Steamboat

Every day I look out my back windows and can see the mountains.  Albeit, I see them over a sea of houses and through some power lines, but I can still see them.  If we had ended up moving to Dallas last year, I would have seriously missed being near them.  I love seeing them every day.  When we went to California and visited a couple of different beaches, it was very beautiful, but to me, nothing compares to the mountains.  Maybe it's because I have lived near them my whole life.  I love the beauty of them, the smell of the pine, the spontaneous growth of wild flowers where it seems like they shouldn't be growing, water falls, and no matter how hot it gets during the day, once the sun goes down, the air feels crisp and cool.  (I don't like being hot.) 

It has been our tradition for the last 10 years (except last year) or so to spend at least one long weekend up in the mountains.  Our destinations vary each year.  We have stayed in Steamboat Springs, Silverthorne, Breckenridge, and Estes Park, to name a few.  This year we stayed up in Steamboat, one of my all time favorites.  Not only is there tons to do, but the scenery is just gorgeous, and the drive up is beautiful too.

We kept seeing abandoned barns and houses along the way.  Trent could tell I was dying to get some pictures, so he pulled over for me.  (Actually, I think he just wanted to have an excuse to be able to put the car in 4WD.  Whatever road there used to be to get to this cabin was long gone.)

Our condo wasn't quite ready when we got in to town, so we spent some time at the pool while we waited.  The boys had themselves a serious chicken fight.  Trenton was ruthless!

He was dunking Colson right and left.  Colson was too busy laughing his head off.

At least he helped Colson back up every time he dunked him.

After a while, grandpa had had enough of his face and head getting pulled all over the place and opted for no more chicken fights.

That was fine with Preston because he stole grandpa for his own and jumped to him in the pool for the next half hour.

The next day we spent the better part of the morning fishing.  Preston had been begging me for weeks to take him fishing, so we thought we better let him try it while we were there.

I think this is the only picture I have of him sitting.  Once he figured out how to cast, sitting was out of the question.  Fishing for Preston means cast, reel it in, cast, reel it in, cast, reel it in, and all at top speed to boot.  We kept trying to tell him to leave the worm in the water so he could get a bite, but he just couldn't do it.  I think he tried out everyone's fishing pole, besides his own, too.  He would get his line tangled or caught on something, then would go convince one of us to hand over our pole to him, then he would get our line caught or tangled on something just in time for us to have his pole ready to go again.  He had SO MUCH FUN though!  All of the fixing and untangling of the fishing line and the rebaiting of the hook was totally worth it.

Vivi loved fishing too.  I think she stood in this same spot the entire time we were there.  Grandpa was so nice to teach her how to fish.

Colson had a great time.  He tried every spot on the lake until he found where the fish were biting best.  He got really close to catching one on three different occasions.

Trenton thought he had a big one, and was a little disappointed when this was what he pulled out of the water.  ;)  While no one caught a fish that morning, we still had a great time trying.

Later that day, we took a short hike up to the falls.

We thought we'd take a break in the shade for a short minute.  My kids sure do love their grandpa.  It's no wonder because he's so good to them.

The kids with Janet and Steve.

Here are the falls.  Beautiful!

I am so terrified of heights, it was all I could do to make myself sit on this little ledge for a family photo.

Preston and gramps.

 My mom, Colson and Steve.

I had Jilly in the Moby wrap the whole time we were hiking, and it was a toasty day.  By the time we got back to the car, she and I were a sweaty mess!

Later that evening, Trent, the kids, Janet and Steve headed back to the pond to try their hand at fishing again.  Colson caught one this time!  And of course I don't have a picture because I was back at the condo fixing dinner.

We had such a fun weekend spending lots of time together doing fun things and enjoying some beautiful scenery.

3 Months Old

I have been horrible about taking pictures of Jillian.  Or any pictures at all if truth be told.  I find I am a little lacking in the time department.  And I lost my small camera, so to drag the big camera around all the time, on top of everything else, can be a bit cumbersome.  But, I decided the other day though that enough time has passed us by, and Jilly needed a photo shoot.  Here is what we ended up with.

Oh, I just adore her!

Blessing Day

On Father's Day, Trent had the wonderful opportunity to give Jillian a name and a blessing.  He did a beautiful job with the blessing, and my mom did a beautiful job with the dress.

