Adrian Turned the Big 3-0!

Adrian turned 30 in July and we had a little party to celebrate. We talked about it and I gave him the option- either have a big party, or have a really awesome date with just the two of us to celebrate. Surprisingly enough, he chose the latter option! Oh how lovely that he wants to spend his birthday with just me, his dear, sweet wife! Ha. You'll see the real reason in just a sec...

So we had some family over to open presents and eat cake. Adrian was showered with gifts and enjoyed every minute of it.

Then about 2 weeks later, his real present arrived.

Yep, we bought a new car!

HA. Yeah, right! No, we actually rented this electric blue beauty for the day, got a baby sitter and spent the day up in Park City! We went out to eat at the Loco Lizard a really tasty little Mexican place there and walked around the outlets and did a little shopping. It was such a wonderful day, we almost forgot we had 3 kids at home! Happy 30th birthday honey!

More Summer Fun

Heavens, I'm not doing very well with getting caught up, am I?! At any rate, I'm determined to be ALL caught up by the end of this week! Wish me luck...

I didn't really want to dedicate a whole post to these random pics, so I thought I'd group them all together and call them "Summer Fun." It's fitting, really.

This was a rather cool summer, so we didn't end up going to the pool all that much. On the few days where it was unbearably hot, we got the hose out in the back yard and let the kids run around. That's much easier than hauling everyone up to the club house, believe it or not!

I got this Slip n Slide on clearance and we really had fun with it. I'm not sure who had the most fun though...what do you think?!

I wouldn't really classify this as "fun" but kind of funny nonetheless. Hailey went through this phase this summer where she got into the baby powder and literally covered everything she could until I discovered what she was doing. It drove me nuts! Cleaning up a fine spray of baby powder off the crib- each individual slat- get really old! This pic was after the first time, when I was irritated, but not enough to not take pictures, you know. I wasn't in the picture taking mood the other times...

The other pic is just Colin being his funny self. He is a serious jokester! Always trying to make others laugh, and most of the time, succeeding. It's so fun seeing his little personality emerge. He is just like his Dad!

We got a zoo pass and this was the first time we went. It was SO crowded, it sadly wasn't very fun...for me! The kids could care less if half a million other people were there. They had fun, as always.

In between our little vacations {info on those to follow shortly!} we just took it easy. this particular evening, we rode bikes up to the clubhouse and played at the park.

Hailey asked me to take her picture and posed quite nicely! Such a beautiful little girl she's turning into!

Thomas' Kindergarten Graduation

I'm horribly behind with blogging, but the only way to recover is one post at a time...so bear with me!

Back in early June, Thomas graduated from Kindergarten and actually will start first grade in less than 2 weeks! Even though we both started Kindergarten not really sure of what was in store, I have to say it went really well. Thomas loved it all- his teacher, the things he learned, going each day, etc. It was great to have him gone for a few hours as it gave me time to spend with Hailey and Colin too! It made me realize as much as I enjoy being home with my kids, they really do need other entertainment and stimulation as they grow older. He just did so well and Adrian and I are so happy he enjoys school!

Here are a few milestones Thomas reached over the course of the school year:

• Learned to read- at the beginning of the year he really didn't read much at all, save a few words here and there. Now he's plowing through step 2 and 3 books with chapters and everything! He loves to read about insects, animals and anything really science related.
• Lost 2 teeth!
• Moved out of the little boys section at the department store as he's now size 8 in everything! He's officially 4'2" tall and has grown roughly 3" since the beginning of the school year. Crazy!

Here are some pics from graduation. They had a cute little program where they sang songs, recited a few poems and of course, got their little diplomas.

Here he is accepting his certificate from the principal and posing with his teacher, Mrs. Wells.

A Walk at Bountiful Pond

We have this neat little pond about 5 minutes from our house and have tried a couple times to take a walk by it- only to be eaten alive by mosquitoes! Well, the stars aligned for us this weekend and we had a lovely time walking, feeding the ducks and enjoying the sunshine!

We finally came upon a few ducks and one in particular was going wild over our bread! Well, yeah, it was homemade- perhaps that's why he was eating out of our hands?!? Ha! As much as I'd love to pat myself on the back for providing gourmet crumbs for the duckies, I think this little guy would have eaten a shoe if we tossed it to him...

