BaSeBaLL!!!

This time of year on any given Saturday you can find us at the baseball field! My kids used to get tired of going to games every weekend, but after 3 years of Zach playing for the Lehi Tigers, we have all pretty much just gotten used to the idea and love hanging out with our "baseball family"! It is so much fun, and we have made some great friends from Zach's team!

This is us hanging out talkin to Zach after the game... love his smile!

Morgan's parents were on their way to Idaho for Mother's Day and stopped in Lehi to watch Zach play his games! It was the first nice day we had in a long time, but they thought it was cold, ha ha! I guess that's what they get from living in Arizona!

I thought this picture was cute of Morgans mom and Zach with their arms around each other after the game! Zach is such a sweet kid! :) We went to the Training Table afterwards for dinner! Mmmm love those cheese fries!

Halle giving her baby doll kisses!

Boston and his cousin Porter making silly faces!

Zach begs Boston every year to get a mohawk like his, but he has never wanted to. Well, the morning of Zach's games Boston came and asked me if I would cut a mohawk in his hair like Bubbas. So, happily I did! I think they look so cute!

Z on third!

Morgan always comes over and says hi to Halle in between innings. I put Halle up to the fence and she was just loving her daddy! So cute!

MoRe RaNdOmNeSs!

I thought this was a cute pic of Zach and Halle laying together on the floor!

Last week we decided to get all of our Little People stuff out for Halle. It honestly had dust on everything cuz they haven't been played with for so long which makes me so sad cuz that means my little kiddos are growing up! I LOVE Little People and we have a ton, so we decided to give them a bath! My kids loved it! We had to wipe all the big things down, and now they are nice and clean for Halle!

Last Fri. Brinley missed school cuz she had been running a fever. I have to say it was so nice to have her home! :) I was busy cleaning the kitchen and she was taking care of Halle. Well, even she has figured out that when she is fussy she would rather you stand with her than sit... go figure! So being the sweet sister that Brinley is, she just walked around the house like this with Halle and she fell asleep! Brin's back hurt a little after I took her and laid her down! Thanks sweetie, you are an awesome help to me and your little sister just adores you! She will be so happy to have you home this summer! As will I!

HoPe Of AmErIcA!!!

A couple of weeks ago, Zach had the opportunity to perform with other 5th grade classes in Utah at the Hope Of America concert! I had no idea how big of a deal this was... it is held at the Marriot Center at BYU. It was SO NEAT and I'm so glad that Zach got to be in it!

His school was chosen to sit down on the floor, so we had front and center seats and could see him perfectly! It was so fun, and the kids had such a great time! They were singing and doing the actions right along with them! They also perform at their school for all of the students, so Brinley already knows alot of the songs and can't wait until she gets to do it!

This is all of the students that performed! I wish I could remember the exact number, but as you can see it is ALOT!

Right when you walk into the Marriot Center there were all these pretty tulips, the sun was starting to go down, but I wanted to take Halle's picture in front of them. She was not loving the grass as you can tell by her scrunched up toes and would not even look at me!

Oh well, she still looks cute!

A DaY aT ThE DoCtOr'S!!!

My sweet two little ones right out of the bath and sound asleep together!

How sweet is that?

These two really are best buds! I always have people commenting on how much Halle looks like Boston! I have to agree! Even though Boston is a clone of Zach when he was his age, she looks like Boston as a baby for sure! We spent the morning at the doctor's office for Halle's 9 month check and Boston's kindergarten check. I don't know what I was thinking when I scheduled them at the same time (well, I thought I was killing 2 birds with 1 stone) but I was so overwhelmed after we were through I was wishing I would have done it differently. I didn't know that Boston was going to have the issues he did at the time, so there is nothing I could have done differently! I love my kids doctor! He is great! The only bad thing is we only get to see him when they have their well checks, never when they are sick! He was running behind (well I figure he was since we waited 30 min. in the room before he came in) but yet when he comes into the room he acts like he has all day and is so relaxed and cute with the kids! He spent 45 min. talking to me with questions I had about everything! He wasn't real concerned with Boston's hearing loss because of the fluid in his ears, which made me feel better, but does want me to take him to an ENT, so I made the app. and we are going next week! He was so brave getting all of his shots, and didn't even cry! They gave him a cute little bag that had a ton of things in it for him, and he has carried it by his side all day! He is so funny and won't bend his knees when he walks, thinking it will hurt his legs or something! And he won't let me take the band-aids off and has to be super careful when he pulls his pants down to go to the bathroom!

