Spring Fun

I absolutely LOVE spring! And even though spring has struggled a little bit this year, we have still had time to have some fun before it gets too hot! On one of the very first nice days we had, i think it was all the way back in March, the kids had a blast imagining all sorts of things!

Here they are painting a box because they thought they were going to make it into a bird house.



And then they were pretending to go horse back riding.



We went to a western carnival night with our friends at a local library and had a blast!



Then Ammon had his Kindergarten field trip to the Tree House. He had fun, but I really wish that it could have been somewhere that we don't go to very often.



Him and his "girlfriend" Khianna.



Then this last weekend we went to the safe kids day fair. It is the first time we have gone. It is free admission and there are a lot of free things for the kids to do....my kind of place!!! The kids ended up having a blast, and we even got to spend a little time with a friend! (Thanks for meeting up with us Grafs)







I LOVE SPRING!!!

Here it is........

I have been debating this post for quite some time. It has been so long.... What should I say? I must have pictures!!! How long is too long? ETC.... So tonight I decided that I would just update on our family, kind of like people do when they send out Christmas cards. That way it's like a good intro to everything I have missed in the last year and a half and I don't have to feel like I am missing anything, or just the opposite, overwhelming anyone who might be reading!!!

Ammon: Ammon, our oldest is now 6 1/2. He is attending Kindergarten at Quest Academy, which is a Charter school about 20 minutes from where we live. It can be tedious at times to make the drive twice a day, but well worth it since he loves it there and is doing so well. His reading is going SO well, and he is our little math man. His main interests right now are anything Star Wars, superheroes, or ninja turtles. He is our sweet big boy and fills his role well as big brother.

Abigail: Abbey just turned 5 last month, and I think she has already grown up so much since then. She is doing so well with her writing, and absolutely loves to color and draw. Her interests right now are anything Barbie....(side note, she got a barbie house for Christmas, which is the only thing she asked Santa for...)So her Christmas and birthday were filled with items to add to each room in her house, and enough barbies so that everyone can play. She is definitely our mediator....always trying to help everyone.

Dylan: Dylan is now 2! She is very independent and knows exactly what she wants, but at the same time is trying to figure out her place in our crazy family. She loves to be read to, and her favorite books are the Pinkalicious books! She really likes all things that are girly...Tinkerbell, princesses, tea parties! She also loves trying to tell knock knock jokes. I end up laughing hysterically every time because it is so dang cute!

Mason: Mason is now 3 1/2 months old. He joined our family at a time that just wasn't quite expected. :) He is growing so well and being so cute most of the time, that I can't get upset when he doesn't want to go back to sleep at 3 o'clock in the morning! He is a perfect addition to our family and EVERYONE loves him.

Andrew: Andrew is working for the University of Utah as a Med Tech, now going on his 6th year. He loves what he does, and does it really well. He has been accepted to Podiatry school in Ohio and we will be moving there this summer. We are so proud of him for working so hard and know that he will be successful!

Emily: Well, I am pretty much what every other stay at home mom is....A cook, a maid, a Chauffeur.... I stay VERY busy and try really hard to balance things, which means my house is rarely presentable! I am trying more and more each day to cherish this time I have with my kids. They are growing up so fast and it is hard when you have more than 1 or 2 kids to give each of them the time they need. I love that I get to stay home with them, (thanks to Andrew).

Well, there is my little update...Pictures to come at another time!

I'm Back?

It has been FOREVER since I have posted anything, and was attempting to start again when the thought occurred to me, "does anyone even read our blog?" So with that thought, I am interested in learning who, if anyone, reads our blog and if it is worth it for me to start again! So leave a comment so I know who keeps tabs!!!

Preschool Field Trip

Yesterday we had our preschool field trip to Black Island Farms. We went there last year, and it was definitely worth going again. They have so many fun things for the kids to do and they let them pick their own pumpkins. I am so grateful for the friends that my kids have made through school. They are friendships that will hopefully last forever.

This was actually the last picture I took....They were exhausted


Excited to Finally be at their field trip. It's all they talked about for weeks


Why are my kids the only ones NOT looking at me?


