Twist and Shout!

Makenna has been part of this group called Twist and Shout, a singing and dancing group for little kids. They had their first performance at an assisted living center here in town. It was so fun and she did a great job! They did two songs- Locomotion and zippety do da

Here she is trying to look "sad" for the beginning of Zippety do da.
Telling her to look sad on purpose just gives her the giggles!

Self shot of me and Trav as the fans, but notice who is in the background?
Derek and Thomas!
(If I knew how to put on those cool arrows or writing on my pictures, I would.)
I must say I think this is quite the picture, just happening to get us all in it!

Before we went, I was explaining to Makenna what this place was and the people who would be there. I was telling her that it would be nice after she got done singing if we went up to some of the people to say hi and talk to them a little. Well, we got done and the teacher had the kids sort of leave the room and go out into the lobby to take a picture and be officially done. Afterward I said to Makenna, "ok let's go" and she said, "what about going and talking to the people?" I was really proud of her- she was not even afraid and so we went back into the dining room and we went up to a table that had a few ladies sitting there and we just said hello and we visited with them for a minute. They loved that she came over to talk to them! She really is a sweet little girl!

(I have video of the dances but for some reason they are not loading on to blogger- check back later!)

Makenna turns 5!

My sweet little girl turned 5 today! It seems like yesterday that she was born! She is such a joy to have in our family! She is always helpful, usually happy, and she has a wonderful zest for life! She loves to try new things and she is interested in everything! She is the kind of kid that is hard to shop for because I know she would LOVE everything, yet I don't want to spoil her!

Her favorite things right now are going to preschool, playing with her brothers and friends, singing and dancing, doing cartwheels, jumping rope, eating pizza, playing outside, and just living life to the fullest! She definitely has many talents that will be fun to watch her develop as she keeps growing!

Good Birthday Morning, Makenna!
(first shot of the day)

The butterfly birthday cake-
it kind of looks more like a bow tie in the pictures, but it really is a butterfly!

Makenna at her birthday dinner

We had a fun friend birthday party this year. Here she is with some friends making their butterfly crafts. It was a fun little party!

Happy Birthday, Makenna! We love you so much!

(FYI: Next year her birthday will land on 10-10-10! )

Utah Idaho Part 2

Our Utah/Idaho trip was at the first of June. We left Utah and headed to Rigby, Idaho, where my mom lives. It is beautiful there - we don't see that much green down in our desert! It was so much fun to just be outside a lot of the time and enjoy time with Grandma!

The kids love riding their bikes in Grandma's neighborhood and the endless open space!

Thomas learned to crawl on this trip and quickly found his way to the stairs!

We took a quick trip over to Jackson Hole and enjoyed walking around in the rain! We were also able to stop and visit Derek's cousin Mike and his family.
That was so fun- they live in a beautiful place!

We also love going up into Rexburg, seeing the campus where Mom works, seeing the new completed temple, and walking through the gardens (picture of the kids at the top of the blog is from those gardens!) We love going to Idaho and we always have fun. (just wish it wasn't so far away from us!)

It's not just me!

I was going to start this post by saying "is it just me, or has no one really been blogging this summer?" but as I look around, it's not just me! Ok, some of you very dedicated picture down loader-ers, journal-ers have kept up, but for me, summer has been so easy to just not do it! I have a camera full of pictures that need to be shared, memories to record, and ramblings-on to post! It has been a very fun and seemingly quick summer! My baby has grown, my oldest is starting 2nd grade, and I am now overwhelmed by what I have to do to catch up! Yikes! Well, here's hoping for some free time to blog now that schools back in!

Utah/Idaho trip Part 1

I have been very lazy with the posting thing. We have been having a great summer and we are not even all that dull these days. I am just lazy and don't post about it. But I am going to post now about our first trip of the summer (before we go on our next one and I get even further behind!)

So at the end of May/first of June we went up to Utah, the first purpose being for Derek's race. (See earlier post- I don't add links because I don't know how and I am not going to try.) We spent that weekend at his parents house and doing fun things with them.

Park City

The day before the race we headed up to Park City for some fun for the kids. I love driving up Provo Canyon and being in the green lushness! It was gorgeous! We also took the scenic route through Midway, which I love. If I could just live anywhere and it didn't matter about jobs or silly things like that, I might just choose Midway. Anyway, we made our way over to Park City and took the kids to the Alpine Slide. It is always fun and Travis even got to take his own sled this year!

Riding up the ski lift to the slide

The other side of the chair- hey Mom was there too!

Up at the top there was still little patches of snow! In June!
Here's Makenna checking to see if it is still cold!
( I know, I should zoom in on my camera. Hey, it is what it is, people!)

Dad and Travis getting ready to go down!

Makenna getting ready to go- I had to hop on behind her!
We laughed the whole way down!

At the bottom of the slide hill they have a few other kiddie attractions/rides that are fun- a merry go round, an airplane ride... I guess that's it. But it was entertaining for a few minutes anyway!

Thomas on his first ever merry go round! He had fun going up and down!

One of the kids favorite things was that we parked at the Park City resort parking lot and then when we were done, we hopped on the city bus that took us over to Main Street. Who knew? Public transportation is a hit! Here is our family picture waiting for the bus!


Park City is funny- they have all sorts of random statues and decorated moose through out the Main Street. It makes it amusing as you walk up and down the street!

Grandma with Travis and Makenna and the big, friendly grizzly.

We stopped to have dinner here- we love this place! It never disappoints!

Overall, the day was great and lots of fun! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for taking us there! We capped off the weekend by going to church with Grandma and Grandpa. The kids enjoyed visiting a new primary!

Thomas, making his way around G&G's house.
At that point he was still army crawling but getting quick!

