Park fun with Aunt Chantel and Bracken!

Finally! Here are some pics from our trip to the park back in February when Chantel and Bracken came for a visit.

Max

(that boy was hard to get a picture of that day, this is the best one I got!)

Si

(I love that he has his tongue sticking out!)

Jordyn

Jake

Bracken

(my cutie-patootie nephew)

And the best 2 pictures of all!!

The redneck treadmill! LOL

Awww....she fell!

Thanks for coming down, Chantel and Bracken! We had a blast, can't wait to do it again!

Saturday

Last Saturday was pretty busy. We were invited to a birthday party at a splashpad the I took all the kids too. We had lots of fun! When Roman (the birthday boy) was opening his presents, he opened a bag with some pajama's in them. Max sighed real loud and said "Awww, man, I need some of the those!!" It was so funny, all the adults started laughing. That's my Max!

After the party we went home and relaxed for a bit and then Rob surprised us by taking us out to the county fair. This is the first time we have gone to the fair as a family! I think we all had a great time. When we got there we went and walked through the building with all the homemade items and it was really interesting and neat. Jordyn and I liked looking at the intricate dollhouses. Plus, the building was air conditioned! After that we went to the entertainment/food building. We walked around a bit then I bought the 3 little kids some tickets to jump in the jump house and go down the big slide while Rob and Si went and got some food. Next we went to the commercial booth building and walked through all their booths. I think everyone's favorite was the pest control booth. Those guys had some awesome spiders, lizards and scorpions. They had a scorpion under a black light and it was glowing blue, I think. Also, one of the guys had a HUGE cockroach on his shirt. He said he'd had it for 5 years! YUCK!! Jake kept begging to hold it, so the man let Jake pet it's back. EWWWWW!!! He also got out a lizard and let the kids pet it, too. Jake kept asking to hold it and he did let him hold it with his help for a little bit.

After that the carnival was open. The same exact carnival I grew up going to and used to be at the park right across the street from my house when I was little. The kids thought that was pretty neat that I lived across the street from the carnival when it came to town! The kids all rode some rides and had a blast. Si rode on some pretty scary ones that you definitely wouldn't catch me on!! He thought it was great!! Jordyn and Max rode on the Gravitron thing where you go inside and lay against a rolling thing on the wall and it spins you so fast you can't move. Max thought that was so awesome that he couldn't move one piece of himself (his exact words) I wished I would've caught a picture of the look on their faces when they walked off that ride! I took Max and Jordyn on the Magic Carpet ride. Max loved it, hollering and laughing the whole time. Jordyn, on the other hand, hated it. She was doing a little freak out next to me. Finally she closed her eyes and calmed down. Even the girls next to her were giving her concerned looks. As soon as it stoppe, her eyes popped open and she said that it was fun!! I just laughed! Jake had a ton of fun on some of the smaller kiddie rides. I think we'll definitely be back next year! I might even talk Rob into going up to Lagoon next summer! YAY!!! I haven't been there since Si was a baby!

Here are some pictures. I didn't get any of Si and Jordyn cuz they rode the bigger rides while I took Max and Jake on the kiddy rides.



Jake and Max on the train. It was a little slow for them after the rollercoasters, but they still liked it.


Max driving the rollercoaster, of course!



Jake riding the dragon. This one just went around in a cirlcle and up and down. I could barely get him to look at me.

This is the first ride the boys went on and they LOVED it! They also went on another roller coaster, but I didn't get any good pictures of that one.

Well, that was our Saturday!! Busy, busy, but LOTS of fun! Thanks, hon, for taking us!

Back to School!

Today was the first day of school for Si, Jordyn and Max. Jake starts HeadStart on August 31st. I have not got pictures of Si, yet, he had to leave about 7:10 this morning and I was barely coherent at that point and totally forgot to get some of him. I'll make him pose this afternoon after school. I'm sure he'll LOVE that!

Si is in 7th grade, his second year of Intermediate School. Jordyn is in 3rd grade and Max is in 1st. He is very excited about being in school all day. Jake, Buster and I walked Jordyn and Max to school. Jake was really sad that he couldn't go to school with them, but I think he's enjoying being home with just mom and dad. I know I'm enjoying it! He even got to play Mario Kart Wiiiiii (as he says it) all by himself! Well, Jake is asking me if I'm done, yet, so I better go.

Our day

This morning all 4 kids had dentist appointments at 9 am. What was I thinking making appointments for ALL the kids that early when I have to work the night before??? But, we made it. I think we were even a little early, if you can believe it. All the kids did really well and behaved themselves. Jake did NOT like the gritty toothpaste stuff the lady used to clean his teeth with, but he handled it ok. He really liked being able to lay on the table and watch the movie in the ceiling. Jake was also the only one with cavities :-( Guess we're not brushing good enough! Max, Jordyn and Si did not have any cavities, thank goodness. Si did not walk out very happy. He has 2 adult teeth growing in (I'm sure they are pretty much in) but his baby teeth hadn't fallen out, yet. I heard the dr asking him if he was ready for them to come out and Si was saying no. The dr said, well, can you get them out in the next day or two? Si was over there saying, ya, ya, ya! I knew otherwise! I walked over there and told the dentist to just pull them. Si did not like that ONE bit, but the dentist put some numbing stuff on his gums and pulled the 2 teeth right out. He's one brave guy, I thought Si was gonna take a thumb with him!

