Birthdays galore

 
Tyler is the only one with a b-day in May but since we couldn't fit in the triplets
b-day in April we had lots of parties in May. This year Tyler turned 15. This number for some reason made me realize that he is not going to be with us much longer. 4 years will go by really quick and it scares me just a little. Funny story though; I can't remember what specifically he asked me if he could do the very next day after his 15th b-day (that's what you get when you are 5 months behind in your journal/blog) but the answer was something along the lines of (raised eyebrows and laughing) "I don't think so" with his response being, "but I'm almost 16." LOL! Really? It reminds me of something John Bytheway (whom we L-O-V-E, love) said in one of his books. He says, "Most teenagers never turn 15 years old. They just skip that year. They're either 14 or "almost 16". I read this just recently and laughed as I remembered what Tyler had said right after he turned 15. John goes on to crack my up by saying, " Sixteen is an age to look forward to because of the two D's: dating and driving. You might be interested to know that your parents think of two corresponding D's when you turn 16: depression and dents. Depression because you're growing up too fast and "dents" because of what happened to the can as a result of the lesson you missed in driver's ed." The first is very true....the latter I hope we will avoind:-)
The shirt he is holding up was a gift from one of his church Young Men's leaders that he loves, Brent Jenson. Brent is math geek and we LOVE him to death. Very good friend and nice guy. He also gave him "star trek" uno cards:-).
Happy 15th birthday, Tyler David Boden! You are growing up to be an awesome son and wonderful young man!

 
I decided this year that 10 years old was old enough to have seprate boy/girl parties. Chases was a movie themed b-day. They kids played a couple of games and then watched "Scooby-doo" and had cake and opened presents.

 
It was fun to decorate the room for his b-day and I made some dang cute invitation that I just now realized I forgot to include a picture of. If I remember I'll put it in the next blog entry. He had alot of fun with all his friends. Happy 10th b-day to my buuuudddY, my handsome boY, my little joY!

 
The girls, on the other hand, had a pajama themed b-day party and decided to have a craft instead of games so they all made their own tye-dye (sp?) shirts with permanent markers and played on the trampoline. The craft took up most of the time and then they had cake, ice cream and presents. Again, their invitations turned out cute and I forgot to include a picture. I hope I took some pics. UGH! I'll have to look. Theirs were sleeping bags that we made though and they turned out really cute.

 

No matter where we have lived the girls make friends very easily. They are so much fun to be around and full of energy. They are my BEST FRIENDS! I love you Meagan and Jenna. Happy 10th b-day! (P.S. last pic was them pooped after their party. don't you love how they are laying all over the bed and eachother?)

Trying new things...

 
Sticking to the theme of this blog entry...,Ryan ran for student body this year. He is such a happy, fun kid! He can't tell a story without smiling or nearly laughing the entire time. Anyway, he didn't make it but he is not giving up. He came into the school year half way through the year last year so by the end of the year this year more people will know him. I, on the other hand, decided to see what extentions would look like on me. I've had a lot of fun with them.

 
We heard that the Author of the "Fabelhaven" series was in South Jordan signing bools so we took ALL (heehee) our Brandon Mull books and had him sign them. The kids were SO excited to meet the guy who has written some of their favorite series. And, yes, that is Ryan giving him bunny ears (hello!).

 
The girls LOVE gymnastics and are doing really well at Jolley's. They go twice a week and most of the time they come home and say they want to go more than twice a week.

 
This time, at their performance, Meagan had gotten her aerial. I didn't get her on camera in the actual aerial (dang it...the battery in my camera was dying) but I got her on video camera (or rather Tyler did) thank goodness. They both did really well. It is fun to see them succeed!


 
This year Ryan got to go to his first official concert and what better group to start out with than U2! He and Dave went to the U2 concert and had a blast! He couldn't stop taling about it for days!
Chase also had a pinewood derby for scouts and got second place this year! We were so proud of him as he designed and painted and made the entire thing (well, we did the cutting...too protective still). Good job Chase!


