Brinley runs a 5K!

The first week of June my cute little niece turned 2! I don't know where the time flies, but I remember the day we drove up to Logan when she was born! Holy Cow!  Me and the kids decided to drive up for her birthday at the last minute, I was busy getting ready for Girls Camp, but decided to go anyway! Spur of the moment is how I do things best! Just ask my husband! I'm not a great planner, and it drives him crazy, but those are some of my best memories of doing things! We gave her this cute little bikini, and I had to put it on her to see what it looked like! I'm not sure that her parents appreciated it, but it was too cute to pass up!

Here are the kids after Bailey opened her presents!

Speaking of doing things not planned.  My brother and his little boy who is going into 1st grade were running in a 5K the next morning.  They told Brinley that she could run with them if she wanted.  I just thought she was too little to run that far, plus we didn't have any shoes for her.  But they found some of Nate's shoes that fit her perfect and she was ready to go!  They had to be there at 7:30 the next morning and we went and met them at the finish line.  Boston was feeling a little left out at this point!  I got a phone call from my brother about the time we were expecting them to come in saying that Brinley was thirsty and didn't think she could make it!  So, I grabbed a bottle of water and jumped in the van to go find them to rescue my little princess! There was no way I was going to let her quit! I gave her the water and didn't even give her the option! She was SO CLOSE to the finish line, and I told her she could do it! I went back and waited for them to come around the corner, and was so excited when I finally saw them! My sister in law even ran Boston up to the corner and let him run the last stretch with them! It was so cute! They came in at about 39 minutes, which I thought was awesome for her first time! She was so happy when she finished! Thanks Rhett for letting her run with you guys and for sticking with her the whole way!  She had so much fun, and even came in FIRST in her age group!  Way to go Brin, we are proud of you for finishing your first race!

This is when I went and rescued her with water! I thought they looked so cute running!

Coming to the finish line! Even little Bosto is there!

Nate and Brinley crossing the finish line! Way to go kiddos!

Rhett holding Bailey, Nate's Grandpa, Boston, Brinley and Nate

The running shoes!

My little princess with her first place ribbon! Way to go sissy!

My Little BallPlayer!!!

This last Tuesday Boston had his first baseball game ever! He was so excited, it was the first thing he said when he woke up that morning! He had to get on his uniform first thing so he could be ready, and didn't even want to go to Gymnastics that morning cuz it might have interferred with his game! (Too cute!)

They don't let you start T-ball here until you are 5, which is so lame! So when we found that out Boston was crushed, he had already been counting on this year to start! So, I had to adjust his birth year a little (shh, don't tell anyone!) He still is one of the best players out there on the field! Thanks to his good daddy that loves to play any kind of catch with him! It was so fun to have Boston shine for a night, and for him to be in the spotlight! Way to go Bos! You are the cutest little ballplayer out there!

Boston standing on first...

He even slid into homeplate, it was hilarious, cuz no one on the other team was even around! I guess he's been watching his brother too much!

Way to hit the ball Bos!

On a little side note... my nephew has been staying with us this week.  They are here from Tennessee, and he came down to do the basketball camp at Lehi High School with Zach.  Well, they had to be entertained every second of the day, and they were usually pretty good at finding stuff to do! On Tuesday they were out hitting baseball's in the yard having a "home run" derby... go figure, there are houses all around us, not much room to hit a home run! So, they were deliberately trying to hit balls over my neighbors fence and into his yard to hit a home run! Well, I didn't know they were using HARD balls, and YES they knew better! But boys will be boys! I knew something was wrong when Zach came running in the house crying, telling me what happened!  I think in this case it would have been better if it would have been OUR house, but no, it was the neighbors!!!  I didn't know she was home when it happened, and was going to call her later that night to tell her what happened, but I didn't need to do that.  I got a phone call from her about a half hour after it happened! She was in the shower, when she heard this loud crash that scared her half to death!  I felt so bad! They were really nice about it though.  Morgan took the boys over that night to apologize and took their window out so they could go get it measured to put new glass in it! Zach was afraid of how much it was going to cost, since we told him it was coming out of his own pocket, but they took it into Jones Paint and Glass and found out it was only going to be $80! He was thrilled! He had already kissed his whole life savings away! :o) So, I guess my title for this post would be...

BOYS WILL BE BOYS!!!

Running on Empty!!!

