Family Pictures 2014!!!

I can just go on and on about how great our photographer was.  She was just so smart about everything. We were only there for about 30 minutes.  She placed us in the spot she wanted and took like 30 shots of one scene, all the while directing our every posture, smile, and reminding those who cared--to suck in :)  Plus, she took so many at one spot so if we needed to have a head swapped out to make a family picture look good with everyone, she could do it. For real. She's so smart and great.  Erin Summerill for anyone who needs family pictures taken in Utah :)

I know..this one seems like of cheezy, but I love it and the kids thought it was fun.  So there you have it.

Seriously--no work was done on any of these pics--she got them all to smile! Magic.

While Jess and I were getting our picture taken, the boys, off to the side, started a little leaf war.  She got a few of them. Ha! I think Luke was in the process of rubbing Kade's face into the ground. Oh, brotherly love. :)

Ahhh.  I like him.

And here's my favorite 2!  Ah.  Good times.  Plus, they all were happy the whole time because of the shortness of the whole thing.  Real smiles everyone! Real! so happy.

Jess was behind Erin and acting so silly that the boys all started busting out laughing.  I want them to stay like this forever. That's okay right?!

End of Year Favorite Randoms

The first snow-fall of the season!  I'm actually kind of lame when it comes to cold. I hate the cold..just not a fan. I love how pretty everything is....I'm just kind of a pansy in cold...ANYWAY--that being said, I'm soooo glad that even though my mind was saying, "Just let them play outside and make a snowman while you stay nice and warm inside--cause this is the start of MANY snowy days where you'll be able to do it again..." that I didn't listen. Because this winter was a doosy and this was one of our only snowy days! It was crazy. So we booked it out, made a snowman, and sled until we'd worn through to the grass and were ready for dinner.  It was so fun. I love watching the kids eat so much snow. They love the stuff--it just makes me smile.  Good Snow Day and Happy Mothering  Day.

Every Sunday it seems there is a new "fort" up in the kids rooms. HA!  This image made me laugh so we took some pictures of how "tall" Max had gotten!  It makes me laugh (read: cringe) how much stuff the kids feel they have to get out to make a fort each week.  This week it was my favorite--just some blankets tucked into the bunk beds--but when they pull out every book and every table and every toy it's so insane to try and find where the actual 'fort' is supposed to be. :)  Forts. Ha!

For Weeblos Kade and his troop did an AMAZING puppet show. They even made their own puppets and did a Star Wars theme. It was adorable and very entertaining!  Kade has Hans Solo and Chewbacca.  Aren't they all so adorable?!

For Kade's 11th b-day me and Jess took him out to do whatever he wanted. So, on the night of, he chose Tucanos---mostly because he LOVES meat with all his 11 year old heart!  He even got a specialty drink to boot!  He's so funny to watch savor his new flavors!  He even tried chicken heart--which I think was super gross and grainy and kind of disturbing, but he said he liked it...so...alrighty!

Then a couple days later Jess and I took him to a Lions Club/Outdoorsman Club Shooting Range where he got to use some high-powered air-soft riffles and shoot them at targets and pop cans.  It was fun.  It's so nice to spend some one-on-one time with that kid.  It's hard in a bigger family but it's sooo nice when we make it happen.

As it got closer to Christmas time, Rhett came into my room with a Snowman note pad and had decided that he needed to write Santa a letter.  So, since he had learned how to write most of his letters, he proceeded to ask how to spell things and get 3-4 letters on each page.  His final letter was pretty short because of how hard it is to write letters for a pre-schooler--but he was soooo adorable about it, just laying on my bed, earnestly trying to write out everything and rejecting any help.  Cute stuff.

During early morning choir one day, while practicing for their Christmas program, Luke was playing with a little suction-cup spike that had fallen off his bike helmet....and decided to suction his head for several minutes at a time.  HA! These bad boys were so bold for probably 3 days!

