Family Pictures 2010

Summer is almost over...

Wow, I can't believe that summer is almost over. The kids will be starting school in a month.

We have been so busy with everything that I actually feel like we haven't had any summer time fun. Does everyone feel that way?

Here is a run down of what we have been doing.....
Lots of baseball
Roping
Gymnastics
Swimming Lessons
Swimming for fun
Camping (1 time)
Scout camp
Scout day camp
Scouts in general
The boys each spent a week at a cousins house
Yard work
Funeral (Josh's grandpa)
Wedding
BBQ's
Trip to St. George
2 baptisms
Church callings
Josh traveling for work
Don't forget.... Laundry and cleaning

Kody got his cast off a few weeks ago. I'm not sure who is more relieved, me or him. He finally feels like and he can actually go and do something. He is looking forward to lots of roping and hopefully we will be able to hit some junior rodeos this fall. Between rodeos and Brady's fall ball, fall is not going to be slowing down for us.

Finally some pics!!

Grayce's 6th Birthday

Brady's 8 th Birthday

Kody and Grandpa John

Libby, Logan (cousin) and Grayce at Bridal Vail Falls.

Brady on 3rd base.

Kody, Jagun (cousin) and Josh at Bridal Vail Falls.

Grayce at Bridal Vail Falls

Brady's Baptism.

This one is for you Amanda :-)

Yesterday I had a friend say to me "When are you going to update your blog?" I know it's long over do, so here you go Amanda!

We have been so busy the last few months. The boys are both playing baseball, (up until recently). That has been taking up 6 nights a week. Kody is playing on city league team, He has been having a hard time with it because he doesn't have the best coach. ( I would have to agree because he doesn't even show up to all the games.) He has been playing shortstop, pitcher and catcher. It sure is weird to see him behind the plate. He has never played catcher a day in his life! But he does a great job at whatever position he is playing. Last Wednesday at practice, a kid ran into him while running the bases and broke Kody's arm. He has been so bummed that baseball season is over for him. I admit, I'm a little bummed too but, also relieved. I love watching him play baseball. He is such a good athlete. Kody finished the 7th grade with another 4.0. ( I wonder where he gets his brains from? His dad, maybe). Hopefully he will get his cast off in July and maybe he will feel like he will get some sort of summer. I told him I'm going to wrap him up in bubble wrap because this is is 5th broken bone. He has had 3 broken arms and 2 broken legs. What am I going to do with this kid???
Brady is playing on a super league baseball team. At first I was a little nervous about him playing for such a competive league, But it has turned out really good. He plays in either Salem, Spahish Fork, Aline and Payson on Monday nights, then in tournaments on the holiday weekends. Memorial weekend was his first tournament and they played great even though they lost. He plays first base, shortstop and catcher. He has a great coach and we are looking forward to him playing on this team for the next few years. Brady also turned 8 in May. He got baptized yesterday. We are so proud of him for making the choice to be baptized. He is such a good kid. Thanks to all of you who shared this special day with us. We love you all! Brady finished the 2nd grade. He did awesome in all of his classes and is so excited to go to 3rd grade.
Grayce finished kindergarten and is sad that she doesn't get to see her teacher anymore. She had an end of year program. It was so cute. She read a book to all the parents and did such a great job. She is such a great reader. She also had a gymnastics meet for the parents. She also did a great job in that. She does cartwheels every where she goes whether it's at church, the grocery store, the library, or our family room floor. It's amazing how she catches on so fast to all the new things they teach her. She is looking forward to doing more gymnastics over the summer. Grayce turned 6 in April. She had a bowling party with all of her friends. They had so much fun.
Libby just gets dragged around everywhere we go. She is such a trooper! She is still busy as ever and makes us laugh everyday. Yesterday she didn't want her hair done and I said, "Libby, somtimes I think you were meant to be a boy". And the tears started to fall. She said she was a "girl". I couldn't help but laugh at her and yes, she never wants her hair done. I'm lucky to get it combed. She has started to love to sing. It is so cute when she sings " You are my sunshine".
We just love her death!
Josh and I are doing great! We both run here and there and sometimes in opposite directions, trying to get the kids where they need to be. We are both exausted by the end of they day but, it is totally worth it. Josh isn't riding as much as he would like, but maybe when baseball is over with then he will have a few free nights. We have had a lot of company the last few weekends. We have had fun spending time with cousins. Next weekend....it's their turn to have us at their house!

P.S. I hope you enjoyed the update Amanda. I will try and do better just for you!!

