Blue Bear, Blue Bear What Do You See??

Cub Scout Pack Meeting

August 17, 2011

Blue Bear, Blue Bear, What Do You See?

I see a bunch of Cub Scouts looking at me!!

Jake Q., Jake T. Caden, Kelvin, Jacob, CJ, Austin

Over the summer our pack work on the Cub Scout Conservation Award.  Most of the pack recieved the award and pretty much every one else is close to receiving it.  It was a lot of work, but we learned a lot about recycling and conservation.

Austin has been working super hard and, in addition to the conservation award, he earned:

Bear

1 Gold Arrow Point

4 Silver Arrow Points

Religious Sqaure Knot

Austin was having a lot of fun taking pictures of himself with his iPod Touch. 

And I LOVE being his Bear leader.

WAY TO GO, AUSTIN!!!!

Princess Water Party

August 13, 2011

To celebrate Sarah's 4th birthday she wanted to have a Princess Water Party.  So we set up a two slip-n-slides, filled up two little pools, turned on the sprinklers, and gave the kids some spray bottles - WAALAA - Water Party!!! 

For the Princess Party and had three of the best helpers ever to pamper our little princesses -

Maddie

Olivia

I also had Audrey, who was my photographer so I don't have any pictures of her.  Bummer!!!  She got some super pictures. 

Cake Time

Either that cake's not very good or Sarah's ready for presents...

I was laughing for days over this picture of Owen... 

Pinata Time 

Present Time

Bumble Bee Pillow Pet (Thank you Trey & Kade)

Clifford book and T-bone stuffed animal (Thank you Alex)

Supersized Barbie coloring book and dance outfit (Thank you Marissa)

Beautiful necklace and bracelets (Thank you Natalie)...also My Little Pony and Princess Doll (Thank you Olivia and Bailey)

And the cutest baker ever (Thank you Olivia)

Now Sarah's birthday week is over!!! 

Reminiscing

August 8, 2011

When I was younger, my favorite toy was a ball.  My parents said even when I was a baby I prefered a simple ball over any other toy.  On any given day, Sarah can be found playing with these -   

She is working on dribbling two at a time.

The other night, Sarah fell asleep on the couch with these -  

She is so darn cute!

Say it ain't so, 4 years old!

Happy 4th Birthday, Sarah!!!

August 8, 2011

On Monday, August 8, Sarah celebrated her 4th birthday.  The morning started off with her favorite breakfast - pancakes and sausage.  After breakfast, we opened presents before the boys had to leave for their FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!

Sarah got a music set.

and the Disney Princesses. 

Grandma & Ladd also sent an outfit and pajamas...and NAIL POLISH!!!  Sarah loves the nail polish and besides putting it on her fingernails, she has put some on the shells she collected from Lake Havasu (the shells are very pretty with the glitter on them).  Also, Sarah got three necklaces from Grandma & Papa Hardy. 

That afternoon Sarah and I had a fun day shopping.  She got a new pair of jeans and two shirts.

I asked Sarah if she had a good birthday.  She said, "yeah, but I haven't had my real birthday yet."  I told her that it was her real birthday.  She told me, "my real birthday is when my friends come." 

My baby girl is now FOUR YEARS OLD!!!  How did it happen so quickly? 

Four things I love about Sarah.

1.  Clean - she loves to clean and organize.  Just yesterday she said, "Mom, let's organize the toy box."  Sadly, I talked her out of it but I definitely have it on my list of things to do.

2.  Obediant - she really tries to do what is asked.  Earlier this week she told Jim, "Now that I'm 4, I'm going to listen better."

3. Athletic - Even though she is all girl and loves all the frilly stuff, she is one tough cookie.  She can jump high, run fast, do pushups, swing a baseball bat, catch a football, and dribble two basketballs at the same time. 

4.  Cuddly - She loves to cuddle.  No morning (or afternoon or evening) is complete until we "rock" in the lazy boy. 

Also she is hilarious, happy, smart, stubborn - I mean, determined - and beautiful inside and out!!!

Splash-N-Dash - Luke Air Force Base

Splash-N-Dash

Luke Air Force Base

400 meter swim/5k run

August 6, 2011

Me & Becca

Last Saturday, a bunch of us participated in a splash-n-dash at Luke Air Force Base.  There were 18 people total that participated (half of them were in our group).  The race was a lot of fun.  The Amazing Becca took 1st place out of the womem, smoking everyone by a long shot.  She is fast as fast can be.  I took 2nd.  Hooray for me!!!  As an added bonus, the prize for the top 3 male and female participants was a free enterance into the upcoming sprint triathlon at Luke Air Force Base.

The highlights for me:

My swim is becoming respectable.  I think I'm no longer really, really slow, I've moved up to the "slower end of the average" time for swimmers. 

My run felt pretty good, especially considering that I haven't really been pushing myself run wise since Boston.  I probably need to start doing interval training because I noticed I had lost some speed.

My friends!!!  Allyson, Gayla, Diana, and Becca - I had a blast!!! All of you amaze me.  Keep up the hard work.

More pictures -

Allyson, Becca, Me, Diana, Marty, Gayla, Shannon, Chris

Becca & I

Me

Me

Running in past the jets.

Finish line!

Best Birthday Present Ever!

Today is Sarah's 4th birthday.  In honor of her birthday, we made her favorite breakfast - sausage and pancakes.  For her birthday, she got all the Disney princess dolls.  Ahhhh....She loves those princesses, but I think her favorite present was -

The boys going BACK TO SCHOOL!!!!

 Sammy, Tommy, and Austin are going to a new school this year. 

