I love these kids.

I love that Hayes asked to cuddle with me tonight.

I love that Kamri wanted to have her friend play at our house because she "wanted to play with my friend but be with my mom, too"

I love that Lyla comes up and grabs my leg every once in awhile with a smile, just to make sure I'm there.

I love watching my kids grow more independent, but it's also nice to know I'm there taking care of them for a reason. Sometimes they just need their mom.

(now just remind me of this as Lyla is screaming when I leave her with a babysitter tomorrow)

Watched Ann Romney's speech at the RNC while eating dinner with the kids. She did a great job!

First Day of First Grade

 Hayes started asking when he could leave for school an hour & a half before school started. He was excited!  It was a bit weird having him gone all day and Kamri was a bit bored but I think she'll be okay with it once preschool starts.

His report when he got home at first was "school was good" but at dinner we got more out of him. He said he went to library and he gets to check out one book each week, two kids cried, he went to the lunchroom twice-one of the times for the principal to speak but he couldn't remember what he said because he talked for a long time. 

Kamri wanted to come with me to drop Hayes off. I tried to leave Lyla home with Bracken but she wouldn't have it. She was standing by the door screaming as we buckled up so Bracken came along too to sit with the girls while I walked Hayes to class.  Lyla was smiling big because we just switched her to forward facing but I just missed it in the picture and no time for another one--we were running later than I wanted to be--like usual.


My favorite line today was when we were reading The Book of Mormon tonight we were reading about King Noah & Abinadi.  We asked Hayes what Noah did to Abinadi: "He fired him!"   (Abinadi was a prophet and King Noah ordered him to be killed by fire because of his teachings).

7 years

7 years ago today Bracken and I got married!

We didn't do much to celebrate today but we've loved having so much time together this summer. I'm going to miss having him around during the day when he starts work in a week.

I'm grateful for such a great husband. We have a lot of great times and he helps me roll through the challenges that are thrown at us.

My favorite part of the day today was dinner. Bracken and I had a lot of laughs over negotiating with Hayes and Kamri about eating their dinner. (yes, I realize there is something wrong with that. They should just be grateful and eat it. But such is life. They both finished all their dinner though, a rarity)
At one point Kamri told us she was so stuffed she couldn't move so obviously she couldn't eat her chicken. Then a minute later she was sitting on the couch. When I asked how she got to the couch without being able to move she straight-faced answered "magic!"
She ended up finishing her chicken once she saw that Hayes got Oreos when he finished.

And I didn't forget Lyla. She finished her dinner long before any of us and then sat and made noises into her cup. Then downed her Oreo with big smiles. I did create one non-picky kid. It's pretty amazing.

House Hunting

We looked at a few houses today, we won't buy one for a few more months but we thought we'd start looking to find exactly what we want.  There were a few houses we liked but nothing we're running to snatch up just yet.

If you could build/buy or change one thing about your house, what would it be? I want wood floors but that isn't something that HAS to be in the house since we can put in wood down the road.  We took the kids with us and one of the houses had a pool.  Hayes & Kamri were sold! They were disappointed when we told them we were looking for a house that did not have a pool.  Room in the backyard to put one in later...great, but I do not want one with this many little kids.  Unless they come up with some sort of electric fence to put around the pool but that doesn't sound too safe either.

Vacation is Over

As we were driving home from Lake Powell yesterday Kamri asked us what we had tomorrow.  Bracken and I told her we had lots of unpacking and cleaning of the house.  She responded matter-of-fact-ly, with a bit of a whine "Why do we have to clean the house?! We aren't going on another vacation!" Apparently, we used the reason of going out of town as motivation for them to clean a little too often this summer.  It's true though, no more vacations.

 We did buckle down and clean the house, and grocery shopped. Bracken cleaned our car that had a major case of "trip car". Then ran some errands to apply to take the Utah bar exam. The kids and I went to Hayes's school to meet his teacher.  Turns out his teacher won't be there until the second day of school, so I guess he'll meet her then! After dinner we cleaned up in time to watch "Flushed Away" before the kids went to bed.

and now to back post all of the last week and our Lake Powell trip...

