may around here

This month has been crazy! Baseball, soccer, end of the year madness and all the regular stuff in our schedule has added up to a month that felt a little out of control.

We went on a field trip with Anne's preschool class to the BYU paleontology museum. I can totally remember going there when I was in preschool.

We also got to go to the new children's museum at Thanksgiving Point call the Museum of Natural Curiosity. The kids loved it and have been asking to go back ever since.

Nathan had to have custom orthotics made for his feet to the tune of $380. He is able to walk and run so much better with them in his shoes. Hopefully they will make a big difference for him long term.

BYU held a Fan Fest at our city park. We were already there for Sawyer's soccer game that morning so it was an easy trek over to the festivities. The kids went on the bounce houses and slides and got their faces painted. Sadly, Anne was too scared to do stunts with the cheerleaders. We got autographs from players like basketball star Tyler Haws, two BYU women's soccer players and some football players. At the football area, Emma was responding to a text. Bronco Mendenhall asked her if it was a boy or girl. When she responded it was a boy, he proceeded to ask her a bunch of questions about how he treated her. It was so great. I wish I had it on video. At the end, Anne got hit in the face with a soccer ball, so they gave her one to take home. Our soccer-playing kids were quite jealous.

I had to take another glucose test at 28 weeks. Gestational diabetes round two has arrived sadly. My numbers are really not good this time around. They already have put me on a low dose of glyburide which still isn't quite controlling my morning numbers. Because of the diabetes, this baby will be making his arrival at least one week early.

Dana was in town for some training. She and Keri were kind enough to come meet me up at Emma's soccer game in Layton. I took a few headshots of Dana in a beautiful field of weeds. We went out for a delicious dinner after Emma's disappointing loss.

We were lucky enough to be invited over to Grandma and Grandpa Daniel's house for dinner a couple of times. Anne threw us a delightful "grown up tea party" one evening.

Nathan was awarded his Wolf in Cub Scouts. I got to Pack Meeting 5 minutes too late to see him get the award because of Sawyer's baseball game. We recreated the moment though.

Emma went with her best friend Annie to St. George for the Memorial Day weekend. She's been gone a lot and will be gone most of the month of June with soccer and choir stuff. I hope she is having lots of fun. We do love seeing her when she is home although she is usually somewhere checking her Instagram feed or texting her friends. She finished up her 8th grade year with a 4.0 and seems to be doing really well, despite the usual teenage angst that shows up here and there.

12-12-12

I just had to celebrate 12/12/12 in some way since a date like that won't come around again in our lifetime.

1. We started with 12 donuts for breakfast.
2. 12 was our number of the day for math and tried to work in the number 12 in as many ways as we could during school.
3. We took a picture at 12:12. Dave was home for lunch.
4. We had an eating contest. Who could eat 12 items the fastest? We did chocolate chips, cereal and pieces of cheese. The cheese was a little hard to swallow so I won that one.
5. We did 12 jumping jacks, 12 sit ups and 12 Burpees.
6. We blitzed the house for 12 minutes.
7. We listened to as many versions of The 12 Days of Christmas as we could find on-line. Our favorites were The Muppets, Straight No Chaser and the song called The Twelve Days AFTER Christmas.
8. Emma worked on her science project making batches of bread. It wasn't really anything to do with 12 but she's cute and we had to work a picture of her in there somewhere.
9. I made 3 pizzas with 12s on them for dinner.
10. We read 12 picture books.
11. We watched the 12th episode of a show.
12. We said 12 things that we are thankful for.

Happy Birthday to my brother, Jeff, too!

lights at Thanksgiving Point

We started out our Christmas season celebrations with a visit to Thanksgiving Point to see the lights. It was free! We loaded the kids up in the van and drove through the lights. Then we went over to the water tower to see the reindeer. They were particularly sleepy that night. We laughed at the one whose head kept lolling to the side only to have its antlers get in the way. We finished the evening off with ice cream cones (with the most horrible customer service ever).

cornbellys

We went to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point with our homeschool group on Friday, November 2. It was nice that it was after Halloween because the crowds were minimal. The kids had a good time but I am not sure that we will go again next year. They have made everything cost extra and I am not sure it is worth it anymore. We missed Emma too.

let the games begin

Watching the Olympics every few years is one of my favorite things. I fully intend to have the TV showing the Olympics nearly all day for the next two week. Last night, we hosted another family for an Opening Ceremonies Viewing Party. I know it is absolutely unnecessary but creating special treats and decorations just makes me happy. I hope it makes things that much more memorable too.

evening at the park

Nathan chose to go to the park tonight for our Family Home Evening activity. The weather was lovely today so everyone was happy with that idea. I took pictures while...

Nathan and Slade skateboarded.

Dave, Emma and Sawyer played soccer.

Anne climbed at the playground and did some twirling in the grass.

Ben smiled and crawled.

Slade actually (almost unbelievably) decided to join in the soccer game.

Dave worked hard to earn Best Dad in the World status by playing soccer and then tag. My favorite quote of the evening came when Dave was chasing down Slade in the game of tag. Slade took off across the field with Dave following behind. Dave settled into a jogging pace and said to Slade, "How long do you think you can last? I ran 11 miles on Saturday so I can go for quite awhile."

My picture taking came to an end when Ben decided he was done crawling and wanted to walk instead. Unfortunately walking requites assistance (which he demands all day long!).

Darkness fell upon us so we returned home for another round of Easter candy. It was a great night which left me looking forward to more evenings in the park.

fantastic family fun

We had a great fun-filled weekend. Our real estate agent hosted a client appreciated party at the Lindon pool on Friday night. The boys have been begging to go swimming for weeks. This was the first time we have been this summer. Granted it really is the first time the weather has been hot enough for swimming. Emma was totally wonderful and played with Anne the whole night which left me able to enjoy the luxury of sitting and reading a book the whole time. They swam for two hours and had a great time.

Saturday we celebrated the fabulous little city we live in with the annual Family Festival. Dave and Emma woke up early to go participate in the 5K and Fun Run. Dave was happy with how he ran--6:45 minute miles. Emma's goal was to get under 10 minutes on the mile. She sprinted to the finish line and came in at 9:56.

Next, we walked down to the end of our street to enjoy the parade. It is a small parade but there is always candy which completely satisfies my kids.

The carnival at the park was our next stop. We got there just in time for a little water fun. The fire department sprays a field with a fire hose and the boys love it. We played at the carnival for about an hour before deciding the heat and lines weren't worth enduring. Because we had purchased wrist bands, we planned to just come back later.

 

Anne loved the bounce house.

 

Nathan and Sawyer in the bubble blowing contest.

We came home for some down time. Emma went to a friend's. The boys watched TV and played with a friend. Anne got to watch her show too. She has figured out that I will come sit by her as long as I have my book. She said in her cutest two year old little voice, "You sit with me? Get your book and sit by me. Okay? Thank you. Thank you." How could I not?

We decided to take the family out for dinner in celebration of our anniversary. We enjoyed awesome food at JCW's before we went back to the park to see how things looked at the carnival. It was the perfect time to come back. The weather was cool. The lines were short. We stayed until just after 9 when it was time to get ready for the fireworks. We went home for pajamas, chairs, blankets and cookies and then headed up to our favorite spot on the golf course. The fireworks show was great as always. A perfect end to the day.

On Sunday, Dave and I celebrated 13 wonderful years together. I bought us an ice cream maker for our present so we had homemade ice cream with molten chocolate cake and strawberries for dessert. Yum.

 

I'm glad that we got to spend time having fun together as a family for our last weekend as a family of 7. Next weekend, we get to meet our newest member.