Party of Five

It's gone!

2011-05-24T07:45:00.001-07:00

Her tooth came out last night. Check out her new smile! She is thrilled it happened before the last day of school.

The past few weeks

2011-05-22T22:13:00.001-07:00

As we head into the last week of school I find myself trying to catch my breath from the past 10 days or so. It's been busy, but a ton of fun too.

Gracie has been riding her bike non-stop. This is what happens when you leave it parked behind the neighbors garage! No more rides until I find the time to take it to the shop.

Open House for Parker and Carson. Carson loves his teacher Mrs. Gateley.

He also loves his sister McCall as manifested in his 5 page letter to her, it makes me cry.

His seed poster which he worked diligently on and completed by himself...thank you Mr. Independent!

One of our favorite teachers, Mrs. Peterson! She has taught all of our kids so far and sadly got her pink slip a few weeks ago. I'm not loving the whole tenure system right now! She is a fantastic teacher and we wanted her and Mrs. Mays to teach Bayden.

Gracie's sheep masterpiece.

The cutest baby ducks! I wanted them to imprint on me, but I was not around them long enough to make it happen.

Gracie with her "fancy" aka pretty teacher, Mrs. Mays. She was the most perfect teacher for Gracie this year.

Gracie with her 3rd Grade Buddy, I can't remember her name.

Bayden holding Jimmer Fredette! I'm not kidding, that is the rabbits name and no I didn't name him. A local animal rescue named him and they love Jimmer as much as we do!

Carson had his big BUGS play at school. He played the same role as Parker, an Army Ant Line Leader. A very important role that he took quite seriously!

Here he is on stage! It is one of my all time favorite plays and I love it when I have a child in 2nd grade and get to hear the catchy tunes again.

Parker with his teacher Mr. Gex! Do you think he likes him? He LOVES him and school. What a difference a great teacher can make in someone's life!

Parker chose to do his hero report on Steve Jobs. Mr. Gex doesn't believe in parent projects, which is why I love him! Parker did this all on his own.

Carson enjoying a day at school. I was there to teach an art lesson and caught him outside beforehand.

Parker's Open House was held a different night. Showing off his Steve Jobs work to his dad.

Making his volcano.

The eruption!

I thought it was pretty cool.

Here he is with his awesome student teacher, Mrs. Willardson.

My favorite part of Mother's day! Cuddling at night with all of my kids in bed.

The poster the kids made for me on Mother's day! My favorite gift of the day along with the little notes of appreciation McCall left all over our house.

Bayden had his gymnastics show last week and had a great time performing for me.

Here he is with the best gymnastics teacher in the world the darling Maddie Nethercott.

Parker had his Orchestra performance last week as well, he was fantastic!

This is where you end up standing when you show up 5 minutes before the show starts! All those over-achieving parents got there 20 minutes before and snagged all of the seats.

Gracie's front tooth is SUPER loose. I thought she would have lost it by now, so we snapped a picture of her on Thursday morning after she had woken up!

The Tour of California made its way through our neck of the woods. You can't tell from these pictures but it was a torrential down pour( yes, it is May and we live in California and it is cold and I'm starting to question why I pay such high taxes to live in not-so-sunny California?) You can tell what dedicated fans we are to stand out there in the rain. I pulled the boys out of school and then after feeling extreme guilt for not checking out Gracie, I ran 1/2 mile to get her out of school to see the Peloton go by. She was so thankful I did!

Bayden wasn't thrilled with the weather either.

The next night McCall had her "Serenade Under the Stars" orchestra performance. She is a happy little viola player. Her orchestra just competed at a Northern California competition down at Six Flags and her orchestra received the highest score for the event and won the competition. Her teacher told us about the competition, but who knows maybe they were the only orchestra to compete.

Bayden had his last day of Speech with his sweet therapist Ms. Terri. She has helped three of my kids with speech. We don't know what the fall holds with the budget cuts and what not, so it was kind of bittersweet saying goodbye to her this week! She has the kindest heart.

Gracie sleeps with this mask on and it makes me laugh so incredibly hard. I had to take a picture to remember how hard it makes me laugh.

Swim team started at the beginning of the month, so we are back to our crazy swim schedule. Time trials were on Saturday. Gracie was beyond excited.

Here she is waiting for her first event.

We forget to teach her how to start off the blocks...oops! It wasn't a big deal though, she still had a great time and didn't even realize she jumped in about 3 seconds after everyone else.

She swam hard and kicked it at the end to finish strong.

Happy little swimmer.

Carson is back for another season! He improved all of his time from last year by at least 15 seconds! We were so proud of him. He had absolutely the best starts of his life which made a huge difference in his overall performance! You are awesome Carson!

At least we remembered to tell one child how to start a race.

A perfect dive into the pool.

He held his streamline forever...Mark and I were so proud!

McCall was pretty thrilled too!

Again, we obviously need to discuss starts with this little one. Here is Gracie HALF WAY out of the pool prior to her backstroke race. This little girl had the best day! She has wanted to compete the last 2 years and we told her she had to wait, so Saturday was a little piece of Heaven for her!

I didn't get pictures of the boys at the baseball game or the Father Son's campout, but the boys had a great time at both events.

Now we are gearing up for this last week of school. I hate to see another year slip by and watch my kids grow up, but it will be great to be done with homework and make some fun memories together this summer.

Spring Break Part 2

2011-05-03T19:47:00.000-07:00

You can tell we are heading towards the end of the school year and that swim team has started up again because things have been crazy around here. I finally got these other photos uploaded and in the correct order. Now, before I go and plant my overdue garden I will give you a brief glimpse at the rest of our fun trip.

One of my favorite things we did was morning walks and morning bike rides along the beach. There was a great boardwalk along the entire waterfront that the kids loved to ride their bikes on. It made schlepping them all the way down there totally worth it! Here is McCall one lovely morning.

Yogurtland was another favorite! It became part of our bedtime routine and I must say it was a great addition to our bedtime routine.

The best part they let you get your own samples! You can see the excitement in Parker's creepy eyes.

Sand dollar and seashell hunts were also a "must do" each day. Gracie didn't care who saw her in her pajamas because it was serious business for her.

A few of her finds which now reside in our shell jar at home.

One day we went aboard the USS Midway! I wasn't too sure about it and how much my kids would enjoy it but I am so glad we went because we all loved it. It was so interesting. Here is the kids up on the flight deck.

Up inside the command center, I can't remember what they called it, maybe the nest?

They had several helicopters and jets used in the war that the kids could go inside of and check out.

We also each got a snazzy headset to listen to and learn from. I'm all about a good audio tour and this one was great.

The kids locked up in the Midway Brig! Doing time for not sleeping in late enough.

After the Midway we had a day full of sunshine, so the kids (Mark and Scott included) were anxious to get back to the beach for some boogie boarding.

McCall and Aidan catch a wave.

McCall, Carson and Mark. I still thought it was freezing and way to cold to be in the water.

Parker having fun.

McCall trying to keep her mouth shut and the salt out!

We also had a skin board that the boys were trying to use. Bayden just used his boogie board in lieu of the skin board. He was a smart little boy who wanted to stay warm next to his mama.

I don't know if there are words to describe how much Carson loved boogie boarding in the ocean. Long after everyone else had gone in and I was shivering uncontrollably in my sweats and two sweatshirts, Carson was still out there, swimming out with his board trying to catch more waves. Just like the ski slopes, he was the very last one to come in out of the water. I think I discovered on this trip that this boy has a thing for individual extreme type sports. He gets lost in the moment and it was just him and the water, no fear involved. His mantra to me became, "Just one more wave!" By the 73rd "just one more" I had to call it quits. I wish I could have gotten a closer shot of his face because he had a huge smile on his face the whole time.

Gracie was more into Sand Castle building and chocolate soup making than the boogie boarding.

Here is the boardwalk in front of our house on our way to go get yogurt. Bay is on his bike in the foreground making friends with the skaters along our route.

We had a great time at the beach and can't wait to go back!

Spring Break Part 1

2011-05-02T22:09:00.000-07:00

We have been back over a week now from Spring Break, but I am just now getting the chance to upload our photos. I uploaded these late last night and wouldn't you know it I put them in backwards, ARGGH. I hate that, but I'm too lazy to go and switch it out even though it will drive me crazy. I guess I will just have to live with it.

We headed down to San Diego for Spring Break and had a great time. We rented a beach house right on the beach which made the main focus of this trip the beach of course. We also spent a day at Lego Land and took in a few museums too. We went with our good friends the Zinn's.

Here is Parker and Aidan just outside our beach house.

Once we got there, Carson couldn't wait to get out there and start digging!

Actually all of the kids had big plans for giant sandcastle, so they all got out there and dug.

One of the museums we went to was the Fleet Science Museum. Here is McCall experimenting with light, shadow and color.

Bayden loved the building room where he constructed a tower taller than he was! He was entranced for a good hour.

Here are a few photos from our day at Lego Land. Gracie and I on the airplanes.

The kids had a great time running around inside this giant jungle gym. We had to drag them away from that place.

Bayden hanging around the jungle gym.

Carson, Gracie and Bay waited in line forever for these cute little mechanical horses. We took like 50 pictures of them on this ride. I think I was so excited about them finally getting on it, that I just kept snapping photos.

Parker and Aidan.

I don't know what this is, but I know that it is important in the lives of Star Wars lovers. Also, Gracie doesn't have anything wrong with her face, she was just chewing on a granola bar when I happened to take this picture.

Parker and Aidan in front of the Clone Turbo Tank. The only reason I know the name of that one is that Parker begged for that sucker for Christmas for months beforehand. He got it, built it and plays with it everyday and every night I have to remind him to put the Clone Turbo Tank away which is why I know the name of it.

The ladies (McCall, Clara and Gracie) with their Knight and shining armor.

Our family entering Legoland! It was a pretty cool park. It has changed a ton since we last went, but our kids loved looking at all of the Lego creations. It was a fun day.

On Monday we got to celebrate sweet Clara's birthday! We were glad we got to celebrate with her and help her eat her yummy Oreo dessert!

We also went to the Mormon Battalion visitors center which was so well done! It was actually one of our kids highlights from the trip. They panned for gold and experienced a great reenactment of the Mormon Battalion. Here they are panning for gold. They actually made us go back another day to pan for more gold. I think maybe they thought it was real gold.

Gracie and Carson inside the theater.

Carson volunteered to be a Mormon Battalion Soldier, so he got to dress the part. He was really excited about that gun!

Here is a picture of our beach house a.k.a. Neptune's Palace!

The girlies playing at the beach.

The kids ran out to the ocean as soon as we drove into the garage! Have I mentioned how much my kids love the beach.

On our way down we stopped at the Grove in Los Angeles and got some lunch and did a little shopping. Gracie was amazed by the American Girl Doll store and drafted a Christmas list a mile long while we were there. Luckily, she settled on one little outfit for Bitty Baby and was a happy camper.

The boys were less than thrilled, but good sports nonetheless.

Eating lunch at the Farmer's Market. Can you guess which children were less than thrilled with their lunch choice...I won't mention any names Gracie and Bayden!

Here is our little crew at the beginning of our Excellent Spring Break Adventure. We were glad the Zinn's were brave enough to go on vacation with us because we had a great time!

Cousin Time

2011-04-14T10:32:00.000-07:00

This week we were lucky enough to get a quick visit from Mark's twin sister, Michele and her two girls Emily and Sarah! We were so excited to have them here with us. Emily had a volleyball tournament all weekend in Reno and so they headed our way on Monday afternoon. My kids asked all day long, "HOW MUCH LONGER until they come!"

We went for a walk together along the bike trails followed by dinner at IHOP on Monday night! On Tuesday, we bailed from our normal life to go spend a fun day with our cousins in San Francisco. We started off at Coit Tower with beautiful views of the entire city. It was so clear! We then made our way to Pier 39 and our usual food fest. We started it off right with a Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream cone for everyone.

Here is the whole crew at Pier 39.

Emily and Sarah got some great sketches, which kept us entertained along with the Captain Jack Sparerib street performer.

Here we are waiting in line for the Carousel.

Watching our favorite Sea Lions, who actually ended up being pretty sleepy on Tuesday.

We ate lunch at Boudin Bakery and then we left Pier 39 and made our way to Lombard St. Parker took these next few pictures from the car.

Sadly we had to make our way back home before rush hour traffic began. Thanks so much Michele, Emily and Sarah for taking the time to visit with us, we had a great time!

Young Women's Broadcast

2011-03-29T17:37:00.001-07:00

McCall and I just got back from a wonderful weekend in Salt Lake. We headed up there for the Young Women's broadcast and to support our sweet niece Emily. You see Emily was the cute girl who said the opening prayer and we were beyond excited to be there with her.

We landed on Friday early afternoon and were picked up by my parents at the airport. We made our pilgrimage to Cafe Rio for a very yummy lunch. It was so fun to be together with McCall and my parents. Because we flew out of San Francisco and we had to get up at 2 a.m. to get to the airport in time for our very early flight, we then went back to my parents and crashed. Okay, I was actually the only one who crashed, but I was awoken by the cheerful squeals of McCall and her cousin Abby upon seeing each other for the first time. We decided a girls night was in order and we went up to Kingsbury Hall with Lisa, Abby, my mom, McCall and I to see the play, "The Boxcar Children". It was so fun to just be together. After the play we headed to Amber's house to check out her darling house and to get all caught up on each others lives. McCall and Abby had a sleepover that night at Grandma's where I heard them still chatting when I finally went to bed at 12:15.

