Keith's First Day in First Grade

So nice to see all of your posts! I was popping around checking lots of blogs last night while trying to update mine, so didn't have time to leave many messages, but I probably checked yours out. I still have a few to look at and add to my list, but good to "see" those of you that I did last night! I hope to post a bit more often now that we are getting back into some kind of a schedule. (PS- the pics posted backwards, and the computer is giving me trouble so I am just going with it as is).

So Keith headed back to school today. It was a beautiful sunny day- hopefully we have a few more left this year! So Rachel and Thomas and I played out in the yard. This is Thomas on top of the "tower" that I hate that he gets himself up too. It has the ladder entrance, then the other side is just a gaping hole for him to fall through. And I put our castle over there for the other kids to climb on, so he could get pretty banged up if he fell. Needless to say, I am always right there if he decides to climb up. It makes for lots of fun when he climbs up, wants down, then 30 seconds later wants back up! You all know how it goes!


Thomas climbed onto this swing all by himself and was so proud. Rachel and he swung on it for awhile, but he doesn't like to get too high, and if he does, he is done with it for awhile. Rachel also decided to do some acrobatics so I could capture it on camera. Does everyone else remember climbing all over swingsets like this too?


See, doesn't it look scary? Okay, probably not, but it is about a 4-5 climb up and if he misses that last step like he almost did once today....(luckily mommy was there to catch him- but that just made the paranoia worse!)



Here is my handsome first grader- all ready to go to school. We are going to a charter school this year, so we get to drive (which isn't that big a deal because we did it all year last year and we were zoned for a bus- although living 3/4 of a mile from the bus stop and having my Kindergartner walking there didn't excite me too much). We have to get there a bit earlier tomorrow so that Keith can play on the playground before school starts. We got there just as they were lining up today, and he so wanted to play. Hopefully the younger kids will cooperate tomorrow just fine.

All dressed and ready to go. Doesn't he look handsome? One of the things about our school is that there is a uniform dress code. It doesn't bother Keith because he likes to be kind of dressed up, although talking to other moms today, very few kids actually wear the tie- it is optional. But Keith wanted to, so I let him. He wants to wear it tomorrow too. This from the kid that can't keep a clip on during all 3 hours of church! This one is velcro so maybe that helps? He chose the button down oxford shirt instead of the more casual polo, but he likes it and is happy, so I am happy. The night before school, I told him I had to wash all his uniforms so they would be ready for school (we got them on Monday afternoon and were gone most of the day on Tuesday) and he was very concerned they weren't going to be done. So at 9:30 pm, he comes out and asks me if I had changed the laundry and wanted to make sure I was going to bring the clothes he wanted to wear up to his room. I assured him I would- which is part of the reason I was online so late last night and able to update this blog. Why am I up so late tonight? I just don't do well with bedtime when Tyson is gone! Looking forward to Sept. when I get to go see him for a weekend!

So we are now back in the school routine- or at least learning our new one. Day one went well, we'll see how day 2 goes. Good luck to any of you out there with the transition looming, but somehow I think most people have already started and we are the later ones.

We went to the U-Pick Farm today- the day before school starts with some friends of ours today and got some zucchini and rhubarb. Most anything else we could have wanted we have in our garden up at my parents house. But I took some cute pictures of the kids and had my friend take one of me so I could post it here. Tyson is gone for a few months with work, so now he can see us!


This one is all the kids in the wagon. There was only one wagon, so I pushed a wheelbarrom that the kids took turns riding in while Danielle pulled the wagon. We both got some arm workout today!

Here's the one of me and Thomas. I don't get many of me, so I have to post them when I get a chance!

One more chance!

I was on a friends blog, and had to comment on hers, so here is another chance for the rest of you to get something homemade from me! Good Luck!

okay so the first 5 people to respond to this post will receive something made by me to you.my choice.made especially for you.of course there are some restrictions and limitations:

1 i make no guarantees that you will like what i make! (but i know you will)
2 what i create will be just for you.
3 it will be done sometime this year.
4 you have no clue what it will be... it may be a story. it may be poetry or an article on properly cleaning your face before a masque.i may draw or paint something. i may bake something and mail it to you. who knows? not you, that's for sure. (um, you can guarantee it will be something you will love)
5 i reserve the right to do something extremely strange. (probably not)

the catch? oh the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on their blog. the first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did will win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!!oh and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!!

Pay It Forward

I was just blogging around, and found this challenge on my aunts blog. So I thought it would be fun to add to mine.

