Smith Park

Every now and then, in between the fighting and quarrelling, I realize that my kids really do love each other! This past weekend I was trying to finish some things in the house and Harleigh wanted to go to the park. She would go to the park 24/7 if I would let her since we live so close. I REALLY wanted to finish some things up so Jayce volunteered to take her. I didn't even have to beg. I was quite surprised but grateful for his offer. I'm not sure if he was bored or what.

Once I finished my projects I went to the park to check on them. Until they saw me they were laughing and having a good time. I just kind of hid in the background and watched them. They were having a good time together. Once they saw me it was OVER though, they were back to "she said", "he said". When I first saw them Jayce had been giving Harleigh rides on his bike's handlebars. They did let me take a few pictures, before starting to fight and quarrel.

The only bad thing is I'm noticing so many pictures without Brodie in them. He's getting older and it seems like he is at work or with friends more and more or he just doesn't want to hang out with us as much! These days and hours are going by so QUICKLY!!!

You Can Call Me TODD!

This year in football Jayce's coach kept stumbling over the Jayces and the Chases on his team. He has two Jayces and a Chase. Jayce finally told him that his real name was Todd so he could just call him Todd if it made it easier. His coach liked the idea but since he had Jayce on his team last year he still stumbled over calling him Jayce. When Jayce got his name put on his uniform he not only put his last name of DAVISON on he also added TODD to the top so that his coach could remember. The only problem is I forget when the coach says "Todd, are you ready to go in" that Jayce is heading into the game. It is a little confusing. His full name is Todd Jayce Davison but to avoid the confusion of his Dad also being Todd Davison he has always gone by Jayce. This may take some getting used to. Hopefully it is only for the football season.

Are You Ready For Some Football?

Okay, maybe not Monday night football but Jayce's Grid Kid football games have started. Saturday we spent the morning watching his jamboree. It was hot outside, but I hate to complain because I'm sure soon enough we'll be sitting there bundled up freezing while we watch his games.

I'm not the greatest photographer that's for sure. ESPN won't be knocking my door down any time soon to take photographs of any football games but I did take a few. Jayce is #55 and plays Right Guard.




Here are four cute cheerleaders. Tess, Piper, Sadie, and Harleigh. Harleigh cheering on her brother, Jayce, and Tess, Piper and Sadie cheering on their Uncle Jake.


Now check out the girls' shoes. Again, my photography is not so great but I just had to capture Piper's cute shoes. One is a crock and the other a flip flop.

It was so cute!! She was so proud to show off her shoes, not to let me take a picture of her though! She'd let me take one of her shoes, just not her! I managed to get one with all of the girls posing! Sorry Michelle it was just too cute not to take a picture of.

Hopefully with these cute cheerleaders cheering on Jake and Jayce's team they'll have a successful year!

First Day of School

The kids started their first day of school on Wednesday, August 20. Wow, Brodie started at the High School. Jayce is at the Jr. High School and my baby, Harleigh, started the First Grade. Harleigh was so excited for school, laying her clothes out the night before and packing her snack in her back pack, taking a bath, deciding how she wanted her hair fixed in the morning and going to bed early. Jayce packed his back pack with all of his supplies and picked out his clothes. Brodie said "yeah Mom I know what I'll wear" and took a pencil with him to school. Okay so he didn't know what supplies he needed yet.

I literally had to bribe Brodie for the "First Day of School Picture" and Jayce somewhat willingly posed for the picture. Harleigh, she was ripping her curlers out so she could pose for the picture. I always make them pose in front of our front door, so that I can see how much they have grown in the past year. Brodie completely covered the window, allowing no sun to come in, Jayce somewhat covered the window, and Harleigh's picture has the sun shining through.

The boys had an appointment in Idaho Falls after school. Harleigh jabbered about school the whole way. She told us about her friends, her teacher, what they did that day, etc. Jayce and Brodie told us a little bit about their day when they could get a word in. Poor Brodie's schedule was so messed up that it sounded like he spent most of the day trying to get it straightened around. I'm not sure what happened to his pre-registration, but a Math class messed the whole schedule up. All in all, I think it was a good day! I'm hoping for a GREAT year!!

