"Sparkle Student"

I recently went to parent teacher conference where I was informed from Mason's kindergarten teacher that Mason was the "Sparkle Student" for the week.  His teacher couldn't compliment Mason enough on being kind hearted, obedient, a good friend and leader, and an excellent student. I am so proud of him!

I have thoroughly enjoyed watching Mason these past few months. Kindergarten has changed him...mostly in good ways!  For example, he is so eager to get all ready in the morning, make his bed, brush teeth, wash his face, and ask what his "job" is for the day.  I never have to ask him twice to get things done.  I think he is discovering being independent and the satifisfaction that comes with it!

I can also see Mason's curiosity and mischevious side developing.  Not too long ago, Mason spent the afternoon at a friend's house.  That evening I asked what they did and if they had fun.  He got a cute little smirk on his face and smiled, saying "Yes, we had lots of fun. We got in trouble, too!"  Of course I needed more details at this point.  He went on to tell me that they threw rocks over his friend's fence and into the neighbor's backyard who happens to be a girl classmate of theirs.  He then said the dad was out in the back yard and so of course he saw and that's how they got in trouble.  However, Mason was not upset that they got caught, rather he had this very mischevious smile, like it was FUN doing something naughty and getting caught!  Of course I gave the whole, that wasn't a good choice talk, but really I was trying so hard not to smile myself.  I had never seen this side of Mason before! I kept thinking, this is only the beginning of little boys being boys.  It reminded me of the neighbor boys I grew up with.  All too often we found pranks at our house...gum and weeds on the door knob; a broken peach tree limb full of ripe peaches, bee bee guns firing at other neighbor boys, missing clothes pins from the clothes line, and rocks being thrown at the front door.  Although I would love having a very obedient, respectful, do-no-wrong kind of boy, the reality is that it's not going to happen! I simply must accept that boys will be boys, with a few "Sparkle" moments in between!

Happy Birthday Jalen

I can hardly believe that my baby boy is 4 years old. Time has gone by too fast. Although Jalen came at a very unexpected and extremely busy time in my life, I wouldn't change it for the world! More and more I am realizing that his placement in our family was at the right time, despite how crazy it seemed to have 3 little ones, all within 3 years.  Simply put, Jalen keeps are family smiling...something that we can always use more of!  He is the entertainer, the silly one, and he can change a stressful or tense moment into laughter.  He has a great relationship with his older siblings; they both adore him and in a way, he gels the three of them together.

He is such a joy to have in our family.  I love him so much and am so grateful for the sweet and good boy he is. I love you Jalen!

Jalen keeps us laughing at the funny things he is always saying.  Here are just a few that have come up in the last couple of days...

The day of his birthday, Jalen kept asking, "Am I 4 now?" After my nod yes, everytime he would say "YESSSSSS!"

I laughed to myself everytime.

While at another friend's birthday party, this was his conversation with his friends while coloring dinosaur pictures.  Jalen very seriously: "I love dinosaur dreams.  Dinosaur dreams are good for your body!"  All the other boys just nodded their heads in agreement like everything he said made total sense!

We recently took down our vertical blinds that went across sliding glass door.  Alan had it all in the big garbage can.  Jalen was so excited to show Madelyn and Mason.  While lifting up the big lid and showing them he said, "That's so damn awesome!"  Alan, quite shocked standing by, couldn't hardly scold him because he was trying too hard not to laugh out loud!

One day when quite upset with me, he said "I'm tired of you not following MY RULES! If you don't then I'm going to cut all your hair off with my clippers!" (meaning his fingernail clippers, which he is obsessed with...keeping his nails trimmed just right!)

He is too funny.

For several months Jalen has aniticipated his big day...turning 4 and getting a whole day to be the Birthday Boy!  The day after we delivered his invitations, Jalen walked downstairs first thing in the morning and with teary eyes, said "You forgot my birthday!"  At first I was a little confused until he stated, "You didn't decorate!" Traditionally the kids wake up to the kitchen decorated with streamers and balloons, which Jalen was expecting that morning.  I quickly explained that his birthday wasn't for a few more days and that we would never forget his birthday or to decorate! That quickly solved his concern!

