Catch-up

Just wanted to post a few fun pics of the family while I had a few minutes. They're not in chronological order because I have neither the time or the patience with this stupid blog. And I'm trying to get over yesterday's migraine, so I'm not going to push it!
This first one is Fielding getting his second hair cut. I wasn't around for the first, so no photo documentation is to be had.

Thanksgiving dinner at the Woods household. It was my best one ever. We ate before noon and all the food was perfect. I've been honing my craft for many years and I'm grateful that I've finally figured this meal out. After 13 years, it's about time!!!

The boys with their jack-o-lanterns. Always a fun FHE

The amazing Dave gutted and remodeled our walk-in closet during his two week October break. It was a major undertaking and turned out SPECTACULAR. What a man!

Newell with his birthday cake. It's a football being kicked through a goal post. Nobody loves to kick a football more than that kid. He may be my football player.

Fielding loves to play with the hose and does mind at all getting soppying wet. Funny boy.

Here we are at the BYU football game over Labor Day weekend. We go for the football, but let's face it, we love the BYU mint brownies, too!
First day of school, way back in August. Landon started 1st grade, Newell's in 3rd grade, and Truman's now in 5th. They're growing too fast!!

Dave opening gifts on his birthday. He got a new pillow, among other things.

A Smattering of Summer Vacation

Okay, doing this blog always makes me cranky 'cause it takes way too long and I'm physically incapable of making it look the way I want it to. But alas, I can't take the guilt trips from others, so I'm going to do it, migraine pending.

The first picture is the boys and I after going through Timpanogas Cave. NEVER AGAIN. What we were told it was going to be and what it actually entailed wasn't even close! Oh, the pain.
Megan multi-tasking on Rock Band, singing with the mike wrapped

around her neck and playing the drums. ClASSIC. Truman & I are trying to keep up on bass & guitar.

Ryan & Tiffanie treated us to Leatherby's one night in Idaho Falls. TASTY. We ate way too much but enjoyed every minute of it. In the next pic, Fielding and Callista are playing in the kitchen together. Too cute.

Dave & Landon and a friendly deer at Bear World outside of Rexburg. Our boys loved that place. This last picture shows them on one of the rides at Bear World with Tiffanie, Kamron, Jaxon & Callista.

Yeah, we made it to Washington! Fielding taking one of many siestas in the van. Here the boys are on the Columbia River with Aaron & Kim's children one evening. A couple days later at one of the lakes in Barstow.

Across the state to Seattle. Truman at the bottom of the Space Needle. Newell & Landon at the very top.

On to Oregon. Outside our fantastic yert at Harris Beach on the Oregon Coast.

Landon, Newell & Truman beneath a giant redwood in California. Dave driving our former (AAAGGGHHH!!!) van through another giant redwood.

This last pic is one of the guys playing on the coast in the water and on the rocks. You wouldn't believe all the climbing they did on some of those rock formations. SCARY.
Okay, that's all I can handle for today. Must take Tylenol. Frustration level at melt-down.

Summer's Here!

The boys are out of school and we're looking forward to leaving this week on our FIVE WEEK vacation. Although, if you travel with four boys for that long, is it really a vacation? That's the question. We're excited to see so much family over the course of the next little while. We're also spending a couple days in Seattle and spending four nights in a yert on the Oregon coast. It's going to be quite the adventure! My goal is to update the blog whenever we get any good pics on the trip, but I make no promises. Here's a couple from the past few weeks.





Fielding playing in the pantry and Fielding playing with his birthday present. How cute is he? And another in the stove and eating something messy, but yummy.




Landon at his Kindergarten graduation with his teacher, Mrs. Mellow. And on his birthday opening and trying on birthday presents. I can't believe he's six years old already!!!




Newell does it all! Here he's playing baseball, at swimming lessons this past Friday, and helping me peel potatoes for Easter dinner back in March.




Truman at the distict Golden Scholar Awards, playing baseball, and spontaneously leading his brothers in the National Anthem in our front yard on Memorial Day. We are very patriotic around here!


For those of you who have seen our house before, you will be overjoyed to see the "new and improved" version since we FINALLY got it painted last month. We are currently the gem of the neighborhood and loving it!

Happy Easter

We got the boys suits for Easter. I am going to try really hard to load the picture. But let me just say HANDSOME a million times and that should cover it.


I realize that it's taken me forever to update this. I've been putting it off because I really want to put up some pictures of my cute kids, but the memory and speed on our computer are SO SLOW that I don't have the time or patience to do it without losing what's left of my mind. But, I need to at least update you on what's going on with us, pictures or not. So here goes...

Truman celebrated his birhday in February. He got a Nintendo DS and was VERY happy. We let him have a slumber party that was just as crazy as any I ever attended back in the day. He also befriended a boy at school who is bullied by others. I can't even tell you how happy that made me. Of couse, he still teases his brothers, so we still have some work to do. He's a big help around here and I'm so grateful for him.

