Preschool Graduation!

Owen Graduated from preschool on wednesday! He loved going to preschool this year and has learned soooo much! Let's hope he loves all day kindergarten next year as much as I will!!!

Good job Owen!!!

Last day of school

Today is the last day of school. I think I am ready for a break from getting the kids ready for school, but I think I only need a day or 2 off! Hopefully the summer will go by fast cause we have a few vacations planned and then when school starts again I will get to send 3 kids to school! I can't wait for that...only 2 1/2 months away!

Guitar Hero III

I just have to say that I am now addicted to the guitar hero! (Even after I got booed off the stage the first time I played it) I am getting better now and even have the top score on a few of the songs (passed Peter on 2 of them). I am still playing on the easy but it's only been a few days since I started playing it. It's just so fun to finish a song and they say YOU ROCK and I am thinking, yes I DO ROCK!!!

I bought it for me for mother's day. When I brought it home my wii wouldn't play the disc. So I exchanged it a couple of times and had the same problem, took the disc to a neighbors and it worked just fine over there...which meant there was something wrong with my wii. I called up nintendo and they had me send it in for a repair saying that it would take 11-16 business days to be fixed and returned to me, which means like 3-4 weeks! I was hesitant to send it in with fear that I would never get it back, but I did it anyway. They have a really great system where you can track their repair progress online. I sent it on a monday and received it back the very next friday! They were able to fix the problem the ship it back to me the very same day they received it. It is so nice to have a wii that doesn't give me any problems....

our first camping trip

We decided it was time to take our family to the great outdoors for our very first camping trip. We invested in camping equipment in hopes that it would that the kids would love camping and we can go more often. Last weekend we set up the tent in the backyard and we all slept in it for a little practice round. The kids did great and couldn't wait to we got to "go sleep in the woods." So on friday we let the kids ditch school and heading to the mountains for one night. We ended up going up Oak Creek Canyon just past Sedona and it was absolutely beautiful! The views were amazing! We found a great campsite in cave springs campground where we had no neighbors on one side and the neighbors on the other side were gone for the day and didn't come back till after we went to bed. It was great!

After we set up camp, we went for a little hike to the creek.
The kids just loved being outdoors.



just hanging out by the campfire
Jake got a little chilly
After we packed up saturday morning we decided to stop at Slide Rock Park before heading home. As we were walking down to the swimming area Quincy was informing that she would never go swimming in a river or lake cause that was just really gross.

Well it wasn't too long after we had started wading in the water and after everyone had slipped and fell in at least once, that they were having a blast and wishing we had our swimsuits with us so we could really swim in it. We will definitely have to make another trip up there with our swimsuits.
We had such a great time on our camping trip, that we are already planning our next adventure. We our planning a camping trip to the Grand Canyon for the 4th of July weekend. We have never been to the Grand Canyon before and we think it is time to explore this beautiful state of Arizona!

For all you camping lovers out there, do you know of any good places to go? We have no idea where the good places are and just finding stuff off the internet...so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Quincy's 9th Birthday!

Today is Quincy's Birthday! She is 9 years old now.

She opted to wake up at 6:45 this morning to open her presents before her dad left for work, otherwise I would have made her wait till he got home!

She got an ipod nano
a webkinz
and a scrapbook kit.

For her birthday all she really wanted a ipod nano. You think a 9 year old is too young for a nano...but Quincy just loves music and has been so frustrated with her little shuffle. She just had too many songs on it that she couldn't find. So she sacrificed her friends birthday party to get the nano.

Here is her "sad" birthday cake. This poor cake has just about fallen apart. It has gotten so warm down here that the frosting was just falling off. That's the great thing about kids though, they don't care if it's perfect, just as long as it is for them! Quincy is such a wonderful daughter and such a great big sister.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY QUINCY!!

We love you so much!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there!

This is a picture of me and my mom when I was 4 or 5. I thought it was so special...I was the youngest of 7 children (my mom had 1 more a few years later) and just her and I went to Kmart and got our pictures taken together. I'm sure all my brothers and sisters were so jealous!

I was hoping to find a picture of Peter when he was little with his mom, but we don't have one here. That will have to be my goal for next year...

HDTV

After a year and a half with an HDTV, we finally took the plunge and got the HD programming for it. It is absolutely amazing! I can't believe what a huge difference it is. We've only had it for a couple of hours and now when we switch to channels that aren't HD I think my eyes are going bad cause it is just that crappy!

temple in gilbert!

We are getting a temple less than 2 miles away! I've been so giddy about it since it was announced. And even better yet, when it is finished my girls will be old enough to babysit so we can go without having to pay for a babysitter!

This is an artist's rendering of what the temple could look like, isn't it beautiful? It kind of reminds me of a mini Mount Timpanogos Temple which was built about 2 miles from my house in Utah. It was so awesome to be able to drive by it everyday on my way to high school watch it be built, watch them put the Angel Moroni on top, attend the open house and the temple dedication, and then eventually be married there. I'm so excited that my kids will be able to experience some of the same things. Hopefully we will be able to take them to the open house and dedication, you know years down the road when it will finally be finished.

tennis anyone?

