Back to School!!

Back to school! I have to admit it is music to my ears. I am a mother who loves the routine of the school year. I enjoy my kids but I enjoy them more when I am not surrounded by them 24/7. Alex started the 6th grade today which means this is his last year of elementary school. That kind of scares me. My cute Nick started 2nd grade and Kate will start kindergarten next week. I just know they are all going to have a wonderful school year and I hope the boys are having a wonderful first day!

Ding Dongs!!

Last night my parents babysat Kate while the boys and I went to the Real Soccer Game! Before they came we ate dinner and after Bryan let us each have a left over Ding Dong from family home evening the night before ( he was in charge of treats). Kate and Alex decided they didn't want theirs, they wanted to save them for lunch today. My dad likes to scavenger for goodies when he is here and we don't have a problem with that, but the ding dongs were special so we hid them so grandpa wouldn't eat them. So we get home from the game and Kate was asleep, Grandma and Grandpa told us this story.

So what does Kate do, she whispers to Grandma "We hid some ding dongs from grandpa". So they told grandpa about it and Kate showed them where they were and they decided to play a trick on us. Kate re hid them!

This morning when I was making Alex's lunch I said to Kate, "honey, I think Grandpa found the ding dongs because they aren't in here!" She gave the slyest little grin and then said " No!! I hid them in the Dora fruit snack box!" She thought she was so clever and she was. I have to say it was very funny.

Preschool Makeup Day!

Last week Kate's preschool teacher had to cancel school one day because she was sick. A couple of days later I got an e-mail saying she would hold a makeup day the following Friday. I asked Kate if she wanted to go to the makeup day and she was all excited and said yes.



Yesterday as she was getting ready for us to leave, she looked at me and said "I am so excited, today Miss Tami is going to do my makeup" ( as she was rubbing her face gently like she was brushing on blush). I looked at her and just started laughing.

I said "no, honey, that is not what I meant, Miss Tami is having a day where you can go to preschool because you missed a day when she was sick." " You are not going to have your makeup done."



Later when her dad was asking her about it, he asked what the boys were going to do while the girls got makeup and she said the boys were not going to come. This is one of my favorite Kate stories, I was telling my mom and dad about it and I was laughing so hard I was crying.

Our St. George Top Ten!!

10. Breakfast at the Village Inn- Delicious!

9. Kate saying "let's get this show on the road!" after Bryan had packed up the car to leave home.

8. Kate creaming Grandma and I at "Memory" several times!

7. Lunch out at the Pizza Factory! We love their pizza and bread twists.

6. Movie nights! Every night we were there we snuggled up and watched a movie.

5. Boys shooting stories. After the boys went shooting - Nick and Alex spent an entire hour telling me every target they shot at and every shot they took. It was so cute and surprisingly detailed.

4. Hiking in Snow Canyon and playing at the park.

3. Playing in the sand dunes at Snow Canyon.

2. " I'm an old man" We were on a hike and on our way back to the car, Kate was getting tired and so she when she saw the van she said, "I'm almost there - I can do it." and she started running. Nick and I had stopped to wait for her and all the sudden she stopped, put her hand on her back and leaned over a little and said "I'm an old man." And she walked that way most the way left to the van. Nick and I had a good laugh over that one.

1. Spending the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa.

St. George- Going Shooting

So the boys spent one afternoon shooting out on the Arizona Border and they had a great time. These photos were all taken by Nick. They set up a lot of different targets and they had a wonderful time practicing. They were gone about 3 hours, and it was pretty cold, but they had a great time still.

Funny Grandpa!

St. George- Fun at the Park

After going hiking in Snow Canyon we took the kids to a park to play. We went to a park by my parents house and played a little tennis, basketball and on the playground. I got some great photos of the kids.





Kate and Nick really had a great time chasing their tennis balls all over the place, what fun!

Alex and Nicklas playing basketball with their dad!

