{A Birthday}

Today we celebrated K's birthday with presetns, streamers, his choice for dinner (Red Robin), cake and 3 of our cousins.

It was a great time.

We tend to keep it simple here on birthdays and just try to make the day special.

He enjoyed it and got what he has been wanting for a LOOONG time...a new DS.

{K's 10 Today!!}

I don't know how it happened or where all the time when but our oldest son is 10!!

I absolutely can't believe it. It seems so amazing that he has grown into such a wonderful little boy!

This year his birthday wish list seems to be getting more "tennager-y" the two things that top the list are an i-touch and new ds. I don't know if I am ready for a child who needs electonics at each birthday or anytime a gift giving time comes around.

In honor of his 10th Brrthday I list 10 Things about K.

1.  He is so helpful to everyone. He likes to serve others and is always willing to help anyone do anything
2.  He loves babies.
3.  He is a milk drinker.
4.  He is great at using manners-holding doors open for others, using please and always thanking me and C for things we do for him
5.  He likes to do the laundry (how could I deny him that pleasure?)
6.  He is a great artist (he is always sketching and they look so great!)
7.  He is great at memorizing things (geography maps, poems, scriptures, anything really)

8.  He is an avid reader (like me and C. He has almost finished the Lightening Thief series after beginning it about 6 weeks ago)

9.  He is a great big brother.
10. He is still a hugger and cuddler (I hope he never outgrows that!)

We love you K!!

Happy Birthday!!

{in Case you wanted to know}

K is at this very moment....

singing Christmas songs.....

Why....

Well I think he found the Christmas music for the paino in his urge to play something.

And now the songs are too hard so he might as well sing them.

It is 86 degrees today...

the wind feels like a blow dryer...

and our almost 10 year old is singing Silent Night.

Wait he has moved on to...

Deck the Halls.

{Shark Reef}

This weekend both of N's parents are in town for the arrival of thier 8th Grandchild (and our niece). So we went with them to the Shark Reef and spent the afternoon with everyone.

The boys haven't been there in a few years so it was a great adventure for them. They give you a "wand" that tells you about each ocean animal as you travel through the reef. They listened to each and every description and learned about each animal in the reef. They are full of random knowledge again.

This is the fish that is attracted to shiny things like jewlery. Luckily Grandma had on her bracelets so the the fish kept turing around to get a close up look of them. We made a fish friend while we were there today.

There is also a touch pool there full of sting rays. The boys and Grandma were fearless and we sat there for a good amount of time hoping to get to touch all the sting rays in the pool.

It was a great afternoon out with the fam.

.

{Our Style Fishing}

So sometimes fishing with poles just isn't so fun for little boys. I mean you have to have patience and skill. Skill not to tangle your lines together or get them caught in a tree or on a bush or a rock.

So K has decided a net is the way to go.

Saturday morning K, E and C went out to another area to fish. There were four little ponds with the wild horses come close to the water and the ponds were full of fish. So the boys got on their swimsuits, swim shirts and swim shows. They got thier nets and chased the fish. K was successful and got one fish and 5 rocks. E is still hoping for his first catch next fishing trip.

{Happ Day to C}

When K was little instead of saying "happy birthday" he would say "Happy Day" and since then that's what I have always remembered and used.

So C's big day was an ordinary work day for him with a birthday dinner (his choice), birthday presents, and streamers to decorate the house.

We love him and without him I woudl be lost!
I love you forever!!

{Fishing}

As the weather warms up C and the boys begin making plans for outdoor adventures. They always talk about camping but as one of them doesn't enjoy it as much as the other two they try out smaller outdoor activities first.

So this Saturday was a fishing trip that turned into a horseshoe playing teip.

They went to the local park to fish and had a great morning. No fish caught but lots of horseshoe playing.

{Legos}

So one of the treasures in our home is the buckets and buckets of Legos we have. We have C's childhood legos that his mom saved for him that started off the collection. Then our boys love legos and have buckets of thier own. So we have more than enough legos for everyone!

Each General Conference weekend the whole entire collection of Legos comes out into the front room and gets dumped on blankets all over the room.

This Conference weekend E decided it was time to build another Nerf Gun....so they began Sunday morning and finished sometimes Sunday night.

And here is the finished product......

