Happy New Year 2015!

It's the New Year! 

We spent Christmas in Utah at my parents' home in Salt Lake City.  We left on Friday and picked the boys up from school after a bridal shower I threw for Rachel Manning.  We arrived at about 2 in the morning.  The next day my parents arrived and Matt put up the Christmas tree and decorations.

We attended a ward there where we were almost the only people with kids.  There were 7 primary kids in all.  Needless to say, they were very excited to have us there.   We only stayed for sacrament.  That night we went over to see the Nielsen family and spend time with Faith at Dan and Cass's home in Sugar House.  The kids had a great time playing with Jonah, Porter and Owen's toys.  And they played a fun game where you try to build as many snowmen out of mini marshmallows as you can in a minute. 

We went to Brick and Laura's to visit and pick up some snow gear.  It was snowing there so Gaige built 2 snowmen complete with eyebrows.  Elle and Matt built a snowman too.  Elle gave it hugs and ate part of it's carrot nose.  From there we drove down to Provo to go bowling with the Lees and the Floods.  It's so crazy how our kids spent so much time together when they were younger, but have no memory of it.  It's really kind of sad.

Matt went snowboarding with Brett and Bryan Hadley at the Canyons.  I didn't get to go because I got my annual dose of fever blisters in my nose. 

On Christmas Eve Brick and Laura and their family came in for dinner.  Grandad read the Nativity Story with the kids dressed up.  Elle was very serious about her role as Mary and wanted to be sure that her baby Jesus was covered with his swaddling clothes perfectly.  Bentley was Joseph, Gaige was a shepherd, Allison was the angel and Adam even participated as a wiseman.  Alex brought his fiancée Hannah with him so we got to meet her. 

On Christmas morning Elle was not happy to be woken up early, but the boys were too excited to wait any longer.  Santa brought them some tablets and Elle and Peyton some dolls.  After we opened gifts and had breakfast we took the kids sledding down the street.  There hadn't been any snow since we had arrived, but it had snowed all night and day.  The snowflakes were huge.  The kids had a blast jumping their sleds.  And Elle exclaimed that sledding was "cool" and "awesome" after going down super fast on her belly all by herself.  She had no fear. 

We went to Temple Square to see the lights and the Jensens and Floods met us there.  We had dinner with them afterwards at the mall.
Matt took the boys snowboarding up to Brighton.  Gaige cried by the second run and Bentley complained.  They eventually got the hang of it and stopped complaining after some hot cocoa and French fries.

Faith and I snuck away to go to breakfast and shopping to celebrate our birthdays.  And Matt and I went to The Harvest for dinner in Thanksgiving Point and to Cabela's to celebrate our 12th anniversary. 

goal.

Saturday, September 7th was Gaige's first soccer game.  His team's name is Green Lightning because their uniforms are the color of a tennis ball.  Matt is the Assistant Coach and I am one of the Team Moms.  I ordered a pretty awesome banner for them!  Gaige scored the first goal in a winning game.  He has so much fun out there playing and is starting to understand the game.  Playing with 6 year olds when he was four has probably helped.  It is always fun to watch him play soccer.  He looks like he is having a good time, tries really hard and even has some skill.  To reward him we went to Circle K to get slurpies.  He picked out a huge King Cone from the freezer for his treat.



back to school.

Bentley and Gaige started school on Monday, September 9th.  We went the Friday before to see which classes they were in and check out where they were.  Gaige is in Mrs. Fiorenza's early bird kindergarten class and Bentley is in Mr. Ducharme's first grade/second grade combo class.  I am really happy about all of it.  They are both very excited about school and have come home happy every day. 



it's just a game.

Friday night we went to Red Robin for dinner.  Last time we went to Red Robin the boys got spoiled rotten with balloon animals, stuffed animals, etc.  This time the balloon guy didn't show up and Matt was unsuccessful at winning a stuffed animal out of the claw machine.  This resulted in a huge tantrum from Bentley.  At that time we explained to him that when you play a game you may not always win.  Sometimes you lose, just like in soccer and baseball. 

The next morning Gaige had a soccer game.  Grams and Grandad came to cheer him on and he played really well.  He almost got a goal.  Grandad complimented him on how great of a game he was playing and said, "Maybe you'll get a goal next time."  Gaige's reply was, "Grandad, it's just a game!"  He got a goal the next time and had some great defensive plays.  Coach Rick awarded him Offensive Player of the Game.  He has a patch to put on his shorts. 

trippin'.

