Scouts, cinnamon rolls, awards and haircuts

A big part of my boys lives has to do with scouts. Thank goodness for scouts. If it wasn't for scouts all they would ever want to do is play the Wii or PS2.

Ryan loves scouts! He was so excited to be old enough to start...., so excited to graduate to each new level...., SOOO excited to go on his first camp out...., and gets very excited to receive awards. He is a very expressive child so we all get to hear, see and (sometimes) be patient with his excitement. Here he is earning a required merit badge. He is very close to having another required too. Way to go Ryan!!!!!!!!! Thank you to Brother Scott Gaylee for all his hard work and to Sister Ann Gayheart for keeping on top of things and letting us know what we need to do to keep our boys climbing the ladder to EAGLE SCOUT!

We LOVE dad's homemade cinnamon rolls. Ryan wanted to help Dave make them this time and we were more then happy to let him since he doesn't ask to help with the cooking very much. We were also more than happy to eat them after they were done.

TAH DAH! Yummy! We actually got to share them with some neighbors/friends who invited us over for homemade scones (shout out to the Brown's- thanks for the good company and good food).

I REALLY wish we had brought the camera to the get together because we were all outside and it started to pour and the kids had so much fun jumping on the trampoline in the rain and running around.

At around 10:00 am yesterday I get call from the Principle of the kids school who informs me that Chase is in his office and he needs to tell me something and that he is going to put me on speaker. I am thinking, "Oh no. What did he do? And on the second to the last day of school." Chase gets on and says, "Mom?"...."Yeesss"...."I won a bike!" My reaction was overly enthusiastic with relief that it wasn't something bad. Mean, mean principle. He says he loves to do that every year. LOL! It probably is pretty fun/funny.

During the school year the kids are challenge to read 20 minutes a day and for those who do they get their names in a drawing for different prizes....the GRAND prize being a bike. Here is Chase's version of what happen; "The lady drew the name and said, 'The person is in 3rd grade' and all the 3rd graders started screaming. Then she said, 'This person is a boy' and all the girls went 'ahhhh' and all the boys screamed. Then she said 'This person is in Ms. Timothy's class' and all the other 3rd grades went 'ahhh' and our class went, 'yeah!'. Then she said, 'This person has a grey shirt on' and me and one other boy in the class had a grey shirt on and so we were on our knees. Then she said, 'This person's name is Chase' and I went like this (threw his arms up straight over his head without making a sound). I said, "Didn't you SCREAM?!?!" He said, "No mom. That's embarrassing". LOL! Anyway, we are going to sell it in the classifieds and he is going to get the money from the sell (he already has a bike). He wants to get some Wolverine claws.

So, the girls didn't win a bike but they did earn their "Mustang Pride" award. This is quite an accomplishment. They have to go above and beyond to earn this. Do extra things in school like read at least 400 minutes a month, run at least 70 miles around the school track during the course of the year, you had to pass subtraction and addition tables in a certain amount of time and start on your multiplication, etc. There were like 9 things but I can't remember them all right now. Anyway, they were just as excited about this award as Chase was about his bike. Way to go, girls!

My sister, Rachael, and her two kids are visiting from North Carolina. Rachael decided that Fletcher (4 yrs. old) needed a haircut and that I should do it. Here is the before, during and after pictures. He is such a cutie. He looks even more like my 11 year old nephew, Connor, now.

All ready for summer, right?

80 degree weather means....

Hot air balloon rides,......... bouncy houses (not pictured),......

.....buying a new battery and starting up the boat. Hopefully we can take it out next weekend.

.....buying a new slip and slide (yes, those cheap things never last past one summer) and letting the kids enjoy the cold, cold water. I love each of their faces as they slide down the first time but Ryan's was the most animated (suprise, suprise). The next few pictures were taken in succession.

"HOLY FREAK THAT'S COLD!"....

"Let's do it again", says the skinny white boy in the red swimsuit.

FUN! Next weekend; setting up the pool and family comes to visit! Stay tuned.

Gymanstics!

So proud of my two girls! They have taking tumbling for 7 months now and are doing so good. They are always doing cartwheel and front and back walkovers. If there is an open space, they are doing gymnastics! A little irritating when it is in front of the tv while you are watching your favorite show though. They have a hard time sitting still:-)

Meagan was VERY excited about being "on top" for the final pose at the end of their routine. Look at that grin!!!!!!!!!!!

Jenna didn't get quite as lucky but still had a huge smile on her face (on her knees, second from right).

They get excited when they get to wear a little make-up....except for Jenna when in comes to mascara. She no likey. Weird to see them in make-up. I can see what they might look like jumping into the future 5 or 6 year. BEAUTIFUL!

All the girls got one of these ribbons at the end of there performance. They are now proudly displayed on their bedroom walls.

A little bit of the routine as it was happening. Hopefully the video camera (Dave) got them doing their "tricks" better then mom did with the battery going dead on the camera.

Chase's long awaited b-day party.

