Zack's Wolf

Just before Zack turned 9, he earned his Wolf badge at Pack Meeting. He was so excited to advance to the Bear Den, and to earn a gold arrow and 3 silver arrow points along with it. We are so blessed to live in the ward that we do, because scouting is such a big priority here. The leaders like to move the boys along quickly, and make sure no one falls through the cracks. (In fact most boys are starting on their Eagle Projects by the time they turn 14). So THANK YOU to all of my sons' scout leaders that they've had, and will have in the future!


Zack pinning on the Mother's pin for his Wolf Badge. Sis. Olesen, his Wolf Leader.


Zack, Caleb, and McKay receiving their Bear neckerchiefs from their new Bear Den Leaders. Brother Christensen, and Brother Jenkins.

Like Mother Like Daughter

Back in the day when I was nearing 12 years old, I remember bugging and bugging my mom to let me shave my legs. I wanted so much to be grown up! (I also remember sneaking to elementary school and putting on mascara in the bathroom...but not being smart enough to take it off before I headed home.) In fact my mom found this cartoon in the newspapaer soon after I had entered Jr. High, and I added it to my scrapbook because it was just what I had been pestering her about.




Fast forward 22 years...(dang, am I that old?). Now keep in mind Rachel is only 7 1/2 years old. For her daily chores that week she was on trash duty. Well as she was taking out the trash from our house, and was approaching the front porch, I noticed something poking out of her pocket. I asked her what was in her pocket, and she quickly covered it with her hand. With a little prodding, and promising her I wouldn't be mad, she unveiled one of my disposable razors that she had snuck from the trash. It was all I could do to hold in my urge to laugh, as all these memories of 'wanting to grow up' came rushing back into my mind. She said that she wanted to shave her arms...see she is 'cursed' like me with long blonde arm hair. It's not bad, it actually didn't bother me while growing up. My Grandma Broadhead use to always comment on how I had taken after her with inheriting the long blonde arm hair. And so it begins with the battle for her wanting to grow up and me wanting to keep her little!

Trouble Markers/Makers

So one day in early April, just after I had gotten the kids off to school, Hannah came walking into my room with a permanent marker in hand. I knew there was trouble from that look on her face. I quickly went into the kitchen to find this:



Jace was ever to innocently eating his cereal, when I asked him who had written on the cabinets. He was quick to blame it on his little sister of course. But come on, I know she's clever, she was even probably the one who had stood on the counter and found the one marker I leave in the kitchen. But she doesn't know how to spell. Scribble yes...so I blame her for part of it.

But then this picture is proof that it just wasn't her. I guess I should be glad that a 4 year old knows his sister's name starts with an H.



Luckily there is the Magic Eraser from Mr. Clean...that works ever so beautifully on some things. (See I had already erased the J from his name in the picture.) Otherwise I probably wouldn't have found the humor in the situation. (And don't worry they were punished for their deed, and now that one marker it hidden in my bedroom.) Even after the washing the sweater numerous times the H is still there...it's a good story I guess.

Brady's Choir Concert

Just after Christmas last year, Brady came home begging me to let him join choir. I honestly thought that it was a phase and that he'd forget about it, but nope...he never let up until I wrote out that $10 check to let him join. He was so good to remember Tuesday and Thursday mornings, that he had to be to school 45 minutes early for practice.

What a great experience it was for him. The school had a theme for 'Walt Disney' this year for all of the extra curricular activities (choir, ballroom, and the dance festival...info to come later.) All of their songs were from Disney movies, which was quite entertaining for my kiddos to listen to.

They even had a special musical/dance number from the movie 'Newsies', where just the girls sang and the boys danced a sort of 'fight' like they do in the movie. So, so cute! I loved it! Reminded me of high school/college dancing days. I have lots of video, but here is a picture of Brady in his 'Lion King' hat.

Since choir members have to be in 4th, 5th, or 6th, grade...I think Zack will join his brother next year. Can't wait!

