life is beautiful

Another Date with Dad

2012-01-22T10:03:00.000-07:00

Darryl has been a dating machine these past few days. :) Today was Kade's lucky day; he was going to get a date with Dad today. Well it snowed and snowed(it was about time) which caused the roads out of Heber to require chains or to be closed. That left bowling, a movie, or eating out. Ever since Darryl told them he was going to take them on a date Kade had switched his choice of destination about every hour. He had picked Kamas Pool, Bowling, Chuck E Cheese, and Kangaroo Zoo. Well the power ended up going out for about an hour so it wasn't looking like Kade was going to get to go on his date. He was pretty down about it. Darryl did fire up the snow blower for the first time which made the boys day! Darryl would walk down the sidewalk and the boys(including Cole) followed right behind--so cute. Kade would watch him clearing all the snow and just start clapping with excitement. At one point I suggested to Darryl that he do another part first. Darryl told me he was just going to blow it forward and he started doing that. Kade looked at me and started clapping, "Pretty clever hu!" He was so proud of his dad. :) Love these moments. Anyway, back to the date. . . The power came back on while they were snow blowing and so they changed clothes and headed to the bowling alley. Kade was so proud to report that he got a strike and a couple spares. I think if you really asked him what the best part was it would be that he just got to hang out with Dad all by himself.

It's Date night again?

2012-01-20T22:14:00.000-07:00

Tonight was the only night we could get to the Hale Theatre so we ended up having two date nights in a row! WaHoo! :) It was especially fun because we were able to coordinate with our friends who have season tickets and so we went together and then hit Cold Stone after the show. The show was 39 Steps which was fun. It had about 5 actors but they each played about half a dozen roles. In one act a couple of the guys switched roles 10 times in less than a minute-- pretty clever. Fun show, good treats, great friends, fabulous time.

Date with Dad

2012-01-20T09:49:00.000-07:00

Darryl wanted to spend some one on one time with Kade and Clint so he told them they could pick their favorite place to go and they could have a little date. Clint picked Chuck E Chesse with no hesitation and that was what he stuck with. After school Darryl and Clint went and played the games and Chuck's for hours. Darryl said the best was Clint's technique when he played SkeeBall. He would do a little hop kick when he'd roll the ball. Fun times with Dad!

It's Date Night!

2012-01-19T22:06:00.000-07:00

Darryl and I were so excited when Redmond said they were going to have an activity going to Brian Regan. We had been watching him on Netflix and the guy is so funny so we were excited to see him live and hear his new jokes. He didn't disappoint. I cried from laughing the whole time. The corner of my eye hurt so much from me wiping my salty tears. I really love his material-- it's relatability level is high which makes it even more funny, and it's pretty clean. It was so fun to have a night on the town with my love.

Happy Birthday COLE!

2012-01-08T13:58:00.000-07:00

It was Mr. Cole's Birthday today! He is 2 years old! Wow. He's an official toddler. No more babies here. :( As long as Cole is talking like an alien baby I think I'll still consider him a baby. ;) Every time someone would excitedly say Happy Birthday to him today, or sing to him he'd light up. He's smile his biggest pleased smile and then have this look in his eye like, "Why are people so happy today? And why do they keep saying those words to me? I don't know but I LIKE IT!" :)
After church we let him open his gifts. He loved the mega blocks castle from Granny and Grandpa. After naps we had some friends over and for desert we had birthday cake and ice cream. Cole was SO happy to get to blow out the candle. Over Christmas break Granny would light her Seiffener pyramid nativity and Cole sat there blowing out the candles for over 30 min. Each time was just as exciting as the first. With a mighty proud look he would clap and say, "Good job!" After he blew out his candle on his cake Darryl lit it a few times for him just so he could blow it out. He would have been happy doing that the rest of the night. :) Here are a look at the numbers: height 33.5" - 27 percentile; weight 23.5 lbs. - 4 percentile; head 49.5 cm - 72 percentile.

Cheesy smile.

2012-01-07T14:17:00.000-07:00

Cole has this silly face he loves to make. It occurs most often at the dinner table. It gets us all giggling.

Got Snow???

2012-01-06T14:14:00.000-07:00

Got Snow??? Well we don't! No one can remember a winter like this. I can see almost all our grass and it is JANUARY! So bizarre. We've had a couple mornings with snow but I think the most we ever had was about 2". A few of the days have been incredibly warm too-- we're talking about 60 deg. We've been to the park a few times, had a barbecue on the grill and I even saw a guy riding in his convertible with the top down today. Strange weather. I love the weather like this in the winter, but if there is no snow that means they aren't salting the roads. Not the best for the company. Hopefully we'll get dumped on in Jan. and Feb and not in April. :) Wow we'll likely be planting garden super early this year because we won't have 4' of snow to shovel off!

Uh Oh!

2012-01-05T14:22:00.000-07:00

Cole was vacuuming tonight when his pants slipped down. He was pretty distraught-- not sure if it was because he couldn't move to vacuum or because I was grabbing the camera instead of pulling them up. :D

All Tuckered Out

2012-01-03T14:26:00.000-07:00

Cole was pretty exhausted today. He climbed up on the couch and just watched Kade and Clint playing with the Hot Wheels super crasher and then he fell asleep. What a sweet boy.

Radon--Ugggg!

2012-01-02T10:24:00.000-07:00

You won't want to read this post if you become paranoid about things or ifyou don't have the means to spend over $1,000-- just sayin'. I should note toothat it is very possible even for neighbors to have very different levels sohopefully everyone has super low levels in their homes!

Ever since I learned about Radon, about 6 years ago, I have had this naggingfeeling that I need to be concerned about it and check the levels in the homeswe've lived in. Just recently the topic resurfaced because Rhett's homeopathsuggested that the Radon levels could be causing health problems in theirfamily. He bought a level tester and then offered it to anyone that would liketo borrow it. We jumped on that quickly. A few days later we were sick. Sick becauseour levels are around 21. If it is above 4 they say you should get it takencare of. After getting it taken care of, known as mitigation, which is justinstalling a fan and piping the radon out from under your house your levels areless than 1. When we called the company to come fix it they really didn'tbelieve me that our levels were that high. They figured the tester wasn't calibratedproperly. But we tested a few areas and all were in the 20's. And right afterus someone tested and got 6, another 0.9(Rhett's after mitigation which was 16before), and another was 5. We knew it was working and so their, 'Holy Cowyou're going to die,' reaction made us feel awful. We read later that at ourlevels we were getting the equivalent of smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day.:( Not a good feeling. Every time we see commercials for Tobacco awareness ofthe people with lung cancer we (half heartedly) joke that we'll be therebecause of Radon! Well we had our fan installed today and we sleep much better;simply from knowing we're not in a toxic home.

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T21:45:00.000-07:00

We had our traditional prime rib and shrimp dinner/family Christmas party tonight. We couldn't all get together closer to Christmas so we opted for New Year's instead. I was sad Wayne's whole family wasn't there. The kids had fun opening their gifts they got for each other. I always feel bad for them though because we don't let them open them because any gifts that do get open usually end up broken or parts are lost within 5 minutes. It's just hard when you have about 10 rambunctious kids and pile of new toys to play with. We ate and ate all day played and played all night. After an intense game of Ticket to Ride we made it to 11:45 so it wasn't hard to stay up until midnight. I don't think I've done that for over 10 years! Wow.

Thanks Santa!

2011-12-27T20:06:00.000-07:00

Part of Kade's homework for the Christmas break was to write a thank you note to Santa. Clint decided to write one too.
Translations are as follows:
Clint's says, "Thanks for my flying duck and my toy gun. I like to play the xbox."
Kade's says, "Thank you Santa. Just so you know that scribble is a space. Thank you for the guitar and the xbox."
Love these boys!!! I'm sure Santa loves to see your excitement too.

A day with the presents

2011-12-26T13:30:00.000-07:00

I love the laid back easy days after Christmas where everyone just plays with their gifts. I got a few pictures of the kids(and Darryl) at play; Cole riding his Bullseye, and Darryl and Kade watching the guide that came with Kade's guitar.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T13:42:00.000-07:00

A few pictures of the Christmas morning fun. We didn't take many this year of them opening their gifts. To many things to help with but I did video some of it. The boys came in at 5:30 so excited about the presents under the tree in their bedroom but we told them it wasn't quite morning yet so they headed back to sleep(I think they slept?). At about 6:30 they came in and Darryl and I were already awake so it was fun to get the morning started. Darryl and I looked forward to this morning about as much as the boys do. It's so much fun to see their reactions and see them so excited. Today was especial great to me. I love when Christmas is on Sunday. After some great play time with the new toys we sat them down for a moment while we attended church. The Christmas sacrament meeting program is always so great with the beautiful songs but it was especially great today. I was just so happy to really feel spirit on Christmas day. I always want that and try to remind the kids about the true meaning of Christmas but on Christmas day I feel like we're so caught up in the new items that we don't really feel Christ on Christmas day. After church we just enjoyed playing with the new things together. Great, great day!