{Notice anything?}

So over spring break we finally got some work done around here.....can you tell?

How about in this picture?

Yep....we painted....after living here for 7 years we gave in and it feels so cozy and adds a lot. What a difference a few cans of paint can make.

{49 Days}

E is all about summer break....he has been asking since Christmas break when it was coming around. And now since we are finished with Spring Break we thought it was time to make a countdown chain to summer!!

He wanted to count all the days not just school days until summer so we are at 7 weeks which is 49 days. (For me I like to think about the number of actual school days which brings us down to a reasonable 27!!)

This is one long chain!!

{Conference}

And this Sunday also happened to be Conference. The boys love it....I mean watching church on TV? It is one of the greatest weekends of our year every year. Pjs, comfort food, comfortable seating, what isn't to like?

And years ago a great friend made us this............

And every conference time the boys remind us to buy candy and they listen intently to hear the squares on the board b/c when there is a bingo they get to eat the candy.  Great idea!!

{Easter}

We aren't big into the Bunny and Eggs and talking about all of that at easter but we do a little egg hunt for the boys each year.

This year the baskets were cute towels rolled up tight with goodies tucked into them. A great idea from the bunny if i do say some myself.. Then the one and only picture I took before they got taken apart is horribly blurry so there is no proof of thier cute-ness.

But the bunny did leave water guns.....yes it is the year of the gun at our house. I don't know why I have given in but I have and I think about it all the time!

{Beach Break}

I think we have started a new "rule"/tradition in our house. Spring break will always have to come with a Beach Break at the beginning.

Last week was our Spring Break....10 days with no school committments and no one telling us what time we had to be anywhere. I made sure to not committ to anything for anyone else except for the four of us! It was great!

We started the week with a much needed trip to Coronado California....right on the beach. I found a cheap hotel for us and we drove down on Sunday and came home Monday night realllllly late.

We spent an hour on the beach walking around on sunday night after the sunset. The boys and I were in heaven....the smell of the salt water, the waves crashing, the sand in between our toes. It was great. We picked out where we should go the next day and went to the hotel to bed.

The next morning we were at the beach by 930 and having a great time. It was about 80 degrees out with a wonderful cool breeze. We were able to see two battleships in the water, a naval hospital ship come in and lots of other military planes. That was happiness for C as he doesn't have the fondness for the beach like the other 3 of us do. We left the bach aroung 5 for our trip home and we were all tired and happy!

The tide ended up going out....really far and the tide pools were uncovered so E, K and I went and found hermit crabs, crabs, sponges, seaweed, muscles and all kinds of stuff.

K is our collector so he came home with a few shells of course. He was also the brave one to get into the cold water and boogie board. E really wanted to but the water was very cold!!

I think we'll be back again this summer. 3 of us love the beach and the one who doesn't, well he loves us enough to take us there again and again!

{Sock Hop}

Every Spring our school has a Sock Hop. In our 5 years at the school this was our first year going. We went mainly becuase E wanted to be in the Hula Hoop competition (at the back to school bbq he beat out the 4th graders so he was anxious to do that again).

We had the girls that night so they went with us and danced the night away. My boys are definatly boys standing on the edge being wallflowers, while the girls weren't shy at all and got right in there and danced away. One of my first graders took them in the middle with her and they all danced together as long as they wanted too. She was great and would bring them to me or C when they were done dancing. It was a fun night!

And E got first place in the hula hoop contest for 1st Grade!! Go E!!!

{A Bear}

This month in pack meeting K was awarded his Bear...which he earned in Decemebr but it has been so busy with everything this is the first pack meeting we have made it to since then....he was happy to get it and had his face painted as part of the ceremony.

{No Leprachaun's Caught}

So we continued with the second attempt to catch a leprachaun this year. And again they got away leaving a mess behind them....I really believe the cleaning fairies should come the day after the leprachaun's so that when you get home from work all is returned to it's proper place.

They made a big mess this year....all the kitchen cupboards were open, furniture was moved, cushions blocked the hallways, all the boys clothes were out of the closet and toliet paper was all over the bathroom alond with leprachaun dust all over everything. My favorite was the collection of random green items they found around the house and gathered on the kitchen table......

{Science Projects}

Well Friday was a big day at school. As a school we participate in Science Day. Every class moves from station to station doing science experiements all day long. It was something I always helped with as a parent and now as a teacher I get to enjoy with the scholars.

