My son turns 11 this year...WHAT??? He is such a grown-up, kind, loving, helpful young man. I am so proud of who he is becoming. I find it really hard to beleive and really hard to swallow that he is on his way to becoming a Deacon and recieving the Priesthood. One day after church he approached me to tell me that his testimony had really grown that day. He said he felt the spirit so strongly it was making him sweat {smile}. When I asked further about what was different today he told me that he had decided not to sit by the same boys he always sat by and that he was going to really pay attention to the lesson. He looked up each scripture and then answered the questions from the teacher..(she reported this was true).

Did I mention how proud I am of this kid? I sure love him! Aside from being a great example, he is a great athlete. He can be found every day doing some kind of sporting activity after school (not to mention at school). He loves baseball, football, and basketball. He is really amazing at all three sports (not to be too braggy, but he really is). I can brag about him because he works sooo hard at all sports. He throws, runs, shoots, hits, and more to keep in shape and work so that he can do his best when it comes to playing in a game.

Tanner is a great student. He tries his best at school and really loves to learn.

A great friend to all, truly, to all. He played a football game against a team that had a kid with Turett's Syndrome. He was a great player, despite his physical disabilities, and of course he was the kid who Tanner was up against. He said he felt so bad for hitting him even though that was what he supposed to do. He brought it up several times after the game, how bad he felt. I assured him that if the kid was in any danger of getting hurt, he wouldn't be playing, so I am sure he was fine to get hit.

Okay, one more and then I will stop bragging about my boy...Matt put together a football video for our team this year to show at our end of the year party. I took the video, so of course, a lot of it was of Tanner (he played quarterback, so he is in most of the plays), and most of the pictures were of Tanner. When he previewed the vid. he made Matt take out some of the pics because he felt bad that not all the kids were in the pictures!

I am sure happy to be a mother to such an amazing guy. I love you bubs hope you have a very happy birthday!
Tanner jumps off a 30-foot cliff at Sand Hollow State Park in St. George...
He loves to play baseball, doesn't this smile show it?

A great little catcher, has learned so much and works really hard at the position...

Go Trojans! We had a really fun year in football, Tanner loved playing quarterback and getting to play with his best friends...

Happy 11th birthday!

Bridget's musings

"Mom, there's a scratch in the sky" Bridget exclaims one day. "A Scratch?" I ask with that confused tone in my voice. "Yeah, see, right there" as she points to the jet stream slowly making it's way across the sky! A scratch alright!

It was lunch time one day and I asked Bridget if she wanted a grilled cheese sandwich. Her reply? "What if I want a boy cheese instead?"

Bayli refers to cheerleading in most everything she does. She has taught Bridget that if she wants to be a cheerleader, she must do this or do that. Like for example, if Bridget is whining Bayli will tell her that "cheerleaders don't whine". Bridget immediately stops. So the other day as we were getting ready Bridget matter-of-factly tells me that "cheerleaders brush their teeth AND eat all their food, mom". Hmmmm, I think we are onto something here!

Bridget tells me one day that she wants "down underwear". "Hu? What the heck are down underwear" I ask while imagining in my mind some type of feathery bikini bottoms. "And WHERE did you learn about down underwear?" her reply; "like yours mommy!" AHEM, yeah, so like underwear that's LONG {wink}...O.KAYYYY!

She sits on her feet while up at the bar. After a particularly long time of watching tv she hops down and states "My feet are snoring!" A few minutes later..."they woke up!!!"

About Brightyn: "I don't think she likes me anymore" I ask "Why?" "Because she keeps spitting at me!"

Of course, like most three-year old girls, she is very curious about my nursing the baby. She asked one night if Brightyn was drinking juice, as she is pointing "there". I said "no, Brightyn drinks baby milk." "Well is that one juice?" she asks while pointing at the other side. "Nope, milk too" I say. "so two milks!" she exclaims, like she has just discovered something wonderful...

While watching Dora one day Bridget made the observation "Dora and Boots don't go potty like me!" True. Very true!

Out of the blue: "Maybe we should give our baby to Lizzy" (Bridget's friend). "Why?" I asked "so she can have a baby" matter-of factly.

Lizzy gives Bridget lots and lots of hand-me-downs. One day I was getting her dressed and pulled out some shorts from her. "Where did I get these?" "from Lizzy" I anwered, smiling so she would be excited (did I mention a very picky dresser?) "Well, these don't live here! I don't want them!" Sighhh, I can't win most days when it comes to dressing the three-year old!

Funny, funny little girl!

"TICO"

(Cori, this is for you!)



So Tucker has this certain smile that he gets on his face when he is concentrating. Think Dora...Tico the squirrel...yeah, this is what it looks like!



This is the best picture I could get...he never does it when asked, you have to catch him concentrating! In this case...rubbing dads feet!

Well sweet potatoes!

Need I explain?

Happy birth week, Tucker!

My Tucker is eight! This brings a smile to my face! It has been a very eventful eight years with this boy! We have experienced a lot since his birth and I am so grateful for this little guy. What he lacks in stature he makes up for in personality. Tucker is so loving, friendly, energetic, and outgoing. Our lives would be very boring without him! Happy birthday, kid! We love you!

We celebrated all week long...

Day one: Grandma Pam and Aunt Cori came for Sunday dinner and birthday dessert. Grandma has a tradition with the kids that she takes them out for lunch and shopping to pick out a birthday gift.
Tucker got a card from Grandma...
with his shopping money inside...

