Mexico Preview

We've decided as a family that we should just move back to Mexico. All except Mason who wants to move wherever it is 'Lexis and Logan went.

Copy Cat Iz

I've mentioned a couple of times Isabel's love of copying whatever she sees us doing. Just today I walked in to find her trying to give a bottle full of milk to one of her baby dolls (mostly succeeding in dripping it all over her bed, herself and the baby). Here's a couple more funny pics of her following along:

And here is her first time in piggy-tails! They didn't last long...

Space Commander Jake Turns 6!!!

Turning 6 was a landmark birthday for Jake because he got his first friend party! He invited his local cousins (miss you East-coasters!) and some of his neigborhood buddies over for a couple of hours of action packed fun :)We had a rocket launch contest: Ate moon cake and ice cream:

Made crazy aliens:

And we commisioned local artist Kyl-e to do some pretty out of this world face painting:

It was a ton of high-energy fun and we especially loved getting to celebrate the birthday of our one-of-a-kind Jake. We love you buddy!

Halloween '10

Isabel got into the dress-up spirit of Halloween early by insisting on wearing her glasses when she sees me wearing mine. She has turned into quite the copy-cat and it makes us laugh all the time. Here is Mason & Iz waiting to see Jake and Hallie at the schools Halloween parade. As you can see Izzie is a busy bumblebee and Mason (that day) was a pirate. Mason dressed as something different for every party or dress up activity in October. Some examples include Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Darth Vadar, Batman, a stripling warrior, Iron Man, a lion, Robin...I'm sure there were others. My huge regret is that I didn't document it better with the camera, it was hilarious.

Here are Hallie & Kyle on their way to the achievement days daddy daughter party. Hallie was a Vampire Princess and Jake was an astronaut.

Catch up...

I can't ever seem to bring myself to blog about recent events (like our trip to Mexico!!) without spewing out all major events that have happened between my last post and now. So here is a whirlwind tour of the past couple of months....starting with some random stuff. It might take me a couple of tries but I'll get caught up. If it's too much to handle all in one sitting feel free to skim :)

Our first major happening is that I got Kyle to come to the ballet with me last month! I've had season tix to Ballet West with my mom and sisters for years but when I saw that they were doing Carmina Burana again I got Kyle a ticket. He was a really good sport about it....he put up with going with all the girls, he felt bad once he got there and realized he had forgotten to wear his blazer and ascot (or at least a scarf!) and actually ended up loving it. Or maybe I just loved it so much he didn't have the heart to tell me that he didn't like it. The first act was a Balanchine ballet which Kyle promptly slept through. The second act was Carmina Burana. He is pretty familiar with the music because the intro song (O Fortuna) is one of our kids most requested car songs--they call it "the loud song". No, they're not ridiculously cultured, they just like loud music. It was amazing--they had a full orchestra and choir, the dancing was beautiful and the soprano soloist was incredible. Of course he loved it! (right kyle?)


My second random thought is about silly bandz. My kids love these! It is the craziest thing. I saw this pic and decided to post it because this is the way all three of my older kids wrists look all the time. Izzie hasn't quite gotten into the craze yet but just give her time, she tries to copy everything else her older sibs do :)

Kyles BDay

Happy Birthday Kyle!! Way back in September Kyle took another big step into his 30-somethings. We celebrated by going to breakfast as a family and then spending the day in Park City shopping and hiking. It was a good day. When I've told people this they laugh because what man in his right mind wants to spend his birthday shopping at outlet stores? But in my defense (for planning that as our activity), we spent all our time at the Nike and Pearl Izumi outlets and I swear he wasn't miserable. Besides, any day that ends hiking in the mountains is a success in my mind.

Ironman

I made this video as a keepsake for Kyle after he finished his first ironman race in Louisville KY this past summer. It's meant to go along with his personal account of how it all went down. I'm hoping by just posting the video the report will soon follow.....



I moved the video again, this time to the very bottom of the page.

