Sunday, September 28, 2008

Sunflowers & Autumn leaves

All in a week

As usual, things have stayed busy. Does it ever stop? This week it all started with Mike's Grandma celebrating her 90th birthday. They held an open house for her on Saturday, so we were able to visit with the family and Mike and I were able to take the time to remind the kids and ourselves how blessed we are to have her in our lives still. Also for her birthday, we started taking Grandma to the circus (with Alissa's family too) since Grandpa K always took her and the grandkids to the circus, so we are trying to carry that tradition. This year Mike and Courtney had the clowns announce her birthday for everyone to hear. She sure was tickled to hear that.
It has been my tradition every fall to take pictures of the kids with sunflowers. It was a tradition that started when Edi was born and I have always made a point to do it every year since then. I know once school starts, I really need to start thinking of where this years pictures will be taken, before they are all gone. I tried to take pictures on the road heading out to Eagle Mountain this year, but when we stopped, they didn't look as good, so the sunflowers that I ended up liking most, ended up being in our own driveway, imagine that.
This week ended with a fun over nighter up AF canyon to celebrate my mom's birthday. It was the perfect weekend weather. The kids woke up early and found a deer running through the camp area, so we ended up going for an early hike and found two deer instead. It was fun and refreshing to go hiking with them. It's amazing how invigorating a morning hike is. And all those colors, it's AWESOME!!! Stephen joined us that evening for tinfoil dinners and dutch oven birthday cake.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Friday, September 19, 2008

My, how time FLIES, when you are having FUN!!!




Well, besides our big family trip back East, we did have a few other fun events going on this summer. We had Mike's graduation, a work party at Bear Lake June 26th, Edi went to go to camp with the Girl Scout group for 2 nights--talk about a huge step for mom to accept. We also went to at least 3 concerts to see Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband (that is a new summer tradition we started 3 years ago, if you haven't seen them perform, you are missing out, but you can check out their website and listen to a few of their songs at http://www.shupe.net
Dream Big and Superman are just a couple of my favorites.
We did the usual parades and fireworks and even got to go to see the Osmond's sing with the Tabernacle Choir, and Mike's niece Loren even got married. But the biggest highlight for me was August 7th, when I officially became a full-time mom again. There are days that we stuggle, mostly financially, or that I feel trapped at home doomed to repeat grade school homework, but I am so grateful that I am able to stay home with my kids and take care of them. I am getting used to it and enjoying each moment.
My kids keep growing up. Edi is 9 going on 25, I call her my mini-me, she wants to be like me and minds me almost perfectly, which is so nice, but she has learned to be stressed like her mom, so mom is going to work hard at learning to have fun, relaxing and enjoying life so we can all stay young at heart. Edi has been taking piano lessons for almost 3 years now. She really enjoys it and is doing good. She loves to read and writes her own stories all the time, she takes good care of her brother and that really helps me out.
Abi is 7 but act like she is 30 and the boss. She has a style all her own and beats to her own drum. She doesn't do anything she doesn't want, which has really been a struggle for almost everyone and ready to fight even Grandma B . I keep praying to be patient with her, but I seem so far from it. So, no worries about the end of the world, I am not ready to be translated. Abi is doing good in school, loves being a girl scout, especially selling cookies. She has really picked up on the reading and can answer math problems just a little faster then Edi. Abi is the typical second child when it comes to learning. She wants to be right where Edi is, so that will be good for her and good to help push Edi, if she ever slacks. Both girls were upset they couldn't play on soccer teams this year. They really enjoyed that last year and were looking forward to it again. I will have to be better next year, but with a busy summer, you can probably understand why I would even dare forget such an important item.
JJ really completes our family. He has this whole family wrapped around his finger. Amazing as it seems, Abi gets along with JJ--probably better than anyone in the family, when she wants to. He is at that age where you just can't tell him no since he is so cute when he asks with his big please & adorable smile. He really misses his sisters while they are at school, but seems to find something to fill the void. He starts by looking for friends to play with, toys, but if all else fails, he could survive with Spongebob Squarepants.
I am a little prejudice, but I think I have the best family in the world, hands down!!!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Washington, DC & New York City

I finally got the rest of our trip loaded so everyone can see how much fun we had. I hope the girls will remember most of the trip, I can't expect all of it. We saw and did way too much, but when we don't get to go back east much, you have to do your best to get as much in as possible.

When we were in Washington, DC, we stayed with Mike's aunt. It was nice to visit with them and I really enjoyed having the guided tours around the area so we could see as much stuff as we could in one day. Thanks Aunt D and Uncle A and even Dustin, you guys made our time there very educational and we appreciate everything you did for us and my parents.

We didn't even touch most of New York City. Mike and I would love to go back and see more and go to a show. Mike was really looking forward to seeing Little Mermaid on Broadway, but we didn't get tickets. Sorry, Babe. With the high security everywhere back there, we were only able to go to the Statue of Liberty (which took about 6 hours total), then later that night, we went up the Empire States Bldg (which took about 4 hours). We even got to experience the subway, which was a little frustrating since we didn't know where we were going and got on the train going the wrong way. It wasn't as easy as it was when I came with Brenda 13 years ago. I was just happy I didn't have to do any of the driving in the city. That was scarey, even with a navigator to tell us where to go. It's crazy there, but worth seeing it, but I would recommend no children, my nerves can't take too much stress in one area at a time.

Well, that is about everything, but I forgot to include my most favorite video that was taken at Hershey Park, so I am going to include that since I still love to watch it and laugh at everyone. They said it was the best ride in the park. I am wishing I would have gone on it now.

Washington, DC and New York City

Pictures while in Hershey, PA

1st week of Trip