Catching Up

It has been awhile since my last post, so I am throwing a few pictures up on the blog to give a little update on what we have been doing the past two months.

Jack turned ten!  Ten!!!

Thomas turned 12!  That was a pretty exciting birthday for him.  I miss having him in Primary though.  When I was called as Primary President all five of my boys were in Primary.  Now I am left with only three!!

Jack finally won a show award in the Pinewood Derby.  He has tried every year, but his cars were always too fast and took speed awards, so they wouldn't let him win for show.  He was glad to finally win a show award his last year.

This was Drake's first Pinewood Derby year and he took the top prize - - first place in speed. His car was simple.  Last year, we tried to get Jack to use an Ipod sticker we had to make an Ipod car, but he wouldn't, so Drake told us to save it for him.  We did and that flat little car was super fast!  This was the 10th car that Jeremy has helped the boys build.  Only five more to go!

I snapped this picture of the boys putting together their Valentines.

And speaking of Valentines, I snapped a few pics of our Valentines decor.  I just used the same stuff from last year and it took about ten minutes to put it up.  Plus - it was a good excuse to dust off my hook shelf.  I am telling you, Arizona is, by far, the dustiest place I have ever lived.

We also hung up the banner that Tad and I made last year.  I still need to show you this fireplace in its entirety now that I have finished decorating it.  I will try to get to that soon.

Finally, Jeremy brought these pretty flowers to me on Valentines day.  He knows I love having fresh flowers in my house.  I am still enjoying these.  They still look great, thanks to what we learned from Thomas's  science fair project.  We tried a bunch of the popular methods for keeping your flowers looking fresh longer, and the clear winner was to add some citrus soda (like 7-up or Sprite) to the water. We couldn't believe how much longer those flowers lasted over the other things he tried.  His science fair project was one of the winners at his school, but I couldn't get there that day to take a picture.  Maybe I will set the board up one of these days and take a picture to share.  It was a good project and he did a good job.

I came home from Dallin's basketball game the other night to find this on my couch.  I love how close my boys are.  Everyone loves to comment on how I must be crazy to have had my kids so fast, but moments like this make me realize that there are definite advantages to having my boys close in age.

One of my goals for this year, was to get more pictures of the house up on the blog, for anyone who might be interested in seeing it, but lives too far away to visit.  As you can see, I am failing miserably at that goal.  But, I did manage to take some pictures of my boys bathroom the other day, so hopefully I will get them up on the blog before too long.

Christmas Fun

A few pics to help us remember some of the fun we had during the Christmas season this year.

Early in December the boys decorated our windows with Snowflakes.

And some others with snowmen.  I love them!  These will probably stay up all winter.

And, as is tradition, they made some new ornaments for the Christmas tree.

We also put some lights up on the house.  My photography skills are pretty dismal, especially at night, and our yard looks pretty ratty here (it is still a work in progress), but I am trying to preserve memories, so it is what it is.

So, of course I have to include a couple more pictures.

Last one of the house, I promise.

The kids all had their Christmas programs.  I only got these pictures of Tad and Drake, but they all did great!!

We also made our traditional sugar cone Christmas trees.  The boys look forward to this every year.

I also took some pictures of some of our decor inside, but realized that it is really similar to last year, so I deleted them.

We have had a good holiday season so far.  Merry Christmas!

A few reasons I love having little kids

I seriously love having little kids. Yes, teenagers and big kids are fun too - just a different kind of fun.  As I was going through some of my recent pictures today, I ran onto a few that reminded me of how much fun little kids are.

Only my little kids can entertain themselves for hours with their toys, and then, of course, ask me to take a picture every now and then.

Only my little kids wear fun little hats home that they made in kindergarten.

Only my little kids will decorate the tree up with their angry birds when they are tired of waiting for me to pull out the ornaments.  I kind of like this.  Maybe we should have left it this way.

