Self Portrait

By: Hayden

Isn't it beautiful?

He even did it on the green colored wall right above his bed so he can always see it.

He has always been my one child I could count on to make me beautiful art in places like this one.

In fact. This one is still there.

I took a picture to remember it (in case it dissapeared somehow).

He was so very proud to tell me it was him when I asked about it.

I am very happy he enjoys coloring so much.

Even his picture of his boat on my kitchen table. :)

Did I mention he gets a lot of scrubbing time in? Well, he does. A Lot!

Another Year Older....

But, still so young at heart.

I am only a month behind on this but, it is important to me...:)

So, Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

One thing I think I love best about Justin is that he can always make those around him smile

and be happy. It is such a good thing when you are just not in a good mood and so down, then he can bring you right out of that and make it all better for the moment.

I know our kids eyes sure do light up whenever he walks in the room

or just having him around.

I know his birthday did not go as planned at all.

I feel so bad for that. He ended up having to work all day too.

So not fun at all.

So, we celebrated a few days later (Sunday) on his first day off.

We just enjoyed family time, I made him a yummy dinner

and we had cheesecake for his dessert.

We really do love you tons! Thank you for all that you do and who you are

to make our lives better. You are the best!

The Egg Drop

The 3rd grade classes were doing a unit on self esteem and how to treat others.

At the end of the unit all of the classes did an egg drop, where each student had to get an uncooked egg and figure out how to protect it from cracking when dropped off the top of the school.

Very nervous and excited to find out how it did.

Some kids used helium balloons, or parachutes to protect theirs.

Very creative.

And....

It made it!!

He did an awesome job at designing a way to protect his egg just with what we had around the house.

I'm very proud of him.

I loved that they did all of this and thought it was such a great unit for the kids

and also a great way to start out a new year.

Great Job Brandon!

Hayden's Day

Hayden could not stop talking about his big party!

We were not able to have a big party for him that day because it was really crazy busy.

But, I don't think he minded or noticed because his pressents and everything lasted all day!

He had visitors at all different times, opening pressents all throughout the day &

the cake & ice cream. He even got to have his Aunt and Grandma put him to bed while we went to a meeting for school. Not to mention all of the other super fun things he got to do with mom and dad while the older ones were in school.

He was one very happy kid.

My Baby Hayden

Today Hayden Turns 5!

I love Birthdays!

It is a celebration of life.

A time to reflect on memories.

I love the lives of my little children and being able to celebrate them every year.

I am definitely grateful for the life of my little Hayden.

I can not begin to imagine what our lives would be like without him.

For this birthday and every other that will come I will constantly be thankful for everyday he has to live, breathe, run & play and that I get to share these days with him. He has such a strong spirit.

Hayden has been telling what we wants for his next birthday since the day after the last.

So, I must have a list literally a mile long by now.

Hayden brings such joy and laughter into our home.

He is such a ball of energy.

I can't keep up with him sometimes, which is also good for me at the same time.

He loves anything that keeps him active and on the go.

He loves to whistle and if you are around him you know this because he never stops.

(which is sometimes a problem)

He has become very good at riding his bike and likes to make mom really nervous on it.

He would ride all day long if I let him.

He would swim everyday if he could, he loves it.

He has become quite social with those around him.

He has his shy moments but he loves people.

This is just a tad bit about my littlest one.

*

I love my baby so much, and I love the days I have to learn and grow with him.

Life is so precious and I cherish every moment with him.

Happy Birthday lil' guy!

First Day of School 2010

1st Grade

3rd Grade The first day of school is always the best. It's exciting, they get up early and get dressed and eat all on their own. It's a good thing... until they get in the routine and the excitement wears off...

The Birthday Girl

Our little girl turned 6 in August.

Every year that goes by I feel a little sad that a part of her is slipping

away, but excited for what she has ahead and who she is becoming.

She has quite the personality.

I love the things she says and comes up with.

She is so fun, sweet and sincere yet so feisty and stubborn

at the same time.

She is a girl after all. You never know what her mood will bring.

Birthday streamers.

Her tongue has always stuck out like this when she sleeps,

is in deep thought or concentrating.

