Spencer's Preschool Graduation

Our little Spencer. he has grown by leaps and bounds this year. He has had no problem making friends and with how great of a reader he is we know he is so ready for Kindergarten. He loves learning and I can't believe how far he has come in such a short time.

Payton's preschool graduation

It bring new respect to preschool teachers to see them coral the

kids for graduation. It has been a great year and Payton has learned so much from being in a

preschool class -- now if we could just get him to behave a church =). Payton was not in a performing mood that night but he did "strike a few poses" for us and had fun with his megaphone and his ringpop. Good times!

Father's and Son's

My boys were twice a lucky this year to have 2 father's and son's campouts. They look forward to being outdoors with dad and eating junk food. They got to have a marshmallow fight and sleep in the tent. then the next weekend they roasted hot dogs on a stick and got to go on the lake in the boat -- just the guys. Troy is a trooper to do all the set up and take down two weekends in a row but the boys will always remember camping with the guys!

Krispy Kreme

What kids wouldn't like a tour and a free doughnut! The kids were excited to wear theri hats and see how the doughnuts were made. It was a good, short field trip and the kids seemed to have fun. The little girl, Megan, in the picture with Payton is better known a "Princess Peach" and Payton is known at school as "Mario" only when he says it he has an Italian accent. Pretty cute.

Jackson's Field Day 2010

The school does a fun field day each year and Jackson and his friends have a good time being outside and trying out all the stations they have for them. The sponge race is fun with water and the potato sack race (with trash bags) is a fun way to get some exercise. I love the parachute and jumping rope but that's just me.

Primary Talent Show

Our Primary held it's annual talent show and this year was the fisrt time all our boys could participate. Here is a little bit of payton's talent.
Jackson told some Laffy Taffy jokes and Spencer spent a lot of time doing some "color by numbers" It was a fun night to see so may hidden talents from the kids we see at church each Sunday.

Spring Training

Our boys always look forward to going to the ball park. I think the younger boys just go for the food but regardless they seem to have fun. It was a bit hot but all in all we had a lot of fun together.

Payton's trip to the Firestation

Payton's preschool class got to visit the firehouse and I got some cute photos of him. He was quite wiggly and moody this time but he managed to have some fun =). Preschool fieldtrips are always interesting and Payton feels so big to be a preschool student. It is neat to see him becoming his own little person.

Easter 2010

Our kids had lots of fun at this Easter breakfast and egg hunt. they eat breakfast and hunted for eggs. Then they got to make a neclace of fruit loops to eat. Our kids mostly look through to find the broken ones so they can eat them but either way it is a good time.

Our kids are spoiled a bit with more than one egg hunt. My friend has a egg hunt eggstravaganza each year and the kids make out like bandits. Plus, my kids loved Sister mason's spaghetti and they had I think 3 helpings each. I guess this helps to balance out the 3 pounds of surgar they probably consumed =).

Our last egg hunt was on Easter at my brother house. Jaedon and Jace hid the eggs for the kids to find and what I thought would be a mall egg hunt was a rather large one -- great job guys. They boys were in heaven and then the tears errupted from Payton when he dropped all his eggs and the splattered everywhere on the floor of the car. He still ate the ones he found but I hope lesson learned -- holdon tight to the candy you want to eat =).

We did our traditional "Resurrection cookies" the night before Easter to help our famly remember the reason for the season. The kids remember so much and they so smart it makes me proud to be their mom. Here are some pictures of them enjoying the cookies.

It was nice this year to have time at home as a family for Easter weekend and watch Conference. Plus, it got rid of the candy faster because we were home to eat it and then move on.

