Christmas 2009

This year when putting up the tree, we noticed that it doesn't quite stand up straight. I told the kids that the tree was on it's "last leg" and they all looked under the tree and then said that "trees don't have legs, mom you're crazy! I really felt old!

Our new friend

Our three fish, Fred, Stue and Ralph




We bought some Koi for our pond and have been having a great time watching them this year. James and I were out watching them when I noticed a snake. Of course I screamed and ran up onto the porch, I know silly me. After that the kids thought that it was the best thing in the world. I am still freaked out by it. We tried to get him out, but he slithered away and we lost him. I just hope that he stays outside where he belongs!

First Day of Kindergarten

Jace was excited to start school. Now he is a big kid like the rest of his siblings. The boys in his class are pretty lucky, they are out numbered by the girls! Jace's two buddies are even girls, Addison and Abby.

First Day of School

So I know I'm a little late for this since my kids started school back in July, but here are the pictures of their first day of school.

Brett started the 4th grade, he is in the ALPS class. The first two weeks of school he did nothing but complain about how hard it is and how stupid he is. We finally worked through all of that and now he loves it. He told me the other day "I'm glad that I'm in this class, because the other 4th grade class doesn't even have any homework." Only my son would be excited to have homework.

The girls are in 2nd grade this year. They are having a great year, no big news about there class, they just LOVE it!

Hanging out with Darren and Dakota

Darren and Dakota came down to Orderville on Wednesday night. We went down to the barracks to ride the quads and did a little hiking too. The kids had fun playing in the sand and climbing up rocks. The picture of the Mt. goats, the kids and I saw them Monday night on our way back from Hurricane. It was amazing to watch how quickly they made it down the side of that rock!

Our visit to Hurricane, UT

The kids outside of Grandpa and Grandma Redding's house.


Grandpa's volcanoe. It's right behind his house.


The kids with their Great-Grandparents.



The week of the 24th of July, we went down to Southern Utah. The kids and I went down a few days early so that we could visit with my Grandparents. We surprised them, they had no idea we were coming. We had a great visit, the kids loved running back and forth. Grandpa took us around and showed us all of the sites around his house. He showed the kids "his volcanoe". The kids thought that only Hawaii had volcanoes, it was fun for them to learn something new. While we were down there we couldn't resist going to In and Out. It was well worth it!

My kids rooms

For the last week or so I have been busy painting my kids rooms. We let them pick out the colors that they wanted. Some of the colors are a little crazy, but each color that they picked fits their personality. I'll have to post Jace's room another day it isn't quite finished yet, in fact it isn't even started.

This is Kyra's room. She wanted purple with green stripes. She wanted the stripes to go around the entire room. I had nightmares about it looking like a circus tent, so we agreed that just one wall with stripes was much better. She loves her new room.


Next we have Kyzleigh's room. She wanted pink and green. I wanted them to have similar rooms (they are twins after all), but I didn't want them to be the same. So she decided that she wanted her stripe along the ceiling. I think it turned out really cute.



Now for Brett. He chose colors that made his dad think that he was a little crazy. His favorite colors are blue and orange. James thinks they're an odd combination, but Brett loves them. I think that it turned out really good.



In 2007, we had a flood in the basement. We had to take up some of the carpet, and the bottom part of the walls and most of the wood floor that we had put in. At the time it was a BIG blessing, we still trying to fix up our other house and we were paying the mortgage on it too (thank goodness for insurance). After my parents moved last month we decided that we could no longer put off taking care of the basement. So this has been our lives for the last few weeks. I'll add some more pictures as we go.

Cascade Springs 2009

Cascade Springs is one of our family's favorite spots. It is so quiet there, we love to sit and watch the fish in the crystal clear water. We saw a lot of beautiful wildlife, most scurried away before I could snap their pictures.

End of the Year field trips

Here are some pictures of the last two field trips that the girls class have taken. They walked to the Riverton City Park on Wednesday. Friday they got to go to the library and take a tour and listen to some stories. They had the most fun playing on the playgrounds. We love 1st grade and Mrs. Durrant!!

Our Yard

My wild flowers are starting to fill in nicely. I have some plants that I think are on steroids. They keep growing tall instead of growing blossoms. We finally bought some fish for the pond. We still are working on getting all of the rocks that we need. But I think over all it's looking pretty good!

