Girls Week In ST. George

The girls were able to spend this past week in St. George with my sisters. For the past 2 years MaKady has gone away to Girl Scout Camp. but this year she wanted to try something new. She has plans to attend Tuacahn High School in a couple of years so when we found Desert Stars I knew it would be a perfect thing for MaKady.

Desert Stars is a week long day camp for performing arts. They met at Tuacahn High School and for 3 hours a day they did music and dancing. MaKady loved it because she is totally the "drama queen" in our family. She loves to sing and dance and express herself.

While MaKady was at her camp, Paige would spend her days with Aunt Tabi.

MaKady in front of the High School

Taib & MaKady at Del Taco
Paige & MaKady just chillin

Kole & Paige

Tabi, Hannah, Paige & MaKady playing dress up

MaKady, Hannah, Paige, & Tabi having a girls night!!

Lunch at Judds Store

they have the best soup and breadsticks. There also have a huge assortment of old fashioned candy and soda in the bottle. Located in downtown St. George by the library

Dancing

Lunch at the park

A dragonfly that was flying around

The fountain at the St. George Opera House

Paige

MaKady & Ronald McDonald

The girls had such a great time in St. George. They didn't want to come home.

Once a Year...

Once a year my work has a dealer meeting where we bring in our dealers from around the country for 2 days for training. We usually get a celebrity to come and speak to get these guys excited. This year our guest speaker was Craig Morgan. He was really upbeat and fun, and then he sat down and sang 3 of his songs. It was so great. It's a much different experience hearing those songs in a small setting vs. a giant concert venue. Anyway if you get the chance to go see him in concert, he's great.

The Gang at Fort Knox
Me & Craig Morgan

Sunday

I love going out to Jared's parents house. It is way out in the country so the great thing about it is all of the farm country, plus the fact that you can't hear the freeway from their house. We went out to his parents house on Sunday (minus the girls because they are in St. George) and we had lunch with Jared's parents and his sister Jen and her family. We rode around on the four wheeler and the two baby cousins (Lucas and Adam) played together. It was such a nice relaxing day.

Part of Jared's parents garden
Adam & Gary on the motorcycle. Thats a bungee cord strapped around the mug, and Adam fit snuggly between the mug and the back of the seat. (don't worry, they were just posing for a picture)

Lucas and Jared on the 4-wheeler. It was Lucas' first ride. He loved it.

Adam

Lucas & Adam. They played really well together.

Birthday, Blessing, & Baptism

On Saturday my family gathered together (minus Jared because he had to work). My sister Katie's family had a big day planned. First my neice Jamie was baptized by my dad, then her little sister Emily was blessed by my dad, then we had lunch and a birthday party for Brandon. It's always great to get together with family. The kids had a great time at the party. They got their faces painted and they made flowers clips for their hair.

Lucas & Grandpa Orin
My mom and her siblings (missing Aunt Gay)
Keith, My mom, Aunt Ilene, Aunt Ann, & Aunt Jill

MaKady & Brock

The babies - Lucas and Emily

Paige

Jamie & Grandpa Orin

City of Fun

So, the Ute Stampede was this past week. Admitedly it's not my favorite thing. To me it feels like a big high school reunion (one I could do without). So we usually skip the festivities, but we did take the kids down to the Carnival. It's one of those things they look forward to all year. My best friend Shannon drove all the way up from Ramah, New Mexico for a visit so they were able to go with us. My sister Tabitha and her husband Kole also came with us. It was really fun.

Jared & Me
Shannon, MaKady & Ashton

Kole, Tabi, & MaKady

Paige on the giant slide. I think she went on this thing about 50 times.

Paige & Ashton on the train

The girls on the dragon

Lucas didn't get to go on any rides but he loved being pushed around in his stroller. He was awake the whole evening and didn't make a sound, he loved the lights and all the people.

Me & Shannon

5 months old

Here is my monthly post on Lucas. He is now 5 months old. He is getting really chunky and he has so much personality. He is always happy. He loves his sisters and just people in general. He is definately going to be a people person like Jared. He loves to be in a room full of people. Last night we took him with us to see Transformers and he didn't make a sound. He sat wide-eyed in his car seat for about an hour and then he fell asleep and stayed asleep all night. He had his first bowl of babanas 2 days ago, and he is starting to sit up on his own. He can sit for about 5 seconds by himself before he topples over and we catch him. We bought him this hat the other day so that he would have a fishing hat like dads. He didn't even try to pull it off when we put it on his head. We are enjoying him so much.

Independence Day

We had a really great weekend. Jared finally got some time off from his new job so Friday (because we both had the day off) we took the opportunity and went to the Salt Lake Temple with my parents, my brother Henry and his wife Krista and my sister Lucy. Then after that we went and ate at Jared's favorite restaurant "Joe's Crab Shack".

