Kyndal Ann

Three years ago we said hello and goodbye to this baby.

We will be sending balloons your way this evening. You mean the world to us Kyndal. Can't wait to see you again. You've changed our lives for the better. We have been watching the videos of the hospital and funeral. Your brothers are so little, but remember you too.

day 5

we have made it to day 5 of back to school.. one whole week of newness...
backpack zippers are already broken... shoes are skuffed and they are bathing nightly.
The kids are doing great. Case is in kindergarten and is home almost before he leaves.. time goes by fast. he is gone for 4 hours, but it seems so fast. you would think i would have a spotless house.. dinner made and laundry caught up... but I wouldnt want to overwhelm myself...
Camden is in 2nd grade, and he loves his teacher. She said he is doing well.

backpacks are packed with homework folders that are already done for the night. water bottles are on the counter ready for a refill and shoes are laying out ready for feet tomorrow morning.
Carpool is great. I have it all week driving in the morning, so I atleast have to have my teeth brushed and some decent clothes on.. unlike non carpool days in which my friends see me in jammies and full bedhead..
tater tot casserole is in the oven and I am starting to smell it. blades is working late and we are looking forward to our cruise in 6 weeks.
the weather is a mere 95 out, so the kids are in the front yard.. id better go check on them and make sure they are ok...

Let the Camping begin

Memorial Day Camping 2012

We went up near Payson and found a campsite. It was fun to be in the cooler weather. We even got to have a fire ( which most places were banned, but we were in a hosted campsite so it was safe)

We went down to a fish hatchery

fished in the stream ( not at the hatchery)

cooked yummy food

played ladder golf

went on walks

the boys found all sorts of bugs

tried to sleep through the beeping of the carbon monoxide alarms that went dead in the night.. you can only ignore so long before you think you may want to sleep somewhere else..

turned on the generator so we could watch a movie in the trailer

were happy to shower and bathe .. werent sure how long the water in the trailer would last.

 Camden waiting patiently for dad to bait the hook

 Case drawing in the trailer and Camden in the background resting

 ladder golf is serious business according to this picture

 one treasure found of many

 blades cooking us some dinner

 a victory dance

 blades fishing

 locust shells.. they kept trying to attach them to me.. ick

Case and Cori enjoying the scenery

our get up


When we got home we were watching the news and found out that a bear had been spotted and attacked a lady about 15 miles away from our campsite.. they shut the campsite down and looked for the bear for a few weeks with no luck. We were glad to have the trailer to be in...

Back to Blogging

I've been a slacker.. Im not sure what it is.. Is blogging not what it used to be? If things have changed, I will be sad. I love blogstalking others.. just failed to keep up with my duties as a fellow blogger.

Summer is in full swing around our house. We are sleeping in, staying up late and sleeping in places other than our beds.. ( the kids atleast )... sharing beds, sleeping in the office.. watching movies, cartoons and swimming all hours of the day. The sun is beating us up..and swimming cools us off quickly.

I was feeling like the kiddos were watching too much TV and today something got in their little imaginations, and they played all day... ( until now)... They did a puppet show with legos, wrote their own story for the puppet show.. started hunting for vampires in their proper vampire hunting outfits.. which consisted of camoflauge, belts, sunglasses and a box to search for clues.
They didnt have any luck finding vampires, so they switched to super heros. Case was Camden's sidekick... They shot at imaginary villians ( such a boy word) and kept switching thier hero name...
Camden's final attire turned to cowboy.. belt, gun, hat tucked in shirt and jeans... yes its 110 degrees out and he has jeans on.. ( long sleeved ones.. he calls them).. I had to run to walmart and he had his cute outfit on and his hat almost blew away. He chased it in the parking lot once. He even toughed it out with his pose.. looked very cowboyish..

We had some friends over to swim and camden had to go inside once he was dried off to show them his outfits...

It's been a great day.. just when I thought there was no hope for my tv prone children.. yes its my fault.... but i feel like a better parent today..

have you ever???

have you ever....

started cleaning and room, and didnt realize how dusty and dirty it really was??
( we cleaned out our office and dejunked everything. it must be a room that usually gets overlooked... because it was nasty.we got a new computer, so it was a must.) Now my room is next.

let your child stay home from school because you didnt want to wake up?
( that'd be me this morning. camden came in saying his throat hurt.. ok.. you dont need to go to school. I should of talked him into going cause he will have double the homework tomorrow, but it was nice not to have to rush around this morning... until the house alarm was going off and i jumped out of bed to turn it off, and went out of my room, to see the light of the sun coming from the front door. I quickly turned around to get on some decent clothes. the girl i babysitt came early. talk about frazzled. Thankfully the dad stayed on the porch til I got there...hair all a mess)

cut pickles and onions?... my whole house smells like them now... and my hands.. ick

been more excited about a trip than your kids? ( we are heading to the happiest place on earth in a little over a week... thats all we talk about, dream about and google)

felt guilty about leaving your kids to go on a cruise for 7 days to celebrate our ten year anniversary... ( NOT ME... Atleast not yet... we are going in September.)

Just us

The dang smart phone has me spending most of my time on it, and not the computer.. which means I am not blogging enough..plus our computer is getting old. We got it the year we were married, and that was 10 years ago. Needless to say we are in store for a new one.. in the next few weeks, which means this pile of bills, and our non filing system is going to get a makeover.

Case lost a tooth last night on Valentines. Ive never seen a kid want his dad to pull their tooth out, but Case did. he couldnt wait for dad to get home to yank it. The tooth fairy came leaving two .50 pieces and one quarter. He brought the treasure to our bed in the middle of the night to show us, and then snuck into bed with us.