Spring Break 2010

We decided to stick around town for spring break, but I knew we needed to think up some fun things to do. Well since Monday is always laundry day....we had 4 more days to play and have fun. I decided to let the 4 oldest each choose an activity on one day, but the activity had to start with the same first letter of their name. On Tuesday, Jace decided that he wanted to go to a Jungle-gym. Well since I really needed to make a trip to Ikea...that was the jungle-gym of choice. It was also fun to have lunch in the cafe there. I just felt sorry for both Brady and Hannah, because they were either too small or big for the jungle-gym there. (I made it up to Brady, by letting him choose a movie to rent for that night for everyone.) Wednesday, Rachel decided to go roller-skating at Classic skating. We had a blast, with scooters, skates and strollers. They all took their golden dollar that they got from Grammee for Easter and bought a special treat there. Thursday, was Zack's birthday, so he was actually exempt from having to find an activity with a Z...since the zoo was pretty much his only choice, and I didn't want to drive all the way up there. But he decided on Jump on It...a place that has wall to wall trampolines and blow-up slides. SUPER FUN...they boys really loved the velcro-wall blow up, with the velcro suits. Since it was Zack's birthday, Nate slipped away from work early so that he could come with us. (And that is the only time I remembered to take pictures...oops.) Friday, Brady decided that he wanted to go to Bajio for lunch. We picked up lunch and took it to a park and had a little picnic. We had a blast hanging out and enjoying the much needed break.

Crazy Hair Day

My kids look forward to this day every year at school. We'll let the boys' hair get as long as we can stand just before the big day. (And then it's off to get hair cuts.) They love to wear mohawks...even if it is for just a day. The boys' tried and tried to talk Rachel into doing something really crazy, but she is just a little too shy for that. Maybe when she gets older and braver, she'll venture out...we'll see I guess. For now she still wants to style her hair so that it is fashionable.

All ready for the big day.

I love Zack's face in this one.

Tough guys...but seriously, it drives me crazy to let their hair grow this long.

This is as crazy as Rachel would let me get.

April Fools 2010

So this past April Fools Day, Nate and I were scrambling on how we could 'get' the kids. Well next year we have some great ideas brewing, but for this year, we had to think fast. I colored the milk in the morning, and tried to fool them with different colored pancakes. But while they were at school I had the idea to make layered pudding cups, and freeze them...so that it would be almost imposible to eat, until they thawed. I did however, place a quarter in the middle of each pudding dessert, except for one. That dessert, I place a penny taped up with a note that said, "Go look in the egg under mom's pillow." I placed a dollar bill in the egg, under my pillow. I didn't know who would get the lucky dessert...it was all by chance. They were shocked when they tried to dig into their desserts when they were rock hard. But they quickly remembered the magic of a microwave and away they went. Brady was the first to find a quarter, then Rachel. It was up to Zack and Jace (who kept asking his dad to nuke his dessert). Zack was our lucky winner of the dollar, but they all had a blast with our little game.

Brady can eat anything frozen as fast as anyone I know...he had no problem digging in.

Rachel loving the dessert.

Jace just found his quarter.

I've never seen someone so excited to find a dollar!

Rachel's Dance and Gymnastics

This past year Rachel participated in both a dance and gymnastics classes. She is really trying to find what she wants to 'do' when it comes to recreation. She keeps saying that she wants to be a cheerleader when she gets older, so I tell her she needs tumbling experience, but she loves to dance...and is always dancing and singing around the house. Luckily we found places where she can take both classes, and it wouldn't break the bank. A neighbor of ours, Stephanie Pace, runs a little dance class out of her house, and Rachel had a few friends in the class with her. Gymnastics was held and the PG Rec Center, and even though it was all around gymnastics, she learned (and is still practicing) some great tumbling skills. She starts coach pitch in a couple of weeks, and still plans on playing soccer this fall, so who knows what she'll end up wanting to do. I guess a little bit of everything doesn't hurt in the beginning.

Rachel and her dance class, her really good friend Olivia was also in her school class.

Little Bendy Girl.

She just loved her gymnastics teacher, Miss Brook, she did a great job encouraging Rachel during class.

Easter 2010

We had a great Easter this year, even with the rain. I guess that is what we have come to expect here in Utah though. That weekend we had family come up, and had Mason staying with us, so I was scrambling to find something for the Easter Bunny to leave him on Saturday. The candy was gone within a day...thankfully, and since we were busy playing with cousins, we never did get to coloring easter eggs. But the kids loved the note the Easter Bunny left that said to not wake up their parents or look in their baskets, until we got up. Thank goodness they listened. (They even hung it on the fridge for awhile until another cousin said, 'The Easter Bunny isn't real.'...I quickly removed it before the subject was brought up again. I hate losing that 'magic' with my kiddos.)

Hannah's new bed

Nate had been wanting to put Hannah in a toddler bed for quite some time. But I wasn't rushing with the idea, because nap time and bed time were just too easy with a crib. I'd just set her in there, give her a kiss, hand her a book and a passy and would be on my way. Easy peasy. But in March, he came home with a cute little toddler bed, and couldn't wait to set it up for her. That first night, she was so excited to have a new bed, that she didn't even ask for a passy, and we just seemed to let it ride. So she loves her new bed, she doesn't take a passy any more....things are perfect right? Ya...right.


