BRADEN'S NOW A DECADE OLD

Last Wednesday, April 22nd, was Braden’s 10th birthday. We celebrated it the Saturday before with a small friend party. He had a couple of friends come for dinner and games. The boys made paper rockets and we launched them on Brian’s rocket launcher. The boys loved it, especially, when Brian launched a grape from it. It shot up pretty high, so the boys loaded their rockets with grapes. The rockets shot a bit higher but they loved seeing the grapes fly all over. This fun lasted until finally some of the rockets had enough and exploded. The rocket launcher has been the means of hours of fun. Thanks Kevin for giving Brian the idea. The boys played the wii for a little while and then we gobbled up the cake and ice-cream. The boys played a bit more and then the fun had to end. Braden had a great time and was so pleasant all day long.

Wednesday, Braden’s real birthday was a busy crazy day with soccer practice, homework, and life, but Brian and I did take him out to dinner for his birthday. He choose the Olive Garden, which is always one of my favorites. We got home and had cake and ice-cream and finally he got to open his presents. He got a scooter and some play mobile toys. Overall I think he had a good birthday. Happy Birthday Braden. You are now a decade old. We love you so much.

NO T.V. WEEK

Starting Monday, the kids have a no t.v. week challenge from their school. We are going to do this challenge as a family. This challenge also includes computers, so that means no blogging for me all this next week. So I'm signing off for a week and I will catch up with everyone starting the following Monday. I will look forward to that day to catch up on everyones blogs.

SPRING BREAK FUN!!!

Spring Break for the kids this year was April 9, 10, and 13. Thursday the 9th Brian and I took the kids to a hotel in Layton. We used our Marriot points so the stay was free. Can’t beat that. We spent a couple of hours swimming and then went back to our room to veg in front of the t.v. We had to get two rooms, so the boys were in one room watching their cartoons and Brian, Sam, and I took turns choosing shows in our room. I am always surprised to find very little on t.v. that seems interesting when there are so many channels. I think I was hoping for a good movie I could get all caught up in. We got pizza for dinner and ate it in our rooms. The kids were in heaven.

Friday we headed to Salt Lake to play at the gateway. We found the water display and the kids were instantly attracted. The weather was beautiful although still a bit cool, but it didn’t stop the kids running through. The water display shoots water up in the air at different times. You never know when or where the water will shoot up. For the most part the kids avoided being hit by the water. A couple of times they were running through and were surprised by the shooting water. Oh so fun.

The escalators were another big hit for entertainment. Eventually we made it to Discovery Gateway (a children’s museum). The kids spent hours having fun here. Logan’s favorite was the tubes and balls by far. They have tubes winding up and around a metal beehive. The kids would put plastic balls in the tubes and fans would push plastic balls through the tubes. They would come out somewhere else in the beehive. Logan kept at this for about two hours before he even ventured anywhere else. He loved it. There was a lot of other fun activities there like a water table (also a favorite), media center, and a helicopter. Brian and I didn’t last near as long as the kids. It was hot and there was a lot of people there. A good day though.

We didn’t want to drive home in traffic so we went and saw the movie Monsters Vs. Aliens. The kids liked it but Brian and I were a little bored. On the way home we stopped at IHOP for a breakfast dinner and arrived home just in time to put the kids to bed. The rest of spring break we hung out at home. Tuesday morning the kids were off to school again, with not much enthusiasm.

...LIKE GOLDILOCKS!!

So yesterday, I was doing Kylee's hair. My plan was to pull it back in a poney tail and make it simple. She asked if I was going to do braids.

"No" I said. "I am going to put it in a poneytail".

She pipes up. "I want it in braids, like Goldilocks. I like her."

It was so cute of course I did her hair in braids like Goldilocks. Now I call her my little Goldilocks.

BRIAN'S 1/2 MARATHON

Well, I'm behind a week, but I wanted to post about my amazing husband who ran his third 1/2 marathon last week. At the beginning of the year, Brian set a goal to run four ½ marathons this year. He had already run his first ½ in November 2008. But in January he ran his first of the year in St. George. It was perfect, beautiful weather. Saturday April 4th he ran the Provo half. We went to Provo Friday night. The boys stayed with Marcus and Sammy stayed with Arrie. The kids had been wanting to spend time with cousins for a long time. Thanks Frances and Lydia, they had a great time even though it was so short. Brian, Kylee, and I stayed at a hotel in Provo so Brian could get a good night sleep. But, Kylee had other plans so it wasn’t a great night sleep.

The race started at 8:00 a.m. BRRR…. Cold is the word for the morning. It was windy and snowy. However, the roads were clear so that helped. I dropped off Brian and hurried to Lydia’s so I could pick up the kids. Frances came too and we went to mile 4 to cheer Brian on. (Thanks again Franny for coming. It meant so much to both Brian and I and it was so fun to have you there.) After he passed we headed to mile 5 to cheer him on again. Mile 5 was at a park so the kids played and we waited for Brian to loop around because it was also mile 10. After that we zoomed over to the finish and cheered him on. He finished the race in 1 hour and 47 minutes. It was faster than his first marathon, but not quite as fast as his second.