After the dentist we headed over to the Hidden Valley park/splash pad. It was a ton of fun. The kids loved that they could be getting wet one minute and then playing on the toys the next minute. I really enjoyed all the benches and shade over the benches. I don't think I've been to a park with so many shade umbrellas! It was really cool. I took a TON of pictures that I'll try to put on later.

Family, Fun, Food and Fireworks!

Last weekend we all packed up and went to Fillmore to spend the 4th of July with Rob's family. Rob's Grandpa Max was the Grand Marshall of the parade and most of the family was there. We had so much fun and ate TONS of FABULOUS food!

My kids had a great time playing with all their cousins and riding bikes and squirting each other with squirt guns. The adults had a great time hanging out with each other.

I took 2 vacation days, so we went up Thursday and got all unpacked. Friday morning we got up and headed to Delta for a quick trip so Rob could check out the air conditioning in my moms truck. We got back to Fillmore before lunch. After lunch we decorated the kids bikes and scooters for the kids parade that evening.

Saturday was pretty packed, but a ton of fun. I was in charge of Breakfast that morning so Rob and I got everything put out and cleaned up. After that was the parade, which was a ton of fun. I don't think I have ever seen that much candy at a parade. The kids had a blast chasing after the candy and getting squirted with water guns. After lunch Rob and I took the kids to the park to check out the booths and games there. The kids each got to ride the big slide and then Jordyn and Si both got dunked in the dunk tank. After the park we watched the Talent Show that Jordyn and Skylar put together. It was so fun! Jordyn even got up there and sang a song all by herself. I was pretty impressed!! That afternoon the kids and I took a little nap and then it was off to the fireworks. They were great! Max was pretty scared of them, but everyone else liked them. We were a bit too close cuz about halfway through the wind shifted and debris and coals (not hot) started falling on us. Right at the end it started raining, so we hightailed it out of there!

Sunday morning we started to pack up and then hung out til lunch/dinner was ready. After eating we headed home :(

Here are some pictures

What we did today

Rob surprised me this morning telling me we should take the boys to a splash pad after we picked up Max from school. I thought it would be fun, so I agreed. We didn't tell them where we were going, but they knew something was up 'cause we both picked Max up. Usually only one of us picks him up from school and we go home. The boys were so excited when we pulled into the park parking lot! Max jumped right into getting wet, but it took Jake forever to decide that the water was ok.

Jake only wanted to play with this for the longest time. It made some neat sounds!

Max loved the big water guns!

Max

Jake's still not too sure he wants to get wet, but getting Max wet is ok!



Finally getting in the water!

This was both their favorite thing to do.

Sit on the water spray!

Goofy boys!

Max always has to pull a funny face whenever the camera comes out.

What I did on Sunday...

The kids helping mom...



This is fun!!



Max and his silly faces! LOL



This is when I got smart (well, Rob reminded me!) that I have a food processor!



Boiling the strawberries and other ingredients!



Waiting for the lids to seal



All done! Next time I'll buy more strawberries, that was ALOT of work for just 3 Quarts of Jam! I don't mind making it, but I like to have a bit more than that! We did have enough crushed strawberries for everyone to have strawberry shortcake for dinner that night, though!

We ended up having pb & j sandwiches for lunch that day and Max was quite disgusted with me when I wouldn't let them have the "new" jam and I broke out a bottle of last years! LOL

Rob was picking up Si from my mom and John while the kids and I were making the jam, that's why he's not in any of the pics ;)

First Day of Spring!

Last Friday was the first day of spring and it was a beautiful day. I decided to take the kids to the park and we all had a blast. We have never been to that park before, but we will definitely be back, it was awesome! It also has a Splash Pad that will be fun when it gets just a little bit warmer.

Jordyn

Jake

My cousin's boy, Tray

Silly boy, Max

(I have several pictures of him with this face!)

Dentist appointment

Wednesday all 4 kids had a dentist appointment. We went to a new dentist and I was very impressed by him and his staff. I was really NOT looking forward to taking all 4 of my kids in for an appointment at the same time, but I was even more hesitant about going in 4 different times, or even 2 different times, so we went with the one appointment for all! All 4 kids were EXTREMELY well behaved and I was so proud of all of them! Our appointment was at 1:00 and we were out of there by 2:30. NICE!!