This is actually where Hannah sleeps most nights. On the floor next to her bed, or actually anywhere on her floor. It's not that she doesn't like her bed, but for some reason she always wants to sleep on the ground. I've even tried to scare her and say that there are spiders on the floor, but she doesn't care, she prefers the floor. Silly Girl.

And since she is able to get out of bed at night, she automatically comes into our room, to my side of the bed. The first couple of times I just pulled her into bed with us, but we wanted to avoid getting into that habit. So when she comes in, she is usually dragging her blankets and pillows, she'll drop them to the side of my bed, and run back in for any books or stuffed animals she went to bed with, while I lay them out for her. And she sleeps comfortably to the side of my bed, but at least it's not in my bed and it's not every night.

Next up POTTY TRAINING!

Cruise February 2010

So I figured I better write about our cruise in February, since it was next on my list and it seems to be holding all the other entries back. We had a wonderful time...I mean how could you not on a cruise? We visited some wonderful islands and had a TON of fun...of course. We first flew to Puerto Rico, where we spent 3 days sight-seeing. I'd love to go back there....so much to see and do! We went to the national rain forest there...so pretty, and lots of fun little hikes. And also took a ferry out to Calubra Island....which has one of the top 10 beaches in the world. And yes it was Flaminco Beach is beautiful. The islands that we were able to see were St. Thomas, St. Kitts, St. Croix, and Barbados. We weren't able to see the island Dominica, because the day we got there the sea swells were to high for the ship to dock, so we spent the day at sea.

Some funny stories that happened while we were vacationing:

At the last minute of packing I threw Brady's day backpack into my carry-on, thinking it would be great for the hiking in Puerto Rico. Well when we were going through security at the airport, the guard found 2 pocket knives of a descent size in that backpack. Put there many months ago, by my little cub scout Brady...always prepared I guess. I started laughing, but the guard didn't find it too humorous...obviously. Those knives were immediately confiscated.

The first night at dinner on the ship, our 'booze' waiter came around to see what drinks we would be wanting with our dinner. His name was Amol, and he was from India. When we told him that we didn't drink, he asked if we were Mormon. So we all had a good laugh, because you really don't think you'll meet that many Mormons on a cruise. But he told us to meet him on the dock tomorrow at St. Thomas and he would take us to the local branch. There were 20+ people in our group, so we added a lot to the small branch. What a fun experience to attend church in a different country. Amol was baptized about a year ago, after meeting his now fiance on the cruise ship where they both worked. They are planning on getting married this October, and live in India, even though she is from Chicago. He became a fast friend, and would visit us every night at dinner, even though we didn't order any booze!

Nate and I missed our kids a ton, but I guess Jace missed us the most out of all of them. (And to think I was worried mostly about Hannah.) At church on Sunday, he was having a hard time, and the primary president took him out in the hall to chat with him and give him a little hug. When she asked him how much he missed his mom and dad, he just lowered his little head and held up all 10 fingers. Kinda breaks my heart...what a cutie.

Here are some pics from the cruise:


Nate and Sara, Darryl and Gayle (my mom and dad), Jeremy and Emma at dinner.

I found this 'snow/sandman' on the beach in Barbados, just thought is was funny that someone would make this on a tropical island.

Best idea we've ever had when going on a cruise is to take our own snorkeling gear. We snorkeled on every island, and other cruise guests would ask us all the time where we rented our equipment at. Nate and Jeremy were a lot more daring than Emma and I, and found some awesome shells...even with creatures living inside!

In Barbados we went on the Rainforest zipline. SO FUN! I will definately do this again...it was totally safe and the workers there made is quite entertaining!

The island of St. Kitts. On the left hand side of the picture is the Atlantic Ocean, on the right hand side is the Carribbean Sea. This was by far my favorite island. Here we went kayaking out in the sea...that was a blast and quite a good work out...too bad we forgot to take pictures on the kayak's!

Nate being bombarded with baby green monkeys. They were so cute! And after the locals would throw them on you...they only wanted $20 for a picture, with your own camera. Always trying to make a buck!

Formal night...Nate and Sara. (Thanks Aubree and Ashlee for lending me your old prom dress.)

We went hiking all day in the rainforest in Puerto Rico. So pretty and green, even for the dry season. As we were making our own trail we happened across these ferns growing on trees, just thought that is was a cool picture.

The rainforest in Puerto Rico. I'd love to take the kids here someday, they would have a blast.