Love, love, love Trenton's face in this picture.  And we were lucky to get Preston in the picture at all.  We were sure glad to have our parents and my brother with us on that day.  I miss my dad every day, but especially on baby blessing days.  I know he was there in spirit though.

Here's a little bit closer up on the amazing dress my mom made.

The baby's pretty cute too. :)

We're so grateful for this wonderful little bundle that has come to join our family.  We sure love her!

One Year Older, and Wiser Too!

Trent had a birthday last week.  We've had a lot of birthdays to celebrate lately!

Super man, super hubby, super dad... He is just super!

 Love the balloon launch.

Trent turned 36 this year.  He's getting awfully close to 40! ;)

I love how Colson always squeezes in to the picture.  Let me demonstrate...

I have years worth of pictures of him doing this at events/birthdays of others.  He's always ready for a photo opp!  He cracks me up, that's all there is to it.

Anyway, back to Trent.  We had a birthday/Father's day get-together at our house.

 I love Colson's face in this one.  Preston's is pretty good too.

They all spent about an hour on the computer watching things on Youtube and laughing over "Sasquatch" commercials, among other things.  It got a little loud at our house.  If you've ever heard Trent laugh, it can be explosive, and very loud.  (He has the best laugh ever!)  His dad and brother laugh just like him.  So with those three, my brother, and four of my kiddos, it was LOUD... but oh, so funny.

Happy birthday babe!  We sure love you!

Ouch!

Ever since summer appeared and we have been out enjoying the nice weather more, Preston's poor little arms and legs have taken a beating!  Scrapes, bumps and bruises everywhere.  I'm sure it doesn't help that he is... shall we say, reckless?  The child has no fear!

 Poor little legs.  He has gotten several more scrapes and cuts since I took these photos.

This was a nasty one.  It bled like crazy.  He was trying to scooter down the neighbors front steps when he acquired it.  I found him at the top of those same steps not two days later, on his bike this time.  Obviously he hadn't learned his lesson.  He was sorely disappointed when I caught him and put a stop to it before he could even get rolling.

Falling and getting hurt never seems to faze him though.  He gets right back up and keeps on going!

Recitals, and Other Things

Trenton, Colson and Vivian all had their dance recitals a couple of weeks ago.  It was a full week between Twilight Camp, Trent being out of town, end of the school year parties, dress rehearsals, and then the actual recitals.  We had a few mishaps through all of the running around one of the nights.  We had twilight camp and dress rehearsals that night, which meant an afternoon and evening of a lot of driving back and forth.  We've all been there and done that, I'm sure.

Well, amidst all of the chaos, Jillian happened to get locked in the car, all alone, just as we were getting ready to head into the boys' dress rehearsal.  I've never had a child locked in the car by themselves before, let alone a new born babe.  I had no way to call for help either because along with Jilly, mine and Trenton's phones were both locked in the car as well.  I had been in the process of getting all the kids and the stroller out of the car when Preston thought he would jump in the front seat and press a few buttons.  He hopped out, closed the door, and there Jilly was, locked in the car by herself.  I was already a little (okay, a lot!) frazzled with all of the different things all the kids had to be to that night, so this was kind of the icing on the cake.  I screamed out, almost at the top of my lungs, "Jilly is locked in the car!!!"  The kids all immediately started balling, (except Preston, he just asked why I locked Jillian in the car,  the little turd) which got me crying.  The upside was I got to see how much they all love and care for their baby sister!  Luckily a very nice woman happened by at the time and was so kind as to let me use her cell phone.  We called 911 and a fire truck was there in less than 10 minutes.  It seemed like forever though as I listened to my baby in the car, screaming her head off.  It took them no longer than 30 seconds to get the doors unlocked.  They seemed pretty practiced at it, so I'm thinking this might be something they get called on for frequently.  Preston and Vivi even got to sit in the fire truck for a bit, which was the highlight of Preston's whole life so far, I'm pretty sure.  I told him not to get any ideas and lock his sister in the car on purpose just so he can sit in a fire truck again.  Anyway, we made it in to the dress rehearsal with no other mishaps.  Thank heavens.

The dance recitals were that next Saturday.  The kids did so great!

Vivi did tap and ballet again this past year.  I can't believe she just finished her third year of dance!  She wants to take hip hop next year too.

This is the boys' hip hop teacher, Brock.  He is an awesome teacher.  You can always tell which dance groups are his.  They are always the most original and get the most applause.  They rocked the house this year!

The kids all did amazing at their recitals this year.  Can't wait for dance to start up again in the fall!

