Caleb's Big Day

Caleb turned 8 in January. Of course the following month would typically be when an 8 year old growing up in the gospel would be baptized. Unless your older sister had a cheer competition that month in Salt Lake. Naturally, the following month would suffice. Unless of course, your family had planned a trip to Hawaii then. Lucky for us we got to have the baptisms early this month due to general conference, so Caleb finally took the plunge! Truly Caleb is such a sweetheart. Not only is he a handsome fella he has a brightness about him that makes you smile.

I remember my baptism day and the only picture I have from it is a Polaroid of my dad and I wearing white. I remember insisting my dad wear his mint green suit to match my mint green dress that I had chosen to wear. Oh how that ages me!!! The day I was baptised my brother (obviously) was also. Along with my cousin who's father had passed away so my dad had the honor of 3 in one swoop. Baptisms today seem to be a lot more work than I remember mine being. Of course the whole family came back then but the baptism was it. No dinner, no gifts, just a Polaroid attached to your baptism certificate. I really don't mind any effort we made to make Caleb's day special. He was beaming all day and I just tried to keep the tears in check.
Along with Caleb's baptism this week I had sharing time and got to sub for the primary president in ward council. Wouldn't you know it was her turn for the thought and prayer. I tend to stress badly with sharing time alone. Why 100 little children intimidate me I have no idea. Giving a thought in ward council is pure torture in comparison however. Although, having the bishop call you up after your sons baptism and ask you to bear your testimony in front of a small group of family nearly did me in! Thank you for that Bishop!
When all was said and done I was unbelievably grateful for being blessed with such an amazing kid. I'm so pleased with the boy Caleb is and the man he is growing up to be.

Now if we could just get a bit of Caleb's mild nature to rub off on his little brother...

Caleb and Easton both ended their basketball seasons the week we left for Hawaii so I am now getting around to posting about their awesome season. Although Easton could have played on Caleb's team we ended up putting the boys in separate leagues. We wanted Easton only play against boy his age. It was also nice to compare the two separate leagues. Easton played in Hartman Sports Club while Caleb played for Ivins city. We were very impressed with the Ivins league overall. It was half as much and the facility was nicer.

Easton was so fun to watch. He was intense. He is certainly not the type that will let other kids push him around. The rule was 50 cents for each basket scored. Each game they played I was at least a dollar poorer. I loved it. Easton actually started to get the hang of it by the end of the season. I can't say that I see a future for my little shorties in the tall man sport but they sure love it.

Mat coached both teams and after Caleb's first game when only one kid scored (from a foul shot) we were all a bit worried. He took those kids though from being the worst team there to being the ones to beat. Ivins league doesn't keep score at this age but we are certain they never lost another game. Caleb played great. He loves basketball and we love watching him.

Peyton was just happy if there was bleachers to play on and a ball to roll around. Now onto spring soccer and baseball!

Hello!!! Mother of the Year!

Having 5 years between Easton and Peyton I find that I forget a lot about raising toddlers. One thing however, that I remember well, is if you hear silence there's trouble to be found. Peyton seems extra advanced with this skill. Today while I was working away making a video for Caleb's upcoming baptism, I could hear Peyton off in the other room playing the keyboard. I had to edit the video which I admit, got me a little caught up in memories of my little guy. After the video had ran through and I had the bugs worked out...sure enough silence was heard. I almost feel like the music from the movie psycho should be playing whenever I go to investigate the silence. You know, the music builds up, and then right as you turn the corner, SHRIEKS! Today's silence was brought to me by the makers of Magic Shell chocolate and the older kids leaving it on the lower shelf. Peyton had worked her way up on the counter and was trying to wash her feet clean while watching Phineas and Ferb. These are the results.

How am I supposed to be mad at that? After all, I'm the slacker mom who wasn't watching her.

Somehow, I don't think she would have gotten her feet clean.

I will say this. She knew she had made a mess. There were dirty paper towels nearby clearly a sign that she planned on cleaning it up. I truly don't mind moments like this. Ones that are easy to clean and easy to fix. Magic marker on the leather couches, and holes burned into the new trampoline mat from cousins, are moments I could do without.

Th Big Vacation!

Every year since Bailey was little Mat and I have taken the kiddos to Disneyland for a family vacation. While we love it there we always talk about doing something else. This past summer Mat and I told the kids if they wanted to help us save the money we could take a more extravagant vacation. They chose Hawaii. So we got a jar and started saving. The rule was that we didn't go until we had enough saved. We knew the bulk of the money would come from extra jobs Mat did but wanted the kids to contribute as well. After the first 3 months we counted what we had and told the kids that if we tried hard by Spring Break we could go. They counted down the months and days leading up to our trip.