Welcome to the Jungle

Jalen is very interested in snakes and other jungle animals, so we decided this would be a perfect year to throw a jungle party!

Here are the decorations Jalen woke up to on his birthday...he was thrilled, especially with the snakes hanging from the vines.

When the guests arrived, they each chose an animal (tiger, zebra or giraffe) hat to make.  We even attempted a little face painting.

But when Jalen looked in the mirror at his whiskers, he didn't like it at all! After scrubbing his face clean, he next went to clean his friends' faces too!

We played some fun games...Duck, Duck, Goose, only it was Lion, Lion ROAR! The kids then chased each other to try and grab the Lion's tail.  We also let the kids dance around a "mud pit" to some fun jungle music and try not to get stuck in the mud when the music turned off.  They were all so cute playing these games.

Probably the favorite game/activity (which I was very surprised about) was the "Snake Pit."  I had lots of little jungle animals, snakes, worms, and frogs buried in a big pot of spaghetti noodles.  The kids absolutely loved this! They all kept taking turns and coming back for more.

Gavin...the cutest little guy ever!!

Jalen loves all of his presents! Thanks so much to everyone.

A Snake Cake, of course!

Lovin his cheetos

Birthday hugs!

So So Sweet!

Here they are...

Braden Lunt, Cyrena Dean, Kade Ashton, Hannah Biancamano, Jalen, Cooper Napoles, Adrianne, Ryder Turner, Cameron Lloyd, Breckan Turner.

What an adorable and fun group of kids! Thanks so much for sharing Jalen's birthday with us!

And a special thanks to Shannon for snapping all the great pics!

Picture This

Alan is a pretty easy-going guy and usually doesn't complain about much.  But there is one thing in my family that really bugs him...all the snapshots and family pictures!  A "perfect picture moment" occurs quite frequently, which requires patience and endurance by those involved who would rather not hold their position and pose for another photo!  We've also had some great experiences when trying to capture the perfect family picture. Last year at Christmas time, my mom arranged to have an outdoor family picture on probably the coldest day of the year!  When the temperature is below zero, it creates several challenges:  first, holding your breath during the picture so you don't see the white puffs out in front of you creates red faces; second, red noses isn't usually attractive either; all the planning and coordinating of clothes goes out the window when the kids are freezing cold and don't want to take off their coats. Did I mention this creates unhappy children??? 

And grown men aren't any better.

So when I mentioned to Alan that our friend Shannon, who is starting a new photography business, wanted to take us to a beautiful resort and do a practice photo shoot, I bet you can guess what his reaction was!!

Although we were doing her a little favor as she tried out this location and lots of different settings on her new camera, we were definately the ones who benefited the most!  She did an amazing job! It was like the engagement pictures we never got to experience and have. I have very, very little pictures of Alan and I, so to have a few, is so fun! If you're looking for a great photographer, check out Shannon's website here

Here are some of my most favorites...now I just need to figure out how to make a collage or display of a couple. Got any suggestions?? I would love to hear!

Experiencing "Labor" Day

I have always looked forward to Labor Day Weekend...not only is at an extended weekend, but it is usually spent camping, having barbeques, and hanging out with friends or family. That's how I have always spent it.  This year, instead of doing something fun and relaxing, Alan and I decided that we should finish a long, overdue project.  Back in March, I started painting the boys bedroom. Between wrong paint colors to begin with and Alan slowly working on the wood work, it had been 5 months and we still weren't done!


Now the design/appearance we were after looks something like this:

Only the bottom half would be light brown/tan instead of white and the top blue.

You would think, not too hard, right?? Alan is very talented with building things and he has done several projects for our home that have turned out great so I trust his opinon and judgement.  However, this project turned out to be a nightmare!  Something that should have taken two days from start to finish ended up taking 6-7 full days. We truly worked hard or "labored" all weekend! 

