Aloha!!!

We're off to Hawaii!!

I didn't want any of you to miss us too much, so I've changed our music so that you can sit back, listen and pretend that you are on the beach, in the ocean or on the ship with us enjoying the beautiful Hawaiian weather and scenery!!

See you when we get back!

ALOHA!!!

nO MoRe tRaiNinG WhEelS!

Look ma, No hands... Well at least no more training wheels for Max.He took the plunge yesterday and decided he wanted his training wheels off of his bike. He did awesome. It took hardly any time at all for him to be able to balance on his bike. He's already getting really good at starting by himself! Tight corners are a bit tough, but other than that he is doing great!!!

Yeah, Max!!!

I think he got the neccesary motivation from his cousin Tanner this weekend. He was up at my parent's house with his family and Tanner (who is only 3) was showing everyone that he can ride his little bike with not training wheels. Max was amazed and couldn't stop talking about how, "My little tiny cousin Tanner can ride a big kid bike!" Thanks for the motivation, Tan-Tan!! We love you!

School is Finally out for Summer!!!

Carter and Max both had great times at school this year. Carter just finished up 1st grade, and Max finished his first year of preschool. They both had end of the year programs that were fantastic. Carter's program was based around one of their "heroes", Walt Disney. They sang so many great songs from some of their favorite Disney cartoons and films. Carter knew all of the words and all of the dance moves. He was awesome.

Max's preschool theme this year was "America". He sang lots of fun patriotic songs and he got so say some great lines, too. He was having such a good time just being on stage. I loved getting to watch them.

Rich, Ethan and I were joined by my parents, my mother-in-law and brother-in-law, Joseph, all came to both programs (we were lucky enough that they fell on the same day so we just got them all done in a few hours). We have such a supportive family. Thanks for coming, guys. The boys love having you there.

Both boys did so well. We all loved every minute of it.Good Job Boys!!! I love you both very much!!!

He Did It Again...

Rich ran the Ogden 1/2 Marathon this past Saturday. He did really well. He came in under 2 hours (which he felt really good about because he chopped almost 15 minutes off of his first race time)! He loved this run. He said it was so nice to run down the canyon and on trails instead of just running through city streets the whole time.

See how patient we were?

We are so proud of him. Once again, I took the boys to watch him cross the finish line. They were so excited and ready to cheer their Daddy on. We got there in plenty of time to see him and I had my camera poised and ready, but somehow, we missed him crossing the line!! I don't know how. Carter and I were both watching so carefully trying to spot him. He must have been running "Dash Fast," as we call it in our house, because he flew by us undetected. Argh! Better luck next time, I guess!!

Great Job, Rich! We all love You!

Self Entertaining Child

Today was laundry day at our house. And, boy oh boy, did we have laundry to do. I have slacked off for the last few days on it, and as I am sure many of you realize, in a house with 3 kids (especially 3 boys!), a few days without washing a load or 2 and you're in over your head. So today I got caught back up.

Well, Ethan was not to happy about the fact that I was otherwise engaged for a good part of the day. He kept trying to climb onto my bed (where I was folding the clothing) and flop down on the clothes. Then he would do what I can only describe as his personalized version of a monkey crossed with a monster and mess up as many neatly folded piles as he possibly could before I could stop him. He thought it was so hilarious.

He eventually got bored with this and so he moved on to emptying out the laundry baskets with cleaned, but yet to be folded clothing. Then having empty baskets, he decided that the make a really great fort (or cage depending on your perspective). He entertained himself quite well for around 20 minutes! He is always on the go and keeps me on my toes. Even when he is being mischevious, he'll just give you his little angel grin which makes it virtually impossible to be angry at him.

This is the face he was making at me when I took the clothes away from him. There was some great screaming that went with the face, too. :)

Best $1.99 Ever Spent!!!

I bought Max this dinosaur egg at Target the other day. He was being especially good in the store so I let him pick something out of the $1.99 bins. I would never have guessed at what great entertainment this little egg would provide.