This concept is like the movie called Pay It Forward with Kevin Spacey and Haley Joel Osment in it. The 12 year old boy has a school assignment and he comes up with the PIF concept. PIF is where acts of kindness are done without expecting anything in return, just passing it on, hoping that the recipients will do the same and pay it forward, like a never ending chain of kindness. How to proceed? I will make and send a handmade gift for the first 3 friends who post a comment to this post, requesting to join this exchange, and promising to pay it forward to 3 other persons, etc.... I don't know what my 3 gifts will be, but I can promise I will send them within the next 365 days. What YOU have to do in return then, is "Pay It Forward" by making the same announcement and promise on YOUR blog.

I will be excited to check and see who I get to Pay It Forward to!

Oh My! Has it been awhile or what?!

Okay, so now you all know my big secret (if you didn't know it before)! I am lousy at keeping up on any kind of correspondence: journaling, letter writing, calling, and now blogging! I have good intentions, but you know...

Anyway, our big news is... Tyson has a new job! He is now a APFO. Bonus points for anyone that can figure that out without me telling you what it is.



Keith is still doing great in Kindergarten. Math and science seem to be his strong suits, but I did get to read a poem he wrote the other day, and it was very original. Very different from all the other kids. He is a great helper and loves to be outside. He (and I) are very anxious for summer to get here. We will be grateful for spring too, but really up here it isn't that long. He asks all the time if we are able to have a picnic outside yet. Well we still have quite a bit of snow in the front yard and it is only about 50 degrees during the day, so we haven't done that yet. But he and Rachel have been going out to play and jump on the trampoline and they are so happy to be able to do that.

Rachel is growing up- maybe too fast. The other day I called her Rach (as we often do), and she looked at me and told me she didn't like it when people called her that. It isn't her whole name it is just part of her name. So I told her she has to let people know that if she feels that way. However, I haven't heard her mention that to anyone else yet, so we will see. She loves it when we have preschool and it is here at our house this week and next. We have been talking about animals and today we did some sea diorammas. She really enjoyed doing it (as did all of the kids- very creative and no two were alike). She is not as ready to jump in and help as Keith, but she likes to work alongside me and Daddy. I just have to remember to make sure and give her chances to help. I think helping me cook is her favorite thing to help me do.

Thomas is getting so big! Especially in the last week, because we cut his hair last week. I wasn't wanting to, but it was getting pretty long and lots of food in it. I wanted it to stay long enough to see his curls, but doing it with scissors is hard. So Tyson convinced me to use the longest blade on our clippers- 1 inch. Not long enough to see any curls. I was close to tears the first few days after we cut it. But it has grown on me now, and he is cute, but older. Not the same little baby that he was. He is a bigger boy now. And hopefully his curls will grow back. He walks, and babbles. We are using some signs to help communication and he has please, more, num num, night night, and of course hello and good bye down. We are working on more, but these are our main ones right now. He has 9 teeth in. He likes to bounce and dance. When he hears music on that moves him, he dances to it. Kind of like Keith used to do when he was little. He loves to be held and runs to see his daddy as soon as he walks in the door. He is his daddy's boy, but mommy works too.

I am keeping busy with everything moms do. The catering business is more like a hobby thing. We get some jobs here and there, mostly for my dad's office. Which is fine with me. Life has seemed to crazy to do much more than that right now. We never had our friends move in. They chose to go somewhere else. We were going to remodel since we had done some moving things around, but with limited income for Tyson's training year, and available time going to be at a minimum, we probably won't get started with that for a while yet. I still have 3 callings at church- choir director, ward music chairman, and enrichment leader which keep me busy. One of these days I am going to get my house the way I want it, my scrapping stuff available, and some time to myself so I can get some fun things done. I'm not sure when, but one of these days.

Well, I guess that is our quarterly update, so maybe now that I have started, I might keep it up. We'll see....

Maybe I'll post some pictures, although dont' know how recent they will be. I need to download pics from the camera. We lost it for a few days on a mountain, but we got it back and I need to get the pics from it. Haven't had a chance lately. Does that sound familiar?