He came down with the stomach flu Tues. morning and still isn't feeling back to normal. He hadn't eaten anything for 2 days, and I finally got him to eat some chicken noodle soup this afternoon! Poor little guy, I hope he has a better day tomorrow!

My little Halle is growing like a weed! She is off the charts on her height and weight, but is starting to thin out as she is so busy now! Just in the last week she totally pulls herself up without any effort and will even let go and stand on her own! She waves bye-bye and does patty cake, and will give you five when you put your hand out! Her daddy has been teaching her that since she was tiny! She does "bonkers" with mommy, and it seems like she always has a mark on her head from falling into something! She loves to be where everyone else is, if we leave her in the room for a split second by herself she cries!

She is getting her own little personality and is so much fun, she totally brings love and laughter into our home!

We love you miss Halle and couldn't imagine life without you! We thank our Heavenly Father every day for sending you to us!

HaPpY 35th BiRtHdAy MoRgAn!

Today my hubby turned 35! He came home early to be with the ones he loves the most! His FAMILY! We had a relaxing afternoon and the kids all had their activities and places to be tonight, so he had fun playing taxi mom which is usually my job, but he thought it would be fun to take them since he usually isn't home to do it! It was nice to stay home with Halle instead of having to strap her in her car seat that she hates, like I usually do!

I made him his moms chocolate oatmeal cake which is his FAVE! Halle went to grab it and stuck her fingers in the cake when we were getting ready to sing, she loved it and wanted more! She made a huge mess, and I had to throw her in the bath when she was all done, but it was worth it!

The kids and their daddy!

Morgan is an awesome DAD and would do anything for these kiddos!

But who wouldn't do anything for these cute little faces? They are pretty cute, if I say so myself!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MORGAN!

I Love You!

ScReEnInG...

Boston had to meet with an Audiologist yesterday, this is the "sound-proof" booth he got to have his hearing test done in! He thought it was awesome!!!

Here is my little buddy!

(They did one ear at a time, that's why the earphone on his left ear is sitting on his head instead of his ear!) :o)

In the last 4 months Boston has had 3 ear infections! The last one just being over Spring Break week! When we got back from St. George I noticed when we got home that every time I would say something to him he would say "huh?" or completely just ignore me! I was getting very frustrated, after repeating myself 20 times, when finally it dawned on me that he was NOT hearing me! Morgan and I were both sure that he was going deaf and freaking out, although I figured it was something to do with his ear infections I couldn't figure out what was going on!

Last Wed. when we met with his speech teacher she suggested we just do a hearing test on him to see what was going on, I felt so much better after talking with her, and she figured he just had some fluid in his ears still (which should have cleared up after being on antibiotics) she suggested he have a more extensive hearing test done, just to make sure that's what was going on. So, she referred us to the Audiologist at Lindon Elementry. She was very nice, and LOVED Boston! He did such a great job, and although he does show hearing loss in both of his ears, it's something that should be o.k. and he will be back to normal after taking care of it!

Thank goodness he has his kindergarten check next week at the doc, and we'll see where to go from there!

HaPpY 9 MoNtH BiRtHdAy HaLLe!!!