Inquiring minds want to know

2011-12-23T21:06:00.000-07:00

I took the boys down to visit the grandparents for a few days before Christmas. On the way back to Heber I stopped to fill up the car with gasoline. I did the routine and then climbed in the car to start our journey home. Kade immediately asked, "Mom, is all gas at all the gas stations the same?" I said, "Yes," thinking you can get 85, 90, 95 octane or diesel at most stations. I thought he would be satisfied with that, but he replied, "Tell me about it." :) I had to smile. He's always been such an inquirer. Our conversation about gasoline lasted for the next 60 miles. He had question after question to which I tried to supply answer after answer. Love you my Curious George!

Dear Santa:

2011-12-22T14:05:00.000-07:00

These were the boys letters they wrote the Santa this year. If you can't tell Clint thought whatever Kade is asking for must be good so he included Kade's wishes as his own. :) They wrote the letters all by themselves with a little spelling help from Dad on a few words.

I'll help myself. :)

2011-12-19T13:10:00.000-07:00

Wendy brought us some yummy pumpkin cinnamon rolls today-- which didn't last long. ;) There was one left and when I came upstairs I found Cole had claimed it. :) I love that he used the knife like a fork.

Couch Cusion Beds

2011-12-17T13:06:00.000-07:00

The boys were making themselves beds to play on this morning. They asked me if I'd take a picture of them pretending to sleep. I'm always so baffled by the things these guys find entertaining. Cole even enjoyed it but he wasn't so convincing on the sleeping part of it. :) I got a kick out of Clint's interpretation of sleeping. :D Kade had his natural sleeping position down.

Welcome Home!!!

2011-12-16T13:17:00.000-07:00

When Darryl came home from work today he walked through the door carrying these beauties for me. (I didn't get a picture of them until a few days later so the calla lily looks sad. I was also impressed when I overheard him telling Kade about the lilys and saying that they were my favorite--he knows me so well {big smile on my face}) Awe. . . I must admit that initially my mind started reeling through what could be special about today or flower worthy. I finally just realized it was just my guy that is special. It's the "just because" things that make my day. I love when people do things not because it's expected, or tradition but because they just wanted to. Thanks for the flowers Love!

The Barber Is In The House!!

2011-12-15T17:56:00.000-07:00

Kade, Kade, Kade, Kade. . . What do we do with you????? So I'll start this post off with a little background. About 2 weeks ago Kade came home from school and I noticed his eyebrow looked a little funny. I just figured the hair was pushed up or something so I tried to smooth it straight with my finger. It still looked funny so after a closer inspection I asked, "Kade did you cut your eyebrow?" To which he nonchalantly replied, "Yes." "WHY?" "I didn't know my scissors were right there and I just closed them and it cut it." It sounded like a simple accident but we had a little chat about scissor safety and such anyway. We back to today. I picked Kade up from school and as I approached him I thought, 'Why does it look like he has got a part right in the middle of his forehead?' When he got in the car I got my answer. NO hair made the crack! He told me he cut his hair and said he was just sitting listening to Mrs. Mecham and the scissors were on his head and he closed them. AGAIN?! I asked him if he needed Mrs. Mecham to keep his scissors for him. :) He said he'll be more careful now. Well it was a good laugh anyway. If you look at the right eyebrow you can still see that it hasn't grown back yet. After the photo we buzzed his hair off so it was all about the same length so he didn't look so silly. Kids.

Just some cute pics.

2011-12-15T17:45:00.000-07:00

Cole wanted some camera time too after I'd taken pictures of Kade and his "hair cut."

COLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-12-15T17:43:00.000-07:00

This kid is going to kill me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is Mr. Destruction. If it can be broke, ruined or misused Cole is your man! I really don't know how he comes up with most of what he does but this is one of his specialities that we've yet to get him to refrain from doing. If he locates any writing utensil you can bet there is a drawing on a wall somewhere. Here is one that I captured--it's hard to get the true size of this masterpiece but the dimensions are about 3' X 6'. Thank goodness for Mr. Clean Magic Erasers!

Way to Go Mr. Hayter!

2011-12-15T17:34:00.000-07:00

Mr. Hayter the P.E. teacher has been teaching Clint some exercises. He's made a training athlete out of Clint(at least for this week :)). At random moments Clint would stop whatever he was doing and say, "I need to do some exercise." I love all the old-school moves he was busting out. :) I should have played the theme from Rocky in the background. I really love the little kicks the boys get on. I'm so glad they have a great dose of personality!

Cute Reaction

2011-12-14T17:31:00.000-07:00

I turned my phone around so Cole could see his face while I was taking his picture. He got so excited and kept saying, "It's you!" (in his little alien-like voice) Love these pictures!

Breakfast In Bed

2011-12-11T13:18:00.000-07:00

So I woke up this morning and could hear the boys rustling around in the kitchen/family room. I didn't think much of it and just enjoyed lying in bed for as long as it would last. If they were happy playing I didn't see any need to get up. Darryl was awake too and "looking at his phone"(He could have been e-mailing, reading the news, researching something, playing scrabble. I just say he's looking at his phone now.) A few minutes later Kade and Clint walked through our door with breakfast on a cookie tray. I had a suspicion that they were making breakfast in bed because I could hear them getting out the tray. They had two bowls with corn chex (not our favorite but we'll eat mostly anything those boys will make us) all ready to go for Darryl and I. They are such thoughtful little guys. Kade loved doing it so much he's talking about what he's going to bring in tomorrow. :) Side note: It's been over a month and it never happened again. But the one time it did was the greatest--that's all I needed was to see my sweet boys being thoughtful.

Chillaxin' (nice word)

2011-12-09T17:28:00.000-07:00

A picture is worth a thousand words. How you know when Cole is relaxed and chill: He crosses his ankle over his shin and has a face of pure peace. I found him like this today. I had to just take the picture quickly with my phone before he moved. Notice he had found a little something to play with too. He doesn't really play the I-pods he just pushes the button and then is easily able to delete the apps. Thanks for your help buddy! :/

Hard Workin' Early

2011-12-05T13:16:00.000-07:00

Darryl was doing some work at the dinner table on his laptop today. Cole came marching in with his Barney laptop and plopped it on the table. He was having a hard time getting all situated and up on the chair but after he whined he got my attention and so I helped the cute boy out. So funny the things they come up with. He sat next to Darryl working for quite a while. He'd look over at Darryl and smile and then "type" on his toy.

Putting Up the Tree

2011-11-25T21:35:00.000-07:00

Kade, Clint, and Anthony we all ready to help Grandpa and Grandma put up their Christmas tree. Grandpa was getting it out of the shed and before he knew it the boys were clumsily trying to carry it across the yard. Grandpa rushed to help and so Clint let him take over with Kade and Anthony.

Family Pics.

2011-11-25T21:27:00.000-07:00

We were way overdue for a new family picture-- we haven't had one since way before Cole was born. These were nice but they weren't as crisp as we hoped. One day we'll get how to use the camera right. I'm just happy we have one that is decent and Cole is in it. He hasn't been in our family picture on our wall for the first 2 years of his life. Poor kid. :( I didn't take a picture of our Christmas cards before I'd sent them all but I used a couple of these pictures for them. The printing company took forever(over 3 weeks) so I didn't get them until after Christmas-- I thought I'd be on the ball this year but I guess not.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T22:44:00.000-07:00

We spent the first part of the Thanksgiving break in Redmond. It was the "on" year for the Bosshardt's so most everyone was there-- except Greg and Wendy. :( The days were so fun with the cousins. We wish we lived closer so they could have fun together more often. After a few days of leftover turkey we went to Aurora for some time with my folks. They hadn't had "Thanksgiving Dinner" yet because all my brothers and sister weren't able to come before Saturday so we had another turkey dinner.

Whooo Whoooo

2011-11-24T21:41:00.000-07:00

These two owls were in Neal and Marcia's tree this week. The kids had such a great time checking on them and looking for them each day.

Leaf Mountain

2011-11-24T13:29:00.000-07:00

After turkey dinner everyone helped rake Grandma and Grandpa's yard. When it was done they got to enjoy the fun of the mountain of leaves. My favorite was Anthony plugging his nose when he got tossed into the leaves.

Serious Push-Ups

2011-11-22T21:17:00.000-07:00

Uncle Kelby came to visit! The boys really think the world of their Aunts and Uncles, especially when they romp around with them. Kelby was doing push-ups and the boys hopped on for a ride. Cole couldn't miss out on the fun too but he kept falling off and so he ended up choosing to lay on Kelby's head instead. :D

Cowboy Hat

2011-11-19T15:20:00.000-07:00

Cole has been on a cowboy kick lately. He wears this has constantly--as you can see he's sporting his PJ's because he either just got up or is just heading to bed and of course he had to find the hat and return it to his head. :)

Snow Fun

2011-11-19T13:12:00.000-07:00

We got our first amount of significant snow yesterday and it stuck around for us to play in it. I wonder if that was the last we'll see of the grass until May. :/
Cole was a die-hard. It was pretty cold but he did not want to come in. Eventually Abby, Kade, and Clint decided to come in but Cole whined a lot trying to get them to stay outside and play. At that age Kade and Clint were not fond of the snow. They would go out but they were only happy about it for about 3 minutes then they were cold and done!