Saturday we got the fun opportunity to go and watch Emily at her volleyball tournament. I forgot my camera all day Friday, so I made sure I had it for Saturday. Here is a picture of McCall and Emily at her tournament...I know McCall is tall. Emily was one awesome volleyball player and her team made it to the finals. After the tournament we made our way down to Cedar Hills to visit with the rest of the Lewis clan. McCall was in Heaven! She loved playing with all of her cousins. Gigi was also there, so that is always a treat to spend time with her too.

In the late afternoon my niece Brooklynn came and she, Gigi, McCall and I headed up to Salt Lake for the broadcast. Michele, Chad and the girls had already headed up there. Here is Gigi, with Brooklynn and McCall. Brooklynn is a freshman at BYU this year, so I had fun reliving my freshman year as I listened to her experiences from this past year.

Here is McCall and I in front of the Conference Center.

Here are the ladies inside the Conference Center. This was the first time for both McCall and I to be inside the Conference Center which resulted in me taking pictures from all angles with McCall's little camera.

McCall really looks up to Brooklynn, so she really enjoyed her special time with her. I'm grateful Brooklynn is such a good girl and thus a such a positive role model for my girls.

Here are two other girls that McCall really looks up to, both literally and figuratively (I know I'm totally cracking myself up right now). She loves Emily and Sara and had a great time with them. It was just an amazing meeting. Great prayers, music and talks! It was so fun to sit so close and be with family.

Afterwards we went out to dinner, but I was more interested in eating than taking pictures so I have none. McCall had a sleep over with her cousin Abby on Saturday night once we got home.

On Sunday we went to church with my parents and then my sweet mom hosted a Sunday dinner at her home so I could see all of my siblings who live in Utah except for one! I even got to visit some more with my cute Grandma. Here she is loving on the lovely Emmy.

I think McCall really enjoyed all of the attention she got. Here she is with my dad and her cousin Olivia.

McCall and her cousin Abby. It was quite sad when they had to finally part ways.

McCall with her Great Grandma McLeod a.k.a. Honey. I seriously can't get over how great she looks and gets around for 95!

McCall and I had to duke it out for baby loving time. She won at this particular moment. She loved holding Emmy and I did too.

Seriously, isn't she a total cutie pie.

Here my sister Jen with her step-daughter Faith, Emmy and McCall.

McCall with Aunt Amber and Uncle Roger! Amber hooked her up with the cutest bag that she ditched her backpack for and now uses everyday for school. Thanks Meebs!

Her she is getting a kissandwich from Kyle and Hailey! We were laughing hard over this one.

Here we are together with my parents at dinner!

I told you it was sad when these girls had to say goodbye. We didn't want to leave, but we were also missing our little family back home too, early on Monday morning we packed up and headed back to sunny California! It was a fantastic weekend and we will always remember this special weekend together.

Happenings

2011-03-14T13:25:00.000-07:00

I still have to write about Carson's birthday party, but I didn't want to get to far behind on the other happenings around here. Here is a condensed version of the past 10 days. Carson had his school talent show. He played the piano and chose the song In The Cotton Fields. He was nervous, but he did great!

It made it more fun to have his little friend Brooke there with him. They played one right after the other!
The next night we had the beloved Pine Wood Derby! Seriously folks it is intense at our house around derby time. Mark and I were scrambling to finish these babies. Mark phoned at 6:15 on the evening of the derby to let me know his meeting went over and I would have to finish assembly the cars. Yep, I was attaching wheels at 6:20 and weights at 6:30 praying the whole time that they would make it down the track without falling apart. Here are the two beauty's.
As you can see Parker wasn't very confident in my craftsmanship abilities either. He had to close his eyes during the first race!
Meanwhile Carson and Bay put out a cheer that their car made it to the end of the race.
Believe it or not we came out victorious in the end. Maybe there is something to be said for procrastination and last minute assembly, although I wouldn't recommend it!

With the derby over we could focus our energy on other fun pursuits. Mark took Parker and some friends to the Golden State Warriors game. I gave Parker a camera and instructed him to take a ton of photos, this is about all I got! At least is was more than I got from Carson who a few days later got to go to the Sacramento King's game with Mark for a special dad date.
This is the only picture I got from him. The inside of Mark's car on the way to the arena!
Luckily Mark came through for me by snatching a picture on his phone of Carson and Sampson together otherwise I would have thought they spent the whole night in his car.
Last Thursday the kids played hookie from school and went skiing with Mark. It was just the right medicine for Mark...too bad the doctor didn't order it sooner. He had a great day with the kids relaxing and soaking up the fresh mountain air. Here is Carson on the ski lift.
McCall and Carson making there way down the mountain. It got so windy, they actually had to close one of the chair lifts!
We used our bad influence to pressure our sweet little friend Devry into cutting school and joining the kids up on the slopes. The more the merrier!
Warming up inside the lodge.
A big component of a great ski day is yummy food, so naturally my kids look forward to lunchtime.
Thursday night they came home and I packed up and headed to Salt Lake City at 5 a.m. the next morning for my sister Jen's sealing to her husband Ron! It was a quick, but super fun trip. I got to have a whole afternoon with my parents all to myself. I don't know if that has ever happened in my entire life and I have to say it was pretty great! We went to lunch and then we went and hung out with my cute Grandma for several hours. Let's just say I hope I look and feel as good as she does at 95! It was so fun to hang out with her and her chocolate supply. The first part of the evening was spent with my sister Lisa and her family. We made homemade pizza's together and quickly caught up on each others lives. It was then back to my parents to meet up with Kyle, Haley and their cute little kids including their new little one, Emmy! We listened to the BYU game and cheered on my favorite player, Jimmer! He is amazing! How about those 52 points?

The next day we headed to the temple in Draper for the sealing. It was neat to go to a temple I've never been to before. We had a lovely day there. Here is Jen, Ron and my parents afterwards at the family luncheon.
Here is Roger, Lisa, Mindy and Mike. Just a few of the fun people I got to hang out with.
Matt and Collette were there too and it was great to sit with them at lunch and share funny stories about our kids.
Here I am with my sisters, minus Kim! She couldn't make it up this weekend and we sure missed her. Everyone got the memo about black except for Amber j/k. It was so fun to all be together.
And the real star of the weekend....beautiful little Emmy. I got to hold her and love on her all Friday night. It was great! She is so cute! After the luncheon I made a quick dash back to Mindy and Mike's house for some chocolate and a change and then Kyle transported me down to Mom and Dad's and then sweet Amber transported me to the airport. I had a layover in Las Vegas for a few hours where I cheered on Jimmer, but to no avail they lost terribly, so sad.

I made it home by 10:00 just in time to get church clothes laid out for Sunday. Sunday was a booked day with church meetings all day long, choir practice, and a fireside! Even though I was only gone a two days, I sure missed my little family a ton. It is good to be home. Well I must run we have swim and Parker's basketball party on the agenda for tonight!

Carson's Baptism

2011-03-08T09:02:00.001-08:00

The day that Carson has long awaited finally came on February 12th, his baptism day. He had it planned out months in advance right down to the blue number 8 cookies he wanted for part of his refreshments. He asked me to take him to lunch at the beginning of January so he could tell me his big plans. He wanted Parker to give a talk on Baptism, McCall to give a talk on the Holy Ghost, Gracie to sing the song, Faith and Bayden to say the closing prayer. After a little negotiating on my part, he allowed me to say the opening prayer. He had the opening and closing songs picked out and a list a mile long of the different goodies he wanted served afterwards. He knew exactly who he wanted to invite and who he hoped would be there. I did my best to make sure it was just as he requested.

So when the day finally came, you can imagine how hard it was to contain his energy and excitement. You can see the excitement in his eyes as he and Bayden got ready that morning!

I got all of my boys together for a picture before we headed up to the church. Mark was less than thrilled, but I don't think he was feeling very well so we'll cut him some slack.
He was lucky enough to have both sets of his wonderful grandparents to support and love him on this special day.
We grabbed a quick picture of all of the Fellows Boys in front of the Temple.
My sweet Uncle Bruce made the trek from Pleasanton to be with Carson on his special day.
My beautiful sister Kim, flew up from LA to support Carson as well. My kids adore her and Carson felt so important that she flew here to be with him.
Of course everyone in our little family was also there to support and love him. His brother's and sisters had worked hard the weeks leading up to his baptism working on their talks, making him a special blanket and learning songs. It made me so grateful that they have each other for siblings because they are so good to one another.
I noticed how much Carson just wanted to be by his dad. I was able to snap this picture of them at the temple before we walked next door to the meeting house where he would be baptized.
Aunt Fun, I mean Aunt Kim and her posse. Kids love her and my kids couldn't get enough of her!

Another picture of Carson and Mark in their baptismal clothing.

I like to call this next series of pictures the "disappearing cookie". As I scrolled through the pictures I took that day I was laughing at the fact that his cookie got incrementally smaller with each picture taken. We start out here with a full cookie and his two close friend from school, Matthew and Eric.
You can see by the time I got to him for a hug, he had made substantial headway on that cookie.
Here he is with our sweet friend Perry, but not before he snuck another bite!
Our sweet friends Sean and Lucas Ellenberger came to support Carson. Mark and Sean have coached soccer together for 7 years. They are a wonderful family and we feel lucky that Mark got paired with him 7 years ago.
Our other friends that we love so much Jack and Lisa Zinn. Seriously I want to steal their little boy Jack, but he wanted to steal a few bites from Carson's cookie.
The cookie series is now done and he moved onto other goodies, but I was able to torture him with a few more pictures before everyone escaped. He loves Kristina Hall, he is her resident Auntie who makes going out for ice cream more magical than you could ever imagine.
The day wouldn't have been complete without his good friends the Hersam's and the Mooy's. He was showered with love by so many people that I wasn't able to get a picture of everyone who came, but we sure are grateful for kind friends who took time out of their day to join us and make one little 8 year old feel super important!
Afterwards we headed back to our house for a late lunch with our family. My parents and sister had to catch a flight at 5, so we tried to soak up as much fun with them before they had to leave. Luckily Mark's parents were able to stay with us until Wednesday, so we had some more fun to look forward too!

It's great to be eight!

2011-03-06T21:18:00.001-08:00

As I stated previously Carson turned 8 on February 6th! This boy was so excited for his big day. He planned this birthday for months in advance. In fact, he figured out his big day would land on Fast Sunday, so he requested we switch our Fast Sunday to the week before, how is that for planning? He finally got all of his brothers and sisters to wake up and join him for the celebration.

His breakfast of choice was German Pancakes and Orange Juice (thanks for keeping it simple Carson!) He definitely had a theme going when it came to his gifts, mainly Legos is what he wanted so that is what he got.

My parents slipped in one of the non-Lego gifts by giving him a memory book for his baptism.
This is the big daddy he really wanted, Lego City Fire House. He had it entirely built within one day. He was so excited to take it to school to show his teacher until Bayden destroyed it five minutes before we were suppose to leave. This resulted in lots of tears, but we pulled ourselves together and ended up only being 15 minutes late for school.
I thought it would be neat to write a letter to Carson letting him know how special he is to me. I guess I got a tad bit carried away because it ended up being 2 1/2 pages long. The poor boy, he started reading it got through the first paragraph and looked at me with a look that said, "Mom, I bet this is super nice but can I read it later so I can build my really cool Lego set now!" I asked him if he wanted to read it later and he was up and out of that chair before I could put a punctuation on that sentence. I think the letter ended up in the trash, so much for meaningful gifts this boy likes commercialism.
He requested Hot Dogs and chips for his birthday dinner, which went along well with the fact that his big day was also Super Bowl Sunday! We invited over three families that are super special to him to celebrate with us. He got a new Lego game and requested that he be allowed to eat his dinner in the Laundry Room, so they could play while they eat. I know it is sick, but I allowed it only because it was his special day.
He went with Pazookie's and ice cream for dessert. Here he is trying to narrow down his wish.

All the little people who helped make his birthday so fun!

On Monday, Bay and I got to take treats to his class for another celebration. The whole class sang to him in the lunchroom which put a huge smile on his face.
He had a great birthday and we finished celebrating it just this past weekend with his long awaited birthday party. More on that later, but for now I want to list the 8 things we adore about Carson.

1) He is fearless! I'm a big scaredy cat and I can list 38 things right now that totally freak me out, so I really admire this quality in Carson. He fears nothing and is always willing to try anything.

2) I love his charisma. He has the unique ability to make friends with everyone. Seriously, everywhere we go people love him. I remember a few years ago when we took the kids back to D.C., whenever we would stop to take pictures we would sometimes run into college tour groups from Europe or Asia and they would always ask if they could come and take a picture with Carson. It got to be pretty funny as Mark and I and the other 4 kids stood by as Carson had all these pictures taken with these students (I'm realizing as I write this it is a little creepy too, but it seemed more funny at the time.) Anyway, it illustrates my point, people are drawn to Carson and his personality.

3) I love his joy! Carson is perpetually joyful. He is a happy soul and laughs a lot. We have huge issues with prayers and this boy because he laughs too much which can be a bit irreverent at times, but he is just a happy soul that can't be contained.

4) He is a good skier! He loves to ski and you can see the joy on his face as he careens down the mountain (sometimes taking a few others out along the way!). Because he has no fear, he will try anything (even jumping off the chairlift). He is the first one on the slopes and the last one to be dragged off. Rain, snow, sleet, he is willing to go anytime. How is that for passion!

5) He is sensitive. He never wants to disappoint a parent, a teacher or friend. He melts into a puddle of tears if he feels like he has done something wrong and apologizes profusely. He hates to see others sad and will often sacrifice something that he has to cheer them up. He is sweet.