(incidentally, something that I DON'T have a picture of, but for which  I was so glad that his forehead decorations were covered up, was when he sang in Relief Society.  A few weeks before my friend DeAnne had asked if one of my boys could help with her Christmas lesson. She asked if he could come in at the end of the lesson, dressed as a shepherd boy, and sing Silent Night acapella for the closing song.  Rhett said he'd be too nervous, and Luke jumped at the chance. He likes to sing and I swear has no fear.  So he practiced the words with the piano for a little while and wasn't nervous AT ALL when the time came.  Her lesson was so wonderful and the Spirit was definitely there testifying to all the things she spoke of. And when Luke walked in and sang with his sweet innocent voice, there were lots of tears in the room.  It was wonderful!

Later that day she brought him over a giant plateful of cookies. He shared one with everyone and with the remainder of the cookies put the tin-foil back on and wrote, "Please ask if you'd like one". Which I thought was sweet cause he's always trying to get money from everyone for anything.  But by morning the note had changed to say, "Cookies, .50.  Please ask if you'd like one."  Oh Luke! HA!

Just cute little pic of Max and Grandma practicing the piano!

SCHOOL PICTURES!!!

KADE--5TH GRADE

LUKE-3RD GRADE

RHETT-PRE-SCHOOL

MAX-HOME WITH MOM :)

Clue Night with our Buddies

We had SUCH A FUN evening with the Lindquists!  It was a Clue Night at the Bean Museum down in Provo.  We were supposed to dress up from the 1920's for an evening party and we didn't know what to expect after that.  (except that dinner was included--we're all about that.) 

So we ate and they explained the game. 

It was a entire night of solving riddles and clues given by the characters from the movie Clue! So great.  

Some of our favorite riddles:

I build up castles.  I tear down mountains. I make some men blind, I help others to see.
What gets wetter the more it dries?
I have a neck, but no head; two arms, but no hands.  What am I?
You can't see it.  It weighs nothing. If you put it in a barrel, it gets lighter.
How far can a dog walk into the woods?


It was sooooo fun for the four of us to work together to solve them!  We just love hanging out with these two!

(rock/sand, towel, shirt, a hole (I have issues with this one...cause I think you could see a hole..that's all), and half-way--cause after that he's walking OUT)

6th Annual Tree Jumping!

Yup... We keep doing this. It's crazy and there's always the risk of a serious break...but it's like the fall leaves just CALL to these boys.  So we do what we can to help them survive each new year of tree jumping.

I'm so glad that Max was nervous and wanted to jump to Scott cause he was the tallest.  Love to know that kid has boundaries!  (not that his parents are apparently teaching him that :/)

Here's Kade 6 years ago--5 years old--doing the same thing! 

Happy Halloween 2014

Max LOVES balls so so so so so much!  His favorite is usually the one that his older brothers are currently playing in Rec ball, but he ALWAYS has a ball with him. So when we found a little football costume it was the one!  He loved it!

Rhett had wanted to be a Knight...or so we thought when we bought his Knight costume a month and a half before Halloween--only to find out he really only wanted a sword, and didn't want to be a Knight. Not sure how I didn't see that :).  So a couple days before Halloween we took our unused AMAZING costume back to Costco to see if they had something else to exchange it for.  Well, we crazy lucked out cause there were like 5 costumes left and only one in his size and gender and it had HAND CUFFS, and BINOCULARS, A COOL HAT AND GLASSES and he was like a spy.  He loved it and totally acted the part.  Since he's in his cute little pre-school class, he got to do a costume parade through all the big kids classes on Halloween.  Kade and Luke loved it too.
(notice Max doing the 'Sasquatch photo bombing' in the back of this photo :)

Luke and his good friend Ian both decided to be Ninja Turtles....well, first they wanted to be Good Cop/Bad Cop from the Lego movie, but since that was gonna be hard, and this costume fell together so easily, and they love Ninja Turtles, they changed their plan and were both TMNT's!  RAD!