Take it as you will, but this is how my gas tank looked after 1 week of my kids out of school and running them everywhere! I am exhausted!  I told the kids that we haven't had one day where we have just got to be home and relax!  I literally was on empty as I drove to my doctor's appointment this morning and was late (imagine that) and didn't have time to stop anywhere and get gas! I was just praying that I wouldn't run out somewhere!  I made it to Costco, and filled up just in time to go pick up the kids.  I ran Zach to Velocity at 10:30 and Boston to gymnastics at 11:00.  Zach is doing this speed and strength training this summer at the Flash Factory.  He LOVES it! It is just an hour long, so it is really fun taking him and picking him up everyday.  Most of the time we just stay and watch, cuz there isn't much time to go anywhere.  Brinley is taking the summer off of dance, so she has had fun playing with her friends in the neighborhood, and riding her bike!  I didn't mention that I started off my morning waking up at 6:30 so I could get ready and go send our girls off to Girls Camp this morning!  We have been busy planning for 6 months and for some reason this last week we have been even more busy running around getting everything done!  They left this morning, and I'm going to go up Wed. and Thurs. and come back each night.  I wasn't too excited about sleeping on the ground in a tent at this point in my pregnancy!  I only have 7 weeks left! I can hardly believe it! It has gone by SO fast! Good thing we have lots of stuff this summer to keep us busy until the baby gets here!  Ha Ha! Didn't I just say that I was exhausted???  I didn't even post any pictures of the kids last days at school and all their cute programs... so bear with me and I will give a little recap of May since it is already June!  Holy Cow! Where does all the time go?

Brinley after her end of the year dance recital... SO CUTE!

Brinley and her friend Macee.  Thanks for coming to support her! :o)

This is Brinley with her dance teacher Dena! She did such a great job with these girls and Brinley adored her! Did I mention she sewed all of their costumes... 4 different ones for each girl!!!

The princess with her brothers!

Zach playing Tiger ball!

Where we spend all of our weekends! We love it!

Morgan took the boys to Father's and Sons on the last day of school! They had been looking forward to going with their Dad.  Zach caught this lizard right before they were leaving to come home and brought it home in an empty orange juice carton, and it survived! The kids have since named this lizard Wally and gave him a home! Morgan even took them to Pet Smart to buy crickets for him to eat!

This is Boston as they are getting ready to leave! He waited all day for his daddy to come home so they could go camping!  He was so excited!

Morgan was thrilled that I made them get a picture before pulling out of the driveway!

The kids had a water party the last day of school just with the kids in our neighborhood.  Since there are only 75 of them on our street! My friend Nicole was nice enough to let them all come over and have a water fight in their backyard! They had alot of fun!

Zach and Brinley with their certificates showing they made it to 2nd and 5th grades! 

The kids on the last day of school!

Zach sporting his famous mohawk on the last day! (He still has it too!)  I've never let him keep it this long, but I've been too busy to shave it off!

The kids have loved helping Morgan working in the yard.  He decided to do a garden with them this year, and was busy putting a sprinkler system in before they could plant anything.  They had alot of fun doing it!

This is Zach with his teacher Miss Bird! He loved her as his teacher this year!

Morgan and Zach putting in the sprinklers!

My brother Matt and his family were here over Memorial Weekend and stayed with us! It was so much fun to have them here! This is my brother reading to his cute little girl Kaysha and Boston! They love him to read this story to them!

My sister Sonnet with the kids after Zach's "ROCK" concert at school!

Our cute little family! It seems we never get our picture taken together, but my sister was here to take this one!

Zach after his "ROCK" concert!

Boston after his little gymnastics meet! It was adorable, and he loved every minute of it!

The kids had their spring piano recital the weekend of Memorial Day! It made for a busy night with everything else going on, but they both did a great job on their piano pieces! Thanks to my sister for all the time she spends teaching them!

Wow! Sorry for such a long post! I guess I should post more than once a month! :o)

Boston rides a tWo WhEeLeR!!!

On Sunday Boston wanted Morgan to take off his training wheels on his bike.  He had a hard time the first day and couldn't really get the hang of it.  On Monday I took him out before the kids got home from school and all it took was about 10 minutes and he was riding by himself with a little help from me to start him out! Probably cuz once he got going I couldn't keep up with him! Ha ha!  Well, he was a pro and was so excited to show anyone and everyone his new talent! He would ride up and down the street saying hi to all the kids making sure that they knew he had learned to ride his bike!  Of course when the kids came home from school he was so excited to show them how much he had improved since the day before! And then when my sister came over to give the kids piano lessons Boston took her right out to show her.  It was then that he just took off without any help! What a kid! Needless to say he fell down alot and has lots of little bruises on his legs, but he is a trooper! He is my youngest to learn how to ride a bike for sure! I think that's just how it goes though, Boston does a ton of things that I always thought Zach was too little to do at his age! For example knowing how to work the mouse on the computer, playing video games, knowing how to use my cell phone better than I do etc.  It is amazing what these little ones know how to do at such a young age!!!