It was a tough race mentally and physically. He had never run in such cold weather before. Most of his training was done on a treadmill which is different than running on the road. But even though this was his most difficult race he did so good. He paid for it though. He was very sore. Brian you did great though. Way to go. You ran strong.

BEAUTIFUL KENTUCKY

I am one of the luckiest girls in the world. My sister, Janice, and her family moved to Kentucky last summer. Her daughter, Taylor, was getting baptized March 28th. My parents and my sister Frances decided to drive out (a 27 hour drive) to be to the baptism. I really wanted to go and support Taylor and visit with Janice and her family. I couldn’t spend the time it would have taken to drive out with my parents. My amazing and supportive husband used his sky miles to help my get to Kentucky. Not only that but Sammy got to come with me and Brian stayed behind to watch the rest of the kids. My wonderful visiting teachers and a neighbor (Kylee’s second home) helped watch Logan and Kylee when Brian had to be at work. Thanks guys.

Flying with Sammy was so fun. She was so excited she could hardly contain herself. Every little thing about the airplane was exciting to her. When she discovered the tray that folds down in front of us she was bouncing up and down. She was as amazed with the window blind as she would have been with getting a cell phone. You can imagine how she acted when we finally took off. For the first hour she giggled, squealed, and bounced. I couldn’t help but laugh at her. She made the experience so much more fun. After the first hour however she became bored (no t.v.). The book I got her wasn’t very exciting so she spent at least an hour writing all over a napkin. I, however, enjoyed very much the time to relax and read.

Kentucky was great. It was so good to see Janice and her family. They have a beautiful home and the country is so beautiful. There are green rolling hills with horse farms every where you look. One of the highlights of the trip was visiting Adena Springs, a horse farm not too far from my sister’s house. Gorgeous can’t even describe it. The barns look like churches and the horse stalls are so clean and well kept. We even got to see a breeding session. Very interesting. Enough said. It was a great time.

(This is not a church. It is one of the many barns on the farm. Beautiful)

(Me, Janice and Frances at Adena Springs Farm.)

Saturday was the baptism. It was a wonderful day. Taylor looked beautiful and radiant. The ward came out in support and filled up the entire Relief Society room. It made such a difference to feel that support. The blessing Greg, my brother-in-law, gave Taylor when he confirmed her was beautiful. The spirit was so strong. I am so grateful that it was possible to be to Taylor’s baptism to support her.

(Janice, Greag, Tayler, and Morgan at the baptism. The dress Taylor is wearing was made by my mother. My oldest sister wore it and all of my sisters and me wore it for our baptisms except Janice who was confirmed in it. Now all my mom's granddaughters are wearing it. It is a great tradition.)

Saturday night Sammy babysat while the adults went out. We ate a yummy dinner at Jonny Corinos. Yummy!!! Yummy!!! My wonderful sisters and Jade’s mom and dad paid Sammy very well. Monday before we left Kentucky Janice took us into Lexington and Sam spent all her money on new clothes. It was so much fun and she really needed new clothes anyway.

Our evenings were spent playing games and talking, usually way too late. Janice even got Frances and I signed up for face book. After that we all took turns the rest of the week checking to see how many friends we had. Frances is the winner. She has way more friends than me. So if you are signed up for face book and want to be my friend it would make me feel soooo happy.

(The twins)

It was a great trip. Sammy and I are so glad that we got to spend that time with Janice and her family. We had fun and had some much needed catch up time with everyone. Can’t wait until June when all the sisters can get together and catch up and play. The weather was a lot better than Utah as well. It was hard to come back to frigid weather. Thanks Janice and Greg for being such great hosts

(Cambree, Frances' daughter. Isn't she cute. She provided so much entertainment for us.)

(Sammy entertained the girls most of the time. She made a treasure hunt for them

and this is them showing their treasure they found. It was a bag of chips.)

CATCHING UP...

Kylee celebrated her third birthday on March 17th. It was a crazy day with a lot going on but she had some friends share lunch with her. Braden had the pine wood derby that night. So we had 15 minutes in between dinner and the derby to have cake and ice cream and have her open her presents. She got a toddler scooter and a Little People bus.

Braden was so excited for the pinewood derby. Brian doesn’t look forward to this time of year quite so much. However a lot of stress was taken away because our awesome scout committee had a workshop to help the father’s and boys learn how to put together the derby cars. After the workshop all that Braden needed to finish was painting, wheels, and weights.

Brian is always nervous about the speed of the car. It is hard to see your child not do very well. Fortunately, Braden’s Batman car was fast. Most of the time he came in first. He was so thrilled. All the boys seemed happy that night. The scout committee did a fantastic job and they are always so organized.