Saturday we went over to our friends Craig and Jessica Carter's house (Jessica is actually my kids babysitter, but we have been friends with their family for a long time). The girls played with their girls (they have 5) and we had a barbeque and then Craig pulled out his guitar and we listened while he and Jared sang a bunch of songs. The wind started to blow and a storm rolled in. The wind was blowing so hard that our fireworks kept falling over, so Jared and Craig put rocks in the bottom of buckets and stood the fireworks in the bucket. It actually worked pretty well. We were able to watch a few fireworks before the rain started. It was so much fun. What a great independence day.

Me and Lucas
Katelee & MaKady

Craig & Jared

Jessica, Paige, Liberty, & Kinlee

Craig

Jared & Lucas

Kinlee & Paige

Katelee, Liberty & MaKady

Happy Birthday

Jared turned 33 yesterday on July 2. We had some friends over and had pizza and cake. It was a lot of fun. Jared is so great. He is a great dad and my best friend. Happy Birthday Sweetie!!!

Hair Cut

Oh, I don't want my baby to grow up so fast, and part of that is not cutting his hair. He was born with a full head of hair and it has just kept on growing. I swore I was not going to cut it until his 1st birthday but Jared came home the other day and noticed that Lucas had a couple of "bald" spots, patches on his head that he has worn the hair off of, and so Jared told me that I needed to cut it or he would take him to a salon and have his hair cut. So, reluctantly I "trimmed" his hair. I admit it does look much better, but I still had a little bit of a cry because my baby is getting so big much too quickly.

BeforeAfter

Doesn't Lucas look older. What a cutie boy. He was so still while I was cutting his hair.

Time...

We have been advised to "use our time wisely" but like many of you I spend way too much time on the computer. I waste a lot of time updating my blogs and looking at other people's blogs, playing on facebook, searching the internet, etc. However one thing that I do is something I feel great about and I don't feel like I am "wasting" time.

I do family search indexing. In 30 minutes you can help people find their ancestors. It's free to join, and it is very addicting. You can go to their website here to find out more information and sign up.

Pinkalicious

We have "pinkitis" (Pinkalicious: , by Elizabeth Kann, Victoria Kann) at our house. Everything around us seems to be pink. Even the sunrise this morning cast a pink hugh on the clouds. It was beautiful. I couldn't resist taking pictures of all of the "pink" in our lives right now.

Pink Sunrise
Paige's pink hair (Thank you Aunt Mary)

Pink Hoola-Hoops

Even Baby Lucas had fun with pink. (The kids at the babysitters house were playing dress up and they put this wig on him).

Oh what fun we are having so far with "pink". With all this rain we have had to find some fun indoor activities to do. We got the girls each a hoola hoop, we play games and puzzles, we watch movies, and play with playdough. It's so much fun. I hope you are all having a great summer so far, and if you haven't read the book "Pinkalicious" by Elizabeth Kann and Victoria Kann, then I would highly recommend that you do. It's great.

In Memory...

Jordan

October 11, 2005 - June 12, 2007

It's been two years since my nephew Jordan passed away. In some ways the time has gone by very quickly, and in other ways it has seemingly stood still. They say is gets easier with time, but my heart still aches every day. I miss all of the little things, like the way he would cozy up to my leg when he wanted to be held, his smile, his chubby little hands and curly black hair, the little words that he was just starting to learn "no", "go-go", "hi", "stomp -stomp" (accompanied by his little dance, and "nonna". I miss the way he would tease you, when you told him to come here he would run over to you until he was very close, then he would stop and turn around, then look back at you and grin. I miss just being able to see him everyday. I find myself looking at other kids who are the same age that he would be and try to think of him now. I am grateful for the short time he was here with us and the knowledge I have that I will see him again someday. We love you Jordan.

4 months old

Honestly, where has the time gone. It seems to be flying by. I cannot believe that my baby is 4 months old already. He is just amazing. At 4 months old Lucas does the following:

• Sleeps through the night, usually from around 8:30 - 5:30 (which is when I get up)
• He smiles at everything
• He's not fussy at all, except the last couple of days because we found out he has thrush :>(
• He loves his lovey (which is a small stuffed animal head with a blanket attached) We give it to him and he hugs it and sucks on the bears ear
• He wants to sit up. He can't do it by himself yet, but his aunt Tabi gave him this awesome bumbo chair and he loves to sit in it
• He loves his sisters, he makes silly noises and laughs whenever they are around. They have been gone this week and you can tell he misses them. He just looks a little bit lost. I finally had to turn on the disney channel and just hold him yesterday so he would be happy.
• He is a little pig when it comes to eating. He eats 4-8 ounces at each feeding. He is a great little eater.
• He sucks on his hand to soothe himself. It's really funny to watch him because he usually has his hand in a little fist and the whole thing shoved into his mouth. (He has a big mouth like his mom)
• He likes to ride in the car, he never makes a sound
• He likes T.V. he will sit for long periods of time and watch t.v. especially if his sisters are watching with him. He loves "Wizards of Waverly Place", "ICarly", and "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse"
• He likes to take naps with his dad
• He loves to laugh
• He can roll over from his back to his stomach. Then he screams until you roll him back onto his back. Then he rolls over again. It's really funny to watch