Some of November and December 2008

Wow, has it been awhile or what? Apparently life has been crazy busy- or I have just been extremely lazy- you tell me. Tyson and I (and Thomas) went on a trip to Elko, Nevada back in October, and we had his parents come up and stay with Keith and Rachel. I have some pics of that time, but they got put on a card, and I am not sure where it is. Then November came, and Tyson was back to work. He was supposed to work through Thanksgiving and be home just before Christmas, except he got sick with his seems to be yearly bronchitis. He had it so bad, that they sent him home and he ended up being home for the whole month of December. It was so nice to have him home! Then he went back to work the day after Christmas. While he was home, I began a new business venture. A friend and I decided we were going to start a catering business. So we had our first event the first week of December. Then, we had a few more that kept us busy. Not to mention me trying to get all my Christmas presents done- I try so hard every year! I think I need to start in like March this year, so I can have time to work on them all and not be so stressed out! Then while Tyson has been at work this time, we have decided that we are going to make our downstairs a separate living area, and rent it out to some friends. We are working hard to get that all organized and finalized by the end of this month. Add to all that the normal day to day stuff, like taking care of kids, trying to clean once in awhile, hosting preschool now and then, volunteering in Keith's class once a week, and a baby learning how to move around and get into lots of new things, and you have what our life has been like for the past few months. I just haven't had a lot of time to sit here at the computer and blog. But I am hoping to be a little bit more consistant. We'll see how that goes!

Anyway (not sure why the previous paragraph is underlined and different, but we'll just go with it!) I thought I would post a few pictures of some of our adventures in the last little bit. Also, don't feel bad if I haven't checked out your blog for awhile, becasue like I said, I have not had a lot of time to sit down and work on much at all! I hope to check all your blogs out soon, so we'll just take it a bit at a time!

Me and Zoe, a friend, at our ward Christmas Party


Keith and Rachel decorating our tree! We had it in a corner and blocked off by the couch so that Thomas wouldn't get into it all the time! I think that worked out well!


On our extended family excursion (like all of us!) to find perfect Christmas tree's Keith chose this one. I came over to look at it a bit closer, and found this in it! If you look closely you will see a little furry behind buried in snow on the branches of the tree! Apparently a little critter ended up with this tree as his final resting place. When I pointed it out to Keith, he decided he would rather choose a different tree!


Tyson, Keith, and Rachel on our Christmas Tree Cutting Trip!


Thomas is not walking full on yet, but he does like to hold on to these type of cars and walk with them. This was the first time it happened, and when it took off, he wasn't sure what was going on, but he went with it! He is just now starting to stand a bit by himself. I'm sure walking won't be too far from now!

Quick Bit

Alright, so I know that it has been so long since I have posted, but I guess we have been busy! And I had misplaced the camera for a few weeks. But now I have it back, and am taking pictures and getting things posted. So I will try to keep updating, because I know there are several things that I want to share!

We are slowly settling into a routine now that our first has gone to school. We are going to get a preschool program figured out for Rachel, and we will be even more set.

Well Thomas is awake, so I guess it is time to end. Leave messages! I love to hear from you all!

My Kindergartner!

Keith entered Kindergarten this year! Does he look old enough? The first two pictures are from the Back to School night when we got to meet his teacher before school started. He was so excited to play on the playground, can you tell? He can do the monkey bars and swing on the swings!


This is the night before the big day! I told Keith he is going to have to make his lunch every night after dinner so he will be ready for school the next day. Well that hasn't worked out as well as I thought it was going to, and it turns out we have plenty of time in the morning because he is still so excited about going to school he gets ready all by himself and needs hardly any prompting from me at all! So this is him making his lunch. He got to pick out what he wanted. He wanted Ham and Turkey sandwhich.

Then this is him all ready to head out the door! We drive him, because the bus stop is 3/4 of a mile from our home. The school is only a few more minutes drive. So we are carpooling with neighbors and they are taking him and we are bringing the kids home. I drove him and picked him up the first week though, just to get the routine established.

Can you see how excited he is! He still loves school, and it has been going for over a week now. We are glad he likes it and is so excited to go. It sure makes it easier on me when he gets himself all ready. And since I don't have to get Thomas and Rachel ready, it is really nice! Because it is usually just him and me as he gets ready!

He's my big boy, all grown up and going to school and everything!

Benihana Date Night

While Sarah and Chris were here the end of July, my parents took all us couples out on a date night to celebrate Sarah and Chris graduating from college. Sarah chose Benihana because she hadn't ever been there before. I got pictures of all the happy couples. We did miss Becca and Shawn though! And Jonathon!

Dude Ranch Hike

With our little hiking group during the summer, we started at the Baldy parking lot and the hiked to the abandoned dude ranch at the end of the road. There is a spring that sprung up during the big earthquake in the 60's, and so now a lake has formed. So I stood on one side, and took pictures as some people (Carolyn, Sarah, and Natalie) came around the other side.

Look at my studly husband! Carrying the baby and everything!

Here is the group of all the kids and a few adults, up on a pile of old railroad ties.

There was a little stream of water that all the kids liked jumping over. I tried to get them in the air. Some pictures were better than others.

Tyson helping Winnie over the river.

