Halloween 2013

 Halloween this year was fun because our GOOFY GRANDPA felt good enough to help the kiddos celebrate! We sure love him. And laughed at him answering the door in full character.

 I'm room Mom in Chase's First Grade (Mrs. White's) class so here was the end of the party.

 Chase (7) was a Mummy, Leda (8) a Queen & Spencer (10) an evil Jester

 Trick or Treating with the cousins!

 Trading candy afterwards

 These two are best buds.

 Leda sure loved trick or treating with Jane (2)

Lava Hot Springs

Not gonna lie, missing the beach. So what do we do? Go to water. Not quite the beach (not even close) but still a good time where we learned that we don't have a desire to visit Lava Hot Springs again anytime soon!

Had to bring cousin Carter

Proof Dad was there

water slides were fun!

The water was dirty looking since it had so many deposits, but it was sooo warm and relaxing

Bubs and I

Underwater 1

Underwater 2

Underwater 3

My girl

A shot of the pool. So crazy the coloring!

And why do we not want to go back anytime soon? Because even though the water felt nice, we couldn't get past the color. And the crowds. And the fact that it took us 2 hours to get there...so 4 hours round trip! We have just as much fun at our local pool, so we'll stick with that. But yay for an adventure!

Chase turns SIX

Hilarious that he requested a "snowman cake" in September. I loved the random and had a blast making it. His reply when he saw it? "It's super cool, Mom!" Love it.

Love having a backyard big enough to rent a bounce house!

Instead of an organized party, we invited neighbors and family to come jump. Low key and a ton of fun!

The family and grub

Carrie, my friend Jen, Me

Chase with his Aunt B. We love her cards and her artistic ability!

All lit up!

Can't believe he's six

And then Lucy got a bite of the cake. I was soooooo ticked at the time, now I laugh and am glad I have a picture :)

Love the excitement in his face

He had a great day. Happy Birthday Bubs!

Some things I want to remember about Chase at age six:

• He hates to be alone. Loves to be with people.
• He loves his scooter and the trampoline.
• He loves chicken salads with cilantro dressing. Also LOVES roasted brussel sprouts. 
• Chase despises going to bed. 
• He loves to play UNO and boardgames. 
• He loves to play RAZ kids on the computer.
• He has a tender heart and gets very emotional when things end: Last day of schools, Holidays, End of Vacations....he is always shedding a tear when these types of things come to an end.
• He loves going to the movies. 
• He loves writing notes and drawing pictures. 
• He's sooo funny. He's always cracking jokes and loves to make people laugh. He's very witty and surprises us with the things he says at such a young age. 
• He doesn't love going to Kindergarten, but ends up liking it once he's there. 
• He is our most stubborn and independent kid....which we hope he continues to use for good. We love how passionate he is about things and are so excited to see what he does with his life. So grateful for what he adds to our family.
• I love that when I say "I've got a bubbies?"  he says "And I love him!"

First day of school 2012

Leda and Chase are the only ones excited for this school year. Leda more so than Chase. In fact, she broke down a week before school was to start because she was SURE she was starting that day and that I was off a week on my calendar.

Leda was extra excited to be assigned to Mrs. Allemon's class AND to be in the class with her neighbor friend Bailey. So imagine the pit in my stomach when I got a call from the Principal himself the Saturday before school started to tell me that he got permission for a fourth 2nd grade teacher and Leda was to picked for the new class. Ack! The good news: Class sizes are now 23 instead of 33. That is outstanding! But my heart hurt for Leda since I knew how excited she was for Mrs. Allemon. But like most things, it's in the presentation, so Aaron and I sat her down and told her with enthusiasm that she was picked for a brand new class (yada, yada) and she responded great! Whew!

First day of school, August 21, 2012

Walking to school with neighbors & friends is so fun!

Spencer, Kolton, Bailey, Leda & Ellie

FOURTH grade in Mrs. Allreds class. Spencer is VERY into shoes lately, and had to have these Tony Hawk high-tops. He also was thrilled to find this shirt and wear it the first day. Funny how all of a sudden things that weren't important (fashion) become important to a 9 year old!