Kate and Nick always have to swing for a bit. They wanted to make silly faces for me

and this is what we can up with. The photos were hilarious!

Nick had a great time practicing by himself, he was definitely getting better. Way to go Nick!

St. George- Snow Canyon

Presidents Day Weekend we took the family down to St. George. Unfortunately, the weather did not fully cooperate. We did get one absolutely gorgeous day on Friday and the was the day we went and hiked around at Snow Canyon State Park. If you have never been there, like us, you really should go. The kids were really good and Kate even managed to walk the entire 3 to 4 hours while we were there. ( She got carried for maybe a total of 10 minutes only.) Here are the kids and I at the start of our longest hike that was about one and 1/2 miles.

At the end there was a pretty large arch.


There was a very large sand dune that we all enjoyed taking off our shoes
and running around in. The sand was so fine and soft, we had
a great time playing in it.

Here is Kate sitting on the
smallest rock and taking a rest. She sat down and said "I just need to take a
little rest here." The boys totally left us in the dust, but we caught up to them.


This is a picture of what you see at the end of the Pioneer Name trail. This hike was a short, easy hike and at the end was all these names written with axle grease by pioneers dating was back to the late 1800's. It was pretty neat. We all thought this was one of our favorites.

This was a fun hike also, it was called Jenny's Canyon trail and led to narrow canyon you could walk inside of.

We had a great time and will definitely go back again some time. The area is beautiful and they even have a campground. I think the kids thought is was a fun time.

Abravenal Hall

Alex's fifth grade class got to go to Abravanel Hall two weeks ago and listen to the Symphony. He was so cute about it. The week before some musicians from the symphony came and kind of filled them full of information on Abravanel Hall and he was excited to go. He was even going to wear his church suit, but his dad convinced him to wear a sweater instead seeing the high that day was around 15 degrees. When he got home the day of the field trip he had lots to share, he said Abravanel Hall was really neat and the music was great. He liked a Harry Potter song the most, but told me about a handful of others. I was impressed the kid enjoyed it so much. What a great opportunity! I hope he remembers it.

Do you notice anything different?

Nick has lost two teeth in about a week and a half.. Look at that cute smile. The funniest thing is that he got home from school last week and ran up saying "do you notice anything different?" I asked where his tooth was and he told me his reading teacher pulled it out for him. Isn't that funny!! Even funnier is that he told me she pulled out 2 other kids teeth for them also. She is awesome!

My Big 5 Year Old!

A week ago today my sweet little girl turned 5. She is my youngest and my only girl, I can't believe she is 5. She had a wonderful birthday, thanks to many friends and family. Kate is very excited to start Kindergarten in the fall and know that she is five she talks about going to kindergarten almost daily.

I am so glad to have Kate, she is so loving and fun. She likes to be a funny girl and make people laugh. Even the boys are so cute when she does something funny. They adore her. She can also be very loving, she always tells me she loves me and I'm the best mommy. A mom really needs at least one of her kids to tell her that, even if it's not true. Kate and I have really enjoyed our time together this year, with Nick in school all day we have lots of girl time. We have started some fun things that just the two of us like to do together- like picnic lunch and a movie in our living room. Of course, the movie is always a princess movie! Kate is into Barbie's, dress up and playhouse. She is also starting to work on her reading. She is very excited to learn everything. She is also a bit sassy, with quite the I know it all attitude sometimes. This is partially my own fault, she definitely gets away with more than the boys, after all she is the youngest and the only girl. I guess I need to work on that one.

We are very blessed to have sweet Kate in our family. I am so grateful to have my little Kate and am grateful for all the joy she brings to our family.

A New Year Pledge to Myself and My Family!

I have not been a good blogger over the last year, which makes me sad because that means I will not remember a lot of great little things that I could have. I pledge to do better this year and I will blog weekly- that is my goal. I really want to have this as a tribute to my sweet little family and I want to remember every little thing that I know my kids will enjoy hearing about when they are grown up. So here we go.