Poor Slither...RIP

Kaden's pet Slither (an albino corn snake) died yesterday. He was devastated. He died of natural causes, unlike some other reptiles around here. We would hate for a cage to go unused, so Kaden and Thomas went to the pet store to find "Slither Jr." Mom should have come. I was thinking another corn snake. They showed up with a Ball Python. Um, yeah. Scared me to death. I am now willing to touch it. Hold it, no. Any suggestions on names?

Happy Birthday Kaden!

Kaden had his 7th birthday on June 24th. He had a few boys over, and they had a blast blowing marshmallow's out of the marshmallow shooters that Thomas made them. We had a little family party...not many made it, but it was still fun!

Kaden is such a sweet boy.

Happy Birthday Buddy!

Happy Father's Day!

I just wanted to make sure I thanked the Fathers in my life.

Thomas is the best dad ever. (I know, I know...you all think YOUR husbands are the best ever, but we all know it's Thomas ;)

He takes time to make sure each of the kid's know that he loves them. He spends one-on-one time with all of them. He spends countless hours throwing any sort of ball to Kaden, counting how long Hailey can do a handstand, and "helping"Kinley play solitaire on his phone.

He would do anything for any of his kids. Your a great father Thomas! I am lucky to have you!

My dad is so special to me. He is such a kind man. He is where I get what I call my "Sympathy Crying." If we see someone crying, they should not be doing that alone...and without fail, we will cry. He has always served in church callings without complaint! My parents are now on their second mission in New Delhi, India. I miss them. I love you dad!

Thomas' dad is also a kind man. He cares about his family. He also loves to serve in the church. My in-laws work at the temple and love it! He has raised the man I love, so what more can you say to that! He did a great job!

I love the men in my life. Happy Fathers Day!

Donut Falls

We did not make it to waterfall canyon yesterday. It rained. Hailey woke up with her first migraine (poor girl!). It just was not in the cards, and that is okay.

Since it's Fathers day, I asked Thomas what he would like to do. Since his dad is in WA, and my dad is in India, we went for a hike.

We went to Donut Falls. Its up Big Cottonwood Canyon. It is a very simple, very short hike (that was VERY muddy!)

We didn't see the "donut" effect. We think the river was too high and the water went over it. We are going to try this hike again later in the year. It was beautiful...kid's didn't complain...perfect Sunday walk.

Hailey, Kaden and Kinley at the "top".
The trail on the way up.

We have to have a hold the camera shot of both of us. :)

A Shout-Out to Kinley

Today I sent Kinley to clean her room. I was a little nervous because last time I sent her to clean her room and make her bed, this happened.

To my pleasant surprise, I walked in to see this!! She has made her bed all by herself 2 days now...I think she did FANTASTIC!! Now all the kids can make their own beds!

Too bad it doesn't cut housework down for me...I never made their beds either! Oh well!

Waterfall Canyon

Today for our date, Thomas and I went to Waterfall Canyon. We like to check out the hikes before we take the kids. It was raining as soon as we pulled into the parking lot.

This is us before the hike.

It is harder then Adams Canyon. It is pretty steep the entire time. It was only 2.22 miles there and back, so it's a short hike.
It is beautiful at the top, and the Waterfall is huge! We are going to try and take the kids Saturday morning. I don't know if they will make it though. I guess we will see!

By the time we were about .5 mile into the hike it started POURING rain. We were troopers and kept going though. Here we are at the top. FREEZING!! But we got pictures, and I suppose that is bragging rights(?)

When is it going to STOP raining??

Adams Canyon

We have been on a few hikes this summer. Thomas and I checked out Adams Canyon (I remember going there as a teen-ager, but I don't remember it how it looks now?) We thought we would take the kids on a bunch of hikes this summer and hopefully by the end of the season have them hike Adams Canyon.

We tried out a hike two weekends ago, and it was harder then this one, so we went for it! The first part of the hike is hard. Its in sand and pretty steep. Kinley had a hard time during this part. I didn't think she was going to make it, but once we were out of the sand, she did fantastic!

We took a lot of breaks and had lunch half-way up. The kids really were troopers!! I thought for sure some spots would have been too hard.

The view at the top is worth the hike! They loved seeing the waterfall. We had to put on our water shoes and cross the river, if you don't, you cant see the waterfall!

Last Day of School!

It always amazes me how much the kids grow in a short 9 months. Here are the kids on the last day of school. I think they grew a ton this year!

