I can't take it anymore!

We are on the countdown. 20 days from today we will be in St. George on our way to Disneyland!! Only the happiest place on earth! I am so excited that I can hardly stand it. In fact I was showing the kids pictures of the hotel where we are staying and of Disneyland when all of the sudden Ethan starts yelling "I can't take it anymore!" What do you mean? he said "I'm just too excited! I can't get it out of my brain" I feel the same way! We just can't wait!!!

Blue Jays play T-ball

Casually looking forward to the next play.
Part of the cheering section at a game in June that we thought we would freeze to death!
My big 6 year old boy fell asleep in his mitt. Isn't he cute? He had been so whiny and i kept tell him he was tired. Of course he was adamant that he wasn't only to find this minutes later.

Last night was Ethan's last T-ball game. He had a really fun time this season. It was fun for me too because 2 of my best friends had their boys on the team too so we could watch and chat at the same time. What could be finer?

As you can imagine the games were more comical than anything else. There was fair lack of skill to be had but it's all for fun. There were no outs, and no score so it was very low key. Ethan is quite competitive already so that's a good thing. One night he caught a line drive from the hitter perfectly. We were all shocked including himself I think. After the game we told him what a great job he had done and he said "ya, I'm the best player on my team." He's not lacking much confidence :) He did improve over time and had a good time. I do think one of his favorite parts was the treat after the game. He's 6 what do you expect?

We love you Ethan you sure were a great little player out there.

Fun with Friends

Kate ridin' the range

The kids waiting for the friends to arrive.
Anna, happy as can be on her little horse.
Ethan on his "big" horse. He wanted to be sure he was on the biggest horse!

Last month a good friend of mine from grad school came up to visit family for a wedding and made some time to get together with us, yeah! We decided to take our kids to the farm country at Thanksgiving point. The funny thing is we thought they would really enjoy seeing the animals, but instead spent most of their time playing cops and robbers and putting each other in the pretend jail they have there. Kids will be kids. They did really enjoy riding the ponies though. I didn't think Kate would really care and wasn't planning on having her ride, but when she realized she wasn't going to have a turn she she said My turn, ride! So I put her up there and at first she was holding on to me pretty tightly and me to her. A few laps in though and she was pretty comfortable up there all by herself.

After the animals and the ride and some hefty handwashing we had alittle picnic lunch and chatted. It was fun for the kids to see each other again and for me to see Alyssa's new sweet baby scarlet. Another fun day with friends.

My name is Kater...

Kate at Thanksgiving point getting ready to ride a pony.
Kate found a life jacket at swimming lesson and decided she needed to wear it.

Our little ballerina thinking deep thoughts
Kate's first time out! She was not too happy as you can see. She is still most of the time a total sweetheart. She melts my heart in one way or another every single day. I don't remember a time in the last year that she has awakened in the morning crying. I know she's up because I will hear her jumping in her crib. Then when you go in to get her she either keeps jumping or dives for the mattress. She is a little talker and can say pretty much anything. She can sing the entire Happy Birthday song all by herself and twinkle, twinkle little start. Randall is always singing a song to her that says "my name is Kater, it rhyms with Skater, and this my friends is Kater's shooooow." She sings that all the time and shakes her head back and forth on the o of Show to give it the proper vibrato :)

As she is quickly approaching the terrible 2's there is evidence of that from time to time. Her offenses in that regard are usually coloring on the walls, coloring on the computer screen, or hitting people. The picture above was her very first time out ever because she threw her sippy cup really hard having a fit and the lid came off and it splashed milk all over the floor, cupboards, fridge, everywhere. I decided that was not going to happen again so in time out she went. I think it was pretty effective don't you?

She is a sweetheart and we can't get enough of her. Yesterday I pulled her into bed with me and made her snuggle. She is a bright spot in our day, everyday and we are so glad we have her!

Temple open house

June 6th we had the opportunity to take our kids and some friends of our to the Oquihrr Mountain temple open house. We have enjoyed the grounds of many temples with the kids before and while that is always a nice experience it was so special to take the kids inside and give them a glimpse of what goes on inside. Anna especially has been curious of what goes on inside and what it looks like.

I was really praying that the kids would have a positive experience and feel the spirit once inside such a beautiful and important place. First we watched a little video about why we have temples and the history of temples in ancient times. Ethan leaned over to Randall during the video and said "I am really impressed with this video" He cracks us up. Once inside I was so impressed with how calm and reverent the kids were. We of course prepped them before hand explaing what a special and sacred place it was and that it was important that they be reverent. I really think they could feel something special because they were so calm, quiet and well behaved. Some of my favorite things were all the beautiful pieces of artwork all depicting scenes from Christ's life. The kids really enjoyed seeing the baptisimal font of the "pool" as they called it. It was fun to point out the Bride's room to Anna's where the Bride's were dress and get ready before the wedding or "sealing" ceremony. It was special to sit in a sealing room and explain to the kids that 10 years ago Randall and I knelt at the alter to make sacred promises to bind our family together forever. I couldn't help but be a little emotional thinking that it was possible that our children were there at the time of our sealing in spirit awaiting their time to come to earth. I

It really was a neat experience. When we were walking out of the temple Ethan said to me "Mom, I felt my heart in the temple." I was so touched that he actually felt the spirit inside The Lord's house. I explained to him that was the Holy Ghost helping him feel that the things he saw and learned were good.

I remember when I was a probably 3 years old, going to the Jordan River temple open house with my parents and siblings. It was so neat so many years later to now be in the temple with with my husband and children. It was a really neat experience hopefully never to be forgotten.

Is the Zoo for you?

Ethan's a big boy but not quite as big as the gorillas!
Kate is just taking it all in in her calm way.
Anna was the only one brave enough to "pet" the snake
and stick her head in a lion's mouth


When school finished up it wasn't long before we headed North to the zoo. We went with several of the cousin and had a fun day seeing the animals and enjoying a picnic lunch with Grandma.

Anna always wants to see the snake and the monkeys the most. For our shy child she sure is not afraid of the animals and is always the first to pet anything and everything. Ethan has a great time but is always a little more hesitant. Kate had a good time just riding around and eating snacks. It was a fun outing to start off our summer.