Sadly my baby girl is 9 months today!!! Where does all the time go? It seems like yesterday we brought her home from the hospital weighing 6 lbs. 11 oz. seeming so tiny! Now she is a whoppin 21 pds! I take her in for her check up next week, so we'll see if she has gained anymore since her last ear infection when they weighed her! :(

This little girl LOVES to stand!!! She pulls herself up onto anything, it will only be a matter of time till she starts walking along things! Probably just in time for when we get our new couches we just bought today! :) She will pull herself up on something and bounce up and down for a bit, and either yell for me to come get her, or eventually she just falls! She says ma ma ma all day long and bubba (Zach likes to think she is saying his name!) Just the last couple of days she has started putting her arms up and saying "a-da" over and over! I love that she is crawling now, it is so much fun! I love to be in the bathroom doing my hair and have her come peek around the corner! She gets so excited! What fun she is! I would just die without her! Boston is her protector when the kids are at school! He is so good to her and LOVES her to death! He has never been jealous of her, that's what's nice about having him older! He is my big helper for sure! We love you little Halle! You will be turning 1 before we know it! We are going to enjoy and savor these last 3 months till then!

I love this picture of Halle touching Zach's hair! We gave him his mohawk "do" a little early this year, and she was checking it out!

NICE

This morning the kids wanted to ride their bikes to school. It has been so nice the last few days they think it is summertime! They were outside ALL day after school yesterday, in their swimming suits getting wet and running around with the other kids on our street working on their tans! :) We are definitely ready for some warm weather here! (I hear it is supposed to rain/snow tomorrow) Nice! So, anyway, when Zach opened the garage this morning I noticed my purse was sitting on the front seat in the van, along with my keys, and the ipod was in the dock! All I can say, is we live in a trusting neighborhood, cuz my doors were UNLOCKED! Now, some of you may do that every day! But my husband is so paranoid, he is usually locking the doors before I'm done getting everything out of the car! My van was in the driveway cuz the garage is full of bikes and other things (hey who needs a garage to park in anyway)! All I can say is I am glad that nothing was stolen, cuz I never would have heard the end of it from Morgan!

(this picture has nothing to do with anything, just thought it was funny of Boston being silly!)

MaRcH MaDnEsS, EaStEr, & SpRinG bReAk!!!

My sweet little baby hasn't been doing enough of this lately... That is... SLEEPING!!!

The kids went back to school this week after being out a week for Spring Break! It was so nice to have them home. It gave me a little taste of what the summer will be like! They are so much help to me! No wonder my baby just started crawling! She is always being held! We just love her too much! We headed to St. George late friday night and spent five days there hoping for some sunshine, but instead we got rain! It beats the snow that they had up North though! It was still nice to get out of town, and we always have a place to stay with my parents condo there, so that is nice!

Boston and Halle were both sick and both had ear infections, but the kids were dying to go swimming, so we took them anyway! We went to the new pool in Washington City where we used to live, it was so nice!

We also went and hiked the Narrows, the kids favorite place! It was raining so we didn't stay long, but it doesn't take them long to zip up to the top!!!

The kids right before you head up the "crack" as Boston calls it! :)

On Easter Sunday we took the kids over to the temple and took their pictures after Conference was over, they were troopers, I took a million pictures of them, Halle wasn't feeling too great and wouldn't give me many smiles, but as soon as we got home she was happy as ever! Funny little girl! Brinley on the other hand wanted to strike a pose under every tree, bush, flower, you name it!!! :)

My cute kiddos on the steps at the temple!

On Saturday we had our annual Easter Egg Hunt with my mom's side of the family at the park. There were a million kids there, I can't believe how big everyone's families are getting! There are 4 babies all born within 2 weeks of each other (Halle's age) but cute little Lance wasn't there, so we didn't get a picture of all of them! My cousin Tara is so awesome to put this together every year. The Easter Bunny even showed up this year, and had his picture taken with the kids, but those pics are on my mom's camera... Halle wasn't loving the grass in this picture... My mom's birthday was also this day, she turned 65! We had a surprise birthday dinner for her that night at my aunt's house! She had a great birthday surrounded by her family who she loves dearly!