It was so fun to go on all these hikes this summer. It helped us get out of the house, even though the weather wasn't all that sunny and summery. But if we waited for the perfect weather, we would never get to go anywhere!

Babies on Moving Day

We spent some time helping Carolyn and Curtis move into their bigger apartment. Catheryn and Thomas got to play and I got some cute pictures, don't you think?

South Fork Hike

Here are some pictures from our hike to South Fork. We had a good turnout and lots of fun. This was in July, and you can see some "Termination Dust" in the background. That's snow for those of you that aren't familiar with our nickname for the first snow that hits the tops of the mountains. The kids always like finding fun rocks to climb, so we had to get a picture!

We didn't make it all the way to our destination (the bridge) because some of us had to get back early. But this next picture was taken from towards the end of our hike. It is looking back up the valley that we had driven down (Hiland) to get to the trail head. I thought it was quite breathtaking.

And we needed a picture of our family (minus Tyson who was at work). When others are around to take pictures, I try to take advantage, because I am taking the pictures more often than being in them.

This is the last hill on the way back to the cars.

My beautiful Rachel!

Kids In Action!

This picture was taken during Bear Paw Festival. I love the movement in it! Keith was playing tag games and runing around!

There were a few trees there that the kids got to climb on as well. This is Rachel waiting her turn to climb the tree!

My sister, Becca, bought this little outfit for Thomas before she took off for the summer. It didn't fit that well before she left, so I had him wear it recently and took pictures for her so she could see it. Not the best picture, I think he had just woken up.

The kids are like little monkies! They like to climb on the treadmill. It's a good thing that it gives some exercise, huh?


Just some fun pictures of our crazy kids lately!

Thomas' Photo Shoot

When Thomas was younger than he is now (about 2 months old), my sister, Becca, came over and did a "photo shoot." These are two of the pictures that she took. She said that she is still working on them in her photo editing program, but she sent them to me today, and I wanted to share them with you! Aren't they so precious?!


I can't wait to see all the rest that she took!

Smilebox

Okay, I had seen my cousin Dana post a Smilebox creation on her site, and told myself that I was going to have to go back and look at it, and then someone else sent me a link to check it out, so I did, and I LOVE IT! It is so easy to create a fast easy picture whatever to post on here or send in email. I still love doing the traditional scrapbooking, I love the hands on feel, but for a quick and nice result, this is the way to go. And that way I can get more pictures out to you all quickly on what we are doing here! I did both of these slideshows in maybe 30 minutes, just because I was learning the program more. But next time it will be even easier! So if you like these and wanted to know how you can do them on your blog, just click on the link from one of my slideshows and it will take you there. Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Memories Tag

Here is a "tag" for you to all play!

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses.

If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

A Fun Giveaway!

I found a link on a friend's blog, for a giveaway, and thought some of you might like to participate. It has to do with dresses on http://mikarose.com/index.html. However the giveaway is on http://brholloway.blogspot.com/ (this blog). You'll have to scroll down a bit to find the actual post, but I'm sure you all will be able to do it! There are some beautiful, modest dresses there to see. Good Luck!

PS- This dress is the Allison dress, and one of my favorites!

More Fun in the Sun!

So, we had another beautiful day, and this time we were able to invite friends over to play in the water with us! This was the day that Tyson left, so we had to do something to distract ourselves from the sadness that always comes when he leaves. We called at noon to invite people over around 2 or so. It was sunny when we called, but then it got cloudy and overcast. We got ready anyway, and it was a good thing we did, because the sun came back out and it was nice out!

Thomas really likes being outside. We ended up with 5 babies there, and we had all the walkers outside for them to talk turns in. Isn't Thomas cute? I think so!
We had our little pool filled up with water- sort of. I didn't plan that well, and there was more slope than I realized, but by the time I noticed it, it was too late to move it. The kids had fun anyway, and by the time they were done playing, they had emptied it out for me!

We also put the sprinkler under the trampoline for a bit. Because we have well water, and I don't want to run out, we did it in about 30 minute intervals. But the kids really had fun playing in the water on the trampoline. The trampoline makes the water not feel as cold by the time it hits the kids.

Our friend, Natalie, surprised us by showing up in the same swimming suit that Rachel was wearing! She didn't have any idea that Rachel had this suit either, but I thought it was pretty cute, so I had to get a picture of the twinners.

This is me at the end of the day. Do you see the pink? My sister told me it looked like I was going to be in lots of pain. My arms got pretty pink too. It was pink, but wasn't too sore, just when Thomas catches me off guard with his little finger nails. I am all better now though!