Happy Father's Day! (a little late)

So this year for Father's Day James wanted the kids to pick something that they thought that he would like. We wondered around for about an hour and a half before they all agreed to get him an Ice Cream Maker! I'm not sure it's exactly what James expected, but he loved it! I really think that the kids just wanted some ice cream.

Swimming Lessons

The kids started swimming lessons this week. The weather hasn't been the best, but they've had fun. Today it was raining and we weren't sure if they were even going to have class, but as long as there wasn't any lightning they were good. They had fun swimming in the rain.

This is Brett, Kyzleigh and Kyra's class



This is Jace's class



This is them in the rain. I'm glad that I had some shelter, it sure was coming down!

We had the opportunity to go on a special tour of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple before the actual open house starts. It is a beautiful Temple and I encourage everyone to get tickets to visit this Temple. Make sure you take the time to appreciate every little detail. Even though it's not dedicated there is a special spirit there that everyone can feel. My kids have loved the opportunity to go to the open houses it has taught them many things about what we believe, they talk about it for days after. My girls thought that the Temples were where the princesses live, I told them that it's where the princesses get married. They were excited to think that one day they can be that princess that gets married there. I'm so excited that I can share these special experiences with my children.

Happy Birthday Jace!

Today my baby turned 5. I can't believe that he is going to be starting Kindergarten, he's still my little baby. He is so excited to be 5, he keeps asking "Am I really 5 now?". For his birthday he got a new Spider Man bike, and money, which he has already spent. He bought a book about spiders and a Spider Man heliocopter.

Lost without a camera...

So the other day my camera stopped working. I hadn't had it very long, so I was really upset that it broke. I was so lost without it, I kept complaining to James and he kept telling me that we didn't have the money for one right now. So I just did my best with the cell phone. Let me tell you a cell phone doesn't even come close to a real camera. After having to use the cell phone at the assembly today and James saw the quality of the pictures, he finally gave in and let me go buy a new camera. He realized that my camera is as important to me as his camcorder is to him. He couldn't live without it. So now I'm back in the picture taking game, watch out world. Thank you so much James you're the best and I love you!!!!

Reading Contest

Our district had a reading contest. Ken Garff and Wal-mart were sponsors and donated great prizes, like 4 new bikes and lots of books. Our school kids read over 2 million minutes!!!! My kids have been off track, so we went back for the assembly. For every hundred thousand minutes that were read the teachers and staff had to do some crazy stunt. The first grade teachers had to ride around the school on tricycles, the third grade teachers were duct taped to the wall, sixth grade teachers had to kiss a pig (but because of swine flu the kissed a goat instead, just as funny!), the Principal and the literacy teacher were dunked in a dunk tank. It was so much fun! I didn't have a camera so I had to use my cell phone, so forgive me for the poor quality of the pictures.


Sixth grade teachers kissing the goat. Most actually kissed it on the face!



Third grade teachers duct taped to the wall. They didn't stick very well.


Mr. Giles in the dunk tank.


Mrs. Fay in the dunk tank.


The kids having a good time watching their teachers acting crazy!

Silly things that kids say...

Today we went to visit Uncle Buzzy, and Jean of course was taking a million pictures. So Kyzleigh finally said "Grandma why do you take so many pictures?" "Well, you guys grow up so fast and I don't get to see you very often, I just want to take lots of pictures of you!" Kyzleigh's response "Grandma when are you going to die?" I guess she thought that if grandma was taking so many pictures that she was going to die soon. Silly girl!

Here is Easter Day. The kids got new church clothes, they look so cute! We went to Aunt Margaret and Uncle Wayne's house for Easter dinner. We then had a big Easter egg hunt, the kids had so much fun.

Coloring Easter Eggs

They had so much fun! They all colored 9 eggs. I have so many hard boiled eggs, and no one likes them except James and Brett.



They all had a great time! I was happy there wasn't any fighting, they all got along.



Jace picked out a new kind of dye. This one had sand and glue, so you could "sand blast" your eggs. The kids had fun with this, so did Dad!



I thought that I made all the pictures the right way, I guess I missed one. Have fun looking at it sideways.