Josh's blog

Check out Josh's finance blog. He is so excited to get this going.

www.everyonecanbuildwealth.blogspot.com

Basement FINISHED!!

Wahoo!!! The basement is finished! We are all moved in (well mostly, just a few more things needing to be moved), furniture delivered, but we are not decorated yet. We are loving the extra space. I will post pictures soon.

The boys are finishing up basketball. They both have had great seasons. Baseball starts next month!! We are so excited. I love watching the boys play.

More to come soon.......

We have been so busy. I thought maybe it would slow down after the holiday's got over with, boy was I wrong. We had a great Christmas and New Year. We are all ready to tackle a New Year!

We are finishing the rest of the basement. They are hanging sheetrock this week. We are so excited to get it done. Grayce has been wanting her room painted forever, so we painted this past weekend. She choose purple, it really turned out cute. While we were painting Grayce's room Libby kept saying "paint my wall pink", so we painted her room pink. Now that that is done I need to buy new bedding for both of their rooms since neither one of them matches. I would post pictures but my camera is messed up and won't let me put pictures on my computer. Hopefully that will be fixed SOON!


Josh spent this last week in Florida for work. We are glad that was the last trip there. I don't know of any other trips that he has planned, so hopefully he is home for awhile. He tries to ride the horses a few times a week, but that can get hard between work, scouts, kids activites and just everyday life. I am so thankful that he works so hard. I don't know what we would do without him.

Kody and Brady both started basketball. Kody plays with 8th graders this year and he looks like the little guy. He has lots of growing to do in the next year. He has almost passed me up though. Brady has so much fun playing. His friend is on his team and sometimes I think they forget that they have other team mates on the court because all the do is pass to each other. They are so funny! Grayce is in gymnastics and loves it. She smiles the whole time she is there. Last week she got to ring "the bell", because she did something all by herself. She was so excited. Libby is so busy. Most days I can't keep up with her. She is starting to talk so well. She makes us laugh everyday. Sometimes I wish she would stop growing and stay the size she is.

I keep busy taking the kids to and from school, taking them to their activities, cleaning, doing laundry and did I say cleaning? At the first of the year I decided that I was going to try and not be such a clean freak with my house. I'm really trying to not clean my floors everyday. Yes, I mop and vacuum EVERYDAY! I'm having a very hard time not doing it. It's amazing how the mop just ends up in my hands. :-) Well, anyways....We hope everyone is doing well and hopefully soon I will be able to post pictures and give an update of our basement.

Forgetful me

I was going to update our blog, but I just spent the last hour and a half changing the background on our blog. Maybe if I posted more, I would actually remember how to do things.

A little of what we have been doing.....

Kody turned 13 on the 12th of November. I hope I can survive these teenage years. He is good, great kid. We are very proud of him. He also got his first deer. He was very proud. Thanks Grandpa for taking him!!

The boys start basketball soon and Grayce starts gymnastics tomorrow. She is so excited. She has been wanting to do gymnastics forever. I'm sure she will do great!

Josh has been home for a few weeks. He is home until the January, then he will do a bit of traveling again. His job is great. He loves it. (except for the travel part)

We had a great Thanksgiving. It was nice to see the family. We also went and cut a christmas tree over the break. The kids had a blast, they actually got to sled a little bit.

Next week Josh and I head to Vegas for the NFR. We are going with Jade and Amanda, we always have such a good time. We are so excited to go!

More updates to come.....

Halloween and Libby's 2nd birthday.

Ahhhh....Grayce thought Brady and pretty scary looking.

Grayce laughing like a witch.

Brady looks pretty scary. His black hair made all of us laugh. He now wants to die his hair black.

Libby wanted nothing to do with her costume. She went trick or treating just like that.

Libby turned 2 on the 27th. She was so excited about her bike. She rides it all over the house.

She was also excited about her clothes. Thanks to both Grandma's and Grandpa's.

She loved her birthday balloons.

WAHOO soccer is over!

Brady and Grayce both played soccer this year. Brady loved it and played great. Grayce on the other hand....hated it. It was a fight to get her to go every game except for the last one. She was actually excited to go because she knew it was her last one. I don't think we will be doing soccer with her next year. I am glad it is over!! Kody got braces this last week. His mouth sure has been sore. He sure does look different. Kody and Josh went muzzleloader hunting a few weeks ago. Kody missed a few. Oh well, hopefully next year. Josh has been traveling ALOT. We hope he will be able to stay home soon.

Here's an update....

View from our hotel

Libby running away from the wave.

