Phobia

There are few things in life that really scare Jason. Vomit just happens to be one of them. This is what happens when he's on clean up duty. {Shhhh...don't tell him that all I do is wash the sheets, spritz a little Oust randomly throughout the room and call it good.}

Today

Today I woke up 3 hours earlier than I had in two months.

Today I folded up the futon and cleaned up blankets from a 2 month long sleepover.

Today I cooked a "real" breakfast for the first time in 2 months.

Today I cleaned the house and it stayed clean.

Today I ate a grown up lunch that excluded peanut butter and noodles in any form.

Today I washed swimsuits and towels for the first time in 2 months.

Today I made up for taking a spiritual hiatus in the past 2 months and listened to conference
talks while cleaning a quiet house and was reminded that "our everydays will soon become our yesterdays" and was grateful that I made the most out of our "everydays" in the past two months.

Today my little buddies started school.

Today I was sad. I was glad I was sad, usually I can't wait for school to start but I really made an effort and put alot of planning into our summer and it made me sad that it had come to an end.

Today I missed them.

(However, as soon as they walked in the door they let 6 hours of bottled up energy go and the chaos that ensued made me realize that although I missed them today, tomorrow I think I'll appreciate the quiet house a little bit more.)

(first day of "real" kindergarten)

(our big third grader)

F is for.....

Funny faces- from Family Fun
Fudgesicles- (1 pkg chocolate pudding, 2 C milk, 1/2 C heavy cream, 1/2 C sugar- beat together, pour into plastic cups, cover with foil, push popsicle stick through foil and freeze)

Frozen yogurt- we love "Swirl It" where you can build your own froyo sundae using every single flavor and every single topping and Jayden did just that. (Notice the big scoop falling off Maddox's spoon? Yeah, it wasn't a pretty picture by the time he got finished.)

At what age do kids become aware when their face is completely smeared with food?

French tips- cause Kylie needed something to do while Jayden was at a playdate.

Finger painting- (1 1/2 Tbs cornstarch, 1 C water, food coloring- mix well and boil until thick, cool- thanks Jennie!). I love Reynold's freezer paper, it comes in a huge roll (in the tinfoil aisle at Wal-mart) for like $5.50 and keeps my kids entertained for hours so I can cook, clean or waste my time on the computer.

I wised up and took this shin dig outside where it quickly turned into body painting and ended with everything and everybody getting hosed down.

Forts- games, stories and a sleepover

Fondue- I was just going to melt choco chips in the microwave and use skewers but I forgot about this little set my VT gave to me like 3 years ago. It's amazing how the bribe of pokey sticks and bite sized anything dipped in chocolate can get chores done in no time at all.

Fossils- I used plaster paris because I had some on hand, but here is a link for a salt dough fossil recipe

Fingerprint art- I was at the $ store and they didn't have the multi-colored ink pad so instead of buying 10 different ones I bought one then just used markers on their fingers for the other colors.

Opposites attract

He plays Barbies with her (but makes her promise not to tell his friends). She plays Batman Wii with him. You can catch him singing songs like "you change your mind like a girl changes clothes..". You can catch her humming the Star Wars theme song. He gets excited to watch her performances. She had to get a pink glove so she could play baseball with him. He rolls his eyes but will still watch "16 wishes" and other Disney channel movies with her. She grumbles that "Chuggington" is a baby show but will still watch it with him. He tells her when she looks pretty. She helps him pick out his clothes. He tells her he loves her the most out of everybody in the family. She tells him they should never fight again. Siblings. Best friends.

B is for.....

Balloon Yo-yo's

Beanbag balls

Blankets- our ward is making the fleece blankets for "Project Linus". I didn't take pictures because I pretty much did it myself, but in theory it was a good idea to do it with the kids.

Bread dough art (Rhoades dough roll creations, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and dipped in powdered sugar frosting)Beaded animal keychains (kit from Wal-mart)

Button bookmarks

Bubbles: 3 C water, 1 C Joy dish soap, 1/2 C corn syrup. Mix atleast 4hr ahead and put in shallow pan, make wands out of pipe cleaner or wire hangers

Blow art

Bowling

leave it to Jayden to get a gutter ball even with the bumpers :)

I'm just sayin....

