Twelve

Dallin had a birthday a few weeks ago.  He is officially twelve years old!

He asked for a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  I tried and tried to talk him into something else, since I knew it wouldn't get eaten, but he insisted.  After he did not even have one piece I swore I would never make another birthday cake.  We are just not cake people at our house.  Next time I will just fix a yummy dessert that will be sure to get eaten.  Sorry guys!  Enough is enough.

When I talked to Dallin about what he wanted for his birthday, he would only tell me two things - - a PS4 or a guitar.  Obviously, I went with the guitar.  He was happy!

In spite of Dallin not even trying a piece of his chocolate birthday cake, he is really a great kid.  He is a huge help to me and to Jeremy.  He is a great big brother.  He is super fun to be around - as evidenced by his 500,000 friends.  Most of all he is a super good person who tries his hardest to do what is right. We love Dallin so much and are so grateful for him.

Back to School

It has taken me a couple of weeks to get to this post - but I have to keep up the tradition of sharing pictures of my kids on their first day of school.

 Now please don't judge the quality of these photos.  My boys were so excited to get to school that I could barely get them to delay leaving long enough for me to get a picture.  I also want to mention that I do wipe down my door from time to time - but our yard is not landscaped yet, so the dirt is a constant battle I am fighting right now - both on my door and in my entry. I can't wait to get some grass.  Anyway - - on to the real reason for this post.

Dallin is in sixth grade.  His teacher is Mr. Brinton and he is loving being in his class.

Thomas is in fifth grade.  His teacher is Ms. Thatcher.  She is a new teacher this year, but she teaches in the same room that Jeremy taught in when he taught at that school, so Thomas can already say he has spent more time in his classroom than his teacher has.  How many kids can say that?

Jack is in third grade.  His teacher is Mrs. Birtcher.  Thomas had her for second and third grade since she moved grades with her class.  She is Thomas's all time favorite teacher, and I know that Jack will love being in her class too.

Drake is in first grade.  His teacher is Ms. Zinn.  She is a seasoned teacher and really nice.  Jeremy says she does a fabulous job, so we are excited that Drake is in her class.  He is loving being at school all day.

Tad started preschool last week.

He is going to the same preschool that all his big brothers attended.  I know he will love it as much as they did.

After I dropped Tad off at his first day of preschool, I headed straight to the walking path and took a walk on it by myself for the first time in twelve years.  It felt really weird to be alone with no stroller to push.  I am not sure if I liked it.  I miss my little boys!!

Here's hoping for another great year guys!!

Utah Trip and Family Reunion

We just got back from our annual trip to Utah.  It also included a family reunion/50th wedding anniversary for my parents.  I took a ton of pictures on this trip (over 300), but don't worry, I am only including a few in this post.

On our way up, we were going to go to the north rim of the Grand Canyon - but it was on fire, so we drove through Zion National Park instead.

I hadn't been there in years, so it was fun to see it again.  Don't you love how happy my youngest two look in this picture?

We stopped and saw a few temples on this trip.  Starting with the Cedar City temple that is currently under construction.

We also saw the Draper temple.

And we saw the Provo Temple.  We also drove past the Provo City Center temple, but didn't stop for a picture, since we had just taken a bunch when we were there in February.

Jeremy took the boys up to Franklin, Idaho to see some family history sites.  Unfortunately, I did not go with them since I was attending my cousin's funeral that day.  I got the news that he had died on my way up to Utah.  It was so terribly sad.  He was only a couple of months younger than me and his sister was my roommate and best bud while we were both single gals living in Phoenix.

Our family, including my parents, siblings, in-laws, and nieces and nephews had a big reunion at Bear Lake to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary.  It was great fun!!

This was the great view we had of beautiful Bear Lake from the home where we stayed.

Since the fires had moved away from the roads, we were able to go to the north rim of the Grand Canyon on our way home.  We hadn't been there since Dallin was a baby, so I felt morally obligated to take my kids - especially since we could get in free with Thomas's "Every Kid in a Park" pass.  It was spectacular - as always.