My cute nieces Kaysha and Kyla with Brinley and Boston

(Oh, Zach and Morgan ditched out on the Egg Hunt to go watch my nephew play baseball in Mesquite, they had a great time!)

In March Morgan was able to go to Florida with CHASE bank! He earned this trip for doing such a good job at his branch and I was supposed to go with him, but wasn't ready to leave my baby! :( I figured there would be plenty of other opportunities to go and this just wasn't my time! Next year is the BAHAMAS... I am hoping he is going to make it! His brother Matt was supposed to go with him but ended up not making his flight out of Phoenix, so Morgan was there all by himself, well with other CHASE bank managers, and their spouses... sorry honey! :(

This was the view he had right outside his room...

Morgan with some of his buddies... sorry I don't know their names.

This bird was sitting right on the boat when he went Deep Sea Fishing, he thought the kids would get a kick out of it. Yes, I sent the camera with him, and he actually took pictures! So NOT like him!

This is what my little Halle is up to, she gets into everything and I LOVE it! Funny how you relax a bit with your 4th one!

We were also down in St. George for our first baseball tournament of the year in March! The weather was beautiful! This was Halle's first time in the swing, and she actually liked it I was surprised! She never liked the baby swing at home, so I didn't know how she would react. Boston hated the swings at the parks until he was about 3!

I didn't get any pics of Zach playing baseball, but I stole some from my friend Emily. Thanks for the great pictures! I absolutely LOVE this one of Zach swinging the bat and SMILING!!! That's what everyone always says about him, is that he is smiling NO MATTER what he is doing! What a good kid! I just love him!

#34 up to bat

The kids of course enjoyed some swimming again!

This was Boston both nights after the games! He was totally pooped! The weather was really crappy and we had night games both days. There was a huge wind/sandstorm and it was so cold, so we watched alot of baseball from inside the car!

Halle taking a nap on the couch. I never lay her on the couch to sleep and she had rolled over on her belly onto my favorite blanket and just looked so cozy!

We got new carpet last month and I LOVE it! It is so soft and CLEAN! We have been in need of new carpet since we lived in this house, but I guess it took a sweet little baby crawling around to convince my husband of that! We are all on the floor alot more now, cuz it just feels so good!

Halle started crawling right after we got it! Yeah!

I thought this was a cute picture of the boys laying down watching t.v. when all the furniture was moved out! Boston even fell asleep! I still haven't got my house put back together! I'm loving the emptiness of it all! Oh, and I sold our huge leather sectional that has never fit in our family room on KSL! So we have been without a couch for about 3 weeks now! Halle has lots of room to crawl around!

Sorry for such a long post, but it has been driving me crazy that I hadn't posted for so long! I really want to make my blog into books, so I love to journal about everything!

ApRiL fOOlS!!!

This picture has nothing to do with what I'm about to tell you... just Zach being a dork! :)

