Weston - 5 years old!

Weston has grown so much this year! We are learning all about this parenting thing together and he is so patient with me. He is always willing to share with his brothers and he takes such good care of them .Weston has a very tender heart and is sensitive to the needs of those around him.  When he sees someone hurt or sad he quickly rushes in to help and give a hug.  He is great at hugs and kisses and loves to have his back rubbed!

He is also so funny and likes to do silly things to make the family laugh. He loves building things, climbing, pretend play, drawing, and EVERYTHING superhero.  His favorite toys are his super hero dress ups and action figures. He is very curious about everything and asks tons of questions.  He loves learning and just soaks up any kinds of facts we can tell him about things. He loves books, particularly non-fiction books about animals. He also loves sports, especially football and soccer.  He is such a good brother and we are incredibly blessed to have Weston in our family. We love our big 5 year old!

Weston's favorites:
Song: Tarzan Song, I love to see the Temple
Show:  Wild Krats, Avengers, Word Girl, & Kung Fu Panda
Food:  Meatballs
Treat:  candy canes & gum
Color: black and blue
Superhero: Wolverine, Hulk, Ben Grimm, Blue Beast, Optimus Prime
Things to do: go to movies, swimming at Grandma & Grandpa's,  play with superheros
People: 'my family and everybody I know'
Places: Miniature golfing, chuck-e-cheese's, outside, disneyland, the beach

He liked being made to look like the Beast:

The Boy's Birthday Bash!

We have had an abundance of celebrations lately! 

We had not officially celebrated Tave's birthday with Jeff & all of the UT fam 

and Weston was turning 5! 

So we threw them a combined party again.

(next year we promised separate birthday parties)

They are into all things Transformer right now, so this was fun to throw together

The setup:

The goods:

The guests:

 The excitement:

Weston has been asking for a pillow pet for almost a year now. I thought it was a passing phase, but he really really wanted one.  Walking through the mall one day he saw the triceratops and he was sold!  When we looked it up online (because that is definitely cheaper than in the mall) we saw that they carried it in green as well- perfect since that is Tave's favorite color and he now wanted the same thing as West. (ahh, the joys of siblings) Jeff and I were beyond excited to give them to the boys:

The yummy cakes:

The birthday wishes:

The fun:

Thanks for celebrating with us -

 You made two little boys so happy!

Tave's Birthday Date!

Tave has been looking forward to his birthday date for months. 

He got to pick everything we did, so the first stop was:

Chuck E. Cheese's!

 He wanted Mcdonald's for dinner, so Jeff and I had the brilliant idea of bringing it to Red Robin so we could get what we liked!  Bonus, they have a fabulous birthday dessert that Tave was more than happy to share with us. Win/win!

And here is our adorable 3 year old with his yummy Chuck E. Cheese prize:

Happy Birthday Tave-ster.

We sure love you!

What to we've been up to...

The boys and I took a 2 week vacation to CA.  Sans Jeff. :( We missed him so much.  But while we were gone, Jeff had some project:   He tore up all the carpet downstairs and the  vinyl in the kitchen/laundry/bathroom. The idea was that it would all get replaced while we were gone, I mean what better time to do some home improvement projects, right?!  

Well, he found mold. Lots of it in the floor and in the wall. :(  NO need to freak out, mold happens (in fact everyone has mold in their house, but if you have too much you need to fix it. We did, so we did)

SO what was supposed to be a two week project turned into the project from...we'll leave that unsaid. And it turned into 3.5 weeks...plus some since we're not officially done as of today.

The boys and I were gone for 2 weeks of that but then we came back home only to not get to come home. We stayed at our awesome, awesome friend's house who are seriously THE.BEST. We loved staying with them for the weekend and playing with them, hanging out and talking, and just having a great time. They not only let us stay with them, but Kenneth helped Jeff pretty much every day after work until our house was liveable. Like I said, they are awesome.  Jonathan was also a LIFE-SAVER and helped Jeff with this project from start (ripping out the carpet) to finish (laying the tile) and everything in between. We seriously owe everyone a great big HUGE THANK YOU!!  I know we STILL would not be home if not for the help of so many friends and family members.  

Since Shawn & Abby were going to CA for a little trip, we asked if we could move in while they were gone. Pretty convenient!!  Here are some pics of what we did the week we stayed at their house:

 Row Row Row your boat!  The boys loved this pillow on the couch!

 Wrestling with dad...always the best, especially after 2 weeks of missing him!

And Ryder started doing this:

 Yikes, he can move!!!  He LOVES being able to reach so many new and exciting things now!! What a big boy!

 Between being out of town for 2 weeks and then out of our house for another 1.5 weeks, and being a single parent for most of that time, we went out to McDonald's more times than I'd like to admit.  But sometimes, a zooble and a hamburger is what saved my sanity, so it was worth it!

 The boys loved feeding Ryder his bottles.  I love these adorable guys!

And my little Tave-ster found all of his glasses and decided he HAD to wear them all at once! Love this kid!!

We had a very fun and full few weeks and are MORE than ready to get back to normal life at our own home.  We feel so blessed to have been so well taken care of by so many people. Thank you!

Weston's Preschool Graduation

Weston has been attending pre-school this year.

He has a WONDERFUL teacher and a really fun class. 

He has learned so much and grown up faster than I ever thought possible.

Since he missed 2 weeks of their practice for the graduation (while in CA) his teacher made him a cd of the songs to practice with. That cd became an instant favorite on our road trip. I loved hearing the boys belting it out in the back seat and I could picture Ryder bobbing his head along to their singing. 

