Memorial Weekend

As soon as the kids got home from school on the last day and they showed me their report cards which always kills me...
Brody is officially a third grader!
Braiden is officially a sixth grader!
We loaded up and left for Challis, the kids have been looking forward to this for months!
We met up with all of my family 19 of us there!! My Dad had to stay home and work so we missed him, Joslyn kept asking where grandpa was. :( It was the last day of school for all of the kids so it was a PARTY!
I love my family we have a great time together and the kids all get along SO well with each other! James and Joslyn had a minor disagreement on how to say "pillow" and it was quite funny actually
James: Piddow
Joslyn: no! Piwwow
James: no! Piddow
Joslyn: no! Piwwow
So funny! In their own little minds, they were the one that was right.
We did all of the fun Challis things, went to the Hot Springs, fished in the pond, bike rides, fires, and this time we discovered a fun park!
I got started on Hudson's scrapbook and made a little dent in his first year book:

Look at that baby! Don't you just want to kiss his little face! mmmmm!

I am loving Project Life! Even my nieces were pretty interested in what I was doing, they were enthralled with the corner rounder. :) So I had great little helpers, they rounded a lot of corners for me and even picked out some filler cards! I still have a LOT of journaling to do which is a daunting task, well because that was 5 years ago!!

Last Sunday night everyone else went on a walk up to the fish pond Hudson, Joslyn and I stayed behind because Joslyn was having a little fit (read: royal melt down) so she was in time out. Huddo and I were sitting by the fire.  After little miss calmed down a little she needed to go potty so I took her in the house and Hudson stayed out by the fire.  Just as Joslyn was finishing up I heard Hudson SCREAMING outside!! I ran to the door and he was yelling "it's hot, it's hot, it's hot!" He had tipped forward in his camp chair and caught himself on the fire ring and burned the palms of his hands.  :( I immediately put them under cold running water for a while then wet a towel and filled it with ice so he could hold it between his hands.  My poor little boy was in so much pain it just broke my heart! Soon everyone returned from their walk and mom and Kristy ran up to the drug store to find something that might help.  Nate had to go home late Saturday night so he could be to church on Sunday so he was not there but Christopher and Casey gave Hudson a blessing. I was so grateful to have them there! Mom and Kristy came back with some burn cream, gauze, etc. The burn cream had some Lidocaine in it so it helped take some of the pain away.  He still needed to have the ice on it though and he kept the ice for the rest of the night, we kept him loaded up with Tylenol and Ibuprofen, and after a few hours he was feeling a little better!

My poor boy! Between the two of us we almost used up a box of Kleenex.

The sweetest thing though, Scott had recently discovered the boys' collection on Ninja turtles and decided he needed a few of his own, so he bought 3 or 4 and took them to the cabin so he could show the boys.  Well after Hudson got burned he felt so bad for him that he let Hudson pick one of HIS turtles.  (makes me tear up) It really helped to lift Hudson's mood!!

I am grateful that Heavenly Father was watching over my boy because it could have been much worse! I am grateful for my two brothers who are worthy priesthood holders, who gave my boy a blessing, I know it helped him! And I am grateful for my family who rallied around us and helped make him feel better.

I thought the night was going to be rough but he did great, I set my phone every three hours to give him more medicine so other than that he slept like a log! The next morning he was ready to play, didn't even need the ice anymore.

Kristy and I took the kids to the park

Who needs a slide when you have a skateboard ramp?

Happy to see a smiling face!

After that we went home and packed up some of our stuff and hit up the hot springs one last time and headed for home. I was a fun trip...for the most part.

We now have a serious first aid kit in the works for up there! Good thing!

Hudson's Preschool Graduation

If I could choose to freeze my kids at any age I would freeze Hudson right ... about... NOW!

He is just so darn sweet, and loving, and he doesn't talk back, and he thinks Ninja Turtles are super cool but so is Iron Man and he can't quite decide which one to get a toy of when  he fills up his chore chart. He gives his mama hugs every 2 min. He says to  his sister, "Come on Jozzie, lets go see if Mickey Mouse is on." When he asks me what for dinner and I say "Shepard's Pie" he doesn't say, "uh gross, why do we have to have that?" And when he is trying really hard not to cry he rubs his eyes really hard.