We have completely been out of the routine this summer and it has been so nice to get back in the routine with the house quiet early and kids in bed. I feel like I've actually gained some time to myself!! WOO HOO!!

The boys' appointment brought good news. They had their annual appointment with Dr. Judd from Primary Children's Hospital. She travels to the hospital in Idaho Falls every third month so that her patients don't have to travel to Salt Lake. The check up on their hearts was good and we are set for another year. YEAH!! Both of the boys have inherited the bicuspid aortic valve that Todd has so they have to have check ups every year. The bicuspid aortic valve was what caused Todd to have an aneurysm four years ago. But hey, all three get to have an echocardiogram each year, what a father/son outing right?!? Luckily Harleigh does not have the bicuspid aortic valve.

Rexburg Police Department's Campout

This past weekend we had my work's campout. It was the second annual campout. Since Todd was still trying to recupperate from the hospital and starting the blood thinners and I got a DANG ear infection, we didn't go camping. I was BUMMED and so were my kids. We did go up and spend the day Saturday though and the kids had a lot of fun. We went to Big Elk Campground by the Palisades Dam. I LOVED this campground. There was creek running near where we were cooking. The scenery was beautiful. There were NO mosquitos! GO FIGURE?! I think everyone had a good time. My kids didn't want to go home Saturday night though and wanted to stay. I felt bad, I wanted to stay too, but I just didn't have it in me throughout the week to get ready to go camping. I hope we are all healthy for next year's campout!

The kids found all kinds of things to do from biking, hiking, fishing, playing in the dirt and creek they pretty much kept busy. It is kind of nice because we all have kids around the same age so there is always someone for everyone to do something with.

Hadley and Jayce went biking.

Jayce attempted some fishing in the creek. There were boat docks near our campground for the Palisades reservoir but they were pretty busy to hang out and fish from so he enjoyed the creek better.

Ashtyn and Harleigh enjoying the hammock.

And of course what kid doesn't love dirt. Harleigh, Amanda, and Ashtyn playing in it.

Carley, Harleigh, Hailey, and Lidia "chilling" in the creek. The creek was COLD, I was told, I didn't step foot in it.

And for the "true" camper there was XBox and movies in the campers.

Corey cooked us up some of his ribs for Saturday night dinner and they were DELICIOUS!

Harleigh had them from ear to ear M'MMM, M'MMM, GOOD!

We enjoyed the campfire, talking, and, of course, SMORES!!

And the big boys managed to find something to entertain them that night.

Celebrating Jayce's Birthday

Jayce liked going to Heise for the Gould reunion so much that was where he wanted to go for his birthday celebration with friends. I promised him that we would go on Saturday, the only problem was that Todd went into the hospital and was still there. Luckily Todd was released that afternoon so once he was settled in at home I took the kids and two of Jayce's friends to Heise. Here are a few pictures of our day.

Brayden, Harleigh, Jayce and Jake taking time out from jumping off the diving board for a picture! Brodie came along too but he managed to disappear every time I tried to take pictures!

Oh these teen years, gotta love them!

Jayce, Jake, and Brayden. Can you read Jayce's mind. "Come on Mom hurry up so we can go on the slide." "Mom, no more pictures." Like I said, these teen years, gotta love them!

All in all they had a good time. We closed the pool down. I had told them that since we got a late start on the day we would stay until they closed and they held me to it.

Colton's Benefit Pictures

Here are the pictures from Colton's Benefit Rodeo from my post below:

Colton & Ashlie -
The girls hanging out-

Harleigh & Kaydn -

Dustie & Harleigh wearing Brentlie's cowboy hat! There was an auction that evening on items to raise money for Colton's medical bills. I told Dustie that with that picture and that hat, I could auction him off for some bucks!