Camden started baseball practice again. It feels like we just ended last season, but we are looking forward to it again. After practice, coach asked if anyone was opposed to practicing on Sunday besides us ( and pointing to us) I happily raised a hand grateful that he knew our standards.
There are 6 other days to play baseball. It was a nice family home evening lesson on standing up for the right, and making good choices. I reminded him ( myself being in disbelief) that he will be baptized this year, and he will get to make his own choices.
Camden was learning about Abraham Lincoln in class, and I couldnt believe how much he taught me about the 16th president with the big hat (that he would keep newspapers in), how tall he was and how he was shot.. The details were great. I am grateful that he goes to a great school that teaches about great former presidents and history.

We are planning a trip to Disneyland over Spring break. We cant wait!
Weve been spending alot of time at the park. The weather is perfect and I am happy when the sun warms my legs as the kids swing, dig and come home dirty.
I am working on saying "yes" more, instead of no when they want to do things. As long as chores and homework are done, we live outside. Thank you Arizona for your wonderful weather. In three months I may be cursing you, but for now you are beautiful!

I still have to blog about Halloween and Christmas, but I dont want to overwhelm ya!

Birthday Boy

This first picture is how we really feel after a 4 day celebration of this little guys birthday. This picture wasnt taken recently, but it was so cute I had to add it in here.
Case turned 5 yesterday. He has been asking for atleast a month how many more days til his birthday...
we passed out froggy invitations and on Friday afternoon we had a party at the park. Pizza, cupcakes.. no mess at my house.. yeah it was wonderful. The weather was perfect and the kids enjoyed playing and running around.
The day before he celebrated at preschool with cupcakes.. one without frosting for his buddy blake that doesnt like frosting ( case told me and i hoped he was right.. he was)
Saturday, we ended up at Chase field watching Monster Jam. It was a first for all of us but Blades. Wow.. it was loud, fun and the kids loved the huge trucks. It brings out a whole new crowd of people I must admit.
Sunday, Dad made a big breakfast, and off to church we went. He got a special coupon to go see the bishop for a handshake and a treat. Bishop was busy after church, and we encouraged Case to wait til next week to turn in his coupon, but wait we did... until the bishop returned to his office where the treat jar was... He just couldnt wait a whole week.. During church he asked me if we were going to have a cake today. ( i figured with two rounds of cupcakes we could skip the cake) " but its my birthday, and im five" case conned me into making another cake after church. and another round of singing..
I cant believe my baby is 5. Its saddens me a bit... ok alot. I have pictures of this weekend but not on the computer yet, so here are some oldies but goodies..

Case is a :

• joy


• terd, awnry a lot


• always hungwee ( hungry)


• an early riser


• a great brother


• a great hugger


• loves his blankies still ( all three of them)


• climbs into our bed and hands us the remote to turn on tv before the sun comes up


• asks to go to the park everyday


• newly found bike rider


• drink swiper


• 5 FIVE year old now

this is how we feel after this weekend

swimming last summer

swimmer

a few years ago on a bike

snowman

brothers... case looks a bit girly... long hair i guess.. look at those squishy cheeks

mom and Caser

cheese

Batters up

For Camden's birthday in September ( ya Im a bit behind in the blogging department) we took him to the baseball field and said we were signing him up for baseball. Talk about one excited boy. Practice started a few days later and we were thrown into baseball. He had a great season and the coaches couldnt believe this was his first season ever playing. He is a natural I suppose. I hope these pictures will be on the big screens at the World Series... one day as they flash back to Camden's first baseball days..one can hope :)

He had practices usually twice a week and a game a week. We spent plenty of time at the ballfield. But there is something about sunflower seeds, soft pretzels and cheese, and bubblegum that made me fall in love with baseball. Seeing other friends with kids on other teams was fun too. Blades even fundraised for the league. BBQ'd and raised over 450 profit.
He played in a tournament and they were first place.

waiting for trophy ceremonies.

He LOVES baseball! look at the face on that kiddo.

Is he not the cutest catcher? all that gear on such a small kid... and the classic sport grab..

October 2011.. he played in the Halloween Tournament. They were the champions. He had fun playing with other players from other teams.

Ready to bat

from the dugout

swingin'

a well deserved snowcone after a game. we started out the season sweating, and ending it freezing.. I guess thats the fun in playing fallball

He got to carry the sign for his team for opening ceremonies.

his first practice.

up to bat.. he is a lefty and has some power behind his swing. He got a home run one of the first games he played. The coaches and team cheered him on. I admit, I cried.. I was so proud!

( one of my favorite pics of the season) His real love is catching. At the beginning of the season, his coach noticed he wasnt quite getting fundamentals of the game, and asked if he wanted to catch. He got better and better at catching and he loves it. It gives him something to do... other than pick the grass in the outfield.

His end of the season party is this Saturday for pizza. He is pretty excited. We are signing him up again.. season starts the end of March. Let the games begin! again

"It's a new one"

"It's a new one", Case says as he is watching Tom & Jerry cartoons. He must not realize that those cartoons are older than myself, but they are new to him I suppose. It makes me giggle every time he tells me that.

A new year... a new blog post for the year.

I am looking forward to this year. It's a big one for us. Camden will turn 8 and get baptized into our church. Case will turn 5 in a few weeks ( could it really be.. my baby turning 5?), and he will start kindergarten. What exactly is a girl to do with no kids at home.. I will figure something out later in the year...

We had a wonderful Holiday season. Pictures are sitting safely on my camera and will be uploaded soon. So check back for pics.