...this girl has got skills and I could learn a thing or two.

Picture perfect summer

Oh man, where do I start?? First of all, is there anything better than summer vacations? Especially when it's at Aunt Angel's and my grandparent's house filled with family, horses, quads, tractors, game nights, crafts, farm animals, yummy food and endless fun. Kylie summed it up well when filling out a questionaire in school last year that asked, "if you could go anywhere in the world where would it be?" and she answered, "Aunt Angel's house". I guess it was also no surprise when the morning after we got back I wake up to Jayden standing next to me crying because aunt Angel can't be his mom. I feel the love. Her house is always such a fun hangout, but we were especially lucky to spend time with my parents and younger siblings since they're living there while waiting to move into their house close by in Cedar City (yay!) and my sister Janessa and her family who came up from Texas and two other brothers and their families who also live in Cedar. All together we had 32 people in one house. Angel is a saint. It's almost unhealthy how many pictures I have, but I didn't want to miss a moment. Just looking at them while I'm posting them is putting a smile on my face. I love summer.

Maddox found his happy place. Every morning he woke up with the rooster at the crack of dawn and had to go make the rounds visiting all the animals before he would eat breakfast. When he wasn't chasing the cats he was asking anyone and everyone to take him on the "brrrrr" (quad).
he loved the horses, but only from a distance.

Love this picture. Love the dimple. Love this boy.

Who knew you could make so many things out of duct tape? We spent the afternoon making bags and wallets, so fun.

Happy 4th of July!

Watching movies on the big screen in the backyard

Picnic and hike in Cedar Mountain (I love how Dawn is oiling down Tyson's bald head with sunscreen).

These girls were inseperable

These girls were inspeperable too

Found out the hard way that strollers and mountains don't go together that great

Using Todd as a human bridge seemed like a good idea in theory....until Jayden slipped off and fell right into the cold water.

The lava caves, so cool and so creepy. They go for miles underground, I opted to stay out and watch Maddox. Can you blame me? I couldn't believe how brave the kids were, they couldn't get enough.

Watching the fireworks

I think this was the first time all week that all three of my kids were alone together, they were all running in a hundred different places with all their cousins.

We spent the day in St. George at the temple visitor center (and the movies and lunch), Janessa was trying to pose the girls for this picture and kept saying, "look up at 'em", each time Jayden would say, "it's not Adam!"

Girls shopping day and lunch at St. George. Don't worry, the boys had their share of fun with a 3 hr. 4 wheeler ride, chizzler hunting, baseball and basketball games. We definately deserved the shopping trip.

The Easter Bunny caves are a classic favorite, the kids were so excited to try to find the Easter bunny and his leftover candy stash. Here Angel is telling the story....

Here are all the kids excitedly hiking up....

Here is what they found covering the walls and ceilings through the entire tunnel. Yes those are spiders-ewww!!!!!

Here is what all the kids looked like after they discovered the spiders and then discovered some sort of itchy plant. They did end up finding a candy stash so that made things better.

Going to the park to divide up the stash and eat snow cones

I was surprise to see how inseperable Jayden and Gracie were. She's about 2 years younger and 2 feet shorter than him, but they became the best little buddies.

Our own little 4th of July parade where the kids spent the afternoon decorating their own little "floats"

We had the funnest time doing a "Top Chef" contest where each family had to come up with an original sandwich using a loaf of french bread. It was so fun to see what everyone came up with and they were all surprisingly really good.

Oh yeah, the Young's won the coveted duct tape apron with our Turkey/provolone/sundried tomato/feta cheese creation. woot woot.

how cute are these cousins? I can't wait to see them become best buddies as they get older, just like the rest of the cousins. Familes are great. (except for maybe when they jump out and scare you out of your mind while going for a walk with the girls at midnight on a deserted country road.)