Their waiting room was very impressive. It was set up to look like an Old West Town. They had cute little buildings for the kids to play in and next to the big door where they take you back to the exam rooms was a small kid-sized door! They loved that. The assistant took each kid back individually and did x-rays, then when they were all done with that we went into a large room with 4 beds and dental techs went to town cleaning teeth! Max and Jake were very excited about the tvs in the ceiling with headphones so they could watch a movie while they were being worked on. It was great!

I was very surprised that they all walked away with NO cavities. Yay! Si and Jordyn have to go back to get some teeth sealed, but that won't be a problem. At the end of the exam each kid got a balloon and they got to pick a book. They REALLY liked that.

I was very impressed how the staff handled the kids, they made them feel really at ease and welcome. Max and Jordyn were pretty nervous, but the staff really helped make them feel better. Max was very interested in all that was going on. He got to see the xrays of his teeth and thought it was so cool. Jordyn was the last one to get checked out by the dr and Max noticed and was right next to him, checking out what the dr was doing. I had to pull him out of the way!

Also, Max was cracking his nurse up the whole time she was cleaning his teeth. I'm totally not surpised. She was putting her mask on and he asked her why she was wearing it. She told him it's so you don't have to smell our stinky breath. He (very matter of factly) said Oh, don't you brush your teeth? She just laughed and looked at me then said, yes, we brush our teeth. I actually just brushed mine. He then said, well, I guess sometimes people get stinky breath just because! That kid!

Pictures by Grandma

A few weeks ago Rob and I had to make a short trip to Las Vegas, so Grandma watched the kids for us for the day. Thanks again, Jan! She took them on a hike on the Red Hill, with the help of my sil, Jana. Here are some pictures she took of that day.

Jake (in his makeshift leash) and Aunt Jana

Si holding a piece of ice that looks like lace.

Max

Jordyn posing

Stop the Insanity!!

I couldn't think of anything better for the title of this post. It seems like I am hardly home anymore. I am writing this Thursday night, at work, but I think I'll set it to auto post for tomorrow, Friday. I have had appointments every day this week, plus work every day, too! Monday was Jake's Speech Therapy, then grocery shopping. Tuesday was Biolife. Wednesday was volunteering in Max's class. Thursday was Biolife again and then another shopping trip and then cake and ice cream at Jan's (my mil) for my sil, Ruth. I try to keep shopping to one time a week, but there were some things on sale at Albertsons that I didn't want to miss and then the new add came out Wednesday so there were some other things I wanted to get from that sale, but didn't want to wait for my normal shopping day because I missed some good things on the last one by waiting until the end of the sale! I guess I need to tweak my schedule so I can get to the store at the beginning of the sale so I only have to do one trip a week! Friday Si has an appointment at 9:30. I has all of that stuff on top of taking Si to school by 7:30 (whoever thought up that start time should be shot. I really mean it!), then Jordyn and Max out the door by 8:40. Max needs to be picked up at 11:45 Mon-Thur and 10:40 on Fridays. Also, Si needs to be picked up at 2:00 every day. Jordyn walks home with friends, I'm so glad I don't have to pick her up!! Then Mon-Friday I work 4 pm to midnight. It has been nice to have Rob home these last few months helping with the pick ups and drop offs if I need it. It'll be an adjustment when he goes back to work. I can't even imagine the craziness that's going to ensue (is that how you spell it?) when my kids start doing extracurriculars. Which will be soon. We got the flyer for soccer for Max and Jordyn and I've been looking at the community pamphlet for a class for Si. Oh, and I need to get ahold of his Scout Leader and find out when that is!

Wow! That was one long run on paragraph! I'm too lazy to go and fix it, though ;)

Merry Christmas!!

I hope all of you had the Merriest of Christmases! I'm sure we will. I'm writing this at about 11:30 PM on Christmas Eve. I'm at work, getting ready to go home and wait for Santa to come to our house :)

Rob took a picture of the kids right before they went to bed in their new pajamas and sent it to me so I could see it. The picture turned out so cute. At the last minute Buster popped into the frame, I guess he wanted to be in the family Christmas picture!!

Enjoy my cutie kids!

Credits QP was done by Weeds and Wildflowers Design Word Art was done by Elegant Word Art by Bethany

SNOW DAY!!

Yep, good ole Washington County got a snow day last Thursday. It was the most snow our area has seen in 3 years. I think the kids had fun having an unexpected day out of school and playing in the snow. I think Max enjoyed it the least, though. He spent the least amount of time outside than the other 3 kids and at one point he fell down and came stomping in the house, yelling "I hate snow and I HATE winter!! It is cold!!" I looked at Rob and laughed and said I wasn't surprised it was Max throwing that fit!

Here are some pictures

These are the oleanders out front. When they don't have a ton of snow on them they are over 6 feet tall!

Max being goofy

Si's attempt at a snowman

Jordyn trying to slide down our tiny hill on a tube.

Max's attempt at a snowman

Cutie Max

Another hill pic

Jake thought the snow was pretty cool!

I didn't get too many snow pictures, because, well, dang it!! Snow is cold. And wet. And outside. And I didn't want to go out in it!!