Disney Character Breakfast

Last year a friend of mine started a tradition to have 'Back to School' breakfasts' the week before school started, to get our kids back in the habit of getting up early and getting ready for school. We had 5 families sign up, with about 24 kids all together, and started breakfast every morning at a different house. It was a lot of fun, and the kids absolutely love it. (Of course some mornings, I think they played together more than they ate, but at least they were up and at-em.)

But I wanted to make a special post about a family in our neighborhood that went above and beyond the call of duty. Heather Pack and her family put together a Disney Character breakfast to cap off our week long activity. (All 5 of her kids, except for Johnny age 10, are in Jr High or High School, so they didn't join us during the previous week...although we would have gladly taken them in.)

On Monday morning, at 8:00am we had a fantastic breakfast at the Packs' home. Complete with Mickey Mouse pancakes, eggs, sausage, fruit and juice. Yummy...yummy...but of course the highlights were the Disney Characters that served the kids their breakfast. (Heather even made sure the actors weren't people that the kids would recognize.) There was Alice in Wonderland, Snow White (who apparantly worked at Disneyland and has had great practice), Prince Charming, and Cinderella.

The kids were able to wear costumes if they wanted. Jace was 'all over' dressing up as Capt' Jake Sparrow...he looked so cute. Hannah had on a Cinderella dress before she realized that Rachel wasn't dressing up, and then wouldn't have anything to do with it after that....;-( sigh. Zack just wore his Indiana Jones hat, and Brady thought about wearing a basketball jersey to be a character from High School Musical, but all of our are blue, so that didn't really pan out. But dressed up or not, the kids LOVED LOVED LOVED it. We even pointed out, as moms, of their GREAT table manners, since it was such a different experience. (I of course grilled my kids on good behavior before we went, and told them that if we were to attend a character breakfast in Disneyland...it would have cost about $30 a person...so they knew it was a special opportunity.) In talking with Heather, who has attended a character breakfast, it was a lot more fun than the original. (She said the food was better at Disneyland...but the characters were more of a treat here.)
I'm just in awe of how generous the Packs' were...and we couldn't thank them enough...what a great way to end our tradition!


Capt' Jace Sparrow

All the Holmes' Kids on top of the castle


Zack was trying to hide underneath his Indiana Jones hat from my camera...he must have been smitten by Alice in Wonderland

Jace also would only mummer an answer to Cinderella...but look at that cute little grin peeking out.


Cinderella talking to Brady


All the Holmes' Kids with the Disney Characters


Heather Pack with all the Disney Characters

4th of July

We had a great 4th of July hanging out with family. What was even better, was having the 4th on Sunday this year and celebrating our freedom of religion. It made the regular activities string out for a couple of days, but hey we're partiers...no problem. Nate ran in the 10K for the Freedom Festival and placed really well. That morning, since I couldn't run, I took the kids to the Hot Air Balloon launch. We hadn't been for the past 3 years, since Nate and I are usually running in the race. We all loved it, and it gets us over to Provo for the parade nice and early. We had Mason and Jaden Bethea staying with us that weekend, so B and Z were in heaven. For the fireworks show...we decided to head over to Provo and had great seats right on University Ave. What a great weekend it was to spend together.


Brady, Jaden, Mason, Rachel, and Zack....all the older kids at the balloon launch.

Holmes' kids

Little Miss Hannah


Hannah, Grammee and Bella

Zonked Out

This year we got a pool pass to PG Pool. It has been so nice to be able to let B and Z go down whenever they want to with friends and they can swim to their hearts content. (They usually ride scooters down, but call me to pick them up since they are 'so tired' after swimming and it's all uphill to our house.) I like to go as much as possible too, but with Hannah still needing naps, it's a little more tricky.

Rachel has done well even without swim lessons, and now jumps off the diving board and swims to the side. Jace is our little fish, and loves to do a 'dead man's float' with his face in the water, to see how long he can hold his breath. This has only made one lifeguard jump in after him, thinking that he was drowning...but both Nate and I were close by, and knew what Jace was doing...but it sure scared the lifeguard half to death. Even though he was embarrassed, Nate still thanked him for doing his job. You can never be too safe.

Speaking of Nate...we sure have enjoyed the times when he has joined us at the pool. It's been nice to go there after he gets off work, or when we've all been working hard in the yard all day, and to enjoy the time together as a family.

I don't ever take the camera to pool, but I couldn't resist these pictures of the younger two, after a fun filled day at the pool.