Reading

Sunday the two boats took off for a two-hour (one way) boat ride down to a canyon that had Indian Ruins.  They were gone for about six hours.  Since we couldn't all fit on the boats, Stock, Paul, Denise & I volunteered to stay at the houseboat.  I read 200 pages of a book called "The Girl in the Gatehouse"  It was pretty good, and it was nice to have some quiet but I was excited for them to all make it back.

Fishing

Bracken showing off the crawdad he caught.

 Hayes loved exploring. Can you see him? A third of the picture over to the right, towards the bottom.

Landon & Bracken catching fish with all the kids.

 Hayes having a go at catching a fish with a net

 Got One!

Izen with his huge catfish he caught (on Monday)

Livi caught a bass one night that they cooked on the grill.  A few people tried bites and then Izen downed the rest.

Hayes loved fishing off the houseboat or wading on the beach to catch one in the net.  On Wednesday he got creative and caught a fish in a cup!

Woke up in Loa.  After refilling my grandma's hummingbird feeders and enjoying a slow breakfast we packed up and headed towards Hanksville.  We met up with the rest of the gang that had traveled down from Northern Utah at the burger place, Blondie's, to eat and then headed to Lake Powell.

The guys loaded the boat with all of our stuff to unload on the houseboat. The women and kids waited on shore until they got back. Bracken went up and bought ice and then took us all down to the dock.  He then drove back up to  park and walk down the loading ramp. I remembered after he drove away that we forgot the ice in the car and it was too much for him to carry alone so Telly went running up the boat ramp to tell him to go back to the car.  He brought the car back down, unloaded the ice and then went back up to walk back down. It was a bit chaotic  but we finally got on the boat and found an awesome place for the houseboat to be parked.  Thanks to Kristin's sales pitch on how awesome it was (even though it was taken) we asked the people when they were leaving and luck would have it-they were leaving the next morning.  Jim parked the houseboat across the canyon for the night with plans to get up early and take the spot once they left.  The place we parked had no beach but did have lots of rocks with lizards. The boys were in heaven chasing all of them. At one point Hayes fell off a rock, trying to catch a lizard. I didn't witness it but they said it was pretty hard but he just kept going after the lizard like nothing happened.

Funny story that Hayes won't love that I shared when he's older.  He was climbing up the rocks and was pretty high up when he realized he needed to go potty. He yelled desperately to Bracken: I need to go potty!! Bracken thinking it was just of the liquid sort told him to just go in the rocks.  Hayes promptly pulled down his pants and did his number two business right there on the rocks in front of anyone on the front of the houseboat! Not really what Bracken had meant to give him permission for!

On the road again

We dropped Lyla off at my parents house in cedar this afternoon and then headed to Loa to stay the night. Tomorrow we are driving the rest of the way to bullfrog marina for a week at Lake Powell with Bracken's side of the family. I hope Lyla does well at my parents. I'm excited for my parents to get to know her better. She has such a fun personality but a lot of times people don't get to see it because she is so shy and just wants to he with me.

We've been looking forward to this month for a long time and now this is the last trip before it's back to "real life!" We won't have Internet service, I'm still going to write posts but they won't post until we are back on Thursday.

And thought I'd add this picture of Kamri. My mom gave it to me last time we were in Cedar and I gave it to her yesterday. She was holding it, twirling around, and singing: "I love it, I love it! I'm going to wear it forever and ever" Then put it on and wore it today as well. I'll have to put my foot down about wearing it at the lake though. ; )

Bracken just popped a bowl of popcorn. He has been counting his calories and he has enough calories left in the day to eat half a bowl. He said I can have the other half but he's going to keep eating and if he eats more than half he is still going to count it as half. So I gotta get over there and eat my share. I'm not counting calories and I think I want more than half the bowl.  We'll see how this plays out.  Now my posterity will know I'm willing to give up journal-ing for a bowl of popcorn...there are worse things to be remember for.