Mason's 4! Birthday celebration #2

Birthday number 2 of 3 is Mason's.  He may only be turning 4 this year, but the boy plans better than anyone else I know in the world!  No, he didn't plan his party or any of the events surrounding his birthday.  What he HAS put 9 months (at least) of thought into were his presents!  For nearly the past year, every time we go to ANY store, Mason has made a point of picking out EVERYTHING in the store he could possibly want for his birthday.  You would think this would pose a serious problem come birthday time, with 9 months of birthday present speculation to choose from.  However, the closer we got to his birthday, the more certain he became of what he wanted, making the actual birthday present selection process fairly easy!

The day started with the traditional breakfast in bed.  For Mason, it's never in doubt that he'll want his favorite food on the face of the earth, pancakes.  Today, we did our best to make them look like him.

It took a few looks from Mason before final approval was given.

We took suprisingly few (okay, not so suprising if you know us very well) pictures of the day.  We had a great family party that night, capped off with superman birthday cake and of course, presents!

Mason didn't disappoint, and was as excited as could be to get the Super Hero Squad action figures and Ironman costume he was so adamant about all year long.

Happy birthday Mace...we love you!

Izzie birthday celebration #2

Birthday celebration part two was just a quiet night at home with the family.  We opened presents, sang happy birthday, and had a little cake and ice cream.  Great job on the cake Mommy (Jamie)!

The kids were all very excited for Izzie to dig in to her own cake.

 

And with the previous celebration already under her belt, Izzie didn't hesitate to dig right in.  We're still working with Izzie on practicing a little self restraint...this celebration went a little too far!

...and unfortunately ended in the same place as the night before.

Birthdays, birthdays, birthdays...Let's start with Izzie!

August and September is the biggest birthday time of year for us.  On August 23 our little baby turned 1!  With all of the family we have in town, birthdays often warrent two celebrations, and Izzie's bday was no exception.  So, birthday celebration #1 was at the Young's house, and was combined with aunt Trisha's and cousin Kari's bday (which were the day before Izzie's).  Our little princess wasn't quite sure what all the fuss was about, and started the celebration with a few reservations. 

Izzie with her very own princess cake...thank you Grandma B!

Here's the gang, at least some of them, gathered around to sing happy birthday.  Good thing each birthday girl had her own cake!

Izzie was granted free reign of her cake.  So we stripped her down to her diaper, put her in her own seat, and placed her cake where she couldn't get away from it.  She wasn't quite sure how to handle this new freedom and was a bit shy at first.

Mason volunteered to jump up next to her and show her how it was done.

And once Mason gave his approval, the gloves came off and little Isabel went to town on both her and Mason.

Once they were finally finished, there was only one way to clean up the mess!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IZZIE!

Hallie's Baptism...really?

There aren't very many events in my life, so far, that have made me feel like I'm getting older.  This...may be the first!  I can't believe my beautiful baby girl (yes, I'm talking about Hallie) is already 8 years old!  We wanted to make the day special for her, so to start it out Jamie took Hallie to a local salon/spa where Hallie was treated to a tea cup of sprite and a chocolate cupcake while her hair was being done.  Grandmas, Grandpas, uncles, aunts, and cousins all came into town for the occassion.  Hallie made it home just in time to get dressed in her beautiful new white dress and make it over to the church for the baptism.  To sum the day up quickly, all I can say is that it was a perfect day, Hallie was so happy to have local and long-distance family members extend their love and support, and I think it was one that Hallie will always remember.

And the caboose...

And Isabel! I realized I forgot to include Iz in my back to school post. Here she is watching her older sibs get their pics taken and head off to school....wishing she could be a part of it all.... OK not really. She's still little enough that she's just happy to be here!

First Day of School!

As a special treat before school started I took the kids to Old Navy and let them each pick their first day of school outfits. It was fun seeing what they all came up with :) Here's our big girl Hallie looking very stylish and all ready for 3rd Grade. She loves school and was so excited to head back. She also cut about 6 inches off her hair as part of her back to school look. She was really excited that her teacher this year has their room decorated with a cowboy theme. This is the 4th year in a row that has happened (maybe because we live in Spanish Fork?) and she loves it! She's also very excited to learn cursive and mutliplication this year.Here's Jake all ready for Kindergarten. He went with a super hero shirt (of course) and picked those pants because of the robot key chain hanging off them. (I mean really, does it get any better than that?) He's been ready to join Hallie at the "big kid school" for awhile now and finally has his chance! He was a little overwhelmed that first day but has loved it ever since and he and Hallie love riding their scooters home from school together every day.