When we first got to the airport we had some glitches in our travel already. The flight delayed us 8 hours! I was frustrated knowing that we were traveling with 4 kids and this was not ideal. Bailey kept reminding me that it was okay. We still got to go.

When we finally got to Oahu it was GORGEOUS! We didn't have a bad day there. Our hotel was fabulous and the beach was pristine. Of course that's the first place we went.

We did everything we wanted to do. Shopped at Aloha Stadium, went to Pali Lookout, snorkeled a ton, and went to the Polynesian Cultural Center. Mat and I kept asking the kids if Hawaii was what they expected. Of course they had conjured up different images in their minds but were certainly not disappointed.

The favorite stop was the PCC. They loved the night show. Usually by the time we've been on vacation for a week we are more than ready to head home. We really could have easily stayed another week.

One thing I really wanted was family pictures on the beach. So we packed up the tripod and took out the remote control and headed out. We never did get a "perfect" shot. We did get a load of great ones though. Of course we were worried if we were spending too much money so when we got home and tallied up our expenses we found that we had $500.00 left! Woohoo! We're already on the savings train for the next vacation. Wonder where we should go? :)

Red and Pink

My favorite color is and will always be red. I love it in my house, on my clothes, everywhere! So unlike one half of the world that seems to despise Valentines Day I love it. Red and pink everywhere! What's not to love? I'm not the mom that thinks it's lame to make the cutesy little treat bags for every kid in the class. I'm the mom that wishes there was enough time to help each of my kids hand make every solitary Valentine as well as come up with a fabulous Valentine box. When Bailey was in preschool you can bet that her Valentines were all homemade and darling! Now I feel such guilt sending 3 kids to school with store bought cards and candy. I don't think moms that do this are any less of a mother than I. I simply love spending the time doing it with my kids. Whatever gains me points now, I'm hoping I can have some in reserve for when they are teenagers. :) I love dressing my girls up for Valentines as well. When Bailey was a baby she wore mostly red anyhow but with Peyton it's usually pink all the way. We had one day last week where Peyton was happy enough to get dressed and run a few errands so I snapped some pics while she was happy.

As soon as she sees the camera there is always the initial "cheesy" smile followed by me begging her to look my way. Sometimes I'm quick enough to capture it!
I can't put the frilly ribbons or cutesy clothes on Bailey anymore but she did want something pink to wear and her hair done cutesy for the Valentines party at school. I wished I would have thought to take some pictures of her class playing the games. It got quite out of hand and was so much fun!

Caleb had a great idea for his box this year. The kids LOVES basketball so he wanted a hoop. All the kids got to "shoot" their treats into Caleb's "box". It turned out so cute I'm planning on trying it out for sharing time in primary.

I admittedly have an addiction to clothes for Peyton. Some are not necessarily cheap even. It's a BIG problem as our budget keeps getting tighter and tighter. However, I bought this dress for$12 weeks ago thinking it would be cute for springtime and after it hung in the closet for a bit I realized Valentines landed on a Sunday. She was SO FLIPPIN" CUTE at church!

One of her famous faces she pulls! She is still quite skinny from her illness last week but starting to get some meat back on those bones!

I got her to look up after asking for a kiss. Looking at her face I just start puckering up!

Another goober face. How does she make them look so good?!

A quick snapshot of the fam as we headed out for church. I tried to photoshop the remote out of my hand so it pretty much looks like a mangled hand but at least I got the whole family smiling! Is it crazy I feel my heart beat faster when I think of how good looking my kids are?

Venting...