We don't do birthday party with friends on every birthday but age 8 is one of them. Last year when the triplets turned 8 we threw a birthday party at a place where they did roller skating, bumper cars, roller coaster, laser tagging, video games and they all got to stand in one of those booths that had "money" blowing every where and they had to catch as much as they could in 30 seconds. They had so much fun! Except for Chase. He invited 3 of his closest friends and not one showed. They (unbeknownst to us) all were on the same baseball team and had a game (really wish we would have gotten some rsvp's). He was heart broken that he had no friends to hang out with AND he had to hang out with a bunch of girls. SOOOOO, I told him we would have another birthday party just for him. Well, 2 months later we sold our house and had moved to Utah (we were in Omaha, Nebraska) so Chase never got that birthday party I promised. Well, if you know anything about me then you know I HATE breaking promises. SO, this year on for his 9th b-day (which is not a year we throw a "friend" party on) we had a party for Chase. He wanted to go laser tagging so we invited 8 boys and off we went! They had a blast (no pun intended):-). Chase is such a patient child. Thank you for waiting so long, sweetheart! AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Another 5K, Wolverine and new clothes

Our Stake put on a 5K and Ryan, Meagan and Jenna wanted to do this one. I had to teach a class so I didn't go with them. Dave took them this time. I threaten him to get him to take pictures:-).

Meagan in her 2nd 5K....

Jenna in her 2nd 5K....

and Ryan (to the left of the kid on the bike) in his 1st 5K.

I think the free food at the end is always their favorite.....hey, whatever keeps them motivated!

Chase, for months, has begged me for a Wolverine costume. I told him if he saved his money and paid for half I would pay the other half. He is my only child who can do this....save money that is. I was proud of him for not being tempted to spend it on other things.

So, when it came in the mail (had to order it off the internet because halloween isn't on display in May) he tore it open and put it on right away....and wore it for the next 2 days after that. Now he wants the claws that go with it. Start saving, Chase. :-)

If you remember..., I reconnected with some friends I had lost contact with for 17 years about 5 months ago. Bob and Vivian came up for a visit in March and have basically adopted our 5 kiddos as neices and nephews.

They have sent the kids several packages since leaving. Seriously, chill out you two! The girls could not be any more excited then when they get new clothes. They LOVE clothes. I am in trouble, I know.

The kids feel the same way about you two, Uncle Bob and Aunt Viv! Thank you so much!

My first baby is 14 now...Happy b-day, Tyler!

What a sweet angel. Tyler is 1 month old here in his blessing outfit. He was a good baby and always the sweetest little boy! Looking at his pictures makes me wish I could reach out and snuggle that little boy. BUT....life goes on and soon....

you are going to see him perform in his 7th grade band concert playing the Trombone. Can you pick him out? He's the one in the white shirt and tie (grin).

Really, he is the one on the back row in front of the big drum with the dark hair. Wish I had brought the other lens so I could have gotten a better picture. Of coarse, he was the most handsome one there :-).

Great Grandma Larsen, Aunt Heidi and Aunt Marge came to cheer him on. He was very excited about performing. He loves his band teacher and rightfully so. She is a neat person and awesome band director. South Jordan Middle school in lucky to have her!

Then there was the BIG day. This was not just any b-day for Tyler. He was ordained to be a teacher so....

Grandpa and Grandma Boden flew up from California to be there with him along with the always supportive Aunt Marge. I hope you know how much you are loved Tyler!

The tradtional chocolate cake with peppermint icing. Grandma made it this year cause mom was crazy busy (at a movie with you...teehee. You wanted so BAD to go see "Iron Man 2").

Quick trip! Grandpa and Grandma flew in on Saturday and flew out on Sunday. Thank you SO much for your love and support! Wish you were closer!

The proud Tyler with his ordination certificate. We love you SO much, Tyler. Thank you for all your love, for your strength, for your patience with us as parent (that poor first child who we learn with and make many mistakes on/with) and for making us laugh. It has been fun to see you change and grow in so many different ways. We love you!

Meet Jackie Chan, Amelia Earhart, and Micheal Phelps

The triplets had their last book reports due this month and they had a to do a biography. Jenna chose Jackie Chan....

Chase chose Micheal Phelps....

and Meagan chose Amelia Earhart.

Mom learned something from this whole thing. Men's muscular pecks should be drawn in a square shape...not a round shape. Oops! Chase had the entire class cracking up. They all did really well on their reports but Chase was SOOOOOOO excited that he got a higher grade than Jenna and Meagan (guess that doesn't happen very often). Maybe the teacher felt sorry for the man boobs I drew...LOL! Just kidding! You did a great job, Chase! They all did!

We love first Saturdays of the month at Home Depot!

Before we had all this "house hopping" stuff going on we used to take the kids to Home Depot on the first Saturday of each month because they have a free craft center for kids then. They always get to build something and take it home.

We had forgotten this until we went to pick up some things needed for the house this month and it just so happen to be in the wood section (where they do the craft) and the just so happen to be doing the craft and we just so happen to have the girls with us, so......

They made cute little plant holders that look like chairs. Then we took them home and they painted them. This is Jenna's-which she made for Aunt Marge....

and this is Meagan's that she made for Gamma and Poppop Schell (we need to send it off:-) ).

Now we have it on the calendar for June so we can start this fun little tradition up again.