First-world problems

I'm drawing a blank in what I can blog about today. My kids got to play with friends so they were happy. Kamri cleaned their room so I was happy.  Lyla said 'Dad' today. That made him happy.

Kamri had to come home from her friends house which did not make her happy. Hayes did not get a snack before dinner because he didn't eat his lunch, you guessed it, he was not happy about that. I had to do laundry. Lyla watched me walk out the door to the garage, not happy. Bracken filled out his Utah bar exam application, which did not necessarily make him happy.  

Sounds like a bunch of "first-world" problems. Like when you forget to plug your cell phone at night and it dies the next day.

Or

You pour a bowl of cereal for a late night snack and realize you are out of milk. Dang!

We live a very blessed life.  I'd love for you to share your funny/favorite (unfavorite I suppose it should be?) first-world problem.

Happy Birthday Hayes!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAYES!
Six Years Old!

Hayes went to sleep last night with an envelope from Mimi & Grandpa Dane under his pillow so he could open it up as soon as he woke up. After opening up his birthday money he came to our room and *tried* to wait patiently for me to wake up. At 6:40 he couldn't wait so open them up he did.

He got a lego ninjago set from us and a star wars lego set from G. Niece & G. Paul. Can you guess what he loves to do?

Then he spent the next 7 hours putting together his sets. He gobbed down his lunch as fast as he could so he could get back to building. Above is the Star Wars one. With a bunch of movable parts and a dungeon below the cockpit-- Hayes is in love.

Hayes wanted to go Geocaching so Bracken found a nice easy hike up Kyle Canyon Rd. It was a half mile round trip but we got to hike through this cool little canyon.

Found the pile of rocks under the bush.

and found the cache!  We took a mcdonald's happy meal star wars toy out and left a pirate jewel.

Buried the cache, then hiked back.

Lyla wanted to carry the water bottle and walk by herself, that didn't last long with sandals.

Afterwards we headed to Hayes's restaurant of choice (McDonalds) with one friend of his choice (McKenna).  It felt a bit like a date with him going up to the door to go get her. Kamri was excited that he chose a girl to come play with them. The ice cream machine was broken so we went home and made oreo milkshakes.

Thought for Sunday

" I believe with all my heart that because God loves us there are some particularized challenges that he will deliver to each of us. He will customize the curriculum for each of us in order to teach us the things we most need to know. He will set before us in life what we need; not always what we like. And this will require us to accept with all our hearts the truth that there is divine design in each of our lives and that we have rendezvous to keep, individually and collectively....
       God gives to us the lessons we need most, not always the ones we think we need."

-Elder Neal A. Maxwell

and a picture of Lyla & Bracken as we walked to the house of a new family in our ward.  They invited us over for dinner. We've been social slackers, we should have invited the new people over for dinner but the time we have been home is digging out for the next time we leave! It was a nice dinner and fun to get to know them better.

Hayes's birthday is tomorrow!  He is so excited to open his presents, he has been carrying around his present from Grandma Niece and trying to guess what it is.  He also put the envelope from Mimi under his pillow so he could open it first thing in the morning. He told Bracken and me to wake him up as soon as we woke up, or he would wake us up if we woke up first.  Here is to hoping he doesn't wake up super early, it's going to be a fun day!

Mountain Pictures

Friday up at the cabin we had my Mom & Dad, Dixon & his girls, Parker & Christine, Heather & Hunter and my cousin Tawnya & her husband Dan and baby Conner and our whole family.  Bracken went on a hike Friday with a group of most of the adults that had some pretty awesome views, unfortunately he didn't take a camera and get pictures. Saturday we harvested some potatoes that my parents planted to
eat for lunch.  Above are my kids having fun on the ranger before we headed to the potato field. (That we tease my dad he is going to get turned in for a suspected marijuana farm.)

After picking potatoes, Lyla went down for a nap, Bracken started reading and I took Hayes & Kamri on a hike to the Beaver pond.  It was farther away from the cabin then I thought but we had fun along the way. Hayes found a lot of rocks to climb:

and climb

and CLIMB....

