Zoolights @ Pt. Defiance

Happy Birthday Abbey!

Abbey wanted a Princess party for her 5th birthday, of course! 

Here are all the princesses! They colored and did crafts, one of the easiest parties ever. 

I've never seen a kid so excited to get socks before. 
Blake wanted to be a princess, too!

Trick or treat!

Ready to get some candy!!

Calvin=Indiana Jones       Abbey=Sleeping Beauty          Blake=puppy

Abbey had to work hard to defend her candy from Blake, he was cracking us up as he desperately lunged at her mountain of goodies.

Blake-Birthday Boy!

Blake's birthday is at the end of October, so we had a Halloween party for his first birthday, with costumes, of course. Blake had a great time opening his presents.

Yummy, birthday cake! Blake actually ate his slice of the cake, the other two kids just made messes on their first birthdays, but Blake knows a good thing when he sees it.

What a handsome boy he is becoming!! 

Why? Because I wanted to.

Abbey decided she wanted a haircut, so she took matters into her own hands.

So, it was off to the salon.

She was very happy! Mom wasn't too upset, since she did this as a child, too. Dad on the other hand was sad to see his little girl's hair was gone, but he decided he likes the haircut. 

Happy Birthday Calvin!

C & A posing with their gold medals, and in their soccer shirts from their games earlier that day. 
I can't believe this little guy is 7 years old! The time has gone by so quickly, and he is getting so grown up! He reads like a pro, loves to play with any kids who come along, can be very sweet to his sister and is very loving. We are so blessed to have him as our son. 
We had an Olympics birthday party for Calvin, the above picture is the three-legged race. Overall, the kids had a great time and earned lots of gold medals. It was a great way to keep 10 kids happily entertained for over an hour.  Below is the present opening (this one is a remote controlled tarantula), always fun, and you can see his Olympic rings birthday cake. (BTW-Blake was strapped to my back for the entire party and had a great time) 

Soccer

Soccer season is upon us again. This is Calvin's 3rd year and Abbey's 2nd. They both love it, and it has been fun for the whole family. The games are fun, they don't keep score so it's just fun, no pressure.  Calvin loves playing defense, especially goalie, and he saved 3 goals during their jamboree game. Abbey loves practice and getting snacks after the game, we are still working on getting it through her head that she can't get mad when someone else kicks the ball, she thinks she should kick it or get off the field. We'll get there someday. At least she likes the practices.

FIrsts

Calvin just had his first day of first grade, and he loved it. He has a nice teacher who we have heard good things about, and some of his friends are in his class. He was excited about getting to stay all day at school this year and about having 2 recesses! He had such a good day that he got a certificate from his teacher, which he was very proud of. He even learned something-how to count to 7000. Well, that's what he said anyway. 

Out the door to walk to school. Abbey was excited to walk with him, but a little sad that he would be gone all day. Luckily, she kept busy playing with friends all day. 

Sitting at his table ready for a fun filled day of learning. 

Calvin wasn't the only one with an exciting week-Abbey learned to ride her bike without training wheels!!  She just mastered it on Monday, and she's already a pro. She is very proud of herself and now loves her bike even more than she did before. Of course, it is extra beautiful since we decorated it with bows and beads. How did I get a girly girl? 

Beaches

Our niece/cousin Cai was visiting us for the last two weeks, and we had a great time. We went to the beach on four different days! We went camping in Olympic National Park and went to Rialto Beach, which is part of the park. It was an overcast day, but still so beautiful.  We are so happy to live in a part of the country where we have such natural beauty to enjoy!

This is Kalaloch Beach, also a part of Olympic National Park. As you can see, Blake thinks sand is not only fun, but tasty, too. 

No matter that it was a cool day, Calvin couldn't stay out of the water. Surprisingly, the water wasn't that cold, so we all enjoyed some wading, but Calvin can never resist swimming. 

Poor little Abbey became sick during our trip, so we cut it short. You know you are sick when you go to the beach and sleep among the driftwood instead of playing!

Below is Dash Point State park on Puget Sound, Cai and the kids tried to dig a big hole, but the tide was too fast for them. 

Swimming Lessons

One of the best things about Spanish Fork, Utah in the Summer is the local pool. This year is the second year we did swimming lessons, and it is so much fun. They have made a huge difference in how confident the kids are in the water. 

Calvin was not nervous at all about going off the diving board on the last day of lessons, in fact he went off three times. Maybe he will be our Olympic swimmer! 
Abbey on the day they got to use the life jackets, she loved it! She talked my ear off about how fun it was. Here she is twirling around, she loved the freedom the jacket gave her. She amazed us with how much she changed from the beginning of lessons to the end, she started out being scared to dunk her head under water and after swimming lessons were done we could barely see her when we went swimming because she was going under all the time (on purpose, of course). 

We were lucky to be hiking on a morning when there were more than 20 hot air balloons flying over Provo.
Liz was the reason we actually got up and out the door by 7a.m.
The kids were proud of themselves for making it all the way to BYU's Y on the mountain, especially Abbey, who wanted to turn back after reaching only marker #4 out of 10.
The kids were nervous sitting on the Y-it was really steep, we only made it to the very edge, they would not go any further.

New Threads

The three Hall kids-amazing that they are all looking at the camera at the same time. (Cute clothes provided by Aunt Liz & cousin Bailey.) 

The Hall boys, ready for church in their matching ties.

Abbey looked good, too, but no matching tie. BTW-that's  a self-inflicted rug burn on her forehead. 

Cutest Baby on the Planet

Little Blake-what a handsome little guy, and he has been such a blessing to our family.

Spring Sports

Calvin on first, contemplating his next move. This was his first year of t-ball, he loved it, of course, but the games weren't too exciting. Larry and I look forward to real baseball games. Calvin doesn't care, though, he just loves to be out there and play anything. 

Abbey after her dance recital. She loved performing. When I asked her after the recital if she wanted to take more dance classes she said, "Yes, because then I can have more recitals." 

FIRST Blog Ever

Well, here we are: The Fab-Five. At least, we think we are fabulous. Unfortunately, this is not us in Hawaii-this is us at the ward luau, but we do look good, right? 

I decided to try out this blogging thing, it seems to be all the rage right now. Plus, when cool things happen I can say a la Barney Stinson, "This is TOTALLY going in my blog!!" Now I can bore the world with stories of how cute and clever my kids are. They keep me on my toes, keep me laughing, and keep me busy-maybe I will actually document some of it with this blog.