Way to go Bos! We love you! 

cOmInG uP fOr AiR!!!

I am still alive!!! I have been a HUGE slacker at posting pics lately, it's not that I haven't taken any, because I carry my camera with me at all times! :o) So, you're going to get a handful at once! These are just a few shots of our lives in the last couple of weeks! Wow! I can't believe it is already May! Only 19 days left of school for the kids! Yeah! (No, we're not counting down the days) ;o)  There are so many things I could post about to catch up, but I figure I'm so behind at this point, I'm just going to move forward!  We went to St. George for Zach's baseball tournament back in March and had a wonderful time sitting in the sun watching games, and going swimming.  We all got sunburned, but loved every minute of it!  From there we headed to Phoenix our old stomping grounds to go visit our friends.  It had been awhile since we had been, and we got to spend the whole week there- PLAYING!!! It was so much fun, and the kids and I were convinced that we needed to move back!  But, we had to come home, and what do we get when we got here?  SNOW!!! Brrrrrrr!

Then, in April was our "real" spring break, and what do we get?  More SNOW!!! K- seriously it is April here, this isn't right!  Needless to say we were a little bummed that we didn't get to do fun sunshine activities, but we still managed to have some fun without it!

So, bear with me on the pics! Remember these are only from the last couple of weeks, so you might be grateful that I didn't post for the last 2 months! Ha ha!

I love this pic of the kids! 

We were at the movies, but of course I had my camera with me!

Boston fell asleep in the back of the van coming home from the church!

Brinley with her chocolate bar!

The kids had a Primary Talent Show at the church Friday night.  Unfortunately Zach was sick and had to stay home.  Here is Brinley and Boston afterwards.  Brinley did one of her dance routines (without her costume) because they haven't gotten them yet.  And Boston thought it would be cool to shoot some hoops for everyone! They were so cute, and did such a good job!

Where's Boston?

This is how Boston fell asleep the other day in the chair! He was cold, so I wrapped him up in a blanket, and he was out!

I just thought this picture was so cute, Brinley LOVES to read to her little brother!

Brinley got this cute little apron set from her cousin at Christmas time.  Needless to say I haven't been doing a lot of baking.  But it is so nice now that I am feeling better to be able to do fun things like this with my kids again! On Sunday after dinner she wanted to make cookies and use her new apron and chef hat! Who doesn't love a little cookie dough?  Mmmmm!

Cute as a cupcake!

Last Sunday we got a knock at the door, and it was my oldest brother Mike who lives in Logan.  He was on his way back from Laughlin and St. George on his Harley and had been riding for more than a hundred miles in a huge snow storm! Needless to say he was a little cold and wet! So, stopped in to get warm.  It was so fun to get a surprise visit from him, he even stayed and ate dinner with us before he headed back on the road.  When he came in, he had all his Harley gear on, and Boston had to run right upstairs and get is monkey from Build A Bear with his Harley outfit on! So cute!

On April 21st Morgan turned the big 34!  It was pretty uneventful, but he got to be at home with his favorite people (us) and eat his favorite chocolate cake (the one his mom always made him) What more could a guy want?

We got him a new sleeping bag for his birthday, and Boston would not get out of it! He kept saying how comfy it was! He even slept in it that night by the side of our bed! Well, half the night I should say! Funny kid!

The kids wanted to make their dad a candy bar poster! We had so much fun doing it! Morgan was nice to share his candy with us.  I don't think he got any of it!

So, there you have it! Hope you survived!

The Lehi Eagles go 11-1!!!

This is a picture of Zach's basketball team this year.  They played on a leauge at The Flash Factory, and had an awesome season!  They hadn't lost a game all season and made it to the Tournament.  They won their first 2 games which were really close, it was so fun and exciting for them!  They played for the Championship against the Sharp Shooters, and ended up being a close game.  They only lost by 1 pt! They played so hard and deserved to be there! They are a good little team and had alot of fun! Thanks to the coaches who took the time to practice with these guys!

During an intense "time-out" in one of the games!

It's a GIRL!!!