It's me.

2011-11-17T13:06:00.000-07:00

I'm usually behind the camera but this time Clint wanted to take a pictures and this is one he took of me. I figured it might not be a bad idea to get a picture of me in here and this picture I at least had make-up on so I chose it over many others. :) Side note: This is my favorite hat of all time. I scored this hat at Family Dollar. I went there to get a birthday gift for one of Clint's friends and noticed it. It was $5 so I figured I'd splurge and get something for myself. Well, I went back a few days later and bought another one. :)

Managing Thought

2011-11-08T16:05:00.000-07:00

Redmond had the author of Managing Thought come and give a presentation on her material to the employees. There are a lot of the ideas from the book that I have been practicing and I must say I am pretty happy about things so far. A few of the ideas are: Do do-overs, Really think about your thoughts and be aware of how and what you are really feeling, don't use the word 'but' use 'and.' I know I often find myself just doing what has to be done and getting through the day without really thinking and doing those things that I choose to do. :D Good stuff. I love when I become more aware and feel more freedom. They tried to pick a neutral location for the Heber and Redmond employees so they held it in Payson. Darryl has read the book a couple times so he offered to stay home and take care of the boys while I went since finding a babysitter for a late night on a school night wasn't an option. Thanks Love!

Just Pull IT!

2011-11-05T12:27:00.000-06:00

Clint has watched Kade rip out many of his teeth and in doing so he's decided that he's not going to loose any teeth. We explained to him that he will loose teeth. He came to the conclusion that he just wouldn't pull any of them and just let them fall out on their own. Well as you can see this tooth is almost there. I'm pretty sure all of the roots are detatched so I'm not sure what it's hanging on with. We keep thinking he's going to swallow it. It doesn't bother him a bit but the rest of us repeatedly say, "Just pull it!" :) Well later that night it finally broke loose. He couldn't believe that it didn't hurt when it fell out; He's convinced it's because he let it fall out by itself.

Snow Angels

2011-11-05T12:26:00.000-06:00

The snow is here and the boys couldn't wait to go make snow angels. They even threw a few snow balls at Dad. It's not a bad game when you get to hid behind the big glass door. :)

Double Date :)

2011-11-03T15:59:00.000-06:00

Darryl and I went on a double date with some friends for the first time in . . . years I think. We've done things with people from work but never just some friends. It was so fun. They have season tickets to the Hale Theatre and we had our gift certificate tickets so we planned and went on the same night. We decided to go to dinner first and then we had to keep with their tradition of hitting Cold Stone Creamery before heading home. Usually when Darryl and I go on dates by ourselves we talk about the kids the whole time but it was fun to have other conversation and to get to know the Goodes. Good times.

His Throne

2011-11-01T12:24:00.000-06:00

Cole's favorite seat in the house-- the waffel iron! :D He's such a ham. He loves to pull out the iron and set on it and watch everyone. My favorite is when he lays back in relaxing mode. The picture of it doesn't show his emotion very well. It looks more like, "Hey, how's it goin'? I'm just sittin' here relaxin'." Kade crawled over to talk to Cole while I was taking pictures and Cole can't let a crawling person not have a rider so he climbed on. Yee Haw!

Tre Treet!

2011-10-31T11:49:00.000-06:00

Trick or Treating was so fun this year. The weather made it SO enjoyable. We started around 6:30 and did our street and the street north of us. We didn't wear jackets and it felt great, even when it was dark. Right at the end it started to get chilly but I couldn't have been happier. ;) I started with the kids and then Darryl caught up with us and shared in the fun. It was also super fun because Kade and Clint were so excited about it all and really enjoyed going and going and going. Cole was the happiest of us all though. I'm sure he's thinking in his little mind, "Why don't we do this everyday! This is awesome-- just knock on doors, people open them, say "Tre Treet" and then they give you candy!" We would pick him up to carry him from house to house so we could keep up with Kade and Clint. As soon as Cole could see another door he started to squeal, jabber, point, and kick to get down and run to the next door. You'd think he'd mellow out after a few houses or at least after 20, but nope. He was just as excited on #1 as he was on #40. Some times he'd get lost in the group of the kids at the door and not get any candy but he didn't seem to mind and he made up for it. At one of the houses they had a large package of candy that they hadn't opened yet and somehow Cole ended up with it. The crazy thing is I didn't even see it get into the pumpkin so I didn't question it. Sorry whoever you are neighbor! :) And again thanks mother nature for a great night!

Sticky Sweetness!

2011-10-29T11:45:00.000-06:00

Darryl really enjoyed harvesting honey this year. There were only 4 supers (I think 2 were Rhett's and 2 were ours). He said that's the enjoyable amount because it didn't take the entire day. I enjoyed it because we were able to get EVERYTHING done and cleaned up. So we weren't dripping caps for days and then cleaning again. It was nice. I forgot about the wax though and let it set cook all night-- it turned olive green. Oops. :]The boys loved turning the crank and snitching honey that had dripped out of the supers. Fun times. Oh, an improvement this time! Chris let Darryl borrow his jet heater. WOW! Where have you been all our lives! I don't know if he had it previous years but wow it would have been nice to have that before. It heated up the garage to about 100 deg. in about 15 min. So great! Even without his heater Chris is always a great help every year.

Monopoly Anyone!

2011-10-27T11:47:00.000-06:00

The boys just discovered this Christmas version of Monopoly and asked Darryl to teach them how to play. I didn't think it would last long. I thought the boys would get bored with it and loose interest. Oh no. It was close to a 2 hour game. And they played it again the next day, and a few days after that with me. Who would have thought they'd enjoy such a long game. It's crazy to think they're past the days of Candy Land- I'm not sure how that happened.

Raking Leaves!

2011-10-26T14:44:00.000-06:00

The boys have been crazed about raking leaves. Kade initially started it because he said then Dad will say, "What a good worker." Then somehow money got thrown into the idea and after Darryl came home I heard it said that he was going to give them each $5 for raking the whole back yard. The spent the whole night raking about 6-8(yep they were in the dark-- well they had the porch light). The next day(which is the day I took the pictures) they ran outside and started raking as soon as Kade got home from school. [Side note: It was pajama day for Red Ribbon Week so the boys were still in their pjs on one of the days. :)] They raked again until about 7. At about 6:30 the wind kicked up and so leaves kept falling and covering the ground. The boys were so disappointed. They wanted me to make them stop. "We just got ALL the lawn all clean and then. . .whoosh!" I had them look up at the trees and see that they were covered with leaves still and so the yard was going to be covered again and again. They decided to give raking a break for a while until all the leaves are on the ground. ;) Love, love these boys and the things they become obsessed with! Cole wants to be just like his big brothers so he grabbed a rake too. He's had his picture taken one too many times lately. I walked outside with the camera and immediately he started yelling, "cheese!" I'm not sure what the pose was when he stuck out his belly-- funny kid. Clint loved getting in the pile and throwing the leaves up in the air. Kade loved raking a big pile and jumping on it. I think he thought the idea was better than the real thing. He would always lay there after the big thud like, 'that wasn't a nice soft landing like I expected.'

Storytime

2011-10-26T13:08:00.000-06:00

Ms. Sally's Storytime Halloween Party was so awesome this year. It was all great but the balloon guy was really amazing to me. He told a story--that had a good moral but I don't think many kids got it-- but he'd made the characters out of balloons. It was so cute! I wish I'd gotten better pictures and more of them. There was a wolf that was adorable that I didn't get. There was a little girl, a pumpkin, a bat, a wolf, and some jungle trees. The guy was amazing. I don't remember his name but if you want information about him I'll get it from Ms. Sally. You can see "Cat in the Hat" was enthralled by the characters.

Jack O'lantern

2011-10-23T15:02:00.000-06:00

We finally got to carving the pumpkins. We were going to do it last Monday with Spooky Dinner like we always do but we had a special guest come to Spooky Dinner and by the time they left there wasn't time to carve. So since today was the only night Darryl and I would be home together thought we better get it done. The boys wanted to do it all by themselves. They drew on the faces and then started carving. I helped Clint carve a little-- the pumpkin are so big so they're really thick and it makes carving rough. Kade wouldn't let me look at his until he was done. It turned out great and then he decided he wanted to cut out a spot on the pumpkin that was scratched and decided it would be cheeks so he cut a circle out on the other side. Pretty funny. His mouth was pretty original and neat. Look closely and you'll see the boys next to their pumpkins. :)

This Year's Line Up

2011-10-22T13:27:00.000-06:00

A friend from Darryl's work invited us over for a Halloween Party. We've never been to one and though we knew it was Harry Potter based we hoped us Harry illiterate people would be okay. Everyone else was sporting their Harry Potter characters except us. Then they divided us up into teams with team names that we'd never heard of. It wasn't looking so good. They put up with our ignorance and explained everything so we ended up having a great time even though our Davey Crockett and Cat in the Hat were throwing off the theme a little.
Well there is a story behind the spooks this year. Darryl's grandma had a Davey Crockett book that we just inherited and the boys have been loving it. Kade was set on being Mr. Crockett. It worked out too because Darryl had a coonskin hat from when he was a kid that fit Kade perfectly. I love the picture of him pretending he's grinning down a "bar" [bear]. Since Kade was Davey, Darryl decided to be George Russell, Davey's sidekick. As for Clint I'm not sure why Cat in the Hat was his choice. The only thing I can think of was last year there were a couple cat's hats at the thrift store and so I asked them if they wanted to be that but they didn't. I guess Clint regretted it so that's what he picked this year. But no hat at the thrift store now so my mom and I made one while we were down there. Mr. Cole didn't get a choice. He got to be Peter Pan like Kade was. I made this costume back when Kade was Cole's age and so I was happy to get more use out of it. In trying to get the boys outfits ready I didn't get my own done so I quickly threw some of the boys pirate dress-ups on and tried to be Captain Hook with Peter Pan. : / Maybe next year I'll get my parachute ready.

