*Santa*

Logan had a Christmas program last night for preschool, and guess who came. That's right, Santa! (Thanks Miss Janalynn!!) After much convincing we got Logan to sit on his lap. Syd and Ty were the only other takers. Are my boys really getting to old for that?

Pedicures anyone?

These pics are of Sydni, she is going to have these boys whipped into shape before they know what hit them. They were all standing around the computer watching Kobe play some game when she found a nail file and decided that they needed to have their toes done... Soon they all had their shoes off and were letting her file them. Then it was my turn, I wish Ron had been home!

No cavities!

I am always thrilled when we have a trip to the dentist with no cavities! This was the case last week and here are the beautiful clean teeth after our appointment. They are not all straight, but they are cavity free. Tyson will be getting a retainer next week. Biffy I have already threatened him, I had a good friend (no names here), who would wrap hers up in a napkin at lunch so that no one would have to see it. She must have thrown it away 6 or 7 times during the 5th grade. Here's hoping that we don't have to go dumpster diving for Tyson's.

All aboard!

I really didn't realize it had been so long since I posted last... Where does the time go? We were fortunate enought to get to go on "The Polar Express" right after Thanksgiving. I surprised the kids and checked them out of school early (the coolest thing ever) and we headed to Heber. We boarded out train and rode to the North Pole. On the way we got hot chocolate (no song though
:( thats my favorite part) , cookies and listened to the book. Then we picked up Santa and on the way back he made his way through all of the cars to visit the kids. They all got bells, which are still ringing every day. And to finish off a fabulous night we went to the Dairy Keen, which is the train themed burger joint in Heber) for dinner. It was a perfect was to start December!

On you marks!

Our family just experienced our first Pine Wood Derby! We have had the "cars" for about 6 weeks or so, and I'm happy to say that we did not wait until the night before to start. We had 3 boys and 3 cars, and I told Ron that they had to be done before he started basketball! The boys chose to shape their cars in a "non-traditional" fashion, meaning that they weren't cars. As you can see in the pictures:

Kobe's is an icecream sandwich...

Carsen's is a salamander...

and Tyson's is a piece of cheese.

I cannnot brag that they were the fastest cars at the race, but they were the cutest!! The boys ate popcorn, cheered on their friends and had a great time. Logan and Sydni ate popcorn, cheered on their brothers, and had a great time. Logan was the best, every time one of their cars raced he had to find someone to tell "that's my brothers car!" It was a great night.

Cock-a-doodle-do

I have to share the story about our dinner tonight. So, this summer our neighbors's had baby chicks, we went over and Logan and Sydni loved seeing them. But as we all know baby chicks grow up to be big chickens, and some of them become roosters, and roosters eventually learn how to crow in the morning. I really have enjoyed waking up to roosters crowing in my back yard, but apparently not all of our neighbors agree. So, I got this call from our neighbor on Saturday asking me if we would eat a fresh chicken if he brought it over. I said sure, and later that night his wife called and said that he would meet me at the fence. So long story short, our neighbor killed the roosters, plucked and cleaned them (really well by the way!) and handed me one over the fence so we had roast chicken for dinner tonight. It was yummy!

Aunt Sami!!

On Friday my sister came to hang out with us for the day. It was so nice to just be here and not have every minute of our time together planned out. She helped me figure out how to add the music to my blog, ( thank you , thank you!) and I helped her take her online test for school. I'm not sure that I was much help, and I'm sure that she'll be calling me any day to yell because she failed. We took the boys for icecream after school.

Sydni was her shadow all day, saying "Nami you funny" we took some way cute pictures. Here are the ones off my camera and I hope that she'll be sending me hers soon (hint, hint)... We love her and can't wait to see her again!

Chuck E. Cheese

I know that when I was growing up, one of our favorite things to do when we came to Salt Lake was to go to Chuck E. Cheese. We would beg, and the response would be "the pizza is terrible", and a few times we were lucky enough to go anyway. Of course our kids have asked us countless times "Why can't we go to Chuck E. Cheese's?". I've always had the great excuse that it was too far away, until some genious decided to build one in Layton. So last week was UEA and I gave in, apparently every other mom in Layton (and Kaysville and Clearfield) gave in too. We went to Chuck E. Cheese. I can't say how the pizza was because I had salad, but the kids spent a wonderful 2 and a half hours playing the games and running around. Next time I'll go with a friend and her kids though so I'll have something to do. I wish that I'd taken the camera so that I had pictures to post, but I didn't. Another thing to remember during that next moment of weakness! FYI if you dedide to go, print the online coupons, way worth it!

