Good times

We have had 2 really fun out of town trips and some awesome memories made too! I'll just try to tell a little about the events through the pictures.  First, this is Claire, trying to learn to like solid foods.  She is not a fan of mushy rice cereal or oatmeal right now. She does like to gnaw/gum/suck on an apple core though! She is 7 months old already.  She has skipped the sitting up stage, you know, that time when they will just sit on a blanket and play with a toy? She won't sit long enough to get interested in anything! She immediately goes to her belly to army crawl, roll, and scoot all over the place. She's the fastest army crawler in the west and she has the rug burns on her elbows to prove it! We are enjoying her so much.  Her little personality is starting to show more, and I am realizing that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree...like her mom, she seems to like things her way!

Mid April we went to Vernal, UT.  We were able to go to the temple there.  That was a much needed spiritual uplift!  It was a beautiful weekend!  We also took the kids to a really nice park with fun playground equipment, and an amazing rec center.  The 2 big kids and Jerod swam and played while Claire and I walked around the indoor track (well, I walked...she rode in the baby carrier!).  Oh how I wish that we had a rec center like that!  I don't know why a place that has cold weather like 9 months out of the year can't invest in a facility like that. I'm sure there are many reasons, but it would be nice!  The picture below is outside the fence at the Vernal temple. The tulips were so pretty!

While in Vernal we also went to the Utah Fieldhouse Museum...full of dinosaurs!  That was fun to explore.  Brighton was so excited about what was in the next room that he would not enjoy the things in the one we were in!  I spent most of the time in there saying, "Wait for us Buddy!"  We asked a kind stranger to take a picture of all of us.  I didn't realize until looking at them later that in this one Claire was pulling Brighton's hair.  He never even complained.  

The last weekend in April was Samantha's ballet recital.  I always look forward to those. It makes for a busy weekend, but watching the beautiful dancers is a real treat.  Samantha was a Sunshine Flower. She danced wonderfully and the whole show was fabulous.  We feel blessed that she has been able to dance with Positively Ballet for 3 full years now. She will have 2 intensive classes this summer that she is excited about.  This is in the dressing room before the start of the recital. Such lovely girls.

The whole fam.

This is at the care center. I'm so grateful that Mrs. Tricia (with S here) does a performance there. The residents seem to love it and I feel that it is a good opportunity for Samantha to give of herself to others. This year she visited a little with a resident afterwards and she was so cute.

The following weekend (May 4th)    we traveled to Laramie for my brother, Steffan's college graduation.  We went a day early so that we could go out to Jerod's old climbing stomping ground at Vedauwoo.  He spent a lot of time there when we lived in Laramie.  It was so nice to think about old times!  He climbed Friday the 13th and then helped everyone else try it too.  S & B did great!!
Here's our smiley little pal. I was proud of him for trying.

And here is our determined girl.  She was so frustrated the first time she tried the climb and just wanted down, but then she had to try it again!  She asked me with each new climber if she had gotten as high up the climb as they did.

Here is mama with all of her kiddos!  I love this picture.  I do not climb anymore, not that I ever really did...but I was happy to hang out and watch the action and the scenery.

Here is our fam with the Bro.  We are very proud of him.  Being at UW made me miss my college days and want to go back to school.  That would be a whole different experience now though, so it is probably better just to reminisce.

Here is Aunt Mallo and Ashton.  They stayed at our house for the two weeks between Vernal and graduation because they were in the transition stage of their move to Ohio.  James had already moved. We miss them already, but it was nice visiting with them for so long.  S & B love playing with Ashton.  The whole way to Laramie if Ashton heard me getting into the chips bag or crinkling any kind of wrapper, he'd say, "Want one Joni!"

And finally, since tomorrow is Mother's day, I just want to add that being Samantha, Brighton, and Claire's mother is so special and important to me.  My heart couldn't be more full of deep love and concern for them.  They are my whole world!  I love you crazy kids!

Love these quotes!

I just have to document some of the sweet things my Brighton has been saying lately. He is a unique little person.  He is a very sensitive boy.  First, there was a lot of excitement and talk about Easter this year.  For baskets, I let the 2 big kids pick out a new basket, one package of chocolates, and some other thing.  B picked Cars socks and Samantha picked an assortment of little things...hair ties, her "own" fluoride, and a crochet kit.  Then I got them an aqua doodle.  We had to get new summer clothes since they are both growing like the dickens, so overall it was a fun time for them to pick out some Easter treats.  Back to the quotes...Brighton and I were discussing what a wonderful holiday Easter is, and B said, "I'm really grateful that Jesus was petrified and then resurrected!"   We laughed and said that maybe he saw a basilisk like on Harry Potter!  Jokes aside, we then talked about the right word, crucified, and for days B prayed that we could celebrate Jesus being crucified and resurrected for Easter.  Each time he'd ask, "Did I get it right?" after his prayer. What a special little mind. ;)

