...And Landon made 5

It was one year ago that our little family of 4 became an even better family of 5! (if you need a reminder or just wanna see his cute newborn pics click here!)  I still stand by the fact that it's just not fair how fast time flies when they are this little. It seems impossible that Landon is already a year old. BUT it is also so fun and exciting to watch your little babies learn, grow, develop their little personalities, and discover their little world around them. It's a very bittersweet thing for a mom.

 "WhooHoo!!!! I'm 1!"

Landon is just about the sweetest little boy ever! He has started walking and is getting pretty good at it. He wanders around from room to room, walking and exploring... and getting into everything he can. He doesn't like it when you tell him "No" (what baby does?) and gets the funniest scrunched up face when you say no, and he has a funny fake cry that goes along with it. It's really pretty hard NOT to laugh at it.  He loves to walk his brothers to school in the mornings and enjoys watching everything as we go by. He still doesn't say any words, but has his own version of "talking" and does it all the time as he plays and walks around. Its pretty cute. When you ask him something like "what are you doing?" he'll answer you with his gibberish and show you what he has in his hands. His favorite foods are Cinnamon Graham Goldfish, apple juice, mac and cheese, pizza, diced peaches, and Strawberry Yogurt Melts. His favorite pass time is opening all the drawers and cupboards and playing with the tupperware lids and the bag clips. He is a big boy now, so that means that he gets to face forward in the car, and most the time he likes it, he just doesn't like the sun in his face. With his baby carrier, his brothers made sure the shade on it covered him if the sun was in his face. Guess he got used to that! Maybe one day we'll finally get our car windows tinted. :)

 Apparently your toes still taste pretty good even when you are facing forward in the car! Good to know!

Today we made him some fun little monkey cupcakes for his big day. The boys even helped a little and put some of the noses, eyes, and ears on. I think they turned out pretty cute. We made some "big" cupcakes and some are just regular size. The birthday boy got this big one to eat!

We tried to open presents before dinner, but Landon decided he was too hungry for such things, so we all ate some good ol' Papa Murphy's pizza, then it was time for presents.... take 2!

 I think this is his "Really mom?? Seriously... enough with the pictures!" look.

 But oh, look, forget the toys, look at this packing paper and used wrapping paper, lets play with this!

After we had opened all the presents, unpackaged toys, played with the wrapping paper and empty boxes it was time for the very anticipated monkey cupcakes.

I guess holding a huge cupcake in front of a little boy and forcing him to listen to your surly-out-of-tune version of "Happy Birthday" as you hold aforementioned cupcake just far enough away so he can't reach it is just cruel. I mean I know I'm no professional singer or anything but wow.... he wasn't havin' it, and he was letting us know it!

FINALLY!!!

I think he enjoyed it just a bit.

I mean really... what does a little boy have to do around here to get to eat his birthday cupcake?!?!?

I love birthdays... especially for my kids.... especially their first.

Happy Birthday little dude!! You sure make a great caboose to our crazy train!

And he's off!

Landon started walking last week. He's still not a pro, but he's getting better and braver every day!

As you can tell by the big smiles and his excited noises he's making, he thinks he's pretty hot stuff walking around here now.

Our most recent AZ trip

Over Labor Day Weekend, Patrick and I loaded up the kids and headed down to Arizona to visit my family.  We did lots of fun things like.... 

.... going to visit the houses that Patrick and I grew up in.  Mine was in Prescott

and Patrick's is in Chandler.

The boys thought it was so fun to see where we lived when we were their age. We drove by our old homes and pointed out which window was our old bedrooms and drove by our elementary schools. The boys really thought that was cool since they are in elementary school too. By the way... my elementary school has really changed! Half the playground is gone and has a new building on it. Our houses have changed a little too. I showed the boys where I used to ride my bike with my friends and where "Killer Hill" was that we used to race our bikes down. They thought that was pretty cool!

....We went to go see my grandparents in Mesa. I somehow forgot to take pictures with them, but it was the first time they have met Landon. It was good to see them. It has been a few years since we have made it down to their house. My Grandpa just turned 90 years old!  We just love him and my grandma.

....after visiting my grandparents, we went in search of Arizona Cardinals gear for the boys. We found them some T-shirts and footballs that came in handy while playing at my parents house in their back yard.

Love this picture of Conner throwing the ball... look close up top, you can see the ball.

....the boys also wanted to go and see the Temple that we were married in. They have never been to the Mesa Temple before, so we stopped really fast (it was SUPER HOT that day) and took a few pictures. We were telling the boys that this is where we were married and those were the doors we came out of and all our family and friends were there waiting for us. Then Brayden pipes up and says, "So this is where it all began!" haha!! It made Patrick and I laugh. 

Conner took this picture of us, not bad for a 5 year old!

Brayden really wanted to go swimming in the Reflection Pool. It was so hot, it probably would have felt good. We explained to the boys that it is only like 6 inches deep so you can see the reflection of the temple in it.