6) He is content with himself. In a world where people are constantly trying to reinvent themselves, Carson is content with himself. I see this quality displayed most boldly in his athletic endeavors. As many of you know, his little body isn't as strong as some, he is not as agile as most, but he loves sports. He rarely makes a basket, rarely makes a goal, is always last to swim to the finish line, but he continues playing the sports he loves. For him it isn't about being the fastest, the toughest, or the most accurate for him it is about doing his best and having fun while he does it. He's figured out that his best might be very different from someone's else's best. He always has a huge smile on his face as he participates in his various sports without a care in the world. He plays the games for the love of the game not for the glory because he is content with who he is.

7) He loves to play Just Dance! Seriously, I'm not a Wii fan, but this game is so much fun and it is even more fun to watch my kids play it. I love to watch Carson shake his hips and move his arms as he sings along with the songs. This boy has an abundance of energy, so this is good one for funneling that energy into something that is enjoyable for me to watch! I would play this all day with him if I could.

8) I love that the thing he wants most in the world right now is a painting of the Sacramento Temple that is for sale at Deseret Book! Seriously, he can't get his mind off of it. It is what he is saving up for. Every time someone takes him there he wants to show them his favorite picture. It is is huge! Mark took him down there and we thought maybe we should just surprise him and buy it, but Mark called to tell me he didn't think it would fit in his car. He wants to hang it in his bedroom. That is what I call sweet.

Well Carson you know I could go on and on as exhibited in the 2 1/2 page birthday letter I wrote for you. Most importantly you just need to know how proud we are of you and how much we love you!

Our year so far...

2011-02-27T16:01:00.001-08:00

Our year so far has been a bit crazy. The craziness started on January 8th when Mark landed himself in the hospital. He was released and then readmitted two days later for more symptoms. After a week in the hospital, countless tests, numerous doctors appointments with various specialists we are still trying to figure out what is going on. We are sure an answer is just around the corner somewhere. Luckily, we have had a lot of other fun and memorable events to help keep our minds focused on other things. Here is the big guy living it up at the hospital. We were so happy to get out of there!

The kids and a few of our neighborhood kids were all so EXCITED when Mark came home with an I-pad! They had anticipated this day for months and their was a lot of screaming going on in my house when this group of kids opened the bag to discover the i-pad. They have had a lot of fun this month exploring all the cool things an i-pad can do. They've had so much fun with it, that we have actually had to impose the Friday after school/Saturday only I-pad policy so they can rediscover what reading a book and practicing the piano is like. I could definitely live without all of these electronics.
We've had some pretty good rounds of hide and go seek. Gracie found a pretty good spot on top of the armoire. I don't have a clue how she got up there, but obviously those gymnastics classes are really paying off.
I got to celebrate my birthday. Mark did a great job of making me feel special even though he wasn't feeling well. My family and friends all made me feel so loved with the phone calls and little treats left on my doorstep. Here we are at the tail end of our day and Bayden didn't want anything to do with taking a picture to commemorate the day.
One of my favorite birthday presents was shelves for the boys room. My friend Perry, Parker and I got to work one afternoon after my birthday and installed these handy dandy shelves! I love them and we had a great time doing it together. I also managed to get the cabinets in my bathroom painted, I love them.
Of course you know we also had Gracie's birthday, but we also had Carson's. I will write more about it tomorrow. He was so excited to turn 8!
We have had our fair share of Basketball games. Carson is playing for the Cougars this year and hope his team ranks as high as the BYU cougars!
We had a fun little birthday celebration dinner at Benihana's. We celebrated all three of our birthdays and had our best chef yet!
Obviously Parker couldn't stop eating his sundae to smile for a picture.
Of course with Carson turning 8 we have been busy preparing for his baptism. Here he is just prior to his baptism interview with our bishop.
Here he is on his baptism day. We had a such a great day and I will write more on that too.
Parker's started his second session of indoor soccer. It is so fast paced, it is my favorite to watch.

He has also been playing basketball every Monday and Saturday and unlike last year his team is actually winning more games than losing (actually I don't think they ever won last year). I think he is really enjoying it this year.

We hosted a baby shower at our house for one of my dear friends. Bayden was my right hand man as we baked and decorated for the big night. He probably won't appreciate this picture when he is older, but it sure makes me laugh

The kids were super excited that they got to go because the theme was "Sweets". Parker and Carson had soccer, but the girls and Bayden capitalized on the yummy treats.
Parker had his big Coloma field trip. All of the fourth graders leave for 3 days and 2 nights to learn all about California History and the gold rush. It is a great experience for them as they learn from teachers all about that time error, experience a typical day of a gold miner and are transported back in time. Parker's name was for his expedition was Platinum Parker. He got to pan for gold, live in a cabin with some of his closest buddies, sing songs around a campfire, hike all over and his personal favorite have 3 cups of hot chocolate for breakfast each morning. Ah the life of a gold miner! Unfortunately for me, my boy didn't come back with any gold, darn it! I'm just glad he came back because we I missed him like crazy and felt like I was forgetting something the whole time he was gone.
Again, Bayden didn't not want to commemorate the moment with a picture. The other kids were super excited for him.
That about sums up what we have been up to so far. We got to have some pretty fun visitors at our house the past month, but again that is a separate post. Hopefully I can stay more on top of things and not have to do a brief synopsis like this every two months.

Gracie's Birthday Party

2011-02-24T19:44:00.000-08:00

A few days after her birthday Gracie girl had her game/tea party birthday party. Here she is anxiously waiting for her guests to arrive!

Here is the little group of cuties that joined us for the party. When we asked Gracie what she wanted to do for her party, she responded "I want to play games and eat." I gave up all of my fancy ideas and kept it simple. They started outside with a fun and "energy releasing" game of tag.
All that running helped them work up an appetite for our little tea party.
After the treats were all consumed, we made some cute little masks. Here is the before and
here is the after. I picked those masks up on a whim and they turned out to be the hit of the party. I swear they worked on those little masks for a good 1/2 hour, which limited our game playing a bit. At least Gracie got in a few dances with her friends as Taylor Swift blasted in the background. Gracie loves Taylor Swift and constantly wants to listen to her music.
Of course Bayden was thrilled to get in on the action since he considers all of Gracie's friends as his own.
These two little ladies were my magnificent helpers! I couldn't have done it without them and there sweet little personalities.
Time was running out, so we did a quick opening of the gifts. We all cheered when she got that Tangled doll that she so desperately wanted. I found out later, she actually told her friend to buy it for her!!!! I was dying, apparently Miss Manners needs to make a visit to our home for some serious training.
Before I knew it the parents were knocking at the door and we hadn't even had cake and ice cream yet. We did a quick song and Gracie made her wish and then we gave out our party favors and send goodbye to her sweet little friends.

She chose Ms. Ali's chocolate chip cake. Without a doubt my kids favorite and requested for almost every birthday.
Later that night we took these four cuties out for ice cream and then back to our house to watch Ramona and Beezus with Gracie. These little ladies are actually Carson's friends that Gracie claims as her own. We didn't want to bore them with the little Kindergarten party, so her final birthday wish was an evening with these ladies.
And of course one of her favorite boys too!
I think we managed to celebrate her birthday to the fullest and she definitely felt loved which is the goal of every birthday!

Gracie is Six!

2011-02-17T21:22:00.000-08:00

My New Year goal of better journaling has alluded me thus far, but our year has gotten off to a crazy start. Hopefully I'll be able to document bits and pieces of what has happened thus far in 2011. However, I didn't want one more day to go by without writing about one of the most noteworthy events... Gracie's sixth birthday on January 25th!

She had a great day celebrating throughout the week. Here is what greeted her when she woke up in the morning.
She could hardly sleep the night before anticipating her big day. Carson wanted his gift to be wrapped over and over again in several boxes to throw her off. We started off with this big daddy and after several boxes she ended up with...
this little apple pie gift. I don't know who had more fun, Gracie unwrapping it or Carson watching her with delight or maybe me watching both of them.
Of course I had to get a picture of her with her birthday crown. I make her wear it every year. She'll probably still be wearing it at 16 begging me to get rid of it. I just love it. By the way she chose breakfast cake, bacon and juice for her big breakfast.
Here she is opening up her beloved Pillow Pet. This was the gift she wanted most and Parker and Bayden delivered!
Gracie loves to cook. Whenever I am in the kitchen she wants to be right there with me helping me out. McCall picked this apron out for her and Gracie was pretty pleased with herself. She has already used it a lot.
Here is the crew before we made our mad dash to school.
Later in the day Bayden and I made a visit to her school with some sugar cookies for her classmates. Bay loves to visit her classroom.
Of course the best birthday present was that our dear friend Laurie was her for Gracie's special day. She was thrilled to have someone else here to celebrate with her. Laurie made her feel so special as you can see from the humongous smile on her face.
After ballet we had her birthday dinner. She wanted rice and beans and anything else that I wanted to go with it. I found her request very funny, who in the heck wants rice and beans for their birthday dinner. We threw in some taco's to make me happy. What she was really holding out for in the end was her cake!
She got to have a fun little birthday party later in the week, but that will have to wait for another post. For now, I just want Gracie to know the six things that make her so wonderful.

1) I love her sparkly blue eyes: I love the way her eyes twinkle and how they light up a room. I like to call them smiling eyes and they have smiled since she was just a tiny baby. I love looking into her eyes, even when they aren't smiling I find them beautiful.

2) I love how she reads: She is catching the reading bug and I think it is magical to sit on the couch with her each morning and listen as she sounds out words, mat, cat, bat, nan, fan, ran, etc. I love after she figures out the word and then she rereads it with more expression.

3) I love how she twirls: She loves to twirl and dance around our house, preferably to her favorite artist Taylor Swift. I love to watch her twirl and belt out the words to her favorite songs when she thinks no one is watching. As soon as she catches us watching her she stops immediately and gives me that shy little smile a little embarrassed that she got caught.

4) I love how obsessed she is with dresses: Okay, I love and hate it. She only wants to wear dresses and skirts and she wants to look fancy all of the time. She prefers I have no say in her ensembles right down to the bow in her hair and the shoes on her feet. Our compromise, I get to choose on Sunday and one school day she gets Saturday's and the other four school days. I love her confidence in this area, but I have to cringe sometimes when her outfits rival Punky Brewsters.

5) I love how thoughtful she is: Because of her shy nature she is an observer. She see's when others need a helping hand and she thoughtfully tries to help others when they are sad or frustrated.

6) I love how she recognizes beauty in the world around her: She is the first to point out a pretty flower, a bird's nest, a nice illustration in a book or the color of the sky. I appreciate so much when she helps me discover things that are beautiful that I would have overlooked had she not pointed it out to me. She loves beautiful things.

Gracie we sure love you and are so excited for you to be six!

A Super Cute Four Year Old

2010-11-11T21:57:00.000-08:00

Bayden turned four last Wednesday! I've been all sad about it the last month to think that my baby is four, but he was so excited for his big day to come. He has been crafting his birthday list every time we go to Target for the past 3 months.

He started his celebrating the day before with his little friends from his speech class. Here he is with his sweet little friend, Sara.

Here is the lovely crown he was presented with at speech.

Snacking on a few leftover birthday treats.

The kids couldn't wait for the next morning to come to celebrate with Bay. He chose donuts for his birthday breakfast.

Opening up his gifts that his siblings carefully picked out for him.

Pure joy when he discovered he got the "big kids" Harry Potter Lego Set

Along with the Thomas Train Set he really couldn't live without.

Gracie worked on this card for him the night before for about an hour. I love heartfelt sentiments like that.

The gang before I marched them off to finish piano, brush teeth and do their reading.

I had big plans for us the entire day, like riding the train, going to the park, feeding the ducks and he just kept telling me, "NO". He just wanted to stay home and play with his toys and cuddle. Finally at 2:00 he said he would love to go to Trader Joe's to get his favorite cookies n cream ice cream and veggie sticks!

After Trader Joe's I convinced him to ride his bike up to the school to pick up the kids. Of course that is always a treat. He is a crazy on that bike.

The kids so badly wanted me to bring him into each of their classrooms so everyone would know it was his birthday and they could all sing to him. I don't think they understand that their teachers probably wouldn't enjoy the interruption, but I did find it very sweet that they all wanted to show him off.
He chose In-N-Out Burger for his birthday dinner. Don't be fooled though, he doesn't actually eat anything on their menu, but he will drink a chocolate shake!
His final birthday wish for the day was to watch Toy Story 3 with all of his "big friends" aka all of his siblings friends that he thinks are his own. We had a houseful of fun kids that sure made him feel special the whole evening. Every time I went to check on him he was right smack dab in the middle of the action.
He really wanted "Harry Potter Buttcakes" (He can't say cupcakes, so he calls them "buttcakes". This results in hysterical laughter from all of us anytime he says it. Which causes us to ask him almost daily if he wants cake or cupcakes for dessert and he will always choose "buttcakes" which makes us all laugh all over again.) It will be so sad when he loses that little lisp of his because it provides us with some very funny translations.
I accidentally bought trick candles. I felt so bad because it was so disturbing to him. He is going to have a Pirate birthday party with all of his "little friends" following the Thanksgiving holiday.

Now I get to tell Bayden the four things that make him so fabulous. Actually there are a lot more than four, but I'll try to control myself.

1) He is REALLY funny! This little boy has a sense of humor and loves to make others laugh. He is pretty good at it too with his dance moves, funny facial expressions and hilarious comments. I often wish I had our daily conversations recorded because I don't think people believe all the truly funny things he says and does. He puts a huge smile on all of our faces.

2) He is tender. He loves to come up and tickle my arm and then he'll whisper he loves me in my ear. He loves to have his arm tickled, so it is his way of showing affection. It is really sweet. He loves to cuddle with his two blankets and always wants either Mark or I to cuddle him to sleep and then he wakes up every night without fail to ask us to come back in and sleep with him.

3) He is tenacious. He doesn't give up and has no fear. He expects a lot from himself and get frustrated when he can't do something. He works hard though and through his persistence he usually gets it done.

