Cubs, Ducks and My Baby

Tyler started going to scouts.  At the first pack meeting they always "brand" the new cubs.  The cheer is everyone makes a sizzling sound as they stamp him/brand him.  He is way excited to be able to go to scouts.



For Kara's preschool fieldtrip we went down to Springville to feed the ducks.  We found a nice shady spot to sit (remember me no likey the sun)



My cute baby is almost 6 months old!

GRRR...

We started getting ready for Halloween early at our house. Not really, Kyle just wanted to try on the pirate hat, and so we put one on Matthew too, and Kyle wanted to wear the Power Ranger outfit as well. Matthew's face makes me laugh!



He kept turning the hat like this.  Kara took about 20 pictures of him like this.



They Say It's your birthday . . . . .

Tyler celebrated his 8th birthday in September.  I think he had a great day.  As usual, he is not wearing a shirt, that boy!

Ray's parents were in town for a funeral, so we had a little family get together.  Good times as usual!

My little buddies

 These are my two little buddies.  Kyle still seems to not know how to be soft with Matthew.  Matthew still puts up with it most of the time and loves Kyle, as you can see by the bottom photo.

First Day of Preschool

Kara has been super excited to start her second year of preschool.  Kyle can't wait until he can go next year.  Cute kids!

September 2011

Over Labor Day we went down to Enoch.  We spent time out at Three Peaks.  I have fond memories of Three Peaks growing up.  I loved to go out there with my cousins and family. The rocks are still fun to hike around on.  It was a little more busy out there than it used to be. :)

We also went over to the Iron County Fair parade on Labor Day.  It was perfect weather, overcast - have I told you how I don't like to be in the sun?  Anyway, we could not have asked for better weather.  Then we went over to the fair grounds and got some lunch and listened to my uncle Roger play in his band. Fun times!

August 2011 - time flies!

They say time flies like an arrow, and fruit flies like a banana  :)

August was a busy one as usual!

Cole's Blessing

Mike and Ashlee blessed Cole in August. Everyone was able to come up. They had a dinner afterward at their home and we took pictures. I really need to try to take “group shots at activities”, note to self, take pictures at Tyler’s Baptism – if anyone hasn’t heard it is Oct. 8th at 9:00 am. come join us if you want.  We will have a brunch afterward at our home and you are welcome to come. :)

Epic

Ray ran in the Epic Run again this year. It is from Cache Valley to the Grand Tetons. They had a 12 man team and took first place out of 80 teams.  It was a rough one for Ray. But he survived.

Camping

We went camping with Jenny & family and Randy & girls. We haven’t been for at least 2 years and we wanted to do one last fun thing before school started. Jenny and I planned on getting to the camp ground at 10 am since it was a first come first serve basis and we figured we could get a spot. Well, I was running a bit behind and Jenny got there first and there was only 1 spot left. We planned on getting 2 to 3 spots for all of us. Anyway, Ray got there before me, he had a break from work so we rode over there (Nunn’s Park up Provo canyon). They talked to the camp host and decided that we could make the one spot work. I get the mother of the year award for not being prepared. I had assumed we would get the same grassy spot we had a few years ago and I couldn’t find Kyle’s shoes so he wore flip flop/sandals and that was a big mistake. He had already stubbed his toe prior to us arriving and he kept re-injuring it. We kind of set up came then decided to walk up to bridal veil falls. Kyle fell on the asphalt just as we were leaving and re opened his toe wound. I didn’t bring the double stroller and he could barely walk so he rode on the back of Matthew’s stroller, but that didn’t last long, so I just had him sit in the basket under the stroller. At the falls it was a little crazy. There were TONS of people there and watching 5 kids around running water was a bit much. We didn’t stay long.

We went back to camp and played some games and hung out. We were under some big trees so it stayed pretty shady. Later that night we had dinner and let the kids ride their bikes and scooters around. I left around 9 pm with Matthew, I didn’t really feel like camping with a baby, and we don’t have a tent other than Ray’s small backpacking one. I got up early the next day and made breakfast burritos and drove back down. It was quite chili and windy. Then I headed out to get ready for my cousin’s baby shower. We had a fun time, I think we will try to make it a tradition.

First day of School

The kids started school on Aug. 23rd. I went with them over to the bus stop to take a few photos and about 2 minutes before the bus got there Tyler got stung by a wasp. My friend Laura ran home to get some ice and before she got back the bus was there. I tried to convince Tyler to just wait and I could drive him to school, but he said he was ok. Laura arrived with the ice and handed it to her daughter ,Maggie, and she gave it to Tyler on the bus. Then they were off. It is hard to believe that they are getting so old, Trent is in 4th and Tyler is in 2nd grade. After that Kara, Kyle, Matthew and I spur of the moment walked to the park with Marlene and her little ones, but weren’t there long. Matthew was hungry and I had my nursing cover so I nursed him, but then he pooped and leaked everywhere and I had no diapers, so we just came home.  It seemed nice to have them gone during the day.  Kara can't wait for preschool to start.