He is very good at giving loves...

There are only a few things that Tucker will actually eat, so we made an ice cream cake and he ate plain ice cream!

Day two: Tucker and Grandma went shopping. He picked out a remote control Yukon XL that lights up. He loves remote control cars!

Day three: We spent the day at the lake, just Tucker and his siblings. It was really nice and relaxing. Tucker loves water and could swim for hours, so that is just what we did!

please pardon the gal in the bikini with her "bagel" as Bayli calls it...hope this isn't anyone you know! Tucker enjoyed the slide.

Tanner talked Bridget into going down with him...she screamed the whole way! Hated it!

We got there early enough that the kids had the dock to themselves for awhile.

Here he is! The birthday boy enjoying his day in the sun!

Tanner and Bridget had a great time building sand castles. Bridget spent the entire day on the beach and loved every minute of it!

Brightyn even enjoyed the beach...from the grassy sideline!

Here he is, the fish! This kid has NO FEAR of water, he will swim and swim and not even worry about going too deep...kinda scary!

Bayli and Bright...

packing the sand to make a castle...

I just thought she looked cute here!


Day four: Tucker had to get two teeth extracted (poor kid). So mom and he went to Toys R Us and picked out some things. He got a new backpack and lunch box for school, a really large semi truck to hold all his hot wheels, and a smaller semi truck to push around. Later that night, dad took him to the store and got him a soccer ball.

Day five: Tucker invited his two favorite cousins, Courtney and Ali to the movie, Shrek. Ali gave him a bag full of his favorite treats (he only eats a few things) and Courtney gave him a gift card to Toys R Us. After the movie we went to the park for pizza and the kids played tag until it got so hot we had to leave!

All ready to go!

The perfect seats...

Bayli and Brightyn stay in the shade while the kids play on the playground.

A picnic to end the day! What a great time we had!

Day six: Tucker celebrated his birthday at Grandma Clayton's with all the cousins, aunts and uncles who have birthdays in the months of July and August. He got some money from grandma and grandpa, which he later spent on ice cream from the ice cream truck!

We must say, this was a great week for this birthday boy! He was truly spoiled!

There's a Bobcat in the house

We have a new scout in our house and boy is he excited! I am so glad that Tucker has something to call his own and we may just do this thing since we failed miserably with Tanner! We got to work right away on the Bobcat so Tucker could get it at his first pack meeting...

He is learning all the ropes as a new scout!

As a new Bobcat, he gets his "paws" painted the colors to remind him what it means to be a Bobcat.

Showing off his painted paws!

Now he gets to pick a cheer...hmmmmm, which one?

Here is his den...lots of fun!

First Day of School 2010

Is it finally here? Am I dreaming? Please tell me it is really true!!! THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL is here at last!

I was very ready and excited to have this day come. We had an awesome summer, got to play lots, camp some, watch lots of baseball, swim, travel and lots more. It was so time for a routine...even my kids could hardly wait for school to start!

Tucker is in second grade this year. His teacher is Mrs. Barker. He is way excited because some of his very best friends are in his class!

Tanner is in fifth grade. His teacher is Mr. Georg. He is thrilled to be the big man on campus!

Bayli is in seventh grade her second year in middle school. I remember seventh grade...how can it be so that I have a 7th grader? It goes way too fast! She is excited to get back to school and see some of her friends from last year.

I have a mile-long list of "projects" to do while the kids are at school during the day. Does anyone else start to "nest" when the kids get back to school? Maybe I am weird, I don't know, but I love it! I love feeling like I can actually accomplish some things and get down to the nitty gritty of my house!

Happy School year!

Labor Day Weekend 2010

It is crazy that I am already blogging about Labor Day! Where does the time go? As usual, our little family and Matt's parents cruised on up to Ririe Reservoir to camp for the weekend. We always eat dinner at the pizza parlor at Heise, so as soon as the trailer was unhooked we piled in and headed out for dinner. This is one of my favorite weekends because it is so low-key and I LOVE the fact that we are only 15 minutes from home!



Saturday morning found us getting ready to head out to the water with Troy and Mindy's family for a day of boating. I am so grateful that the weather held out so we could get this one last day of water fun in before the winter. It was a blast! The kids loved it and all had a great time! "Super Mable" was the hit once again! She's always a sure bet for a great time!

Bayli and Tanner love to sleep in the tent, so they get it out and set it up right away.


Here comes the boat to pick up some willing participants! This is Bridget with a friend of Lincoln's (Austin), Matt, Troy and Lincoln.

Porter tries his skills on the wake board. I just love this kid, what a great kid! If you follow baseball at all...he's the man! Maybe I will post about him and all his amazing talent sometime...we love Porter!

Lincoln is the wild one of the bunch! He loves to play and tease his brothers...here he is jumping on Super Mable with all the boys!

The boys...Coleman, Tanner, Tucker, Cannon, and Harper

Bridget and Tucker enjoying some "dock time"...Tucker is getting pretty daring, may just jump any second.

The girls...Hailey, Bridget, Bayli and Hunter

And nothing's better after a day in the water than a camp fire and a hot dog roast!

Our weekend came to an abrubt halt when we woke up Sunday morning to some nasty wind. We packed up and headed home. I was not wanting to hang out inside the trailer all day with all the kids...nightmare! It was a good weekend though!