4) He loves his part from our Primary program. Honestly, he still says his part about 3 times a day, "Jesus Helps Us Do Things!" A few weeks ago he was crying because I asked him to clean up the Legos. I said, "I need to see you do your part and then I will come and do mine". He stood up really tall and said, "Jesus Helps Us Do Things!" He thought that was the "part" I was talking about when I was really referring to his share of the work. That has probably happened a dozen times since because I'm always encouraging him to do his "part" around the house (again referring to chores), but he just thinks I want him to recite his part. It is funny and now the kids are always telling him to do his part...the poor little tortured soul.

I must admit I'm quite obsessed with the little guy. I hate to be away from him too long and I find myself wanting to let other things slip by the wayside, so I have more time to be with him. He is such a bright spot in our home and we love him so much! You are the best Bay!

A Wedding In Vegas

2010-11-10T11:56:00.000-08:00

The weekend of Halloween I had the opportunity to fly to Vegas for a quick trip to see beautiful Aubrey get married! This sweet girl was our babysitter when McCall was just a baby. Their family is like an extension of our own family and we were beyond sad when they moved from California back to Las Vegas several years ago because we love them so much. Luckily, we still manage to see each other a couple of times each year which really isn't enough for us, but it will have to do until Eric figures out that California is where they belong.

This is the fourth and final lovely daughter to be married. Her older sister, Amy was also one of our babysitters and was expecting her third little girl any moment. We were hoping she would be born while we were there, but no such luck. I flew down with one of my best friends, Denise for the festivities. Mark was the brave husband staying home to manage our crew. Except for the one small(well kind of big depending on who you ask) miscommunication he had a great weekend with the kids. I accidentally thought it was pajama day on Friday and had the kids jammies all layed out for them to wear to school (I know total mother of the year). Imagine Gracie's horror when she walked into a classroom of 64 kindergartners to realize that it wasn't really pajama day. OOPS! A quick walk home, a quick change and tons of tears later the situation was remedied, although I'm sure that memory might be cemented in her brain forever.

Here is the beautiful bride and with her parents on the left hand side, I love how happy Eric is in this picture.

Of course we flew in the afternoon before the wedding, so we got to have a little bit of fun the night before. Mark's sweet parents live in Vegas and they always show us a really great time. His mom had the great idea of going to see the Donny and Marie show. I can remember when I was younger my brother and I had Donny and Marie dolls with the purple outfits and their purple stage that we use to play with. I must admit it was a really great show, they are great performers. I think Donny has an amazing voice. Gigi, was the Donny and Marie trivia queen, I was so impressed. Here is a picture of Denise and I with Donny's Dancing with the Stars trophy.
Actually, on the night we were there, Dancing With The Stars was also there filming a segment for their big anniversary show where they are awarding Marie an award. If you listen really closely during the show, you will hear a really loud whistle...that came from our table, my friend Denise! Our little claim to fame.
Oops, I forgot to rotate these pictures, but I'm too lazy to fix it now. After the show we went to Serendipity, yep the famous one, for Frozen Hot Chocolate and the best nachos I've ever had. It was so fun to have an evening alone with Gigi. Whenever we are in Vegas it is always me and five other little friends, so we don't really get one on one time together. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids to pieces, but it was SO MUCH FUN to laugh and chat together without any interruptions or thoughts of having to get five little people ready for bed at the end of our evening. It was so relaxing. I'm thinking it would make for a nice tradition. Here is Gigi, Denise and I in front of the Paris hotel.

Here we are awaiting the start of the Donny and Marie show. We had awesome seats.

Denise and I at the Bellagio in their conservatory.

Laura and I at Aubrey's reception. Isn't she so young looking!

Aubrey and Dave cutting the cake.

The group of us that came to support Laura and Aubrey. Four of us still in California, one in Vegas and one in Virginia now.
We love these two fun people. Thanks for inviting us to a great party. The rest of Team Fellows were sad they couldn't join us for the fun!

Tutu's Movitivate

2010-11-07T21:02:00.001-08:00

Take a group of 15 twelve year old girls at a soccer tournament after a terrible defeat and tell them you'll wear a tutu if they win their next three games and you'll be surprised what they can do.

McCall's team participated in a Halloween tournament last weekend, lost miserably the first game and went onto win the next 3 games. They went to the finals of the tournament and won in double overtime where it finally game down to PK's. We won 5-1. Her wonderful coaches agreed to wear tutu's to yesterdays game against the number one ranked team in our district.

Here are the two lovelies, they are pretty tall and solid, but those tutu's worked some magic with the girls.

McCall with Coach Randy

Taking a break at half time.

McCall with Coach Marlin (love the neon green)

Here are the girls after beating the number 1 team 2-1 (the other teams 1 goal resulted from a handball in the goal box). Coach Marlin said, "Had I known the power of the tutu, I would have started wearing one back in September!" The girls were amazing! Strong legs, controlled passes, outstanding ball skills it was a really fun game to watch and the coaches made it pretty entertaining as well.

Here is McCall with her trophy from last weeks tournament. Four more weeks until District Cup, we can't wait for more tutu's!

Parker's team was defeated 3-1. Carson's team won 4-1 and Gracie's team ended up playing girls against the parents because the other team was a no show. Gracie said, "this was the best game of my life." I think it might have been one of my favorites too!

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-28T06:49:00.001-07:00

I didn't think it was going to happen, but somehow we managed to make our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. We decided to have Gracie bail on soccer and McCall had to cancel her tutoring job in order for us to have an afternoon that would work for everyone.

Initially we wanted to go to the big fancy pumpkin patch an hour away with giant slides, train rides, panning for marbles and tons of yummy food. Our plan was to pick up McCall early for school and leave at 3:00. Because of a little work drama and traffic at 4:00 we were exactly .5 miles from our home. At 4:30 we were exactly 2 miles from our home. Since the pumpkin patch closes at 6:30, we accepted defeat and decided to go to our own little pumpkin patch right in town. I must admit that sometimes less is more and everyone was just as happy. Sometimes we try to make things so grand and I have to be reminded that kids are pretty easy to please.

Here is the crew in front of the barn. Of course it is really difficult for them to pose for a normal picture, but they were having fun.

Here is the fam in the midst of our search for pumpkins.

Bayden was totally obsessed with the wagons. I think we had about 10 different wagons in the course of our visit.

Just for the record, McCall doesn't usually wear weird shirts like this, but it was crazy shirt day at school. Here she is with her crazy eyes.

Goofing around in the corn maze.

Parker sat there forever trying to get that silly goat to eat his corn. He would eat everyone else's, but not Parkers.

Can you guess who the comedian is in our family?

Parker was my pumpkin pal. He helped me pick out a great pumpkin.

Carson trying to narrow his pumpkins down, somehow he talked me into two.

More corn maze fun.

Another side note...Gracie picked out her outfit today hence the sweater with the weird shirt.

One final picture before we headed out for dinner.

Status Report

2010-10-27T10:18:00.000-07:00

I can't believe we are heading into the last week of October. It has been a busy month full of memorable things for both the kids and Mark and I. Of course, I'm never as diligent as I would like to be about documenting it all, so here is my quick run down on the latest at the Fellows.

1. First Bayden is potty training. Yes, we have been working on it for some time, since August 9th to be exact. I was hoping once we reached 3 days in a row without an accident we could celebrate and let the world know we are done with diapers. Unfortunately, we haven't made it to that magical 3 day mark yet! It has been a challenge to say the least and I believe I've tried every technique/bribe known to man. I've come to the conclusion that somethings are harder for certain individuals and I just need to patiently help him find success in this area. Either that or he is just trying to secure his position in the family which he has safely done the last 3 months.

It is a good thing I determined this about 1 month ago because last week he decided to flush his Diesel 10 Thomas Train down our toilet. It required a lot of deep breathing on my part because it has totally ruined our toilet. I didn't freak out, but in a really strained voice told him what types of things we flush down the toilet. Luckily, I have a friend who has frequent "toy flushings" at her home and she has inspired me to fix it myself instead of paying the $350 to a plumber! Now if I can just get an uninterrupted 1 1/2 hour block of time, to actually attempt it. I'm thinking next Monday might be my lucky day for attempting this little feat.

2. The Halloween boxes and decorations have provided a lot of joy at our house this month! The kids are begging me to take their photos with their random outfits and disguises on.

3. Parker, yes shy little Parker, ran for Student Body Treasurer. He along with 19 other students boldly stood before the student body to share why they would excel as school treasurer. He lost, but he was glad that he got to sit on the comfortable benches throughout the entire assembly (which was super duper long with 65 kids running for office each delivering a speech). I was proud of him for trying and doing something that is REALLy hard for him.

He took another bold step (and surprised me again) the following week by running for his class representative, this time he won. I don't really care for politics, so hopefully this will be it for him. He wanted a soccer theme, so here is the poster we came up with.
4. McCall had her first orchestra performance of the tri-mester. Unfortunately I had a Stake Primary meeting that I had to present at, so I was unable to see it but Mark said she did a great job! I love listening to her practice her songs and I'm anxiously awaiting her Christmas concert.
This week is Red Ribbon week at our school. Yesterday was "Crazy Sock" day and Carson and Gracie were pretty excited about it. Here are the ensembles they came up with.
I figure if he is going to take over 3 months to get potty trained I'm going to get as many blackmail pictures as possible. He may be causing me a little grief now, but I'll cause him a little when he's older. The other night during Family Night he came out with his underwear on backwards. We all got a kick out of it. He is quite possibly one of the funniest people I know.
Gracie was "Star Student" in her class last week. She was so so so excited about that and counted down the days until it was her turn. As part of the fun she gets to bring the class mascot, Freddie, home with her. She loves that little stuffed animal. Of course she had to bring it home on the same day that we got a little note from the school informing us that one of her classmates had lice, NICE. Let's just say, I had to deep breathe every time I saw her hug that little Freddie. It grosses me out to think of all the kids hugging it and kissing it and drooling on it while they sleep and then passing it off to the next kid. Finally, I couldn't stand the thought any longer, so I had to put him in a Ziplock bag. When she was sound a sleep, I gave Freddie his own little spa moment giving him a hot soapy bath in the washing machine. I felt much better about her posing for the picture below in the morning.
About three weeks ago, we got one of our favorite friends to stay with us for the night while his family was out of town. Calvin Millett came over and as you can see poor Calvin was stalked all night by our children. We love Calvie!
Carson finally lost his snaggletooth and now all he wants for Christmas is his two front teeth! He also made this lovely fall centerpiece for me at school. I will always cherish it, thank you Carson. He was so excited about it that he decided to make one for our sweet little friend in the assisted living home, Gwen. He took his money and went and bought all of the supplies and taught us how to make it one night for Family Night.
Mark and I had a great trip to San Francisco. It actually was a lot of work for Mark and more fun for me. His mom came and watched our kids while we headed into the city. I love being close enough to rush home if my kids get sick, but still be able to have a little down time. I got to go to a few great art museums in the city, shop, take long walks and eat at all of my favorite restaurants. When Mark wasn't busy with work, which really wasn't that often, we had a great time together.

Probably one of the highlights was a concert we went to on Wednesday night. Oracle converted Treasure Island into a big carnival and invited 6 different bands to come and play. The first one we saw was one of our favorite, English Beat! They were awesome in concert and sounded so good live. After English Beat we went and listened to Berlin. It was a fun trip down memory lane listening to songs from our high school days. The funniest part of the whole evening was when the lead singer, Terrie Nunn, got on her bouncers shoulders and walked throughout the audience singing Take My Breath Away, she walked over and took Mark's hand and started signing to him (it was creeping and hilarious all at the same time)! Mark and I laughed the entire night about that one. After Berlin, Don Henley was up next. He was better than I expected. We were all pretty anxious for the headlining band, The Black Eyed Peas. Mark didn't get to hold Fergie's hand, but she was so fun to watch. She is a great performer. The evening ended with the Steve Miller Band. We didn't stay all the way to the end because we were so tired (I think we are getting old). Here is a picture of Grace Cathedral, a beautiful cathedral in the center of San Francisco.
McCall completed her honors english project, Anne of Green Gables! Phew, we are glad to have the sucker over with. I should have taken a picture of the back of the house because that is where all the detail is. We worked on it for weeks and then threw it away the day after she turned it in kind of makes me hate school projects even more.
The thing that has been consuming most of our time this month, well actually since August 1st is soccer. I have a love/hate relationship with soccer. I love that our kids enjoy it and work really hard at it, but I sometimes wish it wasn't so all consuming. Parker practices 4 days a week, the younger kids twice a week and then usually 5-6 games between all of the kids on Saturday, which means soccer 6 days a week. Combine that with after school clubs, homework, tennis, piano, viola, speech therapy, occupational therapy, scouts, and yw and we don't have a lot time left over for cuddling or just hanging out. I think it is probably the same thing we all struggle with, trying to find that perfect balance. We aren't good at it, so we'll continue driving all over the place to watch our kids play soccer with huge smiles on their faces.
We headed to San Francisco for another tournament for McCall. Their team took 3rd place at the Golden Gate Invitational. It was a great weekend down there and she was so happy to find out at practice on Tuesday that her team had moved to the finals on Sunday after winning both of their games on Saturday. Here she is wearing her medal.
Bayden is the consummate cheerleader always there to watch and support his siblings. They owe him some serious cheer time when he starts playing.
Carson has had a great season so far this year. He is working so hard and his ball skills have improved tremendously. He plays on the sweetest little team, with the cutest boys and funnest families.
I never seem to be on the right side of the field that he is playing on, so here is a very far way picture of him.
Gracie loves soccer and wants to play it all the time. I hear the constant thump of a soccer ball against my living room wall every night thanks to this little missy. She got asked to play goalie in one of her games. She got scored on three times before Mark made it to her game and asked me how she was going. When I told him she wasn't doing very well, he asked, "Does she know she can use her hands?" I seriously couldn't remember if I had taught her that or not. Too many kids playing soccer and I couldn't for the life of me remember if I had taught her that. Mark walked over to her and yelled from the sidelines, "Gracie, you know you can use your hands, right?" It was like a huge lightbulb switched on in her little brain...I guess I forgot to tell her. She didn't get scored on after that. I was so grateful Mark made it to that game because the thought never even occurred to me.
Parker is also thoroughly enjoying his soccer. He is playing with a lot more passion and determination than I've ever seen him play before. He was asked two weeks ago at a game in Chico to play keeper for the first time ever in his life. I was completely horrified...I hate the keeper position because it is so much pressure for one little person. He of course was thrilled and so was his coach. It is his new found love and now his coach wants him to go to goalie training and has him play that position in every game now. He is really excited about it and wants us to kick balls at him all the time now. I think I've lost this battle for now, so I'll just embrace it.
Well I have to run, Bayden just pooped in the tub. Seriously he did, I'm not joking we have total potty issues. It is a really good thing that I just wrote a few moments ago about how patient I'm going to be now because I'm going to have to really put into practice.

