Foam Day

We went with the cousins to Foam Day for Lehi City. I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I had been seeing information about it here and there, and I thought the kids might love it, so we gave it a shot.

Here is a sea of foam before they let anyone in.


Dylan and Tyler were the ones who loved it the most. When they say "bring your goggles and swimsuit," they meant it!

As we were leaving Jayden saw the dunking booth and really wanted to do it. When we found out it was free, I told him to go ahead.

Ethan tried throwing the ball.

Then he just used his hand...

And in Jayden went. He lovede it, but said the water was COLD!

FYI

I am trying to get updated, so I am putting bunch of new posts between now and March, so if you're interested, look back a few months. I have already put a bunch of new ones up, but there is so much more I want to update since this is basically my journal for my family.

Philmont

Our family was invited to come along to a week at the Philmont Training Center, located at the Philmont Scout Camp in New Mexico. For two weeks each year the General Young Men's Presidency and General Primary Presidency help to run a training for Stake Presidency's to come and really learn about the scouting program and how help make the scouting programs stronger in their stakes. I gained such a better understanding of why Scouting is such a neat program, and how it can really help the Young Men in our church become the men we want them to be. The church really wants Scouting to be the tool to accomplish this. There may be a few followers of my blog that would wonder why we were invited. A year ago Devon's dad was called to serve as a counsellor in the General Young Men's Presidency. He is such a wonderful man, and it has been so neat to watch him as he functions in this calling. Since he helps to put this on, he can bring one of his children and their family each week. We got a turn this year, and we were so excited to go. Devon got to go to a lot of training, I got to go to classes and fun activities with the other wives, and the kids had their classes and activities - even Austin. We all had a blast!!

Here we are with Devon's parents.

Each family is supposed to bring a banner to display for the week. Devon's sister Tiffany made this for the family a few years ago, and I think each family has used it ever since.

Devon and I went on a Sunrise hike to Lover's Leap. Devon's mom watched the kids for us, which was so nice because it allowed Devon and I to do something together during the week. It was a beautiful hike, and I had fun taking pictures.

The boys all had fun making crafts at the handicraft lodge. They made bug houses, space shuttles, and did some leather work.

One of the fun things I did was go on a horse ride. Do you love my tucked in shirt and riding helmet? I think my shirt looks dorky that way, but they made us do it to ride the horses. The ride was a walking one, but it was fun... other than the fact that my bottom did not agree with the saddle. I have ridden horses in the past, but not since I had children, so I don't know if that was part of my problem - it hurt within a few minutes of being on that saddle and no matter what way I tried to sit it hurt.

The ladies in our riding group.

I also did a ropes course while there. This was a swinging log where it is suspended on each end by a cable, and you have to try to walk across it. My first try I failed miserably, but my second try I was able to do it!

Here's the ropes course crew: Ginny, someone (I wish I could think of her name!!), Jocey, Holly, Laura, Roseann, Katy. We are ready for the zip line!!

Climbing up the 47 foot pole. It was awesome. When I got to top the guy asked me if I was going to jump or sit and scoot off. I said "Jump!" I got up near the edge and just couldn't make my legs jump. So I had to scoot. But I did yell "Geronimo!"

That was fun!

Near the end of the week they have the Children's Parade. The kids are supposed to make some sort of costume during the week using paper and such. For us it was also Western/Patriotic Night so the adults were all dressed up for that. There were flags lining the sidewalks that the kids paraded on. It was so fun!!

This is Sister Wixom, the new General Primary President. It was so fun to get to know her during the week. She is such a fun lady. I especially loved seeing her and her husband Jack interact. They are so funny together. You can tell they have a lot of fun in their family and there is always a lot of laughing. They they type of couple that you look at and say "I want to be like them."

Ethan would not be part of the picture with Sister Wixom. Silly boy. But look how cute he is!

Here is Jayden's Superman costume. The didn't have any red paper, so we had to use red crepe paper and glue it onto white paper. That was so much work, but he loved it!

Devon helped Dylan make this Darth Vader costume. Dylan is wielding the force here.

Our cowboy/patriotic costumes. How do we look?

Ethan was so cute! He had such a cute smile on his face the whole time; it was part shy, part proud, part happy. He loved walking in the parade. It was a bit windy, so he had to hold onto his hat, but he didn't let that bug him too much. And his chaps fell down to his ankles by the time he was done, but they looked so cute.

After dinner the boys had fun roping the cows. Dylan really got into it and had so much fun.

It was so fun to watch Dylan help Ethan.

I love to see they joy in his face as his brother succeeds.