 

Okay, so we decided to go to Antelope Island to do a bike trail one Saturday. As we paid at the entry they had a sign up warning us about the gnats. I asked the lady if the bug spray I brought would help. She said sometimes. We decided to go for it. As we were driving out all these bugs were getting smashed all over our windshield. We should have taken that as a hint and left. We went on, got out, rode our bikes for about 1/4 of a mile before I was dying! People coming back were telling us that it got som thick "up ahead" that you could hardly breathe. We decided we wanted it to be a fun, good family experience and that if we went on there was NO WAY that was going to happen. We decided to pack it up and haul it out. Dave thought I was being a wimp but the 18 gnat bites all over my face and neck were proof that I wasn't lying. Yes, 18 in about 15 minutes. When you go out to Antelope island and it warns you about the gnats, DON"T IGNORE IT! Lesson learned:-).

Wild and Crazy together again!

In late April one of my oldest, dearest, bestest friends came out from North Carolina for a visit with her husband, Mark, and two boys, Blake and Jackson. They stayed for nearly a week. I was SO excited for to have her come out that I could hardly contain myself. I would tell anyone and everyone that would listen. I felt like going up to a total stranger and saying, "My bestie is coming out to see me in a few days". Of coarse, that would be weird and so I didn't (although for those of you who know me well, you know that I am just weird enough to do something like that).
 
They happened to be here during Easter so we had a fabulous meal. I felt bad because we hardly do the Easter egg hunt thing (and my kids are too old for that anyway) so there was no hunt for Blake and Jackson. I think they were too busy having fun with my kids to really notice though. They all got along really well. My kids have always been really good with younger kids (and don't get me started on babies or anyone below the age of 3...they are a little obsessed...well, mainly the girls).
The 3 pictures lining the left side of the collage was a joke I played on Ryan. The kids love Americas Funniest Home Videos and whenever they see a joke played on someone they always want to do it too. SOOOOO, I decided that with the last bit of some cake I had I would smoosh it in Ryan's face. Well, it didn't work out quite as well as we thought it would because some got in his eye. Oops. Guess I was too fast for him. It was still funny though.

 
One of the things we did while Jen and her family were here is go to the Clark Planetarium in downtown Salt Lake. Can you tell that our favorite part was acting goofy on the Mars and Moon displays. We were trying to look like we were weightless and floating. Not so much, hmmm. They are som pretty goofy pics and it reminded me of the old days. It is so fun to get with a good friend from when you we young and act the same way you used too....well, not quite that crazy but close for a 40 yr old and a 39 year old women:-)



 
The kids followed suit and had tons of fun jumping and "floating" too. I didn't notice the sign until we had probably been jumping for a good 5 minutes. Oh well. We got some good pics.

 
After the Planetarium we decied to walk around the Gateway Plaza. It was a beautiful day. and, dang, I have some beautiful girls! They are so much fun and I consider them my best friends also. The two on the bottom with the tulips are pretty cute too:-)

 
I just mentioned that it was a beautiful day and it was, however it was still probably in the low 60's and not warm enough to run through the water pad but that never stops any kid, right? I thought they would complain afterward about being cold but they really didn't. And yes, that is Jen running through it to (on a dare from me-how grown up:-)). She got lucky though because she didn't get hit at all. Too bad. It would have made for a better picture.

 
One day I thougth it would be nice to go on a bike ride down the Jordan River so we packed up and went. Well, not everyone. The triplets were off track so they went but Ryan and Tyler are at a different school and couldn't go. Probably a good thing since I don't know if I could have fit all the bikes in the back and on the bike rack. The day didn't start off too good though. Meagan kept having trouble with her chain. We finally got fed up and left it. She ended up riding one Chase's electric scooter with him so it worked out and the rest of the day was so fun. It was a little windy but the sun was out and we kept warm with playing on the playground...

 
riding bikes and throwing rocks in the river and....

 
playing tag on the play ground. I got some good pictures of Jen running around chasing the kids and then I put the camera down and joined in along with Mark. It was alot of fun! I love the last picture though. Jen was all tuckered out:-)

 

The last night they were here we had smore's around the fire pit. YUM! One of our faves! I am so glad that my kids go to meet and know Jen! She is the best! She is Amazing, kind, beautiful, fun and the best friend anyone could ask for! I will never forget the time she came out 10 years ago to stay with me for a month and help out with the triplets when they were just a few months old. I love you SO much, Jen. It was so fun to see you as a mom and wife and get to know your Mark and the kids. You make me laugh, cry, think, want to be a better person....you make me feel like the luckiest person to have you as a friend. Now I need to stop typing because the tears are welling up.