It was basically an egg made out of compressed sand with a dinosaur hiding somewhere inside. It came with some digging tools and a small brush. When we got home, he was revved and ready to get working on it. I sent him out to the back patio, because I had a feeling it would be messy. I figured he would be out there for 10 maybe 15 minutes, tops. Well, this was a very well built dinosaur egg!!! He worked diligently for over an hour on the thing! And the best part was that he loved every minute of it. He would run inside about ever 10 minutes to give me updates on his progress, "Mom, I made a big dent in this side!", "Mom, I can see a little bit of the tail!", "Look, Mom, I've dug him almost all of the way out!".

So, moral of the story, If any of you have some kids who are constantly in need of interaction or activites to keep their quick moving brains busy, Target has the toy for you! And like I said, It's only $1.99! How can you beat that? Love it! I'm gonna go back and get him another one, just so I can give myself a "time out" when I need it.

Nunsense

Okay, so I've been hesitant to post these pics. Mainly because those of you out there that I have been able to trick into believing that I am totally normal are no longer going to be fooled.

I just finished up playing the part of "Sister Mary Amnesia" in a local production of a play called "Nunsense". It was crazy fun and I had such a good time. It has been too many years since I have been on stage, and it was a ton of fun to get back up there. The show is packed full of music, improv, monologues, dancing, solos and slap-stick comedy (I even had to sing one of my songs using two different voices and a hand puppet ).

I kept meaning to grab my camera and take some pictures backstage and what not, but I always forgot. So... the only pictures I have of the production are some pictures that were used in a slide show during the play. Liz, (one of my new favorite people) who played the part of Sis. Robert Anne, is a wiz at photoshop. This is what she came up with to document our convent's recent vacation. These are pretty goofy.

Crazy Life!

So our family's agenda has been a little full lately. Between Rich's Grandpa passing away, T-ball, Baseball, Soccer, Marathon Training (obviously Rich, not me!), Rehearsals for "Nunsense" (obviously Me, not Rich!), and writing a script for the Miss Farmington Pageant (seriously, the things I get myself into...), and trying to pretend like we have time to keep the house and yard up, there has not been a whole lot of spare time around here. So I giving myself a quick time out to blog about the last week or two.

Max is playing his second year of T-Ball this year. He's on a team full of kids from the neighborhood, which makes it so much fun for all of the kids. He's having a great time, but I think his favorite part is getting a ticket after the game to pick out a treat from the snack stand!

Carter is playing his first year of machine pitch baseball. What a change from T-ball (where everyone gets to hit and run the bases)! This is serious Baseball! The only difference from regular baseball is that they get to swing at 6 balls before they strike out (which is a very good thing, especially because the machines can be rather temperamental). He's not technically supposed to play machine pitch until next year, but we "played him up" because he's so flipping tall and this would have been his 4th year in T-ball (I just don't think I could have handled that one!). He is learning a ton and really having a lot of fun. However, I think the snack stand might still be his favorite part, too.

Carter is playing soccer right now, too. He loves to run the ball up and down the field and is catching on to the fact that his height is a good thing because his legs are longer and he can beat most of the kids to the ball.

I FINALLY found time this morning to cut Ethan's hair, again. Thank heavens. He's been looking like nobody loves him for the last month or so. He's such a wiggler, that it's always a bit of a challenge, but we got it done! It may not be fabulous, but hey, it's free! Right? And I guess you get what you pay for!

Homeless looking.....................Sweet Little Boy

The other night, Rich came downstairs from checking on the boys after they had fallen asleep. He was laughing and said, "You've got to go look at Max." So I head up stairs. Now, to preface this, Max is a bit of an insomniac. He inherited it from my Mom, my sister and me. He will stay awake in his bed some nights for over an hour and just talk to himself or stare at the walls (I'm not really sure what he is doing...). Anyway, apparently this night he felt the need to build a cocoon around himself. He of course called it a "Fort". He must have worn himself out because he crashed upside down on his bed, with no blankets or covers. I couldn't help but take some pics of him. The next morning he was amazed that I had somehow penetrated his fort without him knowing about it and that I left it intact. He's too funny.

Alright, so maybe this turned into a long time out, but hey, I needed it, right?