They are wearing their T-shirts from the schools 5k. Hailey, Kaden and I did the 5k. Thomas and Kinley were smart and did the 1 mile. Kaden was so determined that he was going to WIN that when they said go...he took off like a bat outta hell. Needless to say, .38 mile into it I have to turn off my music because "someone's" kid is crying and running the wrong way. Poor kid. Crap, its MY kid. He got a side stitch and was upset that he was no longer going to win. We did finish with a walk/run. Hailey kept running and she took 3rd place out of the 3-4th grade girls. WAY TO GO HAILEY!!

Congratulations Hailey and Kaden. I now have a 4th , 2nd and pre-school kids!

BEEP BEEP

The first grade had a car party! Each student was in charge of making a car at home. They brought them to school and had a car party.
Kaden wanted a Humvee. Thomas and Kaden set to work. I think they did a great job! If it were up to me, he would have just had a cardboard box with a paper plate for a steering wheel!

WHOOSH.....Who in the world was that?

Ogden Marathon, Half Marathon and 5K.

2009.

Wahoo!! GO ALLIE!! Thomas saw me and tried to take a picture, but I am just SOOO fast, he didn't get it. I am sure it has nothing to do with the P.O.S. camera we own. ;) If you look closely at the blurry picture, at the top you can see black shorts and a pink shirt. Yeah. That is me. :) Dani's husband got a picture of me running, but I look bad, so yeah, she might put it on her blog, so check it out for that one! (Thanks for being a private blog Dani!) LOL

I was so proud of myself, you would have thought I ran the marathon, or even the half marathon. I ran the 5K. I ran it with two of my friends. Dani, Melisa and I woke up and had our chauffeur (Thomas) drive us at 5:15 a.m. I have been "seriously" training for about two months.
Here is Dani and I. I didn't get a picture of all three of us, so Melisa is the one running below. Yes, we got super cute matching shirts.
I had a lot of fun. When I first started my runs, I didn't think I would like it, it was hard to get through and I thought I was going to die (still feel that way sometimes! lol) I am glad I stuck to it. Thanks Thomas for all the support in parenting the kids when I went running!
My family is signed up for the kids schools 5k, and I think I will be looking for more to do this summer.
*A special thanks to Colette, Amber and her family for watching my kids so I could get my running packet and watching them over-night so Thomas could come with me SUPER early and be there to cheer me on...it meant a lot to me to have him there. Thanks to Amber because my kids hung around her 16th birthday party!!

Once we got home, we tilled our garden, planted it (50 tomato plants, 21 different hot peppers, 25 bell peppers, zucchini, summer squash, and 2 cucumbers!) We also planted our flowers (3 flats :). We bought WAY too many veggies (double what our garden would fit), so Colette got rewarded for watching our kids! :)
Whew. Its been a long day. I am going to relax!!

A Mother's Day Miracle!! This one’s for you, Mom!

Happy Mother's Day MOM! I decided to put a picture of my bleeding heart on here because it reminds me of my mom. I don't know if it is her favorite plant or not, but it's mine! She had one that sat right as you walked up her front porch stairs. I would LOVE when it would bloom. I would pick the hearts off of it and keep them in a book I had. I was going to make bookmarks. (I never did)She must have been mad that I did that. If she wasn't she is better person then I am. If a kid looks like they are even thinking of picking at mine I tell them to move on. :)
This is a further back shot. This plant just started to make its appearance about 3 weeks ago. It's HUGE now! I love this time of year! I have been busy getting all my flower beds ready for bark and planting. We will be doing bark and planting my flowers (and hopefully my veggies too!) next week. I love to garden, I love my flowers! It is painful to pull out the annuals in the fall! There were a few bushes and a tree that didn't make it this year...sooooo....I get to go buy more! I love the nursery!! Once the kids are too big for the play set, I will get my greenhouse!
(Yes, I am aware I am all over the place with my thoughts.)

Since its mothers day weekend, I thought I would give myself a little whoot whoot for being a mom. I love my kids. I think they are the best kids ever. However, I am not always the best mom ever. I forget things, I am all over the place, I get mad and snap, I yell, I'm mean with bedtimes and homework...blah blah blah. BUT, I think they will pull through and HOPEFULLY remember the good things instead of the bad and know without a doubt that I love them. That is my hope anyway.
I think they are the best...and I love them to pieces!!