No one was ever looking at the camera at the same time, and Landon didn't want anything to do with pictures, he was ready for a nap! But it was still fun to stop and see the Mesa Temple. I love that Temple! So Beautiful!! I guess it really is where our Eternal Family began.
I can't wait to go back to Mesa at Thanksgiving time to go see all the Christmas Lights, the boys have never seen them before and I think they will love it!

It was a fun trip. We enjoyed the nice Prescott weather and some yummy home made Rocky Road Ice Cream my dad made for me as a late birthday present! Thanks Dad!! I love home made ice cream!!!!!

It was a fun trip to AZ and fun to take a little trip down memory lane while we were there.

Spaghetti anyone??

Landon had Spaghetti for dinner for the first time the other night. 

I think he is a fan!

I'm officially a grown up I guess....

I turned 30 last week. It sounds so grown up. I don't feel that grown up. I don't know why... I have 3 kids, a mortgage, been married almost 10 years, my wish list includes a minivan and a new bigger and energy efficient front loading washer and dryer, all these things indicate a grown up. And its' not like I think I'm a kid anymore, it just seems that 30 sounds so grown up. It makes no sense I know, but nonetheless, I turned 30 last week and it was a fun day!

I woke up in the morning to this on the wall next to my bed....

 On the paper it tells me to look for these small envelopes hidden all over the house. Each one tells one of the 30 reasons that Patrick and the boys love me and each one has a "special surprise" in them. They were hidden everywhere!

By the phones, the computer, the TV

In my closet, drawers, on the shower and mirror in the bathroom, on all the doors in the house.

In the cupboards, fridge, pantry, my car, the diaper bag, the baby's car seat. 

Literally, they were all over. I kept finding them all morning long. They each had notes in them, some from Patrick and some from the kids. Some of my favorites that made me laugh, smile, and even tear up a little were...

"I love Mommy because you (talking to Patrick) wouldn't even be married if it wasn't for her!" ~Conner

"When asked about Mommy, Landon smiled and then spit. You can figure out on your own what he meant by that"  ~Patrick on Landon's behalf!  :)

"I love Mommy because she is the reason we were even born!" ~Brayden

"I love that you make sure we always have Family Home Evening even when the football game is on." 

~Patrick     (he really loves Monday Night Football!)

"I love that you were born 30 years ago because you are such a blessing to our family." ~ Patrick

"I don't know... I just love Mommy so much."  ~Brayden

"I love Mommy because she fixes us dinner, breakfast, and lunch."  ~Conner

"I love that you would rather be with me then with anybody else."  ~Patrick

Also, each card had $5 in it (that was the "special surprise") for me to go shopping with. What better present is there then giving me money and taking me shopping with it. I have a whole list of things that I want and haven't gotten yet. A new bag, shoes, pants, sunglasses, the possibilities are endless!

Then we went to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Yum! One of my favorite places. I had this beauty for dessert and had "Happy Birthday" sung to me.

Red Velvet Cake Cheesecake... how I love you!!! The "Happy Birthday To You" was written in chocolate sauce. It was heaven.... and I even had some left over that I ate for breakfast the next morning after the kids were at school, because that is what you can do when you are a grown up... eat your leftover birthday cheesecake for breakfast. I guess being so grown up has it's perks sometimes!  

It was a good day! Maybe being 30 won't be too bad after all!

Camp Outs and Back to School

My life has been so crazy busy the past few weeks!! About a month ago, Patrick and I got a new calling at church. We are now the Ward Activity Chairs. Which really is quite funny that WE of all people got that calling. I think it is just proof once again that our Heavenly Father has a great sense of humor! 

As we sat in the Bishop's office and accepted the calling he told us that the ward camp out was in just ONE MONTH! Holy cow! So we quickly got to work on it. The camp out was this past weekend. I can honestly say that in all the callings I have ever had, all the different presidencies I have served in, this was the most work I have ever had to put out for a calling at church. Sheesh! We were BUSY!! We went up to Mt. Charleston to a camp ground that is owned by our church. It was beautiful up there and the weather was great... if you didn't pay attention to the huge gusts of wind that would come along every once in a while. But it was SO NICE to get out of the heat for a while. The boys had so much fun running around and playing with their friends. They were so excited for the camp out. You would have thought it was Christmas Eve the night before we left, that is how excited they were to go.

Patrick and I were crazy busy the entire time we were up there. I hardly saw our kids at all.  They were having way too much fun playing. We were running all over getting things ready, serving food, cleaning up, you name it... we were doing it. I never even got a break long enough to take any pictures up there. In the mist of the million things we were packing up for the camp out, we some how forgot the pack and play for Landon to sleep in. He doesn't do well if he's not in HIS crib, so I ended up driving home at midnight with him and driving back up the mountain early the next morning. Thankfully our kids managed to stay uninjured and there were several people who helped us with all that had to be done up there and with Landon (the screaming baby that he was) while I was so busy. He's quite the momma's boy!

I think the camp out went well, but I'm sure glad it's over. Everyone seemed to have fun and enjoy the weather and yummy food... who doesn't like dutch oven cobbler and ice cream!??! However, my house looks like a tornado hit it. I have camping stuff everywhere! It going to take me a few days to get it all put back and organized!

