Shaylee's Birthday Weekend!

Shaylee's Birthday was on a Sunday this year.  We don't do birthday parties every year for the kids, Shaylee had one last year so we decided to let her invite a couple friends over to swim the Friday before her birthday.  Well, one of her friends likes to make other girls jealous….anyway as you can tell from this picture 2-3 friends turned into 7.  I had two mothers text me and let me know how left out their child felt by not being invited to Shaylees birthday party.  Shaylee came home in tears, saying how one of her friends told everyone Shaylee was having a party and they weren't invited….it turned into this big thing so I just sent texts to all the mothers who really cared that much and told them it wasn't a party, but just friends hanging out and they were more then welcome to come.  So, Shaylee did not have a party, but she did.  It was actually really nice the other kids had friends over as well, and we just ordered a bunch of pizza, swam, and took them home.  I think everyone had a blast, and it was a lot of fun being with the family that night.

The next day Dean had a golf tournament and Preston had an early soccer game.  So I loaded up the kids and we headed down to St. George for Preston's soccer game. After the game I let Shaylee choose a place to eat for lunch, and of course we headed to Jimmy Johns.  Glad my kids like it as much as me. We headed home, and let Breck nap while we waited for dad, to go Bowling for Shaylee's birthday.  We had such a great time bowling.  We had the bumper pads, and defiantly put them to good use.  The kids were all good sports, and we just had fun being together as a family.  I think Dean was the only one to break 100, then the rest of us were off each other by 5 or 10 points.  Shaylee has been begging me to rent "Sophia Grace, and Rosie's Royal adventures" on red box for the last few weeks, but it's always gone.  I was able to reserve it for Saturday night, so she wanted to get her own personal Salad from Durango's and watch her movie.  Preston was beyond thrilled to set down and watch this girl movie, but we made him, because the girls have set through countless hours of sports, and guy shows.  The next morning we had to get up extra early to be to church by 8:15 to practice a song we got asked to do the night before…for sacrament meeting.  So we saved the presents for after church.  She loved everything she received.  Addison has already let me know she wants everything Shaylee got for her birthday, to also be given to Addison on her birthday.  She cracks me up.  We then had Shaylee's Oreo ice cream cake for desert that night.  She is such a special girl.  I am so blessed to be her mom.  She is so smart, and is always trying to do her best at everything she tries.  She has the most contagious laugh, and is a great helper to her little brother Brecken.  She loves to take care of him, and plays house with him all the time.  She loves sports, and is really good at anythings she puts her mind to doing.  She also has loved shopping lately. Her favorite color is Turquoise, she loves soccer, fish, tacos, drawing, reading, and playing with her family.  Shaylee I am so proud to call you my daughter.  You teach me so much each day, and you make me want to be a better person.  I love you.

Canning Salsa!

We canned Salsa this last week.  We did it last year and went through mom and dad's so fast we each wanted our own batch.  So the pictures only show the first 2 batches.  We did 4 batches of salsa, and some  tomato juice for Lisa.  Overall I think we had like 64 bottles total.  It was a 2 day event..because we only had one roaster.  It was a lot of fun though hanging out with my mom and sister for hours on end and having a great time.  Hopefully these batches will last longer then a few months.

Back to School 2014-2015

We started school even earlier then normal for southern Utah.  We had to be back Aug 11th.  The kids all had a great summer but when Monday hit I think we were all happy to be back into a routine/schedule.  We had a fun time this summer getting some school clothes for the kids and it was fun to see what styles they are into.  I can't believe this is Preston's last year in Elementary.  Preston started 5th grade this year.  Shaylee is in 3rd grade, and Addison is in 2nd.  The girls are in the Chinese dual immersion program.  Shaylee is going on her third year, and Addy her 2nd.  They both seem to love it, and we lucked out with some amazing Chinese teachers this year.

 and of course one with Brecken...

Skim Boarding

This last week we had a girls night and invited cousin Allie to sleep over.  Preston was up in Bear Lake for the week, and the girls wanted to do something fun.  We started the night off with dessert, the girls made it and put their own together.  Dirt Dessert.  The girls love it, and it's easy.  After that they built a fort and watched a movie in it, played on the tramp, and slept in their tent.  I think they had a fun night overall.  The next morning we woke up and headed down to St. George to meet up with Aunt Marie, and the other cousins to try out Skim Boarding.  We had never been before so the girls were a little nervous, I think.  Allie was an awesome teacher though and showed them what to do.  They figured it out pretty fast.  I tried my hand at it, and it's harder then it looks.  Brecken liked the water if I was by him.  (of course).  I liked that it wasn't deep and he could touch everywhere he went.  We had a fun time playing at the river, and the girls can't wait to go back and show Preston all they learned.