Saturday, June 25, 2011

Myrtle Beach, SC June 4-11th

START: June 3rd, Idaho Falls


Daddy arrives home to an immaculate house, packed car, meals prepared, kids sitting in the car having gone potty and changed (evan sleeping) and with a dvd in and ready! Off we go to Utah where we stay overnight at the haytt hotel and eat dinner and get to bed.



Early at the SLC airport...everyone got their bags! Kelton was such a big helper


and carried toys for Evan in his backpack!





The kids wafter watching a mermaid show, they got to go up above and visit with her



the kids holding a horeshoe crab, taelin was not happy about it, but did a good job! they have 10 eyes and 10 legs. we love aquariums!




most of them were burried in the sand, but kelton found one and loved to pet it. they were hard shells and their tails lookd scary, but there were no barbs or stingers! it was fun to touch something that was dangerous looking. Taelin finally touched one and got a lolli pop. :) g






Proof that Nathan, Oma and Opa
















Overall, we had SO much fun! From beach days, to the Sky Wheel and mommy and daddy's walk on the beach to visiting daddy's old friends in Georgetown! Mommy especially enjoyed Marie, and hanging out with everyone! The kids got SO comfortable with the water, and even Taelin was dunking her head under! We watched fireworks, rode fun rides, ate lots of sorbet and icecream and swam/beached it all week! Daddy and uncle Nathan got to go parasailing and they said it was nice and breezy. :) The kids did AMAZING on the plane both ways! :) We were complimented 4-5 times between the two of us on how well our kids did and how well behaved they were (one lady said it was luck, HA!). It was nice of those around us. Now...back to normal life. Good thing normal life is pretty darn good, laundry: not so much! :)

Thursday, June 16, 2011

JUNE (well, before vacation!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHASE! #5!

He turned 5 while we were in Myrtle Beach, SC. (will see soon) We celebrated wtih a family party and he LOVED all of his gifts. He's the best to give a gift to, always so excited! :) He also was estatic about getting $5 from my grandma. You would have thought he won the lottery. He was super excited and can't wait to celebrate this friend party soon!




This is Kelton's first grade teacher, today he said he wishes he could have stayed in first grade. In his words, "she's so nice, she helps me all the time, she teaches me so much and she loves me." We really aren't sure what we would have done with any other teacher. Kelton ADORES her (and so do we!) and we're sad the year is already over. We love you Miss Gill! :)

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

catch up! MAY!!!







my finger sucker! no more binky. He actually kept his long after my other babies, but luckily this soothing aide is attached! I love his belly laughs too!




taelin's zuzu pet got caught in her hair! :) she was so worried and kept saying, "i did it, it was a assident."


Kimber's senior year of softball. they placed 4th in state and we all loved watching her! It was an amazing year and we have billions of pictures and some great memories!




Josh and Taelin. She loves him (they all do) but one days she told me (after we were talking about evan looking just like daddy) that she looked like Josh. :)


Kimber's high school and seminary graudation! class of 2011 baby!
May 25, 2011 was her h.s. graudation

Beau got his Eagle Scout Award and we all helped last minute (mostly mom). Kyle got really bad cramping and a flare of up his stomach a few times, but immediately after the ceremony went straight to community care to get checked out. later the next week was in the hospital and pre diagnosed with chrones. We are hoping they get more answers soon!


Taelin's joyschool graudation ~ She was super shy and didn't want to participate. Kyle and Courtney joined us and cheered her on! We also went to her last gymnastics day and again she got very shy with all the attention, but then warmed up and watched to make sure everyone was watching her! :)




We were invited to the Ray's cabin in Island Park on the Memorial Day weekend. It was so fun to play and get away from home. We stopped at this cool river with HUGE fish and then went to eat at big jud's (yummy!)



Kelton's soccer team- the slimmy mantis (mommy coached) and he did so well on defense! He dribbled a few times and was really good at passing (seriously has crazy ball touch skills)

Monday, May 16, 2011

A Wonderfully sunny day!