So, growing up we were never big into doing April Fool's jokes on each other, so I haven't really done it with my kids either. So when the kids got home from school yesterday Zach had brought home a "note" about his behavior from his teacher, and when Morgan read it he asked Zach if it was an April Fool's joke. We told him NO that it was for real but thought that it would have been a good one if he had brought it home today!!! Well, we decided to go in on the computer and look up April Fools pranks you can play on people... that was a big mistake! I think Zach was on the computer the rest of the night, and we knew he was up to something. My sister had stopped by and before she left she pulled the kids into the other room and closed the door, and gave them some great advice as well! So, this all started last night... I had fallen asleep with the kids when Morgan came in and asked me what was wrong with the mouse on the computer, that it wouldn't WORK. I was still half asleep and told him that there has been problems with it, and then remembered that was one of the pranks we had read on the computer. I told him to go unplug the mouse and bring it in to me (yes, I was too lazy to get out of bed) I looked at the bottom of it, and sure enough there was a "tiny" piece of paper taped to the bottom of the sensor! Ha Ha the jokes on you I said, but at this point Morgan wasn't very happy, he had already been messing with it for 45 min. unplugging it, rebooted the computer, messing with the settings, you name it!!! :o) He had finally given up and was coming to bed. He was trying to pay our bills online since it is the first of the month and they are due! So, he stayed up and did that before he came to bed! Around 3:30 a.m. I hear little pitter patters running around my house and some giggling! I looked at the clock and thought what the crap are those kids doing? But, once again I was too tired to get up and thought I would let them have their fun! It was about 4:30 when I got up to go to the bathroom and noticed there was saran wrap on the toilet! (Yes, thank you Sonnet) but the funny little farts used my cling wrap that isn't as see through as the saran wrap! Ha ha! I won't give you stories on all the rest, but a few other things they had done they had put salt on our toothbrushes (good thing we wet our toothbrushes before we put on the toothpaste) mixed up the salt and sugar shakers, changed all the clocks in the house, and were coming in the bedroom at 6:00 a.m. (right when Morgan's alarm was going off) to put toothpaste on his hand! Funny little buggers! They seriously had been up all night thinking of things they could do to trick us! Let's just say they were rookies this year and left their mischief in plain site! We will remember this and think of something good next year to get them back! But for now, I am too tired, I have had a pounding headache all day from not sleeping! I went and got a diet coke about 4 to see if that would help, but it hasn't! I think we are all going to bed at 8 tonight!

Happy April Fool's you kiddos!

KiDs DaY!!!

Today Boston and I were eating lunch and he asked me "Mom, why isn't there a kid's day?" I said what do you mean a kid's day? "Well, I want there to be a kids day where the kids get to stay in bed and you bring us whatever we want" so I asked him, like breakfast in bed? He said "ya, and we get presents too, it would be just like Mother's Day, and Father's Day, but for KIDS!!!"

This kid cracks me up! I wish I was better at writing things down that he says, half the time I'm too tired. But I just got done laying by him to go to sleep and was thinking about all the funny things he says! Love you Buna! :o)

Ventura, California!!!

Last Wednesday my nephew Braeden (my brother Mike's oldest boy) received his mission call!!! We knew he was going to be getting it that day because he didn't get it the week before, and it usually doesn't take more than 2 weeks to get your call! Everyone was going over to his house that night at 7 to see him open it. When my kids got home from school I was telling them that he got it and they asked if we were going up to Logan to see him. I told them that I wasn't planning on it, and they all wanted to go so bad! I explained to them that it would be a lot of driving and we would have to come back that same night because they had school the next day, but they didn't care! I'm a pretty spontaneous person, (just ask my husband :o) so we hurried and picked up the house, grabbed some movies for the car, and some pillows and blankets and we were out of there! I had to call Zach's coaches and tell them what we were doing, he was supposed to have baseball AND basketball practice! They both understood, which I was so happy for! I really wanted Zach to be there! I decided to surprise everyone since they had no idea that we were coming! I am so glad that we decided to go up for the night! I think that my kids will remember that night forever! Braeden is such a good kid, and my kids really look up to him being the oldest cousin! He is so talented and has so many things going for him! So... anyway, he is going to Ventura California!!! English speaking! He is VERY excited! We were all a bit shocked cuz everyone thought he would be going out of the country for some reason and learning a language! But sometimes the Lord has a different plan in store! :) He leaves on June 9th!

It was so fun to be there, it was a quick trip but well worth it!

CONGRATULATIONS BRAEDEN!!! We are so happy for you!

SaCrIFiCeS...

