Flashback Friday - 1st grade

That's me on the far right in the awesome red shorty short dress with black shoes leaning into the cute boy.

Luke

I'm pretty sure those are size 2T jammies. They aren't supposed to be 3/4 length sleeves. Oh well...he LOVES spiderman and at least he matches for once.

***I need to add some information to this post. When I got home Luke and Tayson were playing at the neighbors then I left to go shopping around 3:00 pm and I saw him outside...IN HIS JAMMIES STILL! Oh my gosh. I made him go home and get dressed. Todd didn't seem to think twice about the fact that he let Luke go over to a friends house dressed like this. LOL.

Last Day of School

I can't believe it. Tayson is done with 1st grade. All in all the year was fine. He doesn't love school and isn't the top of his class, but he learned a lot. He can read so much better - now I just have to see if I can get him to enjoy reading. He's a good speller and seems to do well it math (when he applies himself). Tayson is pretty social and made lots of friends. I can't believe that in a few months he and Luke will be heading off to school together.

This morning Tayson got himself dressed - in a too small shirt with some of his older cousin's old baseball pants. I asked him a few times if I could get him different clothes but he really wanted to play baseball during recess so he needed to wear the baseball pants. Rather than fight with him on his last day of school I took a picture :)

A funny note about his outfit...my boys don't understand complimentary colors yet. They think that if it's the same color it matches. So they show up all the time in 2 reds or 2 blues that don't match at all. The other day Luke had on a red shirt with his orange basketball shorts. He looked hilarious and we asked him why he was wearing that shirt with those shorts and he told us...because my red shorts are dirty and orange is almost red. They crack me up.

Sophie on the slide

Today to start our day off right the kids and I cleaned the play room. The entire time we were cleaning Sophie was crawling up the slide and going down the slide. She got so good by the end she could get all the way to the top and turn around to sit on her bum to go down. She LOVES it! Of course I won't let her do it unless I'm close by - which meant it took a little longer to clean than normal since there were frequent stops to watch her and video her of course. She is such a funny kid. She is so much more active than my other kids at this age - she is walking a lot more now and is getting close to having it completely down. Her biggest problem is how excited she gets.

Memorial Day 10K

For my May run I decided to shake it up and do a 10K instead of a 5K. (In case you only speak miles...that's 6.2 miles). The race was Saturday morning in Orem. We run 6 miles all the time, but for some reason I started to get a little nervous about how I would race this distance. I know how hard I can push myself for a 5K but I had never raced a 10K before. I looked online to set some goal times of what I wanted to do and I was thinking it would be great to be somewhere between 50 and 55 minutes. Friday night I found out that the 75 mile bike ride previously scheduled for Monday wasn't going to be easy for everyone and a few of them needed to go Saturday instead...so I decided to go with the girls Saturday afternoon after my race. This of course changed my game plan a little because I didn't want to kill myself then bonk on my bike ride. That is until the gun went off.

Here we are before the race

Jen, Jill and I

Jen signed up for the 5K and Jill signed up for the 10K with me. When we got to the starting line Jen told Jill to get under an hour and my goal was to come in at 55 so we decided to start it off together and see how we felt. We both just listened to our iPods but we paced and ran together. It felt great and I loved the speed we were going. We finished together at 53:27 (an 8:38 min/mile pace) and got 3rd in our age group. It was a great run and we did better than we planned - you gotta love that. Jen took 2nd in her age group in the 5K too. I love having friends who push me to do more.

Here we are with our medals

And the good news is....I finished my 75 mile bike ride and didn't die. I actually felt pretty good on the ride. Of course I came home and took an ice bath and was beat down tired but it felt good to be done and to have such a great day.

Flashback Friday - Family

I'm 4th of 10 kids. When George was on his mission Mark was born then Steve left for his mission before George got home. Then Sherry left for BYU when Mark was 3 months old. One summer right before I left for BYU the whole family was together living in the same house. We've never all gone on vacation together and we rarely get the chance to all be together - someone is almost always missing. Mark comes home from his mission in one month...seriously it's in 32 days! Can you tell I'm excited? (Steve keeps making fun of me for being so excited about it...but seriously I can't wait!!!!)

So for this week's flashback I found a few old pictures of us as a family.

This was Christmas in our front yard in Missouri.
All of us together with no-one on a mission right after Sherry got married.

This was the same Christmas. We got dressed up for pictures and then who knows why but we picked up Brandon. Too bad Steve, Timmy, Mark and my mom are missing

We always have so much fun together as a family. I can't wait until next month when we are all together hanging out...and we're getting pictures taken.

Claire's First Haircut

Today I took Claire to get her hair cut - her first real haircut. I cut her bangs a few times when she was little but really she's never had a haircut.

before

during

playing the iPhone so she would hold still

after

I promised her ice cream if she was good.
So we headed to McDonalds for a vanilla cone - her favorite.

Tonight after her bath her hair curled up so cute. I absolutely LOVE her hair cut - you can't really tell a difference since it still has most of it's length. But all the dead ends are gone and there are a few layers and it is adorable.

Luke's School Program

Tonight was a completely different experience than Tayson's program last week. Luke was so excited about his program tonight. He wanted to put on his nice clothes and Todd even helped him put some product in his hair (although rather than rub his hands together then put it on lightly he just rubbed a big glob in the top). He was the first one to go sit in the chairs when we got there. He was on the back row and he kept shifting to make sure we could see him. He sang loud and knew all the songs. He was so darn cute!