SECOND grade in Mrs. Mendez's class.  Since our cat Jack died, Leda has been ALL about cat things. So when she saw this shirt in the mall on vacation in AZ, she just HAD to have it. And since I wasn't buying her anything else for school this year other than a book bag (that she opted for instead of a backpack), I let her have her blinged-out cat shirt!

Spencer warmed up to the idea of school right as he walked on campus to the fourth-grade line ups and SO many kids were calling out his name left and right. "Hey Spencer, hi!! What class did you get? Good to see you, man!" I think it made him feel good. Seeing old friends is always fun.

Spencer & Gabe

Natalie & Leda

The first day of school went SO well. Kids happy, mom happy (minus a few tears shed) and it's good to be back to a routine even though I would have loved the summer to continue for a few more weeks. I love the ages my kids are at now and we had SUCH a good summer. But here's to an even better school year!

My kindergartner begins next week. Oh my!

Lemonade Stand

Today I made good on my promise to do a Lemonade Stand with the kiddos before summers end. 

Spencer and his clever advertising skills

And yes, it was as fun as it looks in this 91 degree heat...my kids better love me more at the end of this day ;)

Father's Day 2012

Saturday night Aaron wanted to drive reeeeally far up American Fork, Canyon to have a cook out in the middle of nowhere. It took us an hour to get to our destination...and involved 4 wheel drive. Also involved a wife getting carsick. But all for the love of a Father on his big weekend!

The spot

The view out our window on the way up. Gorgeous, eh?

We weren't allowed to make a fire up that high on the mountain, but our handy camping stove did the trick and we had some great burgers.

Here's the boys...

And then here's the girl. Hiding out in the car.

Can't say I don't blame her. The beautiful "spot" up above was COVERED in humongous (I'm not exaggerating here) red fire ants. They were everywhere. It was not pretty. Neither were the huge flies and bees that swarmed as soon as we brought the grub out. Ya, not exactly the cookout we were envisioning....

But we did manage to scarf down our food, clean up so the bugs might go away, and we walked around a bit and did a bit of exploring.

We figured the only way to guarantee fire ants weren't crawling up us was to KEEP MOVING!

All in all, the night was kind of a bust. But we laughed about it later and made a memory...so who can complain? Oh, and I drove home down the mountain this leg. No carsickness for me when I'm boss! Lesson learned.


Sunday morning began with the traditional breakfast in bed. Spencer insisted on a breakfast burrito with jalapenos.

Dad loved his over sized card this year. Leda insisted on it. One funny thing I want to remember: I asked the kids to write something special for Dad. Told them they'd have lots of room to write & draw pictures. Chase was done in about 15 seconds. Spencer even shorter. Leda however, was there for about 20 minutes. Oh the difference between boys & girls!

Inside the card:

One last hug before getting ready for church. I made Aaron wear the Father's Day shirt we made him back before Chase was even a part of the family.

After church photo op

Spencer age 9, Leda age 7, Chase age 5

And I love this picture, truly. But I joke with Aaron that he looks bald. He shaves his head every 8 weeks or so cause he has SO much hair...but his blond really shows through when it's butched. Hence the shiny head. Silly husband.

We had a nice visit with my parents best friends, the Smiths here for a few hours from California.

Then Aaron got to do one of his favorite things in the world: watch golf

Only by "watch" I mean "fell asleep" (which he hardly EVER does). Happy Father's Day to him!

Grandpa loved the tie we gave him!

Later on the rest of the family came over for dessert. And talked to Aaron's Dad in Montana. I was thinking about something during Father's Day. I am blessed to have felt unconditional love from some pretty exceptional men in my life. My Grandpa's made me feel I was their favorite (even though clearly they loved all their grand kids), my Father has ALWAYS been there for me and lets me know often how proud he is of me, I have the best in-laws in the world with a Father in law who is a hoot and a half....who raised an incredible son who loves me and our family. What more could a girl want? I'm so blessed. And so grateful my kids have Aaron for their father. I knew I was marrying a good man....but an added bonus was how easy it was for him to be a good Father. Happy Father's Day indeed!