We love Josh and Ashley. Ashley was in mommy's y.w. group a few years ago, and we have made life time friends. We took a nice walk to a nearby park one beautiful day. What can be better than puppies, sun and friends?!? well, kelton's highlight was riding with josh (so excited) and them both wearing matching sunglassses and singing country music. It was so dang cute. Kelton got dragged by ashley's dog but kept saying over and over, "i'm ok, champ is so fast." Taelin threw a fit and almost got her bike left. :) Chase and Kelton rolled down the hill...the huge hill. Evan got loved on by two of his favorite people and loved being outside just chillin'. Chase kept riding back and forth and rode down the grass hill on kelton's bike and was in love with the thrill. Kelton and Chase just kept riding back and forth on a 100 yd piece of trail and loved the freedom they were given. What a great day, thanks Ash-ee and Josh!!!!! WE LOVE YOU!







Thursday, May 12, 2011

rick family





















took some of these for a baby shower announcement...and they turned out pretty cute. aimee so sorry it took so long! :)

















































































Monday, April 25, 2011

easter hunt!










we always do a girls vs. boys easter egg hunt. seems pretty even since we have 4 girls and 4 boys and half of each are married...I'm the only one top heavy in the boy department...but hey. its all good. chase, kelton and taelin LOVED the hunt. Jake and I giggled too. Corey made us all laugh our butts off and it was nice to spend a few hours stress free and having fun with the family. taelin adores Katey (corey's wife) and we all really missed kyle and courtney! I spent forever on photoshop makign this awesome collage...and for some reason it didn't save properly and i lost it! :( urgh. the light was amazing...so i put these all on here. hope you get a sense of all the fun my kids had. we only colored 2 eggs each this year...and since my kids shouldn't really touch the eggs, afterwards they walked outside and lightly dropped them to break them open for Talea to peel. it was cute and funny. happy easter 2011!






















Easter Sunday!





This is before Church (all except the pic of evan i took a few days ago)...the older boys were dressed in their suits with yellow ties, Evan in a blue sweater vest and khakis. Taelin got a new cream dress (she's showing off her new tangled mini doll she got in her basket). Jake meshed the boys with a blue and yellow tie. I wore pink...nothing too festive, and since my braces...not sure i want any more open smiles! Taelin picked her own hair attire, and quickly abadoned it at church. :) Evan does this new open mouth laugh/giggle/smile thing and i was happy to get it in good lighting. :) too bad he attacked the backdrop! :)

update...

this is more for my records...so please do not feel obligated to read!! :)

I haven't been great at blogging. But i wanted to share this update with the grmas. I know we haven't been around alot lately, life hopefully will ease up with summer life soon! :)

Kelton started soccer. I am his coach. He is great with the ball and makes some amazing passes, that surprise me. But, his lunges take a few weeks to get back into shape. He has a hard time telling the difference between asthma and his lungs/exercising pain. We're looking at getting him into a winter sport other than basketball so he can keep up his lung activity and strength. He is almost at a breakthrough with reading. I am worried that his retention will fade with summer since he is so much like Jacob, and after playing piano for YEARS, jake cannot play. So, I am looking into having Kelton do some one on one tutoring with his teacher. She is AMAZING. Kelton is in LOVE with these Magic treehouse books and asks me to read them every night. The author writes and Kelton just gets it. Its wonderful. He is in love with the nintendo DSi we got the family near his birthday. He wakes up early to play it every morning (which is amazing b/c he is SO hard to wake up) for 15-30 minutes. After the first 3 days, he started going to be right at 8:00 pm. :) Its nice when their rewards also serve a good purpose for me too. :) He really enjoyed easter and egg hunting. He kept talking it up when he'd find one and got so excited with the busyness of it all.