We were so grateful to be able to visit our family and to enjoy so many fun activities on this trip.

Life Lately

Just a few pictures of what has been keeping us busy lately. . .

A Summer sleepover in the family room.  My boys love to do this.  I spent all this money building a bigger house so they wouldn't all be crammed in one room anymore, and it turns out they are having separation anxiety.

Drake got a mosquito bite on the top of his ear and it swelled up so big, I have never seen anything like it.  He looked like Dumbo.

It took about three days for the ear to return to its normal size.

We finally painted the last batch of baseboards and trim.  We have most of it up, but this will finish all of the odds and ends that we have to do.

We poured a new section of driveway.  The driveway ends at our property line and then we have all that space between us and the road.  Jeremy says we will gravel it, since he doesn't want to pay for concrete on city property.

The rock for the front of the house and the porch columns finally arrived.  It was a bit of a headache getting the stuff we wanted, but it is looking good.  Very worth the headache(s).

A close up of some of the stone.

And another close up of another pile of the stone.  I know these photos are riveting.  Honestly - will we ever be done building???

Finally, I want to share a picture of the Snowflake Temple.  I feel so lucky to have a temple just five minutes away from my house.  It is so pretty. I took this picture just the other day.  In our Primary, we give each child that is baptized a picture of the temple that was taken on their baptism day as a special keepsake. So, I get to take this shot quite often, but thought I would share what our beautiful temple looks like in the Summer.

Recent and Random

Today I finally imported the pictures from my phone onto my computer, and decided to share a few random ones of our recent activities.

Okay - so this one isn't so recent, but when my brother and his family were here we took them to the Petrified Forest.  This is a picture of the cousins on the Long Logs Trail.

My boys are always begging me to do science experiments with them, so this was an easy one I did a few weeks ago with the little boys.  They had so much fun, they asked for a picture to remember the moment.

Jeremy and I took Dallin and Thomas to the ASA conference in Tucson this year.  This is a picture of their favorite thing to do at the resort - lots and lots of swimming!!

They also wanted to see the zoo, since the little boys enjoyed it so much last year.  They really liked it too.

Another zoo pic.  This really is a good little zoo.

The little boys are in the middle of a session of swimming lessons.  They are all doing really well and loving it.

So - how is that for random?  Random or not, we are having a good summer so far.

Tad is Five!!!

My baby is five!  FIVE!!!!  I told him over and over that I wanted him to stay four for a little while longer, but he went ahead and turned five anyway.  It honestly makes me so sad that my kids are growing up so fast.  I don't understand these moms that can't wait to get their kids in school.  Tad is going to spend the next year in preschool, instead of going to Kindergarten, because I just can't give him up yet.  So, in honor of my little five-year-old, I am sharing five pictures from his birthday celebration.

The above picture includes the rather sorry attempt at making a train cake.  I made the same one for Drake a couple of years ago, but this time, I had to try to get it made super quickly because Jeremy only had a few hours at home between when we returned home from the ASA conference in Tucson, and then heading to Colorado with the Young Men.  Luckily Tad didn't notice all its flaws and loved it anyway.

After cake we opened presents.

He had asked for more Angry Birds Plushies.  They are expensive, but I mentioned in an earlier post that he and Drake play with them every day, so I think they are definitely worth the money.  He specifically asked for King Pig, and was very excited when he opened him up.

He also asked for Terrence.  So this was pretty exciting too.  Terrence is huge!!

He also got ice-bird and another blue bird because they only had two.  In the game the three little blue birds are always together, so we had to correct that little error that was made in the first set.  The boys had to bring out the rest of their plushies and take a group shot with the new members.

Tad had a very happy birthday, and we are very happy that he is in our family.  Love you Tad!!

Catching up and some house pics

I have been so bad about pulling out my camera lately.  But, today I decided that it was about time to get a post up, so I imported the few pictures I have taken, and snapped a few pictures of my house to share.