Ammon and his new buddy Allston


Having just picked their pumpkins


The cow train ride



Bouncing in the inflatable pumpkin

The Pig Races

Ammon Turns 5

I cannot believe that I have a 5 year old! On Friday September 18 Ammon turned 5 years old. He was so excited for his birthday...in fact the Friday before his birthday, he went running into his preschool class and said to his teacher, "did you remember about my birthday?" I had to reassure her that she wasn't mistaken of the date, and that he was just WAY excited. He woke up extra early, and because one of his presents was un-wrappable (if that is even a word), I had just set all his presents out in the living room and he did not want to wait to see what was there and to play with them.




He just had to get out and try his new bike, even though it was still pretty early. Then on Saturday, he had his birthday party. We had a good turnout of kids....some friends from last years preschool class, some new friends from this year, and a few cousins.











It was such a good couple of days for him. I cannot believe how fast he is growing up. He is turning into such a funny kid. One day, he was helping Andrew make some cookies, and Andrew asked him to switch him spoons, (Ammon had the big mixing one) and Ammon said, "you wanted to switch me because this one matches my eyes huh?" He is such a sweet, smart boy, and we love him very much.

Labor Day Weekend

I seriously had the BEST labor day weekend! It actually started on Wednesday for me because Andrew didn't have to work so we got things all cleaned and ready for the weekend. Then on Thursday we headed out to Park City....but took a little detour out to Heber City and took the kids to dinner at The Dairy Keen.....


This is fun place to eat with this train for the kids to sit on, and inside they have a train that goes around a track just down from the ceiling. Also, the food is great!

Then we headed up to Park City and thanks to Andrews mom, we had an awesome place to stay! It had a full kitchen, a bedroom, 2 bathrooms, a living room and dining room. They had a pool, that the kids LOVED!!! Of course I forgot my camera when we went to the pool....but I had decided that I was going to be relaxed and just let the kids have a good time. So I wasn't picky about then finishing their dinner, we literally let them swim until they were EXHAUSTED, and then I let them stay up late AND eat ice cream before they went to bed. This may not seem like much, but I am pretty strict about our routine and hardly ever stray from it!




Friday morning, the kids went swimming AGAIN while I cleaned up and got packed. We had a fun opportunity to go to breakfast with some friends that came home to visit from California. Thank you Matt and McKell, we had such a great time! Then we went to Swiss Days, which was really our whole reason for going out there. Andrews mom had a booth at Swiss Days this year, so we went to see it and say hello. We didn't get to stay long at all though because we had to get Andrew home to work. But Andrew surprised me that night by offering to keep the kids home on Saturday, and allowing me to head back up to Midway, for Swiss Days....BY MYSELF!!!!!!! That in itself was such a great thing. But to top it all off, my sister was also up there, so I spent ALL day with her and her beautiful daughters. We went to Swiss days, went shopping at the outlets, and had a wonderful time! Thanks Andrew for watching the kiddos, and thanks Julie for letting me spend the day with you.

Then on Monday, we were able to get our peaches canned and it went SO fast this year with Andrews help. Now if I can just get my tomatoes done!

Current Events

Today was the first day of preschool for my kiddos. Ammon started the 4 year old preschool and Abigail started her 3 year old preschool. It is so neat to see them growing up and to see how much they love learning. Ammon is use to the routine, since it is the same school he went to last year, but it is new to Abigail and she walked in the school today like she owned it. Ammon also informed me that he DID NOT need me to walk him to his class today, he could do it by himself. Here are some pics of the first day, and actually from Friday too since that was really Ammons first day, but they didn't do much!






(Sorry they are in black and white....I have temporarily misplaced my camera, and was using our video camera that also takes still pictures, and must have had the black and white setting on!) I realized how nice it is to have them going at the same time! I got to spend some time just with Dylan, and it made her look a little bit older.

Also in our little family, Dylan is officially a crawler! She is still pretty funny to watch and would much rather pull herself up to stand by things than crawl around. She is also working on getting her first tooth. It keeps trying, but hasn't quite pushed through.