Austin's first sucker. They were giving all the kids suckers after the parade and Devon's mom gave him one. I didn't see it till he was enjoying it already. And he loved it!

These pictures were taken in the Philmonte Villa. The way the scouts got the ranch was from a man who donated it many years ago along with thousands of acres. The Villa is fun to tour and learn about the family. Jayden wanted his pictures taken with these rugs, and I just get a kick out of the faces and poses.

We met some great friends while at Philmont. One fun family was the Dollars. Devon grew up with Matt. I had a lot of fun with Holly as we went to classes together. They actually live not too far from us, so we are hoping to keep in touch.

Ethan loved his Small Fry class. These are two of his teachers: Jenny and Renee. He is still asking often "I want to go to my building."

Here is Devon "graduating."

What a great week!

Comfy?

How can they sleep like this??

These are random photos from over the last few months. For some reason I just can't think they are too comfortable.

Austin's Laugh

Disclaimer: I took this video with my phone, looking down at Austin as I try to tickle him in the stroller, with the wind blowing, and Ethan trying to feed him Cheerios. Not the greatest video, but I figured I'd post it anyway because it gives you a good sampling of his laugh.

Leprechauns

Okay, so I just had to share this story. We are having Family Home Evening, and I was teaching a lesson about Jesus walking on the sea. Jayden was so excited to tell us the story of the ten lepers, so when I was done I told him to go ahead. So he gets up and tells us the story:
There were ten leprechauns and they asked Jesus to heal them and he did. Nine of them went away, and one came back.

Ok, so I admit, I can't really remember all that he said. I was trying so hard not to bust out laughing after the word "leprechaun" that I didn't catch too much of what he said. I don't know if I will ever be able to hear this story again without having a big smile creep across my face now. =)

Last few weeks in review

Life has been going by it seems like a million miles-per-hour for us these days. Thus the reason posts have been scattered and so far and few between. I started this post almost two months ago, and just haven't had a chance to finish it, but here it is. Here is a great example what these last few weeks have been like:

Monday: Jayden Preschool Graduation

Jayden has loved preschool these last two years with the same teacher. He loves Miss Suzee and is so lucky to have had so many of his neighborhood friends in his class as well.

Tuesday:brother Ben's concert

My little brother had his last band concert, so I took the boys with me to see it. It was such a great concert. The band had put so much time into preparing it. They did a few numbers that were really out of the ordinary including some box drums that they passed around the stage as they played. I only had my phone for a camera, so I was sad not many of my pictures came out good.

Wednesday: Something.. I can't remember what, but I know there something else keeping us running around.

Thursday:Devon's birthday party

We got Devon a fire pit for his birthday! We didn't actually get a chance to put it together and use it that night, but here we are the next week using it for hotdogs and smores. Since his birthday was on the day before Lance's wedding we were afraid we wouldn't get a chance to celebrate.

Friday: Devon's birthday, family pictures, Dylan's end of the year program, wedding preparation

Busy, busy day. Family pictures went great. Ran to Dylan's program that Dylan kept telling Devon was his "birthday present." Dylan's teacher this year was probably the best teacher I have ever known. Miss Crowton puts so much effort into her teaching and was Dylan's cheerleader all year. She would send home little notes to him, and was always so positive. For the end of the year she had a cute little program and then gave all the kids a binder full of things from the school year, and also did a video scrapbook with pictures of the kids throughout the year. All I can say is "Wow!"

After finishing the program we were at Devon's parents getting things ready for Lance's wedding reception that was to be held in the yard the next day.


Saturday: Lance and Kim's Wedding

It was a beautiful day - cold, but beautiful! I, of course, forgot my camera, so I didn't get to capture the many wonderful moments of the day. So, here's the basics: went to the Timpanogos Temple in the morning for the wedding. A beautiful ceremony. Ran home for the kids to take them to the luncheon at Thanksgiving Point. Ran home to grab the nice clothes and run to Devon's parents to help with the final touches for the reception. Everything was so beautiful. I wish I had pictures of it all. I only snapped these two pictures wtih my phone, and I snagged one picture off of my new sister's facebook page.

The craziness continued with my sister coming into town the next Monday and me going to play with her nearly every day that she was in Utah, as well as that same week having Dylan's Dance festival and his last day of school.

Its funny how you keep thinking "If I can just get past _____, life will slow down." Well, following that were swim lessons for the next few weeks, Ben's graduation, training for Ragnar, actually running Ragnar, celebrating our anniversary, going to Philmont and Mesa Verde, and it seems like so much more! I am hoping to blog all of it soon, but we will see how that goes.