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!

A new found love...

The other day Patrick was eating a cookie that was covered in chocolate. Landon notices, and of course wants in on that action. I told Patrick he shouldn't give it to him because it would make such a huge mess and after all, he only has 2 teeth, so I wasn't sure he would be able to chew it. But does Daddy always listen to Mommy's advice......

....Nope! Not so much! And Landon was very grateful that he didn't, he loved it!

~P.S. Daddy got the fun job of cleaning him and the high chair up after.  :)

10 months now....

I really wish sometimes that I could just freeze time. I wish that Landon (along with my other boys when they were that little) would stay this age... so sweet and innocent for a little longer. But, they aren't listening to my pleas to stay little. I love this stage that Landon is at. It's one of my favorites. Here are some things I love about Landon at 10 months:

*I love that smile!

*I love that he is mobile, he still army crawls about 90% of the time, and when he feels like it, he'll get up on his hands an knees and crawl. Or he'll stand up and walk along furniture, but he's still not fully mobile yet with the walking and running.

*I love that he stands up in his crib waiting for me or his Daddy to come get him in the morning or after a nap and when we open his door, he gets a huge grin on his face that's like he's saying "yay!! I'm happy you came to get me!" and then he snuggles his little head and face into my neck for a second to give me loves! Melts my heart every time!

*I love his 2 cute little teeth

*I love how he opens his mouth SO wide when he's super hungry, which is most every time he eats. He acts like we never feed him. 

*I love how every time he gets in the bath, he kicks his feet as hard as he can to splash as much as possible and laughs those great belly laughs while he does it. It makes me smile.

*I love how he will stand up, and bounce up and down when he is excited or happy while playing with his toys, brothers, or just saying hi to us.

*I love how fascinated he is by this Leap Frog Table, he loves it! Sometimes he has to fight his brothers away so he can play with it, but he gets so excited when he plays with it... its so cute!

*I love that he already follows his big brothers around and wants to do everything they are doing.

*I love that his brothers let him play with them... most of the time.  :)

*I love that he is starting to love real people food. If he sees us eating something, he had just got to have a bite... or a drink of something we have. And if you know his Daddy at all, you're assumptions that he's tasted Daddy's Dr. Pepper a time or two (or more) are correct.

*I love how he "talks" to himself while he plays with his toys.

*I love that he's learned how to spit and he thinks it's the funniest thing in the world!

*I love that he immediately comes over when he hears or sees me open the dishwasher and wants to "help" me empty it.

*I love how he stares down the cat, but never wants to touch her.

*I love that when I ask him if he wants a "ba-ba" he will look over to the kitchen sink with a smile because he knows that is where his bottles are and that is where I make his bottle.

Some things that I don't like so much that he does:

*Screams at the top of his lungs to get attention or when he's mad. This is especially annoying during church! I mean it's quite an ear piercing screech!

*He wakes up most everyday between 5-6 am

*He throws his binky out of the crib all the dang time, then gets mad that he doesn't have it.

*He always wants to play with our cell phones and remotes, and sometimes messes them up, and I can't always figure out what he did to fix it. 

*He has learned how to climb a few stairs, therefore giving his mommy a heart attack and causing Daddy to have to assemble the baby gate that now is in use daily.

Conner's Party!

So this year I was finally brave enough to let Conner have a friends party for his birthday. I have never done one before because they always seemed very overwhelming to me and so much work. But they boys both talked me into letting them have one this year. 

On his actual birthday, we just hung out most the day while Brayden and Dad were at school and work. Conner was lucky enough to get invited to another friend's birthday party on his birthday, so he spent the afternoon there playing in the water and having fun. We went to McDonald's for dinner and spent the rest of the evening playing Lego Harry Potter on the Wii together... one of Conner's presents. He loved it.... ok we all really like playing it too!

Then on Saturday was "the big day"! He had been so excited for his birthday party! 

 He decided he wanted to have a Spongebob party. So I hit the internet and found Spongebob party ideas. We colored pictures of Spongebob and Patrick while everyone was arriving. 

Then we played a game with "jellyfish" in Jellyfish fields.  

Then toss the sponge into the pail game that everyone loved. Although after a few rounds, I think the kids were more focused on getting Patrick all wet instead of getting the sponge into the pail. It was pretty funny!

We played "Squidward Says" ( just like Simon Says) and a hunt for the seashell game where one kid would hide the seashell and another would try to find it. We sang the Spongebob song really softly if the hunter was far away from where the shell was hidden, and got louder as they got closer. The kids really liked getting to be so loud.

We had pizza for lunch.... 

...even Landon enjoyed that part.

Then it was time for presents!!!!

Then came the cake and ice cream.

