Fun in the Fall Leaves

This year for Thanksgiving we went to my parents in Utah county. The next day Grandpa told the kids if they would rake up the leaves in his backyard he would give them a couple of dollars. Excited to make a little money they headed straight out, but we couldn't resist having a little fun jumping in them before we bagged them up.

This is Brig, Makenzie (my younger brothers oldest daughter), June and Hyrum.

High Flying Kids!!

Halloween

This was taken at our ward party.

Halloween this year seemed like the Holiday that wouldn't end. I love Halloween and I love dressing up but we had so many activities this year I couldn't believe it. Starting about 2 weeks before Halloween we had a school carnival, ward party, class parties, a birthday party and this year we even trick-or-treated through Disneyland. We have more candy in our house than should be allowed by law :) All our kids love to dress up and we have several costumes in our dress-up clothes stash so they all had to be something different for every party we went to .

Hyrum was either Batman or a Jedi. June was a pink Power Ranger, a ballerina, or a clown. Brig went back and forth between the big bad wolf and a pirate. Alvin however was just a cow at all events and Shawn and I wimped out this year and didn't dress up. I hope this doesn't sound negative towards Halloween we really did have a great time , but for some reason this year by the end of Trick-or-Treating Halloween night I was very tired and ready to move on to the next thing.

I've been tagged!

When we moved from Pennsylvania in May we bought a new computer, so all our picture files are really recent. When I went to our 4th folder and 4th picture it was this one of Alvin this summer. We took our kids to the Clark Planetarium in SLC for their annual kids day. They had all kinds of activities set up for the kids to do. They made bookmarks, played games for prizes, zero gravity walk, etc. We also saw "Fly me to the Moon." the new 3-D movie on their big screen. It was really neat. They had a really cute Astronaut backdrop that you could stand behind and put your face through so all our kids wanted to have their picture taken behind it. I do have to say though that I think Alvin's picture was the cutest.

I'm not sure who else I can tag because everyone I know that blogs seems to have already been tagged, but I'll try Synthia and Alisha.

Have fun.

Pokemon

I don't know about your neighborhood, but here in ours Pokemon is all the rage. All the kids have gotten really into collecting and trading cards. They are quite a status symbol in Hyrum's school. Anyway, we found that on our computer we could make our own Pokemon cards and the kids had a fun time coming up with attacks and HP powers for them, so a few weeks ago for Family Night we made family Pokemon Cards. Here they are in all their glory. We hope you enjoy, we sure had fun making them.

Disneyland

In October we had a family gathering in Disneyland with Shawn's two brothers and their families. We had a great time. Between the 3 families everyone had a cousin to play with. Although we have the youngest family by quite a few years (the youngest cousin is 5) our kids did really well. Even Alvin seemed to have a good time.

Mantua Reservoir

After the drama of the kids parade we decided we'd had enough of Peach Days. We decided instead to go to Mantua Reservoir and take the kids out in our little rubber raft. The water was really cold but we had a great time.

The kids enjoying the beach after we went out in our boat.

Alvin and Daddy

June and Brig having a picnic snack.

Almost A Face On A Milk Carton

September 5th & 6th were Peach Days here in Brigham City. This is a much anticipated holiday for the locals here and were told about the fun activities that we just shouldn't miss. The first of which was the kids parade that takes place on Friday night. It is an all kids parade. All the elementary schools have their kids ride their bikes or sit on a flat bed truck or something and all the parents (like us) sit on the side of the road and take pictures.

Hyrum's new best friend, Ryan, invited him to sit on the fire truck with him and his brothers. He thought it was fun but really loud and crowded.
We signed June us for a dance camp with the High School Drill Team this summer and they marched in the parade together. They are called the Future Rockett's.
This was pretty much Brigs attitude about having to go with Shawn and I and sit and watch. He thought it was very unfair he had to be the only one not in the parade.

We enjoyed the parade but then the trauma began....

When I dropped June off with the Drill team I asked one of the girls were I should meet to pick her up. She told me to go to the Lincoln Church. Well being new in town and being that we are in Utah with a church on every corner, I had no idea where that was. So she starts with "Do you know where PaPa Murphys pizza is?"