We've got a 12 year old!

2010-10-15T16:42:00.001-07:00

McCall turned 12 years old on the 7th of October. Since last year her birthday happened to land on the week I was deathly ill and unable to do much of anything and because I still feel guilt over this fact, we celebrated big this year.

McCall has a lot of really sweet friends. She felt a little overwhelmed last year with so many at one party, so somehow she talked me into two parties for this year (can you tell how guilty I felt about last year). We started out the festivities with a swim party with her church friends and friends from soccer. Her sweet teacher, Sister Hall offered up her home for the party. The girls swam, made necklaces, played a few games and most importantly they ate. Burgers, Ribs, Hot Dogs, Chips, Dips, Bruschetta (McCall's favorite), Baguettes, Fruit, Pasta Salad and Cake and Ice Cream. I'm grateful she has such a fun group of friends to associate with at both church and soccer.

Next we partied with her school friends. Another group of adorable girls and one steadfast boy, Rizal, McCall's best friend since birth. I actually think he came to the hospital with his mom the day she was born. They are super tight and it wouldn't have been a party without Rizal. I must confess that after the first 20 minutes he ditched the girls for about an hour to play with Parker and Carson. Once he convinced Parker to join the party everyone was happy. McCall's favorite restaurant is the Melting Pot (thanks Caroline for introducing us to it), so we went with a French Fondue party. The girl loves food, so of course it was all about the food again. Two yummy cheese fondues with steak, chicken, ham, veggies, pretzels, bread and apples for dipping. She followed it up with two chocolate fondues and brownies, rice krispie treats, strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, and pretzels for dipping.

After dinner we played games and opened gifts. When each of the girls gave their gift to McCall to open, they each shared one reason why they love McCall. I have to say it was so touching to hear the lovely things they had to say about McCall. Their comments were so heartfelt and well thought out. What a great group of girls. They are so kind to each other and push each other to excel at whatever the other is doing. Again, I'm so grateful that McCall has such a tight knit group of friends that she loves dearly.

By the time her actually birthday rolled around the following Thursday she was feeling pretty loved. As my gift to her, I let her skip piano practice and sleep in. Her brothers waited anxiously to run in and wake her up.
The 12 year old making her entrance.

Opening presents from the family followed by her birthday breakfast of French Toast, Berries and Bacon. We surprised her with a new bike since her old one was totally small and she looked like a nerd riding it.
Mark multi-tasking, finishing up breakfast while bringing McCall's bike outside for her.
New boots and a new bike with her jammies on! She was so happy about the bike she couldn't wait to get out there and ride it.

Here she is just before she left for school with her birthday outfit on. The rest of her day was busy. Bayden and I were able to bring her lunch to school and cookies for all of her friends. After school we had yummy snacks and then she had to rush to soccer and then straight from soccer to thing she was most excited for... Young Women's!!! She has been counting down the days since she is the youngest girl in her primary class. She had a great time even though her chair collapsed on her and her entire dinner went flying all over the YW's room. At least she made a memorable entrance. We ended up doing her family birthday dinner the following Sunday, so the girl was celebrated.

Here are the 12 things that make McCall so special:

1) She is super patient.

2) She tickles Gracie's back every single night until she falls asleep (because as stated above she is patient and I am not)

3) She is a good teacher. She explains things so well, especially to those who have a hard time understanding things.

4) She is kind. She is very inclusive and it always looking for ways to serve others.

5) She is the best sister. If I could have handpicked an oldest daughter, McCall would be it! She is constantly exceeding my expectations. Her brothers and sister adore her because she looks out for them and takes care of them.

6) She is a very hard worker. She works hard at everything she does. She gets up at 6 to practice her piano for an hour, she runs herself into the ground at soccer and she works hard at her studies, not to mention she does a great job with her chores.

7) She is smart. Not only is she book smart, but she has great common sense. She remembers everything including strange little facts.

8) She is resourceful. If she doesn't know something, she can figure out how to find the answer. If she doesn't have access to something, she figures out another way to make it work. She doesn't spend a lot of time bemoaning the fact that she doesn't have something, but gets right to work finding a solution.

9) She is obedient. She does what she is told and doesn't push the envelope (As we head towards the teen years I'm crossing my fingers this quality remains constant.)

10) She is respectful.

11) She is interested. She is a really good listener(sometimes a little too good) and takes a strong interest in others lives.

12) She loves food (no explanation needed.)

Look Who Came to Town

2010-09-30T22:34:00.000-07:00

Mark's mom came to town last week to watch our kids while we headed to San Francisco for the week. On her first night here, we decided to go to Benihana to celebrate Parker, McCall and her birthday. We all had a blast and loved eating all of that yummy food.

Please notice Bayden's applesauce that we brought for him since he refused to eat a single thing served at the restaurant. He was really digging the hat.

The two birthday girls. One in September and one in October.

These guys were so EXCITED.

San, our chef, really impressed Parker with his chopping and shrimp flying skills.

The whole group before we stuffed our faces.

The onion volcano is always a big hit.

Carson asked me to take about 10 pictures of him with his hat like that, so I had to show you one for his sake.

The three birthday kids getting sung too.

On Sunday we armed Gigi with all of the tools she would need to survive the week without us. Parker armed her with nerf guns and insisted on a nerf battle with her and the other kids. Now you can see why my kids adore their Gigi! How many grandma's do you know that would nerf gun battle?

This is how we left the kids for our fun week in San Francisco. I'm still trying to decide who had more fun, us or them.

Last Few Week's Happenings

2010-09-07T21:51:00.001-07:00

I actually started this little post about 1 1/2 weeks ago, the day Carson broke the soap dish off of the shower wall, knocked his front tooth out with a Nerf gun and rounded out the day with a bad asthma attack which required a late night visit to the doctor. As you can see I got a bit distracted, so here is a brief summary of the big news the last few weeks.

The quick release fertilizer is working its magic and we are getting lots of veggies from our garden.

Here is a typical picking every 4 to 5 days!

Zuchinni, cucumbers, crooked neck squash, green beans, bell peppers, jalepeno peppers and tomatoes were in this crop.
Parker got his Bear! It was touch and go there for awhile, but I managed to squeeze in the last two requirements on his birthday! I'm not looking forward to his Eagle.
Gracie girl lost her first two teeth. When I was in SLC for my sisters wedding she convinced Calvin to help her get her first two teeth out (I'm a wimp and don't do teeth pulling or twisting.) She was happy as a clam to call me on Saturday August 28th to tell me the news. She was even more excited for that forgetful Tooth Fairy to come and deposit some cold hard cash on her pillow. She learned the next morning that sometimes the Tooth Fairy doesn't get her whole route done during the night and if you are a really good little girl sometimes she will come while you are at church. Sure enough when we returned from church she found some money on her pillow. She was so excited for the cash, she keeps asking me to invite Calvin over so he can help her get her other teeth out for more money...nice.
These two have been inseparable lately. They play grand games together and discuss ways to spend tooth fairy money.
Our sweet friend Perry got his picture hanging device patented. He came over to show his patent the day he got it in the mail. I've never seen a patent before, nor have I have ever seen him so excited! He is a cutie and one of the hardest workers you'll ever meet.
Carson at the end of his challenging day (pre-asthma attack). When Gracie lost her two teeth 4 days later, I think he was secretly happy he knocked his tooth out so that he was one tooth ahead of her in the "losing teeth" race. Since he hit both teeth with the gun, he should be losing the other one any day now, which will put in front 4-2.

We are so grateful for our 5 little friends that keep us busy and make sure there is never a dull moment around these parts.

A Surprise Party and a Wedding in less than 24 hours.

2010-08-31T11:15:00.001-07:00

With Parker turning 10, McCall informed me that it was a family tradition to throw a surprise party when you turned 10. I explained that you can't have that as a tradition because then it isn't a surprise if the person is expecting it. She countered with the fact that the only people in the family that would know it is a tradition are those who have already turned 10, but no one younger. I couldn't argue with that, so I caved and Parker got a surprise party.

I have to admit he was pretty surprised too. I love a good surprise (as long as I'm not the one who is getting surprised!) He didn't have a clue and even asked me the day before the event, "So mom, do you think I'm going to have a birthday party this year or not?" He was pretty bummed when I explained that things were too stressful this year (which I still feel like they are) and that I couldn't pull it together. Frankly, if it hadn't been for McCall and the Millett girls I wouldn't have been able to pull it together they saved my bacon.
Devry (one of Parker's best little friends since birth) was in charge of distracting him and keeping him away from the house for 1 hour. She did a great job of leading him into his bedroom where 14 of his little friends couldn't wait to yell and scream in his face.
Of course we had to do the mixed up dinner(another tradition I was told) which got a bit stressful for me and I didn't take another picture the whole evening. I even forgot too sing Happy Birthday to him (I know, total mother of the year, but I was very sleep deprived). We played the much loved Candy bar game (thanks Mooy's for introducing us to that one) and a few Minute to Win It games. In the end, Parker had a wonderful evening which is what matters the most.
We quickly cleaned up from the party and started preparing for the next day. We were lucky enough to have the Millett kids stay with us the past week while their parents took Lacey to BYU (huge sob, don't even get me started on how much we are going to miss her) and my dream of being a mother of 8 came true! I seriously could be a mother of 8 and love it if those three kids could be mine. They are the best and mesh so well into our family. They are so flexible and well they need to be to survive in our crazy house. Just like our kids, they are active, so we had 5 soccer tournaments to plan and prep for the following day. To complicate things just a tad bit, we had to be to the airport at 4 a.m. so I could fly to Utah for the day for my sweet sisters wedding, thus leaving Mark alone all day long. He deserves a serious gold star. Along with our friends who got Parker down to Danville for his game.

But it was all worth it to get to see these two so happy!

My older brother Mitch and I (ignore the bags under my eyes in this picture, but I was on my second night of no sleep and was seriously sleep deprived) surprised the rest of our family by flying in for the big day. Mit came from North Carolina and we landed about 2 minutes apart of each other at the SLC airport, did a quick change in the airport bathrooms, got a rental car and headed down to American Fork for the big surprise. It was a great surprise and so FUN to see everyone's reaction when they figured out we were there. It was great for me to get that fun time with him too because he totally makes me laugh.

Here are my cute nieces and nephews that my kids were dying to see, so I had to take pictures of them to appease them.
I can honestly say I have never seen my sister this happy or peaceful ever before! It was such a perfect day.
My mom and dad were on cloud 9 too! My dad had a huge smile on his face all day long.
Here are my parents with their 9 kiddies. Of course, we can never get a normal picture because someone is always doing something to make everyone else laugh (sorry Mind, I know you wanted a normal one, but I guess that isn't possible with this group).
It was a special treat for me to be with my sisters(Lisa escaped before we could get a picture of all 6 of us darn it). Four of them live in SLC and one in LA, so it is a special treat when I get to be with them.
I'm so grateful to these two for getting married and creating such a happy memory for all of us.
It all went too quickly, but I didn't want to leave Mark in the trenches too long by himself. Bret and Denise Millett came and picked me up after the wedding luncheon in American Fork around 4:00 and we all drove home to California together. It was great to get that time with them to chat. We made it home about 2:30, where I found everyone sleeping soundly...Mark survived.

Soccer by the Bay

2010-08-24T22:21:00.000-07:00

McCall and I had the best day together on Saturday. It was one of those days that you wish never had to end. She had another tournament down in San Francisco, so we headed down there together early on Saturday morning.

Parker had a tournament all day as well at Cherry Island and it was opening day for our younger kids, but with some good friends to help us out everyone made it to their commitments. Mark got a special with Parker, I got a special day with McCall and Carson, Gracie and Bay got a special day with their friends.

McCall's first game was great. I felt that her team dominated the other team, but the score did not reflect this as they lost 1-0. Our girls must have shot on the goal 50 times, yet they came up shy every time. It was quite frustrating to watch and probably more frustrating for the girls. The other team only shot on the goal 3 times and on one of those that they shot a goal high into the goal.

McCall and I got a kick out of their coaching staff, a young hispanic man about 22 (think Menudo), who yelled at his team in spanish even though only 3 of the girls appeared to be hispanic! I seriously don't think the other girls had a clue to what he was saying. The other coach was a 75 year old grandma (think Betty White) with her hair teased 8 inches off her head. We couldn't stop laughing at the odd combination, but who are we to critique what works since they beat us 1-0!

Does this girl look like she speaks spanish to you?

McCall puts forth so much effort when she is playing, it is great to watch!