Only my little kids will leave cute notes for the tooth fairy after she has forgotten to stop by for three nights.

Of course, my little kids do way more than this that makes me smile every day, but I don't have pictures of everything.

I'm seriously going to miss this stage when it is over.

Fall

Just popping in to update the blog with some Fall pics.

As I mentioned in my previous post, Drake turned eight!!  He made me very happy by requesting brownies for his birthday rather than cake!

Tad at the Elementary School Halloween parade.  He was Thor again this year.

Drake at the Halloween parade.  He was Captain America.  One of his teachers let him borrow that awesome shield to carry during the parade.

All of the boys in their costumes.  I just couldn't get a good picture of them this year.  Oh well.  

Jack was Harry Potter, and Thomas was Hawkeye.  Dallin is in junior high and too cool to dress up anymore (which I applaud!)

And, because I can't help  myself, I am adding some pictures of our Halloween decor.  I wouldn't want to deprive my sons and future daughters-in-law the pleasure of laughing at my decor that was soooo 2017.

But I love these cute pictures and the boys love looking at them too.

And I, want to share my cute new fall pillows.  These aren't really Fall colors, but I wanted something that would go with the room, but was still warmer than the normal blue and white that I have in here.  I think these fit the bill.

I really love this Thanksgiving pillow.

Of course, I also need to share my hook shelf in the entry, all decked out for Thanksgiving.

And a close up of my favorite little corner of it.

Happy Fall Y'all!!

Drake's Baptism

A little over a week ago, Drake turned eight and was baptized.  He was so excited!! It was a nice day and we are so happy with what a good boy Drake is.   It was a short and sweet baptismal service and I hope that he will always remember it.  I didn't get the greatest picture of him at his baptism, but here is one that will do.

I know, I know.  That picture is a total "mom fail"  

But, since I always get nostalgic around my kids eighth birthdays, I will share a bunch of really cute pictures of him over the years.

Congratulations Drakers!  We love you!!

Thirteen!?!

It's official.  We have a teenager in the house!!  Luckily, so far, he is a great teenager, and if he keeps this up, I will be one lucky mom.

I hardly saw him on his birthday, but when he finally did make an appearance, we just had pizza for dinner and then an ice-cream sandwich dessert to celebrate.  He opened a couple of presents, and had a phone call from his grandparents in Utah and visited his other grandparents in person.

Happy Birthday Dallin!  We love you!!

Back to School

My kids have been in school for over almost two weeks now, so I am a little slow getting this post up, but I couldn't let myself get away with not posting about the beginning of this school year.

Tad left me for Kindergarten this year.  We still have half-day Kindergarten in our district, so that is helping make the transition easier for me.  His teacher is Mrs. Davis (Drake had her too), and I know he will have a great year in her class.

Drake is in second grade.  His teacher is Mrs. Fuentes.  Dallin had her too, so we know he is in good hands.  He loves school and is sooooo happy to be back.

Jack is in fourth grade and moved up to the Intermediate school.  His teacher is Mrs. Breedlove.  We have heard good things about her, and so far Jack is loving being in her class.

Thomas is in sixth grade and his teacher is Mrs. Krekeler.  We know several people that have loved her as a teacher as well, so I am sure it will be a good year for him.

Sorry about the glare on his glasses.  No matter what angle I took the picture from it was still there, and he doesn't like to take them off for pictures because he thinks he looks weird without them now.  Haha!

Dallin is in seventh grade and moved up to the Junior High.  If I am honest - it was way harder for me to send him to Junior High than it was to send Tad to kindergarten.  When we first moved to Taylor, everyone was telling me horror stories about the Junior High.  At the time Dallin was only four months old, and Junior High seemed like forever away, but in the blink of an eye here we are.  (Luckily, the junior high has been "reformed", so it isn't as scary to send your child there as it supposedly used to be.  I am still hating it though!)

Look at that handsome group.  All in school now!  I sure love these guys!!!!