That's Right... I'm 30

Brett softened the blow by giving me 30 presents for my birthday. There are only 29 in the pile - number 30 is in the garage. It was like Christmas and the kids were so excited I thought they would fly away from waving their arms so much. Thanks Brett! You're the best!

P.S. . . . It's that time again :D

Houses that I Love..

I have looked at a LOT of houses as we've been selling and moving and selling again; and these are some of my favorites. I sometimes think, "Do these people know they are living my dream?" :)

Happy 3rd Birthday Luka!

Luka had a fun, if not crazy, 3rd birthday. After dropping big brothers at school it was just the two of us for a few hours. We went to the dinosaur museum in the evening. Grandma Lu came with Connor and Victoria. Tucker LOVES hanging out with my cousin Connor who is his age. Victoria is sooo grown-up and a super big sister! Saren brought her friend Brandon and it was nice to finally meet him. Then it was home for pizza and a party. When Boston came to the door, Luka heard his voice, dropped everything and RAN to the door saying, "It's my buddy Boston!" over and over. She LOVES her buddy Boston! Lots of presents and dinosaurs later I think it's safe to say that Luka had a fun birthday. Thanks everyone!!
P.S. Luka's cake was supposed to be a pink dinosaur but ended up looking a little familiar... I was dying laughing to myself as each of my sisters said, "That looks like Valcor," or "That's the dragon from 'Never Ending story'!". At least I got it to look like something :). Although, you guys, once I looked up Valcor, it really doesn't look that much like him.

Clay's First Day of Kindergarten

Clay's first day of Kindergarten started off well when we all walked (Dad came with us this time) to school. We had to wake up Luka to come- which seemed mean since it was her birthday but she loves riding in the stroller to school. I can't believe Clay is old enough for school! What a handsome guy. He posed for a picture with his friend Rylan from soccer who is also in his class (the cuties matched :)).

For Lauri (and Ananda too)

Luka started her first dance class today. Luka loves only one thing as much as dinosaurs and that is dancing. EVERY time she hears music, she dances. She even started dancing during the closing hymn on Sunday. So I've been very excited for her dance class. I have to say that it was the most enjoyable 1/2 an hour I can remember. Seriously. I didn't stop smiling and laughing the entire time! I've never seen any of my kids have more fun than she did. And she is GOOD! Wow, she could imitate anything the teacher threw at them. She did NOT get it from me. I can't dance. But the genetics are there, right Ananda and Lauri? :) p.s. she only held still for a picture when Clay offered to pose with her (as her "handsome prince," he said).

Concours D'elegance

We went to the Concours D'elegance car show at Thanksgiving Point today after soccer and had a lot of fun. It was held at the Thanksgiving Point Gardens and had mostly upscale luxury cars to celebrate 100 years of Jaguar. We had to tell the kids DON'T TOUCH! a lot but they still had fun. Especially when the owner of a new special edition Camaro(think hand-formed carbon fiber engine parts) actually let the kids get in and sit in the car for a picture. Brett liked the old swooping body Jags, and the kids favorites were a brand new orange Ferrari and a 1909 Heppmobile. I really fell in love with a HUGE red Cadillac convertible with fins that must have been 5 feet longer than our Durango. Wow! It was really nice to go to a car show in such a pretty setting (even though we were practically the only ones silly enough to bring their kids around so many expensive cars)

Dinosaurs!

Luka's absolute favorite things in the whole world are dinosaurs. She plays with dinosaurs every single day. She takes them to soccer or other car trips in her purse. She builds legos for them. The tries to feed them. They ride on Thomas trains. They play kitchen. No matter what she plays or does, her dinosaurs come too. Here she is having fun swimming . . . with her dinosaurs. Next week she is even having a dinosaur birthday. Cute little girl! :) (when she got tickets to trade in for toys at the Cache Valley Fun Park, she picked 3 dinosaurs :D )

Puppy Love

Luka has watched her big brothers play with Nate and Danny next door ever since she can remember, but this summer she realized that they have a little brother her age (almost exactly). She finally stopped calling him 'little Danny' and now whenever Matthew is around she follows him like a little puppy. They love to play together when big brothers have soccer practice. It's so fun to watch her grow up and be old enough to start making friends.

Christmas in August

After church on Sunday I was exhausted and sat on the couch for a rest only to fall asleep (it must be genetic right Dad?) . While I napped Brett made stromboli, something really different and really REALLY good. The kids decided to get into the craft box and on their own made all sorts of Christmas creations. So when I woke up it really was like Christmas in August.

First Day of Third Grade

Tucker started third grade today and I was a nervous wreck. Well I have been since Monday night at back to school night. I managed to keep it together until then. I know he tested off the charts but was putting him ahead to third grade the right thing to do? ( rhetorically speaking of course :) ). I know he'll do fine; in fact better than fine. As they lined up to go into class this morning I couldn't help but notice that he is still taller than most of his class. (I also couldn't help the tears that filled my eyes- I know, I'm pathetic). Just think, I get to do it all over again next week when Clay goes to Kindergarten. :D
p.s. Clay just came in and informed me there is nothing to do - he misses Tuck.

Fun!!

I can now add 'tic tac' to the list of things I've had to pull out of my kids noses. They all do it, they all freak out big time, and they never do it again (at least I hope Luka follows the boys. . . unless of course they do do it again. hmmm ) sigh

Out in "Nature"

We went up the canyon on Saturday to spend time in nature. We didn't learn our lesson from the previous Saturday when we visited Bridal Veil falls with a hundred other people. We drove up American Fork Canyon and stopped at a picnic area for a minute and the kids had fun exploring. Tuck insisted on wearing his explorer hat and bringing his survival guide and gave us great tips about eating stinging nettle and dandelions. Then we headed to Tibble Fork which was ridiculously busy. No parking was more than enough reason for us to head elsewhere. We went to Cascade Springs and were pleasantly surprised that there were only a few people there (which was funny because one of them was Tuck's old preschool teacher from almost 3 years ago and she recognized him). Anyway Tucker found out why Mom and Dad are ALWAYS saying "be careful" over and over again every time we go anywhere when he fell off of the boardwalk and into the mud. He kept saying that he wanted to clean off his shoes and was a little upset. Brett and I were just glad he couldn't see his back where all of the mud was. :) All in all it was a good trip and a nice break from the norm.
p.s. I guess we need some more mountains because these ones have reached their maximum occupancy.

Bear Lake

We just returned from our annual family trip to Bear Lake and Logan. (yes, we skipped last year because of the trauma from the year before) We are always excited to be Cache Valley bound. We stay in a motel in Logan and then drive up the canyon to the Lake. The kids LOVE it. And it is our time to just be a family. Clay told us, "I want to live here!" Brett and I were definitely in agreement until he explained that he meant the motel and not necessarily Logan. :D Bear Lake was a blast as always. Any sunburn pain is soooo worth it. This trip we focused on just having fun. No stress allowed! We also went to the Cache Valley Fun Park which the kids L_O_V_E_D!!! (Although Brett said leaving was like leaving the gates of h@## and I agreed :) ) But the kids had a blast and bowling was fun even though, as Clay pointed out, we really only needed to bowl 5 frames. We wound up the trip with a visit to our favorite park, where the kids played monkey while the adults napped ... okay, I napped, Brett took this picture not 10 feet away from me and I never knew until we got home and I looked at the camera. Heading back to Lehi was awful, and I still am in the severely missing state of Cache Valley withdrawals.