A Day in Farm Country

A few weeks ago we took advantage of Adrian's Friday off and spent a few hours in Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point. I don't think the pics show just how freaking cold it was! Wow! We would have stayed longer had I actually brought myself a jacket! The kids- no, they were totally taken care of, it was ME who was frozen!

They all loved the animals though, especially the horses. I think this pic is hilarious- Hailey actually had a great time riding the pony. In every single picture though she looks terrified! Poor kid! Maybe she didn't have fun?!

We topped off the drive home {which is only about 30 minutes} with a family nap. Don't worry, Adrian didn't nap, he drove. But we both love it when family trips end like this! Ahhh- silence!

Love those Spring Snow Storms...

It's a joke here in Utah- if you aren't enjoying the weather, wait 10 minutes and it will change. It's true though, especially in the Spring time. It's no big deal for yesterday to be 35 degrees and snowing and today to be 60 degrees, sun shining, birds chirping. The kids seem to love it. If they wake up and see snow outside, it's like a race to see how quickly they can get their snow gear on! Fun to watch...

Without fail, I always catch Hailey eating the snow. Even if she has to scrape it off the slide, or pick it up off the grass. Gotta love her!

There's something very wrong about this picture. Here are all my garden starts, begging to go outside. Yeah, not just yet...

Easter 2010

So apparently the entire month of April was either very busy or too boring to blog about. LOL. I actually think it was a bit of both. At any rate, we did celebrate Easter this year and thought I should show you some pics to prove it.

We had the annual Easter Egg Hunt at Nana & Grandpa's house. The weather was on the cool side, but the kids were all too sugared up to notice. It was fun.

We had a great time hunting for Easter eggs Sunday morning too. Each year the Easter bunny gets more and more creative...and each year the kids catch on faster! Once Colin discovered chocolate inside he'd had enough hunting and moved on to attempting to open the eggs in some undisclosed location in the house in an attempt to each as much as he could before Adrian or I caught on. That was a fun game.

Later on we dyed the eggs. Well, Colin opted to eat them instead. I can't remember how many he ate, he just kept asking for more! Funny kid.

Thomas and Hailey thought coloring the eggs was super fun and so we let them just color away. I think it occupied them for at least an hour. It was a great weekend...

Colin Vs. the Yogurt

This video is from January, but I just had to share! So funny!

We love to read!

I just thought these pics were cute. Not too long ago we turned the loft area at the top of the stairs into a little reading/ play kitchen nook. Everyday they're either creating a masterpiece of waffles with broccoli in the play kitchen, or reading books to each  other. It's cute and I love to sit with them and play.

I've decided if you have claustrophobia, once you become a mother, you need to just get over it. Fast. Every time I read it becomes a game as to who can occupy the most space on Mom. Kids are climbing over me as I move the book all around so that I can see the pages. sometimes it becomes very annoying, but most of the time, I just deal with it and try to enjoy this time when they like being so close to me!

Speaking of reading, Thomas is doing fantastic! He's now reading Step 2 and Step 3 books, which are for kids in grades 1-4! the neatest thing of all is that now that he can read books himself, he reads so much more. Maybe it's because he can read by himself, alone in a quiet corner, without having to deal with Colin and Hailey climbing all over?! I'm jealous!

This has absolutely nothing to do with anything I said above. It's just Colin being Colin. He is such a funny kid! He loves to carry toys around in this basket. Empties it. Fills it. Then often times, climbs on in himself and just sits there a while. It's a good thing he's small or I'd have several episodes of Colin in the basket extractions on tape!

Brothers... Asleep

I just have to laugh. Hailey never did anything like this, so my two boys much have the "sleep anywhere" gene in common.

For those who don't know, Thomas was well known for falling asleep just about anywhere. In our arms, in the car, on the church pew, on his bedroom floor, even standing up!

Seems like Colin is following suit. In the past few weeks, we've found him just like this in his high chair twice. Now we're not just putting him there and leaving him forever either! We put him in and he eats while Adrian or I run around, getting everyone else's lunch. Then eventually, someone says, "Uh, Colin fell asleep!" And to which we reply by grabbing the camera.

A Colin Funny...

Colin just adores playing in the kitchen. I see him in there just about everyday cooking up some new concoction! I found him a couple weeks ago and thought to record it. Enjoy!