May with Marie and Emilia!

the pictures are all in mixed order, but here's what we've been doing the last 2 weeks!

breakin' in the new t-ball gear that we got for the kids to practice on. love the face kelton!

The boys hanging out. The first week Marie was here it was blustery and she said, worse than their tropical storms that blow through Florida. So, we got to play inside a lot.

There was this fake squidy type thingy at the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point, Emilia would make this funny grunt sound whenever she touched it. My camera battery died....

The last night in Idaho, all the kids had their bikes, so I stuck Emilia in this dump truck and then they all wanted to play. It was a late night, but sure a fun one! She would look at Kelton each time he would catch her at the bottom of the driveway with a lovey dovey look.

Feeding the birds down on the Green Belt. I'll upload videos later, and those geese were right at the girls' eyes, and would snatch bread from their hands or super super close to them! Chase's nursery teacher asked if he ate the sacrament bread today, and he said, "Yeah, my bread me frow to a quacks....not eat it". he kept calling the ducks babies, "come here babies, bread!"

Why do my kids enjoy this? It drives me nuts when they always hang out of the bars!! I don't mind most things...or at least I've gotten better with the more children I've had..but heights and falling is a NATURAL LAW and won't just happen by chance! Good thing this is only 2 feet high.

My crazy crazy son that has no fear of anything high or dangerous. We went swimming in Utah at the our hotel the night before dropping Marie off and this kid had time outs b/c he kept jumping in with absolutely no fear! Isn't he going to be fun teenager!

My little miss who hates getting her hair done...get used to it girlie!

Me and my best friend, a goofy pic. I love ya Rie!

Emilia Claire, what a sweetie. Her poor allergies...but she loved to be outside.

I am Kelton's coach for t-bal this year, and the kids can't get enough of playing t-ball with the tee we bought. Chase wishes he could play now (which I'm sure he could keep up with Kelton's age kids with his crazy talent and obsession).

These two pictures go together! This wasn't even that bad as it looks, but just so typical of these girls the past 2 weeks. While Emilia was sick, she didn't want much to do with Taelin, and they slept just a little off of eachother each day, so they wanted the other one at slightly diferent times. It was fun to see them be so different. It made us laugh, or say "stop hitting her!"

A long one...HAPPY Graduation, Birthday and Easter!

Well, we had a busy busy month! We started with the 1st, with Jacob's birthday. But we celebrated it when his parents got here. These are all in mixed order: Jacob's parents arrived on the 8th, which was my last day of finals, my graduation on the 10th of April, we did Easter Eggs the next day on the 11th and had Easter dinner and Jacob's birthday on the Easter Sunday. We hid eggs, the kids played a lot with Oma and Opa, we went swimming at the Hotel's pool (where Talea flipped upside down in a floaty and I jumped in the pool fully clothed to get her, picture below of her calling dad to tell him) and overall the kids all had a blast with everyone here.

Thanks to everyone who helped with the kids on graduation day. It was so nice to have everyone's support.

happy birthday to daddy!

grillin' stuff, a computer chair, a bike seat gel pad, new alarm clock

Talea and Kelton helpin' each other find eggs, they do this every year. It cracks me up.

Taelin obsessing over those eggs! She wouldn't let anyone take them from her, no matter how heavy that basket got, so we'd sneak 'em and then put 'em back on the lawn.

Boys vs. Girls like every year. Those sneaky boys.

Jennifer came to hang out with us for Easter. Sooo good to see her again and hang out. Miss ya girlie!

No one wanted to take this photo, so bribs were in order. Kelton, the night before Easter told me that he knew the Easter Bunny would bring him a purple shirt, thank you Wal-Mart.

Sleepy Opa. The boys watching the coloring festivities.

Chase kept double dipping and quadruple dipping those eggs. He kept going and going. And stabbing them before we even got to it. :)

Oma helping Kelton, and keeping clean. He kept saying after they left, "I need Oma to play computer and piano with me! Mom, she needs to be here. I miss her."

Jake and Me after graduation, taken by Chase

Mom and me. Everyone else was headin' out to lunch, it was yummy and fun to be all together.

Me and Lois and Doug. Thanks for coming from Florida. It meant a lot that you came.

My graduation! Yay me! Or at least the cover, we get them later in the mail. Elder Anderson and President Clark came to our commencement departments ceremony and spoke. It was funny to see all the people get all paparazzi with Elder Anderson.

Jennifer Lowe and Me, we took some high school graduation pictures together, so we thought since we were walking together, we should take another one. Geez, 8 years later, with 3 kids under my belt and a mission under hers. Love you girlie!

Talea calling daddy, i wore my swim suit, my sweatshirt and a towel home. But at least she got back in the water 2 days later, so proud of you LaLa!

And this is what I have been doing lately. Kyle and Courtney are getting married on Memorial Day, so I've been in charge of flower stuff. Here are two of the center pieces. The colors are wierd on pictures, all the purples look blue, but they are pretty royal purple and pale yellow.

Our March Madness!!!

DRAPER TRIP

Our Y.W. group went down to the Draper Temple Open House, spend the night, hit the Church History Museum and Temple Square the next morning along with the Joseph Smith Movie and lunch with a bit o shopping at Gateway. I love these girls!!! We had a blast and although Taelin did not want to be quiet in the temple (it was 1 1/2 hours after her bedtime to her defense), she did great! We were pooped when we got home, but overall super fun!

Heather, Mady, Ashley, Mirinda, and Abby


HAPPY BIRTHDAY:

Katey, Dad, Corey and Mom!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELTON: #5!!!!!

Kelton had a friend party on that Saturday and was SO excited to have his friends there! Kelton here is leading the choir of singers and then danced, "I'm five, I'm five!"