A "Sleep" Over

2011-10-21T13:17:00.000-06:00

I guess we should just call these things "overs" because it doesn't sound like much sleeping goes on. The boys and Kylee love to have sleep-overs when we're in Aurora. The parents don't love them[the sleep-overs] that much. The kids just go to bed way late and then they're so excited to see each other when they stir in the morning that they wake up at 6:00 AM and are ready to party. I guess it's not about us. It's fun to let the kids make some memories. Kylee read to the boys. It looks like Kade was about asleep. He was coughing a ton because we'd been playing in the hay at the corn maze-- not a good place for an asthma kid. Oops! ;)

Corn Maze Happy Birthday Grandma

2011-10-21T09:58:00.000-06:00

I've been wanting to take the boys to a corn maze this year-- it just seemed like something they would really enjoy. I didn't really know though because I've never been to one myself. Actually I've been to a haunted one once but we pulled in the parking lot and had scary people scratching our window and climbing on the car and starring at us so we kept the doors locked and pulled out of there! Glad I didn't have to go there--so scary! Anyway, while we were down visiting the Grandparents my brother suggested we go. We were all excited! We went to a place in Sigurd and I figured since we were in small town USA it would be pretty basic-- cornfield with a path, try to find your way to the end. I was pleasantly surprised. Before you entered the corn maze there was a big field with all kinds of fun things for the kids made from hay. There was a mountain like pile that had black tube slides. There were bales of hay put together to make tractors. When the kids saw the sky high slide they couldn't wait to go down. We quickly decided they couldn't go though because there was a 90 deg. angle at the bottom so we thought the reason no one was playing on it was because it wasn't safe. Surely someone was going to break their leg at the bottom. Well we quickly discovered the corn pit so they forgot about the slide. They had so much fun in the corn. They made snow angels, went swimming, did cannonballs, and buried themselves. I couldn't believe how they would just bury their faces in the corn for so long. While we were in the corn we saw other people safely go down the slide so the kids quickly ran over to take their turn. They couldn't get enough of it. There were a few times they were airborne going down. The bottom turned out to be okay for little kids. It curved just enough to fold them. Bigger kids though always said, "ouch," and never went again. They also had large black tubes that the kids sat in while Uncle Buzz rolled them around. They were blurry pictures but I love how happy Kade's face is and how much Kylee looks like a rag doll. We finally made it in the corn maze. Wahoo!!!! The wahoo didn't last long. The kids had a plan that they would each take turns picking which path we'd take and then we'd follow them. When we got to the next intersection they would switch. Well after the 20th dead end they had lost all interest in the corn maze. We decided Uncle Buzz should be the leader for a while. We still kept running into dead ends. Finally we found some boys that seemed to know the maze so we followed them for a bit and we ended up somewhere we figured we should be. We eventually started seeing markers and getting close to the tower so the kids attitude perked up a little. It took us 1 hour to do the maze and if we hadn't found those boys I think we might still be in the maze. :)

We had a little party for Grandma tonight-- well we made dinner for her anyway. She ended up making some of it while we were at the maze---sorry Mom. We made Cafe Rio for her and she loved it. We also made her key lime pie. When I got out the candles Clint said, "Oh a 2 and a 6 because Grandma is 26!" Grandma liked that. Then we put them on the pie and Clint said, "OH! It's a 9 and a 2. She's 92." She didn't like that. We told him it was 62 but Grandma changed it to 26 she liked that one the best. Happy Birthday Mom! You're Mrs. Amazing! We love you!!!!

Spooky Dinner

2011-10-17T15:14:00.000-06:00

Tonight we introduced someone from Afghanistan to Spooky Dinner. He was bewildered by the whole Halloween Holiday anyway. He loved the spaghetti though. His translator said it was the most he's eaten since he got here. He was in the states visiting salt mines because he himself runs a salt mine. We thought it would be fun to invite him to see what "life" was like for a family in the US. It was such a great time asking him questions and learning about their life and culture. He was so kind and gave us gifts when he was leaving. He gave me a bracelet that has a turquoise stones on it that are pretty unique to Afghanistan. He gave Darryl and Uncle Jay traditional hats. They are wool so they are very warm but look a little strange on Darryl. :) What a fun unique Spooky Dinner this year.

Cascade Springs

2011-10-14T08:13:00.000-06:00

It has been so beautiful the past few days so today we couldn't stand the thought of just staying home so we took a spontaneous trip to Cascade Springs. We hadn't been up there this year and so it seemed to be the perfect spot. Well by the time we got there the sun was behind the mountain so there was a little chill in the air. We still had a great time walking along the trails, and seeing the falls and the beautiful colors. Darryl got some fun pictures too.

A.P.P.L.E Party

2011-10-13T15:10:00.000-06:00

The school is so good about having activities for the families to get involved with. Tonight was the first APPLE party we've been to. It was a Halloween theme and they had different stations for the kids to choose from. Each station they read a story and did an activity. They had a bone hunt for all the skeletons bones, and they made potion with a witch. They also had yarn and made a spider web with a whole group of people--tangled mess but funny. Our elementary and the people rock!

Free Time

2011-10-13T14:00:00.000-06:00

Kade was doing the ritual of unloading his backpack as soon as he gets home from school. He goes through and shows me each paper and tells me something about it-- sometimes it's a whole story and other times he just says, "you can throw that paper away it's just garbage." Today he pulled out a paper and said, "I earned "free time" at school today! I could do anything I wanted, so I wrote a page of math!" Hmmm. Is he mathie like his mother? Or is he just a strange kid that would like to make up his own math paper instead of playing with toys, the computers, or whatever else is in the classroom. He loves all those other things so I was rather surprised with what he did. What a cute kid!

Nothing is Out of Reach!

2011-10-13T10:46:00.000-06:00

I figured I better blog about this so I could laugh about it sometime-- but for now it makes me crazy! I left the camera on the counter so I could just snap shots of his typical day. He has had this figured out for quite a while; He just pushes a chair around the kitchen to get to whatever he wants or do whatever he wants. And if that isn't good enough he just climbs onto the counters. One day I found him throwing all the cups out of the cupboard on to the floor--thankfully he'd only thrown plastic cups, but he ended up breaking Darryl's favorite camping mug. He's such a handful-- terrible twos here we come! The picture of him sitting on the couch with the sweet puppy dog face is when I made him sit on the couch for climbing onto the counter. Reality though is that he'll likely be on the counter again before the day is over. You can see in the pictures he found his favorite treat-- cherry tomatoes. He also found a banana and buttons to push. Doesn't get much better! He spends the majority of his time "cooking." He gets pans out of the child locked cupboard(I guess the makers need to go back to the drawing board when a 1 1/2 year old can break into the cupboard). He packs all the pans to the stovetop and fills them with spatulas and hotpads and cooks up a storm. ;)

Dinner with Friends

2011-10-12T15:05:00.000-06:00

We had dinner with some of our friends tonight. We do this as often as we can, maybe once every 3 months, but it just never seems to make it on the blog. We really enjoy having people over though. It's fun I think because it makes us feel social. :) Plus we have really fun people to hangout with. :)

On the Run

2011-10-07T11:28:00.000-06:00

The boys wanted to see how fast they could go on the treadmill tonight and it ended up being a night of exercise. They got so hot they had to take their shirts off and they also had to use the headphones like Dad. Cole also got in on it. He has to do everything the brothers do. Kade and Clint were so excited that they could run on 4. Cole we would put on .5 :) It was so cute to watch him just trot along.

Happy B-day Me!(late)

2011-10-05T15:00:00.000-06:00

I have some really great friends. I really don't like to burden anyone so I really didn't want my friends to have a lunch day because it's just one more thing on the calendar and one more thing that where they need to make arrangements for their kids. Well we settled on just having lunch and you can bring your kids at Wendy's. We had to wait and do it in Oct because all the other days wouldn't work for us all. Everyone just brought something to eat and it was a super tasty lunch!!! Better than going out. I really love the friends I have-- they're are some of the greatest people. I wish we could just hangout more often.

Cooking & Button!!!!

