Monday, October 24, 2011

3 Month Catch Up

So I took a little bit of a blog sabbatical. And then I kept on accumulating blog-worthy events and pictures and they multiplied like rabbits and before I knew it there was too much too say and no desire to say it! But my dear SIL Laura reminded me that blogging is a form of family history and my guilt drove me back. Lucky for you.
Here is my desperate attempt to capture the last few months in pix:


Ethan and Ike were the only soccer players this fall. That was OK with me since I don't think we could have squeezed more games and practices in without me having to hire a nanny.


We had a great trip to Lagoon with the Kloepers. Too bad my camera battery died before everyone got their picture taken.  The sad news was the Ethan was a hair too short for all the big kid rides. We're using that as a bribe for him to consume more calories before next year.  Everyone had a great time and a new generation of roller coaster lovers was born.


Noelle had her 5th Birthday with ensuing party. The kids were amazed that Hubby could walk on his hands. I love easy entertainment.
Our fam on the new Payson temple site. We got to see a lot of the prep for the groundbreaking ceremony occur and it will be fun to monitor the progress.


We've been able to go on a few autumn hikes. I lovelovelove warm fall weather! In the bottom pic you may be able to tell Mitch's funny smile has some metal in it.  Yep, he got braces. We will be opening his mouth for Christmas, my Birthday, Hub's Birthday, Syd's Birthday....yeah, you get the point. Those things are pricey!
And it wouldn't be fall without a trip the Big Red Barn pumpkin patch/hayride! CC and I took the kiddies and some additional cousins while all the hubs were at the BYU game. It wasn't as chaotic as the shear numbers would say. But I did need to go to bed earlier that night....
*And now I'm as caught up as I'm going to be.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Two Weeks of being Party Animals

 We have been on a whirlwind of family fun lately. We got to babysit a couple of cousins for a weekend and at the same time my NJ sis and fam came a callin'. So we have crammed all sorts of crazy fun into our last bits of summer vacation.
Some of us visited the Sweet's candy factory. It was pretty fun despite the drive and trying to bribe the toddlers to wear hair nets......I won't look at taffy the same!


Have to hit Santaquin canyon for the August Birthdays. Syd loves family gatherings where she can just play in the water jug and eat chips.


My sistas from the same mista


Cousin carnival party.  I think it's sweet how Ike and 3-year-old Claire like to hang together

Same carnival party with Cold Cocoa. I look so awesome because  I think every party she plans I end up being the 'fortune teller'.  She probably needs to google some new party game ideas......

And now on to Di and Bry's fun idea of a marshmallow gun party. Even Noelle loved making a gun


Getting ready for war
Ethan going down from his attempts to storm the castle

Mitch and Hub. Mitch was more into posing while Hub was more into stealth
Second week of sitting through a hot parade. It's worth all the  salt water taffy though since now we know how cool it is to make it!

And that was a glimpse of some of our fun. My phone has pix of the ice skating Mitch and I did today and of the park play dates, the water fights and the splash pad and of all the fun we've had just playing around with the cousins (and I can't be expected to download both camera and phone pix in one day!!) But how great is it that from both sides of our families my kids have over 50 built-in friends? Cousins rock.
 And now we have one week left to acclimate back to a life where we don't go somewhere fun everyday and we have a set bedtime and we don't need to pack the bugspray and camping chairs when we leave the house. Wish us luck!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Old news--C Fam Reunion, New news--Ike Birthday


My fam had our annual reunion mid-July. Great fun as usual. So I thought I'd post some pix of it just to prove that it happened. 

So much fun to play at Jumping Jacks with all the cousins and aunts. The uncles weren't as fun because their big bodies kept on slamming into the little bodies......
Uncle Jordan leading a group of kids in a haka.

Hub needing to comfort Syd because she's 2 and her sleep cycle was in desperate need of  repair due to the  late hours and short naps the reunion allowed

 a sampling of the rapt crowd listening to a puppet show. I think. It's already been too many weeks and I can't remember what we did for sure....

Now on to more recent events. My big baby Isaac turned 11. He didn't request much besides Legos, books, clothes, fruit, a panda, a bunny, and gummy candy. He was able to score on most accounts.
The highlight of his party was this:











Basically Hub gets to hit the kids with a swimming noodle while they fight back with pillows. Not really #1 on my list of party games but to Ike it was mandatory. They liked it so much that I'm thinking of hiring Hub out for your parties as well. He comes with his own noodle.
that's all for now.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

'Y'ike

 I am providing a treat to you all today by posting my pix in the x-large format. I'm feeling extra generous today.

Our summer is trucking right along. I really don't know what we do all day. If you asked Mitch he'd tell you all we do is chores. But then if you looked in our house you'd know that wasn't true. We have managed to play a lot with friends and cousins and neighbors. We are doing our month-long swim lessons right now taught by Hub. Noelle has mastered the cannonball. She is so proud of herself. She also is riding her bike without training wheels.  The boys play soccer and dodge ball in the basement (which is why we will never ever put pictures on the walls down there) and 4-square and other games together. But they also like to fight a lot. I keep on telling myself (and them) that they will be best friends one day. None of us can imagine that yet.

Our kids have reading charts where they pick their prizes and I assign how many reading hours it will take to 'earn' it.  This was done when I was growing up and I know many people have similar programs. Ethan had to read 8 hours to earn a hike to the Y. We ended up going on the 4th of July to celebrate our freedoms like being able to hike on steep trails in the heat of the day.