After her first game we had a 5 hour break! Of course, we were cold with the cool San Francisco morning air, so our first item of business was Starbucks for hot chocolate and vanilla scones. We were suppose to meet her team for lunch at the Subway down the road, but no one knew their were 6 along the way and we all ended up at different locations. McCall and I were okay with that because we just wanted to hang out together anyways.

We were going to head into the city to hit a museum for a few hours, but then we saw a giant Barnes and Noble and asked ourselves, "How often do we ever get to just sit and read together?" So reading won out over the museum and we had the best time chatting, reading and snacking together. The time flew by before we had to head to our next game.

The second game was a great game too, but tougher. The opposing team had fantastic foot skills and a lot of speed! They were a stronger team. It took the first half for our girls to get their groove and then they came on strong, but they were still defeated 3-2. I felt bad for them because you could see the disappointment on all of their faces. We were going to head back home since it was already 7:45 p.m., but then McCall really wanted to stay for the team dinner(I really wanted to support her in this since she has chosen to not play on Sunday's, so she feels like she misses out on a lot of the team socializing.) It was off to Chevy's we went for a yummy dinner and great conversations with our soccer friends. There are some great families on our team and these dinners create a unique opportunity to get to know each other better. We rolled out of there about 9:00! Luckily, we told the waiter we had to leave because the rest of the team was still waiting for their food when we left.

The best part of the day was our drive home. She had a lot to say, a lot to tell me and it was fun to just listen. I learned a lot of things I didn't know before. McCall is a great conversationalist, so she kept me awake the whole ride home. She has another tournament in San Francisco in a few weeks, so I look forward to another great day with her.

Sleeping Beauty

2010-08-18T22:22:00.000-07:00

On Monday it was time again for another MRI for Bay! We have got to keep an eye on what's going on in that brain of his and make sure everything is behaving, so at 6 a.m we headed down to the hospital.

We were the first patients, which was nice since he has to fast because of the anesthesia. Those sweet nurses did a great job keeping him nice and comfy. He was pretty annoyed when they blew his vein starting his IV, but they got it on the second try and the anesthesiologist had him fast asleep in less than 10 seconds...I'm not kidding. It still freaks me out. He was done with the MRI by 8:15, but little sleeping beauty didn't want to wake up. The doctor explained to me that she gave him the smallest dose possible, but at 10:00 he was still stacking zzzz's. I was laughing so hard when they had to kick us out to the waiting room because they needed the room. At 10:30 after rubbing his back with ice, I finally got him to wake up, so I got the go ahead to leave and we high tailed it out of there. I loaded him up and he was fast asleep again until noon.

The best part was I got to cuddle him the whole time, maybe MRI's aren't so bad.

Parker is 10!

2010-08-15T21:32:00.001-07:00

On Thursday Parkerman turned 10. I didn't quite get to listing my top ten of Parker because let's just say his special day didn't turn out quite as planned due to a bunch of crazy stuff including Mark's car accident. He did finally get his birthday dinner at 9:38 p.m. and responded in his usual positive manner with, "This has been the best birthday ever!" From this comment you can see why it is so easy for me to come up with ten things we love about Parker.

1. He is positive and looks for the bright side of almost every situation.

2. He makes great "creepy" eyes which make us all laugh hysterically. He made those creepy eyes tonight as we were playing a game to try and distract me and kept us all laughing.

3. He is a gentleman. If I'm carrying something in my hands he ALWAYS asks me if he can carry something for me.

4. He is SUPER easy going. I actually have a love/hate relationship with this quality, but I must say it is good for this "let's get going" mom to have a child that helps me slow down at times and appreciate the world around me more. (However, if we ever have a house fire I must admit I would be concerned for his safety because this boy does not move quickly.)

5. Because of number 4, he is very observant. He notices everything and thinks about things so deeply. He loves to share these ideas with me and thinks of things I have never ever thought about before. For example, a few weeks ago he was explaining to me about how bad he felt for Noah and how hard it must have been loading all of those animals on the ark. He wondered how he kept the predators away from the animals they would prey on and if he brought a few extras just in case, how did he figure out how much food they would all need and what about those animals that were only carnivores, etc... you get the idea. He has very deep thoughts and is always eager to discuss them.

6. He loves chips and salsa as much as I do.

7. He is a great soccer player and works hard to improve upon this talent.

8. He is a great friend and reserves the best for his siblings. They always come first in his eyes.
9. He still loves babies! We are trying to make some tough decisions about our house right now and the fact that we are bursting out of it. We wanted to talk it over with the kids to get their feed back and ideas regarding different scenarios...move, build an addition or get rid of more stuff and deal with what we have. Part way through the conversation Parker said he had another idea and went onto say, "Could we move into a smaller house and have another baby instead?" Of course this got all of the kids out of focus and they were all on board for this idea which was never one of our original options. I had to refocus them all and say,"That wasn't one of the choices guys!" Parker responded, "Too bad, because I would totally move to smaller house if it meant we could have another baby." Let's all pray now that he marries a girl that will give him lots of babies.

10. He is sweet. This boy doesn't have a mean bone in his body and he gives everyone the benefit of the doubt.

He is a great example to everyone in our family and we are so happy he was born and that he chose chocolate chip bundt cake for his birthday dessert! We love you Parkerman.

Back to School

2010-08-09T22:07:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that it is August 9th and that my kids are starting school, but sadly it is true. I, for one, really wasn't ready to go back and I think my kids would have enjoyed a few more weeks off too. Nonetheless we dragged ourselves out of bed this morning to become more educated.

Our traditional front door pose.

McCall will be entering the 7th grade this year (just for your info McCall doesn't have a perspiration problem, her hair was soaking wet when she got dressed.)

Parker is entering 4th grade and has the wonderful Mr. Gex in room 23

Carson is entering 2nd grade and following in Parker's footsteps by having the fantastic Mrs. Gateley in room 25

And the day Gracie has long awaited...Kindergarten (gasp and sob) in room 2 with the lovely Mrs. Mays.

Thank heavens for Bayden who will be smothered with hugs and kisses by this mama who hates to see her kids grow and start another new school year. He will continue with his little speech class for 90 minutes twice a week and will spend the other 40 hours on my lap reading books.

Here is the little man on his bike leading the way for the kids to school.

Carson with Mrs. Gateley

Parker with Mr. Gex (this guy gives Jay Leno some serious competition. He is laugh out loud hilarious all day long.)

I hung on to Gracie a little too long this morning, so she was late and I was unable to get a picture with her and her teacher. I was able to drop her off without crying though until I made it to the privacy of our home.

Gracie with her good little friend Truman, who is also in Mrs. Mays class.

Canada Wrap Up

2010-08-09T19:53:00.001-07:00

I will quickly try to condense and wrap up the final days of fun in Canada. We have a lot of great traditions that we do as a family when we gather each year. They are things that our kids look forward to each year with great anticipation. Probably one of our kids favorites is, Gigi's Fishing Pond. It is so much fun for every child and this year Gigi and Aunt Jen did a great job picking out the perfect prizes for the kids.

Gracie, being made beautiful by Abby with Liv on the sidelines. Beauty supplies was part of Gracie's fishing treasure.

I love the fishing rods that have been created over the years, this one in particular was great.

Bayden was old enough this year to remember the fishing pond from last year, so he honestly asked about it 20 times a day for the entire month before we left for Canada. I was so happy when the day finally came for the fishing pond, so I wouldn't have to listen to him ask about it.

River rafting is another fun thing we do each time we visit Canada. I know Bayden has never seen Titantic the movie, but the way he stood at the front of the boat the entire trip made us laugh as we recounted that scene in our minds.

One cute boatful of kids. This was a wet boat, we were a dry boat.

The kayakers in our group.

Another cute boatful of kids.

Preparing to launch to boats into the river.

Another bear and cub spotting on our way up to Cameron Lake.

One of my all time favorite places...Cameron Lake. The views are spectacular, but the flies are out of control. This is another tradition that we have to go canoeing and paddle boating at Cameron Lake each time we visit.

Taking a break from our Bear Hunting up Red Rock Canyon. Another fun tradition is hunting for bears up this canyon each night. The wild flowers were so beautiful, so we yanked the kids out of the car for a quick picture.

Mark and Bay

In front of Waterton Lake. We always get a family picture taken at the exact same spot each year.

It always ends up being somebodies birthday while we are in Canada which means we always have a pinata. The kids love this because everything Gigi does is over the top...including her pinatas. This year's pinata was the biggest seahorse you've ever seen and it took three bags of giant Costco candy to fill it. To give you an idea of how much candy my kids got, they still have a few pieces hanging around.

Yes, it was bigger than Carson.

The birthday girl this year was sweet Eliza. McCall loves this girl so much and they hav so much fun together. Here is her birthday hot dog!

Somehow this picture got out of order, but one more from the river run.

Something new we did this year was a scavenger hunt around Waterton Village. My kids hope this becomes a tradition because they loved it. Aunt Jen and Uncle Steve did a great job putting it together and divided all of the grandkids into 4 groups. They raced and ran around Waterton for about an hour before a victor was announced. Here are pictures of the four teams.

It was a great trip. Our only complaint is that it went too fast and that we needed more time there. Luckily we still had a fun visit to Salt Lake to look forward to.

We are back from Paradise

2010-08-06T22:54:00.001-07:00

I haven't even finished our Canada and Utah adventures before we left for our final trip for the summer. I'm going to have to play catch up to finish up documenting the rest of the fun from those trips, but I had to post a few pictures for our parents of our latest adventure. We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to spend 8 wonderful days in the Bahamas. It was magical and I wish we were still there, but not really an option with school starting on Monday. I'll go into more detail later, but here are just a few fun times from the trip until I can write more.

Sailing and snorkeling trip

Snorkeling on the beach in front of our hotel

The kids before their culinary adventure class (they made and decorated chocolate molten cakes)

Swimming with and kissing the dolphins

Joining the Junkaroo band at the Marina Village

The boys lounging out by the pool

Our favorite candy shop...Oh Sugar (we ate way too much sugar)

Mark, Carson and Gracie having fun in the sun.

Our family with our dream yacht in the background

Meet Ruffles

2010-07-27T22:56:00.000-07:00

My kids love animals and want a pet so badly. Gracie especially has a love for anything living right down to every little rollie pollie she finds. Of course I can barely keep my 5 kids fed and alive, so a pet isn't really in the cards for us at this stage of the game. Thankfully, there is a lovely little kitty that has made our yard her home, the girls have named her Ruffles.

She has a collar and is well fed, so I know she must belong to someone in the neighborhood who feeds her, pays for the vet, arranges for pet sitting while they are out of town, etc. That is my kind of pet, one that someone else takes care of and best of all Gracie thinks she's belongs to her.

Canada Part 2

2010-07-21T22:04:00.000-07:00

Tuesday morning was spent exploring the village on bikes, swimming, soccer and looking for wildlife around the village. I swear it is similar to being in a zoo, except there are no gates and the animals go about things so peacefully hardly paying attention to our excited shouts and constant picture taking. Carson and Gracie wanted a picture with this dear in front of the church.

Later in the afternoon a group of kids went out to the Beazer's (Mark's cousin) ranch to shoot gophers. Parker was pretty excited about shooting a gun again after last years reunion. The rest of us headed out there a few hours later and we were treated to a great time. They had wagon rides, bbq with homemade donuts included, horseback riding, and play time in the barn.

Here is Parker and Abby on the wagon ride around the property.

Brooklynn, Gracie and McCall

We had to document these yummies! Seriously, there are few things as delicious as a homemade donut. After eating 4, I had to remove myself from the area.

More wagon rides.

Max, Jeff, Carson, Bridger and Bayden

Some of the grandkids anxiously awaiting their turn to ride the horses.

Sarah and Gracie, McCall and Carson double up for a ride.

I love the view of the hills from their house, it is so beautiful. Here is Mark and I after my donut binge.

The best part of Canada is the special bonds between cousins, grandparents and aunts and uncles. Gracie loved every minute of time that she got to spend with the older girls (yes 8 yr. old Alivia is considered old to Gracie)

Bayden's new BFF was Bridger. Man, he was obsessed and asked for him constantly.

All the kids up in the hayloft. The kids had a great time in the loft and Parker later asked me if we could get one at home...hmmm I don't know how our neighbors here in California would handle that.

Mark and his siblings (Michele, Mark, Steve and Christine)

Carson hanging out by the farm with my favorite scenery behind him.

Mark's parents, the two people responsible for bringing us together every year and for making everything so magical and fun for everyone. They are amazing.

Wednesday was our big hiking day. This was one of the highlights of our entire trip. 13 miles of beautiful country with twists and turns along every curve of the trail. I think when God created the earth that he spent a little bit more time on this neck of the woods because it was gorgeous, the entire hike! Gigi and Papa stayed behind in Waterton with all of the younger kids making sure they had a great time, while the rest of us from Carson up started out on our adventure.

We started out from Cameron lake and hiked up to Summit lake and then further up to some other Glacier lakes (I can't remember all of the names). Because of the late Spring, we ended up hiking about 1/2 of the hike in snow, we got to slide down two glaciers, cross streams and waterfalls, it was so fun and every view was spectacular. No bear sightings on this hike, but we saw a few mountain goats. The best part were the kids. I was so impressed by their pace and stamina. They were hauling the entire time without much complaint. My favorite comment of the day was when I asked Parker at the end what he thought of the hike and he replied, "It was so awesome, except for the two times I thought I was going to die!" I guess it was a bit strenuous at times, but regardless it was a perfect day.

This is almost near the summit. At this point we were above the tree line and we had to hike up a very steep incline of shale which proved a bit challenging. Everyone stopped here for a breather.

McCall and Parker trying to decide if they are having fun or not.

Okay, look at how gorgeous that view is!