He told me his feet are like suction cups, I still wouldn't let him climb higher.

Kamri wanted to try,

but this was high enough for her.

Then found huge bee(?)

Hayes found more things to climb...

and Kamri wanted to but was still not as enthused about the climbing as Hayes.  I think a rope & better shoes would help.

After the beaver pond we hiked over to the reservoir, it started raining so we took shelter under a tree.

 

a group of the adults were mountain golfing and took cover with us.  Then they went back to their game. Grandpa Dane showed Hayes how to play. He followed along with them while Kamri & I headed back to the cabin.

I have pictures to post but I misplaced my phone while unpacking the car. I'm too tired to find it right now. We drove home tonight. Now I sit in the rocking chair trying to get Lyla back to sleep and then I'm going to follow suit.

Up at the Cabin tonight. Hayes had a productive day up the mountain again, catching one snake and five toads.

Cedar City & Le Miserables

We drove up to Cedar City today. We went to the Shakespeare Festival's rendition of Le Miserables.  They did an amazing job at the play.  I have memories of my dad singing the Who am I song at the top of his lungs in our kitchen.  We would listen to the soundtrack often but my dad would skip two songs every time.  Those who know the play well could guess what two songs my dad would avoid his young children listening to.
A late night but so fun to be able to go to the play!

Shopping

Bracken watched all the other kids while Kamri and I went shopping. She needed a new swimsuit and we needed to get Hayes's birthday present.
It was so fun being with just her, I realized I haven't had one-on-one time with her in too long! She was excited to sit in the seat of the cart since usually she can't because of Lyla. She told me the plan to find Hayes's present was to go to the aisle with Ninjago stuff and if we went to the wrong aisle to turn around and go to the next one. We picked out a present and then on to the swimsuits.
She stated her requirements were for it to be sparkly. I didn't think we'd find a sparkly suit and told her so. We settled on one that was ok although not sparkly. Then we saw another rack so we went to inspect. And behold there was a sparkly swimsuit, and it was PINK, and it closely resembles her two older girl cousin's swimsuits. Kamri was in heaven! The prospect of being able to try them on was exciting to her as well. We grabbed two sizes and went to the dressing room. Kamri was glowing when she tried on that swimsuit. I'm sure that won't be the case when we go swimsuit shopping when she is older. She was so excited I couldn't help but be excited too! Her enthusiasm is contagious. It was great time spent with her.

My favorite line today was from Hayes at dinner. "Aren't Cohen and Nixon Mexican??"

Gum and hair

Kamri got some gum in her hair. It was at the end of her hair so the easiest and quickest way would be to cut it out. Unfortunately I made the mistake of pulling on her wet hair before I cut. So when it dried it was a lot shorter than I had planned. She still looks cute but I mourned her long hair more than I would have if it had been my hair. Thankfully Bracken walked in and raved about how cute her hair was (since my telling him I mutilated her hair didnt help things) so Kamri decided she loves it. I'll post a picture tomorrow, I never took one today. It really isn't THAT short but definitely a change.

I took the kids swimming  while Bracken was at lunch with a friend. I set Lyla down to help Kamri and she started trying to back feet first into the pool! She loves the water and has no fear, a bit scary! She went all the way under the water four times and didn't seem to mind at all.  Kamri had fun practicing her kicking back and forth with her floaties on and if I was nearby. Xander and Hayes were pretending to be lifeguards and asking me tips on what lifeguards do. They were practicing the jump in with a noodle underneath them as the lifeguard tube. Oh, to think a lifeguarding job is glamorous again! I spent way to many days bored out of my mind in the chair ( with a few moments of sheer terror) to ever want that job again!

Hayes and Xander played RISK with Bracken moderating while the girls and I went to my primary presidency meeting. Xander and Hayes are both little world dominators that do not want others telling them what to do, yet love telling each other what to do. By the time I got home I could tell they needed some time not trying to take over each other so after dinner they rode bikes (Xander on his scooter) to the park. After some physical activity they were friends again. They also fell asleep quickly at bedtime, an added bonus, or in nerd speak: a positive externality.