Brentlie started making some mud and then all the girls joined in -

Ashlie & Brentlie barrel racing. Ashlie's score was around 18 seconds, Brentlie, I think might have possibly been 5 minutes 18 seconds as she "barely" raced around those barrels.

And their Mom, Kim, I was impressed that she gave it a try. This was her first time barrel racing.
All in all they were able to raise over $5,000.00 to help Colton's family with medical expenses.

The LAZY Days of Summer...NOT

I'm not sure who came up with that saying "The Lazy Days of Summer!" but it should really be the BUSY DAYS OF SUMMER. We have been BUSY at our house. We had a family reunion, Jayce's birthday and celebrating it, raspberries, family activities, football practices, raspberries, shopping for school clothes, raspberries, shopping for school supplies, etc. Oh and did I mention trying to work full time, laundry, yard work, and cleaning the house. Our routine has pretty much gotten out of control. The kids are staying up late and wanting to sleep in. To top it all off we decided to put Todd in the hospital for a blood clot in his lung. This is the third time in the past four years he has had blood clots in his lungs so it looks like he will be on blood thinners FOREVER now.

Here are some pictures of what we have been up to:

REUNION - The Gould family, which is Todd's step-dad's family, had their reunion at Heise a week ago. It was good to see everyone, although my kids didn't give me much chance to visit. All they could think about was getting to the pool. I'm glad they had a chance to spend some time with their cousins though. Everyone's lives are so busy that sometimes it is hard to get together but the kids love it when we do and they had a lot of fun.

My father-in-law, Ted, trying to remember everyone's names as he introduces his family.
Jayce & Mitch seeing whose stomach can stick out the most! Reminds me of this quote "Remember, as far as anyone knows, we're a nice, normal family."

Cousins posing for a photo op before heading to the slide.

Harleigh & Brentlie - COUSINS & FRIENDS (I had a hard time getting these two to pose for a picture, let alone get one with Brentlie's eyes open!)

BIRTHDAY - We celebrated on Jayce's birthday with cake and ice cream. My parents gave him a fly fishing rod and so Todd made arrangements for a lesson for him at the park to learn about fly fishing and practice casting. We kept the day simple because he started football practice and then he had his fly fishing lesson. The party with friends will come later. Jayce was fine with holding off for a few days. THANK YOU JAYCE!

RASPBERRIES - Our neighbor has some raspberry bushes and she has been out of town so we have been picking them for her. They ripen before we finish picking them. We love eating them though so I'm not complaining.

GARDEN - My Dad grows a beautiful garden so we are able to reap the HARVEST of his hard work and the harvest is starting. YUM!

FOOTBALL PRACTICE - Jayce started football practices this week, those poor kids, they practice on a field at the Nature Park, right by the Waste Water Treatment Plant, in the heat of the day. Here are Ashtyn, Harleigh and Carly holding their noses while they wait for their brothers to finish with practice. I'm serious if the wind shifts just right... PEE HEW!!

HOSPITAL - And of course we spent some time at the hospital. I guess we should have gone to the open house instead of getting a tour of it while someone is there. But HEY, that's the Davison luck. Madison Memorial Hospital has just been remodeled and added on an addition. It is really nice. Outside of each room door is a plaque with a name of someone who has made a donation. I kidded with one of the nurses that I have known for years that we needed our name outside one of the doors but she told me you have to donate $5,000.00 to the foundation to get one of those. I asked her about all that we had donated in payments in the past few years, shouldn't that at least get our name on a toilet seat. Just kidding.

Now I hope no one thinks that I take health too lightly because I don't, after coming so close to death a few years ago with Todd's aneurysm, I treasure each day with my family. It's just that with all that we have been through the past four years I have to deal with things on a day to day basis and laugh at things when I can.

I hope that all of you enjoy the last few days of the LAZY, I mean BUSY days of summer before school starts. UGH!! I'll have more pictures of Jayce's birthday party and Colton's benefit later.