Wonderful Teachers

Our kids were very blessed again this year to have some amazing teachers.

It was Preston's turn this year to go to Miss Jen's Joy School.  I have mentioned Miss Jen before, and in case you forgot, we just love her to pieces!  She is the absolute best!  I was very lucky to be able to be a helper in her class for half of the year, (until some complications with my pregnancy put a stop to it) and I had so much fun.  Jen is just so fun and amazing with the kids.  She had me laughing so hard sometimes I thought I was going to pee my pants.  It's no wonder all of the kids love her so much.  Not only is she super fun, but it is amazing what she is able to teach such little kids in one school year.  We're so excited that Preston gets to go to her school for one more year!  We're hoping she is still teaching preschool when Jilly starts.  ;)

Vivi had an amazing teacher this year as well.  Mrs. Winkler is everything you would want in a Kindergarten teacher.  She is incredibly sweet, and the kids just love her.  Vivi always came home from school saying, "I didn't want to come home yet!  I wanted to stay at school longer!"  Vivi learned so much this year, and we are grateful she had such a fantastic teacher.

Colson had Ms. Schaefer this year, who Trenton had when he was in fourth grade.  We were so excited for Colson to be in her class.  One of the things I love most about Ms. Schaefer is her sense of humor.  She is so much fun.  Colson had a great year this year and is all ready to start 5th grade in a couple of months.  Holy crud!  I'm going to have two kids in middle school after this next school year!  Aaahhh!

We're so thankful the kids have had another fabulous year at school, and are ready for a nice break this summer before it all starts again.  ;)

Trenton

May was a busy month for us.  It typically is, especially as we have had more kids start school.  We also have lots of birthdays that month.  Besides Colson, we celebrated Trenton's and my bro-in-law, Sean's birthday, which happens to be on the same day.

We all went out to Mt. Fuji this year for their birthday.

The birthday boys.

Preston was fascinated with all of the amazing food flipping, blazing fires, and all that goes along with a chef cooking your food right in front of you.  I've never seen that kid sit so still for a meal! ;)

On the real day of his birthday, Trenton chose teddy bear pancakes for dinner, and his all-time favorite, cheesecake, for dessert.

He was ultra spoiled this year and got a cell phone for his birthday.  He's been begging for one FOREVER!  Seriously... since he was about 9.  We kept telling him he wasn't going to get one until he was at least 14, so when he woke up that morning to an iPhone box dangling in his doorway, he was more than thrilled!  When he woke up that morning, all I heard coming from the direction of his room were ecstatic whispers of, "What is this?! Oh, my gosh! What is this?!  Colson! What is this?!"  I love when we can surprise our kids.  It doesn't happen very often.  He has been saving every penny he's made the last several months so he could buy himself a new longboard. Trent took him the day of his birthday to the longboard shop so he could spend all of his hard earned cash on a birthday present for himself.  Spoiled I tell ya!

And of course the beloved balloon launch.

This year was a special birthday since he turned 12. Twelve is the age that the boys in our church can receive the Aaronic Priesthood.  The Sunday after his birthday, he had the Aaronic Priesthood conferred upon him, and was ordained to the office of Deacon, so now we get to see him pass the Sacrament each week at church.  And he is in Young Men's instead of Primary.  I can't believe I have a 12 year old!  I'm still supposed to only be 25!

Besides having a birthday, Trenton's science experiment was due in May.  Yes, we built a hot air balloon.  I have to say, it turned out pretty awesome.  It was a fun project for Trenton and I to work on together.  We could have done the garbage bag with the candle at the bottom, but I told him if he was going to do a hot air balloon project, we may as well make it look like an actual hot air balloon.  Plus it was fun to all go out as a family to launch it.

Next up was the band concert.  Trenton has played the Alto Sax all year in band class.  It is amazing how far the band class has come in just one year.  They have one amazing band teacher!  Trenton is a man of many instruments.  He plays the piano, the saxophone, and started taking guitar lessons about 5 months ago.  The guitar is his favorite so far.  Although he still sits down to the piano quite a bit to play.  He promised his piano teacher (which is also his guitar teacher) that he would keep up on his piano, and not let three years of lessons go down the drain.  :)

Another May down and many more to look forward to and enjoy!

Past. Present. Future?

I was looking through some of our older pictures the other day and stumbled across this one.

Although the shirt no longer fits, the saying still applies. :o)