I was talking to a friend the other day and we were talking about how as a mom you make sacrifices everyday! Even if it means giving your last bite of chocolate cake to your cute little boy sitting next to you! :) Now these aren't sacrifices that I feel I HAVE to make, but because I want my kiddos to be happy and to be taken care of, and as their mother I have that responsibility! I feel like I always put myself last, not on purpose, but because I feel like I need to take care of them first! I'm not complaining, that's just my life, and I LOVE it! Even getting ready for church, I am ALWAYS the last one getting ready! Maybe I should change that and we could actually start being on time! :)

Well, for Christmas I got one of

THESE

because our other ihome speakers were going out and sounded terrible. I thought it would be nice to have in the bedroom with a clock and thought maybe I would listen to my ipod more if it was in my bedroom. Well, seeing as how Zach got a new itouch for Christmas he was always coming in and charging his ipod or listening to it or whatever, which was fine! But I started thinking about it and realized he was getting a lot more use out of it than I was. So, after school yesterday I told him that he could just take it up to his room and have it! He was so super excited! He was so cute, and so HAPPY! As he was unplugging it he actually thought about it and said, "But mom, what are you going to use for a clock?" I hadn't really thought about that part, and I said "I'll just use the one you have in your room". So, he kindly brought it down for me and plugged it in on my dresser. When I went in my bedroom later, I just started laughing, because there on my dresser sat something like this...

this was the very first alarm clock that we got Zach when he was in kindergarten so he would know what time it was when he woke up! Since then, Spongebob's head has fallen off... but this is what I get to look at, each night to see what time it is! Thankfully it is dark! :)

So, there my friends is another example of a mothers sacrifice!!!

Good Health...

I woke up today and while getting everyone ready for church, realized that NO ONE is sick right now! (knock knock, that was me knocking on wood! :) I have to say it is so nice to not be wiping snotty noses, or constantly giving someone medicine! It is so nice to feel WELL! I think we all take for granted our good health until... we get sick! So, for once I am going to shout out and say Thank You for my 4 wonderful healthy kiddos who I love so much! I hate for any of them to be sick, and am so grateful for their healthy little bodies! What miracles they are!

I couldn't post without a picture! This is from Brinley's photo shoot we had done when she turned 8!

I don't think I ever posted any of them, so I am now! :)

Jackie Robinson- An American Hero

Last month at school Zach had to choose someone who he thought was an "American Hero" and do a research project on him/her. He came home with a list of people to choose from and had 2 days to make a decision. Of course he wanted to do someone who was sports related so he could actually "enjoy" the project! I have to say when he brought home the letter from his teacher I was feeling a little overwhelmed about the project not realizing how much of it they were really going to be doing at school! Zach chose to do his project on Jackie Robinson- the first black person to ever play baseball in the Major Leagues! Zach started by finding his 3 sources of information which he did just by checking out books at the library at school! Mrs Wood is the cutest librarian at the school and helped him find what he needed! Next, Zach read ALL of these books and took notes on 3x5 cards on points he would want to remember! He wrote his report all on his own which was 7 pages hand written (3 pages typed) and had to give an oral presentation to his class. I was worried about how he was going to memorize the whole thing but came to realize that after doing that much research he pretty much knew everything about him, and he was able to just get up there and "talk". I am so proud of him and all of the work he put into this report! It was so fun to sit and listen to him tell me the stories he had read about him! It was like he was really becoming to know this guy! He was so impressed with the determination that Jackie had and his motto he lived by to never give up. He was graded on a number of things and one was the costume. It ended up coming together at the end, I borrowed things from different people (thank you!) and ended up getting this Dodgers shirt and had #42 and Robinson put on the back! It was really cute! I was able to go to his classroom and listen to his oral presentation and the next night they had a "wax museum" for all the parents to come to! This is something only the 5th graders do at the school, and it was awesome! They did the wax museum at the school during the day for the students to come and see too! We just went around to each classroom and each student had to stand still and pose like a statue! When someone would "push" your button you got to talk and tell a fact about yourself and were able to move around, but when you were done, you had to freeze again! All of these kids did such a good job! It was so fun to go around and see all the different kids! We are already starting to think who Brinley will be when she gets to do it!

This was one of the poses Zach did... yes his arms got a little tired! :)

Brinley and Boston posing with Jackie!

I am so proud of you Zach for all of the hard work you put into this! Way to go for getting 200/200 points!