Kade had decided months before that he wanted to be Anikan Skywalker....and had even started growing out a Jedi braid (much to my happiness :/)  Then during one of his hair cuts I totally forgot about it and buzzed it right off! AHHHH!  He was so so so sad, and mad at first, but then, after he calmed down, "and felt peaceful all over" he forgave me and we went with Anikan AFTER he became a Jedi..and was starting to go bad, instead of as a padawan.  He looked so cool.  Plus he was able to pick what outfit he wanted me to make and totally owned it.

Kade went trick-or-treating with his FRIENDS this year. No adults even. How crazy is that?  They were all instructed that they had to stay within the ward boundaries and stay together and he had the cell phone with him.  I was slightly nervous, but this is such a good neighborhood and his friends are good kids and we know all the houses he was going to...so we went for it!  And everyone survived.  Luke went with his friend Owen and his dad and I took the little guys around with Melanie Curtis and her cute kids.  Everyone got a good haul, and met back up at our house to watch Ernest Scared Stupid. Classic.  Candy was eaten, kids loved it, and everyone was safe and cute. It was a Happy Halloween!

Scariest Thing Ever

Leaf Blower...Rhett....Scariest thing EVER.
Enough said.

Carson Carnival

The boys cute friend Lincoln came running down to the house and told all the kids that they were doing a carnival at his house and everyone was invited. When I asked how much it would cost (from time to time they charge :) he said nothing, but he did have to give everyone a ticket.  Garrett Welch was over and obviously they were in their costumes, but they ran up to the Carsons.  It was adorable. They had treats that the big girls had made (brownies, pop-corn and lemonade)  and all the kids had games at different tables. 

Then at the end they had everyone go to the fire circle and did story telling.  All the kids who wanted to  told stories--funny and dramatic, and some that they tried to make -not-as-scary-for the little kids.  Anyway. It was just so cute.  This cul-de-sac is so fun and the kids all do so well together.  I just love it.

Zoo Day

So, what's better then a day at the zoo!  Well, I mean somethings, but not to these boys!  We saw the Sea Lion show, the snakes (Rhett's favorite) and all the good stuff. We even got on the train this time. The zoo has changed so so much and it's pretty fun to walk in and see the giraffes right off the bat!

Love these boys!
(ha ha--and this is why you should blog right after these things happen...or be better at journaling.  Because I know that there were probably a million cute things said and done...but I sure don't remember.  Oh poo.)

Arrow of Light and Webelos badge

And as proof that he's growing up!  Here Kade is after receiving his Arrow of Light from Cub Scouts!  His leaders have been so amazing and he was able to get his "All 20" award for Webelos as well.  We have such an amazing ward full of amazing people.  We have been truly blessed!

Conference Oct 2014-Silly String, and apparently our baby grew up.

3 things about our conference weekend up in Evanston this year.

#1: Conference is always amazing and inspiring and I love the prophets of this church and their messages from the Lord.

#2: Andrea got quite a colorful surprise from her nieces and nephews for her birthday :)!  It was hilarious to watch the little ones try to use those silly string squirters and to see Andrea try to defend herself with a giant lawn chair.

#3: Look at this picture of me, Jess, and Kade.  It threw me into such a realization that our first little baby boy, the one who used to crawl and waddle and had the cutest little baby voice for the longest time, and who I still picture as 4 years old....is getting sooooo big!  He sat thru so many talks and just listened this year!  Once even commenting to Grandpa Winn, "I hope mom isn't listening...." ha ha (when he heard a story of a mom cracking down on screen time and adding library and reports to her sons lives--thus ending in very very smart and financially stable young men.  Ha ha--silly boy.)

Potty Training, Soccer, Donut Pirates, and Nasty Cookies. September was awesome.

Kade and Rhett and their 2 headed monster on random Tuesday.  I love watching Kade play with his younger brothers even with 7 years between them. It makes my heart smile.

Max picked up on Potty training SOOOOOO well.  We were so proud of him!  With treats and little apps that let them play 10 second games for each success he found every way to make it to the toilet. Here he is washing his hands after one such success.  So glad for friends and their tips to have them eat a lot of salty things and drink a lot of water or juice during potty training. It made this so much simpler and more efficient then my other three.
(also...since I'm typing this months after the fact...we've regressed....blah. I think all my boys have had to be potty trained twice.  So...that's fun. :)  Still love him and his smiley face.)