It was fun for Conner... but I realized my fears of having a party like this were true!! So I have now told my boys they can have friend parties for their 5th, 8th, 12th and 16th birthdays because I am not gonna do all that every year.  :)  I was exhausted by the end. It is harder then I thought to entertain 10 5 year olds for 2 hours. But Conner had a blast and that was the point of it all, so it was worth it!

5

Today Conner turns 5.

How is that possible? It seems like it wasn't 5 year ago that he was this little....

(about 2 weeks old)

(5 months old)

Conner was our "surprise" baby. And he was the single greatest surprise we have ever got!

He makes our family so happy.

He is my little love-bug! Everything about him is sweet. His crazy hair in the mornings. His little smile. His contagious laugh. He's constantly telling me he loves me. He still loves to cuddle with me every time I sit down... I hope that never goes away... although I know one day it will. He is always eager to play with friends. He adores his brothers. He tries to multi task while he says his prayers at night by arranging his blankets on his bed or finding a toy to sleep with. He always wants to be my helper in the kitchen and doing laundry. He is super excited to start Kindergarten next month (ohmygosh!!! is he really going to go off to school NEXT month?!?!)  He is full of energy all day long. He loves to say the prayer at dinner.

I thought it would be fun to post pics of him over the years, not just from when he was born.

Here are some of my favorite Conner moments.

Conner on his first birthday... he was sick for his big day, but such a sweet boy.

About 14 months old kicking back watching TV at our house in Taylorsville. 

Conner and Brayden playing in our backyard in Taylorsville.

This is one of my all time favorite pictures of him and his rock playing at Bear Lake, UT at about 14 months old.

In Salt Lake City at my cousin's wedding, he's almost 3 years old.

On his 2nd birthday trying out his new trike.

4 years old.

Happy birthday little man!!!! 

I sure love being your mom!

Our Fabulous 4th

This year for the long holiday weekend, we ventured to California to visit Patrick's cousin Emily and her family. We had SO MUCH fun. The boys played and played from the second they woke up in the mornings until it was long past bedtime. Emily has twin girls that are just a few months older then Conner so they had a blast together. She also has a 12 year old son (who just received the priesthood this weekend, which was the reason for our trip, to be there for that awesome milestone!) His name is Dallin, and Brayden pretty much thinks he is the greatest thing ever! Dallin was so great and played basketball a ton with Brayden. He loved every minute of playing with his older cousin.

Patrick and Conner got in on the b-ball action too. Conner was so excited when he "got a score"... or as we all know it... a basket. He was getting pretty good at it too.

Something funny about Brayden... he's in this phase where he complains and says he doesn't like to go to church.... every week. I ask him why, and his answer is always because he hates to wear church clothes. I can very rarely get him to even wear a tie. So I totally used his adoration of his older cousin to my advantage and made sure to point out that Dallin had the SAME exact church shirt that he did, and was wearing a tie to church that day. Brayden had no complaints about wearing a shirt and tie to church that day. Let's see if it will stick!!!

One night while we were there, Landon discovered he likes loves pizza.

He ate it and loved every bite!

The boys went to a fun swimming party (I didn't go, therefore there are no pictures) but they had a blast and ate lots of good food and enjoyed swimming with their cousins.

The kids spent a lot of time outside playing ball, riding scooters and bikes, and swinging was a favorite by everyone. If Landon was getting too grumpy, the swing was where he would go. He could watch the dogs, the other kids play, and enjoy the breeze in his hair!

Ali helping to push Landon....

Like I said before, Brayden thought that everything Dallin did was great. This included listening to the ipod. Dallin got a new ipod for his birthday and was listening to it a lot, so Brayden kept asking to use ours so he could listen to his music to. 

He thought he was pretty hot stuff struttin' around like this. 

On Sunday we took some time to take pictures before church. 

All the Priesthood brethren in the family...

Dallin, Scott, Tom, & Patrick

The idea for this picture was to get Landon with Patrick's Uncle Tom. Landon was having none of that, so we settled for this with us and Uncle Tom and Aunt Leah. Landon's middle name is Thomas after Uncle Tom. He is an amazing man and this trip reminded us just how blessed we are to be apart of this family and how honored we are to have named our youngest son after him.

We used to see Tom and Leah every week for Sunday dinner when we lived up in Utah and we miss them a lot. The boys always ask about them and it was great to be able to see them again.

That night, we watched fireworks from Emily's balcony... well most of us did. I didn't get to see many because right about the time they started, 2 out of my 3 kids decided to melt down from complete exhaustion. So I went in to put them to bed, but Conner was the trooper and watched every single firework and loved every second of it. 

It was a great weekend full of good food, chit chatting, telling funny family stories, relaxing, and playing. 

I love weekends like that!