I answer "No"

"Do you know where Big O is?"

Again I say "No"

So I ask if they might have an address because I am new in town and really don't know where anything is. So she goes and asks another HS girl and they tell me 2nd North and 2nd West, just remember 2 2 and you'll find us. I say great and tell Hyrum's friends parents to meet us there to give us Hyrum.

After the parade is over we start to make our way to 2nd North and 2nd West. When we arrive there are no Future Rockettes to be found. I am a little concerned but figured we were just at the wrong spot and we started to look around. We found a parade worker and she told us that the girls were suppose to go to a different church on 3rd north and 1st east. About this time we ran into some old friends of ours that were in our ward when we lived in Payson about 10 yrs ago when we were first married. They offer to take Shawn up to the church so I can go back to Lincoln church and wait for Hyrum. About 10 minutes later Shawn calls me on my cell phone and tells me that June is no where to be found. He found the future Rockettes at Peach City (a ma and pa hamburger place in town) but they didn't have June and had no idea where she had gone. They told him "Don't worry someone has here" Which is of course no comfort because we aren't the ones who have her and we only know about 10 people in town. He let them know just what he thought about that and then called me. Well I of course (being the calm and rational person that I am) I immediately hit the panic button and start freaking out. I stayed at the church and got Hyrum, then Shawn came and picked us up and we went and got our car not sure what to do. Our only hope was that the mom of the friend June had signed up for dance with had taken her but we didn't think that she would take her and not call or something considering she had no idea where we were. About 20-25 minutes later after frantic running around we got a call from a person in our ward that told us that they had found her and were going to give her to the police so to go to Smiths and find her. June had seen us on the parade route and when the girls stopped at Peach City to wait for parents June decided to head down the street to find us herself. I am still upset that she made it some 7 blocks by herself and no one noticed she was gone until we showed up to get her. When we found the police at Smiths he radioed up found that they had taken her back to Peach City in hopes we would go back there looking for her. When we got there the police car had its lights going, poor June was hysterical, and I was crying. We put on quite a show for everyone eating at Peach City. For the rest of the evening June wouldn't let Shawn or I out of her sight. We were just glad that she was found and we were home safe.

Any Suggestions?

" Yum mom this is so good"

We have recently tried to start Alvin on solid foods and it is going miserably. We started out with the traditional rice cereal which he rocket vomited every time we gave it to him. He can't even tolerate it when we put a few shakes of it in his bottle. He'll drink it down and then within a couple of hours the vomiting starts. We tried oatmeal next and although he didn't vomit I could hardly get him to even taste it. So I moved on to the fruits and veggies. Every new thing we try I feel like I am force feeding him. This is him eating peaches which is the only thing so far that we have gotten him to open his mouth for, but he still doesn't like it much. The pediatrician said he thinks maybe he is just slow catching on to the whole chew and swallow thing but he acts like he is starving all the time. What can I do? Let me know if you know any tricks.

"I thought the safety was on"

It might be a little hard to see in this photo. But Hyrum was recently shot in the head with a BB gun. Hyrum and about 4 other boys his age were playing in an empty field behind our house. This field has a small creek that runs through it and so it has a lot of trees (every one refers to it as "the wash"). Anyway all these boys went down to play and explore and apparently one of the boys (who was home alone) went to his house and got his BB gun. He was pumping the gun a few times and then holding it up the boys heads and pulling the trigger so they could feel the puff of air that came out of the gun. When it was Hyrum's turn to be shot with air he got a little more than he bargained for.

The kids that were with him came running up the hill to get me and I could hear "Don't worry I'll get your mom." so I came out the back door to see what they needed me for and they started shouting at me "Hyrum got shot, Hyrum got shot." Since I didn't know with what or where I was shaking like a leaf by the time I got to him and looked at his head. His friend held the gun 2 inches from his forehead and shot. His friend kept saying "I'm sorry I thought the safety was on." (famous last words). Lucky for Hyrum the BB didn't break the skin so a little ice fixed him up. Needless to say that his friends mom got a phone call when she got home from work and he is now grounded from his gun till he is 12. I am still trying to figure out why anyone would stand there and let someone point a loaded BB gun 2 inches from your head. I don't think I'll ever understand what goes on in the mind of boys. I'm just thankful he wasn't badly injured and that he wasn't hit in the eye.