Which is just what he was doing when He was standing up there with his little preschool class and they were singing their songs that they have learned this year.  And that made me cry. Or maybe I was crying when I saw him up there and he saw me so he started crying hmmm...one will never know.

His ABC book that he has worked so hard on all year! He finally got to bring it home and show off his work!

He is a sweetheart and he has loved preschool this year and his teacher, we are so lucky to have Miss. Andrea, LOVE HER!!

Braiden's 5th Grade Graduation

May 24: Braiden's 5th Grade Graduation

AKA: My boys last day of elementary school,  say whaaaa?

 

Here he is marching in

 

Receiving The Principal's Award which is like a "diploma" for the fifth graders that are leaving.

 

And here he is marching out

 

 

Ok...so I held it together pretty good, but when we got home I started bawling...ok sobbing. :(

I have been ok with my kids moving on the next stage of things but I am not ok with THIS. I am not ready to send my boy to middle school, I am not ready to throw him to the wolves I. am. NOT. READY. Well, I have a whole summer to prepare myself, but I am afraid that even after that I still will not be ready.



 

 

A Whole Lotta Nothin'



Since it has been over a month since I have posted anything on the blog I thought I'd better put something up, even if it's a whole lotta nothin'.

 

Brody had his first pinewood derby and his car won first place!! Lucky Boy!

 

 

 

 

He was SO excited to build and race his car, we have a pretty small pack so the race was pretty low key. (We are missing a few boys who couldn't make it that night.)

 

Miss Joslyn is the little mother of the nursery, she is twice as old as most of the kids in there (she misses the sunbeam deadline by 4 days) so she always comes home and tells me "mom that baby was putting a toy in his mouth. ewww." But she LOVES nursery AND her nursery leaders so I am happy leaving her there.

 

She is also my little shadow don't even think that I am exaggerating when I say this but, whatever I am doing, she is doing it too.  Brothers are boring and that's all there is to it.

 

Baseball season has started, well games won't start until the 29th but they are practicing like crazy!

 

Last week I helped at the school a lot, it was teacher appreciation week and lets just say our teachers got spoiled!! Our PTO President is a good friend and she does everything 110%, I love the girls on the PTO, so helping out is actually quite fun.

 

So this week I am trying to catch up on laundry...trying is the key word.  It's climbing the walls people!

 

The Sawtooth Realy is in 23 days WHOA!!! I am running the downhill leg this year, I am a little bit nervous about it, OK a lot.  I've been working on it but running has always been hard for me sometimes I wonder why I do this... Oh, it's because I love those girls! (GO HOH!)

 

You know my spring cleaning list? It's done. :) I even got my carpets cleaned in the WHOLE house, that was the highlight of my year so far. (not really but I was pretty excited to have it done!) Nate has put up the backsplashes in the bathrooms and laundry room now and I love the way it looks.  We have also been plugging away at other little projects around the house, I'm glad I have a hubby that likes to be busy!

 

The boys got to go to Moab with their dad again this year and they had so much fun! Miss J and I stayed home and had just as much fun! Did you know they make fingernail polish that washes off with water?  Well they do, I found that out after I meticulously painted Joslyn's fingernails and toenails. :)

 

Books.... Hmm I've read a book called Small Change: The Secret Life of Penny Burford By: J. Belinda Yandell It was a very quick read and a great little story!

The Guardian By: Gerald N. Lund  It is his newest book, good, and big (he always writes BIG books)

 

Only 7 days of school left! Wowee! That's good because it is getting hard to get these kids in bed by bedtime these days. Speaking of bedtime it's 10 min past, better sign off! :)

 

♥ to you who still reads this silly blog of mine!