Cousin Craziness

In June, my sister Emma and her husband were attending girls camp for their ward, and asked if we could watch their 4 kids' ages 10, 6, 4/5 (Mitchell had a birthday while he was at our house ;-), and 1. Boy was it a lot of work, but the kids absolutely loved it. I made sure that we had plenty of activities, which made for some crazy days, but boy did those kids crash at bedtime. (They also ate really good, which I worried about having so many different types of eaters.) Luckily it was Strawberry Days here in PG, and combined with baseball, swimming, a birthday party, we had plenty to do. (I can hardly believe I took 9 kids swimming by myself, but it turned out great with the help of Brady and Zack.)

We had a great time hanging out with our cousins for a week and I'm so grateful that my kids consider their cousins their 'Best Friends'.


I've said it before and I'll say it again...sandbox's are worth their weight in gold. I love it when I find my 5 kiddos out there playing together...but what was even better was to find all 9 kids playing together nicely that week.

Mitchell and Jace at the library summer program. (I love PG library for this, they go for an hour listen to stories and make a craft, and also earn a treat.)

PG Strawberry Days

We just love PG Strawberry Days in June. There are so many activities that just make you love this town and the people that live here. Every year there is a children's parade, and each stake/ward is asked to participate. Even though there isn't much of a crowd along the sides, the kids love dressing up and walking the short distance. This year's theme was "Dream Big"...so our ward decided to have the kids dress up as their favorite hero. (Thank goodness we have a plethora of costumes here and the kids could dress up just how they wanted.) We were grateful to our Grammee for being there to cheer us on...especially since it was during the week when we had 4 cousins staying with us. The weather was quite chilly that night, so the popsicles weren't as big of a hit as in years past. But the kids also get a ticket to the PG Rodeo that night (which we still haven't been too...I know gasp), and a carnival ticket. Which I'm not a huge fan of, but we always go and ride a few rides and get a few treats.


It was a challenge to get a picture of all 9 kids that I brought..but here is a group shot. Brady was a PG Football player, Zack was a soccer player, Taylor was a college graduate, and Mitchell was a dinosaur...whatever works huh?

Jace was a Ninja warrior...we also had bubbles for the kids to blow and play with during the parade...works well with the dagger I think.

Tanner, my nephew, wanted to dress up as a Bakugan guy.

Hannah wanted to be a chef...(this was Rachel's first choice, since that is what she wants to be when she grows up)...luckily Rachel changed her mind.

We just dressed Bella up a princess, she wasn't too happy with the cold wind.

Rachel decided to be a cowgirl.








Here are some pictures from the carnival. Rachel and Hannah are in the front car, Jace is in the 3rd car back. I didn't get any pictures of the B and Z...since they decided to go and ride all the scary rides by themselves. (But their tummies sure paid for it later ;-)

Boys' Running

During the summer, like everyone else, we have a chore list for the kids to complete before they can do anything else. Cleaning chores are of course at the top of the list, but it also includes reading, homework assignments, piano practicing... and running. We wanted the 2 older boys to run a mile each day. Doesn't sound like a lot, but to a 9 and 11 year old...it was at first. But they did it 'willingly', and have improved their times tremendously. (Even though we live in a 'hilly' neighborhood, 13th East is pretty flat, and at the end of the road on 2nd south the stop sign is exactly 1/2 mile away...so they run there and then run back.)

When Brady started going to football camps in the middle of July, I noticed that he was coming in with the top 10 boys out of about 60/70 6th and 7th graders, when they would have the final run at the end of the night. I asked him if it was easier to run that final football field, since he had been running all summer long, and he had to admit that he was grateful for Nate and I making him run every day. (It's nice when your 'work' of parenting starts to pay off and they can admit that you are right ;-)

After a few weeks of running, Jace started asking me daily if he could run with the boys. I really didn't want to let him, because I knew he would slow them down immensely and I didn't know if he could make it the whole way. But one day I 'caved' and let him go with the boys. Brady said Jace did great until he fell about 3 houses down from ours and skinned his knee. (Then he whined until he saw me waiting with the camera...which immediately perked him up.) Since then Jace doesn't ask me to run with the boys quite as often, but he is always asking me if he can run to his friend Reagan's house...which is about 2 blocks away. One day he actually did it, by himself, without me knowing...scared me to death! We had the stranger danger talk and the always telling mom where you are going talk soon after that.


Brady, Jace and Zack running home.

Thanks Brady for making sure Jace made it home safely...skinned knee and all.

Jace's T-ball

T-ball has got to be one of the most entertaining sports...it's hilarious to see what the kids will do when they are out on the field.

This was Jace's first year, and he absolutely loved it! Of course his favorite part was actually hitting the ball off the T, but up next was definitely the treats!

Even though he had to play a few games in his flip-flops (because of lost shoes...oh what summer brings ;-), he didn't mind just as long as his shirt was tucked in and he looked Super-Cool. (He always asked me that before we went to his game...silly boy.)

He loved having his own mitt...even if it was a hand-me-down from his brothers.