Okay so no cute pictures or anything fun and exciting happening. I am merely venting my frustrations. On Monday, I went to get Peyton out of her crib and she was literally covered in fluid and chunks from both ends of her body. Gross, I know... try finding your 1 year old covered in it.Of course there was much more fluid to follow throughout the day as well. She ran a pretty high fever most of that afternoon and though much of the night. We had her in bed with us so we could monitor her. We were freaking out with worry. Around 5 am Mat got up with her and she started being really cute and was asking me to "come on". Where she wanted me to take her I had no idea. Tuesday was a bit better. She was smiling again which was heaven sent, and being quite cute. A small amount of fluids but nothing like the day before. I actually got dressed and ran a few errands. Then today hit! She woke up SCREAMING for Bailey. The boys each tried to get her out of her crib and I could hear her yelling at them for Bailey. I almost kept Bailey home from school because I just knew! Throughout the morning she has cried then slept every 10 minutes or so. She had made it clear I was not to leave her side. It's Wednesday and I have yet to workout this week and so that in itself is making me feel like a big lazy slob. The house being neglected during this however, is the icing on the cake! I need a housekeeper, trainer, and nanny quick! Oh, and a chauffeur because as I was taking Bailey to cheer this afternoon my car started going crazy. I made it a block away from her cheer and it would go no longer. I sent Bailey walking and reassured her that someone would stop (which they did) and pick her up! Right by the Flying J gas station! I couldn't let her know how worried I was about letting her walk by all of those truckers! So Mat came and pick us up, called a tow truck and teased as we were coming home that the fluid all throughout our circle was from my transmission. Well...it blasted was! He followed the trail for a bit and it went right along my route to cheer. I can guess about the time that the fluid ran out. So now we are looking at a new transmission for the car that has 37,000 miles on it! 1,000 miles passed the warranty. The saving grace with this (we hope) is that we've had warranty work done a bit in the last few weeks before it ran out and the problem was noted before. They just didn't fix it correctly. They better not come back and tell me I shouldn't have been driving it with the leakage. For 1, I had no idea it was leaking, and I kept a close eye on the RPM's as well as the temp. gauge. I pulled over when I could smell smoke coming from the engine. Such a mess! It's also Valentine week which means class parities, valentine boxes, making the valentines. So the house is covered in throw up and pink and red hearts. To top everything off we have been planning a family trip for months to Hawaii in a few weeks. Which means Mat has LOADED his schedule so we can afford to have him take off a week of work to go. I broke down tonight and begged him to come home and help me take some control back. So it's after 10 pm and he is back at work, the kids are in bed and poor little Peyton has fallen asleep on the hardwood floor. I know that makes me sound like a terrible mother but she won't let you put her to bed and gets so tired she falls asleep in random places and trust me, it's best to let her sleep. So there it is. My vent. I love my role as a mother and wife, yet dislike to many responsibilities all at once. PHEWWWWWW!!!!

Riverton Championship

We've had a fun-filled week of basketball games for the boys, a cheer performance at Desert Hills High for Bailey, and a cheer competition in Riverton for Bailey also. Caleb and Easton's teams are each coached by Mat and they are coming so far! Caleb's first game his team scored one solitary basket from a foul shot. This past week's game they wiped the floor with the other team. Easton's team is a mixture of kids from 5 different elementary schools. They are the smallest every time and don't win at all. They pulled off a 30-21 point win this week!

Bailey's team performed at a Desert Hills High School basket ball game on Wed. They seemed to struggle with their revised routine and Bailey decided not to do ANY back handsprings during her performance. One of the flyers on her team was dropped on her head during the performance! Needless to say I was NERVOUS for the spirit championship that was last weekend!

As I was videotaping Bailey's competition of course I was watching her. She forgot to do a front roll and then missed one of her tumbling passes. At this point I may have cussed a bit... Her team looked great and she isn't ever one to bring on deductions. She's cheered for 2 years competitively and the only time she's taken first is when they were the only team in the division. When we arrived at the venue we saw that her division not only had the most teams competing but two of the teams ALWAYS took the top spots. After seeing the errors Mat and I hoped that maybe they could at least place second or third. After they announced the second and third place teams our hearts dropped. Not only had they not called out Bailey's team but they hadn't called THE team that always takes first. The other team started jumping up and down and standing up to get reading to claim their trophy when they called out RAGLAN COAST CHEER!!! We were so happy that Bailey got to feel like a champion all weekend! She has worked so hard and 100% earned a first place!

Since we were heading up north for the competition we thought we'd make a weekend out of it and stayed at both Sandi's and A'mee's houses. The first night we were there we took all of the kids ice-skating at the Gallivan center.
Kris had connections for free passes and we like cheap so...

This was Caleb and Easton's first time on the ice to skate not fish. :) Caleb struggled a bit at first but after we tightened up his skates he did awesome. Easton never really got the hang of it but kept going the entire time! Fall after fall! He's such a tough kid.

Bailey has a friend that lives in Alpine so the minute we were up there we were getting calls for sleepovers. Since we wanted her to hang out with her cousins we opted to take Randi ice-skating with us. Cute girls!

SUCH a handsome fella! He thinks all of the girls in school are in love with him because he is on youtube and clearly famous. :)

Half of the bunch!

Overall, we had SUCH a fun weekend. The kids loved hanging out with cousins and playing in the snow. However, we are SOOOO glad to be back home sleeping in our own house!