And Mason Mason Mason......we really need to work on his picture face. After a lot of effort on my part to talk him into anything else from Old Navy, he went with another pair of navy blue sweat pants. To go along with the 4 other pair (all navy blue) he has in his drawer. He just adores his "furry pants" and only wears anything else (including shorts) when all of his sweat pants are dirty. He loves his school clothes though and wears this particular outfit to school at least once a week. He has enjoyed finally getting to go to his very own school and by the third day was asking me if he could just go live at Teacher's house (traitor!)

Red Rock Relay Race Report....

Sorry, I couldn't Resist...I had some requests for a race report so here we go. The race was awesome. I'm trying to use that word less though so instead I'll say that it was invigorating, exhausting, hillarious, incredible, and definitely worth doing again. I was in Van 1 so we started the race on Friday morning up at Brian Head ski resort. We were supposed to start around ten but managed to get our start time moved up to 7. Our first runner rode the lift up to the summit and then did a trail run down the resort. I was runner 2 so I met her in the parking lot and started my run there. The nickname for my leg is The Diablo....dum dum dum....I started at the base of Brian Head and ran on the highway up around the resort to Cedar Breaks National Monument. Its a 900 ft elevation gain in just over 4 miles and summits at over 10000 feet. It was a beast!! Then I got to take it easy most of the rest of the day. When our van was finished with our first legs we stopped by Golds Gym for showers, went out to lunch, and then laid on the grass at SUU in Cedar City until Van 2 finished.

Our second leg started at SUU (Southern Utah University). Our first runner ran around the University and then met me at a church. Mine started at the church and ran out of town toward the middle of freakin nowhere. This was by far my worst leg. It was 5 miles, long straight and flat. Not my favorite. But I survived. I ended on the start of a dirt road that the rest of the ladies in my van ran on long into the night. We finished around 11, got to our hotel at 12 and got to sleep until about 2:30. It was around midnight that I was wishing I was home in my bed....I really like to sleep....

But when we left our hotel at 2:45 and headed off to meet van 2 I surprisingly had a lot of energy. My final leg started just outside of Veio Utah (middle of nowhere) and ran 6 miles down a highway to the top of Snow Canyon. It was by far my favorite. I had a ton of energy, there were millions of bright stars overhead, looming red rock cliffs on either side of me, it was incredible (or awesome if I was using that word). We finished up in St. George just after sunrise and handed off to Van 2. Overall it was a great experience, the running was great and massive amounts of caffeine and a serious lack of sleep made all that time in the car deliriously fun. Here are the amazing ladies of Van 1:

Fiesta!!

As you may or may not know, the 24 of July is kind of a big deal around here. Spanish Fork likes to make it an especially big deal by holding their annual Fiesta Days Celebration over that weekend. Our family loves riding rides at the carnival, going to the parade and the rodeo and watching the fireworks. The best part is its all just a mile or two from our house. It takes us a week or so to catch up on our sleep but its well worth it...

One thing I love about Mason is he is always happy doing his own thing. When we tell the kids they can pick three rides to go on Hallie and Jake work together to figure out which rides they want to go on together (which is also pretty cute). Mason picks is own and is totally ok doing them by himself. Here he is on the swings:

And here's Hals & Jake on the Sizzler
Isabel didn't get to come to the rodeo with us (she slept over at a friends house) but she wanted to get her cowgirl on anyway. Here are the rest of us at the rodeo. The kids loved the kettle corn and snow cones just as much as the broncos and bulls. Jake's favorite part was the mutton bustin' and he has already requested that I try and sign him up for next year.

Alisha & her family and Trisha came down to watch the parade with us. It was the debut of my awesomely huge umbrella. (Costco!!)
The best part of the parade was Hallie!! Her dance group performed and did a fantastic job.