Playing in the dirt at Aunt Jessica's house with Beckam.

For Scouts, Luke's fellow wolves were bringing collections to show to each other.  One of the boys  brought his dice collection (or possibly his dads collection of dice).  After the activity, while playing outside, he dropped them......when he was standing on the grate! YIKES!  I watched as they tried to fish as many as they could out of the grate--with some success.

Then Luke had an idea.  I drove him home and he grabbed a stick he'd had  stashed--cause I'm sure it was an awesome stick :), and taped a spoon onto the end of it. Boom!  Ran back down and they got every last one of them....that they could see.

Mom celebrated the big 60 this year!  Dad drove up to Salt Lake and got her her favorite cake--Rum Torte from Leslie's bakery.  But also bought a different one that the kids might like.

For her birthday, since mom LOVES game (something she's passed down to all of her kids) me and Scott gave her the gift of a monthly scheduled game night.  It's pretty excited and intense.  We even earn tally marks on our sleeves for the winners of the game nights which is determined by a strict system.  AND WE LOVE IT!  YAY FOR GAME NIGHTS.  Jess only sometimes likes games, but he loves t-shirts. So I made him one--without the dice, and told him he could earn his dice by actually attending said game nights.  He came the first night, and won the whole game of rummy (which takes HOURS--hours of fun :)--thus earning his dice.  So excitement is had by all :)

Scott just playing and beating up on all the boys.  We LOVE that he had to live at home during his accounting program at BYU.  Our boys love him so so so much!

One night for Family Home Evening the boys were supposed to make cookies without a recipe and see how they turned out.

Luke makes cookies a lot and was so close to being right. But...turns out, when you add a cup of milk, and a bajillion marshmallows, and omit eggs and baking soda--they turn out more like...taffy.  HA!  It was so fun to watch them try though.  (lesson--God has a plan for us and we should follow the path His Son has laid out!  Read scriptures, Pray, be Obedient to the commandments....)

Turns out every year at Krispy Kreme they give away a free dozen donuts to anyone who dresses up as a pirate! WHAT?  That's awesome.  A friend told me about it mid day and the kids got some of their friends together to make this happen.  BUT--turns out that while there was no line at 10:00 a.m., the line at 5:00 is an hour and a half!  Good thing the drive-up was open and the kids could watch a movie.  

And who's carload ended up with 7 dozen free donuts?  YUP!  We did!  It was awesome.

Kade had such a fun year with soccer. He was on an awesome team with an amazing coach and one of his best friends Adam.  They were so disciplined and did drills before each game and had to do push-ups when they were late (ack! only happened once--Kade made sure)  Their end of the season party was INCREDIBLE.  Their coaches picked all the kids up in a limousine--took them to a giant house where they played games and some soccer, then out for ice cream, all the kids got a new soccer ball, and back home in the limo!  Who does that?

This was Rhett's first year doing soccer and he was sooo cute!  We put him on a team with 2 of his best friends and that's, turns out, what makes a good season for kids.  It was everything I'd hoped it would be with daisy picking, running hard, excitement (mostly over what was going to be the treats at half-time and the end) and so many smiles.

 While waiting to get their picture taken, they all decided to do a group hug-type thing...and of course fell down. But everyone was laughing so apparently it was awesome :)

One of my favorite memories of the season was during one of Kade's games.  There was a playground close by and so Max, Rhett and Luke were playing on it while I was watching the game. Jess was on his way.  Max, of course, was potty training and didn't want to have a wet pull up so with his bum facing the field, and about 100 yards away form me, he just dropped his pants and started peeing! HA!! AHH!!  So funny! I was sitting next to Adams mom when she started laughing so hard and I jumped up and ran to him (drawing way more attention then he previously had I'm sure) laughing.  By the time I got there he was done and pulling up his pants anyway.  Good times.