Then today was the first day of school!!!! 

I sent 2 kids off to school this year!

Brayden was off to 2nd grade

and Conner started Kindergarten!

He was very excited about his new backpack and was very concerned that is wasn't in the picture, so I had to take one with his back pack showing!

Brayden was first in line on his dot (where the classes line up to go into school) and ready for 2nd grade!

Here are some of Conner's friends that are in his class. Up until our Ward was split about a month ago, all these kids were in Primary with Conner. So he was super excited to have so many friends in his class.

All ready to go into class!

Conner has been really excited to start Kindergarten. He has the same teacher that Brayden had for Kindergarten and he thought that was so cool!

Conner had a great first day of school. He is just in seventh heaven now that he is a "big kid" and gets to go to school everyday just like his big brother. 

Brayden had a great day too and is excited about his new class and the things he will get to do! He said his new teacher is really nice and he's excited about some new friends he has in his class!

It's going to be so nice and quiet around here in the mornings now while the 2 older kids are at school.

He's 11 months now!!!

Yikes!!! That means Landon is almost a year old! Holy cow! I can't believe that!

Our little man at 11 months.....

... does not like to sit still long enough for his mommy to take a picture of him
... loves to copy noises you make. He thinks its so funny
... is super ticklish on his ribs
... has gotten 6 teeth in the last month... bringing his tooth count up to 8
... crawls on his hands and knees most of the time now... and is pretty fast! He still army crawls sometimes too though.
... likes to throw his binky and Glow Worm out of his crib when he's mad or just done sleeping. He also loves to throw his food off his high chair when he's done eating
... if he sees you eating something he must have a bite too
... his favorite things to eat are Strawberry Yogurt Melts, graham crackers, apple juice, anything we are drinking, and all "real" food
... he loves drinking juice and water from his sippy cups
... is starting to walk around with his little walker... kind of. He's not exactly sure what to think of it.

... still does not even try to say any words. When I ask him if he can say "mama" "dada" or "baba" he just smiles and giggles at me
... is shy around anyone that tries to talk to him (other then his fam) and will hide his face from them, but smiles at them as he does it.
... loves to play in his big brother's room
... loves his naps, he still takes at least 2 a day
... loves to sit in the grocery cart and look all around and eat mommy's grocery list as we shop
... loves to stand next to the bathtub... all cute and naked... and watch the tub fill with water. He gets so excited knowing he is about to get in and play in all that water!
... wears size 12 month clothes
... loves to dump out his toy bin, the DVD's, and Wii games and controllers. Then if we try to pick them up again, he looks at us like "Hey!! I just messed those up, what are you doing???" Then goes and dumps them out again. I have given up picking up after him too much!

... is a really happy little boy
... makes his mommy smile every day!

What do you think....

Maybe... just maybe... it's time to get the locks on the cabinets.

 He may look all sweet an innocent, but he's up to something! 

Trust me, it usually gets much messier then this. He is a kid on a mission... and his mission is messiness!

 The Tupperware lids are his favorite! 

And I thought we wouldn't have to get locks on the cabinets... but he's discovered what's inside and there is no keeping him out!

Goodbye 1st grade!!

Brayden's last day of first grade is tomorrow. This year has flown by so fast. He did awesome this year in school. It's so amazing how much he learned and how much he has progressed since he started the school year. 

He is a great reader... he is reading on a 3rd grade level! I wouldn't say he "loves" to read, because I usually have to make him do his reading, but he has gotten really good at it. He is his daddy's little boy too because he is awesome at math! He was doing 3rd grade math facts by the end of the school year. At his school's award ceremony, he got an award for his Math Facts and passing his "Principal's Challenge" which is where they get to go to the Principal's office and they have a certain amount of math problems to do during a time limit, and if you get 100% you've passed the challenge. He did this several times for addition and subtraction for each grade level he passed. 

Way to go bud!

Also during this last week of school, his teacher had the parents come in for a small party and we could see all the progress the kids have made over the school year in their writing. It was fun to see all the journals Brayden has written in over the year. His writing and spelling have most definitely improved over the school year! It was so cute to see how he tried to spell words on his own and the pictures he drew to with it. One of the latest projects they did was to write a book. Brayden loves to write and make up stories. He even has a little "journal" (which is just a small notepad) that he would write stories and draw pictures and stuff in. He wrote this chapter book for his project about him and his friends going back in time and turning into dinosaurs. 

He did a really good job on it. 

Landon and Conner got to come see Brayden's books too... Brayden sure loves his baby brother!

Thanks to Brayden's awesome teacher, Mrs. Drew, he did so well this year! He really enjoyed being in her class and I am amazed at how much she taught him. Thanks Mrs. Drew.... we sure are going to miss you!!!

Now just 3 weeks and he'll be off to 2nd grade! WOW!! And Conner will be off to Kindergarten. Oh my, I'm not sure I'm ready to have 2 of my 3 kids in school!