Misc. March

We bought the kids a new tramp as our last one broke.  

The boys enjoyed helping dad set up the new one until they discovered the box.
Then they pretty much abandoned him.
I was glad to see that they are not too old to play with boxes.

They have been happy lil' jumpers ever since!

(The girls too!)

I went on a field trip with the boys' class.

They have been learning about space so their teacher arranged for the 

Salt Lake Astronomical Society to come out and talk to the kids about astronomy.

 Later that week, I woke the boys up from a dead sleep to view Venus and Saturn.

We've had such great weather though, we've seen them several times since. 

We celebrated my birthday. We ordered a giant pizza from The Pie.
I had no idea how giant it would be!

Doug took the boys to the sportsman show.

The boys had a blast!

I took Alex, Carter and Hallie to see Beauty and the Beast.  

It was playing at Hallie's school and had several of her friends in it.

It was fun for me too, as several of the characters were former students of mine.

The Leprechauns paid us a visit for St. Patrick's Day.

The boys made a leprechaun trap, but only managed to trap some gold coins.

The kids had their Spring break, but I had to work so we really didn't do much.

I did take the kids to the arcade on a cold day.

I also  managed to get the boys to the park a few times.

I'm not sure I like how big the boys are getting.

They are getting far too brave and it scares me!

Disclaimer:

The boys usually always have their helmets on,

 but we were not planning on riding our scooters. 

(The playground equipment was wet so we pulled our scooters out of the van)

 I let them go a few times and we went back later with our helmets.

I think that pretty much wraps up our March Iphone Pics.

In Denial

(August 17, 2011)

My good friend, Jen and I spent the last few weeks before school started 

 soaking up as much Summer as possible.  

Why does Summer always fly by?
I am still attempting to pack it all in as I am in complete denial that
colder weather is right around the corner.

In attempt to do it all, Jen and I took our kids

up Millcreek for lunch.

We grilled hot dogs, 

(after FINALLY getting the fire going)

and cooked S'mores

Our boys played in the stream all afternoon long while we sipped our coffee.

We spent nearly the entire day up there 

and never once heard, "Can we go now?"

It was so peaceful!!

My boys love watching survivor shows with their dad.

They attempted to make a raft with logs and long grass like the survivor guys do.

It sort of fell apart, but they were happy to have floated for a few seconds.

100 Days And More

Carter Celebrated his 100th day in Kindergarten.

I can't believe how quickly this year is flying by.

Like Alex did last year, Carter was instructed to create a poster

with one hundred items on it. 

He chose things you'd find in cupboard, complete with

cranberries, marshmallows, life savers, noodles, fruit loops,

and other fun goodies.

He did a great job.

  He is so good at math!

He also had the estimation jar.

Funny story that goes with that.

My boys are definitely growing up and their interactions are really starting to change-

Lately, I've noticed they've kicked it up a notch.

Exhibit A-The Estimation Jar:

Carter was suppose to fill the jar with something of his choice

and his classmates would estimate the quantity.

So, the boys were discussing different things that could go inside

when Alex took the jar and said he could fart in it. 

(Sorry for offending any of you, but I do live with boys after all.)

Anyways, Alex said, "I could fart in it and then Carter could show the jar

to his classmates and ask them to guess the amount.

Alex smiled and said, "They'd all say nothing. And you would say,

 No.....There is ONE fart!"

We all laughed, and then I proceeded to tell the boys  they couldn't do that and then

I threatened Carter within an inch of his life NOT to tell that story at school. 

(Gosh, I hope it worked!)

Exhibit B-Ikea:

(logo from Ikea.com)

Apparently while I was in Maui, kids could eat free at Ikea.

Well, Doug took full advantage of that.

My kids ate there TWICE, in ONE day.......lol

(and probably would have eaten there more often if it were not such a drive)

So while eating at IKEA Carter was drinking his chocolate milk

(from a small milk container)

and Alex said to Carter, "Hey, look at those lights!"

Sure enough, Carter took the bait.... hook, line and sinker.....

He looked up to inspect the lights only to find

his chocolate milk pour down the front of his shirt.

Poor guy.  He was still a bit emotional about  the whole incident

 when he told me all about it almost a week later.

Yep, my boys are growing up.

And I LOVE it!

(Most days!)



Snow Forts

Last weekend the boys spent the night at Grandmas and Grandpas' house.

They got quite a bit of snow that night so the boys and Grandpa made a snow fort the following morning.

Pictures are from my parents and they are a bit blurry, but they do the job.