Our family finally made it back to Disneyland and we had fun. We started off at Disneyland and then took a day off to relax at the beach. the weather was perfect and so we bathed in the sunshine and rested. Then we went back for another day of Disneyland fun. Spencer's favorite ride was Indiana Jones. We had to squeeze him in and he was just tall enough to ride. It was a good thing too because that was the one ride he was looking forward to the most. Jackson really liked Thunder Mountain and that is one ride Troy loves too. Payton wasn't a big fan of the fast rides but he was so excited to meet Mickey Mouse and he LOVED the Playhouse Disney show. He was amazed to see the characters he watches on TV come to life. We love the happiest place on Earth.

Our little bike rider!

Spencer was very reluctant to try to ride a bike. He had a few meltdowns with dad but after a some practice to build up his confidence he was off and riding! We are so proud of him and it is so exciting to have him wanting to get on his bike. he is getting so big and it is fun to watch him grow. Great job Spencer!

Finding the fun

This is one of those times when I was glad that I had my camera in my purse. Troy and I decided to go shopping for some outdoor pots and so we loaded up the kids and set off. One of the places we stopped had a display of all these animals that the kids found very interesting. It was so cute to see them with these and they were having fun. Oh to be a kids again.

Good Young Friends

I didn't want to say old friends because when I am with these amazing ladies I feel like a kid again. I have known some of these ladies since 3rd grade and we all went through high school together. I can say I love these beautiful women and it is so fun to reconnect with them at least once a year in person. We have all been through our own personal challenges and we are all different in a million ways but we share the same faith that binds us together no matter if we love "chick-flicks" or "sci-fy" when we are together we have a GREAT time. Christine, Carol, Bethany, Sherri and Becky thanks for being you -- I luv ya!!!

It's a work in Progress

When we built our home a few years ago we had to wait for the courtyard to be in reality what we imagined it in our minds. This year we decided that we could do something small to move in the direction of an outdoor living space. Troy did most of the work but with the help of some fabulous tools we borrowed, we got the courtyard concrete stained and we are happy with the way it turned out. It rained for a a few Saturdays and postponed our plans but we were finally able to finish. The first coat looked like dried pee and we were VERY nervous but with a second coat it turned into what we wanted and now all we need are plants =). Here are some picture so you can see something Troy should be proud of. I am so glad I married a man who is not afraid to try to do things on his own and that he has the patience to research and see things through. Now we are one step closer to the goal. Good job babe.

Aunt Pam and Michele

Each year my aunt and cousin come down from New York to visit all of the family here. My kids love them to pieces and look forward to this because they get books from them and when they stay with us there are two more people to talk to and tell there thoughts too. Our guests are very kind to give them the attention they are looking for and with a few extra hands they don't always have to wait for mom. I try to think of something fun to do with them and this year we went to visit "Old Scottsdale". We ate lunch at Fudruckers -- because Michele loves her burgers and so do we, and then we looked in all the shops around the area. I was prepared for complaining and stuff but my kids LOVED it!! The boys were hilarious in all the art museums asking about the pictures and we got to look at lots of amazing art. My drawings are of stick people and rainbows and I am 30 so seeing something someone made out of some pain and a paintbrush is amazing to me -- the non artist! The boys all got to pick a rock at the rock store and they thought it was the best thing in the world. We walked around for hours and all of us had a great time. Plus, it was very "Arizona" for our New York visitors =). We only got through half of the shops so that will give us something to do next year. As always we had to stop at the train park for some rides and the kids dressed themselves that day so their outfits are quite "artistic", but we had a fun time.

The simple things in life...

As a late Valentine's Day present a good friend of mine , who shall remain nameless (Kristine), gave my kids a sucker. Not just any sucker but a HUGE heart shaped sucker. They were SOOOOO excited because I will never let them get one this big due to childhood trauma. See, I ate one like this as a kid too fast and got sick afterwards so they kind of give me the creeps to look at and they make my stomach turn. This proves my theory that it takes a village to raise a child because even though I can not stomach them someone else loved my kids enough to pump them full of sugar for me =). And the look on their face really says it all. It does not take much to make my kids happy but with three boys ... the way to their heart is definitely through their stomach =). On a side note: no one got sick and no one ate it in one day which make it a win win!