Big Sisters are not always nice!

Recently we went to Utah County for a visit with our families. On the last day we were there little Briggy was all tired out and fell asleep on the couch in Grandma Parry's basement. June came up and talked with Grandma for awhile and then asked her if she could have a marker. Grandma told her sure and got her a black marker and she disappeared downstairs. About 10 minutes later she reappeared laughing quite wickedly and told us she had drawn eyebrows and a mustache on Brig. She seemed quite surprised that we did not find this as amusing as she did. Brig was so upset when he woke up and saw what she did. When I said to her "see June you really hurt his feelings" She, in true sister fashion, quickly welled up with tears and said "It wasn't my fault, it was Hyrum's idea." And Hyrum to this responded , In true big brother fashion, "What it's not my fault I didn't think she would really do it." Hopefully she'll consider this a lesson learned that it is not always wise to listen to Hyrum's bright ideas. Brig wouldn't let us wash it off so the second picture is of him on our ride home. I probably shouldn't have, but I couldn't resist taking a picture. It really was funny. Not nice, but funny.

First Day of School

Hyrum all ready for his first day of 3rd grade.Junie so excited for her first day of Kindergarten
This is as close as they would get to putting their arms around each other. I think June was willing but Hyrum thinks he is to cool.
Hyrum rides his bike to school, but Junie takes a bus. She was a little nervous but loved riding the big yellow bus to school.
School started here on August 25th so I am busy busy getting everyone where they need to go and trying to get them there on time. Hyrum is in one school and June in Kindergarten in another. They have the elementary schools divided here with K & 1st in one school and 2nd - 5th in another. June rides the bus and Hyrum has a car pool. Brig has preschool 3 days a week. Kind of crazy, but that means that once I get them all there I have 3 days a week when I have 2 hours of the day with just me and Alvin! I am hoping to get him to nap at that time so I can have some alone time. we'll see how that plan goes but I'm hoping.

All in all the kids are loving school and I am keeping my fingers crossed that they continue to enjoy it. Junes teacher is fresh out of school and looks so young. When we went to Back to School night and meet her for the first time I felt really old. On the way home I asked June "so what to you think of your new teacher, you think you'll like her?" Her reply was "Oh yeah she's hot! She'll be great." Apparently being young and hot is all you need to be a sucsessful Kindergarten teacher. I do really like both of their teachers so I have high hopes for a great year.

Living at the Crossroads

One great advantage we've found to living in Brigham City is that we are near a lot of friends family members. We are at the Crossroads between Utah Valley and Idaho. So we have been very fortunate to have some old and very dear friends stop by to see us while they were in the area visiting family. In June the Anderson's came for a visit and had dinner with us on their way to Tyler's parents house. Even though we hadn't seen them in 2 years as soon as we saw them it was like we had never been apart. It felt like we had walked down the road in Ashworth to see them.

The Lamborn came by in August (sorry no pic, I forgot to get it out) It had only been a year since we had seen them, but we felt the same. The only difference was that the kids looked older.

Then just last week Lori Trauntvien came by while she was visiting her family in Logan. We had lunch together and visited for awhile. So great to see her.

We love being able to see all our friends. If you are coming through on I-15 come stop by for a visit. We'll ever feed you.

(ps yes I always have alvin in my arms. He's a permanent fixture)

Super Battle

Ronda and I couldn't remember how or when this battle took place, but Ronda thinks it was probably just boredom.

So it begins...

When we moved to Utah from Pennsylvannia in May we were finally able to get high speed internet. This has opened a whole new world. I never looked at others blogs because it just plain took to long to download with a dial-up connection. Now I am addicted. I love looking at everyone's blogs and getting updates on what they are doing. We are away from so many friends now that it helps me still feel connected. So I have decided to join in the fun and start our own blog.
I have also thought it might be a good way to keep a family journal. I am terrible at keeping scrapbooks and journals up to date and thought this was something I could keep up. So hopefully it won't be like the last journal I started with one entry which pledged to be the frist of many, was followed by the next entry a year and half later. Maybe someday I'll even print it out and give all my kids a copy.