Chase started soccer too. I am also his coach. He scored 5 goals, one from a throw in. The game was only 25 mniutes. He only played 20 b/c he was doing too well it wasn't giving the other kids a turn with the ball. We will play him up in next year if this continues. He gets slightly bored. But loves when he scores...so for now, I guess he'll just build confidence. He realyl genuinely LOVES the game! :) Its fun to see him have the understanding of the game, want to win and the skill to play well. :) We are probably going to start him in Kindergarten in the Fall. He took the rediness test that they will give him in February 2012, and he knew ALL the letters in 30 seconds, upper case and lower case and although he didn't know any sounds, that is what they work on in kindergarten! If i send him next year, he will be readinga nd I think super super bored! So, if we feel he doesn't do well we can always hold him back again. He also LOVES the DSi and gets to play 1 hour a day. :) He really loves make believe play and plays with his dress up clothes and buzz/dragon toys weekly. he is So excited to get out and ride his bike more. He also can't wait for tball. He goes to preschool MWF and has friends over on different days. He is at a fun age where his friends and him play well together and he enjoys their company. Luckily, Kelton shares friends too. :) He is such a lover or a fighter. Him and Taelin play SO well together and giggle and giggle and he also has such a soft spot in his heart for evan. I usually find him sitting straight at Evan and talking to him about Evans toys and hugging him.

Taelin has been napping again lately...and she actually fell asleep in the pew at church on Easter Sunday. :) Which means she wakes up SUPER grumpy. She has also been eating like crazy...which means she's growing! (hopefully) She calls Evan, "sweetie" and seems to try to "get everyone in line" more often than not. She is afraid for her life becuase of a very naughty girl in her JoySchool and Gymnastics class. I have contactedt he mother and asked if things cannot change, to please let me know and I will remove taelin from the situations. Taelin came home last week with her hair pulled completely out of her pony tail...the only thing the mother said was, "she left her alone the whole time until the end." its incredibly frustrating!!! I figure that if taelin can tell me that she is scared and reasons why she doesnt want to be near this little girl, I cannot blame her or put her near frightening situations. Taelin refuses to hit back, so I feel I have been well over patient while this has been happening for years (the girls biting, hitting, pulling hair, etc.). Taelin LOVES cd's and can sing almost all the songs to Mulan and Tangled. She will sit in the back of the van most days while we are driving and sing along to a lot of the songs even on the radio. her memory makes Jacob and us smile. she copies alot of things, sometimes not good things! :) but she also LOVES books, painting, lippy, aand painting her finger nails. She always has a say in what she wears and how her hair is done. But adores her brothers and being close to them at all times. She is silly, watchful and bossy. She giggles, and twirls in her pretty dresses until she is dizzy, then still continues to twirl. I look into her eyes and see a familiar face, I must be triggering reminders of seeing that face when i was little. she is stubborn and relentless when she really wants things, but often has mroe than one reason of why she wants it. :)

Evan started scooting across the floor lately and LOVES that he can get places. he opens his mouth really big when he smiles at us (in the family) and usualyl will give smiles/grins to those outside our home. :) he kisses me with an open mouth and only on the cheek making and "uh" sound. He said mum and da once and hasn't said them since. little stinker! he claps now, holds a bottle (prune juice cause of his constipation) and LOVES to clank things together for their sounds. I love how he looks at people in different ways and is so expressive. He lunges twoards me and most of the time when he's grouchy, he just wants to sit on my lap and bounce. he's gotten quite crazy lately and unless he's sleeping, he's going 100 miles per hour. i'm sure he'll be the funny one of the family because the smallest thigns the kids do will make him belly laugh. he loves to watch them be crazy, and most mornings i will find taelin and chase sitting in his crib with him, all playing with his toys and talking to him. it melts my heart. he is sweet, light hearted and loving. he loves baths, oreos, has two teeth and has finally started to get over his asthma issues from teething and being sick all winter! yay!

Well, hope this update helps! :) its nice to sit down and remember their fun moments. we had a busy busy day on saturday and all the kids did some weird/funny things in a few hours and i wanted to sit down and journal about them, but i forgot and now i can't remember! :(

all for now, love,
vanessa

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Good Thing I"m Cute!


If it weren't for this face...his mommy would be going crazy. He's been teething for a long while now, and SCREAMS everytime mommy leaves the room or walks 2 feet away (seperation anxiety age too).


So....good thing he's cute. Or we'd have issues.