Last friday Owen told me that he wanted to be a tennis player when he grew up. So friday night, Peter bought the girls new rackets and gave their old ones to the boys so we could go play saturday morning. We went to the high school and it actually was really fun. Last time we took the kids (before we moved to AZ) it didn't turn out so well. There was no crying...in fact the only complaint was the heat and we didn't bring enough cold water to drink. We'll have to prepare a little better next time.

The kids each had a turn having a little lesson with Peter. They all did really good, even Jake had a few hits by himself. We'll have to keep this up cause it was really fun to spend the time together as a family doing something different.

80's day

Today is 80's day at school.

I couldn't get Abbey's bangs just right cause they are too long. It took all I had to not cut them this morning so I could get them perfect. Quincy has been begging forever to wear a side ponytail and they both kept saying, "no fair, you got to wear your hair like that all the time!" Wasn't I the lucky one!

piano...

A couple of weeks ago, our ward had a silent auction fundraiser for scouts. I bid on and won 8 free piano lessons for the summer. I have been really excited about them cause I think it is just the excuse I needed to finally find a piano for our house and start the girls in lessons. I have been searching craigslist and it started out really fun, but now has turned out into something super stressful. My original plan was to keep it cheap, but so far all the cheap pianos that I have seen are just cheap pieces of crap (ugly too). I went to a piano store yesterday and looked around and they suggested a digital piano (yamaha clavinova). I was really impressed with the sound of it and of all it's capabilities, but they still start out at $1200.00 which is a lot more than I want to spend. We also have the option of renting the piano and if we decide to purchase we can use the first 6 months rent as credit. I also like the fact that I can put it my den (which we use as a kids family room) so it doesn't have to look good. You can plug headphones in it so the girls can practice silently and my other kids can still play with their toys, watch movies, etc. without being bothered. For those of you who know my Quincy, she doesn't like to mess up in front of people so having her practice silently may actually really benefit her. The sales man suggested to use the digital piano and if my kids end up sticking with piano, then invest in a nice piano that will last for years. Does anybody have any suggestions or input on my situation?

Beautiful Day!!

It was such a nice day today. It only got up to 75 or so and it was windy (doesn't happen very often), so we decided to go to the park after school and fly a kite! I forgot my camera so I took pictures with my phone. They turned out pretty good. The only problem I have is I don't know how to download pictures from my phone to my computer so I had to email them to me one at a time. Hope that doesn't cost too much!

Owen flying the kite with Jake watching. (mom and dad it is the kite you bought us years ago from eddie bauer!)

Abbey flying her friends kite. You can't tell but it is a pirate ship flying in the sky!

Quincy, Jake and friend Rachel distracted by a ladybug.

We haven't flown kites for over 4 years, I'm not sure why Eagle Mountain is always windy! The kids had so much fun....so much that Owen threw a fit when I told him it was time to go!

on another note...it was really nice to go another day without having to turn our air conditioner on.

my "shy" girls

Saturday I made the mistake of showing my girls how to use the video clip feature on my video camera. Well, in no time at all they filled up my 2GB memory card with a bunch of these little video clips that only a mother could love.

I'm not sure what the drinking show is and if I should be worried when they are older.

Believe it or not Quincy used to be SUPER shy. I think she is over that, cause she has been begging me for 3 days now to post some clips.

potty training...

Well, last wednesday I decided to take the plunge and start potty training Jake. Until today it has been SUPER stressful. That kid is the most stubborn of all my kids. The first day it took him awhile to figure out how to let the pee out but did really good. The next few days became more and more stressful. He was so stubborn and did not like the fact that there was no turning back for him and he fought me every time I would make him go. He woke up dry one morning and couldn't get him to pee till like 11:45 after making him sit on the pot for over 40 minutes screaming. That is pretty much how the last few days have been with the fighting it and crying time slowly shortening. Something has just clicked today though, every time I asked him to go, he would! And sometimes he would stop what he was doing and go running to the bathroom cause he needed to pee. I think he finally has the pee thing down!

I wish I could say the same for the poop. You see, he is a boy and has a big brother and a daddy that stands up when they pee, so that is what he does. I don't think he understands yet that you just can't stand up and poop. Three times he has run to the bathroom without me knowing to poop, stands where he would stand to pee and poop on the floor! It is driving me nuts! I guess I should be thankful that he is recognizing that he needs to go, right?

start them young...

Owen (my 4 year old) was cleaning up the family room today and it needed to be vacuumed bad. So when he was done picking everything up and putting it away, he asked if he could vacuum.

So, of course I said yes...never too young, right??!!
He was so excited that he did it all by himself and he actually did a pretty good job!
I think I will need to take advantage of this while he wants to vacuum. Is that bad?