I was trying to recreate a similar photo of Trent and Tyler in these vests, Matthew was not having it!



Matthew is gettting so big!

Look at those cheeks!  I love kissing them.



He likes to smile!



All the kids



They are a little wacky!

The kids are growing like weeds.  Matthew is getting so big.  I take him in for his 4 month check up this week.  I am thinking he will weigh between 16-17 pounds.  He is such a cute kid.  He smiles a lot and squeals a lot.  At church yesterday, everyone around us was chuckling, because of his squeals-- it's cute but kind of loud.

Oceanside & Enoch

Over the 4th of July Ray took the 4 older kids to California by himself again, he is INSANE.  His parents had their condo for a week and he decided to go spend some time with them in Oceanside.  It is only a two bedroom condo, and I didn't think that the 7 of us would fit well in a small room with one bed, plus driving with a newborn didn't sound to fun, so I opted out.  I had big plans for when they were gone.  I wanted to paint in the house and work in the yard.  They left early Saturday, July 2nd, and I spent most of the day running errands and shopping.  Matthew was super good.  I looked at paint samples for our downstairs bathroom, Ray's aunt Karen happened to be at the Home Depot working, so she showed me some awesome colors that would look good. But, when I made my priority list, the bathroom fell to the bottom of my list of projects to get done.  Sunday, I went to church with just Matthew, and he was not acting like his normal self, he was more fussy than usual and all of the sudden decided that he hated his pacifier, even though it has been his best friend for the past 3 months - what is up with that?  Monday, was super overcast so I decided to take advantage of that and work in the yard.  I also had bought a whole bunch of chicken that I wanted to grill and freeze, so I ended up spending way more time doing that than I should of.  Some neighbors brought by a flyer inviting the neighborhood to come watch fireworks, so I went over to the church parking lot and watched them in the rain.  Matthew just stayed in his stroller, then he got fussy and the fireworks were mostly over so we came home.  He seemed warm, so I took his temperature and he had a fever.  Kara had been sick witha  fever before they left and he must of got it from her. So, for the next 2 days I mostly just took care of him and didn't get done much. Oh, well!

Ray and the kids got home Wednesday night just in time for dinner.  Thursday, Trent went to Scout Day Camp and had a blast and Ray went to work.  I washed all of their dirty laundry from their trip and repacked it to go to Enoch that night.  Ray got home and we loaded up and left around 7:30 p.m. that night.

Friday we went to the lake with my family and my cousin Sam, and his wife Kathryn and their kids.  It was overcast for the first little bit and quite nice.  The water was 75 degrees.  I went out in the first boat to ski before the water turned choppy.  John skied first, then Tennille slalomed.  Then I went, when I was in the water putting on my ski I said out loud (because lets face it I talk to myself out loud a lot!) "I don't know if I can do this!"  It had been like 5 or 6 years since I last skied.  When I learned to slalom, we had this cheater rope that was double handled and came to a "V" and you just put your ski in the "V" and I got up every time usually on the first try.  Anyway, apparently they no longer have that rope and so I had to use the regular one and I really doubted my ability to get up.  It took me 2 tries but I did get up.  I think I am just getting too old, I used to LOVE to ski, seriously it was one of my favorite pasts times, but this time once I was up it seemed like the boat was pulling me to fast, I tried to motion for Mike to slow down but I about fell, I also felt super shaky like I was going to fall at any moment.  I was afraid to cross the wake thinking I would fall and get hurt, or have to get up again and I didn't want to do that, so I just road behind the boat for a bit.  Tennille was motioning for me to cross the wake, so finally I did and the water on the side was so awesome and smooth.  We were kind of close to where our "camp" was, so I just stayed on the side, I wanted Trent and Tyler to see me.  When we got right by them I let go.  They circled around and got the ski, then I swam into shore because Matthew hadn't eaten for several hours and I knew he couldn't make it until everyone on the boat had skied.  It took me forever to swim in, but I made it.  Trent and Tyler didn't see me ski either :(  We had a fun day at the lake.  The kids had fun playing in the water and riding the tube behind the boat.  Trent tried to ski but couldn't get up.  Kara wouldn't wear a life jacket, she said it made her look ugly - OK?  So she didn't go on the boat or get in the water.  But everyone else did.

Saturday evening we went down to Pinevalley for the Hafen Reunion (my mom's side of the family). It was fun to see everyone and visit. We ate tons of yummy food and the kids played and had fun. Kyle got some cactus in his leg, the little ones that are hard to get out, Ray got most of them out - he is our injury prone child.