Then, he was watching Disney.com and a commercial for Frosted Mini Wheat cereal came on.  It said, "Frosted Mini Wheats keep kids full and focused."  There was a quiet moment, and then B asked me, "Mom, do mini wheats really keep kids full and focused?"  I was laughing!!  I told him, "No, because sugary cereals never keep you full, and commercials lie!"  It makes me glad we don't have cable tv.  My sweet, innocent boy just soaks up information from any source.

And finally, I made a deal with B that if he would throw away this old shoe box that he has used to hold his "treasures" for about two years I would let him keep his new soccer ball Easter basket on his shelf.  The box has seen better days.  So, he threw the box away and transferred his treasures to the basket.  A little while later he was sobbing.  I asked what was going on and as it turned out he was not ready to throw the box away.  So, I fished it out of the garbage and put it back in his room, and moved the Easter basket to the linen closet, where we keep them.  Pretty soon he came back into see me, still sobbing, and again I asked what was wrong.  Through sobs he managed to say that he was crying this time because I was so nice to him!  He's my little tenderhearted boy!
Here is an older picture but I wanted to add it.  This was a fun hike on a warmer winter day.

 These are my three little sweethearts.  This picture is kind of blurry, but I love Claire's huge smile!

 Love these three! So Much!

 B's leprechaun trap he and Jerod made to take to preschool. The dog ate the rainbow off of it THREE times, so we had to keep fixing it!  Sugar high for the dog!

 Our big girl is on the go now. She rolls and scoots all over the living room.  She hardly ever stays on the blanket. :)  She is 6 months now, which is the start of my favorite age.  She is really fun to interact with and laughs so sweetly.

Yellow belts in the house!

We had a really crazy week last week...well, what am I talking about? They are all crazy...but it was a busy one none-the-less! Jerod and Brighton tested for their yellow belts in Tae Kwon Do on last Wednesday...and they passed! They both did very well. The highlight for me was watching Brighton get his one step sparring exactly perfect and his teacher gave him a high five. :)

Our little Claire bear is now rolling. There will be no stopping her now! She is also a very smiley girl, and loves both of her siblings to hold and play with her!

Samantha got a "kudos" at dance for mastering a tough move, and also received a special star student award from WYVA for her exceptional progress in her curriculum. Overall, we had a very productive week!!

Catching up!

Free time is in a shortage around our house these days...so I have not been updating our blog as often as I would like! I like to do it a least several times a year, because I get it printed into a really neat hard bound book every 2 years. This is the coolest journal...complete with pictures and stories from our everyday lives! I hope that my children will enjoy reading the books when they are older, and I will love them when I am much older I'm sure! These days as a mother of young children are so full, but I am realizing that they are going by so quickly!

Funny "isms" as I like to call them- things that my kiddos say that are so funny- are worth writing down.
Here are a couple...

Brighton was reading addresses on houses one night as we were delivering some things. He's just excited now that he is learning to read and say bigger numbers and words. So he was telling us that he knows people's address, when Samantha quipped, "Just because you know some one's address doesn't mean you stop at their house for dinner." Yes, that would be a little awkward. We were all cracking up.

I was brushing Samantha's hair the other day and it is so long now that it goes well down her back. My cold fingers must have brushed the inside of her arm by her armpit, because she said, "Your armpits are cold!!" How would she know? :) Silly girl. I knew what she meant.

Our baby Claire is growing so fast. She loves to babble and spit, and blow big raspberries now.  She has also developed a new sport called arching...the little stinker arches her back when you put her in the carseat, the bouncy, try to change her diaper, all the time.  She might be an Olympian.  She's 2 1/2 months in the pictures with me and Jerod...

Claire has started laughing too.  She likes it when we say "Boo" to her.

This is an older picture that I finally got off of my phone. I love it so much that I had to put it on here. It is from Brighton's first soccer season in fall of 2011.

This is of Samantha the Russian Dancer from the Dec 2011 Nutcracker performance. As always, she danced beautifully and we were proud of her.

Jerod and Brighton have started taking Tae Kwon Do lessons 2 nights a week.  They love it.  They enjoy the exercise, doing something together, and the new skills they are learning.  I am constantly catching Brighton practicing his forms and kicks in the air.  He is doing really well at listening to the teacher and NOT practicing his moves on family members (other than Daddy).  They will test for their yellow belt sometime in the next few months. :)