Carter took Alex's eractor set to Grandpas and they built a helicopter.  Grandpa said Carter did everything all by himself except for step 3.  Step 3 confused him because the he couldn't screw in one part because another screw was in the way.  Carter was so impressed when Grandpa showed him to just unscrew the screw that was in his way a bit and then put in the other screw and then tighten them both up.  Grandpa said Carter's eyes just lit up in amazement because he was really becoming frustrated with the entire process.  Carter has already built a car and a robot all on his own, but the helicopter presented new challenges.

The boys had such a great time!  

They are still talking about that snow fort!

Now if only the snow would let up maybe we could built our own snow fort!

A little of this.... A little of that......

I cleaned off the camera card to my little camera, so this post is going to serve as a catch up for September.  Our church had a fun barbecue at Sugar-house Park.  The kids enjoyed playing in the stream and eating free snow cones.  Alex wore longer shorts (Doug calls them man capris), which didn't work with the water so Nadya improvised and tied them up with elastics.  She is so resourceful!  Needless to say, it didn't help much.  Alex's shorts were still drenched!

The kids played hard!  In fact they were dead tired that night!

Alex snuck in and slept on Carter's floor.

We have been productive around the house lately.

After six years (yes, six years!)  the front door is finally painted!  

We are still getting use to it, but I like it.  

I have enough paint to paint the other two outside doors.

Humm????  I wonder how many years it will take me to do those?  

Doug also built nesting boxes for the hens, (no eggs yet) fixed the boat, cleaned up the garden, and 

cleaned out the storage under the patio.  Phew.........I hate all these projects and we still have a list about ten items long  lingering on the fridge!  It is suppose to serve as

a motivator, and I guess in some ways it is. 

We have been wanting beanbags for the basement toyroom/pool table room and were able

to pick up two lovesac bean bags for a steal!  Originally, they were listed on Craig's list, but these particular bean bags came up casually in a conversation at church.  Sold, sold, sold........  

The kids love them!!!! The colors are perfect, and they look brand new, but I must admit they are bigger than I anticipated.

We picked a bushel of tomatoes from our garden and made 37 pints of salsa with Aunt Tracey.

This was the first time the girls had canned and they loved it! Hallie quickly became an expert

on hot peppers and jalapenos and Nadya cut up the garlic and green peppers.  They both peeled and squished tomatoes, their favorite part.  I am pretty sure Aunt Tracey will be wiping tomato juice from her cupboards for weeks! 

We plan to can peaches this weekend. Nadya is besides herself with joy!  Who knew canning food could be so entertaining to 11 year old girls?????

Fishing with Dad

Doug took the boys fishing the weekend 

before school started.

Nadya and I opted to stay home.

Boy, was it quiet!

They had such a good time.  

I told Doug it should be a tradition!!

Here they are with their catch!

They Caught and Ate Crawdads too!!!!

(They even brought some home, but I politely declined!)

Can you tell how excited they were?

I love this picture!!!!

Look how cute Carter is hugging Alex and Alex has his arm around Carter!!!!

Precious!!

So much fun!!!!!

Such great memories for them!

Jamie's Wedding

I still can't believe my little cousin, Jamie, is married.

She called and asked if I could take her bridals because

she couldn't fit it in with her photographer.

It was last minute (Oh, how I would have loved time to rent a better lens)

and it was over 100 degrees in the middle of the day.

(The worst time to attempt outside pictures!)

So, my Aunt suggested the inside fountains at her work.

We started there.

 

From there we headed up the Canyons for some cooler weather.

 

 

I really liked the idea of the bridge, but the lighting was not great.  

No matter what I did, she had splotches 

on her face from the sun shining 

through the trees.

I stopped by a friend's house on the way home 

because they have an amazing view.

But, these were difficult shots too with the direct sun.

(I would have loved to take these at sunset!)

 

Overall, she choose these two to have on display at her wedding.  

They were beautiful. 

She was stunning!

She was a beautiful bride.

Her ceremony was in my parent's backyard.

The same place her father was married.

I took a few pictures at the wedding,

but only during the ceremony because then I spent the 

rest of the time in the kitchen.

I was so amazed how well behaved the boys were.

They were truly on their own because the girls were at camp,

and as I said earlier, I spent most of the time in the kitchen.

They did a fantastic job and except for a few times

they would visit me

in the kitchen, I hardly saw them at all.

It was weird because I am so use to them

being right next to me all the time. 

Or needing to be! ;)

It is moments like these that 

I enjoy how grown up they are getting.

So, the only picture I snapped of them was in the kitchen, of course!