Me and Josh.

Grayce loves to pose.

Me and my girls.

Kody getting ready to snorkel.

Brady just wanting to wear the snorkel mask. He was scared to actually go snorkeling.

My kiddos.

Wow, we have been so busy!! The time just flies by. We went to Florida for 2 weeks. We had a great time. We loved sitting on the beach everyday. We all came back nice and tan, except for Josh. He was working all the time. We went to the Miami SeaAquirum. That was a lot of fun. The kids loved it. We also went to the Florida Marlins baseball game. They lost, but we still had a good time. All the kids did really good for their first time for flying. I think they all liked it.

The boys started school last week. Brady is in 2nd grade. He is loving every minute of it. Kody started 7th grade. Middle school is a big change but he seems to be liking it and Grayce started Kindergarten today. She was so excited to go. Brady and Grayce are both playing soccer. Brady loves it. Grayce told me she didn't want to play anymore after her first game. She "hates" it. I'm guessing she will probably change her mind.

Josh is keeping busy. He is traveling a lot and riding the horses when he can. Hopefully someday he will stay home!!

A little change of plans...

This week we found out that Josh is going to Florida for the month of August and part of September for work. So we decided for me and the kids to go for some of the time. We leave August 2nd and come back the 14th. The kids are so excited to go and to especially fly on an airplane. We had to cancel swimming lessons. Hopefully we will be able to get them in later in the year. We have so much school shopping to get done before we go.

Kody's baseball team got beat out of the tournament. They all played great but was bummed when they lost. I guess it had to end sometime!!

A little update....

Wow....summer is so busy. I need to be better at updating. We are all doing great!!
Kody is still playing baseball. His state tournament starts this week. He also went to scout camp for a week, he had so much fun and earned quite a few merit badges.
Brady is also playing baseball. He is having so much fun. He is such a good little ballplayer. He also starts swimming lessons in a few weeks. He is not excited about that.
Grayce is taking the summer off from dance and she wants to start gymnastics this fall. I think she will do great with that. She will also start swimming lessons in a few weeks. She is excited!!
Libby is so darn busy. She keeps me on my toes. She makes us laugh everyday. She constantly wants to go "side". She lives outside. Just put her swimming suit on and set up the pool and she is happy. As for me and Josh...we are so busy!! Josh has been traveling a little bit this summer and not roping as much as he would like too. I'm not so sure that will change. He also went to scout camp with Kody. He had such a good time. He loves being involved with the scouts. Me...I'm just trying to keep up with everything. Life is just so busy!! I hope I brought everyone up to date on everything. Hope all is well with everyone!!

Kody's baseball

Kody's baseball team did great this year. They took 2nd in the city tournament. Now they are off to state in July. We are so proud of him.

Wasatch Back Relay 2009

This is just before we got started. I was so nervous that I made myself sick. My nerves settled down after my first run.

This is when we just finished. I think the first picture is a lot better. Don't you????

We had a great time running. Months of training was very worth it. Josh ran 21 miles and I ran 15 1/2 miles. My knees has never hurt so bad in my life. I could barely walk when we got home. Josh...his calves only hurt a little bit. We started at 7:10 a.m on friday and finshed at 1:14 p.m. on saturday. 30 hours!!! Great Job Team!!

In the picture....Josh, Me, Bo, Randy, Brit and Sharie.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Just a little update....We have been so busy the last few weeks. The kids are out of school and we do baseball, baseball and more baseball. It seems like we have had little time for the horses. Josh was out of town last week. We are glad that he is home.

Nest weekend Josh and I are running in the Watach Back relay from Logan to Park City. Yes.....we are a little crazy, but I think it will be fun. That pretty much sums it up. Hope all is well with everyone.

Hawaii pictures!!

This is at our Luau. It was fun to make all the things we are wearing. We also ate dinner and watch a fire show that they did.

This is the waterfall that we hiked up to. It was so pretty. Sorry the picture is a little blurry.

This is on our dinner cruise. We ate steak and crab legs. Josh loves his Hawaiian shirt. We bought Brady one and he is not so sure about it.

This is when we went on a sail boat and went snorkeling. I was nervous at first because the water was really deep. Once I got in I was ok. It was amazing all the different types of fish that are swimming around you. Snorkeling was one of our favorite things to do. We also liked wearing swimming suits everyday.

Josh snorkeling. He was waiting for me to jump in. The water was so clear. It was beautiful.

This is at our hotel. We could have stayed longer if we would have had our kids with us. We wanted to see them at about day 8.

