Family Pictures

We finally got around to taking new family pictures this year...  The first half of our shots went okay, but then Bailey started bawling halfway through & it was hard to get many good ones after that.  So from a distance we have several good pictures, but up close, it's obvious to see that Bailey's not too happy.  So I had to go back a second day & take some better individual pictures of the kids on my own that looked a little better to hang in our family room (Check out the last 5 pictures!  I think they turned out pretty cute!).  Sometimes family pictures are such a pain, but I'm happy now to at least have some more updated pictures. So thanks Dad for being patient with our drama... Hopefully you'll still be willing to take our pictures for us next year!  Enjoy!

Brigham City Temple Open House

A little while ago our family went to the Brigham City Open House.  The kids absolute FAVORITE part was the bus-ride from the parking lot a couple blocks away to the temple!  It was like going on a free ride as well!  Skyler was just giddy with excitement!

As soon as we entered the temple, Skyler pulled us aside & said, "Mom, I feel nice inside."  Such a nice teaching opportunity to let the kids experience the sweet feeling of the temple.  Even though it started raining at the end of our tour, the kids still LOVED walking around & feeling the special spirit there at the Temple!  What a special experience to have with our little family!

Skyler's 1st Day of Kindergarten!

Skyler absolutely LOVED his first day of Kindergarten! After telling us all about the fun things they did, he got a really serious look on his face & said matter-of-factly, "Mom, you'll have to try to get little like me... It's REALLY fun!" Then I reminded him of how he's always dreaming about all the things he can do SOMEDAY when he's a Daddy... Then he said this, "Now I don't want to be a Daddy. I just want to stay a kid." Well, I guess that's good for now. So enjoy being a kid Skyler! It doesn't last forever!

It's been an interesting transition for us to have Skyler in school... Kimberly has done remarkably well with the change, I think because on that first day when she was sad to see him go, Skyler ever so gently put his arm around her shoulder & said, "It's okay Kimberly...You can play with my TOYS while I'm gone!"  And she hasn't had a problem since!  We've been driving him TO school (I guess we live too close for buses), and then WALKING him home (it's ONE-MILE each way!).  The kids all look SO forward to our daily walks, and I love that he'll talk to me about his day on our walk home.  Sometimes it feels like it takes up so much of our day (it takes us an hour to pick him up from school), but once it gets too cold we'll probably just be driving home anyway, so I should just enjoy it while I can!

Skyler LOVES it when his teacher says she's "proud" of him & would do ANYTHING for her praise!  Skyler's class is mostly boys, with only 1/3 girls, but Skyler says he plays with the girls at recess because the boys say bad words.  I'm not sure what they're saying, but I'm so proud of him for already trying to choose good friends!  He's such a good boy & is always trying to do what's right.  One of the funniest things he's told me he's done at school was going to "Exercise Class".  It took me a minute to figure out what he was talking about, but apparently he went to Gym.  But I figure "Exercise Class" is a pretty good name for it too!

Skyler knew all his letters & how to write his name before school started, but he didn't really like writing or coloring, which made me worry he would be a little behind.  But seeing other kids doing it & receiving the praise from his teacher for doing it has made ALL the difference for him, because now he comes home from school & says that he's going to go write letters in his little notebook & him and Kimberly will sit there forever together coloring pictures & writing!  So for him, Kindergarten has been AMAZING!  It has inspired him to become better & given him the experiences of school that he's always dreamed of!  I hope he ALWAYS keeps this enthusiasm for learning!

Summer 2012

This summer was really fun with the kids... Bailey started walking, so she was able to play with the kids SO much more.  Kimberly got potty-trained, so that was awesome!  I finally didn't have a little baby & I wasn't nursing & I wasn't pregnant, so I felt SO free to just have fun with the kids & actually LIVE & enjoy life rather than just SURVIVE.  It's been busy, but I feel like I've been able to just enjoy being a Mom.  Not that every minute of it was stress-free & happy, but we made a lot of memories & had a lot of laughs.  What a blessing it is that Heavenly Father allowed me the fun, stressful, enjoyable, stretching experience of being a Mom!

Kimberly loves brushing people's hair & usually Laron and I are her victims... I always think it's pretty funny watching her brush Laron's hair, because he obviously doesn't have much hair to brush!  