It paid off when they performed all their songs for Graduation:

Mrs. Marrott had the kids write their names on the board and she was so sweet to let Tave do it too

(he loves doing everything West does)

Since Ryder is crawling (and moving ALL over) Jeff kept him occupied for the graduation:

 My silly guys:

I love this boy more than I could ever possibly say. He is so sweet and constantly teaches me how to be a better mom. I am so scared for this next phase of our lives together, but he is absolutely THRILLED to be heading to kindergarten.

The amazing Mrs. Marrott:

I could not have asked for a better teacher for my Weston. She helped this big, scary thing called School, not seem quite so bad. And she helped Weston grow tremendously. I know that he will do amazing in kindergarten, in large part due to her. 

Thank you, Nicole (Mrs. Marrott), for all that you do for your students. We  love you and will miss you!

Abby's Graduation!

My sweet sister in law, Abby, graduated from Provo College!!

She is going to be the BEST Physical Therapy Assistant. 

Seriously, she works magic!

We were so glad we were able to attend her graduation and celebrate with her and  Shawn before they left on their cruise!!

We love you, Abby!

Congratulations!

Syanne's Birthday!

Syanne turned 5!!

This little girl is so full of sweetness and spunk! 

The boys LOVE playing with her & were so excited to celebrate her birthday.

Happy Birthday cute girl, we sure love you!!

Field Trip to Thanksgiving Point

The day after we got back from CA, we went to Weston's last preschool field trip.
We had tons of fun doing some activities there that we hadn't seen before.  

There were also lots of baby animals!! 

The baby horses were SO cute and friendly. The boys loved getting to pet them!

Ryder- 10 months

May 20, 2011

Another month has passed with this sweet boy. 

He seriously makes our lives so happy!!

A few milestones from Ryder's 10th month:

Got his first two teeth! (April 25th)

Started crawling (May 15th) and boy does he love moving. He is SUPER fast!

Started clicking his tongue- he LOVES to do this and thinks it's super funny when you join him.

Loves to sing while we are singing

Went on his first road trip- he was a trooper and did such an AMAZING job, he was so content and happy the entire time!

First BEACH TRIP!!  He L.O.V.E.S the sand. That's kind of an understatement. He would crawl and dig and roll in it. SO cute. pics soon!
Loves to eat finger foods. Quit eating baby food this month!
Still drinks 3-4 bottles a day
Takes 2 naps 1.5-3 hours each, sleeps on his tummy  most of the time
So content, happy, and playful
MOVES like crazy
Loves his binky and blankets

Here's our littlest man at 10 months old:

Dear Ryder,

When you wake up you are immediately happy. You  bring smiles and laughter into our home every single day. Everyone loves to be around you and play with you because you have the sweetest spirit. You are busy busy busy, but that's because you have 2 older brothers to keep up with! They adore you and you think they are just as cool!!  You have such a special place in our home and we are forever grateful that Heavenly Father sent you to our family.

We love you,

Mom, Dad, Weston, & Tave

CA Trip: Coming Home

I got lucky and my mom drove back with me! YAY!!

My sister-in-law, Abby was graduating, so my mom came to support her. 

When we left CA it was raining. 

When we got to Beaver, UT it looked more like this:

 What's up with THAT??? It is May!!!!  

That picture really doesn't show how awful it was....  on the freeway it was snowing and blowing like crazy. We were going 10 miles per hour and I could ONLY see the taillights of the semi in front of me. Yeah, scary. And I'm not a good night driver, either AND the kiddos were crying and so tired and just wanted to be home. So add all that together and we decided it would be safest and best to stop for the night. 

Here are my cute boys just minutes before we all hit the sack and fell asleep:

We made it home the next day and were THRILLED to be done driving!!

And on to the next adventure...living out of suitcases for another 1.5 weeks while Jeff worked on the house!

CA Trip: Fun at Nonny & Grandpa's

We had a blast hanging out and playing at my parent's house.  

The kids absolutely loved every second of being there:

Shar & the girls came down to spend some time with us and Tory & Melissa as well.
We had such a fun time playing games, reading stories, hanging out with Grandpa, coloring, and just being silly.

My mom was sick a lot of the time, which was such a bummer, but we got an extra few days with her since she drove back with us!  

We loved our trip to CA

The boys did wonderfully and my family was such a huge help. I truly felt so blessed on this trip. I was exhausted by the time we got home, but truly could not have asked for a better time (unless of course Jeff was with me!)

Thanks everyone, we MISS you like crazy!

CA Trip: Birthday Bash!

We had a big birthday celebration for these cute kiddos:

Tave's 3rd on May 14th

Abby's 3rd on May 23rd

Weston's 5th on June 13th

The boys loved getting to celebrate with our CA family. They requested a 'Transformer' party but we had to throw in some fairies for Abby. :)  We had a delicious bbq with tons of yummy food and wonderful family & friends.  

Mmmmm....

Jeff was back in UT, so we skyped with him for the singing & present opening. The boys really loved that daddy got to be 'here' too!

Ryder started crawling today (May 15th) and was SO busy and fun! He loves Grandpa Dan:

Cute Abby with her gorgeous mama, Tory!

I love this one of Shar & Kapria:

Me & my cute boys:

The boys loved celebrating with Nonny Kare & Grandpa.  They were also SUPER excited over their cool Thor swords/shields from them. 

 It is always so fun to celebrate special occasions with family.
Thanks,everyone, for making it so memorable!

We love you!