Nursery

Lexie turned 18 months on Sunday, which now means...Nursery!! I'm so excited for this. The one problem is we have 1:00 church, so after Sunday School Colby takes her home for a nap. So hopefully after the first of the year, with the time change she'll get to stay the whole time.

I feel funny taking the camera into church so I snapped this picture right before we went in. I'm sure she was wondering what was so special about that day.

I had to do sharing time, but whenever I got the chance I would go peek through the peep hole to see how she was doing. They put a blanket on the floor, and she just sat on it the whole time. I saw other kids bringing her toys to play with and being so cute and nice to her, but she just sat there. I'm sure glaring at them...thinking...why did my dad bring me in here and just leave me? She survived...no tears...until Colby came and got her.

Summer hair(cuts)

We did it again this year!

From the last day of school until the day I cut their hair, Noah asked me every single day...When are you going to buzz my hair? We did it about a week and a half ago, and it's already starting to grow out. The boys love it. And I can't complain. No more fighting them to get their hair done to go somewhere.

Amazing!

Colby's parents have a house up in Pine Valley and we love escaping there to cool off. While we were there this past weekend they showed us this hummingbird nest. They told us there were 2 eggs in it, and Cutler wanted to see. Colby held him up there and when he got down he said there was a baby bird. So we had to get the ladder and see for ourselves. Sure enough...2 baby hummingbirds. I can't believe how small and perfect their nest is built. WOW!  And look at how it's just balancing on that wire.

Summer fun

Here's a little bit of what we've been up to. We didn't start the summer break out so great. I didn't have any real plans for the kids...I just wanted them to play. But with all the neighbors different schedules and me not wanting to entertain, that didn't work out. So I started entertaining.

First, feeding the ducks. We just go to Jimmy John's and get the day old bread. One loaf usually does the trick. The kids love this.

Second, another day at the city splash pad. (I don't really know what this place is called.) The waterfalls were the fun part this time.

We celebrated my grandpa's birthday. Almost the whole family was there. Good times.

kids climbed the clothes line (funny that that's still so fun to do)

all the great-grandkids singing happy birthday to grandpa. He loves kids!!

       

One night after work we drove up to Kolob and went fishing. I don't love fishing, but the kids & Colby do, so we made it a family affair. It got windy, and a little chilly, but we still caught some nice ones.

don't mind Noah in this picture. a boy's gotta do what a boy's gotta do, right? But check out the arch on Cutler's pole!

The next night we met up with our friends out at Snow Canyon. We bbq'ed, then went over to the sand dunes. We have never taken our kids here but we definitely will be going more now. They loved it! Even Lexie.

you can't go to the sand dunes without rolling down the hills!

Lexie finally got brave and wandered over to this little hill about 50 feet away. She was so tired but completely content just throwing the sand.

I should have taken a picture of the bath tub after each kid. Yuck! But they had fun so much it was worth it. I'm still sweeping up sand.

We also took the boys out to Tuacahn to see Tarzan. -No pictures-  It was super cute, and they loved it. There were a couple of things I thought they could have cut out of the play, just to make it a little bit shorter, but it was great. There were a ton of kids there, and they all sat through it great. My only beef with going out there during the summer is everything starts so late. The show normally starts at 8:30, but ours was a little late, and goes until 11:00, with a 15 minute intermission. We got home about 11:30/11:45, but the boys keep saying how much they liked it.

Now my problem with doing all these fun things is every single day Noah is asking what are we doing with dad tonight?

I guess at least they want to spend time with us.

Makes for some fun memories!

Brushfire

Have any of you that live here ever been there? It's such a cute little place, and has a ton of little projects that you can do. This year, like every other year, we were totally brain fried as to what we were going to get gramma Sherie for her birthday. And like every other year, I waited until the day of our little party to get something for her. So while driving down Main St. and asking the kids what are we gonna get her? for the 30th time Noah says, "what about a plate that has her age on it?" I figured she wouldn't want her age on it but it was a great idea(sorta). So I turned around and went back. Now let me paint you the picture of us in there...it was noon, exactly...we hadn't eaten lunch...I was by myself...with my 3 children...7, 3, 1. Noah loved the place...Cutler liked looking at all the pottery, throwing saltine crackers into the fan, and getting his hand painted...Lexie wanted nothing to do with any of it. I had no idea how it worked in there, but you pick your piece, then all your colors and paint. But it takes a week to bake it and all the other stuff they have to do to it. So we took a picture of the kids after we were done painting and gave her the picture at the party.
She loved the picture...now I just need to get the actual plate to her. It's done and I picked it up today. And I'm so happy with it. I think it turned out super cute!!