This is the beach at our hotel. We loved laying there and at the pool. We loved that there was not very many people.

This is also at our hotel. We had such a good time on our trip. I can't wait to go back. We did so many fun things and we also had time to relax on the beach. We enjoyed every minute of it!! Thanks Josh for taking me!! And also thanks to all of our babysitters, Clint and Megan, Grandma Janet, Grandma Susan and Grandpa John, Cassie and Seth. We couldn't have gone without all of your help. Thanks again!!

Getting back to real life

So we are back from Hawaii. We had so much fun. I can't wait to go back. Yes....I'm already planning. We have been back for 2 days and it has been so crazy!!. Getting back to real life has been an eye opener. We came back on Brady's Birthday and we made it in time for his program at school (we thought we might miss it). He was so excited when he saw us walk in. He did such a good job. He is such a smiler.

When we got home Libby was asleep and when she woke up I noticed she wasnt herself. I decided to take her into the DRs to get her ears checked. She did have an ear infection and they did a chest x-ray because she sounded weezy. The x-ray showed air bubbles in her stomach and her intestines were enlarged. Her stomach was very extended and was as hard as a rock. Next thing I knew we were admitted to the hospital. They thought she had a kinked bowel and she was really dehydrated. They gave her an IV, had to poke her twice. It was so sad. She hated that IV. Once she got hydrated things started to move around in her belly. I could just feel her belly roll. Final diagnosis...... viral infection. Who knew!! I think the nurses were glad when we went home because she CRIED ALOT! Now that we are home, she is doing better. She is still not herself though.

Thanks Amanda for taking Brady and Grayce while we were at the hospital.

Hawaii pictures will get posted soon. I still need to put them on my computer.

PCC, Mark Eubank, and Snorkeling

Kerri is sound asleep in beautiful Hawaii, so I'm writing a "guest post". If it displays as a big mess, well...I'm a rookie.

We're here for nine days and when I talk to people who are only here for four days I'm not sure how they are going to have any time to relax. We have so many plans to see and do things that we'll have to sneak some R&R time in from 3-4am.

We started yesterday morning at around 5:30am with a five mile run. I love running listening to ocean waves. It was so beautiful and the air actually has oxygen in it!!

Yesterday we went to the Dole Plantation, the North Shore, the PCC, and the Temple Visitor's center.

The Dole Plantation was first. The tour was interesting, but the highlight was definitely the pineapple at the end. It was so fresh!! I had no idea there were so many types of pineapple.

After our taste of pineapple we were famished, so had to make a quick roadside stop at a shrimp shack for lunch. We had steak and HUGE prawns for $11. Worth every penny and a whole lot cheaper than the $9/gallon milk. The shack doesn't do justice to the food. If you've ever eaten a burger from Brand X in Springville, you understand.

After lunch we drove over to the LDS Temple Visitor's Center. The temple was in really bad shape and was missing the angel Moroni. At first we were shocked then when we got close we realized it was under construction. We went into the visitor's center anyway and had a tour from our favorite weatherman, Mark Eubank. He is as friendly and bubbly in person as he is on TV. When he walked across the room Kerri and I both looked at each other and said, "Is that Mark Eubank?" You'd have thought we were a couple of groupees following Sheryl Crow (the hottest 40+ woman on the planet).

After the visitor's center we hit the PCC for a few hours. The PCC is incredible. I didn't realize that all of the Polynesian cultures believe they migrated from Hawaii to the other islands.

I just realized how long this update has gotten, so won't bore you with many details. Suffice it to say, the PCC is incredible. Coming to Hawaii and not seeing it would be like going to Yellowstone and not seeing wildlife.

I'm such a bad-ass with my tat! Kerri said it made me almost as manly as the Somoans who slapped themselves in the face so hard it made me hurt.

This kid was a rookie tree climber. He went up about 10 feet, but the other guys were at the top of the coconut trees.

After seeing all of the manly things the Polys did while were there I think Kerri was thinking about taking this guy home in my place.

After the PCC we went snorkeling in Turtle Bay. We didn't think the PCC would be topped, but the snorkeling was incredible. It took us a minute to stop hyperventilating, but once we did the fish were beautiful. We didn't see any turtles this time, but we're told they're there most of the time. We'll head back later in the week to see if we can swim with the turtles. We're snorkeling most of this afternoon on a cruise where we're supposed to get to swim with dolphins.

And last, but not least...I had to share a couple of flower pictures. They're everywhere and they're beautiful.