See what I mean about the tucked in shirt...he's gotta look good as he's rounding the bases.

Up to bat with Coach Annie Clayson.

His coaches knew that keeping the kids entertained was all part of playing the game...they loved this water mister on the side lines.

Sure love this kiddo!

Deck Appreciation Day

Some of you may or may not know that we are replacing the 27 year old deck on our house this summer. All 1200 square feet. Nate knew it would be a huge undertaking...but honestly didn't know how huge until he got started. The first day that he wanted to start on it (somewhere in the middle of July), he told Zack that if he had time during the day, then he could rip up the first 20 boards or so. When Zack's friend Mitchell Menlove caught wind of some type of demolition...he was all over that. So Brady, Zack and Mitchell spent the entire afternoon pulling up nails and hauling the boards off. They loved it, even in the sweltering heat. I took them swimming later that evening and bought them an ice cream for all their hard work.

The next day Zack and Mitchell went swimming early, but came home so that they could 'work' on the deck. Crazy boys I tell ya! It takes them about 10 minutes to take up 1 board...because they pull out all the nails. Where as it takes Nate about 10 seconds to take up 1 board with a sledge hammer.

We have also had Jeremy our Bro-in-Law, Brett Redd and Brett Clayson stop over a few times at night to help Nate with whatever, which really takes a load off of me.

The thing that makes it so time consuming is that Nate is having to add twice the amount of support to the underside of the deck. And since the old and new 2x10's were made about 30 years apart, all the new 2x10's have to have about 1/4" taken off of the side. But it will be strong and will last another 30 years (or longer), and we won't have to refinish it every summer (or worry about picking slivers out from the bottom of our kiddos feet.)

I asked Nate last night what his favorite part is about re-building this deck. (Believe me it was a 'sarcastic' question.) He actually had a answer though and said, 'Building the benches.' When he started one of the upper tiers he got the grandiose idea to build a bench on one side. It looks great...but even after he had laid the new TimberTeck down to complete it...he decided that he wanted to build another bench. So up came the deck and now in goes the 2nd bench. I do have to admit, they will be nice to have and look great (They are also built Pa Moulton tough...he'd be right down proud.)

Nate has done amazing things with our home and yard...and since the start of the deck I'd ask if the yard was 'Reception Worthy' yet. (Meaning...could we hold a wedding reception here.) We have at least 14 years before that happens...hopefully. When the deck is all completed...trim and all...I will post before and after pictures so that we can all have a true deck appreciation day.

I so appreciate Nate for all his hard work and patience in this project. I've learned a lot, and I know my boys have too...especially about hard work! I know in years to come...it will all seem worth it, and we'll look back on the summer when we replaced the deck and smile!


Nate on the first part of the deck.

Mitchell, Brady and Zack helping Nate with the deck.

All the extra support that has to be added to the underside.

1st Tier being replaced. All of the supports were rotten, so Nate had to build cinderblock walls to hold back the dirt, and add treated wood to make sure it doesn't rott out again.

Brett Redd helping on the deck...sorry I don't have a picture of Jeremy or Brett Clayson...they have all been great helps.

The first bench that went in.

Getting the supports ready for the 2nd bench.

The finished main part of the deck.

I wanted to take a picture with part of the old deck in it...so we could look back and see what a difference there is between the two!

Run - Nate - Run

I've been wanting to write about Nate's awesome running 'skillz', but each time I asked him or mentioned it...he said it wasn't 'blog worthy'...or something to that affect. HA!

Nate signed up earlier this year to run for Team Mozy in the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay in June, and also a friend/ward team for the Red Rock Relay in September (I was going to run that too...but other circumstances are holding me back...sniff..sniff.) If he isn't playing basketball...he's running. He runs during lunch at work.. instead of eating, he has also ran home from work a few times (a mere 7 or 8 miles)...and then I take him back to pick up his car. I think he has trained well, and definately deserves a blog post for himself.

On June 12th, he ran the Provo River 10 miler race in preparation for Ragnar. He did AWESOME and took 1st in his age group (ages 35-39). His time was 1:13:14....which averages out to 7:19 minute miles. That rocket-paced speed also made him 12th overall....out of about 300-400 people. (Needless to say, when his relay team members heard about how awesome he did...they all let out a sigh of relief, since they know he'll pick up the slack for them...wink...wink.)

I don't know his exact times for his 3 legs during Ragnar...but he loved each and every run, and felt good about how his entire team performed. He got a new app for his iPhone that tells him time/distance/elevation/pace...etc...etc...during his runs. But it will also speak comments to him from friends, while he is running via Facebook. He said that was great motivation and fun to play with.

Here are a couple of pictures from Ragnar. Can't wait to see how his team will do during Red Rock Relay in September.