At the end of the day the winners of the science fair are announced. They are by grade level then for the top three of the entire school...

And here's our K.

2ND PLACE FOR 4TH GRADE

And then K again.......2ND PLACE IN THE ENTIRE SCHOOL!!!!

We are so proud of him and all the hard work he put into this project...it was his hardest project yet!

{Here we come!!!}

We got our Disneyland vouchers via email on Wednesday! We weren't expectig to get them for me too but the two boys and I all got them!! Now just C has to get his service done this next week and we are ready for a free day at Disney!!

{Springs Preserve}

We were able to spend a few hours at the Springs Preserve here in Vegas last Saturday (Thanks to our bank for giving us a free day to visit). K had been there with school when it first opened and E went with his preschool about 2 years ago but doesn't remember it at all.

It is so much fun. It is a hands on museum that is inside and out. It is built in the area where the springs used to be. There are a lot of things for the kids to interact with. It teaches about the people who used to live in Vegas, water conservation, desert life and animals. And has trails and gardens. We spent a good 3 hours there and could have been there longer.

{Service???}

So have you seen the commercials for a free ticket to disneyland if you do a day of service?

Well I did....A LOT....and ignored them. Then someone at school was talking to me about what thier kids were doing to earn their ticket, then another friend the next day told me what thier kids were doing and I thought "I really need to look into this"  I mean really we live 5 hours from Disneyland, our boys have NEVER been and an almost free vacation is better than NO vacation.

So I looked up the service we could give on the site and there was NOTHING for kids to do in Vegas, but it did show some to do in St George. So we signed them up.

All they had to do was collect 100 cans each and smash them and turn them in.....after two phone calls they had more than enough cans.

So when thier uncle and aunt showed up for the weekend they went in the backyard and got to smashing. I think this is the easiest service they could have given and it was a success. E decided he couldn't smach them with his foot so out came a hammer.....

Disneyland here we come sometime this summer!!

{That Time of Year}

It has now become one of the months I dread getting to each year.

March.....Science Fair Month......2 boys with big projects due the same day....working and trying to get it all done about does us in but somehow it always gets done.

This year we are a bit behind since I don't want to work on more school stuff when we get home in addition to the normal homework so we will be working on K's stuff this weekend so he can turn it in Tuesday morning. He has finsihed the experiement part, the research paper and the final paper. Now we just have his boards to make and his presentation to work on.

E turned his in today and it was great to have one done and finished.

A few pictures to add to the excitement of the Science Fair Month!

{What I Hear}

I'm "working" on the computer.....C is giving E a math lesson....K is supposed to be getting stuff ready for the morning. You can hear some smacking the wall noise coming from the room K is in (thier bedroom).

C: "K what are you doing?"

K: "Smacking the wall with a sticky frog."

(now I'm trying not to laugh too loudly)

C: "Thanks for being honest, but stop!"

30 seconds later

C: (to me) "The laughing isn't helping."


I mean really....first of all he knows he is smacking the wall....secondly I hate those sticky things you throw at the walls b/c either they get permentaly stuck on the ceiling until someone gets a ladder to tear it done (usually my brother from utah when he comes to visit) or they leave marks on the wall.

But really I love the things we have to say as parents and the straight honesty of children.

I mean really what else would you do with a sticky frog?

{Valetine's Weekend}

It was great how Valentine's also happened to be on a "long weekend" so my brother and his wife came to visit.

We decided to have Family Dinner on Sunday with us and my other brothers' family who live here in town too.

Our usual "pile on uncle time"

Outside the bowling alley where we always go with out uncle and auntie. Picture taken by K.

Since it was Valentines Day I did a chocolate fondue for dessert. It is so easy and so sun and VERY YUMMY!  Everyone seemed to love it!!

{............................}

Really, honestly, truthfully.....I just can't keep up.

Every weekend I tell myself "this is the weekend. I will sit down and blog and get our lives caught up in this makeshift blog family journal thing here".....and then it is Monday and school is the next day and I still haven't gotten to the blog.

So you'll have to keep waiting....to see what exciting things have been happening over here...or if anything exciting at all has really happened. 

So keep watching and one day I will surprise you all and the blog will be back in all it's glory!