Mark and Carson were hiking buddies the whole way up and down. I was so proud of Carson.

If you look to the far left in this picture you can see the two lines on the glacier where we had to slide down. It was long and steep, but totally fun.

Carson sliding down the second glacier. This one was even faster than the first. Mark's sister Michele was down at the bottom to slow everyone down.

Yes, even 6.5 miles away from civilization Mark was texting or maybe he was checking Tour De France results...

Carson and I heading towards the waterfall. We are about 2/3's of the way done and starting to act silly.

Mark and his sister Christine at another beautiful stop along the way. We made it into the village to find Uncle Chad their waiting to pick us up and drive us back to the hotel where Gigi had the best dinner waiting for us. Of course we devoured several helpings before we all headed to...

Our favorite Canada tradition. Ice Cream every night at the Big Scoop. It is so yummy and just thinking about the Rolo Ice Cream makes my mouth water. Nothing better to top off a perfect day of hiking.

Our kids had yet to discover the Rolo ice cream in this picture, but I was able to brain wash them into loving it by the end of the trip.

CANADA Part 1

2010-07-20T21:53:00.000-07:00

After 15 days away we are finally home! Don't get me wrong we had a fantastic time in both Canada and Utah, but it feels so good to be home sleeping in my own bed again and getting the kids back on a schedule, not to mention off of their 1500 grams of sugar a day diet.

We headed up to Canada for the Fellows Family Reunion in Waterton. It is probably one of our family's favorite places on earth. Combine that with Mark's wonderful family and we always have a great time.

We took a ton of pictures, so I will only pick a few of my favorites and I'll probably have to spread it out over a couple of posts.

Day 1: We left California and drove to Burley Idaho to meet up with Mark's parents and his sister and her family.

I think we seriously give the Beverly Hillbillies something to be jealous of. I bet you never thought one mini van could carry 8 bikes and one rocket box. McCall was still at camp, so she missed out on this leg of the trip (she wasn't sad about that)

The boys couldn't wait to get to our hotel and swim. It was freezing, but as you can see from Bayden's expression they were in Heaven.

Actually based on Parker's expression in this photo, I don't think everyone was in Heaven.

Of course our kids get really excited for all of the channels they get to view in a hotel since we don't do cable at home.

On day 2 we started out bright and early headed for Great Falls Montana. Mark got to practice his automotive skills by helping his dad change a flat tire. He really wasn't that happy that I was taking a picture.

Day 3 was the best day of all because we got to be reunited with McCall at the Great Falls airport. She flew in from California, connecting through Seattle. I was doing the biggest ugly cry you have ever seen the minute I saw her. I've decided that it is not a healthy thing for me to be separated from one of my children for an entire week!!!! It was terrible to be away from her, but she had a good time and learned a bunch of cool stuff at music camp.

Lucky for Mark and I his family took our other kids ahead into Canada so we had a lovely 3 hours alone with McCall to hear all about her camping adventures. We were all so anxious to get to Waterton and look at what we saw the minute we drove into the park...

That's right a mama bear with her two cute baby cubs. We were kind of close to the bears so the ranger had to ask us to return to our car.

After giving hugs to all the cousins we hopped on a Waterton favorite, a surrey bike to take the kids for a spin around the village.

Here is Mark's sister Michele taking a group of kids for a ride. A brave endeavor with only one adult because those suckers are hard to pedal.

Here is McCall's reaction to seeing her cousins for the first time. Those girls sure love each other.

to be continued tomorrow...

Camp Cazadero

2010-06-30T08:22:00.001-07:00

Time to dust off the old computer and say goodbye to my days of slacking. A recent Relief Society activity has gotten me all motivated to try to keep up with the blogging, so my kids can have a record of our life together. The way my brain is working these days it might be the only way to remember what we actually did.

Summer seems like a good time to start up again and I wanted our parents to be able to see pictures of McCall at camp. This week McCall is attending a music camp in Cazadero California. I have no clue where it is, only that it is about 3 hours and 20 minutes away in some remote part of California. It is a music camp run by Berkeley and silly little me thought it would actually be close to Berkeley. She was really eager to go and so we relented, but had I known that it was in such a remote area without cell phone access, I would have thought twice about it.

Anyway, Mark and her made the drive early yesterday morning to drop her off at camp. Mark said it was a highlight for him to have her alone for 3 1/2 hours. They stopped and got their hot chocolate and scones from Starbucks and had a delightful time together. Here are a few pictures of her.

An early morning farewell (Parker and Gracie have some sweet hair going on.)

The bridge across the river into the camp.

Meeting her counselor, Kim who plays the french horn.

I was happy to hear they do a lice check on each camper and even happier to learn she doesn't have it.

On her bunk with a few of her fellow campers. Yes, the beds are out doors and they sleep under the stars. You can tell by the look on her face she was ready for dad to leave.

Where some of her classes will be taught and where the final performance will be held.

The Amphitheater from the opposite view.

The view from her sleeping area. Poor baby, she won't have anything beautiful to stare at all day long!

She has been gone just 24 hours and I've written her 3 times, Mark 2 and we lost count the number of times we have prayed for her. What will we ever do when she goes to college?

Gracie is 5!

2010-02-14T23:10:00.000-08:00

A bit over due I must admit, but considering we just had her birthday party on Thursday I think I will draw out the celebration just a wee bit longer with this post. Ever since I got hit with the Swine Flu in October, I've had a hard time getting caught up on life (or at least that is my excuse for this year.) However, I didn't want the entire year to pass by without taking a few moments to record important memories and more importantly important impressions of my sweet kiddos. Unfortunately, McCall and Bayden got the short end of the stick last year and I just might have to sneak in some pictures and favorite things from their birthdays. For now though, let's talk about this little angel girl...Gracie.

McCall and our good friend Kristina made her the giant cupcake (which she had a hard time resisting all day long) and I made her favorite chocolate cake! We had a little family dinner party the night before her big day with some close family friends of her choosing!

Here she is with her second family and mother, the Millett's. They get that Gracie is a fancy girl, so that is what her present was all about.

We all had to wake up bright and early to get all of our birthday festivities in! Carson came through with a Giant Fancy Nancy board game, while Bayden (with help from me) provided her with the not so exciting sweater.

Fortunately, McCall came through with an outfit for her Fancy Nancy doll, so we were back to our Fancy Nancy day! (I love the hair on these two! Get these girls a brush.)

Mark had an early morning meeting to head out to, but not before Gracie requested her morning hug and kiss. Her day was off to a great start!

Next we made our way over to her pre-school, Bright Beginnings for a fun packed morning of art and play. I got to be snack mom and Gracie requested we make yogurt parfaits with fresh raspberries and strawberries, granola and whipping cream on top. She chose Blueberry muffins as her birthday treat to share with her classmates (I would have chosen something chocolate.) Here she is with her teacher Miss Debbie (she is the best!)

Reading her birthday interview with her classmates before she gets to pick a toy from the prized birthday basket.

And even though we have 20,001 and stuffed animals already cohabitating in our home, can you guess what she picked?

That's right, another one! A Snoopy dog! After school we spent the afternoon together with Bayden playing games, doing puzzles and having her favorite soup and salad for lunch. After soccer practice she requested the very gourmet birthday dinner of chili and fritos on a tray in front of the T.V. We rented the new Tinkerbell movie (which I can't remember the name of) and watched that together. It got a bit scary towards the end, so they all ended up in one little corner of the couch together huddling together for protection.

She wanted to wear something really special to bed, so this is what she came up with. Of course we couldn't stop laughing.

She anxiously awaited the 2 1/2 weeks for her birthday party (primary activities and sports got in the way of having it sooner.) Here she is waiting for her guests to arrive at her Princess Birthday Party.

Again, she selected and was very particular about the outfit she wanted to wear...a dress that McCall once wore as a flower girl in a wedding. She's been eyeing that sucker all year and finally found the perfect event to wear it to.

Here is the party group. She LOVES the little boy in the bright blue shirt sitting next to her. In her eyes the sun rises and sets on Mason.

The first gift she opened was a princess nightgown that she had to change into immediately. Here she is opening up a few of her gifts.

The five things I love most about Gracie are

1. She is fair, even if it doesn't work to her advantage. She tries to keep things fair with everyone even if it means she has to sacrifice a bit.

2. She loves food and has very adult taste buds. She loves Steak salad with bleu cheese, Reuben sandwiches, Chinese food, curry, and hummus just to name a few. Considering I didn't like any of these items until my late twenties, I think it is amazing she has such a love and appreciation for good food and since I love food naturally I love this about her.

3. I love how excited she gets to learn new things. Today she learned how to ride her bike without her training wheels and it was a huge thrill for her. She loves going to school and is always anxious to learn new things.

4. I love the questions she asks. She is very inquisitive and isn't afraid to ask about any and everything. If I use a word or phrase that she doesn't understand she ALWAYS asks, what does that mean? And then immediately tries to use it in a sentence herself.

5. I love her hugs and kisses. I can never escape out the door (even to take the trash out) without her saying, "Let me give you a big hug and kiss first." I love them and I hope she will always give them to me as freely as she does now.

Happy Birthday Gracie, I think five will be your best year yet! We love you!

Halloween Weekend

2009-11-19T16:25:00.001-08:00

I need to get caught up here, so I'm backtracking now to Halloween. No theme this year which was a sad thing for this "theme oriented" girl. My kids had total opinions and since Halloween is about the kids I decided to let theirs count. The festivities started with Carson's grown-up day at school. He had to choose an adult in his life to dress up like. Can you guess who he chose to dress up as?
I personally thought the jeans, stained t-shirt and blonde pony-tail was a winning adult costume, but he wanted to go as a Bike Shop owner a.k.a his dad! This boy is so full of personality and for a majority of the morning I thought he was actually going as a rapper because he kept making word music noises, moving his hat around and dancing all over the house.
Next I was off to Gracie's Halloween Carnival at Bright Beginnings. She wanted to be a fairy this year and a sweet one she was. She wore those big wings all day long. She had a great time at her carnival winning lots of prizes.

Here is a class photo. She is sitting next to her best little friend Mason.

After all of the school parties were through, we got ready for our Ward camp out/tent or treat. It was cold, so we had to adjust a few costumes to accommodate the weather. Unfortunately we couldn't camp overnight in the freezing cold (can you sense my disappointment) because we had to soccer tournaments out of town in the morning.
On Saturday we traveled back and forth between soccer games. Later that evening we got to eat dinner with some good friends before we went out trick or treating. All the kids had a friend to trick or treat with.

McCall and Marin (Little Red Riding Hood and Witch)

Gracie and Clara (Fairy and Hermine)

Carson and Matthew (Ninjas)

Parker and Aidan (Harry Potter Quidditch Players)

Disney on Ice

2009-11-13T07:49:00.000-08:00

Gracie and I got the opportunity a few weeks ago to go out for a special evening together! It was fantastic and she was eating up every minute of it. She picked out her outfit and then helped me pick out mine (I think she was trying to steer me away from my favorite uniform of jeans and a t-shirt). She felt that since we were going on a special date we should dress a little fancy. She wanted a picture of me and her outside the house before we left too. Her restaurant selection was Mimi's Cafe! She really loves the hot chocolate there. It was pretty delightful listening to this little lady talk a million miles a minute about all of her big plans and dreams for the coming weeks and months. A few of my favorites....1) She wants birthday gifts that start with each letter of the alphabet. 2) she would like to Santa to bring her a Fancy Nancy doll with the heart necklace (who knew there was more than 1). 3) She would like to learn how to read, so she can read to all of the boys in her pre-school class. 4) She thinks it would be great if we could sell our house and find a castle close by to move into (good luck with that one.)

After dinner we headed downtown for the Princess Disney on Ice show (I think this might be where the castle idea came to fruition). To say she was thrilled is an understatement. She kept saying, "I'm so excited!" and this is so fun, "just Gracie and mommy." The poor thing, I seriously think it is one of the few times in her life she has been alone with just me. She loved the show and all of the characters. Her favorite princesses are Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, so she was extra attentive during their parts.

The infamous globe toy.

The funniest part of our evening involved a light up globe toy. I brought a light up globe toy from home (you know the kinds that spin around with all of the lights), so when she saw them selling there cheap plastic ones for $20, I could whip mine out . Sure enough, she saw a bunch around and wanted one, so out came ours. All was fine until this little girl came and sat down in front of us with a light up globe toy that put ours to shame. It had Tinkerbell on the top and then these long lit up strings with a princess hanging off of each one. It probably measured about 14 inches tall compared to our 6 inch beauty. The expression on her face was priceless. She looked at the little girls globe toy and then down at hers and got this "I've been ripped off" sort of look on her face and then she looked at me for validation. I just smiled and pointed out all of the fabulous attributes of our little globe toy and the fact that someday she would be so glad I put that $20 in her college account instead of spending it on a cheap plastic toy that would break before we got home! I don't know if she was buying into the college idea, but she stuck with her globe without further complaint.

It was a great night and I loved the special time we got together. I really need to find the time to do this more with all of our kids. Here are a few pictures from our evening, but they got uploaded backwards and I don't have enough time to switch them around.

Showing Up for Wayne!

2009-11-11T22:17:00.001-08:00

Parker with his good friend Wayne Spence last year.