I'm pretty sure all the grandma's and maybe even the grandpa's can expect something like this for all things gifted!

Memorial Day

As is every year for Memorial Day and most other non-major holidays...Colby had to work. So we kind of waited around for him to get off work to start our fun. As soon as he got home we tried to go swimming at my parents' house, but the water was too hot (106 degrees) to get in. We later figured out it was just the top of the water that was hot. Anyway, we made our way over to the city river walk and tried to have some fun. I'm not sure if Noah thinks he's too big for this or because it was just our family, we weren't with other people that we knew, but he wouldn't play in it at first. Cutler & Lexie had a great time. After we found these people damming up the water all the kids were having fun (finally)!!

Notice the wave of water coming?

Now sitting in the pool of water after the rush.

Lexie found herself happy as could be sitting on this rock splashing with her feet.

Happy Happy Birthday!!

Yes, it's another late one. But we celebrated tonight...does that count? And I called & texted on the actual day. But she was busy moving Stef's family into their new home in Dallas.

Gramma Sherie (may 30)

(I stole the pic Mel, thanks)

Anyone still out there?

I'm back. Not like I've really been gone. And so for all 2 of you who read this blog, here's some major updates for ya. And one more after tonight. I need pictures...and for the celebration to happen.

Happy 80th Birthday!! (this one's on time)

Grandpa Carter

He's my mom's dad.
I'm his favorite.
Everyone loves him.
He's the happiest man I know.
He loves to lay on the lawn in the summer time at night and take a nap.
He loves horses.
He trains them for racing - KRC Stables.
He loves kids.
He lives in Minersville.
I've lived with him (and my grandma) 2 or 3 times.
He wakes up early...always has. What is it with old people waking up early?
He thrashes and talks in his sleep, so my grandma sleeps in the other room. That way she doesn't get beat in the night.
We'll celebrate the big day this weekend. I'll get pictures for you mom.

My family news

My sister and her family have been living so close to us for the past couple of years, and just this past weekend they moved up to Payson. My kids, especially Cutler, are struggling with this. It's sad. About 3 or 4 times a day Cutler asks if he can play with Kadence. Which Makayla and I both think is funny because they don't even play when they're together. They fight, or don't want to play with each other. But they both beg and beg to go play. Kids are funny. We helped each other out with our kids. Or whatever the other one needed. Because it gets pretty chaotic when our kids are together, we didn't make it a habit to see each other nearly enough. And I'll miss her. Miss helping to pick up or drop off kids. Miss taking one or the other with me to run errands. Miss having her run over to watch my kids. Or dropping them off to her. And mostly just miss her. Ok, so they just moved to Payson, but it feels like New York City. She's not a block away. Miss ya. Love ya.

My little brother is getting married!! Yeah! This picture is so blurry...ugh. The camera was on the wrong setting. Anyway, they are getting married in November. And it can't come soon enough. We love Amber. She is obviously so pretty. So sweet. Calm. Gentle. Fun. Loves kids. Patient. Kind. and Dear. (haha) Seriously, she really is all of those things. And she is a package deal. She has the cutest little girl Peyton, who is exactly one week older than Lexie and fits right into the family.

My mom and dad have extended their mission. It originally was for 6 months, and they have extended to 1 year. I'm not quite sure what kind of mission this really is. They've been to Disney World, the Kennedy Space Center, and who knows what else. They don't email nearly enough, so their blog isn't worth much these days. But dad keeps busy with work, and mom is doing tours and cleaning the house. That's what I hear anyway. We get to go visit in about 2 months.

Happy (late) Birthday!!

Shan (may 13)

Addi (may 16)

Grandma Janet (may 22)

Where to start?

Holy flip!! You'd think I've been on a super long amazing vacation or something...sadly, I haven't...yet. For now, I guess just lazy. So I have a lot to catch up on and I'm gonna do it all...right..now!!