Valentine's Day 2010

Since I got my fondue pot for Christmas I promised the kids that we would have a chocolate fondue night...sometime. (As I know now, fondue is A LOT of work, especially with little ones running around.) But we figured that Valentine's Day would be the perfect opportunity to have chocolate fondue with the kiddos. (Especially since we were were leaving the next weekend on our cruise.) I forgot to take pictures as we got started, but did snap a quick shot in the beginning. We had yummy fruit like strawberries, apples, pineapple, and banana's. But also some treats like cinnamon bears, animal crackers, marshmallows, angel food cake, and pretzels. We also were able to have Uncle Kelly and Aunt Aimee over, since they were the one's that would mainly be watching the kids while we were gone. (I guess we needed to sweeten them up before we dumped 5 kids on them ;-)

Brady's 5th Grade Basketball

Brady has played Jr Jazz ever since he was 4 years old. (In Saratoga Springs, they start in preschool, Pleasant Grove doesn't start until 2nd/3rd grade.) So he has played A LOT of basketball. In fact, I think he enjoys it almost as much as Nate. His coaches have mentioned to me that he plays a lot like his dad...I wonder if that's a good thing?...wink...wink. (The coaches happen to be in our stake and their ward will play against ours from time to time.) He has been on this same team for the past 3 years with the same coaches, which I think really helps improve all of the players' skills, since they are used to playing with one another. Brady is definately aggressive out on the court, and loves to play point guard. Even though he makes quite a few baskets, there are a lot of missed shots too, but having a court in the back yard will definately help him continue to improve. (Plus trying to get the ball around Nate or defend him, helps in that aspect too.)


I'll title these first 2 photos as..."I believe I can fly!"


He really likes to be able to call out the plays while bringing the ball down.

Yikes... I hope he didn't knock that boy over.

Zack's 3rd Grade Basketball

I think our boys will always love to play basketball. It's in their blood, I guess. Zack was able to be on the same team as two of his best friends this year, and Nate was the assistant coach. He really loves to get in there and be aggressive, but loves it even more when he makes a basket! (He would always look over in the stands to make sure I saw that he had made one.) We weren't able to attend his last 2 games because of our vacation, but he said he finished strong! Here are some pics of Zack in action.

Disclaimer

I've decided that I better get back on the wagon again concerning our blog. So much has happened since my last post, that I don't want to forget anything, (and a lot happened even before, that I need to add.) But in my defense, I blame it on my iPhone...and being pregnant...I can't place all the blame on Nate ;-), (well I could but it wouldn't be fair.) I LOVE...LOVE...LOVE my iPhone, I rarely turn on my computer anymore, since I can quickly check my email, but the blog has suffered greatly because of it, I mean who wants to blog from a 2"x3" screen? And honestly, this pregnancy is really taking it's toll on me. (My favorite saying when people ask me how the pregnancy is going is..."I can tell that I'm 34 and not 23 this time around.") The Sunday that we got home from the cruise, I became nauseous and it has been 24/7 ever since. But it's getting better and hopefully I can start to feel like a 'normal' person again. October 16th, is the due date for this baby, and it couldn't seem farther away. Even though I know it will be here sooner than I am ready for. We are all very excited for this little one to join our family and it is fun to try and guess who is coming to live with us.

If you ask Hannah, what is in my tummy, she says it is a baby brother EVERY time.
Rachel of course wants another sister, and both Brady and Zack say they want a boy, but it would be 'cool' if we had the 'Brady Bunch'...3 boys and 3 girls.

A quick funny that Jace said when we first announced that we were pregnant. He was in primary the next week and our Primary President came up to him and said, "Jace is there something special in your mommy's tummy?" He just gave her a quizzical look and said, "No...just food." What a character. He also says that he wants a little brother, and I don't blame him. Even though Zack and Brady play so well with him, it would be cute to have a little buddy for him to pal around with.

Both Nate and I will be happy with whatever, just as long as he/she is healthy. I have had a few dreams that it is a little boy, but the only child I was correct at guessing was Brady. (So even my motherly premonitions don't account for much.) We'll have to think of a fun guessing game for everyone to place their guess on what we will be having and when.

Priceless

7 Day Cruise to the Southern Carribbean: $3000

10 Day babysitting costs: $500

Tips for everyone we meet: $300

Zipline in the Barbados rainforest: $200

Kayaking out in St. Kitts: $55

Knowing that there are really THREE people in the picture: PRICELESS



Sorry is some of you are getting this for a second time, but for some reason, a couple of the first emails sent out never made it. (So enjoy again...and no you're not looking for a monkey or a snake in the background Ashlee ;-)