2011-10-04T11:22:00.000-06:00

I love when these little boys spend so much time preparing something tasty for me and then they bring it to me with such a proud look on their face. Then they light up when I gobble it all up like it's the best thing I've ever tasted. Cole recently started doing this which surprised me. I didn't think he was old enough to enjoy the little kitchen yet but I was wrong. He's quite the chef. :)While I was taking pictures of him cooking I asked him where his button was and got this cute series of pictures. Oh I love this boy!

The Great Pumpkin

2011-10-02T14:14:00.000-06:00

This is the pumpkin McKylee planted in Grandma's garden. WOWZERS! It was a beast to move but likely more of a beast to carve. It was a lot wider than tall. It was about as wide as Clint is tall--about 40 in. Kylee and Porter posed by the pumpkin so you could see how little it makes them look. Grandma grew 2 other big pumpkins and so the Nances and the Bosshardts each took one. They were about half the size (or less than the great pumpkin) but they are still big pumpkins.

Independent with a capital I

2011-10-01T14:08:00.000-06:00

This is how Cole eats a yogurt. He starts with a spoon but, after putting it too his mouth again and again and coming up with an empty mouth because all the yogurt drops off the spoon before it hits his mouth, he reverts to using his hands. Both hands dip in and then he shoves them into his face/mouth. Ugh. If you try to feed him he yells something over and over. I think he's saying spoon or something. We've finally come to an agreement that he can feed himself while I feed him. Then I can actually get something in there and it speeds things up too.

Gold Medal Mile

2011-09-27T14:55:00.000-06:00

Que Chariots of Fire! I finally went to run with Kade during his lunch break. The school is part of a program where each student runs at least 1 mile every week. They do this during their lunch and each grade does it on a different day. I had been promisisng Kade I'd come but never made it until today. Kade was so funny about it. He was very strict about running the whole time. He was so excited because he got to count his family member's laps too. He went back to class with his hand covered in dots. Nice job buddy!

a DAy in tHe lifE of CoLe

2011-09-18T07:27:00.006-06:00

Here's Cole with his cucumber that he insisted on stabbing with a fork and then just holding the cucumber and trying to bite it with the fork getting in the way. Here is Clint who would like to get down on the ground once without being sat on, laid on, or stood on. (Actually I think Clint likes the attention from his brother). :)

Walk-A-Thon

2011-09-16T14:49:00.000-06:00

The school's fundraiser walk-a-thon was today. I went to walk with the boys but they were running maniacs. In the end Kade had run over 3 miles. I was so surprised that he could do that. Clint's grade didn't get as much time but he too ran a lot of laps. I tried to catch up to both of them now and then but I could see them more and could cheer them on if I just stayed in one spot so I eventually stopped running. Kade kept saying, "Maybe I can go run with Dad in the mornings now." ;-)

Sing A Song

2011-09-15T12:58:00.000-06:00

Clint came home from school today singing a song he says they sing in Mrs. Wade's class. It is about the days of the week and they sing something like, "On Monday, we read a book. On Tuesday, we write our letters. On Wednesday, we sing a song; la la la la," etc. He said he sings Wednesday like this though, "we sing a song; bow chicka wow wow." He of course had some hilarious movements with his twiggy legs and arms. He's always making me laugh. Oh I love him.

1st Grade Service Project

2011-09-14T13:45:00.000-06:00

Two of the most awesome people I know: Wendy and Heidi

My Kade!

Kade's awesome teacher Mrs. Mecham

The amazing principal Mr. Brown

Everyone working--so adorable!

Group picture when it was finished

And a pic. of Clint and I(he had to come help after he got out of school--good job buddy)

Today was the 1st grade service project. Wendy Spencer was in charge so I told her I'd help her. We wanted to do something that the kids could really do and it wouldn't be the adults doing or fixing or redoing everything 100 kids did. SO when our ward emptied sand bags and the park playground for a ward service project I thought-- this is it! After some calling and coordinating we finally got a day approved and it was a complete success. The kids were so into it and they all helped. The park looked better and the sandbags were no more. Good good day.

Lake Powell Sunday

2011-09-11T13:28:00.001-06:00

We got here on Wednesday and it's already Sunday! I don't know how the time can fly by so fast here but it always seems to be over too soon. I really have the hardest time with this day. I almost don't want to come just so I don't have to be so sad and depressed because I have to leave. The discussions were enlightening and fun as always and one thing we explored is the idea of playing to your strengths--which is doing things more often that strengthen you. Things that when you do them you loose track of time and you are just so fulfilled. We I'm pretty sure that living at Lake Powell is one of my strengths so I'd like to "play to that" more often! ;) Thanks Redmond Inc. for a opening experience!

Where were you?
On this day of memorial I wanted to record my 9-11 experience so I can remember. I was doing a week of student teaching at Cedar High. A class had just come in and so we were waiting for all the students to get to their seats etc. Another teacher came running in and told us to turn on our TV. The news was showing the video of the airplanes hitting the Twin Towers. I felt like it was some kind of joke or something that had an explanation. It slowly started sinking in that this was really happening. None of us could move all day. The bells rang dismissing each period but the students would just float from class to class. The teachers kept the TVs on and we all just watched all day. It felt like we were in a strange trance; which in a way we were. We were hypnotized by the audacity of people to cause destruction on such a grand scale. Report after report kept coming in of people we were not accounted for, firefighters who radioed and then nothing, and also people where were suppose to be there that day but because of various reasons weren't. Then there was the report of the airplane that hit the Pentagon. I was so scared for Jackie, Darryl's sister. She had just left the day before to start and internship there. I called Darryl and he said that his parents heard from Jackie and she's fine, just emotionally scared. Then there was reports of another hijacked airplane that because of the efforts of the passengers it didn't make it's target but went down killing all in Pennsylvania. I hate hatred! I just don't understand why someone can let hatred overtake them so much that they would be willing to cause so much devastation. Hate is one thing but to act on it so viciously-- I just don't understand it. For days, weeks, and months we watched the same videos over and over is sorrow and disbelief. Finally after it had been over a year I couldn't stand to watch them anymore. It was horrible and I just feel so terribly for all those who were effected by it one way or another. I look back now and can't believe it's been 10 years; the wound still feels pretty fresh. I can't imagine actually being there that day and seeing what they saw-- how horrible.

Lake Powell Saturday

2011-09-10T09:21:00.012-06:00

We spent a lot of the day just enjoying things. We went on a kayak excursion that we didn't get any pictures of. We kayaked up the narrow part of Face Canyon and then got out and hiked/swam as far up as we could until we hit a small pool. Darryl and a few of the guys were doing backflips off the side of the wall into the pool. It was pretty crazy to watch because it wasn't like they were standing on a flat landing-- it was the side of the wall. Good times. Darryl got in some good sky skiing today and I did a little wake boarding. Darryl is still landing his flips like it's nothing. He's pretty amazing to watch. He jumps so high too. I even tried the sky ski. I felt like I was closer than I've ever been to actually getting it but I we didn't have time for me to perfect it. I love the pictures of people on the slalom ski. The camera makes the water wall look so neat.

2011-09-10T09:01:00.000-06:00

2011-09-10T09:00:00.000-06:00

Lake Powell Friday

2011-09-09T14:56:00.002-06:00

Darryl took some beautiful pictures of a lily and one of it being bent by the breeze. We traveled to Rainbow Bridge today. I haven't been there since I was a kid. It was so neat to hear the stories from Chuck the park ranger(can't you see in the pictures how passionate he is about this place-- so great!). I'd forgotten how magnificent the arch is. I believe they said it's the largest natural bridge. Pretty amazing. Fun to remember driving how decades ago we drove our boat under it-- long way from that happening again. The group was awesome-- it is always so great to get a group of "strangers" together and after a few days we're like family. On the way we stopped at Dangling Rope Marina and of course we had to feed the massive school of massive carp. :D

Lake Powell Thursday

2011-09-08T12:04:00.001-06:00

I couldn't wait to wakeboard. I hadn't done it for 2 years! I was pretty nervous I wouldn't remember how. But aside from starting with the wrong foot forward on the first pull I was pretty okay. I didn't get very comfortable with the jumps though-- Here's to next year! I needed to get comfortable again and I needed more speed. It was just as fun as I remember it being though. Ahh. I love everything about Lake Powell! Oh! Notice the picture that you can see my spirit wakeboarding--so I know this isn't just something my physical body loves. :) Darryl doesn't know what he did when he took the picture but it's pretty crazy.

2011-09-08T12:01:00.001-06:00

1st Day of Kindergarten!

2011-09-06T14:44:00.003-06:00

Clint started school today! He was pretty excited about it I think mostly because he wants to be like Kade and do all the things Kade talks about each day. Clint's teacher is Mrs. Wade and he goes to the morning session so he can still get his nap in the afternoon. All of his friends are in school in the afternoon so he doesn't have many friends to play with in the afternoon but he really couldn't survive without the afternoon nap-- he would be all tears all day. :*( It has turned out okay though because he's made some great friends and so he has buddies to do things with in the afternoons.
Darryl snapped a few pictures of the school boys before they headed off to school this morning.