Newell continues to be the life of the party. He has perfected the art of putting off doing his chores and homework at all costs. His piano is really starting to sound amazing when he puts a little effort into it. Over spring break, he finished doing everything for his Wolf badge in cubs, so he will get that in April. Currently he and Dave are working to finish his first Pinewood Derby car by this Saturday.

Landon is really loving kindergarten. He just finished memorizing 100 sight words, so he'll be starting AR reading soon. He's great at listening and obeying Mom (hooray). He's always the first one done with homework and chores and is quick to race off and play with friends in the neighborhood. Quite the social animal as of late. We got rummy cube for Christmas and he can pretty much hold his own with very little help.

Fielding is into eveything. At this moment, he's taking all my markers out of their case just so I can buy some time to finish this. He's a lot of fun. This week he perfected the fist pump, which is actually more of an arm pump, but even cuter for some reason. He loves having brothers to play with him. He also has a hollow leg. I can't seem to feed him enough "real" food. I think he'd eat all day if I let him.

Dave just finished a two week spring break. He was able to get some inside and outdoor projects done. More importantly though, he got up in the night with the baby when he cried. So, I am pleased to report the Fielding is FINALLY sleeping through the night. HOORAY!!!! I am so happy. Combine that with the Wii I scored for my birthday (with the help of Ryan) and I am giddy.

Thanks to Aaron & Kim for coming to visit--we had lots of fun even though the Suns lost to the Jazz. Grandma & Debbie came the next week and we took them to the Easter Pageant at the temple. It was wonderful.

The center of the universe

So, we're pretty much living in the center of the sports/entertainment universe this week with the Super Bowl and the FBR Open (that's golf for those of you not familliar with "the greatest show on grass", as it is referred to here) going on this weekend. It's crazy. I'm glad half of it is going on over on the west side over in Glendale, 'cause with the SB parties & the FBR going on in Scottsdale, this valley may just burst. I couldn't believe the newspaper on Monday. It had two full pages in six point font of every single party/concert/benefit going on this week. Unbelievable. The NY Giants bought out the ENTIRE Wild Horse Pass Resort/Casino in South Phoenix (all 500 rooms) for players, family, personnel, etc. for an "undisclosed amount". And then there's the people in Glendale renting out their homes for as much as $40,000 for the week to out-of-towners. That could certainly put a dent in the mortgage, eh?
The boys started their citrus picking job this week. They picked (with Dave's help, of course) an orange tree. Luckily, the woman didn't want any of the oranges. So, guess who has two huge garbage bags full on their back porch? That's a lot of oj, my friends!

January: Month of Firsts!

Well, it's been almost a month, so I guess I'd better get this thing updated! I think I've been waiting for something to happen, but alas, nothing has. We have had a few firsts and adventures during January.
Newell's been home sick from school this week. That's a first this year as last year was "let's get e-coli and see how much of first grade we can possibly miss". So we made it 100 days into second grade this year. Not too shabby.
Landon's been bringing home and reading his first books from kindergarten. He's a great reader and is sailing through his sight words. I'm so glad that I get to spend the early afternoon with him before his brothers get home from school.
Truman's started his first job. He's taking garbage and recycling bins to the curb for a few people in our neighborhood to earn some money. We've also decided to start a family "citrus picking" business. It's still in its infancy, but we'll keep you updated.
Fielding's first is that he is officially "mobile". He goes everywhere on his hands and knees. We've had to pull everything off the floor to accomodate his travels. Now he comes and finds me when he's tired or hungry. I love it when they become self-sufficient!
Dave is filling out his first W-2 forms for an employee. With the deadline of January 31 looming, he's working hard to get all the finance stuff for his business in order. It's crazy all the things you have to do when you own your own business. I never would've known. A few weeks, ago, he also had his first person approach him and ask if they could work for him next year. Pretty cool. But when I think about it, who wouldn't want to work for Dave?
We used the juicer attachment on our Bosch for the first time Monday and made the best fresh-squeezed orange juice (from the oranges on our orange tree) that you could ever imagine. I think that we're going to have to plant another one, because I am totally addicted to this juice. We didn't put any sugar in it and it was perfect. If that's not an incentive to come and visit, well then I don't know what is. We also got our first replacement mat for our trampoline a couple weeks ago. It's much more bouncy than the last one.

Happy Holidays!

Well, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with the family and are so grateful that we were able to be around for the fun. Our Christmas is going great. Santa found us, the grapefruit & oranges are ripe, and we are even having a little bit of a cold spell. The big news is that Fielding crawled on the 21st. He doesn't do it all the time, he goes a few and then stops and stretches out for what he wants. He's getting better and should be an expert here in a couple of weeks. We got a digital camera for Christmas, so once we figure it out, we'll be adding some new pics to the blog. For now, this will have to do because the baby is crying and needs to be fed!