Sammy - 1st grade 

Austin - 4th grade

Tommy - 6th grade (Tommy really though it was uncool that I was there taking pictures, so it took some convincing.  I think he conceded because he just wanted me to leave). 

11 Years Old!!!

On August 5, Tommy turned 11 years old!!!  To celebrate we took the family and a few of his friends to Amazing Jakes the day before his actual birthday.  Tommy had been saying he wanted to go to Amazing Jakes, but we told him probably wouldn't happen because we just went with Grandma & Papa.  But the week before his birthday I got an email from Amazing Jakes and it was a killer deal.  I decided to go ahead and do it. 

On Tommy's actual birthday Grandma, Ladd, and Grandma Reid took him to Buffalo Wild Wings (his favorite) for lunch.  But the rest of Tommy's birthday wasn't necessarily fun - he had a middle school oreintation to attend, then he had to get one last immunization, and basketball practice.  Usually he loves basketball practice, but I think he was just tired from all the excitement of the past couple of weeks.  He said all he wanted to do for his birthday was "nothing" but we had lots to do before school started the next week.

Tommy is an amazing kid!  We are so blessed and grateful to have him in our family.  Eleven things I love about Tommy (in no particular order) -
1. Prompt.  Tommy doesn't like to be late for anything (even church and school).  We rarely have a problem being late for school or church, because Tommy is reminding us 15-30 minutes before we need to go that we need to go!
2. Goal oreintated.  Once Tommy decides he wants to do something - he does it!  Yesterday, he finished reading the Book of Mormon.  A little less than two months ago, we told him about a challenge our Bishop gave to the youth in our ward and Tommy decided he wanted to do it as well.  Over the past several weeks, I have found him reading the scriptures A LOT. 
3. Hard Worker.  Tommy is a pretty smart kid, but memorizing has always been difficult for him.  This year as a family, we made a goal to memorize the 13 Articles of Faith.  Even though this was not an easy task for him, we completed our goal six months ahead of schedule. 
4. Piano.  I love listening to Tommy play the piano.  At least a couple of times a day, he will sit down and play a hymn or one of his favorite songs in addition to his regular practice.  This extra practice is paying off because he is pretty darn good.
5.  Basketball.  He loves basketball.
6.  Funny.  He is a pretty funny kid.
7.  Smart.  Tommy actively seeks to learn new things.  He loves to research different animals (especially reptiles).  Over the summer he focused on the Civil War and he is becoming an expert.
8. Great example to his younger siblings.
9.  Passionate. 
10.  Focused.
11.  Determined. 

We love you, Tommy!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Lake Havasu and a little Plunge-N-Run practice

Lake Havasu

July 29, 2011

Sydnie, Austin, Tommy, Maylee, Logan, Sammy, Max, Sarah

On our way back from St. George, we stopped in Lake Havasu City to visit with our good friends, Brooke & Tim & family.  Saturday morning, Brooke and I swam/ran the course for the Plunge-N-Run end of August.  It is a mile swim and six mile trail run.  I was super excited because I completed the swim (without my wetsuit).  I was pretty slow, but at least I know I can make the distance.  Brooke is a fast swimmer so she waited for me to finish the swim, then we set off on our six mile run.  This is no ordinary course it is very difficult, so it took us awhile...but again, at least I know what I have to look forward to for the upcoming Plune-N-Run.

Before our family headed out we took the kids to a beach at Lake Havasu and let them play in the water.  They had a blast.  The boys collected a zip lock bag full of shells.  Sarah collected a bunch too.  The kids could see little minnows in the water so they were trying to catch them, but they weren't very successful with their splashing and diving and stirring up all the mud so you couldn't see anything. 

The boys were very serious about their shell collecting.

Sarah loved swimming around in the lake.  She's a fish.

My very supportive husband - Jim.

Brooke's very supportive husband - Tim.

Success!!!

St. George, Utah

July 27-29, 2011

Brooklyn, Lydia, Brendan, Tommy, Austin, Sarah, Sammy

A few days ago we made a spur-of-the-moment trip to St. George, UT.  We got a chance to visit our good friends, the Daines, and we finally watch The Little Mermaid musical at Tuacahn Theater.  We arrived Wednesday afternoon and the kids played in the pool.

Brenda, Brooklyn and Lydia

Austin and Sammy

The family waiting for The Little Mermaid to begin.

The family after the show...Sarah fell asleep.  The show was pretty good.  The water effects were absolutely amazing.

Thursday morning we decided to go on a hike.   

Sammy

Austin

Tommy

Sarah

Austin loves to climbs (and he loves to give me heart attacks)

Sammy and Brendan

The whole gang

The hike was pretty short.  It was hot and the kids were drinking the water pretty fast, so we were probably only out there for 20 minutes.  Then we went back to the house and jumped in the pool.  For dinner, we went to Iceberg (one of my favorites in St. George).

Iceberg is famous for their "mini" shakes...yes that big cup is a "mini."   

Brendan ate TWO hot dogs.  Unbelievable.

That night Tina, Jim and I went to see Grease at Tuacahn.  We also took Tommy and Lydia.  The rest of the kids stayed home, watched movies, and hung out (thanks, Brooklyn).

Lydia & Tommy

Friday morning, we cleaned up, then we let the kids swim for a little bit to wear them out for our drive to Lake Havasu City, AZ.  Our stay in St. George was fantastic not only did we get to see two great musicals - The Little Mermaid and Grease, we got to hang out with some of my favorite people.

Also, my kids that it was pretty cool that on Friday as we drove from St. George, UT to Lake Havasu, AZ we spent time in 4 different states - Utah, Nevada, California, and Arizona.