Goblin Valley "rocks" (heehee!)

For Spring break in April (and for the Triplets 10th birthday) we went camping to Goblin Valley State Park. This is a GREAT place for kids because they have all the rock formations called "hoodos" (I think I spelled that right) that they can, do and LOVE to climb on. Here are just some of the pictures we took on our 3 day trip.
 

 

 

 

We we there in the valley of the Goblins for about 2 1/2 hours and then took a break to eat lunch and rest before we went on a hike. I can't remember the name of the trail we took but it was fun because it got narrow in a few places.

 

 
At this one part there was actually water in the narrow part that you had to either walk through or scale the wall to get across. We didn't go very far into this before we decided to just turn around but the kids had fun climbing.

 

We went back to camp, ate dinner, roast marshmellows and played games in the camper until bed time. It was a very fun fast trip for us with perfect weather (which we were nervous about when we first got there because the wind was blowing SO hard you couldn't even open your eyes or dirt would get in them). Fun 10th birthday for the triplets! We must go again!

April 2011

 
We thought it would be fun to decorate the room for Dad when he came home from work on a Friday so without any reason at all we threw a party for Dave....just because. It was fun for the kids to decorate and Dave was certainly suprised since it was just an ordinary day. We even had party food for dinner that night and made him a cake for dessert.

 
Tyler decided to do an experiment; placing an egg in vinegar for a couple of days. It ate away at the shell and left the "skin" around the egg/yoke. You could see right into it. Kinda neat.


 
Since the weather has started warming up we decided to go on a family bike ride. We ended up going to the Jordan River Trial which is only 5 or 6 min from our house. We started off with a picnic and then rode till we couldn't ride anymore without going up and crossing on a busy road (11400 so) because the water level in the river had come up too high and was blocking the trial. The kids stopped and took a break to throw rocks in the river (a favorite for every kid) and then turned around and road back. The kids played at a park before we took off too while Dave and I relaxed in the grass and then we took off. What a fun day that was. So fun that when we had some good friends fly out to visit from NC we took them on the same trail and I am sure it will be a family tradition to do every spring.

 

We have been having a lady from our church ward come over for family night and love, love, love her. She is the sweetest lady and the kids have kinda adopted her as a grandma since we don't have any in Utah. For Easter, Carol decided it would be fun for the kids to decorate an Easter egg house. Well, the girls had FUN....the boys..., they were more interested in eating the candy and playing the Wii. That was fine with Meagan and Jenna though. It turned out cute. Thank you, Sister Probert!
Also, Bishop Jackman and Margi, his wife, called us up and asked us if we thought the kids would want their pool table. Heck yes! They were very excited about getting it....for about 2 weeks...just like everything else. Now they rarely play on it any more. It's fun to have for parties though. How nice of the Bishop and Margi to think of us! Thanks to them both!

good news and bad news

The good news is that I thought I hadn't posted anything so far this year and I have! The bad news is that a still have alot to catch up on. So where to begin? Oh, March 2011. My parents came out for a quick 2 day visit. Actually they had been in St. George for a month taking a geneology class and stopped by on their way back to NC. It is always fun for the kids to see them because they don't get to see them as often as we would like. Poppop was so cute playing pool and ping pong with the kids and Gamma got lots of snuggle time in.
 
WE LOVE AND MISS YOU GAMMA AND POPPOP!

 
Ok, you know we didn't have too many eventful things happen in March when I put a picture of Ryan trying to sniff spaghetti through his nose and out is mouth. You also know that we watch too much Americas Funniest Home Videos too.
The kids had fun building a snow fort that included built-in chairs and umbrellas stuck in the fort to keep the snow off.
The picture of the girls in the pyramid are of my 12 and 13 year old beehives (a church young womens group that I am a leader in). They are the coolest,funnest (I know, Iknow...it's most fun), crazy, LOUDEST group of girls and I LOVE THEM! We had a "late night" pajama party at my house where we played pool, ping pong, just dance 2 on the Wii, and ended the evening with scary ghost stories mainly told by yours truely (mistake...a couple of the girls really were freaked out). I got some good blackmail pictures but I will use them for when I need them :-). Just kidding.