I think it is so cute.

My attempt at her royal cake.

(I didn't realize I was missing some important tools I needed oops)

Her biggest pressent....

She actually got her bike exactly a month early.

I am so glad we did that for her because we had so much fun in that

month as a family riding bikes together.

I love you baby girl!

The Y

One of my greatest of friends Sarah was in town for a short bit and we were determined

to squeeze in at least a little bit of time together.

We were able to meet up and hike the Y in Provo.

This was my first time to do this.

At the last second I grabbed Brandon and brought him with.

I am sure I would have done much better on a much cooler and shadier day

and in my younger years.

It was so hard for Brandon.

He just kept begging to go back down.

Just to turn around or stop and wait for everyone else to go up.

We talked him into not giving up and that the hard climb would be so worth it in the end.

And it was of course.... and he happily ran down the mountain when

we were done like it was nothing.

I loved being able to see Sarah and meet Major and see her sister and her husband.

(Stephanie is like 8 months pregnant and did this hike!! she's amazing.)

Good times with great friends.

Canyon Ride

Mid July we did a big bike ride with all 5 of us.

It was a perfect day and the kids all did so good!

We started at Bridal Veil Falls and rode up to Vivian park a few miles.

It was all just over 5 miles.

Of course we took a break for the kids to walk in the cold water from the waterfall.

At our turn around point we stopped for snow cones and watched the train.

I love biking with my family. It is definitely a fun way to explore and be together.

Foam

FOAM DAY

In the end of July the city fire department put on a foam day for the kids.

They had foam everywhere, free watermelon and it was lots of fun for the kids to play and fun for me to watch.

They even sprayed them off at the end.

It was a great thing for hot day.

Camping

Our one and only camping trip this Summer.

We really wanted to go more, but this Summer flew by so fast it was over before we knew it.

I think we made up for it in all the hiking we did.

It was a blast going with most of Justin's siblings though.

Just playing and having fun.

Our view was amazing.

One of the biggest highlights, especially for all of the little boys, was the target shooting.

The center picture was them receiving very thorough safety instruction from uncle Justin.

Such a fun few days. I am so glad we were able to make one trip work. It's definitely fun watching all the cousins play.

Moments

Learning To Ride

So, this really should have came first before anything this Summer.

Right at the end of the school year we finally decided to put Brandon's bike to good use and teach him to actually ride it instead of just sitting in the garage collecting dust.

I feel bad that it took this long to teach him.

I always had excuses in Missouri which were pretty well validated but I could have just tried a little harder. The biggest one was all of the big hills on all of the roads.

There were not many flat places.

When we moved back to Utah, our house was on a hill.

I just said lets do it and after a few days in a flat dead end street he did it!

It also helped that his buddy the same age was learning that week to so it kind of pushed him harder. It felt good for both of us for him to learn.

Since Hayden was getting Brandon's old bike, we decided to just teach him too.

He did so good once he got it!

All I had to teach him was how to pedal and balance and he did the rest... He turned and stood up and put his foot down.

There were a few crashes, but that was to be expected because he was immediately a speed demon on his little bike.

He started telling the older boys "watch out slow poke coming through".

He's all about the speed and pop a wheelies and jumping off the curb.

It has made Summer a lot of fun with the boys being able to ride bikes together.

Dinosaurs

One of the last days we went to the

Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point.

The girls checking out shadows in the NASA room

concentrating...

So excited over this "discovery". sitting on the wall where he shouldn't be, but posed until I took a picture.

This was cute, almost all of the dinosaurs had birthday hats on for the 10Th birthday bash.

they also had free face painting and other activities.

A little more extra than usual.

Dino's in a cave.

And.... I believe this is the end of my pictures.

it was a very fun week.

I enjoyed every moment of everyone together.

I am glad Dan was closer and stayed longer and the kids all loved him

and that Liz made here safely

even after hitting a deer and taking an extra 12 plus hours getting here.

Then Becca, Matt and girls made the very long drive to see us.

It was all wonderful.

I wish we could do it more often actually.

Good memories.

I miss everyone already.