So, here is Kinley on pre-school graduation day. She is so stinking cute. She did her part great! She is so excited to be in "4-year old pre-school even though I am almost 5." hahaha. She is funny. She was not so happy that "4-year old" pre-school hasn't started already. Its going to be a long summer for her! She starts tumbling on monday. She has been begging to go ever since Hailey and Kaden started. She is my little shadow and a little parrot. On Friday we were running late for school, I sent the kids out the door 3 times for the bus, but they kept coming back for things. The last time they left I muttered...oh my hell.

Yeah. She then says...OH MY HELL IS SO RIGHT HUH MOM! Yeah Kinley, but that is a bad word. (see, I am a good mom...telling her not to say bad words and all) She then says...oh sorry mom. I cant say bad words until I am a mom huh.

Yeah. Kinley. Not until then.

Hey, I'm not perfect.

Kaden wanted me to take a picture of how big spike is getting. He is around 18 inches long.

Kaden started machine pitch baseball this week. He is pretty good at hitting the ball and throwing. He has been making Thomas go outside and throw the football with him, so his arm is getting really strong. He did whip three back handsprings in tumbling this week. He is getting really strong! He has already caught 2 gardener snakes this year, so far he has let one of them go. I am hoping he will be more catch and release this year then in the past!

Hailey is also in tumbling and doing fantastic. This week she did whip three back handsprings whip on the ground. She is taking off again and getting better and better every week. She is also in piano and LOVES it. She loves her teacher (so do I. Thanks Amber!), she loves to practice and she is getting pretty good. Hopefully soon we can get her a piano, but for now she practices on a keyboard that my mom let her borrow.

Thomas' parents came down at spring break. My sister-in-law had a baby and they were blessing him and baptising their other son all over Easter weekend. While they were here, we went to the dinosaur museum. The kids had a ball!

Since Amy and Aaron were baptising Callan and blessing Carson, we got hotel in Logan. The kids had a lot of fun in the pool and sleeping in the hotel. We came home to find that the Easter bunny had left them a surprise. It was nice to have Thomas read the scriptures and explain to the kids why we celebrate Easter. Hailey and Kaden really soak it all in. Kaden has a talent of remembering the scripture stories Thomas teaches them. It was fun to talk about it instead of walking away wondering if any of it soaked in.

It has been a busy spring. I will try harder to keep up so I don't have to do mega-updates!

So, a review if you couldn't read all that.

1) Happy Mothers day mom, I love you.

2) Reptiles are taking over my home.

3) Weeds keep growing, and I keep pulling them.

4) Kinley cant wait to be a mom so she can say bad words.

5) I am grateful for my family.

Whew. Congrats if you got through all that!

Last Day of Pre-School

This year has gone by too fast!! Kinley loved every day at kiddie kollege! I am going to miss it. I am not ready for the summer and before you know it, Hailey and Kaden will be out as well!

Above is Kinleys first day of school. Below is today, her last. I am amazed how much she has grown up in the past 7 months!

Its been so busy around here lately. Mom called from India wondering where my updates were. Today I had two friends post wondering where I was, so I thought I would catch my blog up. It will have to be later though :) Hopefully ;)

My wild animal

The first grade had a zoo! Every child did a report on a zoo animal. Kaden chose a Panda Bear. They made a poster, had pictures on it, and wrote facts about their animal on it. On Friday, they all got dressed up, put on their posters, and did a parade for the parents. It was so cute! I thought Kaden looked fantastic!

Seeing things for the first time!

A couple of week's ago Hailey brought home a note from the school nurse. She didn't pass the eye test at school. We took her to the Optometrist and came home with these.

She would point out things she could now see. She can see! I think she looks adorable!!

February 22nd

Today is Hailey's birthday!! She is 9 years old. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone by! Hailey is so talented, beautiful, kind, funny and smart. This year she had invited a bunch of girls over and for a birthday party and they made these pillows. I think they had a lot of fun!

Hailey and one of her Aunts share a birthday. She LOVES Aunt BreAnn!!
I love you Hailey!! Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Hailey!!

Hailey's Family Party!

Happy Anniversary Thomas!!

10 years ago today, I married my best friend! You mean the world to me Thomas! I am so grateful for you in my life!

(we need a more recent shot of us...this one is 3 years old...)

Home from Washington

We got home from our trip to Washington on Monday night. We went to visit Thomas' parents. The kids LOVED going. I will update when I find my camera and clean back up the house, but thought I should move HAPPY NEW YEAR down a post :)

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year! Here is to a great 2009!

Happy Birthday Thomas!

My ability to write holds me back from expressing how much I love you Thomas. You mean the world to us....I love you so much. Happy Birthday!

*Kaden isn't so happy because his present wasn't opened first...lol*