Jace-ism's

Not a day goes by that this kid doesn't say something that just makes you chuckle! My favorite age of my children has always been 3 because of the funny things they say, but with Jace even about to hit the big 5...he just keeps coming up with the funniest comments that make me smile.

We are about ready to start fall soccer, and this will be Jace's 2nd year. He had his first soccer practice yesterday morning, and Nate surprised him with brand new shin guards in the morning. Oh he was excited! So he went to soccer practice, and kept them on until we went swimming. But when we came home and he changed back into his clothes...he of course had to put the shin guards back on. When I asked him why he said, "I won't wear them swimming mom!" I guess just everywhere else. We also agreed, in the same conversation, that he wouldn't wear them to church. And when he went down stairs to get ready for bed....guess what was still adorning his legs...yup spider man trunks, shin guards, and socks.



But an even sweeter conversation actually happened with Nate, just after dinner last night. Nate was out working on the deck, and Jace went out to help him.
Jace: "Dad, why do you love me?"
Nate: "For lots of reasons....why do you love me?"
Jace: "Because you bought me shin guards."
Nate: Then Nate took the opportunity to tell Jace why a he loves him (too many to add right here.)

I guess if all it takes is a pair of shin guards to make the boy happy, we'll cruise right through the teen years.




Here also is a picture of Jace with one of his favorite uncle's... Uncle Brandon on the 24th of July. (He must love Uncle Brandon, because Brandon has dogs and we don't.) Last weekend we went down to the cabin with the whole family and had a great time. Well, Brandon and Ashlee needed to take their 2 dogs for a walk, and of course had an entourage of kids that wanted to go. I stayed back with Hannah, and Brandon was good enough to give Jace a ride on his shoulders. Well during their walk/hike, Jace started to pass gas. Brandon didn't say anything, but could feel it of course.

Then Jace started to giggle, and said, "I farted on you, Uncle Brandon."
Brandon replied, "Yep and that's why your getting off." (At least he's a good sport.)
Jace of course thought it was hilarious (that's the joy of having older brothers I guess.) We've talked alot about bodily functions with this boy...but I'm sure it will be an ongoing discussion.


















Jace, of course like all kids, has his moments where he does pinch a fit. It is usually because of something that I won't let him do. But I'm past giving in to every childs' whim, so he just has to get over it.
He usually responds with a, "Mom, you're just making me so mad."
But one day a few weeks ago, instead of his usual saying he said, "Mom, you're just breaking my heart."
Which of course melted my heart, but I still didn't give in. I just smiled and gave him a huge hug. We sure love this kiddo!

Ultrasound

Yes...I know it's long overdue...but here are a couple of pictures from our ultrasound on June 2nd. Since we don't find out what we are having, ultrasounds have a different meaning to me. I'm a little more nervous, thinking that the ultrasound tech will find something wrong, or of concern. But no worries, thank goodness. I always ask a ton of questions like why they are measuring certain body parts, etc. (These are to detect birth defects or other problems that the baby might have.) Luckily, Nate was able to come with me and we had a fun time joking around and trying to guess what the baby is. (She made us turn our heads when she checked for the gender.) She also took a TON of pictures and sent us home with the DVD. (I had brought our VHS tape that all of the other kids' ultrasounds are on, but I guess that's obsolete now...my how times have changed.)

She also sent us home with a sealed envelope that has the baby's gender. People think that we are CRAZY to have the information at the tips of our fingers...just sitting on my dresser...and we still haven't peeked. It's easy now...since we've done it 5 times already. (There have been threats of friends coming to open the envelope and see what we are having...so it may be making it's way to a more secure location.) But things are looking good, and I'm feeling great. If only I could get more sleep, maybe when the kids get back to school. I'm still able to work out 3x's a week, but I've had to cut my portions of food WAY down, if I don't the dreaded HEARTBURN sets in at about 4 o'clock, and it's horrible. The baby is kicking me lots, and is very active at about 4am. Hannah loves to kiss my belly, and seriously it is the cutest thing. She has become very attached to her baby dolls (so much more than Rachel was). But Nate says she still treats them as a Neanderthal...which is true, so hopefully she'll be a lot more gentle with her new brother or sister.

I have a pregnancy app on my iPhone, and Jace loves to look at the photos of what the baby looks like in my tummy. All the kids are asking how long the baby is, or how much it weighs, so I know they are getting excited to have it join our family.
I'm now 28 1/2 weeks....6 months...so entering the last trimester should be a breeze!


What a sweet little profile.

Baby feet

We'll nip that in the bud with a passey as soon as possible!

Profile of the leg...the baby was very cooperative at being modest.

The sealed envelope...I plan on taking it to the hospital with me...just to see if it is a match!