Easter and then some

 

It is tradition, every year on the Saturday before Easter we go up to Albion to the Easter Egg Hunt.  We love it because it is pretty low key, not a ton of other people and they stuff their eggs with good stuff, like Snickers, Twix, and Milky Way candy bars oh... and MONEY!! Each of my kids got between $1.50 and $2.00!! Hence the grocery bag, we're not fooling around with tiny Eater baskets here. ;)

 

The kids are divided up  into age groups 0-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-11, The only age group that parents can help is 0-2, so Joslyn had to do it on her own this year...WAAAA! Oh, and wait one minute where's the 12 yr olds? That means that this is Braiden's last year to hunt (legally) WAAAAAAA! I think he can do it one more year...if he wants to. I have one too old for the Easter Egg Hunt...man I am getting old!

 

Here we are checking out our loot, when the lady announced that the only bunny that was found was the 0-2 age group, so Hudson ran back out there to his section and guess what?!?! He found the bunny!!!

 

Here he is picking out his basket!!

 

 

The winners!

 

After all that excitement we went to Grandma's house to color Easter eggs:

 

 

And play with the stuff from Hudson's prize basket. It was such a fun day and the weather was so so so nice! We all ended up with rosy cheeks by the end of the day.

Easter Sunday after church we went to my mom's for dinner, Here's the kids in their Sunday best:

 Ready for the egg hunt:

Scott LOVES doing this every year!

 

Much to my dismay, this one wasn't very enthusiastic about it, guess I am going to have to add better incentives to the eggs, because "as long as you live under my roof you WILL hunt for Easter eggs..." (just kidding) When I was growing up we would hide and re-hide and re-hide those eggs, good times.

What a Cutie!!! She is showing off her Princess gardening tools and gloves!

Hudson has been begging for Nate to take off his training wheels and now....HE CAN RIDE!!!!
It only took him about 10 minutes figure it out!! WOW!! He has been riding that little balance bike for two years so he really had the hang of it he just had to learn how to pedal and balance! His brothers were both in 1st grade before they rode a two-wheeler and Hudson is only in preschool, I am impressed!!

Books: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly  If you know me I am ALWAYS reading a book I love reading, unfortunately there hasn't been too much good lately I've been striking out major! I read The Garden Plot By: Kristen McKendry, the story itself wasn't all that bad it was just the author that annoyed the crap out of me, I am so naughty, anyway she quoted a hymn every other page. UGH! If I want to read the hymns I will get out the hymn book, sorry!
Then bad got worse, I will just tell you that I am not a book quitter, I hardly ever quit reading a book especially one that I just paid $9.99 for in the Kindle Store. :/ grrr! Beautiful Ruins By: Jess Walter, it was the Costco book pick and I had read another good review on it so I decided to try it out, well the "s" word turned into the "f" word and it was a little filthy. If that wasn't enough it was SO random, I can handle a book that jumps from one time and place to another time and place but in between those times and places were these random chapters that left you wondering what it had to do with anything. So I quit about 1/4 of the way through :/   Take it from me, save your money, and time.  skip this one!!


I have been elbow deep in spring cleaning, here's part of the list:

 

I am just taking it day by day, if I don't have a ton of time that day I choose a smaller job if I have a lot of time I try to tackle the bigger jobs. I will just say, I hate cleaning blinds, it is by far my most dreaded household chore.  It is when blind cleaning time comes that I think of hiring a cleaning lady. :)

Bathroom light fixtures are today's job :) Nate is plugging away at his list too, look:

 

 

 

 

SO LONG 90% dead pine trees...

 

 

Hello 100% alive trees! SO much better!

 

We also have plans to build a garden shed for the mowers and all the lawn tools etc. I am so excited!!!

 

Sorry that was a LONG post! Thanks for sticking with me!

Braiden's Birthday

 

 

Braiden turned 11 earlier this month!!! WOW! He had a fun and exciting birthday weekend! Friday after school we picked up him and all of his friends from school and took them swimming to 1000 Springs.  Those boys had a blast and swam for 2+ hrs. the only reason they got out of the pool was because they were hungry! We stopped in Twin and took them to Chick-Fil-A for dinner, yummy! That just might have been the most fun and relaxing birthday party I've ever done! hip hip!

 

Saturday, his actual birthday, we got up early and headed to Pocatello for Bella's baptism, and then hit Costco before heading to Idaho Falls for Ashlyn's baptism.