Puppy!

2011-09-02T13:54:00.001-06:00

My friend Gina gave me these towels when I had Clint--5 years ago!--That is crazy! ANYWAY, Kade and Clint still use them and it's so great now because Cole treats them just like he treats real dogs. The boys wrap up in their towels after their bath and huddle on the floor. Cole runs over and pets them, squeals, and says something like, "puppy"(not so clearly though). He's so excited I figure this is great because now we don't need to get a dog! The nice thing about these dogs is they go potty in toilets and flush themselves! They also don't shed or stink! They are the pet to get! :o)

Translations of Cole Language

2011-08-30T21:32:00.004-06:00

Cole jabbers and jabbers many people say he speaks Russian, Italian, or Alien. There are a few words however that we actually recognize. Here are a few of them:
*"bir" bird
*"but" button, which just this week has become "butt E"
*"peez" please, this just started this week and is SO cute
*mam" mom
"da" dad
he says something for amen but it's not really a word it's more of a quick alien like sound, something like "meep"
I really can't wait for him to talk so we can understand what he wants but the truth is I LOVE when he rattles off something with real intent to me and then laughs like it was a funny story. Oh he's so cute I can't stand it! :D If we could only know what's going on in that little mind of his.

Redneck Tree

2011-08-28T14:41:00.000-06:00

I received an e-mail with this picture attached from my friend and neighbor.
The subject line was "Redneck Tree."

I almost just deleted the e-mail because I figured it was just another forward. I didn't though--good thing because it was a funny one. :)

The e-mail read:

"You might be a redneck if you try to grow a tree in a trash can... (see attachment)

Hee hee hee!"

I didn't look at the picture until last. When it was done downloading I died laughing-- it was our garbage can. :) She said her kids saw it on their way home from school and laughed and laughed at it because they said it looked like the tree was growing in the garbage.

Call the Firemen!

2011-08-26T14:06:00.000-06:00

Cole's latest "favorite thing to do" is one that has me a little concerned. He's sure to burn the house down. He loves to put the hot-pads and my kitchen towels in the oven. Hmmm. I hope I remember to check before I turn the oven on to pre-heat. I also hope he doesn't let one slip through the slot to the pilot light. I know you're thinking that I should stop him. Well this picture is of him being stopped. I had distracted him with something else but as you can see as soon as mom is gone I resume the dangerous activity!

Kade's 1st grade class

2011-08-25T14:11:00.000-06:00

Kade brought home this picture he did in school today. There are 10 girls and 10 boys in his class. I loved his self portrait.

1st day of 1st Grade

2011-08-25T13:45:00.003-06:00

Today was Kade's first day of 1st Grade and he couldn't have been happier. We are sad that summer break is over though. The summer weather didn't start until recently in Heber so we're feeling a little gypped. Oh well we'll just have to run through the sprinklers after all the fun at school! Kade's teacher is Mrs. Mecham and we've heard all great things about her. Kade has been asking daily when today would come for weeks. I'm so glad he loves school. I wanted to get a cute 1st day picture of him but Mr. Cole apparently thought I was talking to him when I told Kade to stand against the wall. We tried to bribe him out of the picture but he wasn't moving as long as Kade was there. Oh well it's a super cute picture of both of them!
Last night Kade came in my room at 2 AM to let me know that he knew what he was going to wear, "The perfect shirt for the first day. My JR Smith Elementary School Shirt!" I was glad he had it figured out but I was worried he was going to be a zombie all day at school since it seemed the anticipation was keeping him up. He did just great though. I was also worried about the sleep issue since he takes a nap every afternoon, but he hasn't seemed bothered by missing them. He does crash pretty hard on Saturday afternoon though.

One Last Hurrah!

2011-08-24T14:16:00.001-06:00

I wanted to get in one last trip with the boys to 7 Peaks before school started-- it starts tomorrow so today is the day! :) Really I'd wanted to go earlier but the weather has been rainy so we didn't want to chance getting down there and not being able to go. Well this trip was going to be perfect-- I had it all figured out! Provo school district started last Monday so I thought the park would be bare-- wahoo! We headed down and arrived a little before 11. We were getting closer and Kade said, "No one is there mom! It'll just be us!" Then with the same enthusiasm he says, "And there is no water!" Why is he excited about that? Clearly he doesn't understand that isn't a good thing. Turns out that 7 Peaks starts opening at 4 PM when Provo school starts. :( That puts a damper on the day. We remembered Aunt Wendy was heading into the MTC today so we called them and they were having lunch at the Subway right by us so we went and had lunch and tried to come up with a plan for our "Last Hurrah." I figured there wasn't anything else we could do but head to Trafalga. I couldn't remember how to get there and so after a lot of phone calls and a few missed exits we finally arrived. We only had about an hour to play because I had to get back to Heber for a faculty meeting. There was hardly anyone at Trafalga so the boys went on the rides over and over and over. Cole was so good to just hang out and watch the boys have fun. They really wanted to do the water boats but without someone to watch Cole while we were in the boats it wasn't an option. On our way out of the park Kade was saying something about how much he wanted to go on the boats as we walked by them. The girl running the boats told him he and Clint could go together by themselves. Yea for the girl who bent the rules! She really made their day. On the way back to Heber I just couldn't bring myself to taking the boys home and leaving them with a babysitter especially since this would be the last chance we'd have to go to 7 Peaks before it closed. I decided that since I've been to the meeting every year this year was going to be the one I just couldn't make. I was really torn by it because I just don't miss things like that but I just knew where I needed to be. Sometimes you just know when you need to be with your family and today was one of those days. Darryl has been gone a lot lately and so I really hated not having one of us spending the evening with the boys before their first morning of school. So, I turned toward 7 Peaks and the boys were so surprised that we weren't going home. It was such a fun night. The boys had a blast in the wave pool.

Family Pictures

2011-08-21T14:03:00.000-06:00

Since we were all gathered together for Wendy's "farewell" we had family pictures. Marcia decided we'd do a BYU vs Utah theme. The sad thing was there was only a few moments for the pictures to happen and we didn't get to check them to make sure they were great. They're good but they aren't as crisp as we'd like. Oh well, Wendy's off and we've got 3 babies coming in the next few months so I think we'll just have to get a new one when she returns. It was a special weekend because Melanie also got baptized in Salina while they were up. It was fun to have everyone together. Darryl, Wendy, Jackie, and Greg have spent the last few days doing canyons in Zion. They wanted one last hoo-ra before Wendy left. It was a great thing for them to have a few days together experiencing some amazing canyons.

Cute Boys

2011-08-20T17:16:00.000-06:00

Kade wanted me to take a picture of him with Cole--turned out pretty cute other than it's from a cell phone. We'd just been playing at the park. Cole really likes to go down the slide though it takes him forever to initially go.

Stake 5K

2011-08-13T14:42:00.000-06:00

Today was the Stake 5K. We decided it would be best to go with biking this year. Darryl ran and did an awesome job. He was nervous because the high school cross country team showed up but he beat many of them! Way to go old man! :) Actually a guy that is in his 50's beat everyone. ;) Kade and I rode our bikes and Clint and Cole rode in the bike trailer. It was a perfect setup. Next year when Clint has a bigger bike he can ride too since he'd be able to keep up. Maybe even next year I can run! That would be great! I had started to get back into running early summer but I started to have some pain so I got scared and stopped. After talking to a physical therapist he said my mistake was I was going everyday. He suggested every other day for a start up-- oops. Hopefully I'll get there soon! I just want to be back where I was when I could run and run and run and I loved every minute.

Deer Creek

2011-08-12T14:38:00.000-06:00

I was seeing summer slip away and realized that we hadn't made a trip to Deer Creek(aka the beach, as the boys call it). So we went this afternoon and had a great time. It was too cold for me and the boys didn't end up swimming a whole lot either but as always the trip was worth it. It doesn't get much better than water, sand, and sun.

Another View

2011-08-11T14:00:00.000-06:00

Cole loves these glasses. Once he finds them in the toys he wears them the rest of the day. He doesn't look at the world with rose colored glasses-- just blue. :)

Clint's photo shoot

2011-08-11T13:20:00.000-06:00

I decided to try doing the boys pictures instead of taking them to Walmart. I get so tired of trying to convince the photographer that I only want the basic package. I'm cheap what can I say. If they don't want me to get all the pictures I need for $5.99 then they shouldn't offer it!!!!!!!!!
I've been meaning to do Clint's 5 year old pictures for well about a month now and I finally took 20 minutes to do it today. The pictures turned out okay considering I was struggling with everyone. I was trying to keep Cole out of the pictures, trying to instruct Kade where to hold the reflector, and trying to keep Clint from smiling fake. Boy the Walmart people make it look easy.

