Gotta Take it...

This video just flat cracks me up.  I have to record this so it doesn't ever get lost.  Watching Joe and I play volleyball, Chloe picked up Joe's phone and recorded this Chloe original. Love it!

Where Has the Summer Gone?!

Seriously?!  The summer is gone?!  This can't be!  I feel like time has flown not only since I last posted, but since I last even thought about a post here.  Our summer has been full, busy, lazy, crazy, and best of all fun!  Here are some of the highlights...

 

Crazy faces that make everyone laugh.  This kid is the king of facial expressions and never ceases to entertain.

 We love, LOVE living so close to river and all the fun playing on it's banks bring us!

 Did I mention this one is mischeivious too?  Adam developed some new independance in these summer months.

Muddy play days.  Noah: "Dad, are you SURE this is okay?"

We got lots of pics of the kids looking smart, brave, and very ninja like

First time horseback rides 

 Daddy teaching moments

Chloe participated in the first annual neighborhood kids triathalon.  SO. MUCH. FUN!  Noah can't wait to be old enough to do it next year!

Cousin, swim, play time at Grandma Hubbard's house

 

Our first Ragnar!

 

Best of all, spending time with family!

 

One of these days I should go into more detail, for journaling purposes, about some of the above pictured activities, as well as some of the ones not pictured including girls camp, St George trip, a brother New Mexico road trip, Seven Peaks waterpark days, and lots and lots of swimming. This summer has been wonderful and I'm sad to see it come to an end, but happy for the school time adventures that lie ahead!



Kid Pics

For mother's day I told the kids they had to let me take some pictures of them all together.  They aren't professional, and some of them aren't the best shots, but you can't beat the cute kiddos in them! 

 

 

Randoms

Here are a few randoms that don't really go towards a post of any kind, but I kinda like anyways...They are in no particular order

 My birthday.  We have started a tradition of letting the kids pick gifts for us on their own.  Aren't I a lucky girl?  I love that they love getting to pick and that they really think they are picking something we will love.  One year Joe ended up with Batman underwear and a lego set.  Love it.  Don't love morning pictures though.

 Eating ice cream, watching cars go by

 Churh time entertaining with the iPhone 

Valentine Boxes

 This just makes me laugh

 Field trip to the pet store, Noah too busy trying to see everything to look at the camera and smile

 Don't be jealous, you know I am cool!

 Okay...even with the awesome socks, I pretty sure he looks much cooler than me in his shark helmet

Self portaits of "man time" in the mountains

Cousins in (and on) the doghouse.

I DO have that much attitude when I wake up from a nap!

Mothers Day and Mommy Goals

 Last year I had the opportunity to run my first half marathon, and though I finished, it was 13.1 miles of almost pure, knee injury driven, misery.  I was still proud of myself, but I made the goal to do it again and do it right.  Through better training, lots of running, and good friends to keep me company, I felt much more prepared this year.  My goal was to finish in under two hours, even if that meant crossing the finish in 1hr.59min.9999999sec.  A BEAUTIFUL day, lots of prayer, and a little bit of pure luck that i hit a good run on the right day helped me finish ahead of my goal at 1hr.54min.36sec.  There is not a lot in life I think I do right or that I feel like I accomplish, but being able to conquer last year's demon run and to do well, made me happy!

PS.  Don't make fun of how I run, I make fun of myself enough for all of us!

A good marathon run, finding a perfect recipe, actually doing something right...none of that makes me happier or prouder than being a mom and a wife.  My kids were the cutest things on mother's day, so excited to give me handmade cards, gifts, and lots of cuddles.  Although I don't love morning pictures of myself, I love seeing a picture of me surrounded by the kids I am SO lucky to call mine.  I don't look at mothers day as a day for everyone to show me appreciation, I look at it as an opportunity for myself to appreciate the blessing it it to me a mom.  The days are not always easy, nights are not always full of excitement and adventure, my wardrobe is not always glamorous, but all around that is joy, and amazement that I get to be a part of these kids lives and that depsite my flaws they love me still.  I love being a mom! 

Graduating

The school year is over and some graduations have taken place.  Noah graduated from his first year of preschool and Chloe from Kindergarten.

Noah went to the Alphabet train preschool this year.  Although a little sad to discover there was no actual train he loved school and was very upset on the days there was no school.  He had a great teacher, Ms. Michelle who took the kids on lots of fieldtrips and taught them lots of fun things.  I have enjoyed watching Noah grow both in learning but also socially.  We are so glad we have another year with Ms. Michelle!

 Chloe also loves school and loved to tell Noah how when he grows up he will get to go to school every day too.  This year has marked her learning to read whole books which has been really fun to watch and help teach.  She loved her teacher Mrs. LeFevre.  She loved PE and Mrs. Rizzi, as well as music time and free time as well.  I loved seeing all the crafts she came home with.  She says she will miss Mrs. LeFevre but is excited to move to 1st grade, all day school, and Mrs. Tremea. 

I have some great videos from both graduations, but I am unable to upload them - maybe they are too long?  If anyone has any pointers, let me know.

I must admit to feeling a little sad to seeing my kids take one more step away from babyville, but at the same time it has been so much fun to watch them grow and I am so excited to have them to myself this summer to play with and hug and love all day!  Congratulations my little graduates!

Baby Animal Days

Every year there is an event in Logan called Baby Animal Days, and every year, despite my desire, I have failed to actually go. This year I promised myself and (harder to get out of) my kids that we would go. One hitch in the plan was that Joe had to work both the days that the Day's were taking place. I don't really consider myself someone who likes to try new things, to be honest new things scare me. I was 20 when I finally went through a drive through by myself for fear that I would say the wrong things. When I was young, my mom used to say we could order pizza for dinner...if I would be the one to call (we had many pizza-less dinners as a result). As I have gotten older, and maybe a little more mature I have learned to face some of my fears, and I was proud of myself when, despite the 45 minute drive, despite having no idea of the exact location, or where to go once I got there, I did follow through and we had a great time.

Basically every year the American Heritage Center, which is open year round, has this annual event to show off some of it's new arrivals. They have an open policy where you are able to see, pet, and/or hold the animals depending on their size and your comfort level. During the weekend they also feature a candy cannon, gun fights, pony and train rides, and much more. This year they also were able to have baby bears. This was the part I was most excited about, unfortunately so were the hordes of other people there, are the wait to see the bears was about 2 hours long and my kids were not interested enough to wait. We did surive the 20 minute wait to get onto the grounds though...and saw and did lots of fun things. We took a horse pulled wagon ride, and the kids favorite part was, as we were waiting for our ride to start, when a wagon pulled up behind us and these huge horses stuck their heads over to say hello to my kids. I was worried that my kids would be afraid of the animals and that this might be a waste of time, but as they reached their hands up for their first close animal encounter and squealed with laughter, I knew the trip and the day would totally be worth it.

In addition to the horses, we saw goats and sheep, cows and ponies, donkeys and kittens, piglets and bunnies and lots and lots and lots of other people
We waited a good half hour for a two circle loop, but they kids loved the pony ride most of all.

This was a great way to end our spring break and I look forward to going again next year, it's not new anymore, so it can't scare me!