 
We can't forget St. Patricks Day! We went over to some friends house (thank you Scott and Kris) and had a yummy Irish dinner (where I made soda bread for the first time) and found little notes left by leprachauns all over the house guiding the kids to gifts left by those mischevious little creatures...all green gifts, of coarse.

 
Then came the actual day where mom had a fun "green" breakfast for the kids. Tell me, why is it that kids will eat green eggs, green toast and green sausage but think that green milk is gross and refuse to drink it? Anyway, they all dressed in as much green as possible and, yes, this is the best picture I could take of Chase that morning. I took at least 5 and he blinked every time so I gave up. Goofy boy!
BTW, where was Tyler? I really don't remember but I can only guess that he was still in bed and needed to be prodded to get up (hey, isn't that the definition of "teenager"?)

 

I saved the best for last; AUNT MARGE! We Love Aunt Marge! She does so much for us and we appreciate her love and generosity. We are so glad to have family here in Utah that we can see often. Marge, I hope that you know how much we love you! Happy birthday! You deserve for every wish to come true!

Valentine's day cards and so forth...

 
Now this is a funny picture. I caught Dave eating and Meagan..., well, Meagan is being Meagan. LOL! Anyway, woke and made a special valentine's breakfast before sending them out the door to school and work. Yummy crepes with their choice of many toppings.

 
This year we got our valentine's day card idea from familyfun.com. I love this site. I am not very creative and this site is a great one for fun ideas to do with kids. We also had fun making the kids "mail boxes" that their cards from friends go in.

 
For Chase, his "card" was a foam heart with a sucker stuck though that read "you can count on me in a 'sticky' situation". The girls went with the same foam cut out heart but with a glow stick made into an arrow that said "you make my heart glow". For their teacher, we found a little sewing kit at the dollar store and attatched a heart that ssid "you are 'sew' cool!" I actually got the idea when I saw the mini sewing kits at the store....YEAH FOR ME!


 

The food and the presentation are what make each holiday a tradition and memorable for the kids. We almost always have "berries on a cloud" and this year I shaped the rolls into heart for our dinner meal. As I said in the last post, it's really tough when you fall behind in blogging/journaling because you can't remember all the details of that day but I'm sure I made a fabulous dinner too:). I love my little sweeties and I love my big sweetie too!

Cute letters and fun at Discovery Gateway

 
Okay, my girls have a real crush! A crush on babies! They get it from the Schell side of the family. We all LOVE babies. I remember my brothers being teenagers and having a couple of posters of babies on their walls. How many teenage boys have babies on their walls?
Anyway, Jenna is the most infactuated of the two girls. At Christmas they met some new 2nd cousins and they just happen to be twin boys. If I kept up with the blog then I could remember how old they were at the time but I believe they were around 6 months old. My girls couldn't get enough and miss them. These letters above are two letters that Jenna wrote about them; Joshua and Kaleb. They read: "Kaleb is very chubby which makes him cute. He has very soft cheeks and hands. He also has tiny fingernails and ears. What makes him extra, extra, extra adorable ishis really cute chubbyness. I LOVE KALEB! HE IS EXTRORDANARY!" and..."Joshua is very chubby and a little more cheerful than Kaleb. He always sticks out his bottom lip. (It is so adorable) because he is so cute and I love to hold him. I LOVE JOSHUA! HE IS THE BEST!" They crack me up!


 
The kids are on year round school here and so they are on for a few weeks and off for 3. It is hard to find different ways to entertain them but we seem to do enough to keep me from going crazy and the kids from just sitting in front of the wii and tv the entire time. This time one of the places we sent was a childrens museum. We went a friend of mine and her kids. Here are the kids pretending to be news casters and weather reporters in front of a green screen.


 
They have different stations where you learn about different things. This station was where they learned about flying. Tyler was a little too old for most of it but he did enjoy a couple of stations.

 
Here are the kids in the farm area of the museum. They had a little grocery store and showed how it goes from the farm to the store.

 

These are my friend, Natalie's cute kids having fun too; Eliza, Abby, Zola and Loyal. My girls LOVE Eliza and fawn over Loyal. Can you blame them? Look how dang cute he is.
Anyway, we crashed a magic show while we were there too...it was some kids b-day party and so we gathered around and benifitted from his party:-). The kids had fun and I got to gab with a good friend. Fun day!