We had a great party, and for those of my friends that are crazy cake makers, try one without eggs and let me know how to do it so it stays together! You have to leave it in the pan...so I made green frosting and added some gushers. Looks kinda ghetto to me, but I had 10 minutes and yeah- here is what you get! Chase LOVES cake, which he kept telling everyone over and over again!

Just some days!

Yes, this is him "boarding" down the couch on a knee pad for the garden. He LOVES to skateboard, and both the boys can now skateboard down the driveway! Its SO crazy. This kid is nuts, he jumps it up on the back of the couch and off the sides! Chase is danger man.

And here is my precious little girl that's been sick, but today got her first full pony tail! I've been working on some new bows...look below and see some of them. She is getting so big!


I made this today. I've had the board for a while, and never had a use for it. I painted it black, cut out cream vinyl that says, "BOWS" and then hot glued three strips of sheer ribbon (left the middle without bows for now so you could see it) and a bow on top. I like the way it turned out. I made one for head bands too...but with hooks on a 1x6x8. not as cute, needs more work. Here are some of the bows I've been making with my friend, some I've bought (the small flowers), some Marie made (a couple small ones) and random ones from friends. But most them I have made, its fun and helps the creative gitters get out.

From Kelton's Mouth

Mommy: "Kelton, can you please try to speak slower and talk clearly" (enunciating alot)

Kelton: "I can't...Heavenly Father built me this way."

Mommy: smiles and kisses this smart boy good night.

APRIL GRADUATION

ALMOST DONE! I will probably not blog until the middle of April, since I am freaking out with how much school work I have to between now and then! So please be patient with me! :) Jake's parents are coming for my graduation, April 10th. I am also treating myself for a graduation present...Marie gets to come and visit for like 2 weeks!!!!!! YEAH!

After that, I will only have a few online classes to take, and then I'll be offically done! Hopefully by the end of the Summer or early Fall! There is a light at the end of the tunnel and I am SO excited to get back to scrapbooking, laundry (never thought I'd say that), making new hair stuff for Taelin, and just decorating and crafty stuff. I never realized how much I love projects until I didn't get to do them!

I couldn't have done any of this without my family. Jacob for watching the kids so much so I could study and my dad and mom for helping me with the kids while I attend classes. I would have NEVER finished. Thanks guys! I love you!

And for all of those wanting to go back to school...DO IT! Sister Hinckley took one class every semester her entire life! I am going to miss it, but for now, just gotta get through it!

Until April!

5 YEARS AGO

5 Years Ago today...ah, I was exhausted even more than I am now. My precious Kelton was born. From the moment he was born, he knew what he wanted...he always has. Just like his Daddy. He's confident, caring, a deep thinker and a quick speaker. He is full of life and says the funniest things. He danced all day at his party on Saturday (pictures to post soon) and was so excited to be 5, now he's talking about being 6. He always tells me I'm beautiful and that I do a great job. He's intense and can eat like there is no tomorrow, sleep like he's a dead man, but loves to cuddle and sneak into our bed. He loves silky things and pb&j sandwiches.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUDDY!

Here are the last 5 years, on or close to his birthday. My...time flies too fast.

A week review, February 11-18th

Pay It Forward:

Ok, so I am benefiting from Judy's pass it on, so I am doing one myself.

So, here's how it works...The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year, a handmade gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well. Before you leave your comment, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going (or be lazy and copy and paste like I did). Then come back, let me know you're going to play and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift!

Ready, Set, GO!

Will the poser, please stand up?

I don't know why my children like to take silly pictures, but they love passing the camera around and having everyone take a picture of everyone. Jacob and I haven't had a picture of just us for over a year, so we thought we'd let them try. Kelton does such a great job, and overall, these are the funny downtimes that we have just hanging out. Oh, and Taelin doesn't like pictures lately, for about 2 weeks now, she sees my phone or the camera and cocks her head to the side and says "bah!", so today I finally got some cute ones of her and her first pigtails (kelton is unsure about the word for them, "like the oink oink mom? that's so weird" "weird" copies Chase). More to come soon!

Here's Lookin' at YOU!

I tease Kyle, because he was squinting for the majority of these pictures...but I loved going out with them for a short hour to get some pictures. Congrats you two. You two are funny, finish each other sentences, touch enough so that we know you love each other but aren't totally grossed out with too much PDA, and overall just fit. I can't imagine a better person for my brother. Courtney, You are strong, yet patient and genuine but sarcastic.

Thanks for reminding us what "young love" is all about!

Engagement Congrats!

Kyle and Courtney are offically engaged! Us girls had gone to a couple of dress shops in Rexburg, (with Talea) and Idaho Falls (with Kimber) to try on dresses, and take some pictures of styles that Courtney liked since they have so many modest choices around here. She came back to a row of balloons and candles all lit up and Kyle on his knee, with the family signs in the background. It was so romantic, and we got it on tape. She sqweeked out a yes, and then we had an engagement party with the entire family there! (at our house)

Congrats Kyle and Courtney! You two are amazing together, and we are all SO excited for your special day! We love you both!

Movie Theater Field Trip 1-30-09

Trey, Kelton, Cami

Teige, Karlie, Logan

Chase

At our mom's preschool, every 6th week (the end of our cycle through the mom's) we have a field trip day. This day was scheduled at my house, and the kids came and had a movie day. They all had treat bags, movie tickets and fake money that Oma had made us. I even talked funny like, and they all loved it and giggled throughout the beginning of it. Luckily Jacob was home for a little bit to help out. A couple kids are missing, there are usually 8 all together, (Logan is invited just for our house), they are so much fun together!