In February, we took a quick trip up to see the beautiful Provo City Center temple.  I was so glad that we were able to make this trip for the open house and have the opportunity to walk through this beautiful building.  After growing up in Orem, and attending BYU, I just couldn't miss it.  It was truly amazing, and extra special when you consider the story behind it.  As an added bonus, it was really nice to spend a little bit of time with my family while we were there.

Drake had his Patriotic program at the school last week.  He and the other kindergartners did a fantastic job.

This is the only other remotely interesting picture I have taken in the last four months. Sad huh?  My boys love playing with their blocks and Angry Birds plushies.  Those little plush toys are ridiculously expensive, but my little boys wanted them so much I broke down and bought a set of twelve.  It was totally worth the money.  They spend hours playing with them creatively pretty much every day.

I am going to share a few pictures of a couple spaces in my house now that we are in.  Please keep in mind, that these spaces are not even close to being finished, but I thought it would give you a little better idea of what the house is like.

First up - the kitchen.

I really love this room.  I know it may not be to everyone's taste, but I am a firm believer that you need to make your home a space that you love and where you feel great.  It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.

 I love my new gas stove.  It is actually dual fuel - so the cooktop is gas and the ovens are electric.  I wanted double ovens in the kitchen and the original design had them, but when it came down to it, double ovens and a separate cooktop put a real strain on our budget, so I settled for this stove which has a convection oven and then a lower baking drawer.  Surprisingly the baking drawer works great, and I have been really happy with this choice.  The vent hood was another compromise.  I wanted something a little more built-in, but that was a bit too costly, so I went for a more industrial looking hood.  I think it goes great with the stove and it is of such good quality.  I didn't know what I was missing before with my little standard hoods, or over the stove microwave vent systems.

This area was another compromise.  I really wanted my island to be all one level.  I also wanted quartz countertops.  Since quartz was too expensive, we went with butcher block, and the cheapest easiest solution for the island with butcher block was to make it two levels.  I like the butcher block  and eating bar, but I don't love them.  Hopefully someday we will be able to upgrade.  I do, however, love my farmhouse sink, faucet, dishwasher and pendant lights.  Everyone comments on the pendants.  I will have to take a better picture of them someday and post them, so you can appreciate a little better how pretty they are in real life.

Finally, I also really love all my big lower drawers.  I was a little afraid that after moving in and using them I would decide that they weren't all that I thought they would be, and wish I had saved my money, but happily, they are awesome and I am so glad that was an upgrade that I didn't give up.

Finally, I have to share my cute bar stools.  My brother, Russ, was here with his family last week, and asked if the bar stools were assigned seating.  Honestly, I just saw the idea on Pinterest a few years ago and thought it was cute, but when we moved the bar stools in, the boys automatically assigned themselves to the stool with their number.  It has been nice and has definitely cut down on the fighting over which bar stool they want in the morning.

Obviously, I have done nothing with this room except move the old, beat-up dining set into it.  I have big plans for this space though, so I am sure you will be seeing it in the future.

This is the family room with our old beat-up furniture in it.  I picture a nice, comfy sectional in here, but it will have to wait until the house is all the way done and the budget recovers a little.

Here is another shot of this room.  I am surprised I didn't try to get more of my beloved ceiling in the shot.  At least you can tell that the wood floor did finally clean up.  It takes some maintenance, but I am happy with it after all.

I am sharing this shot of the front room.  I wasn't lying about having no furniture for it.  The stuff on the piano, is just sitting there mostly to keep it off the floor, so don't judge my poor decorating choices here.

This is the entry.  The light fixture for it is my favorite in the whole house.  I need to take a close up of it to share soon too. Obviously, our front door rug is just a remnant of carpet.  Our front yard is still not landscaped, so a lot of dirt and mud still gets tracked in and I don't want to get something nicer until we at least have a front walk.

That is it for today, and honestly, if you have read all of this, you are a dedicated friend.