My Sweet Baby

I think that kids are so beautiful when they ae sleeping. I know that Sawyer is not a baby any more, he tells me all the time "I'm a big boy", but he is still my baby. I wish that kids never grew up, even though I love the fun things that my kids do as they grow up. but I sure love my baby!!!!

Longacre cousins

Our kids love to hang out with their cousins. The Longacres have the best match for our kids, there is a cousin the same age for each of them. They play so good together and love being together. The Longacres just got a pool and the kids had so much fun in it. We love spending time with them.

The Jungle room

We went out to Idaho falls to visit with Dennis's sister Rose and her family. We love to go to hotels as a family so got a room at the america inn. Dennis thought that it would be a fun idea to get a theme room, I am not a big fan, think that it is a little cheesy, but I am a believer now, because the kids loved the jungle room. They thought it was the coolest thing ever, I think that they made me take about 20 pictures of them all over the room. Here is a tiny sample of the pictures. We might get another themed room in the future. Any suggestions?

Family 5k

As a family we entered our first 5K. Ryan and I ran it and Dennis walked with Julia and Sawyer. The plan was to stay with Ryan, help him finish, because I have ran these before and he is only 8, but the plan did not work. Ryan started off so fast, I could not keep up with him, so I finally told him to go ahead and stop waiting for me. He beat me by 9 minutes, that is a very big gap in a 5k. He finished fourth in his age group which was 12 and younger. He loved it and wants to do it again. I will have to work out more to keep up with him in the future. It was a fun time and we plan on doing more together.

GABBY!!!!!!!!

I went down to Salt Lake to visit my GREATEST Friend from Wichita last week. We had a great time, and I miss her soooooo much. While I was down there I stopped by to see my sister and her family, when I got ready to come home I suggested that Gabby should come to our house for a few days, we were going back to Salt Lake on Sturday, so it would work out great. To my great joy, Mandy said sure. So Gabby came to our house. We had a lot of fun, she is such a good little girl. Her and Julia did so well together, I know Julia is going to be a great mom. Sawyer liked having Gabby around, but was also very into letting us all know that he was the "guy" around here. We loved having Gabby stay here and hope she will come back again.

DERBY DAY

Ryan had his first pinewood derby a couple of weekends ago. WE learned alot and he had a lot of fun. He designed his car and did almost all the work by himslef, Dennis had to cut the car out. One big lesson that we learned is that weight REALLY matters. We did not make his car very heavy and it had a bit of trouble getting to the end of the track. But, one great lesson,

you do not have to win to have fun

!!!

CUte little Pigs

To Dennis's great joy we are now that proud owners of 2 cute little pigs, Wilbur and Hammy. Ryan is involved with 4-H this year and is going to be taking a pig to fair. We will get the privilege of eating the other one this fall. Both the kids know that the pigs are only ours through the summer, but insisted on naming them, so I hope there are not a lot of tears later this summer. WE keep them at a pig barn in Green River, and Ryan and Dennis do all the work to keep them fed and clean. I must admit that I was a little grossed out at first, but I am coming around. The greaset thing is seeing how much the kids love to go there and hang with the pigs.

EASTER

Easter is a glorious holiday, we get to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. I am so grateful that I can live with my Father in Heaven again. I love that Easter is all about coming to life, spring bringing all the flowers and trees to life, even if it takes a long time for that to happen in Wyoming. I love Spring!! We celebrated this Easter in Vernal, UT with my family. Most everyone of the siblings were there and we ate and played games. The grandkids had a fun easter egg hunt. It was alot of fun.

Little Jumping Bean

Julia is in love with the jump rope. This is her new talent, she will spend hours upon hours of jumping rope. It is the first thing she does in the morning and the last thing before bed. She has even started to write her own chats for jump roping. One involves "hooking" up with a boy that starts with the letter of the alphabet that she messes up on. Way to young to do that!! Where do they come up with this stuff?!?!?!

Coloring Eggs

Our annual coloring eggs event went well. We love to color eggs and the kids have so much fun. We always have a competition for the prettiest egg and the ugliest egg. I think that the ugliest is for the person that tries way to much to make their egg pretty that it turns ugly. Dennis is a pro at this and Ryan is following in his footsteps. We had about 7 different kits and the table was covered in egg dye. Our neighbors the Killpacks were the judges, mostly the little 4 year old girl, which might have given Julia the advantage, as she won the prettiest, and Dennis won the ugliest. Fun times.

CARRIBEAN CRIUSE

We were able to go,(we meaning Dennis and I only), on a cruise. I earned it through Lia Sophia. It was amazing. We had sooooo much fun. It was a five night six day cruise. We did not get a lot of pictures, and some of the pictures are on a water proof camera and have not been developed yet. The first night of the cruise there was a Lia Sophia welcome. We got our own ship hats.



The first day at sea, we explored a lot, played dodge ball and watched March Madness, the second day we went to Grand Cayman. There we para sailed, took a boat tour on the ocean, rode waverunners on the ocean, and walked around the city and shopped. It was beautiful and the weather was amazing.





