on it and it went down a little, then of course Doug got on too and I have never fallen down so fast, it was like a ride at an amusement park. I laughed hysterically as I tried to get comfortable in the mess, but really I wound up on the ground with a rock in my back. The kids all slept soundly though. They had a great time exploring and making secret clubhouses. They got lost once, but said a prayer and everything was fine. They freaked me out a little by telling me that Brayden went off on his own, but luckily they got the direction he went wrong and Brayden knew right where he was going to get back to camp. It was a good learning experience for them all. Gavin was able to remain calm, he has a good sense of direction (obviously Brayden does too.)
The kids swam in the lake and tried to fish (poor Gavin caught one but didnt realize he was using the left handed reel that his mother got by mistake, so it got away.) Really I think it is the Hardy's bad luck, we always catch fish except when they are there, which is fine, although their daughter really wanted to catch one, so that would have been fun.
Anyway it was nice being up there with friends and I always enjoy the outdoors. There was a meteor shower the first night we were there and that was amazing to see.

Swimming 2010

I truly love summer! It is the most wonderful time of the year! We had so much fun at the Legacy Center this year and especially at Seven Peaks! My kids are little fish. Brayden really learned to swim by himself this year and couldn't wait to take off on his own. As a result Landon inherited the life jacket and all of a sudden got completely brave! He's been thinking he can do anything, jumping into the water by himself, going down the slides at Seven Peaks head first and wanting to run into the wave pool all by himself. He loved the wave pool so much and would love to splash into the waves. Gavin's favorite slide was the Jagged Edge, but I was so proud of him for going on all the tube slides that were enclosed. Usually he won't go on the enclosed dark ones, but this time he loved them! Brayden went on everything he could, he was one inch shy of the Jagged Edge, Sky Breaker and Free Fall, but he would have gone on them if he could! He is such a crazy, wonderful, funny kid. They were all sad to leave and would have stayed longer if they could have.

Recap of Summer 2010 continued

We had a few BBQ's with the family this summer. What could be better than good food and family?
We also got to watch Faith and her soccer team march in the Eagle Mountain parade this year! It was a lot of fun!
And what would the summer be without friends! I feel so blessed to live in the ward that we live in with such good friends!

Starting to Recap Summer 2010 - San Diego

Well, obviously I have not been incredibly fantastic about keeping my blog up to date, but I hope to do better in the future! I thought I would start with a recap of this summer and all the fun we had.
One of the best highlights of the summer was going to San Diego as a family. We drove and stayed in St George on the way there. I love using Doug's points to stay in nice comfortable hotels for free. I am very grateful for his job.
While we were in San Diego we went to Seaworld (of course) and Legoland. Landon absolutely loved Seaworld. We bought him his own stuffed Shamu whale and he wouldn't go anywhere without it. Every day he would talk about the different shows we saw and want to go back. He still loves looking at the pictures. All the kids loved getting splashed by Shamu, although Landon and I sat up higher and Landon laughed every time Shamu splashed saying, "He just got my Daddy wet!" One of the cool things was feeding the Dolphins. They changed it so that your family goes with one trainer and gets to feed and touch a specific dolphin. Our dolphins name was Cocoa. Then we went to the beach and actually saw a few dolphins in the ocean. It was so cool! The kids had a great time at the beach (we went a few different times). They loved playing in the waves and building sand castles. Gavin had a blast collecting seashells (he would love Florida for that). He gets that from me I think. I love the beach. It is the most relaxing and wonderful thing to just sit or walk along the beach! Of course the kids loved swimming in the pool for hours and hours too.

Landon's Birthday

May 7th, my baby turned 3! He seems more grown up every day. Basically everything he got was something associated with Toy Story, which he loved! That night we went bowling as a family and as luck would have it they were actually playing Toy Story
1&2 in the VIP area while we bowled. Landon was the most adorable thing ever. He would get soooo excited when he got a pin down and he loved doing it ALL BY HIMSELF! My little independent man would jump up and down and dance after every turn. It was a lot of fun! Gavin actually won the first game and Faith and Brayden were really close. Daddy came in last place which made us all giggle a bit. Faith won the next game thanks to her awesome strike and several spares. We all had a great night!

Brayden's birthday

April 28th Brayden turned 6 years old. He was so cute. He kept saying things like, "Now I can reach that because I am 6", or "It's time to try climbing that tree or doing that trick on the trampoline again because I am 6!" He has no fear of anything, which is fun and a little scary all at the same time! Being his mom is a full time adventure! He wore the crown he got at school all day long, even to bed! We had a carnival birthday party for him. We all wore crazy hats, Doug entertained the kids with juggling and things while we waited for all the kids to arrive. We gave them each a bunch of tickets to start. We had a bunch of carnival games, which the kids all loved. Faith and Gavin helped a ton. Gavin even brought up his claw machine for the kids to get prizes out of for a ticket. They had a great time! Landon had fun being a big kid for the day, since we let him play the games too.