Swim Lessons

2011-08-08T14:34:00.000-06:00

We all started swimming lessons today! Kade is in Level 1, Clint is in Pre Level 2, and Cole and I are in Mom and Tot. I figured Cole wouldn't just sit and watch the other boys every day so I better just sign us up too. I didn't like it because I couldn't watch Kade and Clint and see how they were doing. Cole wasn't always cooperative either. He loves the water though so we had a great time each day. The Spencers signed up for the same lessons so we had a great time playing with them for a while after lessons. I really love swimming lessons. It takes up our whole day but I love that throughout the day the boys will say something like, "It a great day." Water makes us happy-- we must be fish. :)

STAYCATION--Hotel Room and Bandito Mustaches

2011-08-06T13:45:00.002-06:00

the boys like to take pictures with my phone

these pictures the boys took turns "being angels" the things they come up with. :D

STAYCATION--Kangaroo Zoo

2011-08-05T07:38:00.003-06:00

STAYCATION--Museum Pictures

2011-08-03T14:23:00.009-06:00

Salt Lake City here we come!!!!!!! We decided to do a staycation this year for our family vacation with the boys. There is a bright side to all Darryl's travel; Thanks to reward points we stayed at the Draper Marriott for free. We started the trip off though by going to 7 Peaks in Provo. It was a cloudy day and so we were pretty cold. Darryl took turns taking Kade and Clint on the "big" slides while the rest of us hung out in the warm spot-- the lazy river. We were praying it would blow over and the sun would come out but it never happened. It rained some but since there was no lightning they let us stay. After a few hours we decided to pack up and hit the hotel. We did stop at IKEA for a quick run through to look at shoe holders. I ended up getting a super cute one that I LOVE LOVE LOVE! Then it was to the hotel to settle in and hit the pool. We were the only ones in the pool and the boys didn't want to leave even though it was now 10 PM. We promised we'd return and that we did-- the next morning at 7 AM! They couldn't wait to get down there again. What is it about a rectangular pool with no features? The boys were in heaven there. After playing for a while we headed to the Discovery Museum. The boys had fun playing at each of the stations. Cole really liked the ball area(the beehive) and dancing on the shuffle board in the life-size game exhibit. Clint enjoyed being able to fully dress up as a mailman. Kade really enjoyed it all. He was completely enthusiastic about everything he was doing. They were so excited that when they got to the helicopter the kids that were heading in the captain seats were asking their mom something so Kade and Clint jumped in front of them and got in the helicopter. Me being the mean mom I am went and made them get out. Darryl had them both stand in the corner for a minute. I made him get a picture of it-- it was rather funny to look at-- sorry boys. Hopefully they won't jump the line again. To their defense the other kids seemed like they weren't going in, but it would have been better for the boys to show some patience and wait to see what the kids who were already there were doing. Kade and Clint did repeatedly ask when we were going to go back to the hotel pool. :) We eventually left and grabbed some lunch then it was off to the hotel, but not to swim. Darryl and Clint took a nap. The plan was for Cole to nap also but I'd forgotten to get Darryl's wallet from him so I woke Cole up when I got it and he wasn't about to go back to sleep, so Kade Cole and I went to IKEA to pick up that shoe holder I'd mentioned. We also filled up the car and tried to kill some time so the guys could get a good nap. After they woke up we were ready for dinner so we went to TGIFridays. The boys were so great on the trip. They kept saying, "Thanks for bringing us here." After dinner we went. . . where else, the POOL! We played and played. Kade learned to swim on his back. Clint learned how to not plug his nose every time he jumps in the water or swims-- this is a big accomplishment in my eyes because I haven't accomplished that yet. :( Cole is very partial to the hot tub and the bubbles there so he spent most of his time sitting on the edge with his toes in the water. I think he liked the fact that the water is much warmer too. He did like going in the pool if Darryl or I were throwing him in the air. After another late night of swimming we turned in. The next morning we were off to Kangaroo Zoo. The boys have been wanting to return to the one in North Salt Lake so they could do the ball shooters with Darryl again. Cole loved the slides and running around on the blow up obstacle courses. We all were pretty wore out by the time we needed to leave. The boys were suppose to only have 5 min. in the ball shooting room but they were doing shift change and let them stay in for 20 min. Yay! :D They never tired. I loved watching the boys minds say, "bwahahaha," as he would go to fill up his ammo bucket. They would aim their guns right at him and show no mercy. They did get him a few times but most of the time in their excitement they would end up aiming poorly. At one point Darryl started shooting the window where Cole was standing and watching them. Cole would giggle every time the ball hit. We were pretty much the only people there playing so it was fun to be able to just run around where we wanted and not have to worry about waiting or watching out for others. Fun times. We needed to get on the road so we could make it to Pickelville Playhouse in Garden City to watch Bandito. We went to last years instalment of Bandito and we all loved it so much we had to include this years episode in our trip. When we planned the trip we were hoping to stay the night near Bear Lake so we could play at the lake in the morning but it was Raspberry Days so there wasn't anything available for a reasonable price so we made plans to just stay in Evenston after the show. Well the show(aka the ch-o as Bandito would say)was excellent. We strapped Cole in his car seat and just sat that on the chair. He loved the show. He clapped and laughed even though he didn't know why I'm sure. :) Kade and Clint love Bandito and I think they love to see all the people laughing too so they chuckled and giggled the whole time. Darryl and I loved it too and wish Garden City wasn't so far away, we'd love to see their version of Joseph. We're pretty sure we'll return again next year for another show with Bandito. It amazes me that he is able to write the shows which have different story lines and music for all these plays. After the show Darryl bought each of the boys Bandito mustaches. Cole was grumpy when we put them on so he cried but I was laughing-- who couldn't when you look at them(see picture). We also bought the CD with the songs and a few clips on it. We have been listening to it non-stop and we still laugh every time we hear a funny part. The boys can pretty much recite the whole CD and I caught them doing so to one of their friends. I'm not sure the friend was enjoying it as much as the boys were. When we arrived at the hotel in Evanston you can likely guess what the boys had in mind-- pool!!!!!! We grabbed some cold cereal from a gas station ate in the room and then hit the pool for a bit and then returned again in the morning. We stayed in the pool for quite a while because we had no other plans for that day. We finally decided we had to leave at some point and the boys weren't going to ask to go so we had to just get out so we could make it out by checkout. We had a great drive to Heber and then it was time for laundry and unpacking-- the trip was officially over. It was nice to be home again though. It's amazing how you really don't have to go far for a vacation for it to be spectacular. We all agree, it was all fabulous--especially the hotel pool. ;D

Sugar Pie

2011-07-28T14:04:00.003-06:00

We went and spent some time with my folks. Cole loves to hangout with Grandpa, squeeze his noes, hug him, and crawl on him. I don't think Grandpa enjoys all of that but he does enjoy his little buddy. There is a stuffed Eor in my dad's room that since "Sugar Pie Honey Bunch, you know that I love you. . ." Cole loves to listen to it and dance. He was dancing and dancing then gave grandpa a hug. It was so cute.

7 Peaks Take 1

2011-07-27T22:23:00.000-06:00

We finally got to put our pass of all passes to use at 7 Peaks. We've been gone so much this summer and when we've been here so have the thunder storms, so today was the day for our first trip. I wasn't surprised much by how excited the boys were. They loved everything about the water park. We stayed in the 2 toddler pools, the lazy river, and did the toddler tubes. I didn't dare attempt anything else without Darryl there. Cole surprised me a little though. He was SO happy. He would throw a fit every time I'd stand up to take him to a different pool. He thought we were leaving and he did not want to go. I was headed down to Aurora to hangout with Grandma and Grandpa for a few days while Darryl is on a longer trip to Chicago, Ohio, and a couple other places around that area, so we didn't stay at 7 Peaks all day :( we put in a few great hours though. It's so fun to see the boys so happy. I love that. As you can imagine Cole was not happy when we were headed out. We stopped to pick up the bag and put on sandals. He whined for a while then as if he got a brilliant idea he suddenly stopped looked up at me, waved, and said "Bye, Bye." He took off for the pool and almost made it before I snatched him up. He's such a stinker and a cutie. We've planned a trip with Darryl next week. I'm so excited to take them again.

What's Fun Cole?

2011-07-25T13:48:00.001-06:00

If you have kids you know it's actually not a good thing when you haven't seen them in a while and it's really quiet. I found Cole taking all his clothes out of his changing table so I grabbed the camera. Little did I know that he had a plan. I just figured he was taking everything out because that's what he does, pulls everything out and just leaves it for me to clean up. :) Well as you can see in the picture he just wanted to climb in the cupboard. Once he was in there he started trying to close the door so I helped him. He just giggled and giggled. Silly boy!

24th Celebration

2011-07-24T13:41:00.000-06:00

Jackie and Kelby came to spend some time with us and be apart of our 24th BBQ and fireworks. Darryl had so much fun at the 4th with the fireworks that he went crazy again with the fireworks. :) To his defense part of the reason he got so much is he was trying to find the fireworks we liked on the 4th and so he had to visit each firework stand multiple times to see if they'd gotten them in. The only picture I got was this one which is blurry. :( It was so cute to watch Kelby and Jackie play Moon Dough with the boys. They're great! The firework show brought in a lot of neighbors which made it super fun. We had to do it tonight because Darryl was leaving again tomorrow and he's been gone or we were at the play prior to tonight. We had a cobbler too so everyone enjoyed a good treat and a great show!

