Superstar

Joren got to be the superstar in his class on Friday.

I made a poster for him... it could have been better, but I was seriously running out of time. I either need to get a little more organized or not put things off to the last minute... I was a little stressed trying to pull this superstar together, but I think it worked out great in the end.
I told the class a little about Joren. We read a couple of his favorite books. We played a Lego bingo game and Joren got to put the calling cards up on the ELMO in his classroom.

Then we gave the kids all an airhead as their treats! Joren also got to wear a superstar crown and all of the kids in class colored pictures for Joren.

Legoland!

What's spring break without a vacation? We asked the boys if they wanted to go to Legoland or Disneyland and they picked Legoland. So, Monday morning we headed to SoCal!

The first thing they boys wanted to do when we got to the hotel was go swimming. It's a good thing the pool was heated and had a hot tub because it was COLD in California!

After they went swimming, we headed down to the Carlbad beach. We went to dinner at Las Olas... it was a pretty yummy Mexican restaurant.
After dinner, we headed to the beach... I just wanted the boys to see the beach... not really get wet. They headed right down to the water and before we knew it, Joren was up to his waist and Terek was tumbling head over heels in the waves... After I screamed at Ryan to go get him... I took after him myself. I got my pants a little wet, but saved my poor son from being dragged out into the ocean. Our time at the beach was cut short because... California was COLD! If it was warm, he could have kept swimming in his wet clothes:)
Day 2 was spent at LEGOLAND! There were a ton of cool things built out of legos. Animals, people, buildings, etc. The rides were totally for little kids, but fun and they had a blast!
That night we headed out to Ruby's diner at the pier in Oceanside. As you can tell from Joren in the pic... it was COLD in California!
Our 2nd day at Legoland we went on some more rides and then hit the Sea Life Aquarium.
Even though it was COLD, the boys still insisted on going to the waterpark. My excuse for not getting in the water was that I wanted to take pics... it was cold:)
That night we found the local pizza joint called That Pizza Place... it was obviously the popular place in town... a lot of high school sports teams were there. Our pizza was loaded with toppings... my favorite part!
I couldn't just head home Thursday, so we took the long way and headed down to San Diego. We went to the Mormon Battalion Museum of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was really cool. The kids loved panning for gold.
I couldn't get over that we couldn't go to the beach, so we headed to Mission Bay Park and went to the playground by the beach. Plus, we needed to get some energy out of our kids:) After the park, we grabbed lunch and headed on our LONG drive home!
Every single night, Joren and Terek went swimming in the hotel pool... I think it was their favorite thing. They had tons of fun. It was great to have Grandma and Grandpa go with us! We had a fun trip! Spring break is almost over and it's back to regular life! I'm thinking it's about time for a trip for just Mommy and Daddy:)

(My pics were all taken with my Iphone... I love my iphone... I used the Camera+ camera for most of the pics. It has a built in Lightbox program to edit the pics. I made my photo collages with the Photo Frame app. And, I love sharing them on Instagram)

Sledding in Kanarraville

This past weekend, we got quite a bit of snow in Kanarra. So, Ryan, the kids and I headed to Kanarra to go sledding... finally... for the first time this winter. Even though their mother forgot their coats, the boys still had tons of fun!!!

What I really should have taken pictures of was the before and after of the stove and fridge Libby and I cleaned while the boys were sledding... they were both doozies:)

Kayenta Arts Festival

I really need to catch up on my blog... But since I may never catch up, I will post what we did today... At least what we took pics of. We went to the kayenta arts festival. It was pretty cool. We love stuff that gets us out, but is close by. An artist had a metal cactus sculpture that he let the kids help him build.

Joren picked out a marble...
Brenner picked out some random curved piece.
They artist helped them pick where they wanted to put their piece. Then he welded it on.

This picture is supposed to have both of their pieces... I can't see it off hand, but they are there and the boys will remember where they are:) It will be permanently on display in Kayenta so next time we go there they can see their help in the sculpture.

Joren's B-day Pics!

Joren turned 6 on Jan. 3rd! I am in no way a professional photographer, but I like to have nice "birthday" pics. It has taken me almost a month!!! I had to go at a certain time and it was never a convenient time. So, today I bribed him with McDonald's.

Joren is our free spirit. He kind of just does what he wants. We often wonder if he can hear, but we've had his hearing tested and he can hear fine. He always tries to roam around the van... he's the last to get in his car seat. He always has to go back in the house to get something any time we leave the house.
Joren still loves perler beads and will spend hours making fun creations. He is in kindergarten and is loving school. He is learning how to read and often surprises me with the words that he knows. He loves riding his bike home from school with his friends. He loves playing ninjas and fighting with his friends.
Joren's favorite past time is torturing Terek. He is more happy if Terek is crying. At other times, they play great and have a lot of fun together.
Joren is our little snuggler. He loves to have someone to sleep with at night. He loves our new little kitty, Mia and loves to have her sleep with him.
Joren loves macaroni and cheese, cottage cheese, pizza, candy, bread and rolls. He actually isn't too picky of an eater.