 We went with our cousins to the North. Notice how there is no kid under 7 in the picture. That is because my blessed sister had some foresight and volunteered to stay home with the wee ones.









                                                                  Photo evidence that we made it.
I have ruined all my street cred as an awesome hiker because I had to stop for a good rest not long before the top due to some fear of passing out. Don't know if it was the heat or my old lady-ness or what, but I had to let the whining youth pass me up before I continued on. I will have to re-establish my mountain goat status on another hike to Timp soon.
Anyway, Ethan has given up on the sweaty time-consuming rewards and is back to the much simpler ones like    that Godzilla flavored snow cone he wants!

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

We do leave the house. Occasionally.

 A major highlight of the summer is the trip to Lake Powell with Hub's fam. It's always exciting to see how much stuff we can pack in bags and coolers, actually fit it into our van, then transfer it all onto a boat and then transfer it again to the houseboat and then unpack it all and then do the reverse order in a few days time.

This year Ethan and Mitch got to go down early with the old folks. They got to do some hiking.

 Noelle must have picked up some modeling tips from the womb when I used to watch ANTM....

Hub and Syd trying out the water. It was a bit cold for some of the kids. Syd didn't appreciate it. And Hub's arms got super tan by the end of the week in case you're wondering.....

Ike liked to do some fancy jumps off the back of the houseboat. This move was called The Ballerina.

Noelle and cousin Dayton trying to sneak off on a jet ski.

The ever popular tube.

Sometimes the kids just wanted to play in their life jackets on top of the bunk. Go figure.

Boys on the tube.
I only took photo evidence of the good times. No pix of the broken boat, the tantrums, the afternoon wind storms that drove us inside for hours....And that my friends, is how history becomes distorted. But that is a topic for philosophical days. Moving right along....

It's the end of June and we finally made it on a family hike. We are so lucky to live 5 minutes away from some beautiful canyons, lakes and trails.

Hub set the self-timer and didn't quite take his sunglasses off in time.

Told you that Noelle wants to be a super model.

Our little cheeseball kids.

Isn't the scenery lovely? And you can kindof tell that Ethan only picked up two sticks to take home. It's a miracle.
 Now you know we're alive, healthy and have been adventurising. I'm pretty sure I just made up that word.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Here we go again

Summer started and we have yet to turn the AC on or find our slip'n'slide! That is the positive spin on the somewhat turbulant weather. The negative side would tell you how much it stinketh to watch track meets and t-ball games swaddled in winter wear.

Here are my boys on the last day of school. Mitch was the only one who was truly pumped it was the last day.
 ***We've had a lot of stuff going on since the start of our break. Isaac received his Arrow of Light and now is excited to become a Real scout. He will begin with a bang by attending 11-year-old scout camp this weekend. Thankfully Hub is his scout leader so some good bonding will be going on. (except I heard there have been lots of bear sightings where they are going! Should I pack some bear mace for him??)

***Ethan is loving t-ball with a gaggle of his friends. He's on the Cincinnati Reds and just asked me yesterday 'What's a Cincinnati, mom?" He's the first of my boys who actually wanted to wear the baseball pants and cleats to have a full-on uniform. He might be the smallest on his team but he can hit pretty dang far. Sometimes he's an awesome outfielder too when he's remembering to stand up and pay attention to the game.....

***Ike and Mitch have given up on baseball and are doing track. Track meets are waaay too long, but  it's fun to develop a talent for running. (says the lady who hates running) Our track pictures are a little too blurry for public posting. That tells you how fast my boys are.

**We had our family pictures taken by a non-charging family member. Why? Because it would be foolish to pay money when you have children who refuse to look at the camera/smile ever. Sadly this is why Noelle and Sydney have very outdated photos on our family room wall.


***And it was our 13th wedding anniversary! Hub is still very excited to be married to me as you can tell in the picture below.
More later if I feel like it.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

New England tour 2011

 I know most of you have been anxiously awaiting my recap. Well, wait no longer.  I am really holding back on the deets and about 140 pix since I know most blog readers don't have an attention span for a post longer than a paragraph. (not me though--I love reading all your wordy ones, I promise!) So if you're feeling deprived after reading this call me and I'll give you the 90 minute version......
 My parents view from the front door of their 'mission' home. Granby, MA is a beautiful little town.


                        Reuniting with my parents.... Erin is super talented with the self-timer on her camera.

 An old fashioned walk in the MA woods. We even got lost. But I was able to use all my navigation skills I learned at girls camp to bring us to safety. Maybe that is just my version, but Erin can tell hers on her own blog.
                                                                       
                                                                       BOSTON
                              Very beautiful Boston Public Gardens.


Picture of the New England Genealogical Society just to show that I can do family history even if I don't live in Utah.

                       The view of the Boston Harbor on the ferry. Very cool.

Great self picture on the ferry. Look how happy my dad is to be there! You don't know it, but we are freezing our patooties off. Somebody should have told us to wear our coats.

                                                     JERSEY SHORE
We got to meet up with my Italian sister, Diana, and her fam in New Jersey. We had a fun time on the beach and driving through the slums of Trenton.
                             Chillaxin' on the air mattress at Diana's house.

It was a great trip and we had fun at every turn. I love traveling without children. I highly recommend it. And a shoutout to my wonderful Hub who took a couple days off of work to take care of the Crazy that goes on at the homefront. Did I tell you he even took care of my roommom duties by decorating a teacher door? And that there was a nice crockpot dinner awaiting me when I walked in the door? He's awesome.
the end.