We picked up my nephew, Xander, in Cedar City on our way home Saturday night. He is staying with us until Thursday when we go back up to Cedar City.
We went to a splash park today with our friends the Doxeys, Belts and Browns. The Browns were in town visiting and this was their last day here. Since Jordan was there today Bracken came to the park with us. The kids loved playing and the adults enjoyed talking, win-win situation.
The rest of the day the kids played Legos and computer while I unpacked and did laundry. All that fun stuff you get to do when you get home from a trip.
Xander is an entertaining kid, he had a few lines I wish I could remember now. Guess I'll have to write them down tomorrow as he says them so he can be my favorite line of the day guest.

Country Dunking Booth

Yesterday when we were in Loa my Uncle Matt set up a dunking booth.  Hayes wanted to get dunked.

Looking a bit nervous...

Stop! I'm not ready!

and a successful dunking!

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of his huge smile after he got out.

My Dad & Uncle Mark had a dare that they each got to throw three balls while the other was on the platform.  My dad went in on the third ball. Mark didn't get dunked.  I'm pretty sure that outcome was probably typical in their relationship growing up!  Preston, Matt & my aunt Louise along with some other young boy cousins were all good sports to go too.

We had a ton of fun in Loa. Hayes & Kamri ran around with cousins, I ony saw them about every hour or so.  It was fun to catch up with Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents & Cousins.  I have a lot of great family to look up to and learn from!

Grandma's sourdough pancakes with coconut syrup are delicious too, and now I have the recipe. :D

Drove home

Drove home tonight. Well Bracken drove us home. So tired so here is a repeat of yesterday's post. Hopefully I'll blog more tomorrow!

Up late tonight talking with family and watching olympics. I'll write more tomorrow hopefully!

Loa

We drove to Loa, UT today. Growing up we would drive over and spend time at the farmhouse with my grandparents. I loved the freedom of being in the small town and playing in the large yard and fields. It is fun watching my kids enjoy a place I love. I also love that they know their great-grandparents and I hope they'll have memories of Loa.

As we were driving over the kids were watching for animals in the field. Hayes spotted cows with horns and yelled look those are bulls cause they have horns! We told him that sometimes cows have horns. Then Hayes said "Well there is only one way to find out!" Bracken and I were trying not to laugh as we waited for him to explain the one way to tell the difference...

"Bulls have a thing in their nose and cows don't!!"

Turns out we are raising a city boy and he doesn't know much about cows but he is entertaining!

I didn't shower in the morning because I was going to tackle scrubbing the floor and after mopping I feel like showering.

Then I ended up watching olympics, then the washing machine overfilled and got water everywhere, so I did mop that up.

Then held Lyla for a few hours because she has decided she'll scream whenever I set her down.

Bracken went and mediated a divorce. Does not sound fun but I do love that whenever he comes home he tells me how grateful he is to have a non-crazy wife. Ok those aren't his exact words but I try to keep the mushy levelness down on here.

Kamri went to a Butterfly Birthday Party tonight. She was on cloud nine when she got home. She brought home all kinds of butterfly loot and kept talking about how C. loved everything she gave her and kissed all the presents. I love her excitement for everything.

Hayes had two friends over while Kamri was at her party.  They played legos, attacked dragons, took turns baking each other in a pretend oven....weirdos...boys and girls play so differently!

I finally mopped the other half the floor that didn't get flooded by the washing machine, after the kids went to bed.....never showered, there is always tomorrow right?

Now I'm going to go watch more Olympics. Thanks to Bracken & Denise for finding a way for me to watch!!

Oh and in case you are wondering why I suddenly switched to private....when I was driving home from our last trip, I was coming home without Bracken.  I was suddenly a little weirded out by the fact I had announced to the www that I was out of town. A bit irrational I know but we are going to be out of town a lot this month so I decided I'd make it private at least for August, then I'll see how I feel.  Now if we get robbed I'm totally blaming it on you people on my blog list! kidding....