We love Joren and know that our family wouldn't be complete without him!!!

Winter Snow!!!

Brenner has missed the snow sooo much!!! I would be more than happy to take him somewhere to play in the snow... but it just hasn't snowed anywhere close enough at any convenient time. A few weekends ago, we had to go to Kanarraville. Sadly, my uncle passed away and we had to go try to find paperwork and clean the house, etc. I texted my cousin Cash and he said there was no snow... but I packed our snow gear, just in case. The kids were bored. They had no computer, no TV, not toys and it was cold and windy outside. Brenner was thinking it was the worst day of his life. So, we left him at Cash's with his girlfriend Kali and she put a movie in for them to watch. We went back to clean the house. All of a sudden, the wind stopped and it started to snow. The boys were soooo excited. They got right to work building a snowman. They had a blast and it turned out to be the best day of Brenner's life!!!

The memorial service was this past saturday. I don't have any pics, but I think my cousin libby does. There is the obituary and a video memorial on our family blog.

My uncle was living in my grandparent's old house which now belongs to my mom and my uncle Heff. So, now we have a house to clean, paint and fix up and hopefully we will have a fun vacation home to run off to in Kanarraville!!!

Happy 37 to me!!!

All I have to say is... holy crap... I'm almost 40! How did that happen? Anyway....

My birthday was somewhat blasé.... I had to work...Ryan had a class that night so he was gone all night. I didn't feel like cooking so I took the kids to McDonald's. Ryan couldn't handle that I didn't have a cake with candles to blow out (I guess I could have made myself one) so he stopped at the store and bought me one. I blew out the candles and we all went to bed... no one even ate the cake.

Okay, so since that day turned out just about as normal as they get (aside from my mom's brother dying), we decided to celebrate the day after. Ryan bought me an Iphone for my birthday!!! Most exciting gift of all time... I've wanted one forever:) Then Ry's parents baby sat so we could go to the temple and out to dinner. We went to a Brazilian stake house. It was super fun and ended up being a great... day after my birthday!!!

(I've been accused of being behind on my blogging... but there hasn't been anything to blog about... we need to get out and do something fun!!!)

Joren's 6th Birthday

I thought I was going to get out of having a birthday party for Joren. We needed to go to Las Vegas to take Tanner to the airport to fly home on the morning after Joren's birthday. So, I thought we could just go down a day early and go to Circus Circus for Joren's birthday. Well, Joren was excited about that, but when it really settled in that he wasn't going to be able to have a friend party, he was a little sad. Being the mother that I am and not wanting to feel guilty that I didn't have a party for him, I decided to plan a NINJA party about a week before his birthday!!!

We invited a few close friends and their siblings. We asked everyone to come dressed in all black. I made ninja headbands for them to wear.

We started off by having a ninja star throwing contest. The little ninjas had to throw the stars into 3 different bowls..... the farthest away being the most points.

Then we had a relay where they had to carry marshmellows with chopsticks from one bowl to another.... kind of harder than I thought.
Then we went inside to have cake and ice cream. I made Joren's cake. I just covered it in white fondant and made a black ninja belt out of fondant. Then I just stuck some plastic Ninja toys in the cake... super easy and he loved it!

After the cake we went back outside to break the pinata. My pinata wasn't super durable, so we had them hit it with a ninja sword so that it wouldn't break right off the bat. (When planning a party where you make a pinata, plan plenty of days to do multiple layers... and don't try to bake it to make it dry faster.)
After the pinata, we went back inside to open presents. Joren was a little too nonchalant about his presents, but he had a lot of fun!!!
We had his party the day before his birthday and the day of his birthday, we headed to Las Vegas. We stayed at the Circus Circus hotel and went to the adventuredome. The kids loved going on the rides and playing the games at the midway.
Happy Birthday Joren. Hope it was a blast!!!

(Now I need to get out and take some cute 6 year old pics of him)

Hiking the cinder cone

It has been such nice weather lately... So today I was thinking I needed to get the kids outside and enjoy the weather... We have been wanting to hike the cinder cone by diamond valley.... I did not realize it was windy until we were driving out of the garage.  We hiked it any way.  The trail is a bit slippery, but fairly easy and fun. We almost got blown off the top! We will have to go back when it's not windy.

The Christmas Break

We had such a nice Christmas Break...
It was such nice weather... the kids enjoyed playing outside with their new toys. Joren got a bike ramp and Terek got a new bike.

We had a free 3-day pass to the Washington Rec Center. We got to go swimming...
... and the big boys climbed the rock wall.
Brenner made it all the way to the top!!!

For New Year's Eve, we had a party with the Williams Family. Brenner entertained us with a Magic Show.
The boys ran around like crazies all night.

This is the group that was crazy enough to stay up until Midnight!!! We are excited for what 2012 has in store for us!!!