Salem Spring Triathlon

Derek raced in this year's Salem Triathlon on May 30. It is a fun race to go do because Salem is so close to where Derek's parents live and it is beautiful in the spring! Last years race got rained out so this year we were hoping for great weather and we got it! It was a beautiful morning for the race and Derek did well! We (I) were happy that he wasn't ailing for very long afterward! (It's no fun to hear whining over self inflicted pain!)

The Race

The Pond

The racer

The Fans

The Finish!

The Start-
(we'll give a thousand dollars if you can pick out Derek!)

The race is actually so fun. The atmosphere is exciting even for those that are just watching. Plus, we spent lots of time trying to see if we could spot him in between the swim, bike, and run but we never could quite catch him in time for a picture. I missed the bike part entirely!

Way to go Derek! We are proud of you!

Happy Flag Day

Yummm.... Happy Flag Day
June 14, 2009

Summer's here? What?

Creating their own shade with blankets over the chairs!

Well, I guess I better get on board. Summer is officially here. It is a love/hate relationship I have with summer. I love going to the pool, I love BBQ's (although we do that year round), I like traveling, but it's hard to love the heat! Oh well, it looks like my kids are ready!



Other fun things have happened lately. Here are a few:


Travis loves his legos and he makes the coolest things! Here he is with a star fighter of some sort!

Losing some teeth!

Makenna exercising with Mom.
(Mom not as cute when exercising so clearly not in the picture!)

This IS at City Hall, not an ad for lawnmowers, as it appears.
I wanted them to take a picture by the City Hall sign,
but this is what you get when you are not there to direct!
Cute either way!



Travis got to go with Derek to Take Your Kid to Work Day a few weeks ago. He stayed for the whole day and had fun! Who doesn't have fun when you get pizza for lunch?!

Talking on the mic at the City Council Chambers!

The other fun thing lately is that Thomas is very much on the move! He loves to roll around in his walker and can go all over the house! I especially love it when he rolls into my ankles repeatedly while I am working in the kitchen!

Stuck under the computer desk!

A smile finally caught on camera!

Can somebody get me outta here?

Making his way past the couch and carpet, onto the wood floor!

Ready to to get going!

He actually has crawled a bit, for like 2 or 3 crawls, but he mostly army crawls and now he goes all over the house! The kids think it is hilarious and they tease him with toys to get him to come to them! He is fun, but I think I am in for it. Thomas is a very curious kid!

Wants

I've been meaning to record this for a long time so I'll just do it now.

I was working with Travis one day a while ago on flash card words. To try to help him remember the word, I would say the word and then add a description to it. I would say something like, " could, as in 'you could do it' " or something to that effect.

Then when we got to this word, Travis had his own description.





He said, "Want. Like, I want to be done doing this."

The kid knows what he wants!

Guacamole Splatter

I freely admit that I am not a perfect housekeeper, but we do maintain a livable space for us and the kids. No need to call social services, although the occasional dropper-by might disagree (Jessie!)

Add to that with a 6 month old who is reaching and grabbing for everything in his sight!

The other day Derek was holding Thomas while eating some chips and guacamole. Yes, he thought he had enough distance between the two, but not so much. Thomas got a hold of that guacamole dish and it flipped and splattered EVERYWHERE! And I mean EVERYWHERE! (that's why I put it in caps!!:)

So, while not being a great housekeeper, I knew enough that I should get this cleaned up. Derek cleaned up some and I cleaned up some more. However, over the last few days, I keep finding new places where the splatter landed. Up high on the back of the pantry door. On Makenna's little play kitchen, inside the little shelves and doors. There are probably some splatters on the ceiling but I am almost afraid to look! And worst of all, many splatters landed on the window blinds. So now I actually have to clean the blinds, because if you wipe one blade and all of its guacamole and dust off, you might as well clean them all!

For all the Moms

Happy Mother's Day to all the women out there!

This was an email that was sent to me from my Mom. She is awesome! I think it just about says it all!

Before I was a Mom,

I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.

I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.

I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,

I had never been puked on. Pooped on. Chewed on. Peed on.

I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.

I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,

I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests.

Or give shots.

I never looked into teary eyes and cried.

I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.

I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,

I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put her down.

I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.

I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.

I never knew that I could love someone so much.

I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,

I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.

I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.

I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.

I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,

I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.

I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.

I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much,

before I was a Mom .

Catching up - Easter and Birthday

Easter seemed to roll around rather quickly for me. Right before it was when I got sick and so it felt like I didn't get to do much with the kids to enjoy Easter festivities. I did manage to get them dressed for church that day and in a somewhat matching fashion. I know that it won't be long until they realize that they don't want to match! We also found some chocolates in baskets on Easter morning, so they were happy and didn't really know what they missed out on by not even coloring Easter eggs! (I know, I am so lazy!)

Thomas' first Easter!

Don't worry Mom, we got candy, we're good!

Thankfully, Derek has an amazing family. His sister Brenda and her family live across town and had us over for Easter dinner. It was so nice and yummy, of course! It is always fun to get together with them and she even threw together an Easter egg hunt for the kids in the backyard. It was a great way to spend the day!

Our kids and Brenda's kids
Lindsay (the one in between Thomas and Makenna) is the oldest cousin on Derek's side
and Thomas is the youngest!

What a cutie!

This month, Derek also celebrated making it half way through his 3rd decade! He got to spend the actual day on an overnight camping trip along with some other scout leaders. No nagging wife. No changing diapers. No whining kids. No chores. It was probably the perfect day for him, at least I hope, since we didn't do much else to celebrate for him!

A birthday isn't complete without cake and ice cream, even if it is a few days late! The kids never get bored of candles and fire!

Happy Birthday Dad!
We love you and thanks for all you do for us!