The kids also always love it when Daddy reads them a story.  Even Bailey comes running when Mom or Dad sit down to read a book!

My mom & brothers also came over once a week over the summer & played with us & helped us out with projects (mainly painting projects!), so that was SO nice!

And Skyler learned how to mow the lawn over the summer too & was pretty proud of himself!  Not that he goes in a very straight line or anything, but he sure can crank that thing around to turn corners & stuff.  Pretty amazing watching my 5-year-old mow the lawn!

My 27th Birthday!

Laron surprised me for my birthday this year by arranging with my sister beforehand to watch the kids for us while he took me reminiscing around Logan... He took me to the first place he saw me (at Ward Prayer) & pointed out exactly where I was sitting that night, what door I walked through & how he pointed me out to his roommates.  It brought tears to my eyes to hear it once again from his perspective...  We walked past our old apartments, when we were both married & single.  We had a picnic in one of our old picnic spots, went to where we first kissed, walked around campus remembering Laron walking me from class to class, went to where Laron got a ticket once for parking in a handicapped parking stall, got some Aggie Ice-Cream & remembered Laron blindfolding me on our First Anniversary after a class & taking me to the Anniversary Inn.  We went & found the first corn maze we went through & remembered the first time we held hands (through the scary dark tunnel that he was so gentlemanly to help me through!).  It was such a fun couple of hours, reminiscing over all of our memories in this sweet town we once called home.

After we got back to my sister's, I figured we were done, but Laron had arranged for Emily to cook us up a nice candlelight dinner, complete with adorable little servers!  The kids LOVED coming in to bring us food, but couldn't understand why they couldn't stay in & eat it with us, so although it wasn't a very quiet dinner, it was SO sweet of an idea that it was still fun anyway!  They got even MORE excited when Laron paid them a tip for being such good servers!  Good times!  I definitely felt loved & cared after.  How lucky I am to have such a sweet family!

Jeremy Ranch

In August we spent a couple days up at Jeremy Ranch with my family... Laron had to work those days, so me & the kids played with my parents during the day & he just met us there every night.

 We had a good time eating good food & going swimming of course!  The kids loved hanging out with Grandma & Papa, and I loved having some built-in-babysitters!

 After Papa was done swimming, he went in to go shower, but came out a few minutes later lathered up with soap bubbles all over his hair & beard!  The kids thought he looked pretty CRAZY!  (He's growing his beard out right now so he can be in some Bible movies that the church was making over the summer.)

Then the kids found a goose in the parking lot that was begging to be fed!  We were told by the receptionist that his favorite food lately was Fritoes, but he accepted our bread okay too.  And Bailey LOVED following him around!  Pretty cute!

 The kids LOVED just climbing around on the rocks & playing in the water (racing sticks!).  And luckily Chris & Jeff were more than happy to explore WITH them.  :)

 And of course, hanging out on the bunk bed is always fun too!

 I made a comment while we were there to Kimberly that Mommy needed to do her hair because BOYS don't know how to do hair... My Dad obviously took that as a challenge, and next thing I knew, he was sitting at the kitchen table, putting Bailey's hair into pigtails!  And I'll have to admit, he DID do a pretty good job... For a BOY!

 One really fun place we went with my family while we were there was to the "Olympic State Park" in Park City.  I've never been there before, so it was really cool to see!  The coolest thing was watching Skiers practice their jumping skills into a big pool of water.  They even had little kids practicing on smaller jumps, so that was pretty fun to watch too.  Kinda cool to be in the same place the Olympics were held only a few years ago... Wow!

 After posing in a bobsled & sightseeing a little more,the kids had fun climbing on a fun rope-playground we found.

By this time the kids were ready for lunch & naps, so my Mom took the kids back to the condo & me, my Dad & my brothers went to have a little fun in Park City.  Jeff & I both rode the "Alpine Coaster" & Robert and Chris went down the zip-line (which ended up having like an hour long wait!).  Thanks Mom & Dad... I haven't done anything like this for quite a while!

 And of course, it wouldn't be a true trip to Jeremy Ranch without seeing a few MOOSE!  A mother with her 2 calves hung around for a while, so that was fun for the kids to see!  Yeah for vacations!