Our first issue was of course paint colors.  After that was solved, our next biggest problem became the wood slats. Painting on top of the wood slats next to the textured walls did not look good, so we had to figure out what other options we had.  Alan did not want to spend more money to buy wood to cut and put in between all the slats and there was no way we were going to rip out all the woodwork.  So our last option was to make stripes out of the slats. The big battle became what colors to use.  We tried all our options for the slats, baseboard and chair-railing.  We couldn't agree and didn't love one thing in particular.  We finally decided to go with all chocolate brown....

But when it was all painted, we didn't like it!

After looking at it all day Sunday, we knew we had to change it. By this point, I told Alan, he could do whatever he wanted. I was done!

He chose all white, which did look better. It just wasn't the look I was going after. Alan thought we could have it all repainted by noon on Monday.  Since it was his birthday that day, we wanted to do something fun later on. Unfortunately, that's not how it went.

We really struggled making all the stripes have nice straight lines.  The paint kept bleeding through the tape on the textured walls.  We would paint white, touch up blue, touch up white, touch up blue, etc. etc.  We finally discovered that a little caulking and "Monster" painters tape did the trick. Eventually, at 11 pm, we finished...3 full roles of painters tape, 8 different gallons and colors of paint, and hours and hours later we completed this project! 

Now, there's still lots of decorating and some finishing touches, but here it is...

While talking with a friend about the challenges and frustrations of this project, she said "I think there is a lesson to be learned for you and Alan, not just the project itself."  After thinking about that, I have to agree completely!  We learend a lesson the hard way about communication, compromise, and patience! By Saturday night we were both exhausted, very frustrated, and disagreed about anything and everything!  On Monday, we really had to pull together to finish this project. Our attitudes changed and we really worked well together. I know it sounds silly, but I really think future projects will go much smoother next time. That's when we're up for doing another project!! It won't be any time soon, I can guarantee that!

Lake Powell

If I had to pick just one place that I could vacation and visit a year, it would be this...Lake Powell. There's just something about sunbathing on floaties with all the girls; waterskiing at daybreak; good tunes with endless card games; building castles and waterslides on the beach;
boat rides; lizard hunting; beautiful sunsets and starry nights; and best of all, the presence of great company. I love Lake Powell! So many great memories with my family have been made the last 25 years and I love to watch the excitment of my own kids as they now experience and enjoy the fun at Lake Powell.

Here is the big partyboat...the "Sea Clusion"

Grandpa Jack and Grandma Lois, now in their 80's, still enjoy Lake Powell. They are so much fun! Grandpa is always looking for someone to tease and visit with. He's notorious for going shirtless, but wearing his blue jeans and cowboy boots, even when it's 100 degrees! It was only 10-15 years ago that I watched him water ski. He is so determined to keep his body going, even when he probably shouldn't. Grandma Lois is always anxiously awaiting a good game. She is probably the most talented lady I know. She's very creative; she's known throughout Central Utah for the amazing quilts she makes; and she is always helping and doing for others. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the many wonderful years at Lake Powell and for being such amazing Grandparents! I love you!

We spent lots of time enjoying the boats...going for rides, skiing, and of course our favorite, the Super Mable!

Here we are...ready for the ride of our life!

(Mckell, Me, Nat, Amanda, Marley, and April)

Catcing a little air and doing a lot of laughing!

Cute Maddie Bug

The kids were so excited when they discovered the many toads along the beach at night. They had so much fun catching and then playing with them all day. As you can see, the toads are lucky they actually survived!

Jalen getting a little TLC from Nanna...life doesn't get much better than that for him!

Always a good card game going on

Madelyn is always excited and ready to play a game!

She's already learning Rummy...a family favorite.

The little boys were thrilled to do some fishing.

Good lookin Catfish!

Another good lookin catfish!

The boys weren't tired at all...they could have fished all night if we would have let them!

Captain Jalen

Conner, Taylor, Jordan and Jordan's friend (sorry, can't remember your name!)

Bathing Beauties...and Paul!

Matt and Alan helping the kids with their castle. I don't know who has more fun playing in the dirt, the big boys or the little boys!

Off to find lizards!

What a perfect summer vacation! Can't wait for next year!!