The week before Cutler's preschool graduation our super duper intelligent brother in law Reagan graduated from Medical school from the University of Louisville. We didn't attend, and are sad about it, but we are super proud of you Reagan (& Stef!!) and are so happy for you to move on to the next phase of your life.

Lexie:

 has officially entered the 'emptying phase' as I like to call it. She seriously empties EVERYTHING! I think it's funny that all of my kids have done it, but it's super annoying when you're trying to go somewhere and by the time we're all ready the house is completely 'emptied'. 

She has started carrying a blanket around everywhere. Finally she's learned that food isn't such a bad thing. I still wouldn't say she's a good eater, but she eats. Still loves her binki. And still has to have a bottle before bed. We took her swimming for the first time at my parent's house and she LOVED it. The first time actually getting in the big pool, that is. It was quite warm, which I think helped. So far, since school got out...last week, the kids have done a lot of playing in our $10 Kmart special. Or Walmart. The past couple of weeks have been a blur.

And she LOVES the swing.

Noah:

 finished the first grade, and actually liked his teacher. Remember at the first of the school year he got into a lot of trouble? By the end of the year they were almost best friends. Isn't it funny what a little discipline will do? He is seriously so tall. He's going to have to learn how to do his own hair this summer because by the time school starts, I won't be able to see the top of his head.  He loves to read, and is so good at sounding out all the words. He barely needs help anymore. He has always been the BEST big brother, especially to Lexie. He loves her so much and is always looking out for her.

On Memorial Day we took these flowers to the cemetary. I love the cemetary on Memorial Day, all the flowers are so pretty. It's the one day of the year that almost every single grave is decorated. I was however, actually sad to get to Natalie's grave and see that not one person had taken her any flowers. I knew all of her family was out of town, but I also know there are other people around that love her and thought that they may have done something for her. (And Doug & Janet showed up right behind us.) I guess what I mean is we got there later in the day, and I was just surprised that there hadn't been anyone else there yet.

Cutler:

 is Cutler. Thankfully he's pretty much outgrown his t.v. stage, but now that just means he is into something or doing something all the time. Mostly, it's not good stuff. This boy is trouble. Colby has taken the boys camping a couple of times so far, and the other night he took them + Lexie fishing. The next day we ran a few errands, and came home to swim in our super cool pool. Everyone had changed into swim suits and while I was setting up the slip-n-slide I noticed something on his chest. Like a bug, but didn't say anything thinking he would feel it and get it off. All of a sudded he started freaking out screaming get it off!! get it off!! I ran over to him and went to flick it off but noticed it was burrowing itself into him. A tick! We ran into the house and I grabbed the tweasers to pull it out, but it wouldn't budge. I left all the kids and ran to the neighbor to ask her if she'd ever seen one before and if this was one. She came back to the house with me to help take care of it. And keep me calm. We tried to burn it out with a match. She looked on the internet to find out what else to do and it said after trying to burn it out to try and twease it but to gently pull back and forth. The stupid thing was not moving. Our last resort was insta-care. Once again Cutler got to visit Dr. Moore. I know you can't really see it, but the black part that looks a little like stitches is its butt and legs.

Here he is being so brave. He'll even tell you he was. So they're numbing him because they wanted to use tweasers and pull the skin up where the tick was and just cut the skin. I was so mad they were going to just cut his skin. Like they can't get the thing out any other way! Well, they missed the spot with the magic numbing gel and we had to wait another 30 minutes for it to work. In the end they just pulled the thing out with super sharp tweasers. It was in pieces but he got it all out. Whew! It was an intense couple of hours.

This kid always has drama. I hope it's not like this forever with him. I still have a little girl to raise.

Colby has been busy with work. Now that summer is here it will slow down a little bit. And he has been on a few camping trips with the boys. Lexie & I went once too. I love camping but it's hard with little ones. Lexie is hard this year because she's walking, but still not totally stable, and the ground is so uneven. Ugh, it's just hard with little ones. But the boys love it, so they go whenever they want. 

I've been doing a whole lot of nothing. Really. I did get me some boobs. Yes, I just said that. I really just admitted it. I'm not ashamed. Who doesn't love boobs? Especially if you've had them, then lost them. It's been a rough recovery, I think I've tried to do more than I should have too early. But I have to be a mom. My sister helped out the first week which was the biggest help ever!! And no, I didn't go huge. I just look normal now.