Wow! I feel like I am living in a dream right now!!! We went and had our ultrasound yesterday!!! And.... it's a GIRL!!!  I am in shock!  I went and picked up the kids this morning from school! They were so excited to be able to come with us to my doctor's appt.  We met Morgan there, and Brinley was SOOOOOOO excited she couldn't even hold still! (Before we even found out!) The kids were so cute when they saw the baby on the monitor and saw the cute little face, fingers, toes, etc. And they even got to listen to the heartbeat! They thought that was pretty awesome! She was so cute, she kept putting her feet and hands up to her face! Brinley already thinks she is flexible just like her! :)  So, when the nurse got down to the bum, she had her legs wide open, with NOTHING sticking out! Ha ha!

The nurse announced that it was a girl, and I thought Brinley was going to jump through the roof! I immediately started crying and couldn't hold back the tears! I was so happy for HER! She came over and gave me a hug with a big SMILE on her face! I think she was surprised to see that I was crying... since kids associate crying with sadness.  I told her, it was because I was so happy!  Then I heard a little voice coming from somewhere else... I didn't know who it was.  I looked over, and Boston was curled up in a little ball with his face buried in the chair,  CRYING!  It broke my heart! He wouldn't let anyone touch him, or hold him! He was so sad!

K- I pictured this day going exactly opposite! I thought Brinley would be the one crying, and we would be consoling her for the next 5 months!  When I had my first ultrasound at 12 weeks, the nurse told us (even took a picture of) that she was positive it was a boy! So, Morgan and I have been thinking this whole time that this little baby inside of me was a boy! I was expecting Brinley's world to be crushed today!

After the ultrasound I held Boston and talked with him.  I asked him what he was feeling inside.  He just said he was sad. :(  In the car we talked, and by the time we got to where we were eating lunch he was fine! 

I have to say too, that Zach was SO cute with Brinley, he was so excited for HER! It was so sweet! I was wishing so bad that I had my camera there with us to capture the excitement on the kids faces and the little guy curled up in a ball!  I meant to grab it, but was too excited I forgot! I guess it's just one of those memories I will have in my heart forever! :)

Bow-Tie Chicken & Broccoli

I got this recipe from my sister and made it for my family last week.  They all loved it, and it was fairly easy! :) So, if you are looking for something new to make in the kitchen, try it!

Bow-Tie Chicken & Broccoli

1 c. broccoli chopped

2 c. carrots slices thin

2 T. veg. oil

1 1/2 lbs. chicken cubed

2 cloves garlic

1/3 c. green onion (finely chopped) 

2 T. butter

2 T. flour

2 c. heavy whipping cream

1/4 c. grated parmesan

12 oz. bow tie pasta (cooked)

2 tomatoes diced

2 T. parsley (dried)

salt, pepper

1/3 c. parmesan freshly grated

Cook broccoli and carrots.  Heat oil in skillet over med/high heat. Add chicken and garlic. Cook 5-10 min. until done.  Add green onions- saute 1 min. Remove from heat. 

White Sauce- Melt butter in saucepan. Blend flour and milk, add to pan.  Cook until thickened stirring constantly.  Stir in 1/4 cup parmesan cheese.

In a big bowl combine pasta, chicken and veges, and white sauce. Top with remaining parm. tomatoes, parsley, salt and pepper.  Toss and Serve.

sNoW in MaRcH!!!

On Saturday after Zach got done with Baseball practice I took the kids up to Logan to go to my parents house.  I was sick of being at home and needed to get away.  Morgan has been really busy at work, and was busy moving his branch across the street to the Chase branch.  So, we left town! The kids didn't have school on Monday, so I thought it was a good weekend to get away! My brother took the boys to the Aggie game Saturday night, and they had a blast! We got to keep their cute little girl Bailey and Brinley was in heaven having a little sister for the night! On Sunday we hung out and played hookie from church! Me and my mom made dinner and had all my family over.  It was my nephew's birthday and he turned 18! WOW! It was such a fun and relaxing weekend.  Well, Monday morning we woke up to SNOW! Not just a little, this picture was taken at 9:00 in the morning! It didn't stop snowing ALL day long! It was so crazy!  I wasn't about to drive through Sardine canyon with all that snow, so me and the kids decided to stay one more night! Yeah! Pary time! They were so excited to get to stay at grandpa and grandma's longer and be able to see their cousins! And not to mention they got to miss school the next day! On our way home on Tuesday I got to stop at one of my bestest childhood friends house in Brigham City. It was so fun to see her and her cute kids!  I'm so glad that we went up and were able to have a fun weekend! Heaven knows we all needed it! :)