Unbelievable!

2011-07-23T13:12:00.000-06:00

The boys love the parachute fireworks and so we get a big one each year. This year we decided to take it to the park so they could chase the parachutes whichever way they went. It sounded like a grand idea. Aunt Wendy was here so it made for a perfect time for the boys; they love Aunt Wendy(and all their other Aunts and Uncles too). We let off some smoke bombs and then headed to the park. Mr. Cole was getting rather ornery so I decided to put him in his crib. After he was asleep we walked to the park. Darryl put the firework on the basketball court, making sure not to put it on the grass so it wouldn't tip over like the time we were at the Roberts-- that was funny. Anyway, Kade lit it(with Darryl's help) and then it was eyes to the skys. The first of the 7 shots went up. It had some sparkly crackles that went off went it blasted out the parachutes in the air. That was something new since prior to this year you couldn't have a firework that shot fire higher than 15 ft. I was still gawking at the parachutes when an incredible pain struck my leg. I couldn't figure out what had happened. It felt like I'd just been hit by a baseball bat. Finally it all clicked together and I realized the firework was tipped over. I yelled at Wendy and Clint to run because they were setting next to me. Luckily no one else was hit hard. And luckily I wasn't sitting down or it would have hit my trunk instead of my leg. The force of those shots is so incredible. The percussion sent blood/bruising to the back of my leg. My leg was so swollen. It looked like a giant goose egg all the way down my leg. We were so lucky that I wasn't sitting on the ground holding Cole too, or even that the firework didn't shot a few feet to my right and hit Clint and Wendy. I think it would have caused some serious damage--scary. So I'm thankful my leg got hit-- I guess. :) Darryl and I were headed to the Hale Theatre after the firework and I was in a lot of pain but went anyway. I was so glad I did. The show was called The Hit. It was so good. It was fun to go on a date with my love too. :)
The pictures don't do the injury justice-- it really looked horrific.

Turning 5 Wild Kratt Style

2011-07-22T22:11:00.001-06:00

I felt so bad about Clint's birthday getting shafted this year, but as it turned out I think it was a pretty perfect and awesome birthday. Clint had been saying he just wanted a family party but then the beginning of this month he changed and said a friend party, "for sure." I thought I'd work on the birthday party before we went to DC. We went to DC and then I thought I'd work on it when we got back. I spent the day and a half washing, mowing, cleaning, and packing for our Maple Grove camp out(in lieu of the Brown's Bryce trip). So I thought I'd work on it at my moms the last few days of our Maple Grove trip. Well I ended up getting SUPER sick(food poisoning or something BAD) and then I made it back to Heber the night of the 18th without a present even for Clint to open in the morning. I felt awful about it but the morning of his birthday Darryl had to leave early for work so it worked out that we'd just have the family open presents party that night when Dad got back. So at 6:30 AM the planning began. He decided he wanted a Wild Krattz party(what do you do for that??????!!!). Well by 6:45 I had a list of fun ideas, by 12:00 we had the invitations created and delivered, by 3:00 I had a present for him, and by 6:45 we were having our little family celebration. He opened his gift from us-- found the perfect thing a spinney paint set and also came with a pottery wheel set all for $20 waHOO! He LOVED it. Then he opened some secret spy gear from the Bosshardt Grandparents. He was SO excited because Kade got the same thing last Feb. and Clint and coveted it. We had pizza(as requested) on a blanket downstairs while we watched a movie. Darryl had started reading Summer of the Monkeys with them at the beginning of this summer and they finished it so they wanted to watch the movie. Sounds like it wasn't as good.:( I had Bunco so I missed the movie. Since we had to give the friends some notice we scheduled the party for that Friday. Clint was sad we couldn't have the party on his real birthday day so I felt bad I hadn't gotten on it before and had the invitations out so we could do that. He forgave me in the end. So like I said we had some great ideas for the party. I didn't end up doing all of them but here are the 5 we did. I made them card stock creature power discs one was a spider disc. For this one they got a can of silly string and made spider webs all over the swing set. The Draco is Clint's favorite so we had them glide around the yard to save the animals(I had a brilliant idea to find silly bands because there are a ton in a pack for cheap so when they saved their animal they got to keep the silly band--actually silly band rings). The 3rd disc was a frog so they each used their sticky hand they got from the pinata as their tongue to catch one of the animals. I was surprised how easy that was for these kids I planned too much time for that activity. We also had a kangaroo disc so they hopped to a balloon and had to hop on it and pop it because I'd "trapped" an animal inside the balloon. I was surprised how many kids didn't like popping balloons--(note that for next time :)). The last disc was a firefly. We had some glow sticks that we'd gotten for a birthday and so we gave each kid one and they used their glowing power to go downstairs in the dark toy room and save (aka: find) an animal. It was so much fun to watch the kids, I figured they would love it and so I was excited to do the games with them. I'm glad no other adult was there-- no one can prove how I acted-- are you going to believe a 5 year old? :D We actually started the party off with a pinata that looked like a Draco power disc. I made it from some hangers for the round shape, and then just covered it by taping news paper and a paper bag around it. I probably should have just used newspaper-- the bag was a little too strong, but it was the most exciting explosion of the pinata we've had so I'm sure I'll just make them from now on. The pinata was filled with whale crackers, animal crackers, animal fruit snacks, an animal parachute guy, and silly hands. We did the activities next and then it was present time. Clint was so excited when he opened the foam ice cream cone shooter he got from Kade that he started jumping up and down on the couch. He and Kade gave one of those to Braxton for his birthday and they wanted one badly. A $2 gift resulted it a $100 reaction. :D He got so many great things one thing that he got that I thought was cool was the 3D chalk-- it works and it works with other chalk too--check it out sometime. He begs to play moon dough at Kenzies house so that's what she gave him. He couldn't believe that he had his own now. Then it was time to cut the cheetah power disc cake-- special request of chocolate cake with strawberry icing(I did sneak in some pudding to make it a little better). I tried to talk Clint into letting me make the icing but he insisted we buy the store stuff. The cake didn't turn out too bad, much to my surprise. The kids played for a while with their different discs and then it was time to take them home. Clint loved his party and I'm glad it didn't disappoint. Happy Birthday my 5 year old. I can't believe you're 5 is seems like we haven't lived in Heber that long so I always think you can't be as old as you are. We love you Happy.

Good Day

2011-07-20T22:25:00.000-06:00

We finally did some typical summer activities today. The boys love to play playdo outside on their little table in the summer. Today Clint was just trying out his new pottery wheel and spinney paint machine. The boys all loved it. It was the perfect gift for Clint. That afternoon we made a trip over to the Park City Farmers Market and rode the cabriolet. It was so nice to do that again-- I love simple fun. It makes me feel like maybe life can be simple sometimes. Afterward the boys and I went to Cafe Rio and Kneaders for dinner and dessert. I had some gift cards so we only spent $1. Nice. :) Then we went to Wal-Mart and picked up another dresser for the boys room. They are to the point that they put on each others clothes because they're all together. They are close in size but Kade's little belly pokes out if he's wearing Kade's shirts. Plus there really isn't enough room in one dresser for both of their clothes.

Clint's Birthday!

2011-07-19T22:06:00.001-06:00

Well Clint was turning 5 today whether I was ready or not. I kept wanting to work on party plans for Clint but life has been a little busy so I kept thinking I'd get to get the next day and couldn't. I had intended on doing it at my mom's house but being sick made me useless. Darryl had an early morning meeting today so we decided we'd celebrate with him at dinner time. That was a relief because I hadn't had a chance to go to a store to get him a gift, so while he was sleeping I ran to Kings and found the perfect gift, a spinney paint and spinning pottery wheel. This morning I had no idea what we'd do for a friend party, Clint had picked the go somewhere big with the family instead of the friend party option. Well he changed his mind a couple weeks ago and I hadn't gotten to that. So this morning at 6:30 no idea other than he wanted a fireman party because we had silly string at Kade's fireman party. Well at 6:45 he'd decided he wanted a Wild Kratt Party, and I had no idea what to do with that. Well the ideas started flowing. I immediately thought of how the boys play like they have creature power discs for different powers. So I figured we could make the kids different creature power disks and do different things with them like the spider disc they could make spider webs with silly string. Yea the silly string was incorporated so Clint was happy! We had the party planned, the invitations made and delivered by 1:00. When Darryl got home it was about 6:45 and I had Bunco at 7, so in 10 min we had candles and song, presents, and pizza(as per Clint's request). What a whirlwind of a day! Darryl and the boys watched Summer of the Monkeys. They have been reading it together and just finished the book a couple weeks ago. It sounds like the book is the more preferred. Clint was thrilled to get a spy kit just like Kade's from Granny and Grandpa Bosshardt. (They played spys almost everyday for months). He was also very excited about his paint and pottery set.

Sick update

2011-07-18T22:04:00.001-06:00

Darryl had to head back to Heber last night so he could work but I wasn't feeling quite up to traveling so since we had both cars I just stayed in Aurora. I didn't do a whole lot today but I was improving so headed back to Heber in the evening.