From Maui to Lake Powell we have had a great summer!  We went to Maui with my entire family to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary.  The kids had a blast swimming in the pools, going down water slides, kayaking, snorkeling and eating Lappert's ice cream at the Grand Wailea.  And we all loved the luau we went to.

Gaige swam with a turtle while kayaking with Matt some one yelled, "Turtle!" and he jumped right in to swim with it.

We also upset some locals by wearing sunscreen in the water at their beach and surfing in their water...Awesome.

Gaige learned to the Hula at the Luau and was very serious about it.

The grandkids put on a talent show.  Gaige sang a song about Hawaii - "I like Hawaii.  I like Hawaii.  I really really like Hawaii."  And Bentley showed us karate by kicking Chance.

All the ladies spent some time at the spa and had a massage.

We went to Lake Powell with The Wells Family and lived it up wake boarding, wake skating, knee boarding, and fishing.  Gaige and Bentley caught some catfish and striped bass off of the back of the house boat with their spiderman fishing poles and some grilled hot dogs! 

 

 

We've also frequented the beach, Disneyland now that our passes work again, and the pool. Needless to say, I am TIRED! But we have had a terrific summer. Now it's time to gear up for school and soccer.

Elle has grown so much this summer! She is at least 30 pounds and has a whole arsenal of tricks and accomplishments...

• Blows kisses
• Puts both hands over her eyes to play peek a boo
• Blows on her food when it's hot
• Gives real kisses with the "mwah" sound included
• Swims on her own in her floaties
• Jumps into the pool - falling, really
• Says: Hi, Hello, fish (ish), shoes (oosh), horse (orse), ball, Mom, Dad, yes, up
• Loves books
• Runs around with her arms behind her

Her favorite foods are clementines and ice cream. She sleeps from 7:30 pm to 7:30 am and takes a nap from 1pm to 4pm. She is happy all of the time and loves to snuggle. Her favorite person in Hawaii was her cousin Blake. She gets really excited when she sees her and any of her other cousins that she recognizes. She loves Chance too. She is a great baby and we love her guts!

 

summer = happiness

I am so happy it's summer!  The biggest decisions of my day are "Do we go to the beach or the pool?"  and "Do we go before Elle's nap or after?"  We are enjoying the beautiful weather and lack of a schedule. 

Elle is getting so old!  She is almost 15 months and has acquired quite a few new tricks in the past month.  She blows kisses (her first victim was Sister Manning), folds her arms for prayer (she did that one all on her own), walks with her arms stretched out behind her, puts her baby down for a nap, and today she even fed one of her babies a chicken nugget!  She is a total girly girl and always has a purse, a baby and a phone.  She sips tea from her tea cups, and loves to try on shoes.

Bentley and Gaige have been enjoying lots of time with their Super Soakers, playing Uno Attack, Memory, Trouble and Go  Fish. Now that we have grass in our backyard we spend a lot of time playing outside.  And Elle just got a splash table so all three of the kids have been having a blast with that.

Bentley started reading chapter books.  We took a trip to the library and we got some of the Boxcar Children books for me to read to them.  They were one of my favorites as a child.  My second grade teacher used to read them to us and we would fight over who got to massage her feet! 

Gaige is learning to read.  It is helpful to have Bentley around to read to him and help him.  He is so excited to go to Kindergarten next year.

Both of the boys are the best big brothers ever!  They dote on Elle, play with her, take care of her and love to snuggle her.  She likes to hug them and then push them away.

I have a new calling at church.  I am now a Beehive Advisor so I get to do one of my favorite things...teach!  I will still keep posting on my personal progress blog - www.luvaloo.blogspot.com because I will still be doing a ton of personal progress stuff with the girls. 

I was supposed to go to girls camp in Catalina with the girls for two days.  10 minutes before I was supposed to be picked up Elle woke up with croop and couldn't breathe.  I was totally bummed I couldn't go, but relieved because it turned out that I was super sick all day and couldn't get off of the couch with stomach pains, a fever and hot and cold flashes.  Yikes!  So no girls camp for me this year.  Maybe next year!

Happy Summer!
Last day of School...

Summer mornings rock!

Pool Party - Rebel and Bentley (future wedding announcement photo???)