The third day we went to jamaica. We took a tour, went to a botanical garden, climbed dunn river falls and then again just walked around the city and shopped. I loved Jamamica, but I did not love the sales people.



The last day was at sea and we just relax, layed out and ate ate ate. In fact the food was so good on the ship that Dennis and I together gained more then 10 pds. Ouch!!! We loved cruising and would do it again and again





The day we got off the ship we had a long time before our plane left so we went to the everglades.

Boo Boo

This is what happens when a 2 year old roughs around with a old man. Sawyer was playing with a grandpa in church on Sunday, just roughing around, having alot of fun until.....the guy decides to dodge Sawyer's full blast move, resulting in Sawyer runnimg full throttle into a table at eye level. Needless to say the guy felt real bad, and Sawyer comes away with a great battle wound.

Elk Refuge

WE decided to take a little day trip to Jackson for the main purpose of going to the elk refuge. It was fun, Ryan and Dennis talked about the big horns, Sawyer was excited to see reindeer, since that is his favorite thing in the world, Julia had fun, but froze, and I just enjyed the relaxation. We had a lot of fun, but some advice: Don't try to eat out in Jackson Hole before 5 pm, there is nothing open.

Valentines

I must admit I was not that great about taking pictures this valentines. The kids made thier own valentines and had fun deciding who was going to get which one in their classes. Sawyer had a fun little party at play group. He was way into the candy, what can I say he is a candyoholic. Dennis was sure sweet for valentines, as always, but I must say that this year he was most thoughtful. Since I found out that I am type I diabetic, I have not been able to be a sugar-a-holic. (that must be where Sawywer gets it from) I crave chocolate a lot and these yummy sugar cookies from our local bakery. So for valentines Dennis got me five of those sugar cookies and six dove chocolate bars. The most thoughful part was the notes attached to each cookie. There is this great book by Gary Chapman entitled "The Five Love Languages", well it is a great book and everyone should read it.


Anyhow, he attached something to each cookie that would fullfill one of the love languages. What a sweetheart. I really am lucky to have him and my kids. I love Valentine's Day.

TRAMPOLINE

For Ryan's birthday he got a trampoline. I am surprised that I have not blogged about it yet. The kids love it, they spend tons and tons of time on it. Sawyer spends the most time on it. Even when it is VERY cold outside he likes to go out and jump. He prefers if someone will jump with him, but if I will not go out while the kids are at school, he will go by himslef. He spends about 1 hour a day on it. What a great baby sitter.

Too old for his own good

Today I was telling Sawyer that it was time for his nap and he was arguing with me. I said "Sawyer you know what time it is" and he says "It nap-o'clock"

Seriously how does he even think of something like that.

Growing up

I do not like my kids to grow up. It seems like every age presents a stepping stone that just shoves into your face that they are growing up. Ryan started Cub Scouts. He really enjoys it a lot. He likes to have list of stuff that he gets to mark off when he is done and then get an award, so this is right up his alley. I think he looks mighty handsome in his uniform, even if it does symbolize him growing up.

No Men!!

SO I had to major laugh when I came around the corner and saw this on Julia's door. "no man in my bedroom!" I think that we just might make this a permanent sign that we will leave there until she is about 30!! I am sure that being a kindergartner, that man was easier to sound out then boy, but non-the-less, I am a BIG fan of the sign.

Last year in my 20's

Well last month was my 29th birthday. I cannot believe that next year I will be 30. Really it is just a number, does not bother me too much, but this is my last year to be in my 20's. I had a great day. I went to lunch the day before with friends, the day of with Dennis and the day after with friends. I have some great friends. The evening of my b-day we went as a family to dinner and then Dennis's present to me, we went jacket and shoe shopping. I love to buy jackets and shoes and Dennis does not, so a great present from him. Dennis is so good about letting the kids pick out my presents and they get the greatet things. Sawyer got me a card (which was missing when I took the picture)of kung fu panda,his favorite movie, julia got me a book on 'momisms' and Ryan got me a coupon book. Funny thing about Julia's present, I was doing her hair and she was being a turkey and she asked me if I wanted her to go get the book so I would know what to say to her and I said "Oh-I know what to say!" and she said "That's probably in the book" She laughs and laughs about the momisms in the book. Ryan's coupon book was actually a coupon book that you give your kids when they have good behavior, but most of them can work both ways. (he does not know this so SHHHH!) so when he gave me the book he said there was one coupon that I would not like, "Go ahead and stink, you can skip a bath today!" He is right I would not think that was a treat. Also my mom sent flowers that were beautiful, Thanks mom! It was a grat day, I love my family.

Winter+restlessness=WRESTLING

With it being so cold outside, the kids cannot go outside to get rid of all of their energy. So what happens, they get hours upon hours of wrestling time. I truly think it is their favotire thing to do. Sawyer is way into acting like rocky balboa. He gets his fists ready and then dances back and forth as he is jumping, Way to cute, I should video it. Julia has so much fun, it is too cute to see her little girly self getting these mean little faces as she tries to hurt her dad. And Ryan, well Ryan is just too strong for his own good and often gets in trouble for hurting Dennis too much. aLl in all it is fun thing to watch, I am glad that I am not the one they are beating up.