Cute girl!

Sydni was having one of those cute mornings yesterday (not that she's not cute all the time...), so I got the camera and took her outside. We discovered a perfect photo spot in the tree.

Canning peaches

Can I just say that I'm glad that canning season is over?! A couple of weeks ago I was swamped with peaches (not that I'm complaining). So one morning after getting the boys off to school I began the process of bottling 30 or so quarts. Sydni decided to join me. She climbed up on the counter an soon found that she could slide the peels off by herself. Then as she watched me, she figured out that there was a pit in the middle, so she sqwished until she found it and pulled it out. Then she handed me the rest of the mutilated peach to cut and put into the jar. I soon found that if I would cut around the peach it made things alot less messy. So I cut around the middle and then she would peel, and pit and give the halves back to me. Yeah!! She lasted at this for about 30 min and then needed a bath!!

Pumpkins..

Today we took advantage of a dry (but not warm) day and our J & J Nursery coupons and took the hay ride to get pumpkins! We had to wait in line, in the cold, for about 30 minutes but then we all climbed on the hay wagon. Everyone chose their "perfect" pumpkin.

Wedding

My brother Trevor got married last month. It was a beautiful day!

And the kids were sooo cute...

Our newest Scout

Monday was Tyson's birthday, and he turned 8. He has had a week full of fun;

• Sunday, dinner and presents with the family
• Monday, Cherry Hill with Grandma and aunt Sami
• Tuesday, school shopping
• Wednesday, the Zoo with Judd and Amaya
• Thursday, pictures at Target (yes Cassie and I took all 7 kids...) , Scouts for the first time, and a party with his primary class.

I'm pretty sure he'll be disappointed tomorrow when I make him stay home and help me clean up the house.

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo!

My sister Cassie was in town for the week so se decided to take the kids to the Zoo. We were singing to the kids on the way and wondering if "We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo, how about you, you, you" is a real song, or just one that our grandma made up?? Either way we had a ton of fun, with all 7 of the kids and Judd's Grandma Peggy.

Shopping?!

Okay, so I was brave and took the kids to the mall today. (Something I never do...) We were looking for cleats for Carsen (yes, football starts today!) and ties for all the boys for my brother's upcoming wedding. I walked into Macy's with only thoughts of ties, when I was lured into the girls department by pink and green polka dots. It was the cutest dress, and just happened to be in the wedding colors. You can imagine my suprise as I reluctantly looked at the price tag, it was marked down to $14.99!! I took Sydni's shirt off and slipped it on to make sure that it fit, (as Carsen is saying, "shouldn't we go into the dressing room Mom?" it is just big enough to fit next spring too. Then I noticed that there was a dirty spot on the front, I took it to the cashier to ask that if I couldn't get the spot out if I could still bring it back. She was kind enough to say of course, and that she'd give me 10% off for it. After taxes and all I paid $9.88 for the cutest dress!

Soccer camp

Tyson and Logan went to soccer camp last week. It was Logan's first time playing "real" soccer, shin guards, cleats and all.

Pigtails

Our first attempt at real pigtails in Sydni's hair. I thought I'd take her out in front of the pretty daisies, she didn't think it was such a great idea.

Raspberry shakes, yum!

Friends of ours were kind enough to share their raspberries this year. I picked a bowl full and brought them home to share. Of course just as it was time to go to bed Ron suggesed that we make shakes.

Tyson

Ty just finished soccer camp, and was awesome. He will be turning 8 next month and is looking forward to scouts and being baptized. He loves anything that involves a ball, and doesn't enjoy reading like his brothers. He'll be in 3rd grade this year.

Carsen

Carsen is counting down the days until football starts. Which is all too soon for me! He will start conditioning on the 28th of July. He is 9 and will be in the 4th grade. He is reading a series of books called Children Of The Lamp, abut genies. He spends his time playing with friends and reading. He still loves to help me in the kitchen.

Kobe

Kobe is 10 and is already counting down the days until school starts. He will be in the 5th grade this year. He loves to swim, we have season passes to Cherry Hill, which he loves. He wants to spend as much time as possible playing with his friends, and playing the computer (which we limit to much less time than he finds adequate).

Is it my turn yet?

My time was spent trying to keep Sydni out of the water...

Thanks to Biffy for the great pictures!

Swimming lessons

The boys all took swimming lessons, the last 2 week in June. They are all great swimmers, and even Logan became more comfortable in the water, and with his teachers.