 

 

 

Here's those two sweet girls on their special day!

Special day for all three...The birthday boy and the baptism girls.

I had to do this...on Ashlyn's blessing day I took a picture of these three who are so close in age Dec (Brody) Jan (Bella) and Feb (Ashlyn)

Ashlyn           Bella                Brody

Now here they are...8 years later!

Ashlyn Brody Bella

All the girls

Regan, Kailey, Ashlyn, Bella, Emily

Joslyn, Lillian

 

* just a little side note of one proud auntie, my two nieces (Kailey and Em) did the music for Ash's baptism and I was BLOWN away!!! Kailey has passed me up on the piano, as in she played a song that I had to practice to death to be able to play. WOW!  Em lead the music, and they are so young, think of how great they are going to be when they are older!!! 

After a little Chuck-a -Rama and some sledding we headed for home, we stopped at Dick's Sporting Goods and Braiden got to pick out a new pair of shoes for his birthday.

Home at last...at about 10:00 he got to open the rest of his birthday presents...

Since 2 days of partying is never enough we went up to gma and gpa Catmull's after church on Sunday for dinner and cake...and more presents. :)

 

Make a wish!

I think he had a great birthday, as for the birthday party, we'll be doing that again! It was the perfect activity for a late winter/early spring party.

Will You Be My Valentine?

Here's my little Valentine, well one of them any way.

 

We had a fun Valentine's week, I got the kids little mailboxes and put little surprises in them all week long.  I think I had just as much fun leaving them as they did finding them each day!

The 5th grade classes had a Valentine box contest, Here's Braiden's box...

 

We got on pinterest to look for ideas and this is what he chose.  He had to make the box himself "with very little help from a parent." Which was hard for me! We had a great time working on this together, (you know, me gathering the proper supplies and talking him through it. ;) ) It turned out great!

 

The kids got Peter Pan for Valentine's Day they have loved it! Hudson especially, he begged me to get the costume box down because there is a Peter Pan costume in it.  Well, he has been wearing the Peter Pan hat everywhere we go now.  It's great to be 5!

Brody is SO funny, he is my "What If..." boy Oh the things he comes up with! Sometimes the entire dinner conversation consists of What ifs, and when he gets rolling it gets everyone else involved too, even me..."what if we all ate our dinner?" (yeah I'm a grouch like that.) Here's an example, I think from watching a little too much Peter Pan. Brody- "Mom what if we could fly to Disneyland?" or another popular one is "what if our house was made of__________________?" (insert any number of foods here)  (fruit loops was a recent one) You name it, he has what if'd it, money falling from the sky...yup! Food falling from the sky...yup. A Disneyland ride in our backyard...yup. He has an imagination, I'll give him that!

This is Joslyn on Sunday...(you might wonder why all the pics I take of her are in the piano room...Well whenever I say, "let's go take your picture" that's where she goes. And it has the best light. Anyway I spent more time on her hair than I did on mine, she was sooo good about it too!

Pretty Baby, she is still my baby, I think I'll call her that forever!

Speaking of Sunday...I watched the season finale of Downton Abbey Sunday night...all I can say is OH Season 3 you make my heart ache!!! Too bad it's over, it went sooo fast! Now we have to wait another 10.5 months for season 4 to start.  Never seen Downton Abbey? Well you have plenty of time to get caught up!! (I have seasons 1 & 2 on DVD if you need to borrow)  I think I'm going to watch season one of Call the Midwife (I've heard it's great!)before season 2 starts at the end of March, that should tide me over for awhile!

The boys have been playing basketball for the last month and a half, they love it and I really enjoy watching their games and Nate is wondering what the heck he got himself into coaching both of their teams!!! There is only a week left though, I never take pictures because the lighting in that gym is horrible!! But they are having fun, and when that is over we will get a little break until baseball starts!

I had a brief lapse in judgement when I sent in my registration for the Sawtooth Relay again...eyeyiyi! Natalie is on our team this year, we are so excited that she agreed to do the race with us!! Let's pray for better weather this year!!!