First one in his seat ready to go

Look at him sing

Hunter and Luke with Miss Sherry their teacher

Getting his certificate

He is just so cute!

His teacher wrote this on his end of year assessment: "Luke is very smart and a quick learner. He can focus on the task and is kind to others". I have to agree with her he is such a joy to have in our family.

Tayson's School Program

Last week Tayson had his end of year 1st grade program. They sang a song for every month of the school year and I think he sang about 15 words out of all those songs. He stood there, he yawned (several times), he hid behind his neighbors, he picked his nose....but really he didn't sing. Oh well Luke and I had a good time watching him and I'm so proud of him for working hard this year.

Not singing or paying attention

Luke and I watching the program

Tayson with his teacher Mrs. Scott

Hooray for Sunshine

Let the summer begin...







bring on the boat and the bar-b-ques I'm so ready!

Claire

Self-Portrait by Claire:

I'm at my wits end with this sweet little thing. She is so independent and moody it's killing me. I try to give her options and when I ask her which one she wants almost every time she says "nofing...I want nofing". She won't let me fix her hair (obviously) - the other day I walked in from work and the first thing she said to me was "don't you dare mama....don't you dare cut my hair....you just make me beautiful". I have never threatened her with a haircut, but I probably should.

Do I wait it out? Is it just her age+gender+personality? Will she really ever grow out of this phase? I honestly can't believe that someone so little and so cute could make me as mad as she does.

Sophie Walking

This was about 3 weeks ago...and I've been meaning to post it I really have.

Some funny parts in this video:
- I sound like a freak...honestly why can't I be normal when I'm trying to get my kids to do stuff
- Sophie's hair is too cute all slicked down right after her bath
- Claire has curlers in her hair
- Luke as usual is playing the wii

Happy Birthday Todd

Man I love this guy!

The sweet apron was a b-day gift from David and Kami (and it fits him perfectly). The huge slab of meat is slightly disturbing...but it was delicious. Can you tell how much weight he's lost and how fit he is? He is smokin' hot!!!!

Flashback Friday - Roadtrip

Sherry in the back of the Cav

This was on our way back to BYU after being home for the summer. Sherry, Steve and I all went back with all our stuff and as you can see there was NO room left in the car. The best part was that when we brought our stuff out my dad was not happy with how much stuff we were bringing and in order to get it all to fit in the car he had to shove our shoes in all the small crevices in the trunk. I remember how mad Sherry and I were that he was doing that - hilarious now.

Another funny thing is that the Cavalier had no A/C so we had to ride with the windows down. As you can see this made for great hair and improvised hair accessories.

That awesome luggage was my high school graduation present. I still have some of the set. :)

In case you missed me on TV today....

The funny parts:

• I couldn't wear any makeup
• I wasn't supposed to smile
• My mouth was very dry and I had a little gel in it from the facial so I look like a fish
• I got called "the model" twice
  
• Right after being called "the model" and thinking I was all that my wrinkles were pointed out on TV
  

Funny Photo

Check out Luke's face in the background he is so mean to poor sweet Sophie

Happy Birthday Claire

I can't believe she's 3 already!

We did a little interview with her tonight.

Favorite Color: Red (wed as she says)
Best Friend: Bella and Mille
What does she want to be when she grows up? donno (Tayson suggested being a girl cop)
What does she love to do? Play hide and seek
Favorite Toy: Cinderella (the best part is that this is the only princess toy she doesn't have)
Favorite Movie: Peter Pan
Who does she want to marry when she grows up? Mama

Claire's Nacho Party

We celebrated Claire's birthday with my family. Today was her actual due date...but she decided to hang in there a few more days and I threatened her (in utero) that if she was born on the cinco de Mayo that I would name her Dora or Guadalupe. She decided to wait until the 6th (little stinker). So this is the 3rd year in a row we've had a Nacho/Pinata party for her b-day.

Tayson and the pinata| Allen with the final blow | Ryan | Roman | Glen
Allen in the Barbie wig | Lexie | Lilly | David w/Roman and Glen | Todd wearing Claire's pj's
Birthday Cake | Kids with the cake | Tayson, Ryan and Allen
Claire in the Barbie wig | Claire | Luke

*some things to note: Claire refuses to have her hair fixed; Ryan is giving himself bunny ears; Claire would make a cute blond - so would Allen; there were lots more pictures but not enough time or room.

The Joy of Motherhood

Today at Stake Conference my good friend offered to take Sophie off my hands while she slept. Ah heaven...only 3 kids to try to keep quiet for 2 hours.

When I would look to make sure Sophie was behaving and still fast asleep I saw my friend holding and cuddling her, then her son was holding her, they were so sweet and I could tell how much they were enjoying holding sweet baby Sophie.

It reminded me of the day Tayson was born. Another couple from our prenatal class were at the hospital and we thought it was so fun we were having our babies on the same day when we saw the husband. We found out as we were on our way to the delivery room that there had been complications and they had lost their baby. The next day my friend came to my hospital room with flowers for me (like I deserved the flowers at that point!!!). I had no idea what to do so I just handed her Tayson and we sat there crying for her loss. I will never forget the way I felt at that moment.

Since then I have had friends who have struggled to have children, lost children, adopted children, had children and I've had 3 more of my own. The feelings I had today reminded me so strongly to enjoy every minute I have with the sweet spirits I've been blessed with. I hope that when people see me holding Sophie they see how much I love it and I look like my friend did today instead of looking stressed, annoyed, and tired.

I love being a mom it is my greatest joy!