Last year Parker had to write a report on Veteran’s Day for his second grade class. He had to interview a war veteran and so he decided on our good friend Wayne Spence! We went to his home in November and spent a couple of hours with him listening to him, laughing with him and crying with him as he recounted stories from serving in both WWII and the Korean War. My only regret from that day was that we didn’t have 10 hours instead of just 2. Parker and I were both fascinated by his story telling and we both gained a much deeper appreciation for our veterans on that day. Wayne was a fantastic story teller. Ten years ago when Wayne first moved to Folsom he noticed there wasn’t a Veteran’s Day Parade, so he set about changing that. He walked down Natoma Street that first year all by himself, dressed in uniform carrying the United States Flag. Because Wayne was so persistent and charming, his parade idea caught on and each year it has gotten larger and larger (it lasted about 90 minutes today!) Organizations from all over the greater Sacramento area come and participate in what is now officially known as the “Wayne Spence Veterans Day Parade”. Sadly, Wayne lost his long and brave battle with cancer this past spring. Parker in particular was very upset over Wayne’s death and I believe it was in part because of the special afternoon they had shared together. A few days before Wayne passed away we went as a family to say goodbye to him and sing songs to him. Parker cried the whole way home and the rest of the evening because he loved this sweet man.

So today is Veterans day and the kids have school off. Although, my tired body was begging me to stay in bed and sleep in, I knew we had to make Wayne proud and head on over to save a spot for his big Veterans parade. As in years past, we were not disappointed. There was lots of military personnel, lots of boy scouts and school organizations and lots of candy. Now if “parade candy grabbing” was an Olympic sport, I seriously think I might have a few gold medalist on my hands. It seriously was an art for my boys today. We were sandwiched in between a ton of kids which doesn’t make for the best “candy grabbing” conditions. Not to worry, Parker and Carson quickly figured this out and came up with a superb (although a bit disturbing) solution. They would both run as fast as they could to the candy and if another child was going to beat them to the grab, one of them would kick the candy in the others direction before the non-Fellows kid grabbed it. I started feeling bad for the other kids and had to squash their gold medal efforts. I actually had donated some candy for the parade and sadly, I think we came home with more than I donated. We are in serious sugar overload after Halloween. Anyway, we had a great time and it was fun to see the difference Wayne had made in our Veterans Day observance and celebration here in Folsom.

Bayden soaking up all of the old guys on go-karts.

Carson and his mischievous "candy grabbing" smile!

Parker liked watching all of the different military units marching.

Gracie got to cuddle on Parker's lap when she got cold.

You can tell by just looking at him how much energy he had going on this morning.

I was shocked that Bay's arm didn't hurt by the end of the parade because he kept waving his flag over and over.
Gracie wasn't quite sure about the whole thing and took awhile to warm up to some of the more interesting parade participants.
It takes all types to make a parade, this guy was one of my favorites! I think he scared Gracie along with the clowns below. I have to admit, clowns kind of are creepy.

Thankfully she was all smiles by the end!

Last Week's Happenings

2009-10-28T14:46:00.000-07:00

October is flying by and sadly we aren't finding time for all of our fun autumn traditions, but we've had plenty to keep us going and busy. Last week started off with a trip to the pumpkin patch with Gracie's preschool class. Of course, it landed on the only rainy day we've had in months. Me, being the great mother I am, tried to convince Gracie that we should skip the field trip and go a different day. She was set on going with her little classmates and I can't say I blame her. Therefore, on went our rain gear as we schlepped ourselves to the patch. One observation I made is that the smell of farm animals really intensifies when it rains. Boy, there were some really stinky pigs and cows!

Gracie was happiest when we were inside the barn and out of the rain.
Of course she loved taking control of the giant umbrella too.
Last week was also great because Carson was selected to be the "Star Student" for the week. We have waited long and hard for his name to be drawn out of the hat. On Friday, he exploded through the door with the great news. I looked at the poster with him and thought, we'll wait until Sunday night and make this look really nice together. Okay who am I fooling, I always end up doing it for my kids with very little assistance from them. They are after all the star student and I don't want them to show up with a lame poster and have all of the other mom's think I'm the lame mom. We all know how it goes. Well Carson wasn't aware of this unwritten rule between mom's and he ended up doing the ENTIRE thing himself. I was running kids back and forth while Mark was working from home, when I returned about 3:45 he had the entire poster already filled out.

I was actually totally relieved I could mark it off my to do list and proud all at the same time. He took the initiative and did a really great job, he even picked out the picture of himself from the frame on our mantle and glued it to the poster. It's interesting to me how different each child behaves even though the parenting is the same. Some of my kids would never dare to do something like that on their own and yet Carson would have felt totally stifled if I had done it for him or even tried to help. It's fun to discover these little things out about my kids.

When I first looked at the poster I thought I would have to guide him on the question, "What three things make me a Star." I was a little worried maybe he wouldn't know what makes him so special. I love what he chose to write 1) I've been on TV (I don't remember this, but they say we were on the news in Vegas at the Christmas village with Andre Agassi) 2. I'm nice 3. I'm cool. It was reassuring to me as I sometimes worry about this little guys self-esteem that he so quickly came up with 3 things that make him a star. Here is a picture of his handy work. He is so cute, you can see he tried writing his first name in bubble letters. Naturally, I was proud to hand it in, even if I do look like the lame mom.
One of the privileges of being the Star Student is that you get to bring something that is special to you to share with the class. It melted my heart big time, when he asked to share Gracie and Bayden. Here they are the day of the big share. Bay was running all over the place.

We also had McCall's first Middle School Orchestra performance last week. I was shocked what a difference daily music class makes. I was really impressed with all of these kids and the music was beautiful. No more Mary had a Little Lamb. They played a Korean folk song that Mark remembers hearing while serving his mission there. They also played some other lovely classical pieces. We were really proud of McCall. She is so good to always practice her viola. It was quite the challenge to get a good shot of her because the lady in front of me had big hair and kept moving every time I moved. Add to it the fact that the conductors hands kept swinging down in front of her face in almost every picture and well you start to get the idea.

The cap to our fun week was our good friend's wedding on Friday. Blake is the oldest son and their family is like our second family. His parents worked so hard to make it a beautiful day for the two of them. Aren't they a cute couple? They looked so beautiful and they had a perfect day. I loved the words of wisdom that his grandfather gave him before he married them in the Sacramento temple. I learned so much that day.
Later that evening we got to attend a fabulous dinner and party in their honor. Here is McCall with one of our favorite ladies, the fabulous Vicki Wolf.

The best part of the day was when I got to dance with this little boyfriend all night long. It was one of those nights when I wish time would stand still and that my kids would never grow up. (That was of course until 11:00 when I was trying to get 5 tired kids into bed while Mark stayed to help clean up. Then I wanted everyone to act a bit older)

Golden Gate Invitational

2009-10-18T22:39:00.001-07:00

We got the swine flu at our house so I've been out of commission the past few weeks or at least I will use that as my excuse for my lack of productivity. We had a pretty fun September though and there are a few events that I want to make sure get documented.

One of those was McCall's soccer tournament in San Francisco. We turned it into a girls day out together with Gracie, McCall and I leaving early on Saturday morning and returning very late that night. We LOVE San Francisco, so the girls were really excited to head down there. We were lucky enough to have one of McCall's teammates, Annelise and her grandmother Carol join us for the ride down. Grandma Carol used to live in San Francisco and was a total riot, we hit it off immediately. We were lucky enough to play at the beautiful Beach Chalet fields with the beach just across the road from the fields.

I think one of my favorite parts of being a parent is watching my kids learn, work diligently at and then hopefully progress in a task. Sometimes the progression is slower than they hope for, which can be frustrating. However, when they finally see the fruits of their labors it is magical. This has been particularly evident this year for McCall and her soccer. She started playing soccer when she was four and this is her 6th year of playing. She is small and has never been a stand out player. She has held her own and had a few good games here and there, but she definitely had things she could work on. Earlier this year she decided she wanted to try out for a select soccer team. I remember how nervous Mark and I were, especially since we were out of town during the try-outs! She worked hard and made the team.

Practices started and this came with some challenges because she was the new player on a team that had previously played together a couple of years. Some of the girls openly questioned her abilities and although it was challenging she forced herself to go to every practice. She even started doing conditioning on the off days of practice. A few of her first games were hard and again she had some areas that could use improvement and she kept working at it.

Then the last few months something has clicked. All of her extra effort, years of building skills and hard work have come together and now she is good...I mean REALLY good! She has finally discovered her speed and how to use her size to her advantage. She is more comfortable in her ball handling skills and she now gets the fact that if you ever hope to make the shot you have to take the shot (even if it is with your left foot.) Of course, there are still things she can work on improving (putting more power behind her long kicks), but she has really come a long way. She has worked so hard for so many years and it is so wonderful to see her develop into such a great player (I really hope this doesn't sound too boastful, that is not my intent, but she is my girl and I am so proud of her)

She had the best two games of her life in San Francisco. It was the most fun I have ever had watching her play. My only regret was that Mark wasn't there to see it! Luckily, she has kept her stride and he has gotten to see her play in some other really fabulous games. The highlight of the tournament was hearing the other coach yell, "Watch number 12, mark her and don't let her out of your sight!" It took me a minute to figure out that he was talking about McCall. I was so proud. She was on fire. She was all over the place and it was driving him crazy (I feel bad that he was frustrated), but I was still proud of McCall.

Here she is playing sweeper taking the ball up the side.

She plays against a lot of REALLY tall people and so this picture depicts a nice height comparison.

Here she is with her sweet little friend Annelise. McCall was convinced she played so well because it was in San Francisco and she loves the smell of the ocean.

Gracie was a good sport sitting through 8 hours of soccer. She was McCall's #1 cheerleader.

This was a sweet play where she kicked the ball around the two defenders and took it up the line (I don't know the soccer lingo for that, but it was pretty cool to watch).

This was a co-ed team she was playing and she enjoyed trying to out run the boys.

Another great play going up against two of the boys and she beat them both to the ball. She was working so hard that she started having an asthma attack during the 4th quarter of this game.

Here she is going against two of their defenders and the goal keeper to make a goal. Unfortunately, she was unsuccessful during this play.

We ended the day by swimming at the hotel with her teammates and then going out to dinner as a team. Because McCall doesn't play on Sunday's, we wished them well on the next days games and headed home around 10:00. It was a great day!

Meet Abby!

2009-10-18T22:13:00.000-07:00

Don't know how much Bayden will appreciate these photos when he is older, but they make me smile. The last few weeks our kids have gotten a kick out of dressing up Bayden as a girl (he is a pretty cute girl if I do say so myself). Gracie always wants a little girl to play with, so this was an easy solution! We have cousins on each side of the family with the name Abby that we all adore, so of course that was the name of choice. So here is Abby......

He was more than happy to pose for me in some of Gracie's clothes.

A close up of his hair clips.

A full length shot was a must to show off his cute shoes. Gracie's facials were making me laugh.

(*Just a note, Gracie selected her own outfit and accessories) Gracie was thrilled that for a large part of the day, he would only respond to the name Abby. Mark and I were totally entertained listening to and watching them play all afternoon. I'm going to miss this age when they all grow up!

Jog-a-thon 2009

2009-10-01T10:13:00.001-07:00

My love, hate relationship with the annual Jog-a-thon continues again this year. Hate how they send home those sponsor sheets and get the kids all hyped up to ask for donations (I hate asking ANYONE to sponsor for fear they will feel forced to do so). On the other hand I love watching my kids get all excited and then working so hard to meet the goals they have set for themselves. Of course I wasn't loving the 103 temperatures, but I figured I could stand and cheer on the sidelines with a happy face if my kids were running in it and still had smiles on theirs.
Carson started out strong with the ladies. His team was the 1st Grade Road Runners.

Still going strong and working hard.
Hmm...someone is slowing down and breathing really hard.
Can you say asthma attack. Of course Carson insisted he was fine and did another lap before he almost collapsed.

Thus ended Carson's jog-a-thon dreams. He got his inhaler and sat out for a bit until he had things under control.

Bayden being cheesy while I took care of Carson.

One tired little guy holding up his lap card. He got the whole front side filled up. And then he got to enjoy a cool treat with his two best buddies.
Next we were off to cheer Parker on. We met up with him at recess. He was sitting in the quad trying to "save up all of his energy for the jog-a-thon". I love how sweet Parker is with his siblings. I love how he is holding Bay's hand.
Then it is time for a little snuggle. Bay is a much loved boy and is adored by his siblings.
And who wouldn't be in love with this boyfriend? Look at the smooch he is giving Parker.
We headed up to the field where Parker's class would start. I was helping out with his class. Luckily the teacher took one look at me and suggested that I just cheer from the sidelines (something I do quite well) instead of running with the kids (something I don't do quite as well!)
I think this was around lap 19....remember it was hot! Do you like that he is at least 1 head taller than his classmates.
This is his intense look. He is really trying to focus here.
He stopped for a hug and a picture from his favorite cheerleader.
All in all I think it was a successful jog-a-thon. Hopefully we earned enough money to have our library open this year (you got to love California and its budget crisis!).

Hogwarts School of Wizards

2009-09-25T14:53:00.000-07:00

Parker finally got to have his long awaited birthday bash! He and McCall had been planning it for months and if I do say so myself they came up with some pretty creative ideas. McCall took on the role of Professor McGonagall and welcomed the 25 boys (yes 25 that is not a typo) and 2 girl wizards to the party. For such a shy little boy, he really has a lot of friends. When the kids first arrived McCall welcomed them to the Great Hall and we did the sorting house to find out which house they belonged to. Next it was time for spells class and their Hogwart wands. Then it was on to a lively match of Quidditch.
)
Quidditch was a little too intense for my taste, so Mark took over that activity while I ended up setting up the science experiments for the Transfiguration class.

Of course Bay had to participate in every activity. After Quidditch he was hot and sweaty.
It took a lot of pizzas and watermelon to feed all of those cute kids, but everyone was all smiles.

Parker with his cute Harry Potter cupcakes. I didn't get a cute close up picture, but they were darling. My friend found them on a website and then came over and helped me replicate them.

Parker had a great evening with his friends. He is really blessed with some sweet friends. I was proud of him and McCall for putting together such a fun party and we had a great time working on it together.